When you want to be a musician, it maybe a little hard to find out who your real and true fans are, but you’ll find out soon enough. How? If they actually listen to your music, going to your gigs, and staying by your side no matter what happens, that’s when you know you got a true fan. People staying loyal to you and not giving up their support, is being a true fan.

You will also get the negative side of things. People pretending to support you just to be nice. People support you at first, and then they quickly become your enemy (or hater, whatever you want to call it). I got this all the time over the years. Someone will act like they like your music, then they’re publicly talking trash about you behind your back on a social networking site somewhere.

You will always get mixed reactions in the music world. Every band and musician deals with this, not just me. Getting mixed reactions and opinions about you is actually good for your career. When people are talking about you good or bad, you gotta be doing something right? It means that people are paying attention to you and it’s a sign that you may be pretty popular.

You will get fans and lose some. There’s nothing to get heartbroken or sad over this small stuff. You just continue to do your thing and play the music. Write songs however you want to, not caring what anyone else thinks.

Kev

I thought I would post another great blog post by Loren Weisman, that I see bands have a big problem with. Bands seem to have a problem of making their personal life too public and it should be separated from the music.

Read this post, here.

In the past, I used to be open minded about everything about my life. When I used to be on livejournal years back, I used to write about everything going on in my life, which was a bad idea if you want to be a music artist.

These days, I have been keeping my personal life, off the computer completely. If you look at my personal facebook page, I still don’t talk about everything going in my life. I use my personal facebook page to talk about the entertainment industry just like I do here. Why is it good to keep your personal life away from the music? It helps stop the nasty rumors from spreading around about you.

Even if I get a girlfriend or get married someday, I would still keep that relationship off the computer. I wouldn’t post everything about that romantic relationship online like so many couples seem to be doing lately. Why would I want haters making fun of us everywhere, ya know? I wouldn’t want people saying nasty things about her.

If you still want to be expressive of yourself more personally, just do it carefully and responsibly. Just a facebook personal page and turn it to private like Loren said.

I see too many bands & solo artists being too personal about stuff. Not a good idea and too risky for your life & career. This is why I use the internet to talk about the entertainment industry only. My way of keeping my personal life, off line.

Kev

I think I figured out why some of us musicians keep getting ignored by the music scene. Getting overlooked and not getting enough recognition that we deserve. I think it’s because the local press like to look at local music as if this is the “mainstream” industry even if we’re not. Here’s what I mean. You know how in the national “mainstream” industry, you have to be all good looking and pretty, and write pop songs to make it big? Well, the local music scene is kind of similar to that. If you’re good looking and pretty, if you write pop songs that are radio friendly and can get the girls dancing their asses off, then you become immediately successful.

In the local music world, there is no such thing as being “mainstream” artists or pop stars. We are unsigned and local music. So that means everyone deserves the support and respect. People like to treat the local music scene like a damn popularity contest and it’s sad, in my opinion. The local music scene shouldn’t be like that.

In this website, I will prove my point. By simply promoting local music more, the real way to promote local music. Believe me, I know how to do it. Better than anybody out there. It seems that other local music promoters are out there trying to get more publicity for themselves and not giving publicity to the band they are promoting. If you want to be a good music promoter, you need it to be more about them, and not about you.

I will concentrate on promoting local music more in this site ’cause I have a mission. To prove this music scene, that all musicians of all levels of talent deserves a chance. Like I said, I will do interviews with bands/musicians more (either on this site or by video), go to local band gigs more, giving local music reviews, etc. We will get heard, I can do this for you. It won’t be just for me.

Kev

Don’t you just love it that when a band or solo artist do become huge and successful in your local area, they think they’re something special and more important? It’s nuts I know. Once they become established and well known, their ego would get a little bigger. This is just local and unsigned music, so it really does not make them any better.

This is the biggest mistake that bands & artists make. This is just my opinion. If you still want to get the respect from the local public, leave your ego at the door. Never act like you’re better than other bands, always act like other bands or musicians are better than you. I don’t think I’m better than other bands & musicians, I know there are a lot of them that are way better than me, musically.

An established and popular band, would get my respect, if they don’t act like a big shot rock star egomaniac. There are too many bands around here that are like that. Not naming names.

My point is, to keep it simple, if you don’t act like a superstar, then you’ll get my respect. Just continue to do your thing, playing the music for the fans that support it. Support other bands & musicians of all levels of talent. Stop acting like you’re better than others, ’cause it certainly is a turn off. I don’t have the time to deal with these kind of bands. If they still act like an unsigned band and not a rock star wannabe, you’ll get my immediate support.

Kev

You hear it all the time. People say that when you don’t have a large following, your music is immediate crap. Not true at all. There ARE plenty of talented bands & musicians who are amazingly talented, it’s just that a lot of them are “overlooked” way too much. Maybe these guys don’t care to be popular. They want to make music ’cause that’s what they do. Make music for the love of it.

You also shouldn’t assume that bands & artists don’t have a large following ’cause what if they do? A lot of them probably don’t even realize that they are pretty popular, you just never know how many people are listening to you. Hell, a lot of people out there may even like my music when I’m not even realizing it either, I don’t know.

That’s the tough part about being a musician. A musician can’t tell if he or she is popular or not. A lot of musicians want to think no one is paying attention to them, which is good. It makes things unpredictable and interesting that way.

Kev

Over the years, I’ve tried to submit my music to certain local music websites that should be nameless for a possible review or a simple plug of my music. I got nothing and a lot of them acted like I didn’t even existed or didn’t care if I am a musician or not. You know what? That’s all cool and good with me. It’s not the end of the world. I’m not all that desperate to get publicity for myself. Most local people are following my site anyway, so that’s why I plug my music here and not anyplace else.

The thing that pisses me off about the local music scene, is that these local music websites claim they support all local music. Well if they think they do, that means they should be able to support my music as well, but I get overlooked by a lot of them. Yes, it is kind of ridiculous, I know, but I learn to deal with it. They plug in almost every band & solo artist out there, but when it comes to my music, they don’t care.

I still continue to make music over the years and a lot of people don’t realize it. Even if a few my original songs or covers get a lot of positive feedback, I still get nothing. I still gig once in a while too.

The only way a band/musician can get a lot of local publicity in the local press (blogs, newspapers, etc.), is that they must have a large following. These popular bands help get these websites more views and hits. It seems that only the well known & established bands get the most publicity. This is one thing that I would love to see the local music scene get improved on. I would like to see the local press give the overlooked musicians a chance to get the recognition they deserve. Not just for myself, it should be for other musicians that have been overlooked by the local press, too.

Nope. They just want to keep kissing the asses of the same bands & musicians who continuosly hog the publicity. Call me jealous if you want, I’m not afraid to be real about this stuff.

Don’t get me wrong. I support local music and bands, myself. I’m a big supporter of local music. It’s just really weird that when people claim, they “support all local music”, you know it’s a flat out lie. They’re just saying that to be nice. I am the true supporter of local music than anybody out there. I don’t lie about it either. I support all bands & musicians even if they don’t get any recognition. I respect all talent, be it, either pro or amateur ’cause we all work hard to be heard.

Local music shouldn’t be about who’s better and who is crap. Everyone deserves to get supported. If you’re too opinionated about other musicians, then you have no business being a true local music supporter. Period.

Edit to add: I know this is a harsh rant, but I had to get the truth off my chest.

Kev

There are too many musicians on the internet, calling themselves, “professional musicians”, these days. If you’re calling yourself a professional musician, then you probably aren’t one, in reality. Think about it. Other people would know whether or not you’re a professional musician. Other people are pretty honest about musicians and they’re usually are not afraid to tell whether or not you’re a “pro” or an “amateur”. So you should really let other people do the talking. Leave your ego at the door and let the music speak for itself.

When you get so many people telling you that you play like a pro, then that means you probably are one. If you’re calling yourself a pro, and not many people think you are, what’s wrong with that picture.

I never called myself a pro. I just shut my mouth and let the people do the judging. A lot of people have called me an amateur but I’m okay with that. You see this, “Amateur” vs. “Pros” argument online everywhere with musicians. Fighting over who’s great and who’s a hobbyist. The pros would attack the amateurs saying they are better than them.

I don’t think I’m a pro. I don’t think I’m an amateur/hobbyist. I’m just a guy that loves to play music, that’s it!!!! Whatever people want to call me, I’m cool with it. It’s just that whatever people say about you, it’s entitled to their own opinion. Just like it’s their opinion when they call themselves, a “pro”.

Everyone wants to feel like a pro just because they play in a band, playing gigs all over, and getting lots of fans. In my eyes, a true professional musician is somebody who doesn’t get stuck playing music in Albany, plays shithole bars and crap venues. A true professional is someone who does music as a real career, touring all over the place, being in an actual label and making money off of music. Also, having lots of contacts with people in the music business is considered being a professional as well.

If you’re still stuck in Albany and calling yourself a “pro”, what’s wrong with that? A real pro doesn’t hang in a small town, working day jobs and playing a few gigs a month. A real pro is somebody actually working for the music industry. Sorry, but this is truth. It needed to be said.

Kev