Well, I feel ready,
that’s for sure. Now I feel ready @Zarko_Official
Live Interview
Episode #340 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/07/13/episode-340-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW ZARKO
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
Zarko
Well, I feel ready,
that’s for sure. Now I feel ready.
Finding a balance is the biggest challenge in life of every artist.
I have experienced „5 minutes of fame“, a couple of times, and I have lived in anonymity as an artist and I have to say that the fame is easy, if you are self-aware and complete person. Hurdles are the challenges you need to over come in order to get what you want but still remain the same person with love for music and art. The world wants to see how badly you want it. Everyone wants to see you embarrass yourself in order to get what you want. Music industry is a gladiator’s arena. Pros are the global markets for sure. The ability to transition from one continent to the other in searching for the perfect place to offer your product. And to do it via internet, to start a career via internet. I’ve experienced a virtual life. But everything still just takes a lot of time. I think that I expect for things to happen much quicker. Music always helps. Whenever you experience a trouble, struggle or you trip over a hurdle, you know that someone needs to hear a song. And you go and play it, and than you feel better, calm and in balance.
Talk about the differences in your marketing strategy to support your preference.
I’ve tried both, but I feel like its always about „the single“ When you get your album out, „the single“ is what will get heard. Album is really just there to offer a repertoire and to help you get more gigs if your songlist is bigger. But all the effort and attention will be on the chosen single. For me it was „Offering My Song“ from my debut album „Chasing Dreams“, it was the only song that drew attention; I didnt have the resourses to help promote full album, so, my effort was on that one song and it paid off, lots of people heard it. Various internet radio stations took it into rotation and the song even got me a songwriting award. I made the best out of it, instead of focusing on the whole album which as a product was not that good at all and could not to fit the market at the moment. I’ve used the lyrics of a song, the rhymes and catch-phrases to promote the song. I made a lot of people remember my quotes via internet and quote my song. It drew more listeners in. After that experience, I’ve focused on releasing singles one by one and branding each song. I treat each song as a brand. Lyrics, punchlines, the story. Anything that can connect your song to the market and to the potential listeners.
I never stop analysing my songs, and each day I find a way to draw more listeners in. I have to target the right people, to use every bit of a song and any promotional tool via internet. My strategy is internet-based. People who fall in love with my songs share my quotes. It helps get more listeners. I make interesting visuals and photographic artwork to support my songs for my ongoing internet campaing. Thats all I can do at the moment. It connects me with other communities such as A.V.A. radio network. I hope to be able to shoot more videos. It would help expand my audience.
Well the social media helped me connect with people
from all over the world and explore music scenes and comunities. So I traveled with my songs and met other people who write music. I have explored music markets on different continents and I never had to be Bon Jovi to do it. It is available to everyone nowadays, thanks to social media and internet. Via Internet I have learned that my songs have a good reception in Mexico, so I must visit Mexico as soon as I can. I take it slow with social media though. I do it all by myself and I cant manage to spread on every media there is. At the moment I am active on Instagram, Facebook, Reverbnation and Twitter. We are all hungry for information and the first thing I do in the morning before I go to work is to search for new opportunities, to read the news from the industry etc… I learn and I try new things daily but I dont rush in.
Well it has to be Keith Urban.
Urban came a long way from New Zealand, accross the Australia to finally make a career in the USA. I can relate to it somehow and it makes me wanna try. He inspired me to learn more about the music industry, and he made me fall in love with the modern Country sound. He helped me re-discover Nashville. I believe that he could offer an advice or two to a fellow musician. I’ve learned a lot about music production from the Keith Urban records and one of his producers, Dann Huff is the person I admire a lot. I love the way they record songs and I find it inspirational. I’ve analysed their work and I hope to use what I’ve learned in my future projects.
I am still searching for a balance
and I hope to find it in life and in music. It will be my life goal. Songwriting itself is searching for a balance in harmony, melody and rhymes. When you feel that your song is in the balance, you go and publish it. I dont think that it is important to be current and trendy, but still it seems that everyone tries to be. Obsession with trends is just a money chase. Chasing for what sells best at the moment. But me, I dont sell anything. I give and I share what has no price. Art does not have to be a selfish discipline. Being current and trendy is selfish. Its not about you. You write to touch others, to inspire people, to leave something behind for others to learn. Being trendy can just make you rich if you are lucky enough to roll the dice on time. Having a sound mind helps me in my artistic decisions.
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return.”
From a Jazz Classic, Nature Boy, sang by Nat King Cole. Song was written by Alexander Aberle (known as Eden Ahbez) a great American songwriter.
This line inspires me and the whole song does. It inspires me to offer my unconditional love always and to know that I will be trully happy when I do. When you give love and share you feel alive no matter what; that feeling is inspirational. I think that people ask for too much and expect too much and they forget to give first. You have to give to the world, to the nature. To others. Only than you will be loved in return. Maybe not from the same people you give your love to, but the universe will get it back to you somehow. I believe in that.
Rock and Roll inspired me to begin.
Listening to my dad’s records, the music of Eric Clapton, Santana, Neil Young, Don McLean… had that early impact on my personality. I had a Desire to grab a guitar and sing since I could walk and it was all I ever wanted to do. Got my first guitar when I was 10 years old and started with Classical Music education. I loved to learn and I still do, but the storytelling was what I got into music for. I knew that I need to master the craft so that I could tell my stories and the stories of other people I meet.
Remedy
Remedy is a song I wrote after recovering from a near-fatal brain stroke. I had a tripple brain stroke 5 or 6 years ago and it took me some time to fully recover from it. I felt like I have started a new life, like I was „re-mastered“. It is a challenging experience, I had to take it slow before going back to music and doing anything really that required mental and physical endurance.
I forgot my songs, my vocal cords needed much practice and my fingers were numb at start. At the same time it was a time when I was at the crossroads in my life, choosing the best career path, finishing my college education… The brain stroke itself was a traumatic experience, but the post-trauma lasted for 3 long years. Years of self-searching and starting over. My emotions were raging like a volcano and I needed love and strenght that I fortunately have found in my friends and familly and in music. However, this experience left a bitter taste in my heart and Remedy is one of the stories I wrote about it. My previous single, „Look At Me“, relates to it as well and I hope to put them all together in my next EP or Album release. So you could say that „Remedy“ is about a heartbreak, the biggest of them all.
Support the Artist: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/remedy-single/id1117365318
https://www.amazon.com/Remedy-Zarko/dp/B01G7HGZ5S
To spice-up the backstory,
it took another heartbreak, an emotional one, to finally finish this song. The process of recording is always a huge part of the song creation. When we started recording Remedy, I changed the pitch and tempo to find the comfortable place for my voice. We gave our best to put the story in the spotlight. I always record „in the last minute“ to meet my own deadlines and this time was no different. We only had a 2-hour recording session and spent a couple of days mixing the layers.
I always write and prepare songs for months before recording and I try to be at my best when I am in the studio.
Well, looking at my songbook, I have more than 50 unrecorded songs.
I need to start producing albums fast. I took a time, learning about music production, becoming a sound engineer and a versatile musician, so now I have lots of skills to offer and I have high hopes about my future music projects. I am close to deciding to move to Nashville and focus on Country and Americana music, but at the same time I love to write songs that could fit anywhere. I am looking forward to write songs for other artists and singers as well, I wish to collaborate and learn from new experiences. I love being a studio musician and a sound technician as well as a performer. Most of my songs are introspective and I am still searching for ways to share it with the audience. Its not music for parties, would not fit a commercial media format so I need to go indie and take it slow. I always get great response for my songs, and lots of people have been listening to them over and over again. People say to me often that they could really relate to my songs and feel that intimacy. It made me determined to keep writing such songs and focus on intimacy in my performance and writing. I have a day job as a sound technician at a radio station and I don’t compromise with my music chasing the trends and commercial appeal. I will remain patient and focus on whats close to my heart.
I live in Belgrade, Serbia.
In Europe. For the last 7 years I’ve been traveling a lot to the USA and back to Europe. Transitioning from home to Seattle, where my sister lives, back and forth. It made me see the differences between European and American lifestyle, music scene and culture in general. Even though music scene in my home town is colorful and vibrant, I could never fit in and find my own place. I was always looking towards the US. When I come to the US, I can perform my own songs and there are lots of people who are interested to hear it. The audience is different. Back home, I could never find an audience. Different taste, different genres. It seems that I was always an American kid. So it’s a struggle but I keep fighting. I’d love to keep the both scenes, I don’t wont to just leave home and never come back, but at some point I need to move my career permanently to the USA. Prospective audience, bigger market and familiar culture. In Belgrade, people love noisy EDM music, they love huge parties and festivals. Whoever is a fan of night-clubs and parties, must come to Belgrade. That was never my thing. For me, music is a form of communication. On EDM parties nobody communicates. They are experiencing euphoria, physical excitement and they share pleasure while I love music that makes me think or relax and I keep searching for such an audience.
Well I am a huge Movie Nerd.
I even write my own story plots and fantasize about shooting adventures in Hollywood. Prior to my Audio Production career, I have studied Film making and I will get back to it when the time comes. I spend a lot of time watching movies. Its a great escape from the world and it inspires me. I love all movies, from Citizen Kane to Avatar. I love to go to the imaginary worlds behind a Cinema Screen. I travel to Oz and I never miss Kansas while I’m gone.
Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZarkoMusic
Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/ZarkoMusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Zarko_Official
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zarko.songwriter
Bandpage: https://zarko.bandpage.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0DDvqImEUQ