Vision -- Living What You Want to Be

Anybody out there ever feel as if they are "getting nowhere fast" in the Music Biz?

If you have never felt that hollow depression that comes from listening to the phone NOT ring, you probably just haven't been writing songs and/or performing them long enough!

If you have been around a while (as I have) you will know that the national music business is one of the most difficult in the world to become a part of. Even if you have the good fortune of personally meeting the stars of this industry, there is an unmistakable "glass ceiling" that seems to separate them from us. Unless we have had a Number One Hit that puts us into the inner circle, we will always feel that distance...that boundary. It really has nothing to do with whether we are writing great material -- or whether we are touching the lives of many people through our songs, our concerts or our websites. In fact, we may be selling more product than the writers and artists with "record deals" (whatever that means these days). But unless we have somehow found a way to "leap the wall" that separates the Stars from Mere Mortals, we will never feel like an insider.

Unfair, you say! Perhaps. But that's the way it is. There is, however, something that we can do to be pro-active and play a part to change this paradigm. It's pretty simple, really. We can start to LIVE THE KIND OF MUSIC INDUSTRY WE WOULD LIKE TO BE A PART OF.

What does that mean? Simply this: We must come to a point where we realize that we are truly all the same. No matter how glamorous or famous a personality may be, they deal with the same stuff we do every day. They get colds and flus. They have problems with their relationships...their kids...their parents and the management of their time. They get headaches, heartaches and stomach aches. They are where they are because a series of circumstances have put them there...just like a series of circumstances have put us where we are.

The same principle applies to people who may not be as well known or famous as WE are...those just starting their music journey. Songwriters who are downright BAD at this craft. Singers with voices that will NEVER be heard on the radio. But they are people too. They have a right to be respected for who they are and what they are good at.

Once we have settled the fact that we are no better or no worse than anyone else on this planet, we will experience something of a metamorphosis. We will start living the kind of Music Industry we really want to be a part of. We will not suck up to the stars or look down on the beginners. And to quote a former president, there will be a "thousand points of light" glimmering amidst the darkness of the Music/Entertainment Business of the past. We will begin to be agents of change in an emerging new culture where Art is again Art and where People are respected as People.

Anybody want to join me?