thoughtjunkie

Some Stuff I've Learned:

Don't take yourself too seriously is good advice. But there's a reason the 'too' is there. If you don't take yourself seriously, no one else will either and all your hard work will just be you treading water.

You don't need anybody's permission to do things, especially not be an artist. If anyone tells you not to make art or not to be you, you tell them to go fuck themselves as part of Newton's First Law of Telling Small-Minded Douchebags What's What. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: in this case, someone telling you to restrict your art to their tastes is answered by a sturdy and aloft middle finger.

One of the things you need no permission for is taking yourself seriously. Take OkGo, a band whose fame came from just doing some interesting art and putting it up themselves. They didn't have anyone in "the biz's" approval, they just did it. And when they got said biz person's greenlight (signing to EMI's record label), their contract forbade them from making weird videos and putting them online at youtube-- which is exactly why they were so beloved in the first place. They didn't seek permission and they did something cool; they got permission and couldn't do the cool things anymore.

(OkGo recently stepped out of their contract with EMI, to form their own label).

Knowledgeable people always have a specific area or knowledge. If they're on the business end of the spectrum, then they will tailor how they respond towards the end of making money. Even if a knowledgeable person is simply trying to assist you, and has nothing but the most altruistic intentions, they will tailor their responses so that they can be maximally helpful, which will generally limit the solutions they advise.

All this means is that you have to help yourself, and that in a sense, everyone is an amateur. Some amateurs are more well versed than others in specific areas, but everyone without exception is just pawing around in the dark, trying to find a path that'll work for them too.

Don't seek approval; just go for it.