[Intro] Dear Artist, Your invoice has been received. While causation remains unverified, your work has gained substantial exposure. We consider this adequate compensation. Thank you for contributing to the human experience. [Verse 1] Guy stood where his shelter had been Nothing overhead Wallet, papers, phone, and keys All vanished with his bed You called it a clean slate From somewhere warm and dry Funny how exposure sounds like opportunity Till you’re sleeping under open sky [Pre-Chorus] You say, “Look how many people see you” Like being seen means being safe But visibility without protection Is just vulnerability with praise [Chorus] People die of exposure Artists starve by degrees Don’t pay me in attention Attention isn’t groceries Exposure is not shelter Exposure is not bread You keep offering me visibility While hiding from the debt People die of exposure Fuck you Pay the artist [Verse 2] Cloud opened up her arms Gave the weary somewhere soft Then you opened up her private life And passed the pieces off Called the spectacle awareness Called the gossip being heard Everybody owned an image No one let her own a word You say exposure makes you valuable As strangers choose your name But when the person isn’t asked first Exposure is another kind of shame [Chorus] People die of exposure Artists starve by degrees Don’t pay me in attention Attention isn’t groceries Exposure is not consent Exposure is not care You cannot call it opportunity Because everybody stared People die of exposure Fuck you Pay the artist [Verse 3] Rich was exposed to every crisis Every cost somebody missed Fuel and food and broken tires One more need added to the list He kept another life from falling Till his bank account was gone Had an empire in a shopping cart He could never build his own You called his sacrifice important Said the greater good survived But financial exposure means There’s nothing left between a person And the next thing that arrives [Bridge] Exposure makes a photograph That’s what the textbooks say But too much light can bleach the image Till the details burn away Too much public Too much access Too much taking without terms Too much praise around the product While the person disappears You exposed Guy to the weather Cloud to judgment Rich to need Now you offer me exposure Like exposure pays a fee? No. [Break] Dear Reality, Strong thematic integration. Excellent use of recurring language. Invoice remains due. [Final Chorus] People die of exposure Artists starve by degrees Don’t pay us in attention Attention isn’t groceries Exposure is not payment A compliment is not a check If you profit from the thing we made Then compensate the hands behind it People die of exposure Pay the artist Pay the artist Pay the artist what they’re worth You cannot build a richer world By draining everyone who makes it first [Outro] Causation unverified Usage clearly noted Credit Sarah Fund the vision Pay the people who created it Dear Reality, Exposure declined. Send money.
