You're Going to End Up Underneath a Bridge...

  My dad said that to me my senior year in high school after he asked me if I was going to college. He actually said to me, "You're going to wind up underneath a bridge with a jug of wine in your hand". At the time I thought it was a really lame thing to say to your son but after few days of thinking about it I kind of understood why he said it. He was a mill worker and he came from a what was then a middle class background and he wanted me to "become somebody". He wanted me to be more than just a mill worker like him. 

  About 9 years later I gave him a cassette tape of the Heart "self titled" record that I worked on. Before I handed it to him I had thought briefly about reminding him of his insult back in the day, but I thought better of it. Reality was, I had "become somebody". My name was on a record that was selling millions of copies and I worked my ass off to put myself in a position for that to happen. It was all good between me and him from that point on :)  

   To "become somebody" in the music business now days is a lot more difficult than it used to be. There's millions of bands/artists to compete with now. The music business itself is playing catch up after years of making high priced records with one or two good songs on them, letting the bit torrent sights consume their profits and not organizing within themselves. Now we're at the point where our creativity is rewarded with 99 cents a song and a computer company rules the industry. Sorry about the rant, but I'm very passionate about music and the people that create it. Now our music is almost worthless monetarily. I guess the upside is it still means something to people.    

  I do think there's a bright future ahead for those who are willing to put in the time. There may be even more opportunity out there than there used to be in many respects. With all the widgets, apps and social networks to utilize, you can gain more exposure than ever! You can have your music all over the place if you get hooked up with the right distribution outlets. Live music is a big draw still so we have that going for us :)

   That's the optimist in me talking, and yes, all that's true. But reality is, we musicians are not about that. Playing music is what we're all about. Write it, play it, live it. That's what we want to do. We prefer to take the "if we build it, they will come" approach. But that type of thinking is simply idealistic. It takes thousands of downloads to pay for merch, record and promote your record, plus pay the bills. Several years and a couple fashion trends can go by before you get somewhere thinking like that.

   Every city in America has several bands that do a lot more work than play. Many of them aren't very talented, yet they draw more people than bands that are twice as talented as they are. Those are the bands that have taken advantage of the access they have to people and accepted the fact that no one is going to do it for them. I applaud those who are willing to adapt to the environment and survive. They're not just "dreaming" about it, they're taking the bull by the horns!  

  Congrats To Indie Bands and Labels (and of course, my Jibe Records)!