It is funny how the modern age has changed the life of a musician. I am talking here about independent musician, the working musician. We depend on things like smart phone, our laptops, internet, wifi, 3G... I got thinking about this after for one day I lost all my phone numbers, notes, pictures and music on my mobile phone. Luckily I had backed up everything on my laptop, but I could not restore any of it until the next day. That one day made me realize how dependent we are on all this modern technology, that simply was not available to us twenty years a go.
I think for me it was about 14 years a go when I set up my first Email account, and the thought of finding a concert through internet first dawned to me. Now it seems to be the first port of call for almost everything. But the potential of it all still surprises me from time to time. And I must admit I am still surprised how personal in its very sterile nature it has become. Now I am mainly talking about internet for music business here. As an example, when I first came aware of YouTube, I saw it as a great way for a band to represent a video of them selves. I assumed it should be a high quality video of professional quality. Of course if your video is of a high standard it helps, but the real potential seemed to dawn to me when I added more personal short videos of the bands every day life. This is something that I also have find hard to explain to others in the past. Sometimes it is better to do a quick video of something simple and mundane, than wait until you release your master piece that you will take you months or even years to complete. Share something simple. But keep it honest, be your self and people will see this. It is this honesty that makes you easier to relate to, more real. Of course if the part of your bands image is your stage character, you could make videos of your self in that character as well, but my opinion is that it is easier to be your self than put on an act and keep it consistent. This really is one of the many tools that make this an interesting time to be an independent musician. But don't get fooled here. It is not a mater of posting few videos on YouTube and next you become an over night success. We hear stories like these, but there are only hand full of them, and every one would like to think it is so easy. What it comes down to at the end of the day is numbers. The more videos you have, the bigger chance there is that one of them will be the one that gets picked up by the general public and shoots through the mass of videos out there. But if not, even hand full of views on loads of videos ads to a nice number. And don't for get the age old wisdom, at the end of the day, if your music is not good enough, the chances of you making it are slim.
But let me just challenge you with this. For the next ten weeks, make ten videos, post them on your YouTube channel and share them on Facebook, twitter etc. And they don't need to be the best videos in the world, even half decent camera phone will do. I bet you will be surprised of the reception you will get from these videos, and you might even be inspired to make more. For an example, check out JPKALLIO.COM's YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/jpkallio. And don't forget to have fun while you do this:-)
J.P.
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