A lot of musicians out there wanna be big, popular or famous. Is popularity always a good thing in music? A lot of people want to mistakenly believe it’s a wonderful and glorifying thing to have lots of fans and recognition but at the same time it can be bad in some way. There’s too many musicians out there who will never admit they don’t enjoy being popular themselves. Allow me to explain the pros and cons when becoming a popular/well-known act in music.

The Pros

Getting lots of fans and recognition can mean a lot of good things. You’re getting your music heard and getting it out there. You get a lot of gigs that come out of it. Getting a lot of good opportunities. You meet a lot of nice people and moving forward to the next level in your careers. You can also make a lot more money by becoming well-known.

The Cons

HMmmmm, I can go on all day with this one. Becoming an established act would mean that you’re going to have to say goodbye to your privacy. You’re never gonna be left alone by local media or your die-hard fans. You’re like a mini-celebrity — you’re a public figure now. You could also get a lot more haters & doubters, people saying negative things about you. You have to watch what you do or watch what you say most of the time. It might be a little stressful and overwhelming for ya (it’ll get to you, believe me). You would also get accused of becoming “sell-outs”. The more popular and bigger you become, the more you’ll get looked as a pop act, no matter the genre. You will also get looked at as pretentious and will get criticized a lot. These are some reasons that popularity can be lame sometimes.

Some may not enjoy the popularity but whether they enjoy it or not… they’re gonna get it if enough people like their music.

Like I always say, I don’t care if I get the popularity or become well-known for my music or not. I’m all fine with playing music for just a few people or none at all. Music shouldn’t really be about getting as many fans as possible, anyways. Music should really be for you and that’s what I’ve been trying to explain for years. Too many musicians thrive on popularity when they really shouldn’t. The last thing you wanna do is call yourself a “successful” musician even if you know you are. Letting the music speak on it’s own and leaving your ego at the door.

Nothing wrong with musicians wanting to get big but don’t ever think you will be or you are. I give the most respect to bands/artists who act like they are nothing in music when they don’t realize they are a pretty big act. That’s a good attitude to have as a musician.

The point of this post is that don’t always believe that getting big in music is a good thing. It’s not always good, and you know it. Getting big with your music can be pretty risky if you aren’t careful with things. No need to worry about getting big in music, ya know? I never cared to move forward to a bigger career. Just wanna write songs, that’s the end of it.

Kev