As for the artist in Wade's article, she gave it a try, her music didn't change but how the audience perceived her did.
THIS is probably the most important line in your post (at least to me). Lily's music did NOT change. The only thing I changed musically in the entire show was in one of the songs I had her playing much more softly to pull her audience into a certain mood. But the songs she wanted to do for the show stayed the same as when she first brought me on. All of the songs in the set with the exception of three were originals.
The way the audience perceived her changed greatly but it happened because the show was designed to do just that. Every movement on stage was planned out and rehearsed. From the way she tilted her head to when she closed her eyes. She was taught to pull people in and look for audience members who would mirror her own movements when she had eye contact with them (people in the world of psychology refer to this as "emotional contagion" and talk about it a lot when discussing it when two people are dating as a sign that they like each other). We even picked out key points in the show, when we knew the energy level would be at its highest and the crowd's mood would be happiest, to bring up the tip jar and that people could sign up for her e-mail list.
It all comes down to pulling the crowd into the show and then controlling their mood through the end. In fact she did the show again, last week in Nashville, at a place she has performed at a handful of times. When she was done with the show, the sound guy came up to her and specifically said he had never seen her take control of the stage and audience the way she did with that show.
A big part of the problem is songwriters, singers, musicians, bands, etc want fans to appreciate what they do for the same reasons they appreciate themselves. So when somebody breaks out some difficult technique vocally or instrumentally...while the crowd might enjoy it, they enjoy it for different reasons. Most of those audience members aren't musicians or singers. They appreciate it for different reasons. Most of them can't even tell you what a bridge is. They don't have the same emotional attachment to somebody's original song that the writer has. And, as an artist, you can't expect them to like what you do for the reasons you think they should like you.
Its like walking into an art museum and looking at this incredible painting of a Greek goddess. Painters are looking at it analyzing the mixture of the colors and the texture and talking about brushes and the quality of the canvas. They are talking about the painter's inspiration for it and how their past works have led to this particular piece.
The rest of us are like..."BOOBS!"
@Wade Sutton -
I want to thank you for coming here, and for being willing to clarify your thoughts on why you wrote the article for your site. I live in the Nashville area (I've lived in Murfreesboro, TN, and am currently in Clarksville, TN), and have seen a lot of very talented people playing a variety of venues. Some stood out, and some didn't. Some had awesome talent, but with nothing to really draw you to them. There are plenty of folks in this area playing restaurant gigs that are obviously semi-pro and are doing it for the fun and a some extra money, but there are many others that have come to Nashville to make it big. It should be noted then, that especially in this area - which can be a field of lost dreams - I think that some guidance to help make it over the hump is a valuable asset. All the best to you.
Thank YOU. Seems like a lot of the people from down there that I know are in the city itself, Franklin, and Hendersonville. At least those are the names that stick out to me right now. And Nashville IS a field of lost dreams. So many people have the "I'm gonna move there and get discovered" mentality but none of them want to put the work in. Plus a lot of them get there and immediately start playing a lot of bars only to find out the bars won't let them play originals because people won't stick around and drink. So they rely on covers to play the bars to "get their name out there" when the labels refuse to take them seriously until they are traveling OUTSIDE of Nashville and basically touring...which comes back to people thinking the success is rooted solely in the music and don't approach it as a business.
