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Re: Re famous folks on list (Re: RC-50 video on summer NAMM)



All good points Steve, and small ones at that! What is that, 5 point font? :) I had to get my microfiche reader out.
 
I wanted to offer one last analogy with the corporate world to reinforce our thoughts below, which may also wrap some warm and fuzzies around the thread...and then I'll stop.
 
At my company, we have several layers and hierarchies of management, from first line managers, to directors, to VPs, country, business unit and function executives, to our CEO, which on average is about 5-8 levels from individual contributor to CEO. I guess you could consider these folks famous, in our own ecosystem of over 100,000 employees. Many of these executives put in some intense work days, often 16-18 hours a day, talking to customers, traveling the world, speaking, making high impact decisions, etc. They live their jobs and they get paid accordingly. Whenever anyone think they have a busy job, even a professional musician, they should conceptualize the job of a corporate executive. They are extremely high stress, high accountability, and time intensive...and their heads are on the chopping block to drive results for the company. They don't entertain, they drive the health of the company, upon which many peoples' careers and lives are at stake.
 
Moreover, typically we will have third and fourth level executives who rarely exchange emails with teams of individual contributors (non-people manager). That is just the way they do business and it is their management style. Neither right nor wrong. However, on occasion, a high level executive will actually participate in an email discussions with team of individual contributors, because they feel it is important to be present on the front lines. And they will do this on a regular basis.
 
MAIN POINT: I can say from experience that this above interaction between executives and employees generates a lot of positive morale in the company, and generally creates more respect of our leaders when they do this.  It makes people feel good to know that their leaders and visionaries care about what they think, talk to them, listen to them, engage them, etc.  It breaks down those idealistic walls of proletariat and bourgeoisie.
 
I think the same can be the case for the music industry. And we've even seen it on our very own LD list. Just recently, a well known looper posted something on our list, and it appeared that people liked this...it brightened up their day and outlook on the list, their art, etc. And I have to believe that if a famous looper can increase the morale of a discussion group and make people feel good about what they do, inform them, offer bits of advice and wisdom, etc....that the feeling will be mutual. Usually, when we do good things that make others feel good, it makes us feel good ourselves. So it can be a win-win situation.
 
And this is why I really value the opinons and interaction of loopers like Steve Lawson, Rick Walker, Sunao, and many others who do this for a living and our representing us on the front lines of the looper world. Every time you post to the list, you help build a positive morale and a stronger infrastructure of the community.
 
Kris
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: Re famous folks on list (Re: RC-50 video on summer NAMM)

>>>I have a full time job for a fortune 500 company (9-12 hours a day), play music and record CDs on the side, coordinate projects and event, and raise a family with two 14 month twins that get up at 5:30 or 6am in the morning.  I can still find the time to send encouraging and useful emails to LD. I don't buy the time argument, because everyone has an issue with time, not just professional musicians.  It is about priorities. If a professional musician makes it a priority to proactively get engaged with a community, they will do it, period. Heck, I know folks who sync their email up and do all their correspondence on the plane. And I'm not talking about sending hundreds of emails, but at least a response or comment once in a while so that we know that they are real people who communicate with the external world, and not abstract deities who only communicate through the press and their agents..which seems pretentious as hell to me.  Personally, I think fame gets to the heads of some people in the entertainment industry.<<<

Kris, 

you're absolutely right that it's about priorities, and for people for whom music is a hobby, a love, a past-time, their relaxation, sitting chatting about it with a bunch of anonymous emailers is a dream come true. If the rest of your time is spent talking about musical stuff, dealing with music related questions, playing gigs, organising gigs etc. etc. etc. the last thing some people want to do with their free time is talk about music. 

The one thing that LD has over a lot of other lists is that the level of the discussion is often worth reading. Most music related lists are appalling. I contribute to quite a few online bass forums - partly cos I enjoy it, and partly cos I can write it down in my own mental time sheet as 'promotional' time. But the vast majority of the discussions on the forums a) don't need to happen cos Google has the answers, and b) are of such an inane level, that I really don't have the time or inclination to get involved. 

When I first got onto LD 7 or so years ago, the level of conversation was consistently high - smaller group, more movers and shakers, and a young list so all the good topics hadn't been exhausted. It's fairly rare that a topic comes up on here that really floats my boat. That's not to say it's not good stuff, just that it's not good for me. 

So yes, it's all about priorities, and a lot of people's priority structure doesn't include chatting online. that's cool. 

Steve
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