Maybe it’s my Midwestern sensibilities, but I’ve always found publicity to be the most problematic part of having a music career. Sure, if people don’t know you’re playing somewhere, the ones who would want to hear you play won’t know that they have the opportunity to do so. And, yes, people are buffeted by so many sources of information that it might feel like you need to shout loudly and repeatedly to be heard over all that noise. But I find myself particularly turned off by people who take every interaction as a chance to sell themselves and their latest CDs or shows. There are a few people who prompted these musings. One who takes literally every interaction on Facebook or email (no matter the subject) to promote – and only promote – upcoming gigs. Another who posts each time about a regularly scheduled music opportunity in at least six lists/groups I’m a member of (and who knows how many I’m not). Some folks I used to follow on Twitter (but no longer do!) whose entire set of tweets were publicity for upcoming gigs. And plenty of people who dump me onto their email lists without my knowledge or consent. For me these approaches are not only distasteful, but actually counterproductive. Does it work? It reminds me of the overzealous salespeople who won’t let you just browse when shopping. When I’m accosted by someone in a store who won’t leave me alone and insists on trying to “help” me buy something, I leave. But surely that strategy must work for some people or it would have been “selected out” in the evolutionary pressure of capitalism. And, in the same way that college professors (which I am as well) were not likely the average student and therefore miscalculate if they aim their teaching at the kind of student they used to be, it could be that the non-musician folk fan is different than the performing songwriter. At minimum, if I weren’t on all those listservs and in all those groups (which I am because I’m a musician) I wouldn’t experience the repeat postings as excessive. But I do think that other strategies might be more productive. I’m thinking of other musicians within my genre who draw my attention in other ways. People with real personalities and real lives who I get to know more about because of the way they interact. People whose monthly emails to their mailing lists I read because of some regular feature – Pete and Maura Kennedy, for instance, have something called “30 Seconds at the Coffeeshop” that usually has interesting musings on an isolated topic and causes me to open the newsletter in the first place; when I’m reading that, I also then happen to notice music shows they’ve posted. I’ve also been paying attention to Meg Hutchinson lately; she adopted a rescue dog who was previously mistreated. She has been posting “dialogues” between her and her dog on Facebook as they work through the issues of their new relationship and his previous issues. And even though they have very little to do with her music it makes me appreciate her as a person and pay more attention to her songs and upcoming performances. And, for me, at least, writing a great song is going to be the best way to get yourself noticed. This year’s crop of RealWomen RealSongs (who each write and post a song each week on an assigned prompt) has some especially fantastic songwriters – watching the videos they post of their new songs has made me into a fan of some folks I previously knew but might not have made an effort to see in concert. So I don’t know if I’m representative in any way of the people I’d like to draw to my music and my shows. But I do know that for the sake of my soul it would be better for me to avoid the publicity strategies that turn my stomach and instead find a way to write newsletters, posts and tweets -- and songs! -- that make people want to pay attention without trying to always sell them something.