Hi,

I work in entertainment law, which means that in addition to dealing with the horrors of contract disputes, prima donna artists & divas, and an industry that requires the blood of 250 beauraucratic demigogues per song to sustain itself, I also get to hear tons of new music; very little of which i'm impressed with.

Nontheless, I love music. I'm hardly a musician or talented at all, but I went into Law with the hopes of being able to contribute in whatever capacity I could. In my spare time, I browse the JK forums (you'd be surprised at how much of a relief they are as compared to the standard industry forums), as well as myspace music - often doing searches for artists that match my tastes (Carole King, Neil Diamond, etc).

Usually, I don't turn up much - people who claim to 'sound like' xyz artist usually don't - and just seem to use it as a bogus foundation to buttress their generic material.

However, I came across -this- artist at: www.myspace.com/bensenhart ... and I'm in love.

And you know what? It's making me wonder why i'm in this business. This guy has the hooks, the musicianship, and the catchy lyrics (although it seems like some of the songs might be a -little- too progressive for mainstream) to have hits on his hands, and yet... he's probably never going to make it - and is likely working in an office somewhere doing data entry, or at the very best, IT.

When I entered the industry as an attorney, I was naive - and didn't realize that I was fostering an -industry- & not actually talented artists. The bulk artists that I deal with are here because they've been picked by A&R to support the system itself, and not on their own merit.

Look at this guy - Great songs which are obviously self produced, a bazillion harmonies, and great harmonies - with absolutely no support. He outdid himself, and seeing stuff like this makes me want to retire and move to New Hampshire to start a sheep farm.

Anyway.. I rarely post... I just needed to vent. Thanks to JK and the other posters for making this a great forum and the place to do so. I've loved JK's work for a long time (His 'satire' of My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine is brilliant)

- Sincerely,
Roger

But the songs and delivery are OK but still very early days; there's potential there but no hits yet, in my humble opinion. But a good start.

I think the answer lies with the artiste. What is he doing/done to get to the right people?

Personally I don't like the vocal sound much and all the songs are bit samey. There's something I don't like about these songs which I can't put my finger on.

In agreement with JK (grovel-grovel ) they need work and development.

Now I've written "development" I think I know why he's not been picked up by a label, they don't really do development much anymore do they?

Coda: Oh dear shortly after I began thinking it was all getting too Beatlesq... he start singing Beatles lines. Therein lies a problem - too derivative.