"Hey Tom, I wanted/needed to
e-mail you because I have
some frustrating questions
in terms of music and the
mainstream music business
and I just wanted to get
some insight from you. Here
it goes! Well for years now,
besides practicing until my
fingers bleed, all I could
think about is how do I
establish myself as a
respectable guitarist and a
musician. The thing that
bothers me is that someday I
would love to release me own
neoclassical album, but
these days I realize that in
the United States that high
tech guitarists are not as
admired as much here unless
the music genre magically
changes or if it was the
1980's again. But it bothers
me that it all comes down to
a question of what sells
instead of what you like
personally and what you're
capable of doing in terms of
composition and
technicality. That ticks
me off! I want to make
sure that I keep my own
musical integrity and show
my full musical abilities
that have taken me years to
perfect, instead of holding
back playing re-arranged
power chords just to please
the audience. For most
people, if the music is not
played on the radio, they
don't want to hear it. I
have my very own
expectations in what I could
do to make a killer song,
but because if it's not like
Blink 182 material or
something like Disturbed it
wont be respected. But I
just wanted your point of
view what you think about
what to do in these case
scenarios. I mean I am stuck
between personal passion and
simply what sells and
this really sucks."
Your points are excellent
and many musicians that want
to make music at a very high
level (or want to make music
in style that is not
popular) ask these sorts of
questions.
Just because your style
of music is not very popular
in your country does not
mean it is not more popular
somewhere else in the world.
It's true, we don't live in
1986 anymore, but some
countries still do (I'm
referring only to the fact
that music styles that were
popular in the US during the
1980s are popular in other
countries). Speaking from my
own experience, I sell about
300% more CDs in Japan than
I have in the United States.
I sell more of my CDs in
Europe than in the US also
(I have been there several
times though). This trend of
American high caliber
guitarists selling more CDs
overseas is widespread and
very common now. We could
all just get discouraged
about the severe lack of
popularity of great guitar
music here in the US but
that would probably lead
most people to give up
trying to make a living at
what they really want to do.
The best advice I can give
you on this is: If people in
your area can't/won't
appreciate what you do then
don't try to force them.
Move on and find where your
potential fans are. If that
means that you need to focus
your efforts in Europe or
Asia or anywhere else, then
that's what you need to do.
Of course it would be great
to have a lot of fans here
in the US because that is
the country that a lot of of
live in and it is also the
richest country in the
world, but when it really
comes down to it, who cares
where your fans are going to
be from. A fan is a fan. And
besides, its really really
cool to get CD orders, fan
mail, fan e-mail, etc. write
ups in guitar magazines and
web sites from all over the
world every day. The world
is a very very big
place, so even if a tiny
percentage of the population
would like cool guitar
music, that translates into
potentially hundreds of
thousands (if not millions)
of people.
Marty Freidman now lives
in Tokyo, Yngwie's huge
mansion estate is largely
funded by his platinum album
sales in Japan. Mr. Big (who
became almost forgotten here
in the US) were mega huge in
Japan. Look how big classic
heavy metal is in Germany
(Manowar sells out stadiums
there - they are bigger than
Metallica!)! In China, I've
read, disco is extremely
popular (disco!) The
point here is no matter what
you want to do there will
always be people somewhere
that are going to think it's
cool.
Let's get back to talking
about the USA. In recent
years bands like The
Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black
Sabbath, etc. have been
selling a lot of CDs. Do you
think its because people in
their mid-30s to early 40s
are buying these CDs now?
Well that's part of it, but
a lot of the new popularity
is driven by kids
(teenagers). Why is this
happening you ask? Because
their parents grew up
listening to that music and
have turned their kids onto
these bands. So what might
that mean for us? Well think
about what was the next
generation in rock/metal
music after these mid-late
'70s bands. Yes, it's the
1980s. Back in the '80s a
lot of people started
playing guitar and listened
to cool players like Van
Halen, Randy Rhoades, Yngwie
Malmsteen, etc. That
generation is older now and
most have their own kids who
are 5-12 years old, but it
won't be long before these
kids get into their teenage
years and start getting into
music. My guess is that a
lot of these kids will be
influenced by what their
parents listened to (the
1980s) and the ones that did
play guitar may encourage
their kids to play. All of
this could translate into a
new interest in great guitar
players, not only for the
older players like Yngwie
and Van Halen but for great
guitar playing in general.
The new generation of guitar
virtuosos may have a built
in fan base in a few years
that just needs a few more
years to blossom.
But the real issue here
is how deeply is what you
want to do in your heart?
When it comes down to it, a
true artist must
follow his/her heart always.
So in the end, it doesn't
matter what will sell or
not, all that matters is
that you follow your own
desires and manifest those
into reality on an artistic
level. There are other ways
to do this on an
economic/career level, but
whether that part is
successful is not nearly as
relevant to a true artists
as the art itself.
Having said all of that,
the next issue for most
artists is the
practicality of paying to
make your artistic
music. Let's face it, making
good quality recordings and
music is expensive, so
unless you have a lot of
extra money to spend on your
art, you are going to need
some money coming in to pay
for it all. If you are
looking for this money to
come from your musical
abilities, then you may need
to do other things (separate
from your art) to generate
the money. Most excellent
players end up teaching
guitar eventually, but many
resort to playing other
kinds of music that will
bring in money such as
playing in a cover band,
wedding band or another band
that is already generating
money that is popular. On a
more professional level,
getting on someone's tour or
album who is at least
mid-level in the business
(mid-level = means hundreds
of thousands of CDs sold and
on a label) or with an
independent that is selling
at least 40,000 CDs and
doing some touring in
specialized markets. There
are, of course, many other
ways in which money can be
made in this business.
