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By Curtis C III
I just wanted to drop you a line on something that should be common sense but
few artists actually utilize. It's about maximizing the potential attraction
to you as an artist. Essentially my message today is to "Be Yourself"
BUT it's way more than that.
Be A Character
What makes you unique?
Any weird hobbies, interests, styles, etc?
What aspects do people find interesting about you.
In the realm of music, the character of the individual is a BIG selling point
for a lot of fans. I'm not telling you to put on clown make up or anything,
I'm telling you to be the ultimate version of yourself. Whoever you are when
you're performing your song in the shower is exactly who you need to be on stage,
in videos and during fan interactions.
Sounds like common sense, right?
Well if common sense were common then everyone would have it. I KNOW you've
met an artist or you've heard of one of your friends meeting one and being shell
shocked at how different they were from their on stage persona. It's a practice
all too common in the world of art. You can escape it by doing one thing and
one thing only...
Be Genuinely Interesting
If you're going for some emo/anti-social punk thing, then fine do it. That's
your market and you need to aim there. Because if you're like the majority of
musicians trying to carve out their own fan base specifically catered to them,
then you need to peak that specific group's interests.
A few examples of what I'm talking about to drive the point home:
Steven James Anderson wasn't nearly as successful as he could have been before
he tapped into his redneck roots and became "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
He wasn't being some character that was handed to him in a script, he's a genuine
country beer guzzling SOB from Victoria, TX. He had to dig deep and become the
ultimate most interesting genuine personality to attract more people.
Seems like it all worked out in the end
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's tales of gangterism and woe (and the battle
scars to prove it) put him over with his audience and was the driving point
to his success in the rap industry. Now I'm not saying that you should be littered
with bullet holes to be successful, I'm saying that the persona you portray
has to be engaging. In the intro to "Many Men," you feel that pain
of a person getting hit in a drive by. That's how strong his personality on
the track was.
Williams Leonard Roberts III wasn't much of a success until he built himself
up as "Rick Ross". He made his own lane in the rap world (regardless
of his past affiliations) with utilizing a stable of unique producers, a certain
charisma and not to mention constantly dropping hit record after hit record.
He evolved with the times to become ahead of his time. When faced with opposition
from a certain artist mentioned above, he undoubtedly had his back against the
wall. Instead of feeding into the bait like so many others before him, he played
the game a little differently and decided to take a route that was more about
music than talk. He dropped hit records, and in the world of music, hit records
are more important than talk. He walked the walk, and his audience grew because
of it.
So there you have it. It's not about sacrificing yourself to become something
that you completely aren't. If anything you should bring out more of yourself
on your records and in person, because ultimately that's what people will buy
into...
If you're planning on sticking around for a while, that is.
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