Part Five: The Care and Feeding of Your Creative Spirit

I've been a songwriter all my life, so I can say without question that when a writer has to leave the cocoon of creativity for the uncertainty of marketing, something snaps inside and creates someone you wouldn't necessarily want sitting in your living room, slurping sorbet.

In the book business, when you have a book published, you get a book.  There it is in the window of the bookstore and at amazon.com.  But not so in publishing your songs.

The J. Paul Getty Center in West Los Angeles is much more than just the most richly endowed art museum in the world.  It is a cultural oasis with spectacular resources for the community. One of them is a free lecture series in the Harold R. Williams Auditorium.

Do you well, learn how to get your name in the papers, and maybe someday, you’ll be an even bigger star than Lady Gaga, who, y’never know, could be sitting on the edge of her egg, gobbling peanut M & M’s, shushing the cattle from which she derives her wardrobe, so she can hear your new song.   

I met Chester on a hiking vacation while travelling with a tour group headed for Prince Edward Island, Canada…

Surely if a little blade of grass can survive and even thrive on Wilshire Boulevard, you can make it through the sea of "no's" and "no way's" you've been navigating through the music business.

Your new project is finally finished.  Time to switch into marketing mode. 
But you don’t know anybody.  Sleezeballs, maybe, but no one legit.

Many of my clients have asked me why I think certain artists were nominated for Grammys, and others weren't. Some of my clients even suggested it was all about PR and hype. While I understand the value of publicity, there still has to be something worth publicizing, and even in the music business, hype alone cannot get an artist a deal and certainly not a Grammy nomination.