I would say your two highest-probability strategies are
1. get your most-successful band from the 80s/90s back together and see if you can get on a tour with other artists from that time period.
2. do behind-the-scenes work such as nashville songwriting, production music, studio engineering, etc.

Thanks for the new replies. All very useful and insightful. I really appreciate it.

Hi gearstudent

1. That's not possible to do for many reasons, many beyond my power to fix (other band member's issues).

2. I've already done that / am doing it. I've written music for films and TV and been helping younger artists with production.


I want to move beyond that and find validation as a solo artist.

@ Retro Guy if people remember your past work(s) that's all the validation you need, now go kick some musical ass and rock out and rock on. Find some people your age that have kids in at least their 30s that maybe like rock, maybe are social media savvy but at the same time won't have you embarrassing yourself for "likes," etc.

If you describe to us your version of "validation as a solo artist" from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, we can attempt to assess probability.

I will achieve my goals if/when:
I play to X many fans X many times per year as a solo artist in music style X, where I headline at least X amount of shows
My youtube/soundcloud/spotify streams are at least X per month.
I get paid at least X per month on average from all combined sources.
I get X amount of reviews per year from media outlets X, Y, Z.
I get X amount of Youtube subscribers with in X amount of years.
The success will last at least X years.
etc.

To achieve these goals, I am willing/able to:
X, Y, Z

I plan to achieve my goals within X years.

I believe my probability of success is high because of factors X, Y, Z

The more you can fill in this picture for us, the more we can assess chances of success.

For me, releasing and selling music, getting reviews on credible sites and being taken seriously. That would do it. I reckon I could sell around a couple of thousand albums, minimum to the right audience, maybe more.

Being signed by a niche label would be nice. I'm not expecting any kind of major advance, just professional support and marketing.

It's all to do with exposure. Getting the right exposure is essential.

i thought you left this topic?

To honorable Retro Guy:

I think a good way to start out might be to see if you can find some people of the same approximate age who are still known to be making music and who might be kind enough to just hang out and eat some falafel and tea and crumpets. Somebody like the honorable Imogen Heap, is who comes to mind. She seems seasoned and smart enough to not be as naive or thunderstruck into silent alienating alienation. She's proven herself to be an embracer of modern tools and techniques, and yet still has definate professional and style appeal to anybody old enough to remember and care about ____________. (plenty of things!)

I can't say that I know her personally, but I kinda wish I did.

I think as long as you're clear and disciplined about avoiding tricky romantic encounters or whatnot people like that or maybe others they might refer you to would be OK. Then, while you're at tea or whatnot, just having a nice mild time, they might be able to help brainstorm in a peaceful way without anybody devolving into the accidentally disrepectful stuff like you went through with some of the other kinds of people.

Of course, you might also have more luck seeking advice from people who are NOT at all into music or 'the business'.
Another idea that pops into my mind is Betty Boo. I know that their musical styles might not match yours, but that's part of the awesome potential beauty of it to work out. The difference of perspective might be refreshing.

And the other person might really need somebody to talk to in some similar ways too.

Personally, I'm an oddball too. But I had a really nice education. My teachers taught me, "Don't fuss or wig out over the fame stuff, there's no time for that; just work really hard to get good sound; focus on getting good sound and helping the client; you'll be busy enough with that". And they were right.

I hope this is helpful to ya. Ultimately, we're all people. We have more in common with each other as people than differences as people. Maybe when certain people are silently flipping out, you can slip them that hint too, and maybe they'll calm down and be more sincere. I wish you success with this.

--tapenade

Imogen Heap is an interesting person. But defiantly not a rock a billy act.

I respect Imogen and Alison (Betty Boo) very much, though we don't move in the same circles so it may be kind of weird contacting them out of the blue. It would be great to work with them.
I know Strawberry Switchblade, and did mention something to Jill a while ago, but I think she isn't interested in music these days. Rose is, but she's been a bit poorly, bless her.


I wasn't a Rockabilly musician in the past. That music is a side project of mine. I'm predominantly a rock/pop/indie musician, with orchestral overtones but I know most genres and can work with them all.

Once again, thanks for the replies.

As I said, Imogen Heap is an interesting person. She is sort of the poster child for the internet connected geek generation that fully embraces the DIY thing. Her sales pitch is, your imagination and the sky are the limit, but I say, the limits are actually defined by the walls in your bedroom where you make your music.

If it were that easy, Rick Beato would be making and releasing 90s oldies rock records and selling them like bread to boomers -- but instead he has to do silly things like teach scales on YT to get likes.

Things to keep in mind, in order for Imogen Heap to be able to pull of what she does, you have to have her fans and they need to be highly technically inclined and open minded in order to be inclined to participate in crowd funded and crowd participated music album creating campaigns that she did.

A cool article on how she transformed from failed artist that got dumped by a label to Internet DIY queen bee.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...connected.html

Yeah, she had at least some promotion and support first that got her a loyal following, so she was not starting from scratch online.

The thing with those types of artists (I will lump Radiohead and some others who also did the social media thing quite successfully) is that they had an established name and fan base which was already built up by the marketing and sales departments of the large labels (aka corporations) that they were signed to in the past.. so the groundwork for the success they achieved in online was already set and built up long before they dipped their toe into social media and crowdsourcing. You as a no name artist can't compare yourself to them.

I quite enjoy the music of Imogen Heap and have seen her live a few times. The shows are extremely boring. Its a bit like a tech conference. The old creaking Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters have nothing really to worry about from competition from her. LOL!! But her records are really good and a lot of fun to listen to. She is delving into crypto and NFT, and I think if anyone can make prove that can work as a revenue stream, it will probably be her.

I believe a quote from her was, she spends 5% or 10% of her time on making music and the rest of her time on promoting herself online. So something to consider if you want to follow in her footsteps. ;-)

Yeah, I know. That's somewhat the point... to get out of waters that might be stagnant by talking to somebody in a slightly different field yet similar enough to have some good things in common.

Pat Benatar switched out of pop rock and went into Jazz. I think she started in opera. Pet Shop boys started as music critics and then dove into music making.

It's not mandatory to be of identical genres. LL Cool J & Ice T both got into acting in police/counter-terrorism TV shows.

Actually, the more I think about it, the better it seems to consult with people who have some aesthetic distance--no risk of competition.

In computers, when Windows won't boot, most of the rescue ISO disks are Linux. See?

This thread is an interesting read. Lots of information

@ chessparov2.0 re: Branson, this is one of my vocal inspirations who's killing it there