Don't Steal My Voice!

Well, if you have been following me on Facebook, you'll see that a lot of people have encouraged me to try out for The Voice. I had put it out there that I was contemplating auditioning, because I wanted to know what my friends and fans thought about the notion. I have been encouraged by my family for years to try out for American Idol and The Voice. The Voice seemed like the lesser of the two evils. It seemed like a pretty cool show; like they wanted you to be unique and be yourself, rather than be molded into a powerhouse singing icon like on Idol.

I was considering auditioning for The Voice, not only because my family had been urging me to, but because I LOVE singing. I've worked hard on my singing craft. And usually what people say to me at shows is, "Wow, I love your voice," not "Wow, you're a really great songwriter." Though I love writing songs, and I think those who really listen appreciate my lyrics and song forms, singing was my first love, waaaaay before songwriting. (Well, actually visual arts was, but we can get into that another time.) I used to practice singing Ariel's songs from The Little Mermaid. (I even had a Little Mermaid doll that I carried around with me everywhere, and made a bed for her out of a shoe box.) My mom brought me up on all kinds of musicals, not just the Disney ones. And yes, as an adolescent, I jammed out to Brandy and Christina Aguilera. I've got that soul in my voice because I was a singer first. So, having worked very hard on my craft over the years, it's natural that I wanted to show it off. I can actually do a lot more than I do in my songs, because I never wanted to diva it up in the music I write and take so seriously. I don't normally show off, but The Voice would give me the guilty pleasure of having the chance to.

I was hesitant about auditioning for The Voice because I do take my songwriting seriously. I didn't want my performances on The Voice to overshadow what I love to do: write and sing my original songs. I get peeved when people come up to me at shows and say, "Your voice reminds me of this person. Can you play a song of theirs for me?" Why can't they just enjoy the songs I'm already singing to them? Anyway, I want people to respect me for my songwriting abilities as well as my singing voice. I want to be known as a true artist, whether I'm famous or not. There's also the issue of distraction. I didn't want The Voice to distract me from writing or going on my own tours, etc.

Now that being said, I never wanted to be famous. I don't need to be rich. All I want is to be able to someday support myself by doing music only, and not have a full-time or even a side job. I want to be able to make music and share it with others constantly. I feel like my day job comes in the way of that a lot of times. I'm at work constantly thinking about what my next moves will be when I get home. I'm always thinking about a song I'm writing in my head, wishing I could just pull out my guitar and write. I'm thinking about recording, booking, etc. All the things I wish I had time for, but don't because I'm working. I got all starry eyed and thought The Voice could be my way out, or at least give me some exposure so I could start selling more of my records.

To be honest, even if I were to go on The Voice, I wouldn't want to win, because I wouldn't want for the corporate music business machine to own my soul. I'm NOT a competitive person by nature. (Even when I ran cross-country in high school, I hated the meets. I was mostly there for the camaraderie. Running with my friends in a pack after school was fun for me.) I would mainly have gone on The Voice for fun, to show people what I can do, and for exposure. And to tell all the people who keep telling me to audition that I already did.

After my Facebook post, I got a lot of positive feedback about going on The Voice, and some negative. In the negative responses, the word integrity was used. I get that! I definitely want to keep my integrity as an artist, but don't think I would have necessarily lost it just by participating in a game on TV.

So what was the final decision maker in all of this? I've found out through internet research that the contract they make you sign is not good. I don't want to get into it, but there's some shady stuff that goes within it. You can check it out here, if you're interested: http://www.afterld.com/forum/showthread.php?41165-The-Voice-contestant-contract-terms
It basically entails a 7 year "slave contract." They own you. You can't make anything on the side, or do any tours on the side. They want a piece of everything you do for SEVEN YEARS after you've been a contestant (not even the winner) on The Voice.

So, that's why I will NOT be auditioning. The Voice, will not take what is most precious to me, which is MY voice, and I don't just mean my singing voice, but also my speaking voice and freedom of speech that I exercise through the lyrics in my original songs.

Maybe I'll start having my own Candy Lee version of The Voice, in which I post videos on YouTube of me belting it out... maybe, or maybe not. Stay tuned!