Response to Dessa's Presentation

I really enjoyed Dessa's presentation. I think that she is a very interesting person who is full of life. She has a unique personality and I don't mean that in a bad way. As far as the actual content in the lecture I found it to be helpful. What I took from was the realization that in order to make it as a performing artist in the music business, you do not need to be signed to a major label and have them do all the leg work. You can do many of the things that are required to get your music out there by yourself. All you have to do is apply yourself. Everything is right there for you. 

Response to Whitney Shaw's Media Presentation

Although I was told to not feel overwhelmed about the presentation, I couldn't help but feel that way. I had no idea that there were so many things that a person could do online to help them in their careers. Although I do not utilize many online programs, I do see the value in using them. And now that I understand their value, it is likely that I will start using these programs. 

The programs that I think will be most useful to me are Myspace,  Sound Cloud, and RSS Feeder. Myspace will be helpful not only for people to hear my music, but also to stay in touch with people. Sound Cloud will be helpful in selling my music online if I decide to not sell it on I tunes. Lastly, RSS will be helpful to see who is talking about me or my music. 

Overall, I thought the presentation was great and I will be able to use these resources to my advantage.

Response to Johnny Bunko and Art and Fear Ch 1-4

I really enjoyed reading Johnny Bunko. I thought was a great book with simple lessons that most people overlook when starting there career. One these lessons was focusing on your strengths. This was a point that resonated with me because most of us are always focusing on improving what we're bad at and not enough on focusing on what we're good at. I also like the point the book made that there is no plan. I felt uncomfortable about this plan because I am the kind of person who likes to have everything planned out well. If you plan everything out too well however, you might miss out on something else. So it is good to have a plan, but not so focused that you can't explore other opportunities as they come along. 

I thought that Art and Fear had some good points to bring up. As with Johnny Bunko, these points are often overlooked. One point that stuck with me was a fear that you are not good enough to be a musician and that what you a doing is not "real" art. Artists with this mindset sometimes give up because they feel under qualified. What we can do to overcome this is to view everything that we do artistically is the best possible thing we can do and that given moment. This way you will not feel unfit for the gig or project.