I have been inspired to revisit my blog,which has been severely neglected in the last few years, because I have been inspired by other peoples blogs, plus I figure it might make me more accountable for random bouts of inactivity and therefore make me more productive. Conversely it may make others less productive by giving them something else to read at work that is not work-like but i figure I can't be held responsible for that.. can I??
Firstly the other blogs of which I speak...
The first is one I have been reading on and off for a while after I came across it while I was looking for hair tutorials (I think)
Vixen Vintage
Basically she is awesome and vintagey (shh its a word!!) and has awesome advice and pretty pictures and really thats all I ask of a blog.
Secondly is Hyperbole and a half
Which reminds me of being a kid, because I was also fairly insane, as well as makes me feel a little less useless, re: the title of this post. Plus "clean all the things" makes me laugh EVERY time i read it.
So now that I have shared my inspirations for revitalising my blog I should probably explain what I hope to achieve by this:
As most of you would know I am currently back at uni attempting to pursue a creative career in an intellectual way...
This may not work and is the reason I am writing this blog, partially because i find myself mildly procrastinating on things that will help me in this endeavour (hence the accountability goal) and because so far I have found that people in the music industry seem incredibly reluctant to help one another, as though they might lose out on something themselves in the process. My idealistic aim is to partially correct this, assuming someone actually finds my musings helpful.
Also since starting on this journey I have come across almost exclusively negative perceptions of the industry and career prospects in general, all from people in the industry, and I truly believe that what you put out you get back and that everything we put out there affects the whole so I will attempt to at the very least create some positivity for myself and if it travels further then even better.
My catalyst, if you will, came in the form of an email I received today from a mailing list that I have signed up for called Hit Songs Deconstructed Wire, its a website written by and for songwriters and the like which analyses music and chart trends as well as industry news. I have found it very interesting so far. Anyway the latest newsletter contained this interesting gem -
"Nielsen SoundScan reported this week that overall album sales increased by 3.6% to 221.5 million units during the first half of 2011. A lot of the success is attributed to the strong sales reported by Adele and Lady Gaga. This was the first increase reported in the last 7 years, and if the pace continues, it will be the first time in 11 years that the music industry has seen an increase in sales on an annual basis."
It's a small victory and interestingly enough has only occurred because of Digital Album sales, but it's a victory none the less and while the likes of Lady Gaga's success won't help most Australian musicians it is at least encouraging to know that the general public does still value music enough to pay something for it.
So positivity ahoy and for my next task, I will juggle my budget enough to buy the songwriting books from Berklee that I've been meaning to get for months and will actually start properly workshopping my songs. Here's to productivity!! *fingers crossed*
xx
