There’s a few certain bands & musicians I know who shall be nameless, who go on and on and on, about getting signed, whether to an indie label or major. Musicians who promote themselves that way, are just asking for more attention, and all that’s really doing is just showing how much of a huge ego you really have. You see, there’s a lot of bands & musicians want to get signed, but a lot of them don’t make their dreams public. A lot of them usually keep it for themselves even though, that is what they want. Hoping to become famous rock stars, someday. Why do a lot of musicians keep their dreams for themselves? It’s because it’s a professional thing to do. The last thing you want to do is go around, thinking you’re going to get big and famous someday.
How does this make you an attention whore? It’s just their way to make their fans proud of them. They want to make themselves feel good by getting positive feedback from their fanbase.
The more you go around, acting like you’re gonna go mainstream someday, the less chances you are going to get signed. The labels don’t come after you that way. The labels will come after you, if you promote yourself well and have a very large following. That’s how it goes these days.
On top of that, why would a band or solo musician want to get famous to begin with? The way the music industry is today, it’s very difficult to get signed. Most artists in the industry are fake, and manufactured. A lot of them don’t even really perform, and even the artists get controlled by the industry. They will also control you as a songwriter and artist. If you do get signed, you’re not going to get very far commercially because, pop/rap/country is so huge. It’s very hard for rock bands to get known and become rich & famous. Today’s industry is not the same way anymore for rock musicians. Point being, it’s very hard to make it.
Phantogram hasn’t really “made it” yet. They still have a long road to go if they want to be considered commercial and mainstream, artists. They do have fame, yes, but a little bit. They are just famous in the indie market.
This is why it’s best to stay unsigned and be a DIY musician, ’cause I personally enjoy that more. The music industry is garbage today. That includes the indie label market who are very pretentious and even more controlling, than the majors. Who needs to get signed. Just enjoy and play the music. That’s it.
Kev
K'Brocking 
Ego, or ambition ? There is a difference Kev.
Okay, but what do you get when you get into a conversation with some musician, then things get heated and he becomes defensive. All of a sudden, he’ll start saying a bunch of stupid shit like, “Well, I had shared the stage with national acts, had contacts with the industry both with indie & major labels, had tour offers, etc.”. That is like saying, “I’m more successful than you, so you should respect me”. How is that not having an ego?
Kev
Maybe they’re just responding to the way you talk to them? You have a habit of acting like you know everything.
Well, what started this, was that this certain musician should be nameless, was promoting heavily that he was going to have an ad published in Guitar World magazine. This guy was going around, acting like it was big news, so I’m like really? So I called him out on this asking why does this have to be huge breaking news publicly, when anybody can get an ad in Guitar World as long as you pay a lot money to them? Isn’t that kind of crazy? An ad in some magazine, is not a big deal. I’ve had “Letters to the Editor” published when I’ve written to Guitar World before, but I didn’t go around acting like it was big news. Pretty silly don’t you think? Then we got into a big e-mail war about it. It’s just an ad in a magazine, who cares. I’ve seen musicians market themselves in the craziest ways. Musicians, and their crazy delusions.
Kev
Sometimes you have to do a few crazy things to get noticed. Remember Kiss’ ad in the Village Voice that read “Lead guitarist wanted with flashing balls”,? Thanks to that Ace Frehley joined. Alice Cooper and the chicken incident. The list is endless
Ozzy biting the head off of a cow, oddly enough in Hamburg, Germany might be the craziest story that I have ever heard. But, yes – sometimes you just HAVE to go over the top to get over the top. How about when Quiet Riot had the bowling ball cannon during Cal-Jam ’78, it was awesome!! Like I say, you gotta do what you gotta do to do what you gotta do. It’s simple math.