I know there are some talented musicians out there who don’t get a lot of recognition, struggling in their careers, and not getting a lot of respect from the public. Look, I hear you, as I am in the same boat. I see musicians in facebook and other local music forums complaining about not getting a lot of respect for your playing or your songwriting. That’s not gonna get you the respect by complaining about it which I see musicians do, all the time. Even I complain about it at times and I gotta stop that. Complaining about it is just gonna turn people off and they’ll stop supporting you. I’ve made those mistakes myself. Complaining and ranting about lack of respect is not a good way to handle things.

How do you earn respect with your music? How do you get people to like you and support what you do? Simply put, just shut up and play the music. Keep writing the songs. Keep playing the gigs. Let the music speak on it’s own and the people will respond that way. Even if you keep doing both writing the songs and playing the gigs, you still get lack of respect… just keep going. You never know when people will respect you. Hell, you already maybe respected by everybody anyway and you’re not even realizing it?

People are not gonna support bad music, that’s all there is to it. If you make the good songs that people want to hear… people will support you. That’s how EBJ got there. EBJ got where they are today ’cause they are a well-respected band and they’re good songwriters which is how they get all these good opportunities and accolades. The same can happen to you if you keep going and work hard.

Respect is also earned… not only because of your musical talent and your hard work ethic — it is also earned through your professional behavior. People are sure not gonna support musicians who are assholes or douchebags. You must have a good professional acting behavior. Be good to people. Be down to earth and humble. It’s okay to be honest and real about stuff because people will respect you for that too but don’t be a jerk about things. A lot of musicians make the mistake that you can act how you want to and be yourself but most of the time you can’t if you want to be a respected musician. Think of being a musician like a day job. You know how on a day job, you must be on your best professional behavior? The same goes for your music if you want to get somewhere. People take the way musicians act seriously. I know from my own experience. Being friendly and positive will help get you somewhere.

I know… I used to be a badguy and an egomaniac in the past myself… so I’ll admit that I messed up a lot but learning from my past mistakes so I won’t do them again in the future. If you want people to respond to you positvely, then you must be positive at all times. I’m trying my best these days as you can clearly see, and I believe I’m doing better.

Yes, people will still talk negatively about you and you will still get haters no matter how positive you are but you just have to learn to ignore the critics… that will earn you respect too.

If you’re a musician or a songwriter who is being disrespected everywhere — there are ways to turn all that negative feedback into positive. That’s your job. Yelling at people saying, “Respect me”, is not gonna help. If you see a lot of people disrespecting you… maybe you need to work on your musical talent more. Focus on your instrument or singing more and try to improve. Work on your professional behavior skills. Work harder on your music and respect will come to you on it’s own that way.

People are real when it comes to local musicians for sure. Some folks mistakenly believe that music fans support musicians just to be polite and friendly. Part of that is true but there is more to it than that. The reason a lot of people support certain musicians and bands ’cause they believe their hard-work, good musicianship, and professional behavior is why the respect is well-earned. People don’t support musicians for no reason. They know the reasons why the respect is well-deserved.

I’m not saying that I am a well-respected musician but if I am, great, if I’m not, that’s great too. I’m just gonna keep playing my music and keep doing what I do. You don’t want to call yourself a “well-respected” musician either like so many musicians do out there. You need to let the people tell you that. Keep doing the music that makes you happy and who knows what may happen. Anything is possible.

Kev