i get asked often "JT why dont you ever play? have you been writing any new songs? why do you work for other artists? why don't you just do your own thing? " so I figured I would field all at once.. here are just a few reasons as to why I don't put out records or singles or perform live..
1. unlike the countless other "artists" out there I am smart enough and humble enough to realize that I am really not that good.. In fact I am at best marginal.. I am very realistic about that and don't buy into when ONE person from time to time thinks I am awesome because I realize those are very isolated incidents. The rest of these clowns hear that kind of stuff and feel they were put on this Earth to bless people with their music because they took 3 weeks to learn a G and C chord..those are what I refer to as wankers..unlike other fellow wankers I am respectful enough and have enough professional courtesy to get out of the way so that truly gifted artists have a chance to be seen and heard instead of invite a bunch of my friends to come and get wasted watching me make a spectacle of myself like the countless rest of you jackwagons..
2. I was reading an article the other day where artists were selling 20-30 million of ONE record years ago.. Last year I think the biggest selling artist sold like 700k copies..Spotify pays I think $0.0084 a stream .. Like 99% of artists out there I am not gifted enough to execute all instruments in studio nor am I very good at electronics therefore I have to pay studio musicians and an engineer and studio a lot of $ to record my songs. It costs tens of thousands of dollars just to record, package and distribute a crappy sounding record that nobody buys anymore anyway. Just today I wanted to hear some music so got on youtube for free and listened to a full length record ..
3.I have no desire whatsoever to buy a van, music instruments and production and load up in it with 3-4 stinky dudes and hammer the highway trying to be seen and heard catering to drunks.. I would truly rather dig a ditch ..
4. I have zero desire whatsoever to go on a radio tour and have to talk to robotic dj's and program directors that are lacking an identity and interview with them .. I would love if ONE time one of those pretentious robots would say something like" man I gotta tell you that song sounded like a bag of suck and I really didn't like it at all" if there is a dj out there that would say that then I would interview with them in a heartbeat..
5. I just cant wrap my head around me feeling like I am soooo important that the whole world needs to know what I am doing at all times .. I would be flat out embarrassed to "go live" ..I truly cant think of something I do in my daily life that is so awesome and interesting that I get a camera out and point it towards myself and feel like I need to let everyone know I'm eating a bowl of oatmeal.. Maybe I need to go to a shrink for thinking I am better than everyone for not joining the party but it is nauseating to me and extremely vain to me..
6. I am smart enough to not pay a small time radio promoter 3-5k on average a single in hopes to get played on the radio .. I kind of did the math in my head and after spending thousands on production of record/single then paying radio promoter thousands I would be grossly upside down on ROI.. short of selling a substantial amount of records that nobody buys anymore there is no way for me to even break even..
7. For the most part music charts and award shows are absolutely meaningless and do not translate to ticket sales especially in Texas. I have worked for artists that have had 3-4 number ones straight and you could fire a cannonball across the dancefloor at any given show and not hit anyone so even if I had a hit I will absolutely not show up an any award show because I feel they are dumb..
8. I don't really have a desire to write anymore at least for someone elses approval.. SOme of the best songs i have written i feel were written when i had no idea anyone would ever hear them. I was writing for therapy i guess.. It takes work and $ to craft and record a solid song.. I clearly am not going to make any $ off of it , I have zero desire to pay a radio promoter to get djs to play it , I have zero desire to write some cheesy song that they would think is good anyway.. most of them don't play instruments or have a clue how to write a song yet they are going to tell me what is worthy? To be "successful" I would need to write plastic shallow garbage that kids have fun getting drunk to and once again I would rather dig a ditch..
9. I would rather be waterboarded then take to some "gofund me" or "indigo" campaign and basically beg people to pay me $ so that I can record my songs .. sorry to the friends of mine that do that and I understand why you do because there is no $ to be made anymore from record sales but never the less ship me to Syria before I do that..
10. OOOO !!! I got an idea lets go get a record deal!!! hahaha HAHAHA ya great idea .. you "artists" out there knock yourself out.. To me all record labels are are bankers in blue jeans .. they give you loans charge huge interest that you will never recoup .. great idea!! Why don't you go to one of those cash advance places while your at it

We call people addicts that eat too much, drink too much, gamble too much, watch too much porn etc but for some reason it is ok to completely pull the rug out from underneath yourself and ruin your life "chasing the dream" of music ..personally I think there is something mentally wrong with a person that wants to be famous in the first place . Aspiring "artists" say its about the love of music but is it really? Are you guys sure its not about your narcissism and ego? Sure there are some success stories of the texas /red dirt acts that go on to great things and millions of dollars but I see the reality of where the road leads for the overwhelming majority of dream seekers and it aint so glamourous.. 50-60 year old men calling me begging me to hook them up with a guitar gig so they can pay the dentist to fix their toothache or rent ..No health insurance, 401k , savings NOTHING!! Some call this admirable and heroic I call it making extremely poor life decisions, addiction and a freaking tragedy.. I am called a jerk for sayin these sort of things and telling wankers they aren't very good and should go get a real job but in reality I am trying to do them a huge favor and give them some sort of a chance.. We can tell someone they aren't very good at golf or basketball but how dare I even question their talent level on the guitar or vocals..How dare I even question that an act isn't the best I have ever heard and that their music isn't any different than the other hundreds of thousands .. Sure you guys could hit it big but you could also win the lottery.. prom party garments for a baby toddler

I could go on all day .. call me a snob call me a prick call me a hater that's fine..I am not mad or bitter but it just doesn't sound fun to me nor like a good business plan in fact I feel its a terrible one.. I just truly have no desire to be a part of it.. that is all for now.. thanks to the few people that actually do like my marginal songs haha JT out

those are just a few of the reasons I choose to not pursue being an artist.. I would tons rather have a jam session with old friends in living room for free ..