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> Rare is the artist who takes the time to build a solid foundation of fans/patrons. Amen. I'm just getting back into music as my next "career" move (touring musician/technomad starting 2010 :). This year has been spent getting the small stuff in place and slowly building a listener-base online and around town. Blogging, twittering, posting songs for feedback, playing open mic nights, joining song circles, networking. Mostly the type of stuff any real business person has to do to make their business succeed, and for artists it's no different. I've been self-employed for 8 years now (time flies!), and I know over-night successes are fiction. It's a constant struggle to maintain or improve where you're at. Things are made to appear over-night when they took years getting to the point where the forward motion reached that level. I'm hoping to take the same approach to slowly building a music career, and I don't expect it to take just a few years. It will take as long as it takes, doing what it takes, but it's the only approach that works. It's great to hear of others doing the same thing too, right on! That's the main reason why I love HN as a community. One story that stuck with me, cheesy as it was, was from a speaker I saw back in high school. He was talking about how you see a basketball star, or the math wiz in class, or your favourite band, and how it's easy to say "wow, that's magic!" as if they were just born with the natural aptitude and were instantly where they are today. He said that what's magic is what you don't see, Michael Jordan practicing every day for hours, the band rehearsing and playing small gigs for 10 years, the math wiz actually doing his homework. I always took that to mean we make our own magic happen when people aren't looking :) |
And that right there was my first big mistake. I'd jump into an art career half-assed, and if it didn't take off like a rocket in six months, I'd put it aside and collect a Day Job paycheck. As a result, I'm pushing 40 and my art is at a stage right now where it should've been fifteen years ago.
But I didn't stick with it, and all that time is wasted time now. I listened to people who didn't understand a thing about art, and measured my success by the "get rich quick and get a Hollywood deal!" crap that everyone thinks is the true measure of success. I fucked it up and missed out on all those years of working every day to get better. Right now, I'm scrambling as fast as I can to catch up.
Those of you in your 20s, let me say this: If there's something you can't stop thinking about--whether it's art, music, coding, or whatever--then just do it. Even if you suck at it right now, it's better to get all the suckitude out of your system now, while you're young, so that by the time you're my age, you've put all that behind you and your craft is nice and polished.
Hook me up with a link to your music, man! I wanna hear it. If it's something that jives with my artwork, I'd be willing to give you a free plug. If you'd like to reciprocate, let me know.
Currently, I'm creating a comic and related artwork for that niche of people who are tired of all-ages, family-friendly nonsense. The comic's NSFW, but it's nothing racier than you'd find in an old copy of Heavy Metal.
Link to the comic is: http://locus.keenspot.com
You'll wanna read it from the beginning, or it'll make no sense. TOC link is towards the top, under the banner and above the nav buttons.
And good luck with your music career! I've always wanted to make music, but have no talent for it. I live vicariously through all my musician friends. :)