Hello folks,
Made it to Townsend with no problems. Looking forward to the show tonight. My friends Karen Reynolds and Scott Southworth and I will be tearing this little village up.This place is beautiful! Nestled right in the Smokey Mountains, has a beautiful little river running through it, little shops and resturants all over. A great place. Mountain cabins, I LOVE IT. Unfortunately, I am alone here since Tina Dee Babe has gone to New Jersey, and the rest of my crew all had other things and couldn't make this trip. So I'll hang out today and head back in the morning. my friends Janice and Charles Cox have a picking party tomorrow night so will try to make that.
Kevin, thanks so much for that list of "YOU TUBE superstars. I have heard about a lot of those people, although a lot of times hearing stuff on the Internet and finding out the reality are often two different things.A few years back we had a phenomenon called "SECOND LIFE" which was a virtual reality cartoon world that a lot of people proclaimed they were making a lot of money with their music on. When it was boiled down, you found out the money they were making was in an artificial currency known as "LINDEN BUCKS" which was the currency of that web site. it actually didn't translate into much "real money." Kind of like having TEN MILLION PESOS or FIFTY MILLION FRANCS, and finding out it is only about $10 American.
I don't know about all these YOU TUBE sensations, I am sure some are doing quite nicely. I tend to think most are like that South Park Episode of the boys getting millions of "hits' and going to try and collect their money, only to be around all these other "YOU TUBE" millionaires. The truth was that they got a lot of likes and hits but no actual money. At the end of the episode they all kill each other so that was fun. I am sure some people are doing it, but I would be willing to bet that it is NOT quite as advertised. I recently had a record company person taking about this to some other people and he claimed the Internet alone has never broken an artist. That might change,but I suspect there is more involved than just the Internet alone.
Interestingly they included Justin Beiber, who I do know a little about. The Internet did propel him quite a bit and enabled him to be seen. but they neglect to mention that at the same time, his Mother and he were doing radio tours around Canada and the US and in each City would rent out a store front and have free concerts to meet his fans face to face. Taylor Swift did much of the same thing. So there actually was quite a live dynamic involved in his career. It just doesn't sound as "magically techie world" to say, "Yes he was launched on You Tube but also played 200 dates a year at the VFW halls, rec centers, shopping malls and Grocery Store Grand Openings." And if I was Facebook, Google, Twitter, Snap Chat, etc. and wanted to have ten million OTHER kids and their parents wanting to have sites and pay advertising money, I would certainly play that angle up also.
I remember an article I read last year on one of my industry articles about a girl that was making $10,000 a SONG on COVER VERSIONS of other people's songs. She was this sensation and was really interesting because some of the really huge artists, were not making that with their own records, some of which she was covering. So it was one of those "exposes'" about the modern music industry. As you read the article, you found out that the numbers were very misleading. That she might be generating that in advertising revenue, but she ended up paying so much in liscencing fees to the writers, publishers and artists and paying fees to the sites she was involved in, the "$10,000 was wittled down to less than a thousand per song. Still pretty good, but not exactly as advertised.And it really was not just the songs that she was selling as she had a quirky personality and resonated with a lot of girls her own age, who were all fans of hers. So a lot of this can be quite deceiving. And of course you also have to define "making a living. If you are 18 years old, living in your parents basement with no expenses, making $3000-$7000 a year might be a decent living. Trying to feed a family of four, pay a mortgage, etc. is kind of a different deal.
I don't know. I think we still have to play up the "live angle" and don't ever see that dissapearing. Because, yes the Net is a huge tool, but you have to keep it in perspective.There are also BILLIONS of pieces of information a DAY going up there. So you can be the HOTTEST VIRAL SENSATION in the morning and be a "Who was that?" by lunch.
We have to use it, but I wouldn't depend on it for my whole career. Like betting your rent, your kid's college and your food budget on the lottery. someone will win those hundreds of millions of dollars. But the Bank, the grocery, the car payments, the landlords, are rarely going to wait around till your ship comes in to be paid.
MAB
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