For those that self-manage and wish to maintain authenticity in what they do - not attracted to the glamour of industry and seeing how the image focused world contaminates true creative purpose - using your own image, representing yourself and promoting events you are in is a constant struggle and a very fine balance.
I used to have the perspective, looking at people in the industry, that they are egotistical and are obsessed with their image. This is true in some cases - and you can spot them - you spot the focus on their image more than their music and their work within a community - you feel it when you are around them - it's like a fake energy - it feels fake - a lot of the industry is based on this 'fake energy'. Talk to that person, scratch this person's back - get on the good side of this or that person - increase opportunities for exposure, increase social capital value.
To navigate these waters, to retain authenticity and still - not throw the baby of image out with the bathwater of industry - is something I have been learning and fighting with for over 20 years. I have gone from the fluctuating process of being defiant of any use of image - to the deliberate use of image as a kind of self-test to see if I really am a narcissist - to finding a balance between the two.
I have learned it is not something I enjoy. However in learning the need for the use of image - I have developed a way within to be separate from my image and use it like a tool - something separate from me. My image is not me.
We are like electrical conduits - using image in the public in the correct fashion is like setting up a suitable circuit for the attunement and syncronisation with the correct vibrations/resonance and energetic configurations. We are multi-faceted beings - as primarily a street musician - I am a channel - my voice is clear and open and my capacity to play complex works with feel is dependent on the reciprocal acceptance of those around me - my body and the energetics in it are set up like a channel, I am a mimic, I am hyper-adaptable. The opposite happens when the majority doesn't want me there or is full of judgement - my voice becomes coarse, my fingers become stiff like cardboard - I used to believe I actually was that when this kind of thing happened - not having control of it - I have learned this is a part of being this particular human in this particular condition. It reciprocates the energy of those around it according to projection. Within this there are archetypes that act as these circuits within the group and the most effective way to keep the high energy is to deliberately live the archetype - that is the completely empty yourself of any idea of you - become selfless - and live the archetype to the best of your ability. Within this lies a very important paradox of fame - you may have got into it in order to get famous or in order to cater to an ego but in actuality if you are to attain these things - you must empty yourself of any idea of you and deliberately learn and become the circuit that is the archetype which represents a portion of directed energy in the flow of consciousness.
There is an element hyper-adaptability in everyone. It's part of human nature. Some are more fluid with their ideas of self than others. Ideally - it is better to get someone else to manage your image as they can see better how to manage it and direct it for the best or desired purpose from the 'outside'. Another problem with self-managing is that when you are promoting you, you can be seen and interpreted as narcissistic and yet - you MUST advertise your work in order to get people to events and in order to be seen. In order to have the opportunity to channel this energy as this archetype for the public - living as a part of their energetic structure - become one with the energetic arrangement of the greater community.
If you don't get people to your events, if you don't have an audience, you don't have energy - if you aren't reciprocating energy and giving it back and reflecting to the world as a mirror - you aren't being a musician! It's quite the paradox.
A musician hiding in a room alone is not a musician in my books. Music needs to be played in front of others. Music needs a reference point in order to reciprocate. Music is only a form - it needs energy within its structure derived from real people in order to have life.
For anyone who has run any kind of event - promotion is a bitch of a job and realistically you require to dedicate 60 percent of your energy towards it in order for an event to be successful. You would think you can just dedicate your time to your music - no, you either pay someone else to do it - or you be prepared to push, push, push and push. In the process of pushing yourself and your events - many perceptions are made about you. Many do not run events and so do not know what it is like. If you've got bills to pay and this is your work - your job becomes self-promotion for the sake of surivival.
On the other hand if people don't know you are playing in order to turn up - you don't get an audience. Within this - you also have to culture perceptual value and convince people of the value they will receive if they turn up - this value is then projected onto who you are and what you are doing - you then reciprocate that value in a closed circuit - this is the nature of any artform or performance.
I have struggled with this balance for so long and now finally get it. Yes, I've written numerous articles on this now - but this subject comes up again and again. If you are concerned with your intentions and correct use of image in self-promotion - the best thing to do is to stand back from it for a while - at least three weeks is my suggestion - and focus on aligning with a self-less intention - see where you may have got tangled up in a projection of egotism and then try again. It's a game - you've got to persist to learn it better. If you trust yourself and know that your intention is pure - then move forward in certainty that no matter what you do - you are moving towards doing it with the most efficiency and representing you and your work in the most authentic light - allowing new opportunities to arise consistently and moving towards a more honesty structured industry reality.
I encourage you to look through all recent media that I have done for events and tell me if I am representing myself in an egotistical fashion - this balance is something that I put a lot of consideration into - it is a hard thing to maintain authenticity, to self-promote and not be perceived as an egotist as a sensitive introverted empath.
This struggle is real for all artists that are genuine in their craft. Some get involved with others who are primarily image focused and are indeed egotists and then consider if this is how it is done - then I must do the same. No, don't. Don't compromise, there is a way - you can find a way. I've found a balance and I'm still learning - you can too!
For this reason, I have become very careful to run spiritually oriented events via the brand Indance - and I have been very specific and careful to decentralise that energy in order to maintain its true intention!
Here, have a quick look at all recent events I have run am running-
Upcoming Sema - picture of my kemence - I represent someone else in their element - I as the person not being them - see the value in having them as the feature. They are not egotistical people but their image represents authenticity and it provides a valid doorway for people to relate to it by using a real person that will really be there.
Sufi nights - picture of another person twirling without a view of their face - it is a real photo of Vivienne - we used this image deliberately for its non face focus - as the authenticity of the practice is more important than the promotion of any one artist.
Yesterday I also did a 'sound therapy' session - I was a fill in - I posted a picture of myself with the kemence to a couple of places and a description of what I was doing to help people that don't know who I am or what I do understand and get to know me. I did not think - oh, great an opportunity to post a picture of myself aren't I beautiful - I thought, ah, a necessary place to show who I am and what I am doing - as the intention and the art suffers when you don't do it enough! People need to know who you are.
Kirtan in Margs - no pictures of anybody. No branding - this is deliberate - the focus is on the spirituality and the intention, the meaning is clear enough.
Sema in Denmark (same poster used for Perth the month before) a small obscure picture of me. The focus is on many people - to illustrate a community effort coming together - this is deliberate.
Concert - I am featured equally with all other performers - I once made a poster of me in the background and almost not visible, Jess pulled me up and said this isn't right and it's not balanced - you must represent yourself properly when it is you that is performing!
Vocal workshops with Ram - I am the one organising making these happen, I play the extra instrumentation and provide the aids - I am the nuts and bolts of it. No picture of me - this is deliberate, the focus is on Ram - who is the reason it's happening. We did over 10 of these around Perth, Margs, Denmark and Balingup.
The use of image must be relevant to the event that is run - with the correct intention stood by authentically. Once you put out an image you cannot control the interpretation of it - but you can use your knowledge of the way image works to do your best to best represent what you really want to achieve being careful not to over represent yourself (or under represent).
Long-story short - you need SOME image out there in order to be the service of a community as a musician. Not using any image - actually puts you at a handicap and limits and restricts your work. Many great artists struggle with this dilemma and people that want to help them see this and take over their image aspect for them in order to help them better serve. Some artists are very good at image and mediocre at art - this actually puts them at an advantage in this world - as in an image focused reality you need representation.
Within this - the old self that used to judge others for doing the same has stopped doing so. I now utilize image intelligently. I see those judgements and I accept the nature in which they are given and understand their arguments and logical reasoning - I move forward.
I say all of this in this long-winded way - because there is a great deal of thought, work and intention that has gone into deliberately representing image in the correct way for these events. I have come so far in understand this dilemma and finding a balance no longer feel guilt for - because I am authentic in my mission and I want to do what is right. When I am posting about myself and asking people to support me - I need to show myself, what I do and do my best to give a glimpse of my authentic self - though never, can I actually be represented by an image
Who I am is not an image.
This is a real struggle for all artists and I seek to illuminate this struggle by giving my honest observations drawn from over 20 years of having being caught in this paradox. I hope to enable artists who are scared of the image world to have the confidence to represent themselves effectively.
It is very important I illustrate this and make the distinction - creating greater honesty within the industry - purifying perceptual value is a large part of my motivations for being alive and for taking an active role in creation in the public world.
Good luck!