To many artists, even to many bands involved in these programs, federal financing may not initially seem very rock 'n' roll. After the Hives took Sweden's money, the band's lead singer, Pelle Almqvist, fumed that tax-financed rock was "like working for the Man."
"Plus," he added, "we were" — well, they weren't very good — "at filling in all the paperwork."
Samuel Scott, a singer and guitarist in a New Zealand rock band called the Phoenix Foundation, sympathizes. "I think that image, that rock 'n' roll is a thing of rebellion and that you should be flipping the bird to the government, is prevalent," he said. "In most parts of the world it's a situation where you might give up for the sake of not starving to death. In New Zealand I think you have a bit longer to look at it before you have to make that choice."
And in the US, it seems, you have to look at it longest of all. "People over here are shocked when we tell them you can get economical support from the government," said Hjelm of the Figurines. "It's not because of the money that people know us over here. It's because of the music. But you need that financial support to do those tours. We know we have the support, and it makes us concentrate 100 percent on the music."
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