dmk,

It is totally what you are trying to do. If you want to do any of this, you develop your fan base a little at a time, find a niche you are comfortable with, and go from there. But remember that you are competing with MILLIONS OF ARTISTS, BILLIONS OF SONGS, and more. WE don't just sit around listening to music anymore.

We have 24 hour a day cable television, we have movies, computer games and of course, the unending elements of the Internet. That is what you are competing with when it comes to people. Their expectations are MUCH higher now. Even artists that you might compete with, from the lowest folk artist to the major acts, are doing quality recordings. That is the cost of doing business.

There was a time, when we were content to drive those big lumbering V-8 cars on country back roads. But we could only go to certain areas. When the major interstate system came in, we were no longer content to do that. We had to have faster, more efficent transportation and more people got into the game.

Music is the same. Now most venues have some sort of Karaoke nights. Amateur? Sure. But it puts the PEOPLE in the show. That is what EVERYONE wants. The reason writing styles have changed away from the more metaphoric or allusional styles to a more reality based writing, is because people can hear it and say "That is my life." And they can get it in a very quick time frame.

That is the other thing about the Dylan form of writing loses in this day and age. Think of your own attention span. Is it getting shorter or longer? How much demand for your time in a day is there? Do you just sit around contemplating life, listening to music, looking at Album covers, or do you have to pay bills, take care of family, squeeze every minute and EVERY DOLLAR out of what you do?

This is what we all face. While I am typing this to you, I am listening to radio, reading constant emails, reviewing songs, putting finishing touches on another song that I am recording, having to get my dog from the vet for surgery and make plans to go out tonight. At the same time there are probably around one billion messages flying through space and time on the Internet.

We now have more technilogically advanced equipment on our cell phones, I-phones than most of us had in our entire houses growing up. The power of my lap top right now took dozens of buildings and hundreds of thousands of people to place 24 men on the surface of the moon from 1969 to 1971.

So everything, from our tastes, our daily concentrations, demands on our times, etc. have all changed. Our perceptions and processes have also.

Fifteen years ago, it would cost around $20,000-$50,000 to record even the most basic recording. There were albums and cassettes. Now that same thing can be done for less than $5000.
Quick turnaround CD places can spit out 100-200 Cd's in an hour or so for some artist going out on a weekend tour. Mp3's, You Tube and Facebook and social marketing can put people in the living rooms of millions of people around the world. None of this was availible even a few years ago.

Most of what I do is look at trends, an overall perspective. I study a lot of history. In order to work in today's music industry from any level you need to understand how we got here.

Your question about simple guitar, piano vocal demos can be answered very quickly. Go to any site where there are hundreds of listings of music. Any place that has amateurs in listening rooms, open mics, etc. Give yourself 30 minutes or one hour. Listen to as many verss and choruses on songs as you can in that time. Make notes about any song that impresses you. Now see how immportant the demo or presentation is after about 30 or 40 songs.

Do the same by going to multiple writer's nights or open mics. Put yourself through that night after night after night, hearing hundreds and thousands of songs and hundreds of artists. Then tell me how important writing styles, being concise in your music and a great presentation is. That will put you into the place of listeners, music industry people, and your competition. hundreds and thousand of songs and artists.

Then come back with your answer. I would be interesting to hear your conclusions.

MAB