One of 100
“If I can get 100 people to give a shit, I’m happy.”
This is the modest goal I have these days for my music. And sadly, it will take all kinds of sweat and arm-twisting to meet it.
It’s tough in this age of instant streaming downloads and YouTube videos to get people to part with their hard-earned cash to support any kind of music, much less the music made by a married suburban dad of two you’ve never heard of. It re-enforces the unkind truths about the artform’s place in the digital age, relegated to an ancillary role, fueling our workouts or our commutes at best, or perhaps soundtracking our video games or other primary entertainment sources. The idea of an “album” itself as a continual, themed collection of music designed to be listened to, in order, from start to finish has become something of a dinosaur, replaced by the selective gratification and financially frugal concept of the playlist. Not that there’s anything wrong with that I guess, but it’s a ways from how I grew up consuming music.
CONTRASTS IN CONSUMPTION
Never was this contrast more crystallized than when I picked up a record player and some records for the first time in over two decades. this happened about 6 months ago. I found a Zeppelin record and put it on. The spinning table was the central focus, the album cover in hand. No videos or life chores to take me away from the warm embrace of the analog tones and perfect imperfections of old vinyl.
But what occurred to me wasn’t so much the vinyl epifany, which is a blog onto itself. It was more that this form was what I fell in love with as a kid. Alone, you, the music and the artist. It could take you on a journey without a joystick or a steering wheel in hand. Perhaps this is why, in spite of all of the depressing realities facing the form as it pertains to me, I still love making and sharing my original music.
THE ESSENCE OF TIME
Even more pathetically, I write this blog with the knowledge that most people, friends even, won’t bother to read it. It’s where we are. I can post a pic of a cat doing something stupid or a status update about what I am eating for dinner and that is likely to get more of a response. Why? Those things are universal, uncontroversial and require little thought or effort to engage in. “Sure do love that Fajita Burrito at Chipotle,” they’ll retort. But ask people to listen to or read your creative enterprise and the likely response will be akin to digital crickets. And that’s not even asking them to PAY for anything – that’s just asking them to spend time.
This is my third album in 10 years. I think I have sold a grand total of 300 copies and probably given away another 100 or so. Now mind you, I don’t tour or play live shows, so there is something to be said about the challenge of trying to move units while sitting at home. I get that. But when I consider the time and level of effort involved, it is kind of crazy.
Seriously, consider what this product entails. I write the material, arrange it, play all the instruments for the most part, record it, engineer it (with all the associated learning curves), design all the artwork inside and out, build the supporting websites and stuff, all because I love the form.
Oh, and did I mention I am legally blind? LOL! Talk about a labor of love.
I long ago realized that I was never going to “make it” in the music business as an artist. What people need to understand about this music and me is that it isn’t some desperately pathetic middle-aged swing for the fences. I’m really, really not that delusional or sad. Please. But I would hope that I could conjure up enough support among my friends, close and extended, to justify the production of music in this form. That’s all I really want people to do. Listen. Maybe you’ll enjoy it. Maybe not. But at least listen. Maybe you’ll end up being one of the 100 who gives a shit…
(So if it ends up that you do in fact give a shit, visit www.GeorgeZhenMusic.com and order George’s new CD, “In Transit”…)
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