The Biz...

There but for the grace of God...

One thing I was never able to develop was an ability to keep up with the business part of the music business.  I'd come up with some semblance of a campaign with acquired information from various music publications at the time, follow up for a little while, but was never able to maintain it.  Every time I'd remember that I should follow up with someone be it record shops, publishers, radio stations, record companies, I felt like I was dragging myself through the mud & clinging to roots on one side of the bog to fight the thoughts that were pulling me to do some business on the other side..

I remember at one time I was in a band that played the local Holiday Inn 11 weeks out of the year.  During our breaks, I went through a 500 page listing of record companies, publishers, etc. all across the U.S.  I sent out index cards with my name on it asking permission to submit material to them.  Not a successful campaign.

Even calling the local record shop to check up on sales was a trial for me.  I've always said I'd prefer to pay someone to do all this, but of course, could never afford to do that.

I think I figured if the music was good enough, it would make it happen itself.  Wishful thinking?  Probably.  Being from the 'hippie' era, going with the flow was paramount.  So, if it was meant to happen, it would.

And I wonder if it had happened, would I really have been happy being on the road in crappy hotels & doing nothing all day waiting for the time to get onstage.

Fame & fortune, right?  Is that really the way we measure success?  Is that the way I should be measuring my own success?  Am I asking these questions because I don't have fame & fortune?

At my age now, I realize that I would've been miserable.  So, I should probably be grateful that it didn't happen, & yet, I still hold on to the dream of being able to support myself & live comfortably by writing music.  The dream is still alive.  Stubborn?  Passionate?  Both?

All you need is love...

See ya's