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I originally got in to music sites to find out about media studies and networking. There was not the funding at the time when I first entered music sites for college. I want to do an album project with streaming videos. I have been uploading mp3's and have been getting opinions.
What is the more proper direction for someone like me in the industry?

R&M,

I am not sure what you are asking. You are doing pretty much everything you can do. A "non-performer" frankly does not stand much of a chance in the industry since the entire industry now is about product branding and it all comes back to live performance. While there are many people that use the Internet, the jury is quite out on how successful that ulitmately is. When you are a blip of electronic information that is replace in a nano second by billions of other electronic information, there is not much of a chance that you are going to experience anything other than some personal satisfaction.

And performers have their own problems. We all do. We all now have to do our own crowdfunding, go fund me, find ways to moneytize what we do. There are millions of us, so we have to try to captitalize any way we can.

In my experience, teaming up with artists and people you can know face to face is really the only way to fit into an industry that has no interest in any one fitting in. Now, the only real "funding" is what you raise yourself, beg from friends and relatives. There is not, nor ever has been, the "magic record company fairy" floating down to give money out to deserving artists. Those are only loans, and are only "loaned" if there is a chance to get paid back. If you are moving enough product to pay back record company loans (and interest), you really don't need a record company.

No matter how you look at it, if you want to know your chances in the industry and who is there to help you. Go look in the mirror. That is your industry.

MAB

Well, I was originally drawn to the net passing up the idea of being a performer in my adolesence. That seemed too rigid for me. I can't think I can go to California with that attitude, or Minniapolis for that matter, even in the indie scene. I originally wanted to get in a networking and media studies course, although the funding wasn't there for it. So I used my love for creating as a catalyst. One of my biggest road blocks is that I know how I feel yet can not formulate the question. Hope to hear from you in my next topic here.

R&M,

You are sort of making the same mistake most writers and artists make in this day and age. The Net has given the false sense that EVERYONE CAN BE EVERYWHERE and NEVER LEAVE THEIR LIVING ROOM. Life really doesn't work that way, irregardless what the "Nigerian General who wants to give you twenty million dollars" tells you. A huge part of the Internet are SCAMS AND SCHEMES and nothing to base a career on.

Before you start thinking about getting out on the road, going to California or Minneapolis, or anywhere, what are you doing in YOUR own neighborhood. Everyone seems to want to skip over building reputation and fan base among their HOME town FIRST, before they head out on the GOLDEN ROAD. Do not PASS GO!!!

Gotta start closer first. Remember this:

Start LOCAL.
Expand REGIONAL.
See where it goes.
One step at a time, one FAN at a time.

Do that first.
MAB

More informative you give, marc, than self marketing books that cost a heap of money.
Although the media has changed with the net, it is being in those circles and constantly hitting on those until, or unless someone notices.

There are probably very few that get discovered by someone just looking around. Because there are so many others looking for recognition.

It kind of makes me reflect back to alt musicians I know that published themselves and played anywhere who would have them.
I guess the key words are "who would have them".
Most did not make a career off of that, some are still going, although they are struggling.
There is that power complex with it just the same.

When I get all the more aqainted in my upcoming fall quarter in media studies, I am going to get in to looking at the steps among many steps.

Even the most popular I have noticed often have to be players in that mass microcosm instead of leaders.

Matt,

An interesting part of your studies might be to RESEARCH hit artists, songs and the people BEHIND the scene in those artists and songs. Go look at Prince and see the people who started with him at the beginning. I believe you are in Minneapolis. Go to the clubs he started out in. Go to a book store or library and look at books on him. You will see the same people around him at the end that started with him in the beginning. Now there are many variables, as artists change labels, etc. but Prince was very loyal, so it should be instructive.

In Nashville, every day at resturants, bars, special events, you will see hit writers, established writers, etc. all going around town with new, younger people under their wings. They don't have to look ANYWHERE to find these people because they come from everywhere, all seeking a break. They all play writers nights, and if they are good, their reputation spreads, as they write and perform with more and more people. Everyone are trying to get to the hit writers, and those also are usually out doing shows, special events, benefits, social gatherings,etc. It is a very small town, and everyone knows about everyone long before the outside public knows about them.

It is the thing most people from OUTSIDE a music market don't ever understand. They are all focused on the SONGS, and completely skip the RELATIONSHIP. Without the relationship, the songs are just something else that is put on the Internet and disappears.

SONGS have to have an ARTIST. Another interesting thing about my recent foray at the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME is watching videos of songs and artists that didn't do much, and then the same song being done by the marquee artist that propelled it forward. Seeing Big Mama Thorton do YOU AIN'T NOTHING BUT A HOUND DOG" and then seeing Elvis do it. Same with BLUE SUEDE SHOES. Music is ARTIST DRIVEN, NOT SONG DRIVEN.

The music you talk about, "alternative" is much the same thing. There is an entire "Seattle" section in the Hall of Fame. Those guys were the first to actually GIVE AWAY music on the Internet in order to get their fans into their shows. That set the pattern for what we have today. College kids, who are usually broke, were able to get the music they loved for free. The alternative people like Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, later Green Day and others, had no radio format. So giving music away was their idea to get it to the masses. And for the era of the ninties, it worked. People did go to shows.

Now, people don't even have to go to shows. There is live streaming, people can view anything they want from their computers or cell phones and I pods. There is no longer any reason to pay for music in any form. Great for the public. Sucks for musicians and artists.

Basically it is the era of FREE music, and people figure that out sooner or later. Now, there are the people at the very top of the heap, the mega stars, and the small independent people creating their own niches around them. There is not an "in between." The era of the "Songwriter only" is over.

As I have said over and over like a broken record, if you want any involvement in this business, you are going to have to create it yourself with people in your area. The rest is gone.
Sorry, but that is life. There used to be a huge industry with horses, wagons, buggys, horse feed, saddles, equipment, buggy whips, etc. Those were replaced by the automobile, airplanes, and a different era.

The "songwriters only" have been replaced too. It is a natural evolution and something that happens whether we want to admit it or not.

MAB