Less talk, more action

You know, sometimes the hardest part of being an artist, in this day and age, is that it's so easy to get caught up in the promotion, marketing, blogging, and talking about what we do that we sometimes forget to do it. Make art that is.

For the do-it-yourselfers, there is a lot to do ourselves and if we're not careful we can end up chasing the wrong rabbit. I mean, it's great that we learn how to market the art that we make, in fact, it's a necessity. Have you ever caught yourself relating more to marketers than artists though? I know I have. That's why I've taken the last couple of weeks off from, not just this blog, but most all of my non art related pursuits. It's part of the self evaluation process I talked about a while back.

What am i doing right? What am I doing wrong? What's working and what's not? Am I digging myself into a hole or am I getting done the things that are important. I mean, the last thing I want to do is look up one morning and realize that I don't have anything to market.

Yep, sometimes it's good to just shut up and plug in the guitar, set up the easel, wet the clay, or fire up the forge. You know, whatever it is you do to express your inner god or goddess. Your tribute to the Muse. Your own unique view of the world and it's inhabitants.

It's important to talk about what we do, but it's soooooo much more important to just do it.

Later,

Are you standing in your own way?

What's up, Heroes?

Do you ever feel like no one is listening to you when you talk about your music? I know I sure do. Sometimes I feel like I talk about it all day long and people just don't give a rat's ass. Now, I know that's not necessarily the truth, because other days people are all over it and I really feel the love that folks have for what I'm doing.

This got me to pondering what it is about my message that's different from one experience to the next. How am I relating what I'm saying that makes the difference between a good response and a bad one?

First off, if you don't love what you're doing, no one else will either. It's just a fact. If you act like you don't care if people listen to your new track, chances are they won't. I mean, why put in the effort to listen to something the creator doesn't give two shits about? Get excited about your product! Love your music, it is your creation, right? You wouldn't have spent all that time making it if you didn't love it, right? Make people see how much you love it! I know I love my music!

Second. Never apologize for your music. Seriously, it doesn't work. If you don't like the way it came out, start over. Don't present things you aren't happy with to others and expect them to be happy with them. Stand behind your work and don't give time to the people who don't like it. It just means that they are not your audience, and it's ok.

Third. Never compare yourself to anyone else. Not everyone is going to make the same connections as you do. This is something that's really struck me about other peoples thoughts about my music lately. I never would have seen the same comparisons. It's cool though because you can learn things about yourself that you never knew.

Fourth. Never be too moved by someone Else's critics of your music, good or bad. If people like what you do, that's real good, but it shouldn't shape how you make your music in the future. Make it for yourself, not for others.

If we stay true to ourselves and get genuinely excited about what we produce, that will shine out to the right following, but "genuine" is the key word.

Let's stop standing in our own way and let our music shine!