…. What a wonderful project! I can't help but think that you're shooting yourself in the foot by picking guitar players, however, there's a certain stereotype about them being poor/unemployed/unmotivated…
Do you really think there's money to be made here?
Thanks for your question. We're not "picking" anyone. We simply see a pressing problem and we're offering a solution. That's the classic definition of making money - solving other people's problems. Lawyers and doctors make the most - because they solve the most serious of people's problems.
The "unmotivated guitarist" stereotype exists for a number of reasons. First on that list is the fact that anyone who owns a guitar is considered to be "a guitarist". Much like nowadays anyone with a digital camera is considered to be "a photographer". To actually become a guitarist takes years of dedication, practice, thousands and thousands of hours spent on ear training, developing proper technique, memorising countless chord and scale patterns on the fretboard, studying music theory, chord structure, the logic behind building chord progressions, learning how to improvise, disassembling the works of famous guitarists note by note, bar by bar to learn from them. It also takes tons of money spent on lessons with the right teachers, study materials, guitar equipment, recording hardware and software. The investment both in time and money is immense. Only those who have had the courage and perseverance to go through all this can really be called "guitarists". If you made an impulse purchase at Guitar Center - you're not a guitarist (yet).
Most people who are serious about guitar "make it work". If they can't earn by playing guitar - they teach lessons or start music related small businesses - such as music stores, recording and rehearsal studios etc. If that's not an option - they find a day job that allows them to play. Are they poor? Yes and no. The globalized world economy is quickly decimating the middle class in ALL countries, turning the USA, the United Kingdom and other former world superpowers into third world countries where society is divided into "the very poor" and "the very rich". The global economy decimating the middle class brought death to the music industry and everything that comes with it. The super rich have other types of pleasures to indulge in, while the very poor are too preoccupied with their physical survival to have desire or money to spend on anything that's not bare necessities. Anyone else who has a job and can pay their bills is no longer middle class. Welcome to a brave new world of "the working poor".
BitChord aims to help the people who have already spent a lot of time and money on getting good on guitar. There are millions of them worldwide. They deserve to earn money with their skills. But the existing platforms (music content, video etc.) are targeted at EXPLOITING them, not helping them earn. BitChord is a revolutionary concept that has completely different social and business objectives.
