Breaking the boundaries of your genre
I realized that a side effect of many of us artists starting to self-promote, is that it gives us also more freedom to find our true voice.
The way the music industry evolved since the 90s had been a big obstacle to many artists, who don’t fit a certain mold. Careers have been more and more defined in a narrow stylistic niche to fit a certain radio format. Especially Smooth jazz radio was notorious in that regard. Some artist struggle to find songs in their repertoire that perfectly fit a genre. Others might adapt their style to gain access to the exposure radio offers. But as the saying goes: “Be careful what you write, you might have a hit”. Meaning that you might have to play that song for the rest of your life, even if you hate it. Bobby McFerrin – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy” and Tina Turner – ‘What’s Love Got To Do with It” come to mind. My life changed when we released Pacific Coast Highway, which the most played SJ song from 2000-2010. This song threw me into the scene and gave me a career. Fortunately, I really like this song and I have no problem playing every time I perform. When I look back at my career though, I remember that I started off playing Rock and Pop, then Funk, which led me to Jazz-Funk, later called Fusion and now morphed into Smooth Jazz. I also write for Commercials, Television and had a few cues in movies.
But I always feel uneasy when people call me a Jazz guitarist. This is just one small aspect of my ability of a player and writer, but it’s what I am best known for. Last year I produced and recorded the music for the Independent Spirit Awards. I was especially excited about the project, because I was asked to produce alternative Rock music. It gave me the ability to showcase some of my other talents on the ‘big stage’ of television.
What many people don’t realize, is that many artists have a variety of talents and interests far beyond of what they are known for.
My friend, violinist Dov is another great example. By most accounts he is known as a New Age artist. However his interests far exceed that genre. I produced a Smooth-Jazz/Chill CD for him 
entitled “Journey To Eden”, featuring many greats of this format. He also writes Pop–Rock songs, that remind me of Coldplay and similar bands. We actually went into the studio and recorded some tracks with Toto drummer Simon Phillips.
There is a reason why we are known for a certain aspect of our music and not others. And in my opinion it lays in the traditional marketing strategies used by record labels. It takes money to create a name and a brand. So you want to strengthen that by re-enforcing it, rather than diluting it by going into too many different directions. Those strategies are proven to work and are still true today.
However, I think that the new independent marketing and self-promotion, that I see many new artists undertake, opens up possibilities for a wider approach. I see a switch from ‘big money marketing’, like buying TV, radio and print ads, to grass roots Internet marketing and social media campaigns.
It’s easy to imagine, how an artists can promote themselves in a variety of musical genres, when their name recognition is no longer tied to a radio station’s sound, but rather to a face book page or twitter account.
I recently saw Annie Lennox doing a jazz gig. I thought it was fantastic. The fans went nuts. I don’t think we are giving our listening audience enough credit, when we assume they only love one sound.
So why not giving it a try and show our fans what else we love to do? Let’s see what sticks. We have to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. That’s what the whole evolution, which is currently taking place in the music industry is all about. Call me idealistic, but I think there is an opportunity for artist, to become bigger than one genre or being pigeonholed into one little aspect of their talents.
To me this makes the future a very exciting time. And I hope to hear a variety of music from artists coming to light.
