I bumped into a musician/producer friend of mine at the tube station last week. A couple of weeks earlier I’d given him a copy of my album ‘The Final Man’. We exchanged greetings, laughed with the joy of a chance meeting, and then he burst out with “Man, your album – I can’t get enough of it – it’s the best thing I’ve heard since ‘Grace’ by Jeff Buckley!”
I was thrilled that it had moved him so and I replied “I don’t normally ask for this sort of thing, but if that comment is genuine and from your heart, please say it in some public way”.
I mean, if you were to read “My mate has made a cool album, check it out” you might be unlikely to make time to listen, what with the ocean of stuff promoting itself constantly on the Web. But if somebody wrote “Hey everyone, this is the best thing I’ve heard since ‘Grace’!” you would at least give it a listen, wouldn’t you? I would.
Now I am not saying for a second that it is the best thing since that classic record, but it did really move someone, he really was very excited.
Long and short – he hasn’t expressed it on any public forum. Maybe he’s not good with Facebook, maybe it feels too vulnerable to be praising some work so openly, in case he got it wrong…?
My question is though – how do we get something of artistic value (whether it’s ‘classic’ material or merely because it’s someone’s true honest expression) heard by a larger audience, without either a promotional machine behind it or a nice pair of legs in front of it?
Actually, now I mention it, my legs aren’t so bad…..hmmm….
Dx
Getting Heard
