An Interview with Celeste Lear Page 2

You've put out your own CD. How do you let people know about it? Well, that's the challenging part. There's a lot of competition in the music world now, especially with the advances and availability of affordable home-recording equipment. Everyone has a CD for sale! I started my indie label, Boutique Electronique Records, just so I could release my CD, The Echo Inside. I'm in my office every day sending out press kits to the media, radio, and the web. MySpace has been a terrific resource and fun way to make friends and get fans - worldwide! I also have a digital-distribution company that's gotten my music to all the big download sites, and I have my CDs for sale at CD Baby. It's a changing paradigm.

What role do you see radio playing these days? Radio is still an essential part in turning people onto new music. I listen to web radio every day, and when I hear a great artist, the first thing I do is go to iTunes and download a few of their most popular songs. I think music is as important in peoples lives today as ever, maybe even more so. Music is people's inspiration in hard times, a look into the collective psyche, a look into the mind of the opposite sex… people will always seek out new and exciting artists, it's just less of them will actually pay for it!

Finally, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? Okay, I admit that's my semi-serious but-not-really Barbara Walters-esque question, but... No, I love it! It's a question I can really sink my teeth into. I've got two answers for you: First, I think I would be a Money Tree, and I would grow in downtown Los Angeles, right on skid row where the homeless people could come, and I would grow $100 bills for them to get food and shelter.

My second answer is that I would be the tree falling in the forest that people actually hear fall.

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