How are certain musicians and bands becoming established acts and well-respected in the Albany area? I have a few pretty good ideas on how this is. There are quite a bit of bands & solo artists these days becoming more well-known around this area. Yet, the musicians and bands who continue to struggle get totally ignored by the scene. Now if you think that “good music” is how they become big in the area… that’s not always the case. I think there are popular and well-known bands & artists that totally suck around here (not naming names) — sometimes, I don’t even understand how they get all this popularity.

I give the most respect to bands & artists who struggle and don’t get a lot of recognition. Mostly the local acts that I point out on this blog are artists that you’ve probably never even heard of. I don’t support popular bands that much — only a very few of them. I like to support the lesser known acts the most ’cause they deserve to get heard and I try to help them to get more exposure.

For the struggling musicians who try to get recognition… trying to book gigs but they get rejected a lot… getting ignored by the local press (not getting any reviews, interviews, etc.)… also you’re not getting a lot of respect from other musicians around the area and not getting a lot of love from promoters. Most importantly, they’re not getting a lot of people enjoying their music.

Why does this happen? Why do the struggling acts get ignored when we all deserve to be treated with equal respect? I believe the struggling artists get ignored because…

• It’s all about the level of talent they’re in – If Albany feels this musician is not professional enough… if they feel that this musicians doesn’t sing well or doesn’t play your instrument well… chances are you’re gonna get ignored and you’ll get criticized by people in a negative way. If they feel your songs aren’t good enough, that’s when Albany can feel the need to say what they want about you. It seems that the only way to get Albany to respect you is that your songs must be absolutely great. Musicians usually bash amateurs or beginner/intermediate musicians. They only give respect to musicians who they think play on a professional level. If your song is perfect, then everyone in Albany will be nice to you. If it’s not good enough, everyone will act like assholes. That’s how it goes, I guess, right?
• It’s all about the looks/image – Have you noticed that all the popular & established bands out there are all good looking and pretty looking people? Well, if you don’t have the looks, chances are, you’re going to get ignored. Possibly be made fun of and criticized by a lot of people. Last time I checked, music is never about the looks… shouldn’t be anyway. If you look like a model and good looking… you will probably get liked by everyone.
• You don’t write radio friendly songs or pop songs people can sing & dance to – I believe the reason bands become established and popular ’cause they write a lot of “hit songs” that you can dance to at the shows. People sing along and clap to them. Now, not a lot of songwriters write songs that way. I never really cared to write songs in that way. I’m about the art and the songwriting. I don’t care what songs is considered to be radio friendly or hits… I just wanna make music. It’s just as simple as that.
• You don’t make professional sounding albums and videos – All these established bands who make a lot of success have pretty much made studio albums and professional music videos for youtube. If you don’t do any of that, chances are, you’re gonna get ignored. Not all bands have to make music in that way. What’s wrong with releasing music exclusively free to the internet? There are tons of sites to do that with like ReverbNation, Soundclick, Soundcloud, etc. It seems that people give the most respect to bands who do make albums and videos. You don’t need to make albums and videos. Just make the music. Get it on the internet and that’s it.
• You haven’t opened for a national act, won some big contest or played on a big festival – A lot of established acts had great opportunities. Opening a concert for someone famous or won some radio contest or a battle of the bands and maybe played on some big festival. People seem to give the most respect to bands who do these things. Yet they ignore the lesser known acts who don’t get any of that good stuff. The lesser known acts are stuck trying to get gigs and good opportunities themselves. How about stop focusing on the bigger bands and help out the lesser known acts? If you claim you support local music, then you should support the acts who don’t get a lot of recognition too. I’m glad the bigger bands are getting the good stuff, don’t get me wrong — it’s not about jealousy — but who cares about them, ya know? I’m sure they’ll forget who you are by now and they’re out there doing their thing.
• You don’t gig a lot – People seem to give the most respect to bands/artists who gigs all the time. Almost on a regular basis. Not all bands and artists gigs a lot. They don’t have to. Gigging is a choice. It’s all up to you whether you want to do it or not. You should give the respect to musicians if their songs are good. It shouldn’t really be about how much they gig or how much opportunities they get in their career. What about the music? There are too many struggling artists who are very talented and you guys don’t know what you’re missing. You don’t have to gig to do something you love. Who needs to gig, anyway, right? Albany is pretty much a crap music scene to begin with. Not a lot of venues to play and it’s pretty much not a music scene at all to be honest, I’ll admit it. If I wanted to start gigging again, I wouldn’t want to do it in Albany. I’d go to Nashville or something. I would move to an area where it has a music scene. (Not sure if I would do this or not, it’s just a thought but it’s a pretty good idea)…

So now you get where I’m coming from. This is not just about me. I’m NOT trying to defend myself. It’s also for other artists who are struggling. It’s idiotic how this area treats musicians but it is what it is. I think it’s like this in every music scene all over the USA to be honest. You’ll get stuff like I explained above everywhere you go. People trying to destroy your dreams and not making you feel welcome.

It’s a free country. If music is what you love to do.Then do it. Don’t listen to the haters & doubters. Music should be for you.

Kev