Niteshift: I don't recall saying that one can "buy self-worth". What I like to buy is "opportunity". I'll give you a couple of examples. I pay professional demo firms to do my demos, and I use high-end firms. They expect to get paid! I've paid over $1,000 for a demo. I took a CD with a few of these demos to the 2008 TAXI convention. I booked one pleasant hour with Pat Luboff to listen and critique my tunes. She expected to get paid! Also, an hour with John Braheny. He also expected to get paid! So far, I've paid for professional services, and haven't felt like a hooker. Then, I entered my expensive demos in both the Great American Song Contest and the Billboard Song Contest. They expected me to pay an entry fee! Well, I got an "honorable mention" three years running in the GASC, and an "honorable mention" in one Billboard contest. And you know something? I still didn't feel like a hooker, and I suspect none of the professionals I paid did either.I got a great sense of "self worth" from those honorable mentions. Are they tainted because I paid money along the way?
I was just as skeptical as you when this thread started. It wasn't until I checked out the credits of the professionals on the site that I changed my mind. You need only one of these people to like your stuff. It's my marketing money, and I'll spend it as I see fit -- even as I realize how slim the odds are. And by the way, I went to Disneyland once. I remember it fondly, still have the video we took.
Ott