Several years ago I was doing some freelance marketing work for a company called Java Music. Well, I was cleaning the hard drive on the ol' IMac the other day and found a series of articles that I wrote for them. I'll post them here in the journal section from time-to-time for your entertainment. I don't know how relevant they are for you - or in general anymore. But, hey...no charge.
	Entry #3: Musical Myths At one time an artist had to work really hard to become noticed by a worldwide audience. But now - thanks to the Internet all one has to do is upload a few tunes and wait for fame and fortune to come a knocking. If only it was true. Sadly a couple of new trends seem to becoming even more exaggerated than they were in the day when people fought hard to get record deals in the old days before the Internet allowed the artist to become their own virtual record label.. In this column we will investigate some of those old myths and mistakes, some new ones and how to avoid them. Myth #1 "If only I could get a record deal I know I'll get rich and famous" This is one of the biggest and oldest myths since the beginning of recorded music. The belief that a record deal is the end all "Holy Grail" to all your music career dream is sort of like adolescent girl who believes getting married will give true meaning to her life. Both are in for a rude awakening as neither is a goal or an end unto itself but the beginning of a whole new world of challenges that can only be met with putting in the time and pushing toward a stronger new set of goals. Getting a record deal or even self-producing your own project is simply the tip of the iceberg. With this endeavoring through the creative process comes one very over looked factor, hard work. To illustrate - as an artist you have had your whole life to come up with 11 or 12 of your best songs to put out on your first record or website. Then you have a year or so tops to come up with even stronger material for songs on your next project or you wither on the vine of the sophomore slump. Or worse you become one of many artist who gets what seem like a lot of money on a record deal only to have your music not be released at all. Then you're back to square one only without your 11 or 12 best songs because someone else may now own them. The way to ensure you are bulletproof is to begin with the end in sight and develop a strong work ethic now of writing and recording (if possible) and performing live as much as you can. And should you get the "big break" one day you can step up to the plate and deliver downtown in the big leagues. Myth # "I don't need to understand all that business stuff" This is sort of like walking though Central Park at midnight with fifty dollar bills hanging out of your pocket. The reason it is called the music business is because that's what it is. And if you don't want to protect your money there are plenty of people who will gladly collect it for themselves. It doesn't matter how altruist you believe you are now, if you're making music for arts sake or doing it for the Lord or simply not in it for the money. Trust me, if you start to see everyone around you making money off your music and all that goes with it your are going to want your fair share. And you might wake up empty handed simply because you failed to understand the nature of the music industry. Is everyone in the music biz going to try and rip you off? Of course not, but if you walk on to a car lot expecting to pay the over-inflated sticker price, don't hold you breath for the salesman to tell you they sell cars everyday for a lot less. I know it's nice to think that someday you can have others take care of all the nasty little money worries. However, if you don't have a basic understanding of the music industry, how will you know if they are doing their job right when working of you? Nothings worse than being thrilled over getting a nice check only to find out it's a quarter of what you could have had if you kept involved in you own business affairs. Any and everyone who is planning to make any foray into the music world need to read the ultimate one place source book on this music industry: This Business of Music by M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel, John Gross (the new 8th edition will be out this June 2000) Online it should cost you around $20 and you'll gain at least that back from the chapter on music publishing information alone. While reading this book, like most tomes of this type, it might at times leave you staring bleary eyed wondering who cares about songs in foreign films, overall if you have any degree of success you will find the knowledge you gain here to literally be money in the bank- but in your account not someone else's. Music like any other game is best played by knowing the rules. Myth #3 "Someday the Internet is going to make record companies non existent" This is sort of like saying there is such things as a winnable nuclear war. There may be life, but it won't be as we remember. Yes the Internet is changing the way music is discovered and delivered, but all that means is a change in the way music is distributed. If you think the local billion-dollar music company is standing around waiting for a bunch of young turks to pick up the office keys you've been misinformed. The advent of the Internet is very much like the change from vinyl to CD. People said "well, there goes the record stores" - but instead of loosing out to the new medium most stores took advantage of the fact that they could stock many more CD titles in the floor space of a 12 inch LP. Look for all sorts of new medium for retail to sell and for the possibilities of major record companies to start subscription services for their signed artist on the Internet. In the future, the Mp3 will become more then portable music. A stereo network model for home stereos has already hit the market in Japan and later this year will be in the states. And you can be sure car models are on the way, but don't expect to throw out that CD player yet. The great break though for independent artist is right here at JavaMusic.com where get paid for your downloads and not HAVE to manufacture physical CDs until you see how an audience responds to your works. Or get some income from the Java audience sampling your music before they buy your CD - incase you've already got a car trunk full of them. The big challenge for the artist and the majors is going to be the overwhelming amount of available content out there and how to market on the internet to make your presence known. That's where sites like JavaMusic help you the artist expose your music to people around the globe. Someone may come here looking for a jazz cut and catch a blurb for your art rock band just as one would impulse buy at the candy rack at the supermarket waiting to pay for a quart of milk. Rests assure it's going to be a brave new world, but you're still going to bump into some old corporate faces. The good news for you is every dollar these majors pay to push more people into downloading music is pushing them into your musical storefront here at JavaMusic. They take the free samples and you get paid. Think of it as handing out business in which you get paid. This could be the closest music has ever come to a win-win situation for all parties involved. Next time out we will explore some of the misconception about the function of various people you might find yourself working with on the road to musical success.