Just a follow-up thought...
It is really about CHOICES.
Which direction should I pursue?
I get the motivation behind cover band artists that are also creative people who write their own songs...
"Gee, there are many more cover venues than original venues. Cover bands can make more money out of the gate. And covers are crowd pleasers... even if the crowd doesn't know the band, they know these famous songs we are playing! I really need some cash and to get out there playing live! I'll just make sure I play at least 2 or 3 originals a set, and hey, that could work! Why can't I have my cake and eat it too?"
That's pretty. It is a dream.
It is also unrealistic and wishful thinking.
Life is about hard choices, and this is one of the hard ones. Do I settle on being a cover band, and getting to play before crowds on a regular basis and get paid for it?
Or do I really believe in my creativity and originality enough, to sacrifice the instant pay, and starve a little, and really try and establish a real original band with a unique identity and sound, that has a shot at real success?
It is a HARD, HARD, HARD decision.
And the odds are, that even if you make those sacrifices, you won't make it. But the alternative is always wondering "what if?"
What if I had really invested all my energies into creating the next sound?
What if I really would have made it, if I wasn't always trying to get that $100 bucks per gig, at the local dive, and pleasing the half dozen patrons that keep screaming for more Metallica?
When I was a kid, I took an interest in acting in plays. I joined a repertory acting company, that was part of an acting school, and we performed in local theaters and playhouses on a regular basis. The director of the company, had once told a girl who was in nursing school, to drop out.
"What? Drop out?"
"Yes. You are telling us all that you believe you have what it takes to be a professional actor, and to make it. But you will NEVER make it, when you are spending your time in nursing school and working in hospitals all day. Will your career be nursing? Or will it be acting? Decide on which, because it will not be both."
He told her that the term "starving actor" was not merely a cliche, but it was a reality, if she expected to make it. She would have to live, eat and breathe the theater, if she expected to succeed at it. Move to New York, or California, or some other media capital, and go to the cattle calls, and live in sh*t holes barely paying rent with your waitressing or odd jobs that are flexible, so you can make the cattle calls, and be able to leave that job behind easily, when you finally get hired for a play, that may run 6 weeks, or 6 months if it becomes successful.
"You have big dreams!" he told her. "They will require big sacrifices."
He could have been talking to any of us about making it in the music business just as easily.
It is the same animal.
.
It is really about CHOICES.
Which direction should I pursue?
I get the motivation behind cover band artists that are also creative people who write their own songs...
"Gee, there are many more cover venues than original venues. Cover bands can make more money out of the gate. And covers are crowd pleasers... even if the crowd doesn't know the band, they know these famous songs we are playing! I really need some cash and to get out there playing live! I'll just make sure I play at least 2 or 3 originals a set, and hey, that could work! Why can't I have my cake and eat it too?"
That's pretty. It is a dream.
It is also unrealistic and wishful thinking.
Life is about hard choices, and this is one of the hard ones. Do I settle on being a cover band, and getting to play before crowds on a regular basis and get paid for it?
Or do I really believe in my creativity and originality enough, to sacrifice the instant pay, and starve a little, and really try and establish a real original band with a unique identity and sound, that has a shot at real success?
It is a HARD, HARD, HARD decision.
And the odds are, that even if you make those sacrifices, you won't make it. But the alternative is always wondering "what if?"
What if I had really invested all my energies into creating the next sound?
What if I really would have made it, if I wasn't always trying to get that $100 bucks per gig, at the local dive, and pleasing the half dozen patrons that keep screaming for more Metallica?
When I was a kid, I took an interest in acting in plays. I joined a repertory acting company, that was part of an acting school, and we performed in local theaters and playhouses on a regular basis. The director of the company, had once told a girl who was in nursing school, to drop out.
"What? Drop out?"
"Yes. You are telling us all that you believe you have what it takes to be a professional actor, and to make it. But you will NEVER make it, when you are spending your time in nursing school and working in hospitals all day. Will your career be nursing? Or will it be acting? Decide on which, because it will not be both."
He told her that the term "starving actor" was not merely a cliche, but it was a reality, if she expected to make it. She would have to live, eat and breathe the theater, if she expected to succeed at it. Move to New York, or California, or some other media capital, and go to the cattle calls, and live in sh*t holes barely paying rent with your waitressing or odd jobs that are flexible, so you can make the cattle calls, and be able to leave that job behind easily, when you finally get hired for a play, that may run 6 weeks, or 6 months if it becomes successful.
"You have big dreams!" he told her. "They will require big sacrifices."
He could have been talking to any of us about making it in the music business just as easily.
It is the same animal.
.
*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ CRAIG MAXIM
Facebook: http://facebook.com/craigmaxim
MySpace: http://myspace.com/craigmaxim
Reverb Nation: http://reverbnation.com/craigmaxim
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ CRAIG MAXIM
Facebook: http://facebook.com/craigmaxim
MySpace: http://myspace.com/craigmaxim
Reverb Nation: http://reverbnation.com/craigmaxim
