I was at Barnes and Noble bookstore earlier this morning and I was reading an interesting article through “Acoustic Guitar” magazine. In the magazine had this interesting article where it talks about the internet being an ugly place for musicians. It’s so true if you think about it. You’re a musician, an acoustic singer/songwriter or you just want to play in a band and all of a sudden you’re getting all kinds of criticism and hate online.

This article tells an interesting story about a solo artist named Frank Fairfield who almost gave up the music thing ’cause he couldn’t take the criticism from haters and doubters. Yes, this guy had a lot of them. I looked up Frank Fairfield in youtube and he seems to be a very popular musician. All of his videos that I’ve seen in youtube has got a lot of views so this is a musician who has gone viral for sure. He’s very good musically though! This is a guy who is not all that famous and he seems to be an unsigned musician.

Trolling for Trouble: The Internet Can Be an Ugly Place for Musicians

I understand where Frank is coming from ’cause I too am a victim of being attacked by trolls, critics and doubters. I’m in the same boat. I too came pretty close to giving up music ’cause of it all.

Yeah, I know the internet is a scary place for musicians so I’m glad I’m not alone on this. All musicians have their share of haters… all of them. It doesn’t matter how good of a person you are, there will always be people who won’t like you but who cares right?

I remember when I first started out in songwriting and guitar playing, I was putting up my songs online and right away people started making fun of me. They were making fun of my singing, my guitar playing and bashing the way I look too. Other local musicians in the music community tried to destroy me. I was a big target at CRUMBS, the RRC (Rock and Roll Confidential, which is a site that’s no longer online, good riddance that is) and other online message forums.

Yeah, you want to become a musician, get your music out there and play your music like everyone else but you gotta learn to stay strong and tough… stay above the negative people. Not everyone is gonna like you ’cause you can’t please everyone. People say that I deserved all the hate and criticism, they say I started it all by calling me a troll and stuff but it’s not true really. It’s the internet… people are crazy as fuck on here for sure.

Yeah, people will attack you for no reason… they will never have anything positive to say about you… people will doubt your popularity and your dreams… call you delusional on a lot of things blah blah blah blah. They will also criticize your music and your talent.

When you want to play your music, you’re going to meet a lot of crazy people so the best thing to do is not give negative people any attention. In the article above I like Bobby Owsinski’s advice that you should ignore the negative haters. I also agree with him that you shouldn’t read the “comments” whether it’s the comments on a blog, facebook or twitter… don’t read any of ’em and he’s so right. I gotta stop reading everything that comes in. Usually when something negative comes in, I’ll just delete it and ignore it. I would usually block the person too.

It is interesting though, how other people think they can say what they want about you but when you do the same to them, you’re the bad guy all of a sudden. It is interesting how other people think it’s okay to say what they want about me but I can’t talk bad about other people or I would get in trouble. That’s messed up. I usually don’t start things with people unless they start with me first but I gotta learn to ignore them completely which is what I’m getting better at.

You can’t give negative people any attention. If you want to play your music, go right ahead. You don’t have to give it up ’cause other people want you to. That’s why they hate ’cause they want you to give it up. The secret in staying above them is not giving a shit what everybody thinks. Just continue to play your music. You only care about the music and nothing else. I mean, look at Metallica for a perfect example. Metallica continues to be one of the most hated bands on the planet but they don’t care. They just keep going with their music by making records and touring, not giving a shit what anyone thinks. You should have that same attitude. When people see that you don’t care about the haters & critics, even more people will respect you for that.

Haters are gonna hate, that’s all there is to it. I stopped caring what people think of me a long time ago. I’ll continue to play my music. Continue to record my songs and continue to play live shows.

The internet is a problem, no doubt. I know from experience dealing with haters & critics. I still get ’em today but that’s okay. I’m a tough dude. I don’t let ’em bother me anymore.

Kev