I’ve spent years of my life getting up in front of people to show what I can do for money and applause. Yet, when I see awards shows on television complete with rows of someone’s peers cheering them on while they accept an award in their respective genre, I tend to sneer a little. I almost find it a bit ludicrous.

Maybe the word hypocrite would fit me better.

This didn’t just show up, I’ve put some thought into it. It concerned me when I first started feeling this way.

I always used to enjoy music and acting awards ceremonies. There’s something about seeing the real people behind the characters of our favorite movies and hearing the speaking voices of those who sing our favorite songs. It’s as if we had something to do with them getting the trophy because we listened to their music or watched that really popular movie.

For a handful of the shows, perhaps we did. Can’t really argue with record sales and who sold the most now, can we? Unless you consider who’s behind it all and the rest of what I’m about to say.

Prefacing all of this with the fact that I understand that it’s all for our entertainment. Even so, I still have a hard time separating what’s behind the scenes from what’s being seen.

We like pretty things

From the moment we can open our eyes we‘re distracted by or drawn to shiny objects.

The nominees of these shows are like our favorite aunt’s dangling earrings or silver pendant necklace that caught our attention when they held us as toddlers. The winners are the multi-carat diamond rings or expensive watches worn by the women and men that we caught a glimpse of sitting inside the restaurant that we could never afford. The same establishments that we walked by with our group of childhood friends who all had holes in their jeans before it was a style worth paying for.

I’m a visionary. I don’t say that to sound arrogant. I say it because I believe it may be the reason that I no longer care about who wins anything for a performance.

Allow me to explain.

It’s all in the presentation

I’m well aware of why there’s a curtain in show business and I know exactly what’s behind it. I also know what and who is behind everything behind the curtain. A wizard of sorts. Yeah, even I’m chuckling a bit at that one.

That’s what visionaries do. They picture how to present the perfect version of any given thing from concept to the intended audience.

The goal isn’t necessarily to trick anyone, that’s left up to the magicians and lawyers. The goal is to put forth something that wows people. Whether it’s building up a business or putting on a show, everything has to be created as it’s initially imagined. The person who’s a visionary sees the end result long before the sketch is drawn or a single prop is in place.

’Til death do us part

The show where country music artists win awards each year- what’s the name of it?

Yeah, that one.

It’s a club reminiscent of a full parking lot at a public beach. Someone needs to leave before there’s room for the next car.

I can’t prove it, mostly because I don’t give enough of a shit to check into it, but I think some tenured country artist needs to stroke out or die before they can be replaced in the regurgitated ad from last year. The ad with a different song and those same five names and faces. You know, the one that promises to be a night you won’t forget.

Oddly, when I see the ad I realize that I already forgot about last year’s award show sometime last year.

Work smarter, be smarter

I know how the music business works. Hard work is not the key. Smart work and knowing the right people are what’s necessary. Money doesn’t hurt, but that’s only sustainable until the money runs out. Every step of success requires the correct amount of confidence with every person that you meet along the way.

Too much confidence without a notable resumé to back it up and you’re dead to that crowd. There’s pretty much no way back in. Being a cocky asshole now requires that you find a way around them. You’ve basically just bought yourself a longer and harder road to the next win.

Too little confidence and you’re a putz facing the same resulting issues.

However, there’s a key to quickly overcoming both aspects of fucking up a perfectly good meeting with someone whose ego you needed to stroke to obtain a ticket to the next under-the-table handjob.

A jaw-dropping performance.

The closer the show is to when you completely blew it with your attitude or lack thereof is also important. Nothing shuts up the haters or wins over the non-believers than stepping on stage with a big fuck you, here I am performance.

Confidence with the right background is sexy. It also erases a lot of doubt.

It’s all in the timing

The potential turning point exists right here at this moment. When it appears that you may actually have the goods, decisions and choices are made on both sides.

If you have something that’s appealing and you consistently play your credit cards right, you’ll be awarded opportunities. These can first lead to a seat in a prominent section of a corresponding peer recognition evening followed by potentially receiving the accolades yourself within the next few years.

I used country music as an example, but it’s just as rampant in every genre these days. This is also where it falls apart for me.

Beyond the select few

There are some crazy talented artists that never get the opportunity for even the first ladder-climbing meeting.

Nope, not even an inkling of that statement is about my own experience.

The truth is, I opened some doors and others were opened for me. I played the game a bit. I just didn’t really like what I saw and heard behind certain curtains. I also hated the game. What you saw was what you got and I soon learned to accept my choices in the industry. Stepping away from the pack seemed to work best for me.

I’m talking about the tens of thousands of artists who may never set foot on said stages.

It’s not that they never wanted it. It’s not that they never dreamed about it. It’s that life happened and popularity contests became less important. Reality also set in.

It also could very well be that they simply weren’t willing to sell their soul for the devil that went down to Nashville, New York, or Los Angeles.

There’s an enormous misconception about what someone getting a record deal implies. I’ll spare the details, but the short version is that someone fronts a chunk of money that needs to be paid back before the artist makes a dime.

Since the business side of music sucks even worse now than it did before, the record labels also now get a portion of every dollar an artist brings in no matter where it comes from. Otherwise known as the 360 deal.

Some artists have figured this out.

They learned that they can make more money doing what they love by playing live and selling merchandise at their shows without a record deal. They travel and build a loyal following from small town to small town. People will gladly buy a ticket for a chance to be up close and personal with someone spilling their passion out on a stage that no awards show will ever know existed.

The tradeoff is conceding to the greater powers and abandoning the childhood dream of making it big. Or at least whatever making it big actually meant back when they were playing more wrong notes than right ones while practicing in their bedroom day after day.

It’s also a hard fucking life.

You may be thinking about the needles in the haystacks- The non-conformists and visionaries who maintain a firm middle finger in the direction of the establishment. The ones who will be damned if anyone is going to get in their way of success. The fraction of a fraction of a percent who top the charts in lieu of club membership and in the face of skepticism from their so-called peers.

They are absolutely out there. They’re also my favorites even if I’ve never heard a single note of any song that they’ve ever written.

Here’s to hoping that more of them break through the cracks of a crumbling music industry allowing them to be heard by every one of their potential fans around the world.

Until then, I know exactly where to find them-

On a stage that no awards show will ever know existed.