Personal Research Project - Are all musician showcase opportunities fair? (DRAFT)

The subject I have chose to explore for this project are the different ways in which musicians can go about getting noticed, exploring examples from the use of social media, to going out and finding their own gigs. I am fascinated by all of the many opportunists there are out there, and since I have started to showcase my own musical skills to the public, by attending open mics and performing at small events, I feel like I would benefit from discovering more about the opportunities out there. I feel like the fans of a musician wont necessarily be to interested in how they rose to fame and gained success, however I think that for myself, by discovering what pathways help certain musicians, I can have a clearer view on which ones I think will work best for me, as well as discover what people high up in the industry pay attention to.

Social Media

Social media is a very popular platform that most musicians these days will use to be able to reach a large audience without having to spend money on traveling and finding gigs outside of where they live before they are even sure that people in their area are fans of their work. I have many social media accounts just for my music, and without it many of my friends, who are usually the first people to show an interest to my posts and videos, would not know about what I do. Trough people noticing me on social media, I have already been offered performances, such as the farmers markets I attend monthly. When people who offer me small performing opportunities and therefore want to hear more of my stuff, I am able to direct them to my social media pages, as many people these days will use the same platform. Musicians gaining recognition through social media is something that is becoming a lot more common. One well known musician who rose to fame through social media is  Justin Bieber. He was discoed when Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, was searching for videos of a different singer and accidentally clicked on one of his 2007 videos. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted his mother. He was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group, a joint venture between Braun and Usher. Some could argue that this was just luck, that he didn't have to work hard for his discovering because one of his videos happened to pop up in the right place at the right time, and I agree with this, however I don't think that necessarily makes it unfair. One thing I like about YouTube, especially older video on the platform, is that you can find raw talent on it. This video of Justin's doesn't sound like it has been tampered with or edited at all, which in my opinion is what makes it fair. There can be a lot of artists, vocalists especially, that can edit their music through computer software's before uploading it to the internet, therefore making it unfair on the singers who are naturally more talented, but might not sound as good compared to someone with lots of auto tune. Another thing I think is good about Justin's video, is that they show that at the age of 12 he was already playing guitar, another reason to believe he truly had a passion for music and not just fame. There are lots of vocalists on YouTube that I come across that have great voices, but don't play any instrument or write any of their own material. One example is Samantha Harvey. She makes an income from performing at weddings and other large events and has a very similar number of views on her channel to Alice Kristiansen, an example of a musician who not only sings, but plays both the piano and guitar as well as sometimes writing her own material. They are both at a similar stage in their careers, however I believe that Kristiansen deserves more recognition for her extra work. There is a lot more work that goes into writing, producing and advertising an original than filming covers, songs that people are already familiar with. By creating and promoting my own YouTube channel, I am aware of how difficult it can be trying to get recognized by a large audience, even online, and it can be hard work to stick to a regular upload. Lots of promoting on other social media accounts, interacting with other people in a similar position to you, collaborating and ad making goes into it, so for Justin's video to have popped up on Braun's webpage, it must have already had a bit of recognition already. I personally think that social media is a great thing for musicians to use as it creates great opportunities, and for most musicians there is always an element of hard work that goes into maintaining all of these different accounts.

Reality shows

Another controversial way to gain recognition is through reality television shows, such as The Voice and X Factor. It can be seen as musicians using the viewers already watching the show and celebrities who work with the show to get people of listen to their talent without having to work hard at finding them. This topic has a similar argument with the use of social media, as their is still some element of hard work, such as gaining the confidence to be able to go on a television show, that goes into being able to be on these shows, however in my opinion this is the least fair as well as often the least effective way to go about gaining recognition as a musician. These shows are often very reflective on the modern kind of music of this generation, and therefore very limiting to who usually goes far. From watching shows such as the X-Factor, I get the impression that they are usually only interested in signing performers rather than musicians. I do not think that this is fair, as lots of people can sing and entertain, but it takes skills and hard work to be able to play instruments and write original material, and it is not uncommon for someone who is talented musically, to loose their place on one of these shows because someone else has been voted in instead for their talent of being able to entertain people and not their talent as a musician, such as Jedward and Honey G. I think that these people should showcase their ability to entertain elsewhere, and not take the opportunity away from real musicians. The X Factor has been criticized for being a "soap opera" rather than a search for real talent. Musician Sting called the show "televised karaoke", with the contestants being encouraged to "conform to stereotypes", and saying that real musical talent is more likely to be found in pubs and clubs. I am not a big fan of these shows as they rarely pick out good talent and aren't very fair.

Self discovery

The way that most musicians have to do at least a little, even if it's just to gain the confidence they need to go down another path, is finding opportunities for themselves, such as open mic's and small local events, that they can perform at and work there way up from there. An example of an artist who did this is Ed Sheeran. He began recording music in 2004 when he was 13 years old, and independently released his first collection of work. "In 2004, I made my very first album, Spinning Man. I burnt the CD's myself and made the covers. There were 14 songs and they were all songs that rhymed. One lyric went: ‘I’m a typical average teen, if you know what I mean.’ There are probably 20 copies of Spinning Man in existence and I have 19 of them." He began playing at small venues in London when he moved their at the age of 17. He also opened for Nizlopi in Norwich in April 2008, after being one of their guitar technicians. He continued to collaborate with other well known musicians and in February 2010, he posted a video through SB.TV, and rapper Example invited Sheeran to tour with him. In April 2010, he bought a ticket to Los Angeles, where he played at open mic nights all over the city before he was spotted at The Foxxhole by Jamie Foxx, who was so impressed that he offered Sheeran the use of his recording studio and the bed of his Hollywood home for the rest of his stay. Throughout 2010, he began to be seen by more people over the internet through YouTube and his fan-base grew from there. This shows that doing it this way doesn't require you to have all the talent and skills right from the beginning, and allows you time to develop as an artist. At the moment I am only playing at small local events but this shows me that everyone starts at the beginning, and that I will improve with practice and experience. This way of being noticed seems very fair to me, as the factors that people will notice first is your natural talent, originality and your skills as a performer.

Overall, I originally thought that, although it's fair if the artist has many musical talents and shows their dedication and ability to work hard, going about getting recognition through social media and reality shows can reasonably be seen a a way of 'cheating'. However after having gained more knowledge, I realize that, had any of these artist's gone another way about getting noticed, they wouldn't be where they are now, weather they were noticed through hard work or from one video on the internet, which as I said has it's own hard work behind. I think for most musicians/artists there is always going to be an element of hard work, whether that's learning to and playing an instrument, working on stage presence and confidence to be able to play on reality shows and putting yourself out there for other celebrities to see. Hard work is needed to get you so far, more from some than others, but the rest of it is just luck, being in the right place at the right time. I wont appreciate someone as much as a musician if they only have a small amount of talent compared to others, but realise that it's just because they found luck and that they have a right to a chance at doing what they've always wanted to do. On the other hand, I think that as long as someone has the talent, skills and motivation to work hard, even if they were lucky enough to have an easier rise to success than others, that it's fair.

Bibliography and timeline

1. Justin Bieber - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber

2. Alice Kristiansen - https://www.youtube.com/user/alicemusicality

3. Samantha Harvey - https://www.youtube.com/user/MissSamanthaHarvey

4. X Factor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversy_and_criticism_of_The_X_Factor_(UK)

5. Ed Sheeran 'Spinning Man' EP - http://lostmediaarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Spinning_Man_(Ed_Sheeran_Album)

6. Ed Sheeran 2004-2010 Career beginnings - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Sheeran 

1) Justin Bieber was a good example of the effect that YouTube can have on an artist's career, as he has become such a successful artist who is a good reference as he is well known by many people.

2/3) I chose to use the YouTube singers Alice Kristiansen and Samantha Harvey for additional research, as they are both people who I watch regularly on YouTube for my own inspiration, and are perfect examples of an artist who can only sing in comparrison to an artists who has talents other than just their vocals.

4) Using Sting's opinion on the X Factor as a back up of my own opinion is something I think is effective, as it shows what a talented musician, who is more likely to know what he is talking about, can think of the shows I was discussing.

5/6) My research on Ed Sheeran's early career life was very insightful for personal reasons, as I am going about getting recognition the same way he did when he was my age, and it backed up my theory of some of the work being about knowing the right people and being in the right places at the right time.