A while back, it was suggested to me that I market my new release as a debut release. This makes sense in a lot of ways. It’s been some time since my first album Adrift and now that I’ve changed my artist name, I could be starting afresh if I wanted to. The other major change is that I’ve started including more songwriting/structure in my work, so I really considered it.
I decided not to present it as my first solo release however… and here is some of my reasoning.
First of all, out of sincerity. To say that Morning Glow was a my first solo effort would be, well, not true. I did put out a prior album, and it was reasonably well received. While Adrift was different from Morning Glow, if you listen to both there is a clear progression from one to the other. They share a similar flavour. If you draw a line between two points, you get, well a line. The line points somewhere, hints at where you’re headed. It might be more impressive to say I started where I am now, but it isn’t true. I’ve come a long way. In this day and age of prepackaged starlets (who are also fab in their own way), sincerity is as good as any other asset.
Secondly, I don’t want to deny the struggle. It’s a waste not to learn from the struggle. I really feel proud of this new release, which is a really weird and unfamiliar sensation. It actually took me me an assload of work, faulty starts, and body fluids in the form of blood/sweat/tears. I don’t want to pretend that this just snuck out of nowhere. I had a vision of the album I wanted to create, but I didn’t have the skills, time, or knowledge for how to conquer that mountain. I bit off way more than I could chew, and then kept chewing. And chewing. After really sweating it out, I eventually made some good inroads. In the end, I had Morning Glow.
So while Morning Glow is a rebirth of sorts, it isn’t a true artist debut. But is the debut of my voice, my songwriting, and a new direction. So at least there’s that.
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Have You Read The Lefsetz Letter?
3 08 2009Lately I think a lot about the music industry. In a way, it’s become sort of a job requirement. Being mainly DIY at the minute, nobody else is going to figure it out for me… so I find myself pondering the business while standing in the shower or surfing music blogs a lot more than I used to. Truth is, there is a pretty big shift happening right now.
While trying to get my bearings, my most excellent friend Anomalous Disturbances introduced to the Bob Lefsetz blog, the “Lefsetz Letter“. He writes this semi-radical, forward-thinking blog from the point of view of an industry veteran who’s not afraid to shoot from the hip. He often suggests industry changes, making the big business status quo seem like a sick puppy taking its dying last few breaths. (Except people feel exceptionally sorry for sick puppies.) But in amongst the strongly worded posts, he’s stacked up some definite wisdom… you might even say some of it is downright enlightening.
Being new to the biz, I admit I am sometimes bemused by the seismic shift taking place in music. Thankfully us newbs can turn to industry bloggers for direction or inspiration. If you haven’t already read it, I suggest you definitely check out Bob’s blog.
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Tags: Anomalous Disturbances, big business, Bob Lefsetz, commentary, DIY, music industry, seismic shift, status quo
Categories : Industry Commentary