Tom,

Like so much in life, the Internet makes things deceptively easy. Especially music. It is nothing to visit a web site, or download some music.That is actually part of what has happened to devalue music and artists. Takes no real effort to record to tracks, get decent sounding product and get it "out there."

We hear continually of artists and songs that get millions of hits and you would think they are hugely successful. And they are. In the world of 'free" where it doesn't cost anything to be a part of the game.

Getting real fan base that would show up, engineering something that actually pays money, and especially, putting your success in the hands of those people thousands of miles away. That is a very different thing.

A few years ago I had a friend get into something called "Second Life." It is a virtual reality world, where there are all kinds of houses, gathering places and everyone has an "avatar" character that they use. It is like the "SIMS" world except very much for adults. There are sexual situations, private houses, etc. And music venues.

My friend would sit at home in her living room,wearing pajamas and play "concerts" all over the world in these venues. And lots of people around the world would gather around to watch and supposedly she was actually paid for those shows. Great. A lot of cartoon characters watching other cartoon characters play a cartoon guitar.As if the music business wasn't already goofy enough.

She has been doing this for three years. She spends about $1500 a month on various things she does on that. She feels it got her better as far as performing. As I have not seen her actually perform in three years I wouldn't know. I tend to doubt it. There is no corrolation to being good in your living room and being a competent live performer in a club or special venue where there are real people looking back at you, and in many cases, ignoring what you are saying.

I do wish you and Justice luck. I am doing a workshop today in Atlanta where I will have a 15 year old very attractive girl and her mother. We will be talking about this to a degree and I will tell her the same thing I tell you. There are NO shortcuts. The Internet is a helpful tool a lot of us didn't have growing up. It can be a wonderful way to have people discover who you are.

But it is no substitute for being out there, pressing the flesh and finding out for yourself what works and what doesn't.

MAB