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4 months ago
in State of Music Now | BBluesman/Mark Forman on BBluesman/Mark Forman
I like your new photo style btw. What you using?
1 reply
bbluesman
A combination of PS filters including LUCIS Arts and NIK-thx.
4 months ago
in State of Music Now | BBluesman/Mark Forman on BBluesman/Mark Forman
The "problem" with many musicians in SL with regards to the business side (ie: money and "fame" as the primary motivations for playing music) can be pretty much summed up by JJ's article here: http://www.sparklefox.com/advice-music-1.html
I quote:
"The sad truth is most musicians today won't work that hard. They erroneously believe that the public should accept whatever they do and make little effort to win over audiences. And the major labels are only interested in a quick buck, they won't develop an artist. Why are the sounds of yesterday dominating today? Because the current state of the music industry is a sad reflection of America's general decline, our culture of instant gratification- corporate greed on one hand and the childish notion that success should be automatic on the other. Nobody wants to work hard to earn something of lasting value."
sl is rl is sl etc etc
Anyone who aspires to rise above competency in ANY field and aspire to high level performance has to be motivated beyond the mere extrinsic motivation of finance. This not to say that finance is not important and is obviously a key business metric (among others) for the successful indie musician - real or virtual. Some people in SL make the amounts you say, some less, some more, some charge ridiculous sums to play in what is a developing economy, others are free. Don't assume anything without knowledge would be my advice;-)
re: motivation
There are many books that cover this area (and no, Malcom Gladwell did not invent with the 10000 theory of field mastery, he lifted it from many years of research in the studies of performance analysis and psych - will someone please tell Lefstez this!)
Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology. is an excellent book relevant to anyone who wishes to know more about the process of developing mastery and motivation in any field. It's focused on trading but he draws on many fields to illustrate.
http://www.amazon.com/Enhancing-Trader-Performa...
Back in my dim dark past I was once a world champion skydiver, competing in three world championships for Australia, and from personal experience in that field know a little about the topic;-)
I quote:
"The sad truth is most musicians today won't work that hard. They erroneously believe that the public should accept whatever they do and make little effort to win over audiences. And the major labels are only interested in a quick buck, they won't develop an artist. Why are the sounds of yesterday dominating today? Because the current state of the music industry is a sad reflection of America's general decline, our culture of instant gratification- corporate greed on one hand and the childish notion that success should be automatic on the other. Nobody wants to work hard to earn something of lasting value."
sl is rl is sl etc etc
Anyone who aspires to rise above competency in ANY field and aspire to high level performance has to be motivated beyond the mere extrinsic motivation of finance. This not to say that finance is not important and is obviously a key business metric (among others) for the successful indie musician - real or virtual. Some people in SL make the amounts you say, some less, some more, some charge ridiculous sums to play in what is a developing economy, others are free. Don't assume anything without knowledge would be my advice;-)
re: motivation
There are many books that cover this area (and no, Malcom Gladwell did not invent with the 10000 theory of field mastery, he lifted it from many years of research in the studies of performance analysis and psych - will someone please tell Lefstez this!)
Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology. is an excellent book relevant to anyone who wishes to know more about the process of developing mastery and motivation in any field. It's focused on trading but he draws on many fields to illustrate.
http://www.amazon.com/Enhancing-Trader-Performa...
Back in my dim dark past I was once a world champion skydiver, competing in three world championships for Australia, and from personal experience in that field know a little about the topic;-)
1 reply
Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
re: The biz aspect I'm writing a white paper atm on exactly this topic.
As I finished the above post I literally just got this in my inbox, so hot off the http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ it's not even archived on his site yet.
What can I say but...he gets it;-))
"We've got a clean slate. Don't try to reach everybody, because everybody isn't interested. Don't care if the A&R man doesn't hear a single, just worry if you've got an audience that wants to hear your music. Don't focus on your SoundScan number, but your bottom line. How many t-shirts did you sell. How many deluxe packages. You've got to get people into the gig so you can sell them other shit. It's no different from a supermarket putting cheap items by the cash register. That's where you are, that's where you check out!
So the deafening roar of complaints by the oldsters should be completely ignored. The glory days are never coming back, certainly not in the old way. The major labels are marginalizing themselves, by clinging to the model of distributing hit product, when hit product is almost an oxymoron. Unless you sell the ones and twos, unless you're in the marginal world, you're screwed. It's kind of like Google. Imagine if they only provided a few searchable sites, and were looking for people to pay ten bucks for a direct hit. That's the model of the music business. Whereas Google serves everybody, exactly what they want, and makes its money on servicing a zillion niches. Everybody doesn't click on the same ad, you just click on what you want to.
Will someone roll up the acts to his and their advantage? That's Irving Azoff's play. That's what the merger is about. Is it the only way out? Of course not. But the alternative starts at the grass roots. With bands that generate followings. And finding a way to monetize those followings. Irving's a sexagenarian. The twentysomethings will inherit this business. But so many would rather work in Silicon Valley, the odds of success, the number of zeros on the paycheck, are so much higher...
I don't want you to believe in your record. I want other people to. And they come to music not by being hyped, not by being marketed to, but by word of mouth. It's a whole new paradigm. Radio broadcasting is a dying medium, just like network TV. Oh, there's still a business there, but it's not the future.
The handwriting is on the wall. Don't be dazzled by what's on TMZ, most of those people don't make any money. Don't look for an advance. Just look to make music so good that when someone hears it, they need to tell others about it.
How many people are going to tell their friends about Prince's new album? None. No one has hipped me to a new Prince track in fifteen years. The release of his album is a dead end. He's abused our trust. When you e-mail me an unsolicited track you abuse my trust. When you add me to your mailing list without asking first, you abuse my trust. When you focus on marketing as opposed to music, you've got your head up your ass."
As I finished the above post I literally just got this in my inbox, so hot off the http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ it's not even archived on his site yet.
What can I say but...he gets it;-))
"We've got a clean slate. Don't try to reach everybody, because everybody isn't interested. Don't care if the A&R man doesn't hear a single, just worry if you've got an audience that wants to hear your music. Don't focus on your SoundScan number, but your bottom line. How many t-shirts did you sell. How many deluxe packages. You've got to get people into the gig so you can sell them other shit. It's no different from a supermarket putting cheap items by the cash register. That's where you are, that's where you check out!
So the deafening roar of complaints by the oldsters should be completely ignored. The glory days are never coming back, certainly not in the old way. The major labels are marginalizing themselves, by clinging to the model of distributing hit product, when hit product is almost an oxymoron. Unless you sell the ones and twos, unless you're in the marginal world, you're screwed. It's kind of like Google. Imagine if they only provided a few searchable sites, and were looking for people to pay ten bucks for a direct hit. That's the model of the music business. Whereas Google serves everybody, exactly what they want, and makes its money on servicing a zillion niches. Everybody doesn't click on the same ad, you just click on what you want to.
Will someone roll up the acts to his and their advantage? That's Irving Azoff's play. That's what the merger is about. Is it the only way out? Of course not. But the alternative starts at the grass roots. With bands that generate followings. And finding a way to monetize those followings. Irving's a sexagenarian. The twentysomethings will inherit this business. But so many would rather work in Silicon Valley, the odds of success, the number of zeros on the paycheck, are so much higher...
I don't want you to believe in your record. I want other people to. And they come to music not by being hyped, not by being marketed to, but by word of mouth. It's a whole new paradigm. Radio broadcasting is a dying medium, just like network TV. Oh, there's still a business there, but it's not the future.
The handwriting is on the wall. Don't be dazzled by what's on TMZ, most of those people don't make any money. Don't look for an advance. Just look to make music so good that when someone hears it, they need to tell others about it.
How many people are going to tell their friends about Prince's new album? None. No one has hipped me to a new Prince track in fifteen years. The release of his album is a dead end. He's abused our trust. When you e-mail me an unsolicited track you abuse my trust. When you add me to your mailing list without asking first, you abuse my trust. When you focus on marketing as opposed to music, you've got your head up your ass."
4 months ago
in State of Music Now | BBluesman/Mark Forman on BBluesman/Mark Forman
Interesting and some valid observations/conversations.
"Whether they were really wearing underwear or any article of clothing is superfluous-the key point is it was perceived that way. It was perceived as too easy, hence limited value of the art performed and experienced."
No, YOU perceived it that way;-) And then you left;-))
Your opinion on this is no less valid than Morris Vig's opposing one here:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/02/weekend-open-f... (not to beat my own drum, but thanks Mr V)
Despite the drama's inherent in the "SL Music Scene" there are quite a number of us who just keep playing and connecting with true fans one by one, as Lefstez would say - whether by twitter, sl, vw's, facebook or whatever.
The Record Industry is Dead, Long Live the Music Industry...more on this to come;-)
"Whether they were really wearing underwear or any article of clothing is superfluous-the key point is it was perceived that way. It was perceived as too easy, hence limited value of the art performed and experienced."
No, YOU perceived it that way;-) And then you left;-))
Your opinion on this is no less valid than Morris Vig's opposing one here:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/02/weekend-open-f... (not to beat my own drum, but thanks Mr V)
Despite the drama's inherent in the "SL Music Scene" there are quite a number of us who just keep playing and connecting with true fans one by one, as Lefstez would say - whether by twitter, sl, vw's, facebook or whatever.
The Record Industry is Dead, Long Live the Music Industry...more on this to come;-)
2 replies
Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa
oh...and here's another viewpoint from the SL gigs I did with Moshang:
"he finds the time to come in-world and, together with MoShang Zhao, put on the chillest events I'd never imagined possible."
http://npirl.blogspot.com/2008/01/synaesthasia-...
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/02/bettinas-choi-...
"he finds the time to come in-world and, together with MoShang Zhao, put on the chillest events I'd never imagined possible."
http://npirl.blogspot.com/2008/01/synaesthasia-...
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/02/bettinas-choi-...
bbluesman
Hi Paul,Blues in Briefsman? Komuso in Boxer Blues? Good comment and great
that you're carrying on and connecting. Those are 2 of the key points aside
from the biz aspect of the conversation. Why did you learn to play and what
motivates you to keep on playing if not the joy of music and the
connectivity element.
that you're carrying on and connecting. Those are 2 of the key points aside
from the biz aspect of the conversation. Why did you learn to play and what
motivates you to keep on playing if not the joy of music and the
connectivity element.
