I have always said that unsigned musicians can be very unfriendly people in any music scene in the United States. I know you’re getting tired of me talking down on musicians and being all “negative” on them but I’m not afraid to get the truth out. I’m no shrink but I have observed the way musicians socialize with people over the years and it’s pretty interesting to say the least. The way musicians communicate with each other especially online is really weird and strange to me. It’s mostly the more professional musicians… the more successful and talented musicians who can be unfriendly at times. When I mean, unfriendly… I mean “unfriendly”.

Short tempers, huge egos, and blah blah blah, you get the deal. They can be extremely rude to people when they are not even realizing it. Some of them can act like bullies to other musicians, yep.

It seems that the only time musicians are nice to you if you support their music and their playing. That’s the thing that I observed over the years. If you look around… a lot of musicians only care for themselves. A lot of them seem to enjoy having an ego problem and they like to feel important with themselves. A lot of them have strange behaviors and that includes me. The second you say something negative about them… if it’s something negative about their playing, their musicianship or themselves as a person… they will hate you forever. I know from my own experience. If you’re critical about the music scene or other bands… they will hate you for that too.

There are some musicians out there who has no reason to hate you. They just hate you for the sake of hating. They just like to join the bandwagon ’cause everyone else is doing it.

A lot of people mistakenly accuse me of being a hateful and negative person but the sad truth is that a lot of musicians out there can be a lot more hateful and negative than me. Believe me, I read what they write in social networking sites and craigslist. A lot of their writings aren’t directed at me but I see how they write about local music sometimes and there can be some pretty aggressive and heated discussions. Sometimes they end up resorting to name calling and swearing. Bashing other talent.

This scene always had a love & hate relationship. It’s nothing new. I’ve seen it for years. This is part of why most of the popular local music forums have been shut down ’cause musicians act so crazy on it.

Everyone wants to see the Albany area as a friendly and lovable scene but technically, it’s not. Let me say that again… the reason musicians are unfriendly is because of ego and their self importance. Once again, not all musicians are unfriendly. I know. There are some very friendly, nice and down to earth musicians out there but there’s not enough. Just one thing to keep in mind that having a negative attitude in music is not going to get you very far. When musicians talk to me, I expect a friendly attitude as well. When they don’t act friendly to me, you can very well believe that I could be ranting about it on this blog. That’s why musicians are stuck here in Albany ’cause of their negative attitudes.

The secret to going forward in music and having a better career more positively… is being friendly to everyone. All the time. No matter if people are negative to you first, you still need to have a positive and professional attitude. This scene thinks they’re professional acting but they aren’t really. If everybody was positive and friendly, we could have a better scene.

Your attitude in music is pretty important. I’m learning myself about this and learning from my past mistakes so I don’t do them again in the future. Just be kind, have good karma and amazing things will happen in your music career, trust me. Nope. Musicians will never take this advice. Their egos will think that will give them the privilege to act how they want to. Also, ignoring the negativity at all costs will also help bring you forward on a positive note. I’m working on that too. I’m trying my best to be more positive myself.

Kev