I’m always intrigued to hear artists and musicians tell their personal stories. With many of them, there is a common thread within their story–a bit of resistance they feel, especially as they get older, usually from family or significant others. The words may vary slightly, but the sentiment behind the words is pretty much the same:
“When are you gonna grow up?”
“When are you going to get a life?”
“When are you going to get a ‘real’ job?”
(Read the previous post to catch up.)
In the last post, we talked about the untimely death of Amy Winehouse, and let it steer us toward a discussion about how artists and musicians seem to be prone to addictive or self-destructive behavior. We talked about the compulsive nature of creativity, and I theorized (“rambled” is more like it) about how we as artists might avoid becoming the next casualty of addiction by aiming our compulsions in positive directions rather than negative ones.
News of the tragic death of singer Amy Winehouse has been all over the news this past week. Her drug and alcohol addiction were well-known, and although the autopsy results have been inconclusive thus far, most people assume substance abuse played a role in her death; and while many have expressed sorrow, few have expressed surprise. Even Winehouse’s parents were apparently already preparing themselves for the inevitable.
Here’s an early morning question to make your brain hurt (you’re welcome–it’s what I do):
Would you rather be a celebrity, or would you rather be a musician?
One response that might pop into a lot of people’s minds is: “Why can’t I be both?”
True enough–”celebrity” and “musician” are not polar opposites. There are plenty of great musicians who happen to be celebrities–and, of course, there are plenty of celebrities whose only real talent seems to be getting into trouble. 
It really isn’t an either/or question, although I’ve framed it that way. Rather, the question is actually intended to make you think about your goals. Is it your goal to make a career doing music, and to be the best at it that you can be? Or do you just want to be famous?
Music piracy has been the topic of much discussion in the past number of years. It’s been somewhat of an issue ever since we had the ability to record our vinyl records onto blank cassettes (remember those?), but it’s really come to the forefront with the advent of digital music. It’s just so easy now to make and share mp3 files, and people do it without even thinking about it. Even “nice” people who aren’t trying to be pirates. Someone once estimated that for every legal music download that occurs, there are at least six illegal downloads–and many think that is a conservative estimate.
Okay, so this post is going to ramble on philosophically for awhile. It’s my blog; deal with it.
Chances are, if you are a serious artist, you are a perfectionist. It’s hard not to be. Pursuing perfection seems to be just part of it. Our culture demands it, the competitive environment demands it, our business demands it, and we demand it of ourselves, for a variety of reasons.
But this presents an obvious dilemma–because nobody is perfect. Is this an exercise in futility? And if it’s wrong to pursue perfection in our art, how do we avoid mediocrity? Aren’t we supposed to drive ourselves to be better?
So this isn’t going to be one of those how-to-work-the-music-biz-to-jumpstart-your-career kind of posts. This is going to be one of those philosophical, rambling, make-your-brain-hurt kind of posts.
It’s just the kind of guy I am. Get used to it.
The question on the table is: what constitutes good art? Or, perhaps to phrase it better: what makes art good?
As a musician, what is it about the music you create that makes it “good”–and for that matter, who decides whether it is “good” or not?
And why is it even important?
Okay, musician friends, time to make your brains hurt a little. If you were to describe yourself as a musician, who you are, what you’re about, what your particular niche is…what would you say? Who are you, really?
As I’ve been covering the music scene as a blogger, I hear a lot of independent acts, both live and on record. A lot of them are fairly good, actually. Lots of talented people out there, and I respect and admire good talent when I see it.
Okay, musican/artist friends, it’s discussion time. I’ve said before that one of the reasons this blog exists is to help muscians toward their success. But it also occurs to me that “success” has a lot of different meanings for people.
So…the question on the table is: what does “success” mean to you?
How do you measure it, or what is the benchmark for it in your mind? Is it when you land the record deal, or when you sell a bajillion records? Is it when you are working steady? Is it when you’re making a living doing what you love?
