NARAS President Neil Portnow – HuffPost 12.30.11

Mike Ragogna: What would be your advice for a new artist?

Neil Portnow: Well, new artists have to be focused on honing the craft. But the most important thing to an artist is to have a vision and a sense of themselves–who you are, what you want to say, what your approach is to things. Those who really develop those things and have a strong sense of self are the ones that have long wonderful careers. We’d love to have as many great songwriters as are available because it’s a wonderful business, and music is truly the universal language.