Tommy West – HuffPost 8.17.11

Mike Ragogna: What kind of advice would you give to a new artist these days?

Tommy West: That’s really tough. Well, if you’re serious about being in the business, learn to take rejection, and don’t let it stop you because nobody really knows anything in this business–it’s a business of feel and intuition that is later backed up with marketing. Now, because of the internet, anybody can be a record label. I hear names of groups that I’ve never heard of getting a million hits instead of selling a million copies, which is just as good. The good part is that you can sort of support yourself if you know how to have a decent website and play live. But to sell tonnage, you still need a major distribution network. When I started it was really hard too, though it always looks simpler in hindsight. In those days, you made a record, did a demo of it, scraped up enough money to do it, you knew an uncle who knew somebody he was in Pearl Harbor with that went into music, and you got lucky. Then, you wound up like Elvis did–somebody who was so different that he couldn’t be denied. That happens. These forces of nature come along every now and then that can’t be denied.