This is War

Imagine for a moment your struggles in life and try to understand the nature of how things really are. True, that was a very short statement with a very broad connotation. The short simple reply is that no matter when you arrived, there were others here before you. In the race for success in life everyone starts out dead last. One should never feel disadvantaged for being small. To reach your true potential you should not hope for a push over, but rather you should hope for the epic challenge.

A phenomenal band composed of an amazing lead singer and wildly talented musicians took on their corporate label for the right to play their music on their own terms. How do you think the story ends? In a perfect world, the band wins and the corporation folds. In a more predictable scenario, the record company wins and the band continues to go deeper into debt to the record company with each passing album. Pause for a moment. Consider the driving motivation behind both the musicians and the record company.

EMI records sued a band under contract to them for $30 million. Less than a year later EMI was divided up and sold by Citibank. The band which EMI sued has went on to sell over 20 million albums worldwide, yet, to this day, has never been paid a single dollar of the earnings from their music. Some would call this scenario mutually assured destruction in which both sides lost. To understand why this was not a loss, but was actually a victory, one would have to really know the band and its members.

With less money to his name at any given time than the average Joe on the street, the lead singer of this amazing band has touched the hearts and minds of millions. He and his brother, who is also in the band, have been poor their entire lives and don't really seem to mind it. This singer also recently celebrated winning an Oscar for best male actor for his role in the movie, "Dallas Buyers Club."

Success is not always about money, and it isn't necessarily even about winning. If you're interested in a twisted true life story of courage, dedication and success even while losing everything, I highly recommend the documentary, "Artifact: Thirty Seconds to Mars."

P.S. I purposely omitted the name of the singer. Had I said his name, you would probably have failed to appreciate the beautiful and talented group of human beings that comprise the band this famous person just happens to be a part of.