I am at a crossroads in my life. Is it my age? Is it the fact that I’ve been playing music for over 40 years? Is it the current artistic climate? I don’t know. I’ve given it a LOT of thought and I just don’t know. For better or for worse, I’ve made a decision, though. I’m tired of spinning my wheels. I’m tired of constantly trying and seemingly getting nowhere. I feel that something has to change and the following missive, for those who care to read it, explains my thought process and the conclusion that I have come up with. I have been writing and recording music, writing and publishing books -- basically doing all sorts of creative and artistic things most of my life. Unfortunately, pretty much all of these endeavors have resulted in me losing money. In December 2014, I wrote and recorded a song, “Krampus is Coming,” and put it up on YouTube (you can check it out here: https://youtube/watch?v=PLj3WC7dLGM). Within a couple of weeks, thousands of people had viewed the video and from the feedback that I received, it seemed that a lot of people liked it. This is pretty much the first creative thing that I’ve done that has not lost me any money. I didn’t have any CD’s manufactured, I didn’t make any T-shirts, I haven’t played any shows to promote the song and try to sell CD’s or shirts -- I simply recorded the song and put it online. No muss, no fuss. As I see it, people are making whatever music/art they feel like making. They always have and they will always continue to do so. From time to time, and for some unknown reason (and I honestly wish I knew the reason!!), something catches on. Once that something becomes popular, the music industry starts exploiting, and in some cases simply manufacturing, similar music. The original musicians who started this new “movement,” tend to be artists who follow their own muse and thrill in exploring new avenues. The music industry continues to produce the style of music that the original musicians started because that’s what is selling and creating revenue at the moment, while the originators have already moved on stylistically. Usually, their new style doesn’t sell as well as the previous style (it’s very rare for any band/musician to succeed financially at all, let alone to do it twice), and this just reinforces the music industries’ shunning of anything new -- it seemingly doesn’t sell. Eventually, the style of music becomes so watered down that it becomes a caricature of itself, stagnates, and is eventually supplanted by the next “experimental” wave of music. In other words, some style of music becomes popular because of an artist exploring the unknown. The unknown becomes known, and then becomes mundane and boring because no one dares deviate from the “proven” norm, until some other boundary-pushing artist becomes popular and the cycle starts all over again. Another issue is the money behind the music. Many music corporations have mechanisms in place to help assure success. Why wouldn’t they? Business people sit around a boardroom and analyze and chart what has the best possibility for financial reward. Then they put money behind their decision to help it sell. And familiarity sells. If you hear a song on the radio five times a day, hear it in television commercials, hear it at the mall, hear it in movies -- people will begin to like it because it is familiar, and the company’s investment will pay off. I have nothing against capitalism. It’s great! But let’s face it; no one is going to invest money in an artist to create art with absolutely no care towards recouping their money. A business that just hands out cash wouldn’t be in business for very long! The flip side of this is that as soon as someone gives an artist some money, that artist needs to produce product that will recover the initial investment and then, hopefully, bring in more money for the investor -- a profit. The artist is now creating art for the investor rather than art for art’s sake. I feel that this hampers the artist’s creations. But these corporations aren’t “killing” music. The music industry is doing its own thing almost exclusive from the rest of the music world. It exists in its own bubble and as its own entity. It’s a business that trades in music product. It is no different than a company that sells sneakers or fast food. But other music exists outside of the corporate music world. In reality, almost any kind of music you could ever hope to hear exists. The internet has made that possible. So, I’ve decided to extricate myself from the whole “music business” and just free myself to create whatever I end up creating. If I free myself from trying to sell “product,” and simply write and record music and post if for free online, I think that my music will be truer. I think that I’ll be happier, too. And before anyone starts complaining that “if you put no value on your own music, how can you expect anyone else to put a value on it?,” I want you to know that I place a VERY HIGH value on my music. I simply want people to hear and enjoy it and I feel that money will hamper this. Do you value kindness? Do you value compassion? Do you value your heart and soul? People give these things away with no monetary value attached to them all the time. Does that make them worth any less? Or are they, in fact, valued even more because they are given selflessly? I just feel that right now, the right decision for me is to free myself from any outside considerations and just create. And let me tell you that it is a VERY frightening prospect! I feel both scared and freed at the same time. As a musician/artist, my job is to create something out of nothing at all. To sit all by myself with nothing in front of me, and create something new that has never existed before. And to try to touch people’s hearts and souls with just my idea, is a VERY difficult and daunting task. In fact, if I actually stopped to think about what I was trying to do, if I realized that most of my talent, most of my life’s work, will simply fall on deaf ears, touching no one, I would be too paralyzed by the fear of rejection, so consumed with the possibility -- the probability -- of failure, that I would never find the strength to even begin. So I try to just forge ahead and do what I do. I have always tried to create whatever my heart tells me to create, but at this point in my life, I feel that I have to free myself to create with little regard to reward. Of course, nothing exists in a vacuum. If I wanted to just create, I would play guitar alone. I would write and then burn the paper. I would simply think my ideas, and then turn away from them just as quickly. But I want to reach people. I just believe in the free exchange of ideas. Of course, some reward would be nice!! :-) But I’m past holding my art for ransom and demanding financial compensation. In this day and age, that just doesn’t seem to work. Like I said, this is a scary road! I wouldn’t mind some company. So, what can you do? You can listen. And if you like, you can share my creations. That’s it. We’ll see what happens. I will be posting most of what I do in a format that can be accessed freely by almost anyone anywhere. Check out my YouTube channel at https://youtube/channel/UCqj8uK7S_tyM3dQdpt7mTDQ, watch a video or twelve, like a video or twelve, make some comments (nice only, please!), and maybe even subscribe to the channel (you know, so you don’t miss out on anything!!). Join in my adventure and we’ll see how this all shakes out. Thank you for reading, and let’s see where this journey takes us!!!
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:23:59 +0000
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