BACK AFTER A WHILE. THE CRAFT OF WEARING MANY HATS.
Hellooooooooo!!! Sorry I've been away for a bit. Actually I haven't been away, just have not written anything on here for a while. It is my web site, and I enjoy it but I participate in several forums around the Internet and so I often sort of neglect my own efforts. But I hope I can put up something you will find interesting and you might let me know what you would be interested in.
SOCIAL media now is a nessacity in any writer or artists lives. We have to do a lot of things we used to NOT have to do. A while ago things were very segmented:
Writers wrote songs.
Publishers promoted those songs.
Song pluggers pitched those songs.
Artists recorded those songs.
Producers produced those songs on the artists.
Labels distributed those artists and songs.
Publicists promoted those songs.
Fan club presidents promoted those artists.
Booking agents booked the gigs.
Magazines featured articles on those artists and songs.
Managers managed everything about the artists and songs.
And so on and so forth and so on.....
NOW.
It is a DO IT YOURSELF WORLD. We have to be our own writer, artist, publicist, agent, manager, fan club, producer, tour manager, song plugger, publisher, you name it, WE DO IT!!!!!
It's one more thing that weeds out people trying to do this. People still are thinking if....
I just get a manager, a publisher, a producer, a booking agent.....
And the people in HELL want ICE WATER TOO.
There are a lot of things that USE TO BE. Not so much anymore So what to do?
Building TEAMS are a huge deal. Do you have friends? Do you have people interested in helping you out? LET THEM DO IT.
If you are WRITER, primarily, scour your area for up and coming artists. Befriending them, becoming part of THEIR TEAMS. If you are an artist, look for writers. Learn the craft. Far too many artists are promoting sub standard quality on their songs. Far too many writers are waiting on the GOOD RECORDING FAIRY to drop down and annoint their songs with success! Again, doesn't happen that way. And REALLY NEVER DID!!!!
So how do you do this?
#1. GO WHERE YOUR TRIBE CONGREGATES.
A lot of this is Internet based now. But never overlook your home town base. They are out there. Trust me. Look for writers shows, open mics, talent contests, open stages.
#2. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS.
Instead of coming up and saying "hey I've got songs, you want some?" Why don't you sit DOWN with those artists and get to know what they want to say?
#3. INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR SONGWRITING.
There is something about ;LISTENING to an artist and finding out where they are coming from, what they are passionate about. and helping them to get to that. Make them a part of what you do, instead of just trying to SHOVE words in their mouths.
#4. GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY.
Artists will often write the same song over and over again. Really evident when they are doing a solo set and up there with every single song sounding the same. We all can get caught up in what we are doing, and not see the similarities in what we do. Helps to have someone to bounce things off of.
#5. WATCH AUDIENCES.
One of the biggest challenges we have now is getting people to PUT DOWN THE CELL PHONE. Most people have incredibly short attention spans so watching how audiences react to others are very important .Are they tuned in or tuned out? Where are they losing their attention?
Make notes and try not to repeat the mistakes others make.
There are many more, but as I like reacting to what people want to talk about, I'll leave it here for now.
Good to be able to talk to you. If I can help, just let me know.
MAB