The Quiet Crier

Shout! Shout!
Let it all out!
These are the things we can do without
Come on,
I'm talking to you.
-Tears for Fears

I released another single yesterday. Nobody cares.

This is the part of the business I least enjoy. Part of me believes there was a golden yesteryear when the listening public wanted to be engaged with musicians and may have actually cared to listen to what was being produced. But now there's just too much. Too much music, too many other details competing for attention.

In some ways, a hundred negative YouTube comments are almost preferable (almost - I still have a functioning cortex...) to the yawning silence.

A lot of my artistic friends are in a similar position - their talents seemingly unrecognized/unrewarded. When did artists clamoring for attention become the equivalent of email SPAM?

But here's the catch....

...if we're honest with ourselves, the feeling that we're being ignored/spammy is rooted in the perceived disparity between what we think we deserve and what we think we're actually getting.

We've got to keep our expectations in check. And that's inordinately tricky when we've got to believe - and I mean believe with conviction! - that our music/art is worthy of public consideration, and still balance the reality that right now, it's all about the users when we want it to be about us.

Releasing a single means more than just publishing it on YouTube. It also means letting go of unreasonable expectations, and relinquishing our solitary grip on our art. Let our fans evangelize if they feel compelled.

Put simply, let somebody else do the talking.