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Artist Visions is an ongoing series of programs 15 to 30 min. long, featuring working musicians, artists and other creative people from around the country.  The guiding theme is to discover how each artist uses their special gifts and skills to encourage positive change in society.  We spend some time in each artist’s world, seeing things from their point of view, learning about their struggles to rise above the daily grind that everybody faces and actually create something that brings joy to themselves and their audiences.

Our first program features singer-songwriter Brian Pounds

It was shot at the famous watering hole Hills Cafe in South Austin, just prior to the closing of this beloved landmark of Austin music history.

We dedicate our first episode to the memory of Hills Cafe with grateful thanks for all the opportunities they provided to working musicians throughout the years.

–Greg McGee, editor of The Stankenrose Gazette

The music business is changing, like everything else. Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur, looking up into the sky to see this shiny object I don’t understand, but its headed my way.  Other times I feel like a little bug with a big flip-flop about to smash me into the summer sand.

Artists aways struggle to figure out how to make a living.

Never before has there been higher potential for growth,  more competition in all genres,  and more constant technological change, all occuring in an economy where eyeballs are mesmerized by free social media with far more importance in most people’s lives than a real artist or musician doing a live performance on a stage in front of them.

In this interview with Brian Pounds, we delve into some of the challenges he has gone through as a working musician, and speculate on how the music industry might improve its business model to make life a bit more tenable for musicians in the future.