NP: Bill Connors, Step It

There's a supremely silly piece in the New York Times today about this allegedly astounding notion that most blogs "fail." I'm not sure how one can look at what is almost always a vanity project with zero startup costs, and then make a comparison to restaurants.

Even more mind-numbing are the quotes and conclusions about how some nebulously significant number of bloggers start their blogs in the hopes of getting a book deal or quitting their day jobs. Now, I actually know people -- well, at least one person -- who have written books off of their blogs. I also know people in the music world who have gotten record deals. That doesn't mean it's as simple as signing up for a blogging service or buying a guitar.

The parallels to being a musician are pretty clear, because the delusions of grandeur are precisely the same. First off, there's work involved. While you can just say "I'm a blogger" to an extent and you are one, building traffic takes a certain amount of investment, which I'm acutely aware of because I keep not making it. With music, you have to practice, promote, schmooze, and a whole host of other things that are far less glamorous. Second, even then your odds of actually "making it" in any substantial sense are infinitesimally small. Your odds as a blogger may be even smaller.

Would I like to earn a living pontificating a bunch of times a day? Heck yes. Would I like to chart on iTunes' top downloads? Of course. I'm just being realistic.

So, why do it at all? In both cases, you have to have something to say. While I'd love to see more comments and more pageviews, I don't sweat it. This is about a creative outlet the same way playing drums is a creative outlet. If I hit on something that catches the public's attention, then that's great, but I'm not going to get too concerned about it. I'll still fire off an e-mail to Andrew Sullivan or Josh Marshall -- maybe the equivalent of sending your uncle's friend a demo tape of your band -- if I think a political post is particularly insightful, but nothing has come of that yet. You do what you can do, and hope for the best.

Maybe this is all an admission of laziness or lack of ambition on my part, in that I haven't been "successful" as either a blogger or a musician, but the point is that I enjoy doing both, and it's the doing and not the attention that's really the point. Given the lack of traffic, this blog is as much for me as it is for readers, because, as I've said before, I have opinions about lots of stuff, and it's in my best interest to occasionally write them down. That you want to read about them is just a bonus, and I thank you for it.

As for the music, you can still find "it's alright" from URT for download on Amazon and EMusic.