I met a marketing guy tonight who told me he could sell my product (a product I don’t have). A few months ago, I was approached by a management team looking to book me some gigs. A coworker wants to put out a book but insists he needs a publisher.
This is a great time to be a creator. Why? Because we don’t need anyone’s help. The middleman is dead. Thank you, Internet. No thanks, marketer, I got ReverbNation, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and some ideas of my own to reach an audience. Oh, and it’s free for me. See ya, management team, I’ll meet people on my own, establish relationships with other like-minded individuals and keep in contact with them through the aforementioned Web sites, booking shows along the way. Who needs a book publisher when you can self-publish your work and keep a sizable chunk of the profits? Who needs to free up $1,000 for studio time when I can invest in a portable studio of my own for half the price AND learn a valuable trade to help fellow musicians?
Our plans no longer hang on the decisions of others. With some time and a computer with an internet connection, we have a tremendous opportunity to reach an otherwise distant audience and learn a few things along the way. And it’s mostly of no financial cost to us.
What a great time to be an artist.