Don't Speed Ball!

In this age of instant gratification the thought of being patient and working for something seems to be a lost concept. The Internet has leveled the playing in this new music industry but it has also made certain bad habits worse. The only thing about artists now having this freedom to put up as much music as they want and market themselves is that there seems to be no quality control in place. In the old music industry you had an A&R department that stood as an objective opinion on what should or should not be released and the artist really had very little say because they were not paying for the record. What we have to understand about all this new freedom is that it is even more important now that we focus on making great music FIRST and DON'T SPEED BALL. That simply means don't rush or be in such a hurry to get your music on the Internet or in public especially when it is not ready. Yes, the playing field has been leveled but the competition has gotten stronger. Consumers are being bombarded with so much new music that they won't waste time on crap and you only have one chance to impress them. If you move to fast by putting out music that is not produced, mixed and mastered up to a certain standard, you are simply shooting yourself in the foot. Word of mouth travels even faster on the Internet and all it takes is for the word to get out that the quality of your music sucks and that's it. The same goes for your visual image. Now that everyone has access to a digital camera they think they are photographers. Well let me tell you that they are not. Capturing a great photo is an art. The right photo can make or break you. Your visual image is as important as the music because most of the time people will see the photo before they hear the music. You should take time to be sure that your photos are a visual match for your music. Don't just throw up a shot from anywhere as your promo picture. Success is ALL about planning and making sound business decisions. The only way to win is to TAKE YOUR TIME. You only have one chance to go out right. You can't release a CD and then go back and make excuses about. It's too late. If it is not ready, then just wait until it is ready. Don't listen to your homeboys hyping you up. They won't by your records anyway and why listen to people that have no experience or success doing this? Slow down and always focus on quality first. I know it can be frustrating to have to wait sometimes but in the end you and your career will be better off for it. Just DON'T SPEED BALL. Take your time and enjoy the journey.

The Truth

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