How big does “BIG” have to be?

There is a mindset in Popular music that says big is what you shoot for. You try with every fiber of your being to “Make it”. Get on the Mtv's, the VH1's, the radio, and sell millions of recordings. If you don't sell out stadiums you are just a duffer.

What is popular is good. If it appeals to millions it in and of itself is valid.

This isn't true, never has been. Frank Zappa is a genius, Michael Jackson is a pop star. But even referencing Frank is kind of cheating. How about this, Chance Wayne is the world best Electric guitar player. Have you ever heard of Chance Wayne? Probably not. The people that put hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of promotion money behind “Talent (?)” wouldn't touch him with a 10 meter pole. He's not hip, he's not cool, he's just light years ahead of anybody I've ever heard.

Chance make his living playing venue after venue, and leaving audience dumbstruck. But the simple fact is, without the support of the music industry infrastructure, he'll probably spend the rest of his career doing just that.

But the world is changing, and it's time to re-evaluate just how big, “BIG” needs to be.

But I'm not here to talk about Chance Wayne. I'm here to talk about me.

I have a pretty simple dream. To make a comfortable living doing something I love. Now when I say comfortable living, I'm probably thinking of a number far lower then most people would imagine. I came up with this low number figuring if a man has enough to pay his bills and buy the things he really want by saving up for them, He should be content. If you do something you love, you are already rich.

I don't need to be “BIG”, I just need to be big enough to reach my goals.

I'm currently pulling down an amount which is just shy of halfway to my goal amount. In theory I need become twice as profitable as I am now to make my goal. I'm not sure of the mechanics to do this, but I do understand I need to get a little bit Bigger.

But if there is a point to this entry it would be I don't need to be “BIG” to be successful. I'm not the most popular performer on Second Life, nor am I willing to do the things that might cause that to happen. But I am still the future of music on the grid. Seriously... if you can achieve your goals and avoid doing so by extorting money from people, you've found the goose that lays the golden egg.

Of course, doubling my profitably is a daunting task. But I believe it's attainable without resorting to selling my soul to any kind of Music biz infrastructure. Play a few more Real life shows, find some new listeners to play for, sell a few more MP3 collections and I'm set.

In the end, “BIG” is not as big as it use to be. And that suits me fine.