The winner for me was Stephen Wilson, Jr.

I was bouncing around from Andy and Anderson on CNN to Ryan Seacrest on ABC to Nashville’s Big Bash on CBS.

And most of the time I stayed on Nashville’s Big Bash. Because there was an authenticity there, a direct connection between performer and viewer that I did not feel on the other two outlets.

As for Ryan Seacrest… Is there anybody who likes that guy? Anybody who is passionate about him? He’s two-dimensional and faux authentic and I find him impossible to watch. He’s the kind of character we were exposed to on television before cable and then streaming. Someone bland enough not to offend most people, yet we are looking for more edge. As for what is still billed as “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” immediately dating the show, the guy’s been dead since 2012, many viewers have no idea who he was and don’t care…there was a constant banner saying that sections were prerecorded, and they felt like it…taped in advance in Las Vegas where a bogus party was created for television and…this is only marginally different from Guy Lombardo (and you’ve got to be over 65 at least to remember him!). Sure, there were “live” performances in Times Square, but these were akin to performances on floats during the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. You get face time as you don’t play completely live and nobody at home can get excited about what you’re doing, you’re just reminding the audience that you exist, and then there was…

Nashville.

As for Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper… Their moment has passed. Andy has built a career on the foibles of rich women disconnected from reality, and right now reality is piss-poor. You can say it’s a respite from politics, but the focus on wealth…is at odds with the population’s growing problem with income inequality. So Andy was the nice guy in high school…but he looked like a hungover deer in the headlights during much of this show and Anderson Cooper seemed to be asking himself what in the hell he was doing there, it undercut whatever news gravitas he possesses. Nothing lasts forever, these two cut-ups were a novelty, the antidote to the canned Dick Clark show, but now there’s a new game in town, Nashville’s Big Bash…

Would you rather hang in Times Square and wait for the ball to drop or go to a live outdoor show in Nashville?

At first I thought the Big Bash was for everybody. But then I realized the bifurcation of America still exists, North and South, Blue and Red, Democrat and Republican. But in this case, the south has risen again.

Hardy, an intelligent guy, I know from speaking with him, looked a bit uncomfortable, out of place, but Bert Kreischer was the perfect co-host for this alcohol-fueled frenzy. You had multiple stages and multiple acts. I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was a bit too much Lainey Wilson… As for the clothing…sure, it’s winter, and there’s a long history of “outfits’ in country, but that was when country was still a backwater, which it no longer is. Whereas Jason Aldean came out in jeans and a brown leather coat…he was the heir to the Allman Brothers and all the rest of the acts that played on stage in their street clothes.

Nashville’s Big Bash had the feel of a concert, a show, it was palpable. And demonstrated more depth than the pop dreck on the two other outlets. In a world where rock is dead and pop and hip-hop dominates…the seventies are gone.

But they’re fully alive in Nashville, where it was more about the playing than the image. Can elite northerners be converted? Well, some have been, but too many are categorically against these people and their music. But this is not the country of old, this is rock and roll. As for the political beliefs…you grasp your enemy tightly, you convert them from the inside. Believe me, there’s no rule against a left-leaning country star. Instead of being a rapper or a TV music contestant if you want to have an impact you should go to Nashville, which in many ways is the new L.A., it has stolen Hollywood’s thunder, however… Unlike the popsters, scratch a country star and you’ll find that they’ve been honing their chops from a very young age. Singing and playing as kids. Kenny Chesney made his bones playing in bars, kind of like Hootie & the Blowfish, but now Darius Rucker is a country star…and in case you didn’t notice, he’s Black, and Nashville has no problem with that.

There’s a whole country culture, the upstarts know the hit acts who preceded them, but none of this gets ink or traction in the left wing media…country is seen as a sideshow, when along with Latin it’s becoming the main show. It’s a disruption in the marketplace those in L.A. and New York did not foresee. Country has moved closer to the center, the acts are better, the songs are singable and now it’s on an endless course of triumph.

And where else can a 46 year old midwestern nerd bumpkin break through?

Wilson was a direct contrast to the prepackaged performers on ABC and CNN. He was wearing clothes he might don if he was working in the yard, and he had glasses that were so out of style (but with large lenses for visibility), that he seemed like a real guy, who was playing a guitar akin to that of Willie Nelson, as in beat-up. And he didn’t need no stinkin’ backup musicians to sell his song, to get it across.

I’d been following Wilson’s career in print, with the mentions and statistics, but last night he closed me. A New Year’s Eve TV appearance can be equivalent to CBS Sunday Morning, if you just don’t punch the clock, don’t call your stylist before your sound-mixer, if you rise to the occasion.

And Keith Urban was playing… “You Get What You Give”??? New Radicals’ (i.e. Gregg Alexander) smash released in 1998?? And giving it his all?

Turns out Urban has been doing this number at shows for a while now, but last night, with the energy he displayed… He was not promoting his new single, he was capturing the joy of New Year’s Eve, the energy, letting go of commerce and focusing on the music, which was a relief.

In a phony, sold-out world of people telling us they’re better than we are, and richer too…Nashville’s Big Bash was a revelation. As it has been previously, which is why I tuned in. The ratings will come down, the brain dead will have still been watching ABC and CNN, but last night all the excitement was in Nashville, beamed to us via CBS. Live music played by real musicians, songs you can sing along to, played by stars. Isn’t this the music business we loved and reveled in back in the day?

YES!

KPOP DEMON HUNTERS

The biggest musical story of the year. Outsiders base an animated film on a niche musical style and triumph. Illustrating that the mainstream music business is out of touch with the public and what it wants. The mainstream still thinks it’s the era of 80s MTV…where the obvious is hyped to success. There was nothing obvious about “KPop Demon Hunters.” If you have children as young as three in the house, you know the phenomenon. Proving the power of Netflix and availability. Launching to everybody at the same time? Genius! Which the film business abhors, it wants people to pay a lot to be the first to see their product and most people choose not to. Furthermore, unlike a lot of hip-hop, a lot of one chord “hits,” the songs from “KPop Demon Hunters” were singable, and the kids did (and still do!) This will be the biggest tour of 2026.

BAD BUNNY

You can’t argue with success. Music transcends politics, if it’s got a good beat and people want to listen to it you can’t stop them. Also, by doing all those shows in Puerto Rico…Bad Bunny showed allegiance to his roots and proved that fans will come to you.

THE SPHERE

Cost of video production keeps going down and everything sells out. It’s a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else. Seemingly no one believed but Jim Dolan, who had a vision, put his money where his mouth was and ultimately succeeded, the Sphere is heading towards the black. And, as good as the visuals are, the sound is on a par.

NO ERAS TOUR

Hit records lift all boats, and so do hit tours. They get people talking about music, excited, they want to belong, which is even more important in today’s multifarious world. In addition, the Eras Tour press was ubiquitous, getting everybody excited about Taylor Swift and belonging to her fan base and having a unique experience at the show…you had to be there. There was not an equivalent this year.

As for Ms. Swift… She tried to keep the ball rolling, via documentaries. Which garnered press at first, but not thereafter. Because a documentary is different from the live experience. And there was no record-breaking hook to hype on a continuous basis. As for Swift’s new album “The Life of a Showgirl”…despite the Taylor Easter egg promotion, despite ramping up all the press, the album has fallen flat culturally. As for success re sales/streams/chart numbers… Those numbers don’t resonate the way they used to. True fans know they’re manipulated with vinyl and everybody’s always claiming success online…so the cultural impact is more important than the statistics, and “The Life of a Showgirl” didn’t have much…it didn’t even generate a song that broke out of the Taylorsphere.

NO CHAPPELL ROAN

She broke via festival appearances, she had large mindshare, and no one came along to fill the hole this year. No breakthrough act.

DRAKE/KENDRICK LAMAR FEUD

Nothing equivalent transpired. Once again, like the Eras Tour and Chappell Roan, this feud and its tunes got people paying attention, there was not an equivalent attention-getting story in music this year.

NO SONG OF THE SUMMER

Because nothing has universal purchase, not because there were no great songs. Then again, the song of the summer is usually mindless, and in these troubled times, that does not resonate.

UNIVERSAL/DOWNTOWN

The biggest story in the music business, the end result is presently unknown. But if Universal is allowed to swallow Downtown it will put an incredible crimp in the indie world, because almost all indie lanes will be controlled by the majors. The majors will be privy to the data, and in the twenty first century, data is very important, but the real story is after twenty five years of disruption, if this deal goes through, the majors will be back in almost total control of recorded music distribution.

TICKETMASTER

Still the most hated company in America. None of the stain ever sticks to the acts. There is a government lawsuit hanging in the balance, but Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent, got ahead of the game, it appointed Richard Grenell to its board, a Trump crony who has overseen the havoc at what is now known as the Trump Kennedy Center. If you kiss Trump’s butt, things tend to go your way. Then again, all Kid Rock got for his support of Trump was a press conference and theoretical support of Bots Act enforcement, which so far we have not seen.

BOTS

Are here to stay. As is the secondary market. NFL game prices flex, depending on the opponent and the importance of the game. Super Bowl tickets are hugely expensive. But somehow music tickets must be cheap in order to theoretically satiate hard core fans. Until acts charge what the tickets are worth, we will continue to have this cat and mouse game between the primary ticketer and the secondary market.

VINYL

The boom ended. Revenues were only off 1%, but in an era where there is enough production, where rarity is not what it once was, there is not the same incentive to buy vinyl as a souvenir. As for buying multiple copies of the same album to boost the chart numbers of the act…the bloom is off the rose, you can only rip off the public so much. Vinyl will never die, but it appears to have peaked.

GEESE

The great white rock hope. But if you listen to the album… The singer has an affected voice and despite all the hosannas in the press, the word does not seem to be spreading. Indie rock is what oldster male writers are looking for. Youngsters? Not really.

POP CONTINUES TO DOMINATE

Ariana Grande? There’s no there there.

SABRINA CARPENTER

The public did not believe that a former Disney star was now an edgy sexpot. She pushed the envelope to unbelievability.

BRAND NAMES STILL MATTER

Can you say “Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars”? It’s nearly impossible to gain traction, so those who have it continue to maintain it, as long as they don’t blow it with substandard product.

THE WEEKND

People still don’t want to see musical stars in films. That’s a passé concept, you’ve built an identity and then you want the audience to suspend disbelief and enjoy your two-dimensional acting in a substandard project?

BEYONCÉ’S TOUR

You can only go back to the well so many times. Sure, business was ultimately very good, but usually shows of this caliber are instant sellouts. High prices and a return too soon to the marketplace hurt this tour.

PRICES GOING DOWN

Yes, in some cases they have. Prices can go in both directions based on demand.

MORGAN WALLEN

The biggest star in country whose only competitor for U.S. domination is Taylor Swift. Yet, there’s almost a news blackout amongst the liberal/left-leaning press.

COUNTRY

Is the new rock and roll and liked by many who swore off it in the past. Sure, there’s a lot of pandering in the lyrics, but the acts have identities, the songs have hooks and…

OASIS

The story is not that they did huge business in the U.K., but that it carried over to North America. This is my point about the Eras Tour…people get excited by a big story and have to go to the show!

COLDPLAY

Sells out everywhere. Stadiums. Is it that they were the beneficiary of the last gasp of the old system, music television and terrestrial radio, or is their music just milquetoast enough to appeal to everyone?

SPOTIFY GAINS MARKET SHARE

That’s where your friends are and there is innovation whereas its competitors are virtually moribund, music is an afterthought. But people still believe the company doesn’t pay the artists, which of course is blatantly untrue. But someone’s got to pay for the plight of the starving artist.

OSCARS GO TO YOUTUBE

And Grammys remain on CBS. Money isn’t everything. There’s no vision at the Grammys, however music does dominate YouTube and other streaming services…this power could be harnessed further, but…

NEW MUSIC IS A CLUB

And most people are not in it. And those in it are myopic. You’ve seen all the stories of the year’s top 25 albums… Other than the writer, no one has heard all of them, never mind heard of them! The stars are losing market share and under them it’s the Tower of Babel. New hit acts that appeal to many will lift all boats. But no one with any cash or power is willing to take the risk/put in the effort.

TIKTOK

Unpredictable. Can make the unknown a hit, but even more interesting, it can lift a hit of the past back into mainstream consciousness.

We are not creating enough new hit acts.

Business is great at the top. Stadium shows had a stellar year. Despite constant complaints about ticket prices, the truth is people will pay the freight to see their favorite acts. But those might be the only shows they go to. As a matter of fact, the old habit of being an active concertgoer, attending multiple shows on a regular basis, seems to be fading. There are still oldsters who do this, having gotten into the habit growing up, and there are youngsters who are music fanatics going to club shows…but the acts these active youngsters are seeing frequently do not have mass appeal.

Business is off. You can read the statistics, but what you’ve got to know is in the middle there is a problem, even for arena acts…shows are no longer instant sell-outs.

Has the post-Covid surge died off? Yes, a bit. But the truth is we continue to live in an age of experiences, the one and done. You want to be there, there is strong basic desire and a bit of FOMO. People are still documenting their meals… Nothing has changed here.

Are people concerned about cash? Absolutely! And that affects grosses. However, when there is a burning desire to see an act people find the money…again and again and again. It’s a one time unique experience. You have to be there!

Do you have to go see a band that is constantly on the road one more time? In many cases, no. There is a point of satiation. Smaller acts are on the road all year, they come back to markets frequently, people are tapped out, they’ve been there and done that.

And stars used to lay fallow, take a year or two off. Now many go back on the road…to go once is a thrill. Why go twice? Especially if there’s not a slew of new music you want to hear. As for seeing the latest production… This is antithetical to a healthy music business. Then it becomes about the show. The music should be enough unto itself, the production must sit on top of it, not only not overwhelm it, but not be the main selling factor.

As for shows that didn’t sell out… It’s not because people don’t have the money, they just don’t want to go. Concerts are not like shoes or food, they are not necessary, you must feel it in your gut, you must want to go…it’s an emotion first and foremost. And that emotion is connected to the music itself. And this is where the music industry has done a poor job, it has not fostered that emotional connection to the point where people want to lay down their cash to see an act.

Now the business changed about fifteen years ago. Used to be you worked your way up to arenas. Then Sam Smith started in arenas! Word spreads just that fast, people want to lay down their cash, and once again, it’s the music that is selling tickets, not the production, not even showmanship, because no one has seen the act before! A similar situation applies to Olivia Dean.

And the interesting thing about Olivia Dean is she sits smack dab in the middle of a genre, soft R&B, that people are familiar with. You hear her music and become infatuated. Whereas most of what is purveyed by the labels, the Spotify Top 50, people don’t care about.

Of course there are hard core K-pop fans. And fans of other bands. But universal acts are few and far between. And this is a failure of marketing. Not everybody is going to like everything, but more people could like one thing.

The labels can no longer break acts, and therefore they have become safe, conservative. They don’t build any talent from scratch. They just sign what gets a reaction online or fits in with the pop and hip-hop genres. There is no excitement there.

It’s a business. But the nation is not music crazy. It might be TikTok crazy. In the past two decades music has abdicated its power as the leading edge art form.

So whose responsibility is it? To develop new music that is exciting and different?

Well, promoters have picked up the slack a bit, promoting new acts, but their system is not as efficient as the one the major labels employed in the old days…terrestrial radio, print and television. With these avenues on life support, everybody seems to have thrown their hands in the air and abdicated power.

But there are still acts that appeal to broad swaths of the public, like Adele…how do we make more like her?

Well, in truth Adele broke big before terrestrial radio listening totally cratered, but…

If we want the live business to burgeon, to generate more revenue instead of less, we must create acts the public wants to see. Easy concept, hard to execute.

TV competition shows don’t work… Some of these people can sing, but that is no longer enough, none of them become stars, because they don’t write! And many of the pop stars don’t write or do so as part of a committee. The public reacts to and resonates most with music that is written by those who sing it. Culture sells music.

And we have too many acts with poor singers. This was never a thing, it is now. Go to club shows…these acts have fans, but word can never spread because the lead singer just doesn’t have the chops.

Sure, Chappell Roan broke through, aided by festival appearances, kudos, but who else? We used to have a rolling list of new hit acts. Universal doesn’t even seem to be in this business anymore, merging Interscope and Capitol. The majors can coast on their catalogs, it doesn’t look like we can depend upon them to move the needle, they’re risk averse.

And concert promotion is a nuts and bolts business. You have to make money. And with people consuming less alcohol, the business is more challenging than ever.

Where are the acts people have to see, are dying to see?

There are a good number of superstars. But most of them have their roots in the old system, of radio and print and TV exposure. As for labels…their idea of artist development is to break a single album, whereas labels used to stick by acts for five LPs, growing their business.

So where are these new acts going to come from?

There will always be a music business, people will want to go to shows, but to grow…you’ve got to motivate the public, and you do this via new acts!

We need to promote quality acts that don’t sound just like everybody else in the marketplace. Of course it’s the public that must create this music and…with music absent from schools, it’s those who went to music school in Britain and Sweden who are triumphing. It’s not rocket science. You build from the roots up.

On top of this we have the issue of turning the public on to great new music, something that was not fixed with playlists, which remains a problem in the digital era. I’ve always said that Spotify could promote an act a week or a month…but the politics are a problem, labels whose acts are not chosen will complain.

Do we wait until something happens organically, or do we goose the system?

Once again, we need to have better systems to make people aware of quality new acts.

But we also have to inspire, find and promote quality new acts. Make people excited about music in general, not just one or two acts. We can start with tracks…the public is eager for great ones. Forget the career, the detritus of mediocre music, this is the service that radio once fulfilled. We actually need a gatekeeper, we’re living in a Tower of Babble, and no one seems to want to take the reins.

Where are the opening acts trying to blow the headliner off the stage?

Well, opening acts have been so bad that most people don’t even arrive to see them. It didn’t used to be this way, the undercard was a core part of the show, not anymore.

So we can debate ticket prices all day long, talk about bots and fees and… That’s for shows that everybody wants to go to. How about the shows that are struggling, how about quality new acts without traction…who is talking about those, who is championing those?

That is the question.

WRITE SONGS

That’s where all the money and action is. If you just want to be a player…you’re at the mercy of the band leader and studio work has dropped off dramatically. Today many songs are simple with one chord throughout. Don’t be beholden to what is popular now, classic song structure always triumphs. “Yesterday” was not that different from what was popular decades before the Beatles had success. Hacks imitate, original writers triumph. This is something that has hobbled Nashville, when you write by committee you kill the bolt of inspiration of great work that pushes the envelope. And, when you write your own material, people resonate with your work that much more, they know you are speaking directly from your heart.

CREATE CONSTANTLY

You get better the more you do it. Ask anyone who has had success, in hindsight they laugh at their earlier work.

PRACTICE

Know the basics… Whether it be how to play your guitar or drums or… Or if you’re a singer/lyricist, you should be reading all the time. Inspiration comes when you’ve got the tools down, when it’s reflexive as opposed to intellectualized.

POST

Everything you do should be posted online on all platforms. Probably it will be ignored, but you never know what will resonate with the public. Don’t self-censor. And failure is no longer the stain it once was. Stiffs are ignored and hits are recognized. In other words, no matter how big an act you are, if you misfire it’s no longer held against you, the work is just forgotten… You can come back with better work later. This means you can experiment.

MARKETING & PROMOTION

Do none until you have a buzz, a reaction. Not only professionals, but average people are overloaded and will give you one chance, usually not more. But when something is happening, when you’ve got multiple streams/views, that means that someone likes what you are doing and that’s what professionals are looking for, someone who is building their audience all by their lonesome.

CREATION VS. MARKETING & PROMOTION

Yes, you should be on TikTok, your music should not only be on all platforms you must create interesting videos to promote it. However, do not fall into the modern trap of spending most of your time marketing as opposed to creating and playing. There are millions of great marketers, there are not millions of great musicians. You have to lead with the music.

DON’T COMPLAIN

There’s no upside. If you’re not making any money that means that your music is not causing a reaction. Focus on the reaction…if that happens, you’ll end up making money. History is littered with people who didn’t give up their day jobs until after their album went gold…let this be a lesson to you.

DON’T WAIT TO BE RESCUED

If you’re banking on finding a deep pocket, a label or an investor, you’re doing it wrong. That’s positively last century. You have all the tools in your pocket. Furthermore, oftentimes the label can’t do anything but pay you, they have proven again and again in the past few years that they don’t know how to break an act, and as a result of this they are focusing more and more on fewer genres, trying for moonshots. Labels are very much like movie studios in this way. As for an indie label… The truth is you are your own label, you’ve got to do it yourself. And if you have success you’ll get so much more money from streaming. Beware of hucksters telling you they can help you out, they talk a good game but rarely deliver. And know that anyone who wants to get involved with you only will do so because they want to make money. If you’re not generating cash, they’re not interested. And the moment you stop generating cash, or never break through, their interests go elsewhere. This is capitalism, this is human nature… There is no music league akin to sports. Everybody starts their journey wet behind the ears and learns through the process, especially when they get screwed. Never give up your copyrights, however if you can’t give a little to get a little, don’t expect anybody to want to be in business with you.

PLAY IN YOUR GENRE

Don’t study the hit parade and try to imitate it, play what’s in your soul. You might have to create a market for it, but if it’s great, people will find it. However the conundrum of the modern internet era is everything is available, there for the listening/taking, but it almost always takes longer than it did in the past to gain traction/critical mass. If you’re even thinking of going to graduate school, don’t even start as a professional musician. Now, more than ever, it takes eons to break through and it’s not like in the past, where when you do riches pour down. You might just end up with a business that keeps you afloat at best, with enough fans to tour and support you. If you’re getting into music to get rich, there are many other avenues with better odds, go down those paths.

INFLUENCES

Yes, you should know records, but you need to read and socialize and…you are your influences. Which is why the barely pubescent acts almost always flame out, they haven’t had enough life experience, they might have a hit but they can’t follow it up because they’ve got nothing to say.

PEFORMANCE IS A SKILL

You develop it over time. No one is great right out of the box. If your act depends on live appearances, play everywhere you can, even for free…you need the experience to get good. And you can close people with a live performance, although finding a place to play for an act without traction is not easy.

READ DON PASSMAN’S BOOK

It’s much better than sitting around with wannabes providing false information on how the business works.

START WITH PEOPLE AT YOUR OWN LEVEL

Sure, some bigwig might come along and be interested in what you’re doing and want to be in business with you, but you’re best off being involved with young hustlers your own age, who are at the same point in the music business or just slightly ahead. Most established people don’t have the time or inclination to build something from zero, they want something that will pay in prodigious amounts quickly. They’ve been there and done that, developed acts that succeeded but mostly failed. You need the passion of someone who is just starting out. In addition, that big theoretical button that can be pushed for success no longer exists.

BE A STUDENT OF THE GAME BUT DON’T BE CRIPPLED BY THE GAME

Every big story, every big break is unique. Just because someone made it one way doesn’t mean you should try to replicate the formula.

YOUR BIG BREAK WILL BE A SERIES OF LITTLE BREAKS

If you ever have a big break…it’s almost never what you think it will be. So if you’re planning on a TV appearance or newspaper article to break you through…I’m not saying not to do it, but don’t expect this to be the one thing that will put you over the top, especially today when you’re competing with so many messages.

PERSEVERANCE

If you’re not willing to starve, music is not the business for you. If you want to get married, have a house and children, you don’t have the time nor the ability to barely survive, which are almost always key elements of the road to success. Don’t think of music as a conventional job, it’s more akin to a lottery. No one cares how much you practiced, they just care if your music resonates with them. Period. Stop telling people you’ve put in 10,000 hours. Never mind that it’s 10,000 hours of hard work, which few are willing to do. As a guitarist are you willing to try and read music, constantly batting your head against the wall with difficult stuff to play? I’m not saying you need to read in order to succeed, but I am saying if the process isn’t frustrating, if you don’t feel like sometimes you’re banging your head against the wall, if you don’t contemplate giving up…then you’re just not doing it right, you’re not working hard enough. Sure, you might play in a bar band six nights a week, and you’ll gain some skills, but not all the ones you need to be a star or even a journeyman playing your own material. If the process of making it is not frustrating to you…the joke is on you. Put yourself in uncomfortable situations. And you’re flying without a net. The success of every musical act is different, as is the path they take to get there. You’re building it from scratch, it’s solely about you, someone might be able to give you some help but you are in the driver’s seat.

DON’T BE SOUR GRAPES

The truth is the public is dying for great new music, and if they find it they tell everybody they know about it. Don’t blame the public if they don’t get what you’re doing. Maybe it’s too far out there or too ahead of the game, maybe if you stay at it the audience will catch up with you… But the dirty little secret is most people and their music is just not great. People don’t spread the word on good music, they spread the word on great music!

YOU’RE ONLY IN COMPETITION WITH YOURSELF

No one is taking your slot, your lane is unique to you and unlimited. Think about what you’re doing, about your audience, not what another act is doing. This is a business of uniqueness, that’s what rises above the morass. Which is why Berklee students don’t dominate the charts. Sure, learn how to play. But do you have a vision, can you create something unique?

INSPIRATION IS EVERYTHING

The idea trumps the ability to execute it. You don’t have to be the best player in order to break through, but you do have to have the best idea. Look at the Ramones…they started a whole movement based on precepts that weren’t even considered by those in power in the business.

MORE INSPIRATION

Sure, there are artists who build songs over time, but most of the great tunes were concocted very quickly, on instinct. If you live your life, exercise, take a shower, you’ll be surprised when an idea comes to you…and then rush to your instrument and notepad, don’t squander the inspiration, it comes rarely, stay in the zone and lay it down, it will feel like you’re channeling something, like the song is writing itself. If you’ve never had this feeling, then either you’re doing it wrong or haven’t done it enough. This is the story of the majority of legendary hits. Period. Sure, there are hits that were made by committee, but the bolt of lightning, from the heavens into your brain and fingers…those are the ones that are special, that evidence humanity, that connect with people. Keep going until you have this experience…and you only have this experience when your chops are in order…so when the idea comes you can lay it down just that fast, maybe in an hour, maybe in only fifteen minutes.