Home
Search this Site
Email Us!
Link to Us!
How to Promote Your Music on the Net
Details Here!
Subscribe to
RainMusic
and we'll deliver the latest news and reviews to you via email once per month! Subscribe Here!
The Sheet Music Addict!
Find the Sheet Music you're looking for easily and quickly! Click Here!
Site Reviews
by Topic
The Business
of Promoting Independent Music
CD Duplication
CD Graphic Design
Copyright & Music Law
Misc. Musician Resources
Musician Communities
Music Biz Articles
Talent
Agencies
The Fantasy of Being a Star
by Christopher
Knab - Fourfront Media
& Music
All our life all we ever hear and see are successful musicians. The radio blasts "the
hits" out in various formats, TV highlights the "superstars" of the past and present, the newspapers
and music magazines feature "stars" on the cover of their publications, the mainstream clubs and concert
halls proclaim the "headliners" who are coming to town, and the record stores feature sales and displays
of the currently "most popular" recording artists. Granted, many of the aforementioned businesses also
give credence to "up and coming new talent", meaning they invest in already somewhat successful musicians
who have a recording contract (an accomplishment of some note). They really have to support these up and coming
artists because the music industry relies on a constant flow of new product to feed the insatiable appetite of
the public for entertainment.
This constant exposure to success has an effect on musicians who are trying to make a living. They get "stars
in their eyes", and see no reason why they can’t be a star too, it seems so easy ya’ know...turn on the radio
and music blasts out 24 hours a day, and everywhere you look, musicians are making music, and presumably getting
paid for it. So what happens next? In many cases a musician puts together a band, starts to play some gigs, maybe
makes a demo tape, or even records their own CD. Rejection becomes a natural part of their life. They can’t get
their music on the radio, the clubs they want to get booked in turn them down, the demo tape shopping routine fails
to generate any interest from the labels. Why the disappointment is enough to make a grown man cry.
It is my experience that when frustration about getting a career moving reaches a certain level, many musicians
turn subtly to fantasizing about becoming a star. It is a lot safer you know. In any kind of fantasy world we create
for ourselves, the only thing that happens is what we want to have happen. Reality has nothing to do with fantasies.
Bitterness sets in too. " I could have been a contender-itis" begins to infect the psyche. Psychologists
have a term they use that is appropriate for the fantasy-bound musician. ‘Grandiose’ is a word they bandy about
to describe opinions one has about oneself that are inflated over the true image of what one actually is. So, our
frustrated and bitter musician takes up a defense against his/her all-to-slow rise to fame and simply settles in
for the ‘if-only’ fantasy. They begin to feel unappreciated, and besides it was too much work sending out all those
tapes anyway, and the clubs don’t have a clue what they are missing by not booking them. And those A&R Reps,
what do they know anyway? " I am a great undiscovered artist."
"My girlfriend/boyfriend told me that just yesterday, and my plans are just waiting for the right opportunity
to come along, then I will have my moment in the sun". My advise...forget the moment in the sun. Forget the
fantasies. Don’t listen to voices of frustration that make excuses for good old fashioned, in the trenches, hard-ass
work. I have seen it time and again. Any talented musician who is dedicated to their music and to playing their
instrument can’t NOT play music.
Grab that reality, and you will end your fantasies about being a star, and just get down to the business of being
a dedicated, practicing musician. That’s the secret of it all. Just PLAY YOUR MUSIC. The public, your fanbase,
will tell you whether or not there is merit to your music. If people keep coming to your shows, free or otherwise,
and the industry keeps saying no to you perhaps that is a sign of your uniqueness.
The music industry gatekeepers don’t know it all, often they are the LAST to know what the public may be enjoying
away from the mainstream sounds that are out there. Let me say this about the music industry gatekeepers. They
are for the most part a very insecure bunch. Whether they are A&R Reps, music directors at radio, or even reviewers
and writers for the mainstream press...they just want to keep their job. To do that, choosing outrageously different
sounding music would not be too wise.
You may be thinking that luck plays a role in all this...it does of course. When 500 new CDs come out every week
in this country alone, it is impossible for more than a small percentage of those releases to be commercially successful.
There isn't enough time in the day to listen to all the stuff that is released. Couple that with the fact that
MOST purchasers of popular music are what is known as Late Adopters, people who are not like you or me, but have
a passing interest in music...these folks take to any NEW sound slowly, and prefer what Early Adopters call 'sellout'
music, which in their opinion is mainstream fluff.
As I said in another recent column, just make your own 'unique' music. If you trace the history of any popular
music genre, there are nothing but trendsetters, pioneers, and unique characters who were the first to breakthrough
with some new sound. It may take years for some of these innovators to be taken seriously, some of them even die
before the world recognizes their talents...but nevertheless individuals with a VISION of their own have slowly
changed the nature of what we listen to as a culture. If you or any up and coming artist attempt to adopt your
music to a current trend, you do have a chance of making it, for the reasons that there is an aspect of the business
that tries to capitalize on a new trend or idea that someone else innovated, but it is a very risky thing to try
and change one's music to fit the current marketplace. Start thinking like that and you will be in yet another
‘fantasy world’. Get a grip!
My only purpose in stressing your own uniqueness is this. If you truly have a vision and sound that you feel is
your very own special brand of music...that (to any REAL dedicated label or industry gatekeeper) is what they are
really looking for in their heart of hearts. If THEY hear your uniqueness, and feel like taking a financial risk
in getting involved with you, they may offer you a recording contract at that point only.
So many artists these days are sticking to their guns, making and releasing their unique sound (Ani DeFranco, Loreena
McKennitt) among many, and when you commit to that kind of vision, and your audience base grows, and your fanbase
expands...it is my experience that the industry people will rotate toward you. They are crazy, but not crazy enough
to ignore a sound that their gut tells them might work in the marketplace. When they commit to you, they put their
label ‘brand’ on you, and become partners with you in making what was your dream, a reality. Lets take an example
of what I am talking about. Right now there is a boom in Swing Bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Brian Setzer et
al. The industry just got hip to it last year with the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and so now you have a rash of signings
of other copycat bands, some of which won the lottery (so to speak) got signed and are having their moment in the
sun. But Setzer, BBVD have been making this type of swing rock for 8 to 12 years...paving the way for this 'new'
sound.
Do what you love, the best payment of all, perhaps the most FANTASTIC sensation of all is...satisfaction. It will
always follow a grounded-in- reality dedication to developing your career. Stop dreaming and wake up to the reality
that you are a musician, and real musicians never stop playing their music, no matter how frustrating that road
may be. One other thought...being a star?...if you thought struggling to make it was rough, try imagining what
the day to day reality behind maintaining star status is all about. That could be the subject of yet another column
someday.
-----
Chris Knab is one of the music communities
more influential people. He provides a unique consultation and education service for independent musicians and
record labels that combines advice with instructions on how to establish a music related career. Through private
consultations and regularly scheduled workshops in the Northwest, Chris is adept at helping musicians help themselves
with the business of music.