number 20 on the Reverbnations indie chart in Palo Alto

But what does it really mean? I am unsure but it SOUNDS good. I put 2 of my original songs Pretty Words and Our Little Paradise on the Reverbnations site and added a store where people could buy my songs for $1.00 each. I get $80 cents out of each dollar and so far I think I maybe sold 5 downloads of Our little Paradise and 17 of Pretty Words! Being an independent artist is hard. I guess since you can hear these songs for free on the site people just do that? I don't know. This is what's wrong with being an artist in today's market where the internet makes everything accessible in some shape or form for free. I guess I have to figure out how to get fans that want to help support the starving artist like Amanda Palmer has done or maybe I just need to write better songs (though people tell me that both of these songs are great.)

I once had over 1000 YouTube subscribers. Then YouTube made changes and my subs started disappearing. I have less than 1000 now but I sure would like to get back up there. What artists really need today are fans that will go the distance to support them. That means fans that want to buy the music because they want to help support the music they love, not fans who are out to get all of their entertainment for free.

I will certainly keep plugging away. I think that my songs are getting better and better as I get older but the industry seems to have less and less use for me as I age. I have been taking voice lessons again from the awesome and talented Patti Cathcart of Tuck & Patti fame and I think that she has really given me a lot to think about and made me realize that we can always learn, we can always improve, we can always be better than we were yesterday. Patti says that I need to get all of my original songs recorded n order to start marketing my music and I think that she is probably right so I am working toward that goal as I have written probably over 50 songs. I don't know how many of them are good but my goal now is to start getting them all recorded in a t least a rough cut. My ultimate goal of course is to have 2 or 3 CD's of original music available for sale or at least as demo's.

I did a silly thing the other night but it turned into a profound moment. I sometimes have difficulty sleeping and get too warm in the middle of the night. I often get up at 3 or 4 in the morning and go outside in my backyard next to my koi pond to sit and stargaze. It is very peaceful at that hour and the sound of the water and sometimes crickets is all there is. So the other night, I was out there gazing up at the stars and there was one that was really REALLY bright and I got the notion to make a wish upon it. Something I haven't done since I was a small child. I said the rhyme "starlight star bright, brightest star I see tonight, I wish I may I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." and then I wished. I wished that people would hear my music. I wished for loyal fans that would support me. And as I finished my wish an amazing thing happened. Just to left of my wishing star, another star fell. To me it felt like the universe had granted my wish and a feeling of being loved washed over me. I don't know if I can exactly explain how I felt but it was a magical moment that I will never forget. I guess only time will tell but today I got the notice from Reverbnations about being number 20. When I checked I was actually number 17. Does this mean that my wish will be granted? I guess only time will tell.