Becoming a Popular Singer

We’ve never heard the best singers, singers that we would enjoy, would enjoy more than we do our favorite performers. Why haven’t we heard them? Why are they not recorded? Why have they never been heard except in their hometown church or local night spots? Many reasons come to mind. For whatever reason, there may be things that they count as more important CDs, celebrity, being professional entertainers twenty-four-seven.

But if they wish they were on the charts, yet have never made it–I know a young man like that like that–the main reason is that they can’t make it on their own. No one can. Becoming a musical star is always a cooperative process. Someone has to write the songs. The songwriter is part of the winning team. The singer himself has to find ways to be heard beyond the local scene. Encouragers are essential. The musical accompaniment is crucial to the process. The quality and professionalism of the recording session and the studio can make all the difference. So can the personality of the singer, her ability to connect, communicate, and to entertain her audience. Showmanship matters.

All of this, however, can be the best. The singer and the band may develop a distinctive and compelling voice, phrasing and style. Yet we will never hear from them unless someone promotes this singer and his recorded songs. Our favorites won out over better performers because they had better producers and marketers. That’s what it takes to succeed (not as a singer, nor as a musician) in the music business. Although all the other components of the process must be in place, in the end, salesmanship wins over everything else. Or perhaps a better way to say it is: salesmanship is what brings it all to us.

The same is true in almost any kind of business.