If a lemon and smokes breakfast yields songs like hers, I'm in.

Happy New Year!  I’ve been in Colombia hearing some remarkable music that I’ll be writing about soon.  I mention it now as an excuse for the delay in mentioning a favorite album of 2010, Sharon Van Etten’s, “Epic.”

The singer/songwriter genre is particularly tricky one.   The lyrically gifted ones can detail a personal struggle for insight from  anguish that summons us to reflect on our own lives .   Those less talented confuse earnestness with relevance or self-absorption with awareness.   On “Epic”, Sharon Van Etten hits an artistic grand slam.  Listen and learn, kids.

On each track of Epic, Von Etten’s vocals are front and center, her evocative lyrical tales supplanted occasionally by echo-laden ambient vocal sounds and a smattering of drums, reed sounds, pedal steel, and bass.  Every element frames the songs beautifully. The entire album is testament to the powerful reach of sonic simplicity and outstanding songwriting.

Can’t wait to hear her music live when she plays Lincoln Hall in Chicago.

Check out:   Sister Don’t Mind

Record label:  Badabing Records

Interview:  Sharon Van Etten Village Voice

Sharon Van Etten Tour Dates (courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

While Diplo is involved in numerous cool, fun projects, he is probably best known to date for his work with MIA and the track Paper Planes.

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The good news is that moving your career forward isn’t dependent on the subjective whims of a few gatekeepers.  While this means you have to work harder than ever to make yourself known,  at least it’s now up to you.

Journalist Paul Rogers sums up the current situation well in his excellent LA Weekly article:  A&R Starmakers:  The Vanishing Gatekeepers.

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When considering any choice you make during the recording process, you can avoid missing the big picture and simplify things by asking yourself, “Does making this change in the recording improve the song?”   If the answer is no, obviously leave it out.  Importantly,  if you truly can’t decide whether it improves it or not, then the answer still is leave it out. Every sound on your recording, every arrangement decision, every vocal, every mix technique should propel the song forward.  Flourishes that are pleasant but not helpful only drag down the impact of the important elements of your song.

Tom Petty believes his pop anthem “Free Fallin’” was greatly improved when producer Jeff Lynne simply suggested he remove some pleasant but non-integral chords from the song.  The advice was valuable enough that Tom gave Jeff a co-writing credit.

Often the adage is true that less is more.

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You create music, or at least you want to. It has been your passion for as long as you can remember and you can’t imagine life without it. Beyond your music’s immeasurable personal value, do you care how others respond? If so, is it possible for you to make a living from your music or at minimum generate some income?

You likely have a better chance of generating income from your musical creativity now more than ever. While much has been made of the collapse of the traditional music industry due to the digital distribution revolution, less has been said about the tremendous opportunities provided musicians and other artists by technological advances. Now you can record, mix, and master quality recordings for much less cost than a decade ago, and often using less workspace in your home or apartment than a small closet.  If you want to go from music as hobby (“I do what I do because that’s what I do and public response is irrelevant.”) to music as livelihood (“I do what I do and I’d like to make a living at it.”), start thinking about where your creative output – your music – exists relative to public interest.

For your music, you can save time, money, and frustration by being mindful of three things:

1. What is Your Music? Step outside your art and envision how others may perceive it. Ask the opinion of both people you respect and some that you don’t know well. Their perceptions may be surprising.
2. What is the Public Taste for Music? Be aware of the music that is around you beyond your own ‘comfort zone’ of taste. What are your fellow human beings responding to? Remember, you aren’t researching this to change how you create, rather you want to get a sense of whether your creativity has a potential audience.
3. How big is the Overlap of Your Music and Public Taste?

Perhaps you worry that the very act of asking yourself how your music is perceived may adversely affect your creativity and turn your unique vision into a pandering swirl of sonic mush. Eliminate this concern if it exists by considering these issues after you have created a song.  By applying such analysis with finished, or nearly finished, songs in this way you can protect your creative process.

Take a pen and paper and make a simple visual for yourself. Your estimate of the public’s taste will be a rough guess of course, but that’s fine. What is important now is the thought process.

A.     POPULAR MUSIC

The above image shows a large overlap that suggests broader  or mainstream potential for your music. If your hunch is correct you could have broad appeal and the potential income that goes with it. Keep in mind though that reaching a lot of people with your music can ultimately take a large investment of  time and money.  Still, there are ways to make this work.  We’ll address this in future postings.

B.     GENRE-SPECIFIC MUSIC

Image B show a smaller overlap representing a more genre specific or niche-oriented type of music. This smaller overlap area suggests perhaps lower income potential but you also probably won’t have a massive marketing expenditure either. You may be able to sustain a profitable career.

C.     OBSCURE MUSIC

Here we see minimal overlap. It is going to be tough to make a living doing this unless public trends change.  Still, you may be able to get some income by creatively (inexpensively) reaching those out in the world who identify with your music.  There  just may not be a big total pool of potential fans to draw from.  Ultimately,  maybe this shouldn’t matter anyway. The beauty and self-affirmation in creativity and expression for its own sake remains and you may be happier and more financially secure reaching 200 real fans versus spending too much money oversharing your music with people that won’t get it anyway. Enjoy and create!  Just don’t deplete your savings counting on monetary reward from your music.

Of possible interest: “For the Love of it: Amateurism and It’s Rivals”

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