Now that season I of Karaoke Battle USA is finally in the books (please forgive me West Coast folks, since you are in mid viewing as I write – I don’t anticipate any spoilers in my post), the one enormous lesson I’ve learned through all this is that the experience everyone will have is different and how they utilize it will be equally as different. The whole “standing at the scene of an accident on four different corners” viewpoint situation.  I think I’m at an unusual advantage because I have had the blessing to (regardless of how far I got in this competition) actually work in the music industry and understand the mechanics on what needed to be done, and went into this separating my personal self from my “stage persona”.

For those who have been following the show, yes, I am a blackjack dealer, but that’s only part of the truth. My full time job is as the administrative assistant to the global digital business group at Universal Music Group, home of such acts as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Eminem, and Jay-Z.  Before that I worked at VEVO, Red Distribution, and Sony Music Entertainment.  I’ve actually been a part of the back offices (not on the label side) on and off for over 10 years now.

Now you must be wondering what the heck would I be doing looking to get signed to a label when I work for the biggest record company on the planet? That, my friend, is simple. Record companies are notorious for not signing their own staff to deals. Look up the story of Barry Manilow to understand my meaning. Even when I became the New York State Women’s karaoke champion, nobody really blinked because in every office there is, was, or has been an aspiring artist behind every desk.

With that being said, let us continue.

Because I’m an avid tech junkie and understand the importance of promotion and social media, I promoted the heck out of everything I did. In this game if you’re bashful about your promotion, you will have no career, no matter how good you are. It is the nature of the machine. If no one knows your name, no one will buy your music.  I got my name out there and I taught others who asked me who I did it to do the same.

Due to the attention some were getting over others due to air time, lines were being drawn. Friends turning on their friends for stupid things like getting one second over another or because someone was getting more press. How it should have been them there rather than this person.  People bringing in their friends, supporters, and families into group chats strictly for cast members just so they have people backing them up. The whole thing was getting to be a mess and the negative talk was getting to snowball.

Unfortunately for me when you have one of the largest fan pages amongst the entire lot, you’ll get hated on, and when you have no fear on promotion, and your name and face gets mentioned as often as mine was during the promos and the website, people will start to hate.  I ended up feeling like LeBron James during his senior year at St. Vincent/St. Mary’s. Promos I started getting were being ignored or were being scrutinized by people who were once friends and messages were not returned. Fingers were being pointed at my back by people who didn’t even know me.

A friend of mine who’s an editor at the NY Times, who has had his own slings and arrows thrown at him told me “If you don’t have someone hating on you, you’re not doing something right”. I saw Diddy tweet that same thing a few years back. Its accurate, but still a very bitter horse pill to swallow.

Being in the spotlight, even for this limited amount of time, I can understand the neurosis that comes with the job, and at the end of it, it is a job. You can’t take it personally, and if you do, plan on getting great health coverage because your shrink bills will bury you otherwise.

I have to stress it though, the entertainment business is all an illusion. This include the music business. It’s auto-tune, photoshop, track performance, and an alternate ego. The Superman/Clark Kent syndrome. When you go into an audition, they’ve already have something in mind, and if you don’t look the part, it’s not saying you’re not great, it just means you don’t meet their per-conceived notion. Nothing to be upset over.  Not saying you shouldn’t try, and if you don’t look the part, to give up, but carve your own path.  Sometimes it’s all about showing the industry what they’re missing.  (One day I’ll put up a post about my theory of the correlation between dating and getting signed in the record industry- it’s funny, but accurate).

But I think one of the most awesome things that happened is that I helped a lot of awesomely talented people be positive and gear their focus on to getting themselves to where they want to be, regardless of whether they got little, negative, or no press at all. Dan Caguiat said I inspired him to not just sit down and sulk from his negative press from the show and made this spoof response video to Carnie Wilson, which ABC bought the rights to:

I walked Gregg Moore through his facebook fan page creation.  I started helping Pedro Haro get his videos for his upcoming site. And I’m teaching Shaina Ravis what she really needs to get herself up and running, but this is just the short list of people I’ve been helping and talking to along the way.

Rather than point the finger and say “it’s you’re fault” or “they should have done this” or “they should have done that” why not ask “how can I spin this to work for me”? That’s what I taught and run with what you have.

…and now, to bed with me. Good night.