“We have really great songs and a really great performance”. I have written it before that I would be rich as Mark Zuckerberg if I got a dollar for every time I have heard that.

Sometimes people just say stuff like that and deep inside they know it’s not true, but it’s a way to sell in things. The hard part is when they truly believe that they actually are that good. It usually takes a bit of the conversation before you can judge which one you are talking too.

If it that they really think that they have a product that can fight in the top of the market, but in reality, barley won’t be a local hero it’s really tough to give some answers why this artist is not moving forward and what to do.

If the songs are not good enough be on a showcase won’t make a difference. Neither would it to get in front of “the right people”. The dilemma is to explain this to the person. Not that I can’t just tell them “it sucks”. The problem is that they will only think I don’t know my stuff and is just a person in the row that don’t understand the greatness of their work. So it’s no point of just saying “it sucks”.

And in some cases even though it sucks now, with the right training and work it can be great. I have seen several cases around that as well.

The difference here is that someone has just taken their hands and then start working on them to prove that they could do better. In most of the cases, they have taken that info and developed.

I really don’t know how to tackle this problem. I usually just give some random advice to change, usually knowing that these things don’t matter since you don’t have the product. And I have been there several times myself. When I got The Magnettes the developing company was sure they would be a big hit and make some noise. They where right since The Magnettes has done just that, but also a long, long development of different things have also been done. At the same time if they haven’t believed so much in the band they wouldn’t have been anything.

And that is why this is so hard. This person maybe is right they just need to meet the right persons. And maybe they can do that on a showcase, I mean The Magnettes did that. Still, if they showcase and don’ t do their work since they think the songs are good, it will go nowhere.

To show how far it is between stuff. The first clip is my first time seeing The Magnettes it was on New Music Seminar in NYC.

That song and another one was the only song I really liked. And both were never released. But it was enough to take them further and meet some other persons, me included, that changed the whole thing. And here is the latest show on SXSW three years later. It’s an amazing development. Mainly done by the band with right people pushing in the right directions.

I wish I could see this in the bands that say they have the best songs and performance. Still it’s hard.