Considering heresy

The things I'm going to talk about here are so unlike what I normally say you may suspect somebody else is writing it. I assure you it's me.

I remember reading something Derrick Silvers said, and keep in mind I'm paraphrasing here. He suggested, your life, your career is more like High School then College. The Popular people do better. People do business with people they know and like. In High School it's all about the social circle you belong to. In college, you gotta work hard to get somewhere.

In other words, if you want to get ahead in life, smile and nod a lot. Hard work is for suckers and while it won't kill you, it won't do you much good.

For a while now I've been a proponent of the concept if people were exposed to good music they would embrace that music. This may be a case where I'm totally wrong.

I've also talked at length about “Unknown factors”, but I could be dealing with an unrecognized factor. That factor being, it's all about the Clique, and while I have stated previously the Second Life music scene is primarily a social phenomena, I now revise that concept with the over arching relevance of the Clique.

In other words, it's not the popularity of an artist that make them sim crashers, it's the appeal of the Clique that has sprung up around them.

Please note I'm not using the word Clique pejoratively here. Just an observation, no judgment inferred.

I'm not saying the Cliques are totally independent of the music involved, however, the music is only part of the equation.

What does this mean for me? Well I'm basically screwed. I'm not appealing Clique fodder. I could work harder but it won't do me any good. No matter how EPIC the show, no matter how profound the performance, it's all for naught. I'm already bigger then I should be.

If it were a matter of hard work, I could be as big as my talent warrants, because I do work hard. But in the big popularity war, I'm showing up with a pointed stick.

Does this sound defeatist? I sincerely hope not. If you are wondering if I'm thinking about quitting, rest assured I'm way too stupid to quit. I'm just lowering my expectations. While I still insist I am the future of music on the grid, I probably won't be appreciated until I'm dead.