I think you have exactly the right idea. This age presents a new freedom. This means the grip of greed holding society’s soul (music) has been losened and a new way of presenting opprtunities has begun. This is a good sign that the rest of our society may just be able to kick off the greed that is currently killing our planet and everyone in it.

The idea of getting a major record deal and living like a rock star king is more unlikely. The playing field has become more even and perhaps now even harder to succeed in. You are a luckey man to experience all these seasons within your lifetime and career.

Money for Artist?

#1)I think the money will be in building a reputation as a great LIVE performance artist so as to maintain a solid fan base who will pay to see you every time you roll through town.

#2)Selling music into various TV, film and comercial scores/SOUNDTRACKS that will provide money and publicity for the artists.

#3)DOWNLOADS paid for through Online Sales who send the artist royalties

#4)MERCHANDISE sold at shows, in stores and online.

#5)CORPORATE SPONSORS will become more common as well as private investors to run publicity campains

The hard part now comes the publicity. As an established artist you have an advantage because when you step onto that moon you bring all your fans with you and word can spread, and people will be honored that you share so much of yourself and your personal proccess.

David you are definately a leader by example showing other artists how easy it can be to create something solid in the real world.

The problem posed to most artists now who do not have previous fame is how to get people to notice them, to listen.

I watch amazing talented bands give up and never go any where because no one has a chance to listen to them.

The biggest solution to this in my opinion will be networking with other bands to pool fans. It will also be helpful to use other forms of independant media to pump the word out. SO much room to be creative now….and way more oportunity to grow…

You right so well about things that really have a point, I’ll bet music is an extraordinary catharsis for you!!!

“amazing what you can learn from reading what the smart folks think is important”

and that, in a nutshell, is why I love this new blog! Thanks for the unique education!

Great read David. But I find that CD quality is still important to me, I’m not one for headsets and find that on my fairly new stereo system, CD quality is best. I can hear the differences in how songs are mixed from older CD’s to the new ones and I find that I listen to newer CD’s more even if I may or may not like the song much compared with older CD’s that I like more but where the sound is more monotone and not as crisply defined among the instruments and voice.

So for me, quantity and variety are important but quality is still more important to me. I also find, for example, sound through normal cable is much better than through a digital box where compression again is hurting the quality of the sound.

Here’s an example of an article that touches on the quality aspect I was mentioning:
…

“Often they find the compressed files’ sound quality sorely lacking. “If you’re listening to compressed music using your iPod earbuds, you won’t notice much difference [from a CD],” says Scott Bahneman, founder and chief executive of tiny startup MusicGiants. “But once you play it on a good home stereo, the difference is huge.”
…

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2005/tc2005062_3663_tc024.htm

Thank you for that David…I needed that. I too am in a dying business and it can be depressing at times. Well it’s not so much that it is dying, but changing drastically. I spent my entire and (I mean entire)life in figure skating. I spent hours on the ice perfecting figures and learning jumps and spins. What I loved most was learning how to perform from the greats that came through my life. I always knew that I would one day compete, travel the world in an ice show and then teach professionally (Which I did and still do ). *I so absolutely love the movie “Blades Of Glory”. Haha… has anyone seen it? It’s so funny to me because a lot of it is true:-)lol.

Every business goes through peaks and valleys. During the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Olympic controversy in 1994, skating got so much attention that business started to boom. Every time you turned on the television another skating event was being broadcast. Then in 2002, the Olympic controversy with Jamie Sale and David Pelltier getting ripped off in the pairs event opened the figure skating world to great scrutiny and it’s inevitable demise. Every rink saw a drop in attendance and the clubs were hard hit. Coaches had to start finding other ways of supplementing their incomes to make up for lost wages. With that said, the way skating is judged changed, using a new computer system. At first people were fearful of the new system, saying that it would never work, but it is slowly being embraced. With this newfound system, however, skating is becoming more and more demanding on the athlete. Who knows if people will want to put their children in skating competitively. It seems at this point in time it has become more of a recreational sport. Due to this, at the lower level less lessons are required and commitment is fickle. Coaches in turn feel less of a bond with the student and less desire to share their passion for the sport. It becomes a “JOB”. When you’re an artist who is paid to create or choreograph a competitive program, you certainly don’t want to feel like it’s a job…heehee.:-) Do you know what I mean?

David, you are lucky to be doing what you love to do. I love being involved in skating, but I’m taking part time off from it and it’s driving me crazy trying to find something else that can equally fulfill that passion. I believe that fear is a part of why I can’t get off the ship and leap into the new world. How do you do that when one world is all you’ve known?

Yvette: One step at a time, One day at a time, like every thing else that we consider being worth it, even a single minute out of the regular path, coming out of the ring of fire and dancing through life. (Sorry for intruding here David, you know I can’t help but to be bold when I type… ;))

I’m listening your songs right now and it makes me wanna run…like my brain is running since my first visit to your blog!!!!

my six year old nephew already knows how to navigate the web…when i was six years old, i couldn’t even write….LOL just kidding….they come so fast, that it’s not unusual anymore - the world is changing and i hope that it is for the good….thanks to the underpaid geniuses and unstrung heroes of our time who contributed to the development of the web/digital age…any gender, genre and nation

Thanks Brenda. You are so right. I also agree with what David said : “… amazing what you can learn by reading what the smart folks think is important”. I have always believed that it’s important to listen to those who have achieved a great deal in their field and then take from it what makes sense to you.

I am attending a seminar this weekend run by some of the top coaches in skating today. These guys, from Barrie, Ontario, have built one of the most successful training centers in the world. Lee Barkell (coach of 2008 world men’s champion Jeffrey Buttle)and Doug Leigh (coach of olympic medalists and world champions Brian Orser and Elvis Stoijko). I have been invited to dinner with them and I am so excited to get their take on things. I am always inspired by their business savvy and their teaching methods. I can’t wait for what’s around the corner! Off ship….explore XO

im coming out of the ship and will definitely have a good time exploring but keeping myself tied to the ship will remind me of the foundations that would help me survive the exploration.

Interesting thoughts here everyone. It’s funny, sometimes you fear something like I used to fear getting older but when I turned 50 a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t say fear was the main thought but rather entering into a new phase of life. Not that we can’t keep that child-like part of us alive, not at all, but you find that what was once feared, you are looking forward to as you transform into a different phase of your life. Yvette, it sounds like you are surrounded by some excellent mentors so I think this will help your transition immensely. All the best.

Thanks. It was a good day

David, you never cease to blow my mind. How do you find time to do all that you do?!

I must say, that I’ve definitely jumped ship. While I started out as a devotee to the CD, I’ve since accepted the fact that times are changing, as is technology, and to resist change is inevitably futile. While I continue to buy CDs rather than bowing to the almighty itunes, digital media is an important part of modern life, and I think that people need to understand that.

I am happy to see you embrace social media and be so enthusiastic about using technology to build and strengthen your community and your personal brand. But, I’m sure that Mitch would agree with me in saying that social media is a two-way conversation.

With your passion for technology and learning, I strongly encourage you to get involved in the conversations going on everyday on Twitter rather than using it solely as a broadcast tool. Twitter is, by far, the best place to learn, be enlightened, interact, ask advice and be inspired by a wide range of people who are passionate, well informed, well connected, early adopters who are very willing to share their expertise in social media and technology. So follow a few more people, and jump in - we would love to have you join the conversation.

I look forward to reading more from you here and hopefully seeing more of you on Twitter.

@adelemcalear

You may be a singer but, you’ve got alot to say and it’s always a pleasure to read you. You are such an intelligent person.

Thanks for sharing.

Voilà, that’s all for now

I think the technology does open up doors for a lot of artists out there. Visibility to more possible to a larger audience, especially for struggling new artists that no one really knows. With the right tags, right links, they can be presented side by side with the Big Guys. For instance, I’m not sure if you heard of Pandora (an online personal radio station that uses the characteristics of music to typecast what kind of music the user likes and then generates a playlist based on it. E.g. I had your music as the base and got introduced to a few other bands I’ve never heard of that sounded similar to your style or technique, so now I might check out their shows or buy their CDs.)

The other thing is I think it really lets the creative process bloom.

Love everything youall are saying. Trying to find myself as well.

I think the birth of web 2.0 can almost be likened to that of the advent of the telephone. Not only has it changed the way we communicate on a base level, but it also tends to skew how we react to things because it is all so instantaneous. Before, the web was such a slow process, things took time to evolve, and now everything is so interactive that these evolutions have been cut down to a 10th of the time frame.

Does it affect creativity? maybe not directly, but indirectly as the people we now interact with are from a more vast demographic, so that we become influenced by a greater source of factors. Social media means that we learn more about each other through blogs and references…a spiderweb that connects everything. Purple Cow sits in my bookshelf from a few years ago, and has now found new life through the connection of this blog. Television has become old news, with key sources from the internet replacing it. It has changed our source of creativity, and created a way for us to connect more efficiently. However, there must be balance between technological networking and face-to-face networking. Jam session spontaneity cannot be replaced by digital file transfers.

I spend a lot of time figuring out how all these advances affect us and how to ensure that it does not destroy us. Social media has created a black hole that wages war with ensuring society does not cripple business and security, yet we cannot disregard web 2.0 as a tool to improve such industries and architectures. Social media is putting a huge strain on the power struggle between corporate, government, social, political and religious groups and every time it shifts, there is an effect. After all, every creation begins with an act of destruction.

Technological advances in social media have opened the average person’s eyes to our society’s shifting patterns. It’s all about checks and balances in regards to AFFECTING change in the way politics, corporations and government bodies run their business.