OT "He is" or "I am"

["RICK WALKER" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Dear Michael,  you wrote:
"I don't know how to put it. If I say "he is" it sounds like somebody else
has written it about me, while everybody knows that I wrote it myself."


This is an assumption that after having been in the music business 
professionally
for 30 years making money at different times as both a 
producer/promoter/publicist/band leader/band manager/
and solo artist that I must disagree with.

There seems to be an unwritten prejudice in western culture (at least) 
that 
there is something unseemly about
self promotion, but the fact of the matter is a huge amount of the 
promotion 
you see on the web is just that and
, furthermore,  it is self promotion that is under the guise of non-self 
promotion.


If you write  "I am",there are many, many people who will not take you 
seriously,  whereas,though people may
suspect that you wrote the material when you say  "He is",   they will not 
be able to make that assumption.
Usually, a great deal of the promotion you see out in the world is self 
promotion.


If you're website is as professional as everything you seem to do 
graphically,  many, many people will assume
that someone else did it for you or that a 'record company' did it for 
you. 
As long as your site is professional
and effective,  people won't do anything but be intrigued by it and look 
closer at it.      At the same time,
anyone who is really cynical and/or judedgemental about you doing your own 
copy is not the kind of person
who would ever buy your CDs anyway from my experience.


I led and managed a quite successful regional new wave band in the early 
80's  (Tao Chemical, a band I was fortunate
enough to play with my brother, Bill, in) and I frequently used a 
pseudonym 
when I did booking and managing for the group.

If I identified myself as being a band member,  many venues and record 
companies wouldn't even take me seriously.
I did hundreds of hours of outreach and booking by pretending to NOT be 
myself so that I could get my band good paying
and numerous gigs (and boy, did we gig a lot).   It was very effective to 
not be me in that situation.  I didn't care about
the moral aspects of the small deception because I truly believed that we 
were a really special band and getting us
as famous as possible and in front of as many audience members, 
journalists, 
DJs and record labels as possible
was the most important thing.

Industry insiders and other musicians may be able to guess that you did 
your 
own website but the general public
will never make that assumption.    Trust me,  by an large they just won't.

There are so many new labels in the world these days that it would be 
foolish to assume that one you haven't heard of
is not a 'legitimate' one.

My considered advice is to always use  "He is"   over "I am".      You 
will 
be considerably more successful with this strategy.
The whole music industry is based on illusion.   Just because people think 
you are somebody.............you ARE somebody
and can get really wonderful opportunities to put your artistry out their 
in 
public.

It may be lamentable that the industry is based on so much hype but the 
fact 
of the matter is that it IS.
As long as you have something that you feel can back up the beauty and 
professionalism of your site,  then it's okay to
use the small white lie of ''He is".

The most important thing is the art,  imnsho!

yours,  Rick