I hope David doesn’t get mad that I published one of his ‘protected’ tweets, but especially in this DIY day and age, the issue of finding a balance between creating your art / product and spending time promoting it a good one to talk about. (Though it’s not just self-promotion that takes artists / composers / musicians away from their work, there are also ‘relevant‘ ‘debates‘ on terminology n shit to tend to.)
I’ve known composers who were exceptionally skillful self-promoters / marketers. And I’ve also known composers who were uninterested / awful at that part of the game. There have been times when I’ve thought a skillful self-promoting composer of mediocre music got more attention / recognition than a composer not very adept at self-promotion but who wrote ‘better’ sounding / crafted music that, in my opinion, deserved the attention much more than the savvy marketer. I’ve known musicians who have some really interesting / inventive ideas about how to present music but lack the skills on their instrument to be a truly engaging, powerful, and respectable proponent of that music, yet they insist on ‘promoting the shit’ out of themselves instead of spending time actually perfecting their craft. I’ve also known some ridiculously talented musicians who toil away in practice rooms and end up completely unnoticed despite their considerable gifts. I realize that this is subjective to a certain extent, but I’d bet that you’d be lying to yourselves if you didn’t think the same exact thing at some point in your musical career whether you’re a composer or a musician.
Can you blame the clever marketer for promoting his/her music with great skill so that they get ‘mad press’ even though you might think it’s half-baked?
Is it the ‘better’ composer’s fault for not taking the time to get their stuff out into the world?
Is there a correlation between hours spent self-promoting and the quality / skill of someone’s work?
What is the optimum balance between developing / creating / mastering your art / music / craft and promoting what you do?
Do you wish you had a manager or is it more fun to DIY?
What does the model musician in 2k10 look like?
