Ouroboros

Being a musician, or trying to be, can be a stressful and laborious endeavor. In the business of bands, change is bad. New members, replacements, fill-ins... these things are all wildly unpredictable variables in what is already a very fragile and unstable situation.

Unless you've been playing together for years, you never feel supremely confident when you step on stage. Once you start playing, you're in a chain gang with these guys, and there's always that looming possibility that you're gonna trip, or somebody else is gonna trip, and you're all gonna come crashing down.

And when you inevitably do, from time to time, that single event, in that one song, even for just the briefest moment, makes all the work leading up to that performance seem futile.

Well, if anyone's watching, that is. See, there's another, even worse possibility. No one is paying attention. And if there's anyone in the bar, and they're not listening... well that's your fault. As an entertainer, it's you're job to fucking entertain. And if you can't do that... well what are you doing in this business, anyway?

There's a simple fix, of course... bring your own people. Bring people that you know want to hear you play; people that are coming out specifically to hear you play... then you're guaranteed more than just a crowd. Now you've got: An Audience.

Ah, but that's the rub isn't it? How do you get An Audience? Hoooo boy, it's tough. When nobody knows who you are, when nobody's ever heard of you or seen you, boy it's like pulling teeth to get people to come out. Friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances... these people are all sick of you asking them to come out to your show. Even if you're good. Even if you're really good. See, people want to go to where other people are. You know how everyone claims to find people to be annoying? To hate crowds? Bullshit. People want to go out to be where other people are. They're drawn to things that they can see other people enjoying. You've got to have An Audience, to get An Audience.

Impossible, you say? A paradoxical circle with no beginning or end, you say? Welcome to "trying to be a musician!" So what do you do?

Anything you can. You have to learn to get people's attention, anyway you can. You need to reach a whole shit-ton of people, just to capture the attention of a few. It's a numbers game, and the odds are severely stacked, and not in your favor.

But, it's no one's fault but our own... us wannabe musicians, we choose this roller coaster ride... we accept the pressure, the fear, the labor, the disappointment, along with relatively infrequent triumph and fleeting success...

Is it all worth it in the end? I'll let you know.