Women Can Do Anything

Nowhere does the dream of overnight success loom as large as in the music industry. The lure of seemingly easy money, coupled with the aura of fame, conspire to tempt would-be stars to quit their dull day jobs, only to crash and burn. Breaking into this largely cutthroat biz often takes just that: a lucky “break” or “smash.” But musicians can increase their chances of landing that contract, recording a hit, and reaping the royalties, by taking a series of key steps along their paths to superstardom.

On the phone from her home in London, Ontario, musician and self-styled industry guru Rose Cora Perry explains why she chose the indie route, and why she’s committed to helping others make it.

In articles and columns addressing topics that range from insider how-tos (the multi-volume guide, “So You Wanna Be a Rockstar?”), to the underground world of women in rock (“The Oxymoron of Being BOTH a Female Musician & a Feminist”), you offer both profitable and altruistic alternatives to the mainstream world of disposable idols. What led you to such a public form of mentorship?

I was about four years old when I started performing, so it’s been an integral part of my life, and when I actually started to get into it professionally and formed my own record label when I was in my early teens doing everything myself—from promotions, to playing, to bookings to publicity, to everything, managing all of the obligations that go along with trying to run a successful band—I  noticed how little truthfulness there was out there in terms of the media depictions … I was sick of seeing that, and I was sick of seeing promoters and bookers prey on these musicians’ dreams because most of us don’t come to the table with a business background. We’re artistically-inclined, and some of us don’t understand that the music business is entirely a business.

It seems to me that there are two sides to the music industry; there’s the glamour of success, but for every success story there are scores of broken dreams.

I think it’s amazing when people have the passion and the courage to pursue their dreams, whatever those dreams may be, but you also need to go into it with a realistic perspective and you need to understand the kind of business and the kind of shady dealings that you will encounter because the music business, out of all the businesses in the world, hands-down in my opinion, is one of the worst in terms of backhanded, under-the-table kind of stuff that happens.

What would you recommend that women keep in mind when seeking to break into the music industry?

When I was younger, I realized that marketability was very important. Especially for a female, you have to be attractive; you have to present yourself in a certain fashion. But don’t sell your soul in the process. I think that’s the most important thing to realize. I don’t care how much you want to make it, if you want to be able to sleep at night, don’t be something that you’re not (if you want to be recognized on merit, not on sex appeal). And if you ever hope to be taken seriously, you need to be sure that you’re not presenting yourself in a sultry, over-the-top way, because then you’ll never be taken seriously. So that would be Lesson One.

And Lesson Two: don’t ever let somebody tell you can’t do something because you’re a woman, and I don’t care what industry that is. If this is your passion, this is what you believe in, this is what’s in your heart, if this is what you have to contribute to the world to try to make a difference, do it.

You know what? The more difficult something is to achieve, the more it’s actually worthwhile in the end. Nothing that I’ve ever accomplished in my life has come without one hell of a struggle. I’m grateful for all the things that I was able to do and I’m proud of all the things I was able to do, but I’m even more proud of the fact that I’ve never sacrificed myself in the process of achieving any of those things.

Any business advice or words of warning for women, specifically?

For women, it really depends on the genre that you’re breaking into, but it’s going to be that much more difficult—especially if you’re going into rock, as I have—because there are still so many sexist attitudes out there. I really wish it weren’t so. This is 2010 already, people, but that is absolutely the reality: if you’re a female and you come into a club, people assume that you’re the groupie girlfriend or that you’re only successful because you’re hot, and you don’t have anything to deliver that is actually intelligent or integral. They have the idea that all your songs are about your broken-hearted exploits with your ex-boyfriend. These are just the sad assumptions that are out there. There’s also the assumption that you couldn’t possibly play the guitar or know how to rock out like a man could because there’s that longstanding assumption that the guitar is an extension of the phallus (this is a crazy, ass-backward mentality, as far as I’m concerned).

So, in terms of being a woman, I guess if it’s that hard for any musician to try and make it in a legitimate, honorable way, and by that I mean not doing under-the-table cocaine deals or sleeping your way to the top—which absolutely happens all the time—if it’s that hard for any musician to make it that way, then it’s a million times harder for a female musician to make it because she has to combat all the sexist allegations that are going to automatically be thrown in her face, and all those assumptions about her lack of talent.

In your estimation, how has technology changed the music industry (for better or worse)?

I think that regarding the internet, most independent musicians such as myself have a love-hate relationship with it. It’s advantageous in the fact that, for example, I get radio airplay in places like Brazil and Spain where, at this point in my career, I don’t have the funding behind me to tour, so it’s cool in the sense that I can get exposure out there.

I just had a magazine in Australia do a piece on me. That’s amazing. I’ve never been there in my life but the fact that they’re willing to provide me with exposure and a chance to reach out to a wider audience is really empowering. And the other thing about social media that’s cool: it allows for more of a direct connection with your fans, no matter where they’re located because it’s so interactive at this point.

Conversely, though, the internet revolution brought illegal downloading along with it, the devaluation of art in any form, and the commodification of the music biz. Because of the internet, we have people constantly oversaturated with different social media all the time, and so how people make records, the length of time put into artistic integrity and developing as an artist has completely changed.

You’ve been trained in classical vocals for over fourteen years, you have an advanced education in both music and theory, and you’ve lectured at the Royal Conservatory. In fact, you’ve also been singing and songwriting since the tender age of seven. What’s your perspective on the disposable, fleeting nature of popular success in the music industry today?

It’s extremely disheartening to see people that you know are just media puppets out there being successful simply because they have a good producer who can make them sound good and then they lip-synch everything live. That’s not being a performer, that’s not being an artist, it’s being an entertainer, and yes, there’s an audience for that. But for them to be labeled musicians and artists and for people to be blown away by them and to think they’re talented when they’re clearly not, it’s really problematic.

The rise of new media and its corresponding technology seems to have changed the way consumers listen to music. Not only are fans “ripping” entire albums, they’re offered the choice of which individual tracks to purchase. Has this changed the way music is made and marketed?

About ten years ago it would be completely normal to wait five to seven years to put out an album because you’re really proud of it, it allows you to grow as an artist, it’s very polished. You made sure it was solid, it was developed to the full capacity that it could be. Now, within a couple of months, whatever you’ve released becomes old news because we’re constantly oversaturated. A huge problem that has contributed to that too, we have this technology that allows anyone to go out and make a record, virtually whether they have talent or not … which to me is bogus. If you only sound good in the studio or a producer has layered you with auto-tune and you can’t pull it off live, you shouldn’t be a musician. You are not an artist. I’m not trying to sound cocky by any stretch of the imagination but I know that I’m good, and I know that I’m talented, and I know that I’m trained in it.

If I’m going to be putting a single out there, it’s not like I’m just going to be choosing the catchiest one or the most mainstream one, and yeah, I write love songs too--that’s a universal emotion that we can all relate to--but I also write about much deeper issues, and things that I feel are more pressing. I chose “Mad World” as my new single specifically, and I chose that political concept because I wanted to make an impact. Every music video you see from an independent artist, it’s just them in some dilapidated building rocking out. Yeah, I can rock out, I can head-bang like the rest of them, but I have something more important to do and something more important to say with my music.

We’ve also got to address the whole mp3 discussion. Well, mp3s, for any sound quality, are garbage. And everything’s so compressed to the point where even if it’s a bad recording of a bad artist, it actually sounds better because there’s no treble and there’s no bass; everything’s midrange. At this point, many music-listeners—unless they have a music background—can’t even tell the difference anymore, and that to me is a really scary thought … Everything has just become so cliché and generic and predictable to the point where it could be a brand new song that I’ve never heard before, but I listen to it and about thirty seconds in, I know exactly where the hook is because everything has just become so compacted and it’s just all about following this formula.

This brings us to your recent album, “Off of the Pages,” which touches on a diverse range of issues, including violence against women. Why is making a political statement important to you?

Music has an amazing capacity to reach people on an important emotional level. It’s one of those mediums through which you can reach a wide audience, and have a really impactful message behind it. And I feel as though it hasn’t really been since the glory days of the hippies that people have harnessed that capacity. Music is just like any other art form: it’s meant to be organic, it’s meant to be real, it’s meant to express social and political issues, it’s meant to act as the voice for a generation. At one point in history, musicians were elected as the philosophers of the people who actually had the courage to speak out, to make a difference, and to reflect the issues through their art. These days, as I said, everything’s generic and I think that’s really sad.

I’ve read that you’re comfortable with being a role model for young musicians. Did your longstanding sense of commitment influence your decision to serve as official spokeswoman for MindYourMind.ca’s “Youth Mental Health Campaign”?

In terms of trying to be a good role model for youth, that is again based entirely on my own personal experiences … I wanted to be sure that when I was calling upon my demons and my dark emotions, whatever I was putting into song form, I wanted to leave listeners with a piece of hope. Because to me, music has certain goals that it’s supposed to accomplish (and this is coming from somebody who considers themselves an artistic purist). I think that music, in any art form, has the potential to inspire people and to provoke thought but, more importantly, to be really relatable; there have been so many artists that have been paramount figures in my life in terms of helping me get through what I wanted to get through and what I needed to get through, so I’m merely trying to pass that on to other people.

Proceeds from “Off of the Pages” go toward funding your non-profit organization, Music Saves, which you developed in order to promote the positive aspects of music as a means of educating and helping youth cope with the challenges that they face in our rapidly changing world. Why is philanthropy an important part of your approach to music?

I truly believe that if every person in this world made an effort, no matter how small it was, just one effort outside of their solipsistic existences—to actually acknowledge the global disparities and the problems that are going on—and  made one single effort to try to help with that, we would be fine.

Maybe I was born in the wrong generation. I respect the artists of the past and I’m trying to pay homage to them and to do something important beyond just being a musician and with what I have to say; I’m trying to be a real artist and I’m hoping that through my music, not only can I help people through their psychological struggles and whatever else they’re going through, but also open their eyes to the bigger issues at hand across the globe right now.

To contact Rose, check out her music, or make a donation, go to: http://www.rosecoraperry.com.

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