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O list, With the talk about media, inclusiveness or exclusion to or from "the music biz," labeling, et al. I have a couple of thoughts... 1) I once had a (very nice) email exchange with a critic who had (positively) reviewed my CD in a well-known, nationally-distributed magazine. The critic's email address was @starbucks.com. Not exactly a domain name that suggests a "self-appointed" critic, firmly ensconsed "within" the industry, enforcing a bastion of exclusionist, gatekeeper-mongering elitism. 2) If I'm not mistaken, Wes Montgomery worked a day job until the day he died, or at least throughout the vast majority of his "professional" existence. A great many music writers, promoters, managers, and (of course) musicians who are very much a part of "the biz" derive some or all of their income from sources other than those which are 100% based upon music. It can be an easy psychological trick for a person to feel like they're on the outside looking in if they're not paying all their bills with music, but it's simply not an accurate or realistic assessment. It's not as if you one day cross into a threshold forevermore seperating you from the mere mortals. Mr. DT/S-C sums it up nicely (as usual) when he remarks that EVERYONE who's doing their music at whatever level is, in some way or another, part of "the biz." Just one example: many (probably most) of the 120,000 + artists on mp3.com are not full-time pro musicians. But get enough of them in one place, and suddenly they're comprising one of the most visible and important indie music resources around. 3) With regards to the age-old lament about labeling or categorizing what one does, and the "evils" of putting music into specific genres... Here's a quote from Derek Sivers, who runs CD Baby (and who is himself a veteran of successful marketing and selling of indie music): ============================================================== IF YOU DON'T SAY WHAT YOU SOUND LIKE, YOU WON'T MAKE ANY FANS. A person asks you, "What kind of music do you do?" Musicians say, "All styles. Everything." That person then asks, "So who do you sound like?" Musicians say, "Nobody. We're totally unique. Like nothing you've ever heard before." What does that person do? Nothing. They might make a vague promise to check you out sometime. Then they walk on, and forget about you! Why??? You didn't arouse their curiosity! ================================== You don't need to take this as gospel, but it does raise a good point: very, very, very few people are doing things so utterly obscure and unheard-of that they have no existing points of reference whatsoever. A lot of musicians have a hard time describing what they do (myself included), but it's a very good idea to try and get over that obstacle. Why? Well, how are you going to differentiate yourself from the other 120,000 people on mp3.com? Or the other 5,000 albums at CD Baby? Or the other 200,000 CDs at a giant record store? Or the other 1,000,000 + files on Napster? Or the other hundreds of people on the Looper's Delight List of Artists? Yes, of course your music sounds different, and of course people are going to hear that once they find you. But getting those people to hear you in the first place... aye, there's the rub. Anyway... Andre LaFosse | Disruption Theory | http://www.altruistmusic.com ================================================================ "A spectacular collision of manifold musical thoughts and patterns... To call Disruption Theory a futuristic album would be an understatement." (20th Century Guitar Magazine, February 2001) "His six-stringer is pumped up with energy, creating a firestorm of pyrotechnics and burning sounds, but with a sensitivity to weirdness and experimentation. Disruption Theory reveals the difference it makes when a player knows what he is doing. Here is one that deserves the title 'unique'." (Expose Magazine, October 2000) "Fripp and Zappa, step aside." (MOJO Magazine, May 2000) =========================================================