That said, I still have a certain degree of difficulty understanding why people are so bat$#!t nuts about Amerikkan Idol or Britney Spears or why some folks would spend four hundred bucks to see Mick Jagger wave his chicken skin arms around, and I just recently got over my need to sanctimoniously disabuse people of their unwarranted admiration (in my eyes) of a certain guitarist once elevated to the status of diety by London graffitti artists... But, God bless 'em all, the music bidness (and the arts in general) ain't a meritocracy and, while it may sometimes seem more like a mediocracy, people like what they like and that's just fine. My dad is still convinced I could make a million bucks if I got into polka music. Hell, he may even be right about that...
The fact is, there is probably a decent audience out there for just about any art (music, theater, poetry, blah, blah, blah) that is created or performed with sincerity and conviction (witness the works of Ed Wood, Merrell Fankhauser and Ernest Hemmingway), and the real challenge for any artist is how to find that audience. I've been lucky enough to have found a small but faithful cadre of Usual Suspects that make it to a fair number of my shows and have purchased most of the music I've released, and I am tremendously grateful for their support (you know who you are!). I'm also tickled pink every time I check my CD Baby account and discover that some cat in Germany or New Zealand or Japan or the UK has downloaded some of my music; and my excitement that someone I've never met or performed for has decided they dig what I do is only matched by my overwhelming surprise that they actually found my music in the first place.
This whole "digital revolution" is a thing to be celebrated in that just about anyone can make a record now without a huge amount of cash or a contract with Satan, and have it be available for more or less world wide distribution with the click of a mouse...but the downside of this whole "digital revolution" is that just about anyone can make a record now without a huge amount of cash or a contract with Satan, and have it be available for more or less world wide distribution with the click of a mouse. There's just so darned much music out there and trying to get yourself noticed by anyone, much less the folks who may actually like it, is like trying to find the punch lines amidst the sea of pop cultural references in a Dennis Miller comedy routine. Add to that the fact that more and more people expect to pay less and less for the hot and cold running music gushing from their computers like water from a faucet (unless, of course, it's Mick Jagger waving his chicken skin arms around--then they'll pony up the Big Bucks), and the idea of Actually Making a Living from creating original music makes my dad's idea of forming a polka band sound almost downright practical. Almost...
So whaddyado? Well, in my case, I've just decided to stay with the Business of Busyness, and keep playing the gigs--even if it's just for three or four people--sending out the emails, recording new bits of music and releasing them to the winds in hopes that someone who would be inclined to like them notices them amongst the plurality of independently produced music out there in the Great Mediocracy. Every once in a while, I get lucky and I meet someone who really likes what I do, and they help me share it with other people, and that helps. Every once in a while, I get involved in a Big Event like the Lute Summit and I get to feel like I'm making some real waves in the artistic world. And, every once in a while, I find out that another cat from New Zealand has downloaded "The Original Fake Irish Pub Song" or "Bert the Dog" or "Honk" and that makes me smile in a mighty big way, and I imagine them telling their friends about this "mad geezer from the states who does these wicked cool songs about dogs and aliens and weird stuff like that", and I imagine their friends looking at them the way I look at my friends who are into Amerikkkkan Idol....
I can also ask those of you who are reading this to check out my stuff (see the little pictures to the left of this post). If you like it, spread the word. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell my dad, for heaven's sake! Every little bit helps both my ego and my wallet and keeping those two things full helps me keep doing what I do.
Speaking of which...here's what's on tap for 2010 (assuming I avoid artistic burnout):
- At least one new lute CD and probably a remix and re-release of an old one (with some new tracks!)
- Probably two new Subterranean Philharmonic Orchestra CD's
- Another CD of songs (by which incarnation of myownself, I haven't decided yet)
- More collaborations with other musicians, including the return of The Atomic Panic!
- More gigs in new venues
- More variety in my Madhatter shows (did someone say "Is...THIS your card?!?")
- Possibly a few more Fest appearances, including some broadside singing by the lovely and talented Mrs. G
- Fewer references to Mick Jagger's chicken skin arms.
See you on the other side!
Rick
