Making an Album Blog 11 Immaterial Sacrifice Ok, time for my weekly blog update, I promise Im working on switching to video soon! I DID fulfill my promise of putting out a new tune, Forenoon, hope you heard and enjoyed it! This is just a quick, off the top, message about sacrifice and its role in pursuing a career in the arts. IMO, unless you come from money and live in a situation where your parents income allow you some financial room and safety, art as a career choice is a pretty rough road and it comes with a lot of sacrifice. In my experience the sacrifice was unnoticeable for about 10 yrs, not that it wasnt present, but because I was blinded with ambition. Im assuming this is how it is for most artists who come from blue collar homes- if the investment isnt available an unflinching pursuit must be. Contrary to what I thought, and how could one know- I mean they dress so blue collar, a lot of artists have come from wealthy families. Hell, I would say most professional artists have come from wealthy if not at least middle-class familys. (My sweeping generalization includes all fields considered Artistic: film, art- paint, draw, digital, photo, etc, music, literature,fashion, etc.) Of course its really difficult to recognize this in music because so much of the brand is building a story around a struggling artist. Trust me though, there is a difference between struggling to be heard in the industry and struggling to survive on top of it. In fact, my experience in creating a music business and working with other types of businessess which use music (in some way) has shown me, so many start-up companies are started by twenty-something people from wealthy families. Hell, I know, VERY FEW (I have to really think about it) people on the business side of music who did not come from a middle-class/wealthy home. I mean, the education required alone (Im guessing its *required) would already have cut lower-income families out of the mix (without available subsidies and the knowledge of them, oh and a lot of extra energy left over from swimming up-stream) Side Note: I went to a community college for two years on a poor mans grant and could only afford one semester at a University on a grant I received from doing 1.7k hrs of community service. Then... I quit... I was done...broke... and bored. In almost 17yrs of pursuing my dream (started in 98), Ive def grown a little bitter at the ease in which some wealthy kids can start and stop hobbies with little risk to themselves, while playing with a poor mans only route out. Ive def developed a low tolerance for that pseudo happenstance of fame or success which follows a few simple phone calls from someones powerful family member -sitting somewhere up the ladder. Basically, there is nothing I can do about it- and I may be wrong in my assessment of it, and well... truly, it may be a waste to allow myself the self-destructing pleasure of jealousy. You know what...no, the talk of physical, material, sacrifice is a little self-righteous and boring no? Lets switch gears... I will only talk about one type of sacrifice today and its not the material kind. How about that? I think I could make a long list (as anyone may whove started a business from nothing) of material items I needed to give up in order to sustain my career as an artist. I could also make a separate list of safetys and perceived certainties that I had to give up to continue. And its continuous... And... I know, even now that I may not have this career in another year... Actually who knows anything in this business haha. Sorry got derailed ha. Yes, a different type of sacrifice has been required lately and its of the EGO... This is a tough one...man, in fact- my whole rant about wealthy people making art could simply be a derivative of thee ego. The toughest part is the bi-polar nature of public attention and perception. So much of the music industry is forced perspective, it really is an entire business built on selling fairy tales and creating super heroes. I dont think its anything genius, I think it just plays so well with the weakest part of our desires. Its a big piece of candy for a huge sweet tooth. Its magic really, the same principle- a little misdirection mixed with the viewers passion to believe anything is possible. So see me on stage with 5k+ people watching, or with The Roots at the famous Fillmore in SF, or my song on MTV and some people will get a different estimation of my value as an artist as opposed to seeing me on stage with 5 people watching, opening up for your local group at some restaurant that smells like fish and cigarettes, and well... hearing my song in an email I begged you to open... Same music, same words, same passion, same amount of work, same artist... Different image... And we all know what image is... Ill get a fan who saw me at a 30K person convention, massive stage, huge sound, just cool everywhere you look... and they might think I dont have one single second to shake their hand and thank them for their support. Ill get a semi-fan who might have heard a song of mine on Youtube with only 200 views and assume that means I need his advice on writing a songs, a beat from him, and a free verse- from him. Ive been given some of the greatest Hip Hop beats (IMO) from some of the greatest Hip Hop producers (IMO) one day and then Ill get an email from someone who heard my sound and thinks I have potential and how they would be willing to give me a discount on a beat straight fire doe!. People see you as a poet, they see you as a fool, they see you as an amateur, they see you as a master, they wanna give you $$$ for a show, they want you to pay them $$$$$ to do a show... Youre constantly over and under estimated at a rate to quick to adjust to... You have to pick one idea of yourself and run with it. So to some you will be humble and to another you will be arrogant... Nothing IMO seems to be truly quantifiable, sure maybe some parts of art will never be, but art hasnt even come into the picture yet... unless we are talking about the art of suggestion, deceit, marketing, promotion, image...etc. Its a very difficult sea to navigate, this ego of mine. Who am I, what is my art worth? What is my time worth? My experience? My work? My sacrifice? How do you measure the value of a song? Is there a dollar amount that reflects it? Would it be the same as a cup of coffee? Wait...what is the average price of a coffee at Starbucks? What is the price of an image? Does it have value? Is that more valuable then who I really am? Most of the time when someone goes from thinking Im an amateur they can ignore to a true artist they must know more about... nothing in my art has changed, everything in the art itself has remained exactly the same... Its just the environment... the wind. And thats a whole system of thought you can not take seriously...or your ego will never settle. I havent mastered it no... its still a sacrifice. (Well, probably my most disjointed blog yet... haha, def should switch to video soon, as always I will try and make a new blog every Monday... if you got anything out of this give it a Like.)
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 23:24:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015