Uncle Dave said: "In order to market a successful career in music - your own needs and wants are SECOND to the needs and wants of the client. maybe you were playing for yourself?
(not a bad thing ...... just maybe not what people in that shop are willing to listen to)".

We've had a similar discussion before, and UD's view on this is what the majority of people believe - but I don't. If you can produce something truly unique and beautiful, you just have to find the right venue for it. And that takes going out to nearly every place that has live music in your area and scoping the market out. If you can do your own thing within the context of your market, lucky you. If not but you believe in what you do then change markets. But again, this all assumes that you really want to play.