I am a music producer.  I am a drummer.  I am a musician.  I am a listener.  I am a fan.  I have worked on all sides of the industry.

I have played for thousands of people; I have played for two people.  I have played for screaming fans and I have played for the bartender that just wanted to go home since no one showed up but we performed anyway.  I have lived in the world of music for a number of years, but not in a linear pattern.  I have played many different styles; I have produced many different styles.  I have worked for many bands, artists, labels, management groups, and agents.  I am not a master.  I am not a genius.  But I do have eyes and ears.  I watch and I listen.  A few years back, after listening to the gripes and the whining, after watching the problems of the industry morph and mushroom, I found myself believing something:

Change can happen.

Things can be different.

I believe the following...

• An artist can have a self-sustaining career in music.
• An artist can be in control or have a great deal of control of their art, their name, their likeness, and their rights.
• Artists can be role models and teachers for others as they obtain their dreams.
• Independent Artists can record industry standard albums without losing all their rights.
• Artists can control their marketing, promotion, and branding.
• Artists can achieve full budgets by fundraising and budgeting.
• Artists can learn the system, and if they choose a label, a manager, an agent, or a representative, they will know what they are getting into.

Most of all…           

Music can change and it is up to the artists of today to change it.

It is up to us to take the steps to achieve our goals as we become the new benchmarks and role models for the artists of tomorrow.

It's happening now.

Artists are raising the budgets, recording amazing albums, making movies, and creating new paths that will blaze for others to follow.

There is hope.  There is a way.

I have been told I am crazy, I have been told I am a moron.  I have been told I can't do what I am doing. I have been told what I'm doing cannot be done.  Still, artists are creating these recordings.  Their music is out there being played.  They are touring. They are licensing and inserting songs in to different areas of media.  Their careers are moving forward and they are finding themselves equipped to understand and stay in control of what is happening to them as they find success.

I am a music producer, a dreamer, and someone that believes that the entertainment industry can be more than it is and the artists can learn, achieve, sustain and empower themselves for long term success.            

That is my dream.

And this is my manifesto.