The Widetrack Chronicles 88: A Common Misconception

The Widetrack Chronicles 88: A Common Misconception

Ever since I began playing music at the render age of 11, I've continually gotten the same well-meant questions/comments from friends and family:

"When are you going to make it?"

"You should make your music more like (x)"

"When are we going to hear you on the radio?"

"You know, it's a long shot that you'll be filling up stadiums..."

Etc., etc.

I used to get defensive and frustrated over these questions/comments, as I didn't have any persuasive response...

Growing up as a musician/artist in the 80s and 90s, things were much different...

In addition to home recording studio equipment being highly expensive and still in its primitive stages, there were well-defined "gatekeepers" who held all the cards, in terms of access to record deals, wider distribution, worldwide marketing, etc....

It behooved bands like ours to find a way to fit into the mould of bands/entertainers who had already achieved mainstream acclaim...

Then the digital revolution happened, and all that changed...

Now, home studio production equipment has evolved bands/artists have access to potential fans anywhere in the world...

Access is now in the hands of the musician/artist...

And yet, the old perceptions remain...

Personally speaking, it took some time and effort to alter my perspective on the music business; along with some vital questions I had to ask myself:

"Why are you doing this?"

"What do you ultimately want to achieve with your music?"

"What kind of music career do you ultimately want to have?"

"Who is your music for?"

In the old days, my answers could be summed up in the typical, vague way of most other musicians from my generations:

"I want to make it."

But once the digital music age happened, and I was able to fully understand its capabilities and potential, I realized I need to dig deeper for more specific answers to those questions; answers that more accurately reflected my true ideals...

Here's what I've come up with thus far...

First of all, it's a major assumption that every musician yearns to "make it" to the realm of worldwide fame, selling out stadiums at every turn, reaching platinum status with their album sales...

I've never desired this...

To put it another way, every year when the Grammy Awards announce their nominees, I peruse their lists and realize I like very little of the bands/artists on it...

The mainstream is usually not where I find the music that resonates with me...

Absolutely, I love many legendary mainstream bands...

The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, etc., etc., are all bands whose influence runs deep in our souls...

But since forming Widetrack, and especially since Zach came onboard, one important distinction we've made is that we're not that kind of band...

What type are we striving to be?

Well, have you ever listened to a band that's outside the mainstream, that doesn't sell out stadiums, isn't on terrestrial radio, not even remotely a household name, etc., but still makes cool, interesting music and has a respectable level of success?

Some of our favorite music in the world leans more toward that type of independent approach to their careers...

They have a smaller, but incredibly loyal following of fans who appreciate their unique, "you-can-only-get-this-here" approach to their music, and encourage them to stay true to their innermost uncompromising artistic visions...

That's the kind of band we strive to be...

Our favorite concerts to attend are in medium-sized halls; not stadiums...

It's unlikely that much of the music we enjoy would ever be played on terrestrial radio; it's too "quirky"; the songs are oftentimes too long and "different from what's normally played"; etc...

Yes, we of course want success; but it has to be on our terms, aligned with our artistic goals and principles...

Again, this is not to say that we're musical snobs just for the sake of being contrarian; we love many of the mainstream bands like the ones mentioned above...

But it became an extremely important thing for us to understand what we're actually good at, and what the driving force for creating our music truly is...

The promise of platinum album sales just doesn't motivate us; becoming a band which creates the type of music that we'd personally find satisfying, and the sheer love for writing, recording and performing that music for people who feel the same way about it, is what motivates us...

Being famous? We'd actually find that to be a pretty awful thing; not to mention, the misguided quest for this very thing is, in our opinions, precisely what's been wrong with mainstream music since forever...

Desiring fame and attention for fame and attention's sake is poison to art...

We personally find the idea that one has to look a certain way, and be "hot" in that same old generic way, to be not just nauseatingly boring, but extremely toxic...

To us, the only thing that matters is being true to the music and image that reflects our deepest, innermost artistic spirit...

The beaten trail of least resistance is just not where we want to to be...

Hey, if you're a musician and that's your thing, knock yourself out; our opinion should have no bearing on what you set out to do...

At the end of the day, we all just need to ignore the naysayers and stay true to our own particular ideals and goals...

But for us, that means less mainstream success, but more artistic freedom to explore a wider realm of possibility...

People will call this approach "pretentious", and that's their right, as cynical as we might find such a perspective to be...

But we're honestly not concerned with those who reject what we do; we have zero control over any of that...

It's an absolute waste of time and energy to concern ourselves with trying to convince people who feel that way to like us...

We can only focus on being the best we can be at writing, recording and performing the music that moves us; for ourselves and the people who do get it...

That's a challenging enough objective for us...

And an infinitely more satisfying one...