Phi,
The thing you have to understand is that in this day and age, EVERYONE THINKS THEY ARE BOTH WRITERS AND ARTISTS!!! They are all entitled. This is what has formed over the past 15-20 years. Anyone can write their own song. Record it on their camera phone. Put it no Facebook. Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, I tunes, YOU TUBE, and start getting comments on it. It is the "Facebook" element of our culture. "Here is what I had for breakfast...here is my comments on the political scene, here is MY TOES IN THE SAND, here is what I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT EVERYTHING...." Everyone thinks EVERYONE HAS TO LISTEN TO THEM.
But in reality we have had the "bad cassette dub" syndrome. With each successive generation, there is less learning of the craft, less abilities. There is less and less that actually do bubble up. It just becomes mostly every thing sounding like everything else. You know the complaints. "I hate everything on the radio cause it sounds alike." It does. And it is the same in EVERY SINGLE FORMAT. Rock, RAP (ALL EXACTLY THE SAME ON PURPOSE), folk, blues, world, roots, Americana, you name the format, it is all the same. Just like in the old days when someone made a copy of a cassette, then made a copy from THAT cassette, then a dub from THAT cassette, etc. It gets less interesting with each successive generation. And the public doesn't care because they have endless supply. But they are not passionate about any of it, because it is all just another thing that we have. Same with television, movies, radio, video games, internet sites, sports teams, you name it. Endless supply and endless demand. And almost inperceptible 8 second attention spans. Something sucks? Go to the next thing that sucks and on and on and on.
Supply and demand.
This effect has been getting worse and worse expotentially each year since the Internet exploded. Now it is totally out of control. There is no real interest in quality because most people out there now or coming up have no CONNECTION to quality. It is not in their realm of understanding. There are plenty of us "old farts" that talk about it and feel we are going to get through to some people, and every once in a while a stand out. But mostly now it is who can have the most convincing product brand of the second and then be gone.
How to get your songs heard and how artists and writers have made it happens the same way now it has always happened. A person develops skills and their own approach. They learn from the people who came before them. They apply that and get out of their living room. They build consensus in their home areas. Then they have to move to a higher league. Many will move to the larger regions in their areas. Many will attempt the reality television show/contest route. A few will gravitate to the major centers, where most of them will be eaten up and move home or somewhere else, or completely quit within a relatively short time.
The really really special people, will find their way under the wing of someone ahead of them. They will get into writer's circles. They will be invited into special rounds, benefits. They will write with more and more people, record more and more songs, be invited into more and more events. Some will get some form of deal and if they can hang on the two or three years in development hell, they might get to see the light of day. Probably less than .0001% of people who start out doing this will get anywhere close to this.
But how are they heard? All word of mouth and refferall. Someone else has to be in their corner. In the current world, that is every good looking male or female, that get their shot. Hit and established writers, other artists, will have hundreds and thousands of people they are trying to bring along and promote. If you pay attention at the Frank Brown festival, you will see dozens of them. They will be under the arm of the hit writers. They will be on their shows, getting up and doing a couple of songs. They will be playing the open mics. They will be hanging around the hospitality rooms. Like everything else, most will wash out. That is just the facts.
Now people can get overnight success. But it lasts about that long. Over night. It is gone faster than it comes. Today's Viral sensation is tomorrow's trivia question about "what ever happened to?...."
There will be very few careers in the future that last past a couple of years. And during that time, they will expend more energy and money than they will ever make out.
Supply and demand. Can't get away from reality.
MAB
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Pamela Elaine likes this.