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Home::Music
Growing "Stone Soup" Into A Legend
Author : Dennis Walsh
The biggest thing you have to worry about is that there are so
many - too many - groups trying to climb the ladder. What you
need is exposure. Promotion and publicity comes at a premium.
There's a storm on the street. We're caught in a blizzard of
entertainment. The closer you get to the center, the nearer you
get to the top, the less will see or been seen. It's like a
white out in winter. The place where most people give up. Ah,
but, the winners live in the eye of the hurricane where it's
calm and quiet. The ones who are centered are safe. The ones who
know their way around know there's no need to fuss or worry.
They keep on keeping on and let the people around them do the
work.
Emerging artists can't afford the high cost of professional
marketing. Better to partner with those who can. That's the
crunch, the place between too little and too much; the haves and
have nots. Promotion, or lack of it, are the reason why most
bands fail. Beyond the hype, beyond commercial manipulation, the
artist needs to find an audience and the audience needs to find
him. Years ago, I discovered a marketing principle that can make
all the difference in the world between success and failure.
A folk tale is told about a man who had been traveling for a
long time. Having run out of food, he was weary and hungry from
his journey. When he came upon a small village, he thought,
"Maybe someone could share some food." When the man knocked at
the first house, he asked the woman who answered, "Could you
spare a bit of food? I've traveled a long way and am very
hungry." "I'm sorry, but I have nothing to give you," the woman
replied. So the traveler went to the next door and asked again.
The answer was the same.
He went from door to door and each time he was turned away. Not
one of the villagers were willing to oblige the man as times
were tough and no one had much to spare. But then one villager
said, "All I have is some water." "Thank you," the traveler said
smiling gratefully, "We can make some soup from that water. We
can make stone soup." He asked the man for a cooking pot and
started building a small fire.
As the water started to boil, a passing villager stopped and
asked him what he was doing. "I'm making stone soup," the
traveler replied. "Would you like to join me?" The curious
villager agreed. "First, we must add a special stone," said the
traveler. "One with magic in it." He reached into his knapsack
and carefully unwrapped a special stone he'd been carrying with
him for many years. Then he put it in the simmering pot.
Soon people from the village heard about this strange man who
was making soup from a stone. They started gathering around the
fire, asking questions. "What does your stone soup taste like?"
asked one of the villagers. "Well, it would be better with a few
onions," the traveler admitted. "Oh, I have some onions," he
replied. Another villager said, "I could bring a few carrots."
Someone else offered, "We still have some potatoes in our
garden. I'll go get them."
One by one, each villager brought something to add to the pot.
What had started as just some water and a magic stone, had now
become a delicious soup, enough to feed the whole village. The
traveler and the villagers sat down together to enjoy their
feast, and the miracle they'd help to create.
In the vast blizzard of stars and wanna be's, in the dense fog
of sound that pervades the music industry, artists - even the
great ones - have to find a way of getting heard.. Bob Dylan
found a way. An apocalyptic visionary who came from small town
nowhere, Dylan's magic stone - his aura of mystery - turned soup
into a legend.
Dennis Walsh progressofmusic@hotmail.com
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