Everyone knows that they best way for a band or musician to promote his- or herself is to perform live. But what if your music doesn't translate well to a live show, you don't really get any joy out of live performance, and your life operates in such a way that you can't afford to do it?

That is the situation for me. I'm just getting back into composing regularly, and I'm finding that other parts of life - especially having a family - have taken over where music used to reign. It used to be that I didn't perform live because I just didn't like the idea of it much. Now there's really not much way I could do it because I have two young kids and my wife and I both work - she at nights and I during the day - so there's no way I could find the time to do it. So what's a guy in my situation to do?

There are a few things I've thought of.

- Video on the Internet. Perhaps I could somehow record myself playing my music "live". Or, if I can somehow scrounge up some money, record a cheap music video of some sort. There are all kinds of free or cheap online outlets (like YouTube) where people could see it, and I could use it to promote any upcoming albums I may have. This requires equipment and skill I don't really have, but it's a possibility for the future, I guess.

- The Very Us Artists. This is one I'm already doing. By participating in that project, my work is getting to people who might not otherwise ever hear it. Namely, fans of other artists. This will require some luck on my part, since my music will have to appeal to people who listen to some other people's music, but it's something.

- Get out on the street and peddle my stuff. While walking by Union Square not long ago, a guy stopped me and basically wouldn't let me pass until I bought his CD, so I did. And I never listened to it. It was only like two or three dollars, but still, it was something. The main problem with this is that I'm terrible at this sort of thing. I don't intimidate well, I'm not much of an extrovert, and I'd probably get fatigued and disheartened fairly quickly.

- College radio. I could try sending something to Stony Brook, I guess, where I went to school. Or some other place. I think this is more the sort of thing where you have to know someone, though, and I don't know anyone.

So, I guess I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm still just getting back into this. I haven't done anything new other than what is available through VUA. But hopefully I'll be able to do some recording and maybe release something independently at some point. I feel the mojo coming back.