About a year ago Seth Godin wrote that “maybe you can’t make money doing what you love“. I forwarded that post to every musician, artist and manager I know and they all smiled, nodded and agreed. If you’re an artist at heart I recommend you read that post, and re-read it every few months to remind you what you’re doing. To refresh your memory, here’s the gist of it:

A friend who loved music, who wanted to spend his life doing it, got a job doing PR for a record label. He hated doing PR, realized that just because he was in the record business didn’t mean he had anything at all to do with music. Instead of finding a job he could love, he ended up being in proximity to, but nowhere involved with, something he cared about. I wish he had become a committed school teacher instead, spending every minute of his spare time making music and sharing it online for free. Instead, he’s a frazzled publicity hound working twice as many hours for less money and doing no music at all. Maybe you can’t make money doing what you love (at least what you love right now). But I bet you can figure out how to love what you do to make money (if you choose wisely). Do your art. But don’t wreck your art if it doesn’t lend itself to paying the bills. That would be a tragedy.

That, for me, is the reason music is just a hobby. My ultimate life goal is still multinational rock and roll superstardom, but I’ve learned, over time, that you can’t really count on making it in the music business. No matter how hard you try, that one is up to fate. There’s nothing you can do to make it happen, the stars just need to align, and for most people they never will.

That’s not to say I sit on my arse and wait for superstardom to happen, I’ve got talent, I’ve written songs which have made it to the radio, I’ve toured around Australia numerous times and I’ve played the Big Day Out. A lot of work has gone into all of that, I’m just not counting on it leading any further than it already has. I don’t want my music to be something I mix in with my day-to-day life. That would suck all the joy out of it. That’s why I rarely write about it… Just in case you were wondering…

1. Ryan Adams - To Be Young (is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)

2. Midlake - Roscoe (beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Remix)

3. Massive Attack - Teardrop

4. Beth Orton - Stolen Car

5. The Cure - Lullaby

6. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

7. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone

8. David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

9. Jimi Hendrix - Castles Made Of Sand

10. Radiohead - Karma Police

I thought I’d put all the clips in one post and see what it sounded like if they were all playing at the same time - the Matt Granfield symphony if you will. It doesn’t sound very good, but the results would be better if record companies would permit embedding of the official clips. Most of them don’t seem to these days. They must think that by forbidding me to share my ten favourite songs with you it will make them more money. Aren’t they clever.

I had to leave some brilliant songs off, and I can’t believe The Rollings Stones or Rage Against the Machine didn’t make the list, but there you go.

Voting opened today in Triple J’s Hottest 100 of All Time poll. What makes it into your top ten?

Two digital music stations and the viral power of blogs.

David Gillespie told me how stupid and crap Stripe is. It is. It’s crap and it won’t work and it’s stupid. I’m telling you now.

Iain Tait told me how f**king good Blip.fm is. It is. It’s brilliant and I’m listening to it now and I’m going to keep listening to it. And now I’m telling you. Go and listen. It’s f**king brilliant.

This is how blogs work. This is what they do. People whispering across the world.