Getting Rich on Advice

As a singer/songwriter for more years than I’m willing to say here, I’m finally comfortable admitting that I am a far better musician than publicist or marketer. I just cannot do it all. I have tried. And it was easier years ago when marketing primarily involved sending demos to A&R people at the record labels. Now, of course, there’s the Internet, downloads, websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on and on. It’s mind-numbing.

And then there are those who understand all too well how overwhelming all this is. So, they offer their services, their seminars, their workshops and manuals that promise, for a price, to help the aspiring songwriter or band to get their music “out there.” All this for a price, of course. The problem seems to be that, if one were to spend time learning the ins and outs of web design, video production, music marketing, successful gigging, etc., there would be no time or energy left to write songs. And without a good song, none of the rest of this matters…except to those who are handing out, and getting rich on, the advice.