The public you is not you

To critique or be critiqued, that is the question.

This is some great advice, Derek – but it’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re an Independent artist.

Artists by their very nature are more sensitive than the average bear – which is why we flourish in artistic fields. We FEEL things much deeper; We laugh louder, cry harder … and bitch the loudest – particularly when someone takes a dig at our music.

If I had a dime for every time an artist hurled abuse, profanity and insanity at us regarding the review process on Fame Games, I’d be as minted as Simon Cowell. (And it goes without saying that Simon’s fame and fortune is built on killing off the Independent artist.)

Tunes from my first album are on garageband.com and my album is also for sale on cdbaby.com. Where do I benefit most? CDBaby, of course. Garageband with all its reviews by other well-meaning musicians (because let’s face it, not many music fans are into this sort of thing) has not put money in my pocket or given me anything meaningful other than a bit of ego-stroking or, ego-poking.

Sales are the biggest indicator of progress, which is why CDBaby has such potential to rock an Indie’s world. I say potential because as you know, just being on CDBaby isn’t enough.

Indies are inundated by advice, on-line discussions and websites all claiming they can help you promote your music and get music lovers, like Joe Blow from Chilliwack, Canada, to buy your music; To travel to Toronto and see your gig and buy your T-shirt and stand in line to have you sign his chest.

Joe Blow will seek out only what he knows, however. Joe listens to the radio driving to work; He goes to clubs on the weekend; He’s on YouTube, MySpace and in chat rooms during the week and watches a bit of TV before going to bed. Where is Indie music in this mix? Getting reviews on musician-driven sites and going nowhere.

If you’re In*de*pen*dent – you’re not on Joe’s radio. Terrestrial airplay costs about $30,000 just to get spinning properly in small markets (regular rotational airplay – which is the only kind that will get to Joe’s radio).

And if you’re In*de*pen*dent, you’re not getting played in clubs. Nope – the clubs in your area suck and play doosh-doosh-doosh from 10-2am. Your music “doesn’t fit the mix, dude.”

Sure, you’re on YouTube and MySpace, but so is friggin’ Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent, and plenty of soft –porn to distract poor Joe Blow. Not only that, but newly signed major label acts also abound, posing as “unsigned acts” and being hailed Internet phenomena. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118903788315518780.html

And television? Yeah, right. I was on the local news plenty of times, too.

What an Indie needs is an American Idol (or if you’re in England, X-Factor). Simon Cowell has done more for karaoke singers than all the majors, mini-majors and large Independent labels put together have done for the rest of us unsigned and undiscovered Indie artists and bands. Think about it – karaoke singers rule the music industry. When’s the last time you scanned the Billboard charts? How many Idol alums did you notice with not one, but two singles in the top 100? You’d be surprised.

American Idol works. It is the hottest music promotion device out there because it entertains Joe Blow. Say what you will- spit at your TV like I do when it comes on, but it’s true.

Which is why for the past 4 years I’ve been working with my producer on a format to rival American Idol. We’ve called it Fame Games and it’s for Indies and their music. No karaoke allowed.

We actually pitched this format to Simon Cowell’s TV production company two years ago in London. They turned us down because “the television network is very happy with X-Factor, thank you very much.”

Undettered, we went back to the drawing board and formatted it for radio (More manageable for our team of 2 which is now a team of 11.) The show is kicking some minor ass so far. In 18 months, we’ve gained 1.9 million listeners on-line. We also air terrestrially every Wednesday and Saturday in Southern Europe. The website for more info is www.meermusic.com.

For the masochistic mindset that you prescribe, Fame Games is a perfect exercise – and not just to be critiqued but to BE a critic and to be held accountable for your reviews. Select reviewers are read out on air each week and that makes all the difference.

Depending on individual manners, we’ve discovered that the Fame Games reviewers are as honest as they can be – some are really nasty and some are very balanced. One thing’s for sure, the reviewers who also put their music up for public scrutiny are the ones who really get the most out of the experience. Some artists have even made a name for themselves as reviewers first - and this drives their music’s likeability factor. (Proving your point about “say something controversial.”) There’s nothing like putting your money where you mouth is (or in this case – your music where your mouse is.)

So when you offer your three instructions for practicing the “public you is not you” mindset:

(1) Put your songs out there for anonymous critique;

(2) Put your songs out for non-anonymous critique, and realize it's the same as anonymous.

(3) Publicly say something controversial.

Fame Games nails all three.

And the outcome?

Some people enjoy feedback in any shape or form (5%).

Some enjoy only good feedback but don't scream when tortured by bad reviews (80%).

Some actually enjoy the bad feedback and use it to grow (5%).

Some are extremely tender, even when the feedback is good, and want to kill you and EVERYBODY when it's bad (10%).

And yet...

ANY feedback draws attention to the artist.

The moral?

When you release your music on CD or mp3 - you'll get a reaction no matter what. It will be good, bad or neutral.

But if you don't seek open-forum feedback - you'll never know...

My best to you, always, Derek. Nice little forum you got here.

I saw your post made it to the front page of Digg and I checked it out on O'Reilly.

I was going to comment and defend you to some degree but I figured you were a big boy and didn't need my help.

It was quite funny seeing all those hard-core programmer guys taking their best shot. I especially liked the guy who said CDBaby would not be good for your resume.

I think I am like you where I enjoy programming a lot (picked it up later in life) but we know it is a means to an end and not the end itself.

The end result for guys like us is actually making something and creating something out of nothing. The same as with music.

For a hard core programmer - the end result is not nearly as important as the actual coding! That is their box and that is how they view the world.

Similar to when these same programmers rant how facebook is all procedural code! Oh My God! It's the end of days!

Personally, I will take procedural code that Microsoft is willing to pony up $400 million for over some fully optimized OOP site that no one cares about.

The big picture stuff is more fun anyways.

Keep On Bootstrapping!

Matt Kern

People suck. LOL.

Seriously, I get all sorts of compliments and rants without asking for them from artists too. People want to give their opinion. I think having a thick skin is definitely key to staying around in the music business - or any business for that matter.

If I had a nickel for every artist that told me to #@$@# off I could buy myself a cup of coffee ;)

DJ Crier: You are so on the mark in regards to "Idol". About a year or so ago, Spin Magazine in their article "10 Ways to fix the music industry", suggested that we needed an American Idol type of show that would showcase great songwriting talent.

Good luck with Fame Game. I will be finding out more about it. Hopefully I can take part in it.

There's a nice site called BandAMP.com where you can only post your mp3's after you comment on other posted songs. I learned that it's just as hard to say the right thing when critiquing somebody else's as it is to get the right thing from a critique on your own music. And if you can kind of average out all the things people say about a song (and people will say just about anything), then you usually come up with something close to a useful truth.

-tehuti

Derek:

RE: Critiques by the public or A+R:

As a child of ten, I lay on the floor watching the Ed Sullivan show, when this band called "The Beatles" came on and, like Michael Corleone in "The Godfather", I was struck by the Lightning Bolt, as we Sicilians call it.

Now, as a man fast approaching 55, I question why I EVER thought that it was the right thing to send a major label a piece of my music when they are inbred, narrow-minded, money-focussed drones (mostly) who care nothing for critques of anyone lest it be "someone they love" (a lift from MPL communications Ltd., [Paul McCartney] ...even my hero's philosophy has become the same...remember the one-man band ad from Apple? Oh yeah, Sir Paul, but God, I love ya to death man...).

Having diatribed the jerks who denied me my fame whilst I was young a handsome, I want to say that the ONLY TRUE WAY to sell ANYTHING of creative output by an unknown is the CD Baby.com model. Oh...Hey! Isn't that what Procter and Gamble and Johnson and Johnson do....put out a product in the public's face and LET THEM DECIDE. They DO! Haleleujah!

It turns out that the ONE SONG from my 90+ CD Baby listings that I thought would NEVER SELL in a million, bazillion years is my number one seller by more than double it's closest rival. Screw critiques and free giveaways, let CD Baby load you up a page forever for a paltry 55 bucks

and let the people buy your work...or not.

Wrong.
Of course the negatives don't count, of course not. But the positives do. In my world, they do.

I might not want any comments from the peanut gallery, but I'll put a bowl of complimentary peanuts on the table and listen to compliments all day. (Pun)

It is nice to have self confidence and get less of a charge out of compliments, but let's not forget that they count. Otherwise we turn into senior citizens who forget all the things that ever counted, and end up hobbling around with low self esteem. My dad put graduation photos and certificates along his wall so he could have a wall of fame to hold on to.

Derek, when you sent me your second nice e-mail in two months I grabbed myself firmly and said, "Enjoy it, don't lessen it because it's the second one!"

I love this.

A bit late to the party, but thank you for this. I have to use my name very publicly for my business, so this is a useful reminder.

This is so helpful.

Really, really, helpful.

I like this. I just had my tv show launched and fortunately was able to enjoy watching the 'little video game character get attacked.' Thx

I once came home very late, and hit post, on a piece where I hadn't yet looked up the spelling of a Polish person's name, and hadn't yet put my web URL on the page (which you should do in case someone wants to print off your piece, and then find you again)

Result? Nasty comments on another site, and talking about me behind my back. (But they later took some comments back down) Also a request, for more digging for references, that wasn't even a full sentence, just a sentence fragment with a question mark. So I innocently posted more references... only to realize I was casting pearls before swine.

Real people type a full sentence, and respond. So I lost a lot of respect for my fellow fans. They don't deserve to be my peer group. (The piece was Death of Buffy, in January of 2012)

I have decided I like artists, such as musicians, better than computer guys. Fewer trolls.

This is an important lesson that I think everyone should embrace. I definitely grew up being used to praise for my talents and hate being disliked and am sensitive to negativity. I think this will help me if I apply this to my life. What a wonderful place we'd live in if we all just "filled our own cups" that never spilt, no matter the weather. Thank you for sharing this!

Perhaps it may be interesting to take it another step. The you that you consider as the 'real you' can be seen as equally unreal/real as the public persona.

Hi Derek,

Great info and advice in both the article itself, and the comments.

An intriguing thing about comments is that, any comment, whether good or bad, will help a person grow stronger (wiser) if taken in, and processed the "right" way.

Thanks for sharing.

On a famous blog, on a subject dear to me, I made several comments, and got several, uh, strong disagreements.

As I am a sensitive new age guy, SNAG for short, you might think I had a fast beating heart and puffy chest. Nope. Why not?

Put it this way: Mad Magazine once had a two page spread on non sequiturs, Latin for "it does not follow." If at supper you say proudly, "Some day I will play for the New York Yankees!" and a parent replies, "Real ball players take out the garbage." According to Mad, the parent has just made a non sequitur.

I guess it's a form of gas lighting. I remember those funny pages because, with all due respect to Mad, the cartoons were just not funny to me because I grew up with such talk all the dam time. (Am I still bitter? How can you tell?)

Anyways, instead of feeling attacked for my comments, I kept blinking in surprise at how people were attributing to me beliefs and words that I hadn't said.

In other words, they failed to read responsibly enough to even know the public me, let alone the private me.

Perfect article to read after updating my site recently and feeling nervous. Thanks!

I have my own place where I can hide from public. I can just choose to be alone and focus on fictions like books and movies.

The thing inside me that no one can distrub is 'self-control competence'. I can't control how others react to me because it's their thoughts and feelings. However, I can control how I feel and think about the reaction. I can cure my hurt feelings, avoid thinking about the bad situation and pull myself together.

I just read books when i'm criticized by people. There is wisdom in the book.

Thank you, I needed this today after a few years of being bashed online. That's it, that's exactly it, they don't know me and they're not talking about me.
:-) — Derek

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