There are two issues at play here: one is actual recording production (which in the case of Nick's songs is reasonable albeit homespun) and actual content.
Out of tune moments - they happen to really amazing musicians (especially when performing live) and a lot of what you're calling "production" these days is just auto-tune.
That being said, he's not, never has been, nor will ever be a "diva". The style of music doesn't necessarily call for it, although that's not to say that he hasn't worked on improving his voice over the years - mainly with a focus on unamplified street performing more than intonation and accuracy.
Really, though, the goal here is to allow a musician to connect with anyone who enjoys their music - not to make anyone like it or convince them that it's great.
Because those people are not going to be common (let's face it - we're never going to see Spunky Junk Tambourine performed at the MTV VMAs), what I'm interested in finding out is whether or not simply taking the same approach as busking but broadcasting it to a much wider audience will allow Nick to make a living from his originals in the same way as he can make a living singing Khe San at 2am on a Sunday morning (and having people steal his tambourines :)
I understand what you're saying. I hope you understand my point isn't, "This needs to be more like pop music." It's rather the simple point that this is perfectly fine amateur music, but not much more than that. Drawing any broader conclusions about the viability of direct-to-consumer sales of media content is inappropriate with this experiment.
Out of tune moments - they happen to really amazing musicians (especially when performing live) and a lot of what you're calling "production" these days is just auto-tune.
That being said, he's not, never has been, nor will ever be a "diva". The style of music doesn't necessarily call for it, although that's not to say that he hasn't worked on improving his voice over the years - mainly with a focus on unamplified street performing more than intonation and accuracy.
Really, though, the goal here is to allow a musician to connect with anyone who enjoys their music - not to make anyone like it or convince them that it's great.
Because those people are not going to be common (let's face it - we're never going to see Spunky Junk Tambourine performed at the MTV VMAs), what I'm interested in finding out is whether or not simply taking the same approach as busking but broadcasting it to a much wider audience will allow Nick to make a living from his originals in the same way as he can make a living singing Khe San at 2am on a Sunday morning (and having people steal his tambourines :)