Reason to learn English No. 157:  To be a rock star!

Just went along to the Tenjin Apple Store workshop on “How to break it on the world stage as a musician, on your own, without any money and make a living doing it!”

They were talking about how to use YouTube to promote your music, iTunes to sell it and then fans around the world to organise gigs and things for you. All with lots of real world examples, including one Japanese band who’d just done a tour of Poland this way.

What the guy was saying though is that as the internet is so underdeveloped in Japan the key to making your big break is to get into the minds of American fans. And that takes English!

It would also be a cool after school or “club” project.   I used to do one in Junior High where I’d show the kids how to write songs, then we’d record them onto CD nd got them to perform them in the town’s festival.   It would have been even more amazing had we had all the internet tech that kids have now!

Of course in five years time all the big record companies will have figured this out and dominate the market, but right now it’s the perfect time to be a musician. If you have any students who want to do it, encourage them all you can, and email me if you need any help.

After all Genki English is basically one big online record company!