Oi... it's been a while since I wrote one of these. I'm sorry - I created this section in hopes that I would have, not only something to say, but the time to say it. As the political climate and economic climate of our country declines further, I hope to share with you a new perspective - something different that is directed towards musicians specifically, but that I hope speaks to all of us in a way. For that reason, I move away from politics and the economy to something I know a bit more about, being a musician and working in the music business.

How can this possibly apply to a general public, my readers, who are mostly music fans and not musicians? The fact is, being a musician is being an entrepreneur, a student, an artist, an architect, a salesman, a designer and a human being. In addition, the mentality of the musician today parallels the mentality of my generation - I at 25 have been placed in a group that has been called "Generation Y" aka "Generation Why?" aka "The Me Generation." We are plugged in and shut down We feel entitled but not engaged. It's all about me.

I'm not claiming to be different. I'm simply hoping to offer one set of insights that I hope musicians can take literally and I hope others can take metaphorically and apply to their lives in any way you see fit and find some benefit from these concepts. As always, this is an open forum - you are welcome to comment, question, disagree and tell me to fuck off.

Please note, this is not directed towards any individual or band - I also run the Eleven Seven Myspace and when bands contact us for A&R consideration I hope to treat them with respect and honesty. I would never apply these concepts to any band without examination.

Recently, my parent company, Eleven Seven Music, along with Guitar Center, hosted a great contest called Make Rock History (it's still going on in the Semi-Finals stage so I won't speak of anything to the contest itself . I had the honor of listening to, looking at and examining over 300 of the top bands to help select those that would go to the Semi Finals. Throughout our offices we examined, deeply over 1,000 bands, gave them all consideration and narrowed it down - the process was not easy... there's a lot of talent out there and a lot of frighteningly bad music that just doesn't get it.

In the entry for Make Rock History there was a question "Why Should Your Band Win?" The answer was an overwhelming "Because we deserve it." It came in many shapes and forms "Because we work harder and we've paid our dues..." "Because we're the best band in the world..." "Because we rock harder than everyone else..." "Because we deserv(sic) it." Yes - one band did write "Because we deserv it."

The fact is, no band ever became famous because they simply deserved it. They make it to your ears because they work for it enough that other people want to help them work for it. Our world is full of people who feel they deserve a helping hand or special treatment - they have the "I create, therefore it is good" mentality. The fact is, simple creation is not enough - our world is so over-saturated with media and music that to stand out from the pack you must be special, unique and different, but the same enough to fit in.

That leads me, conceptually, to the "I want to get signed..." mentality. As a member of the music industry, I must say that the concept of just "wanting to get signed" without truly understanding what it is you are signing is ridiculous. Now I know, like many things in this world, I look at it from the Hollywood perspective as I sit in the office of one of the most successful Rock music labels in the world. So I don't say this to be insulting, but informative. Getting signed is meaningless. So let's give it meaning.

First, let us define what "signed" means. To most artists, getting signed is a general term applied to any record deal. To others, it is any contract that "advances" a career - IE finding a manager, record label or agent. What most people don't realize, however, is exactly how that signing entity plays into their life, and more importantly how the symbiotic relationship between those characters exists. The fact is, most bands just aren't ready to get signed and it wouldn't be beneficial for the band OR the signing entity.

In the music industry, managers, agents and record labels make money from investing time and money in bands and receiving commission as a percentage of their work or profiting from the manufactured product (CD or mp3) they release in the case of a record label - not in up-front fees (IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST AND YOU ARE EVER GIVEN A DEAL THAT REQUIRES UP-FRONT INVESTMENT FROM THE BAND.... RUN). Therefore, no label or agent will ever sign an artist that doesn't have something going on. What would be the point of signing some young band that doesn't have any fans, good recordings and needs a lot of work? Raw talent is wonderful, but the band needs to do the ground-work and build the base from which the agent and label can make money. Ninety percent of records released fail - that's all records of all kinds from established AND new bands. Labels, generally don't just discover talent and turn them into something - I promise, no matter how good your band is, just being good isn't enough.

Managers are slightly different - sometimes they are willing to help build. The mistake most bands make is signing with a crappy manager that they don't need - a band only needs management when they can truly no longer handle their business. Bands really need to analyze WHY they need a manager and what that manager has to offer the band. Often a big name manager can't pay attention to a young band because they have to focus on their clients that make money. Independent bands also tend to sign with down-and-out managers who have little to offer, but when things take off the band starts making money and has a leech dragging them down for 20% of everything they make (this even happened to Nine Inch Nails).

If you are in a band, you do not need a manager until you can no long handle the business yourself. Before you sign with a manager, analyze yourself and think CAN I do this work? Am I just being lazy by not doing it myself? What does this manager bring to the table? How can I work through all of this myself and is this manager valuable to me?

Before even submitting to a record label or an agent, an artist needs to do the basic work of building a fanbase regionally. As a band, you need to prove that people who don't know you like your music. What does that mean? It means you have to hone your live show and play gigs. You have to get out and WORK YOUR ASS OFF promoting shows. Don't just hand out flyers and send e-mails. Go up to people and make them come to your fucking show. Tell them to bring friends. Hire a publicist (the one contract in the business you should pay for up-front). Get the word out by any means necessary. Make friends with other bands and create a scene and community. Make records - it's really cheap now to make good records with digital technology.

If a band can't do that basic groundwork, they're not ready to be signed. If a band does the groundwork and can't build a fan-base, they're not good enough.

That is the other side of this project. Be self-aware. Listen to your music against other music and say to yourself "Does this sound as good or better?" If the answer is not HONESTLY yes.... educate yourself and find out why. Songwriting is an art AND a science If you don't learn how to write music for your genre and become educated by studying the art and science, why are you wasting our time? Just because you create it, doesn't mean it's good.

Is there a light at the end of this dream-killing essay? Yes, of course there is. The fact is that most artists need to create just to create. If you are an artist, and you are happy to write songs and get up on stage and share them with the people you can share them with, then you should just be happy doing that. Like most things in this world, you get out what you put in. If you put a lot of heart and soul into writing music, honing your skills and promoting yourself, you will eventually build a fanbase and start being able to do what you do for a real group of people you can call your fans. Will you be able to quit your dayjob and start doing music for a living? Maybe. Will you get signed and make millions? Less likely, but maybe.

However, if you sit in your apartment and you write a bunch of songs and then send them to record labels, are you going to get signed? No. You may get a publishing deal, but you're not getting a record contract. If you don't know what a publishing deal is.... you're not doing your homework.

Record companies aren't in the business of building an artist, they are in the business of breaking artists - there is a very distinct difference. The most up-and-coming band you hear on the radio from the smallest indie label has fans somewhere - the label is responsible for breaking them to the nation. The BAND was responsible for the build, the intiial creation of the concept that put them in a position to get signed.

There is another great misconception that "we sound like nothing else" is a good thing. The fact is, the radio is the radio for a reason - people like to hear the music that the radio plays. If you don't sound anything like anything else, it's possible you don't have a place in pop music and therefore, most labels can't make money from you. If you're in a Death Metal band and want to get signed to Nuclear Blast or Roadrunner Records, awesome - that's the right thing to do, but you had better sound like Obituary or Dimmu Borgir or some other popular band who's name is too scary to print here. If you're in a rock band and think you fit on Eleven Seven, you better have some singles in you, because we're not interested in music that nobody wants to buy - even the most experimental popular bands, System of a Down, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Mudvayne, all have a hook that makes them special but enough like other music that you want to listen. Not one of those bands sound like NOTHING else you've ever heard.

How does all of this incoherent babbling apply to life? It is simply this: people need to work for what they want. Life is not going to come to you and a strong work-ethic and an understanding that you can MAKE things happen is the only way you will ever achieve greatness.

Whatever your art-form may be, whether it is music, painting, sales, accounting, law, architecture or just general pencil-pushing, you're not going achieve your dreams unless YOU do the legwork. Nobody wants to "sign" you out of charity and there aren't many people who want to polish the coal until it becomes a diamond. Make yourself a diamond first - you'll be worth more and much happier in the long run.

That being said, I do listen to every single demo that comes my way, and pay attention to every band we come across. When I say I listened to over 300 bands, I mean I LISTENED to over 300 bands - full songs, videos, everything I needed to know what that band was about. I'll tell you something - the best bands on the list were also the ones that had fans, and things going on. People flock to good music and hard work. It's up to you to make it happen.