There is just so much music out there, and yes, not all of it is that great. Then again, greatness is in the ear of Van Gogh and the psyche of Rasputin, but because of all the clutter, some real gems fall through the cracks.
Guitarist Wil Cajucom is one of those rough diamonds found at around 3am when awakened by something I can’t remember.
With the girlfriend needing her sleep, trawling through Twitter began. And in that nanu second of sliding doors where you might step in or wait for the next train on Platform Somewhere, Direct Messaging came calling-along with one of those usual messages asking one to “Please check out my video”.
While ignoring almost all of these and dismissing them as social media trolls and spamming, the video from Wil Cajucom was checked out- amazing stuff from an amazing guitarist making his own music- which led to guitarist Miguel Rivera and an outstanding version of “Beat It” and a journey of discovery that hasn’t stopped.
This journey, at least to me, is far more interesting than the news alert that Prince will have his music and catalogue on Spotify and not Apple.
This current obsession with the media about Apple, Spotify, Taylor Swift, Pharrell, and now, The Purple One- and I am a huge fan of Prince- is all about big business with a tenuous link to music- and the art and passion and joy and inspiration behind making music.
The great fear is believing all you read to be more important than it really is an undeserving of all the tweeting about it and even thinking about it as it has nothing to do with you or me and all the creative “cottage industries” out there without the pulling power of a Big Name and the financial clout of those behind Apple, Spotify or Tidal.
These are businesses where only the rich will get richer while artists like Wil Cajucom, Miguel Rivera and so many others with no “voice” and dependent on that thing called Fate to be heard are left out.
And though “views” and “likes” are always good as it’s a way of people saying, “We love what you’re doing”, it comes down to financial survival and how to monetise one’s art.
It’s the reason why my friend and singer-songwriter Ben Semmens have created Home Made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dsScD71bCI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng_HH8_CWN8
It began as a way to showcase the new music we’re creating after being screwed over in various ways by music publishing companies and a few musicians who were once heroes until discovering even heroes have clay feet.
Home Made is still evolving, it’s still early days, but one needs to start somewhere and create a brave new homemade world that’s a million miles away from The Cult Of Apple. Apple might have given us new tools to enhance our creative product, but, always, always, always, remember that technology is not the idea. Ideas come from within and those voices and memories and imagination in our hearts and heads. Home Made might not get anywhere, or it might go everywhere and somewhere Ben and I have never thought about.
Right now, we’d like it to be a meeting place for the creative community- that community of artists- musicians, poets, photographers, painters etc.
With Ben in Wales, myself in Hong Kong, and looking at what’s happening to the world economies and how this might impact the creative community, maybe, just maybe, the East-West global home of Home-Made Music can bring us all together by travelling far and opening new doors that have been locked for too long.
Send whatever creative work you might wish to share and showcase to us as homemade333@gmail.com
We both don’t know where it will lead, but it’s a start and nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Hans Ebert Founder, Racingb*tch Chairman and CEO We-Enhance Inc, Fast Track Global Ltd www.fasttrack.hk
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