Unsigned musicians that have their own facebook page to promote their material and get their fans together is not a bad thing but the thing is, people don’t realize how crazy these bands can be in social networking sites. Bands facebook pages can be really crazy. They all think they are rock stars. A lot of them have big egos, that they don’t realize how much of an idiot they sound when they don’t read their own facebook status’s they post. For example, you don’t see many musicians admitting that their own talent sucks, a lot of them think they are so great, all the time. A lot of them lie about big crowds at their live gigs. A lot of them think they are bigger than their own fans. Need I go on?

A lot of musicians want to think they are popular. That’s the kind of fantasy worlds they are all living in. The point I’m trying to make here is, that local and unsigned musicians act like celebrities in facebook. I know they are not famous, but they do pretend to be.

I can tell you this right now, that I’ve never been this type of person. For those who’ve been reading my blogs for a long time, would know this.  I don’t go around calling people “fans”, I call them “people”. I don’t go around getting all excited about upcoming gigs or projects that these bands obsess over. I don’t go around plugging my gigs in front of everyone’s faces, begging people to come out, I let the people decide if they want to come out and support my music. That’s how I did things. If I didn’t get a big crowd at a show, I wouldn’t go online and whine about it like most musicians do. I’d be glad that I just played out. If I had a big crowd at a gig of mine, I wouldn’t go crazy over that either (yes, I’ve had played in front of big crowds before).

I am a musician and sometimes gig, but I leave my ego out the door. I like to be myself as a person. I never went around the music scene acting like a rock star or a celebrity that these musicians are trying to be. If someone likes my music and wants a demo CD, I would give it to them for free, I wouldn’t force people to pay for it. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m not the greatest musician in the world, and I’m not afraid to admit that I’m not into this for popularity and fame. It’s not that hard for everyone else to do the same. Almost every musician you run into, they will think they are some kind of rock god.

Kev

So teens killing themselves because they get picked on for being gay is on the rise, and this is making the news both locally and nationally. While this is sad and horrible, I personally think stuff like this shouldn’t even be making the news. Cyberbullying or kids getting picked on at school, happens all the time. So the question you have to ask is, who is the guilty one here? Is it the bullies or is the teens who committed suicide ’cause of the bullying? I’m going to take the blame on the teen and not the bullies. The thing is, when you put yourself out there on the internet, you’re going to get a lot of cyberbullies and haters. Whether you put yourself out there in facebook, myspace, etc. Where ever, you’re going to expect a lot of harassment from anonymous people. That’s just the way the internet is. Those kids who killed themselves for over some computer, they are probably childish people themselves who couldn’t ignore the bullying.

Anybody can become a victim of anonymous cyberbullying. Not just gay teens. Straight people can get cyberbullied too, both straight men and women. If you’re going to get yourself on social networking sites, you gotta have guts and “IGNORE” all harassment and drama. It isn’t that hard to do. Suicide is a pretty selfish thing to do, so the kids who killed themselves over this stuff, didn’t have the balls to ignore cyberbullying and didn’t have what it takes to defend themselves.

Anonymous cyberbullies just go around looking for things to pick on and look for things to laugh at. Gotta be an adult over this stuff, not take bullying seriously, and not care what anybody thinks or says about you. When will these kids take the blame on their suicides, maybe it was them that started it all that got them to bully them. This is why underage teens shouldn’t even be using the internet.

I get my share of cyberbullying, but that’s alright, I’m cool with it. I can deal with it like a man and act like internet drama is nothing to me. Period.

Kev

That is an old Led Zeppelin concert flyer that was made in 1968 around the time the band’s first album came out. Back in those days, that was all we had to promote music and concerts. The only promoting tool back then was ad flyers such as that one above. Why? Because there was no such thing as the internet back then. Now we do have the internet, social networking sites like myspace, facebook, twitter, reverbnation, etc. Websites like those are being used to promote music these days.  Bands no longer do ad flyers and newspaper promoting much, ’cause the internet does all the promoting magic.

The internet makes it easier for bands to get more fans. It makes it easier for bands to pretend to look popular. The internet makes it easier for bands to book gigs and even a tour. Whether bands are signed or not. Back in those days without the internet, it makes it real hard for unsigned bands to become successful. Now with the internet, it makes everything easier.People stopped buying CD’s because the internet took over the world of music with Itunes being around now as well. Back in the days with no internet, the only way fans could check out a cool band who is unsigned, is that bands hand around demo tapes/CD’s in the streets and at bar gigs. These days, all music fans have to do is listen to bands through myspace or facebook.

Why is it that all of us bands and musicians have to join the social networking site bandwagon? It’s because we’re all greedy and need the attention. That includes myself as well. If we still didn’t have the internet, I’m pretty sure all of us wouldn’t go anywhere with our music. I’m sure all of you bands would still be playing in your garages and not being out there, making it easy off the internet. The internet has clearly taken over the music world as there is too much music to listen to on here now, it’s crazy.

It is why I only support the bands only if I like their music ’cause I can’t listen to every single band on here, I don’t have the time. I like supporting other bands on here because it’s good networking with your own music. That is one way to promote your music is make friends with other bands and help them out. I’ve always done that, and sometimes bands even supported me in return by giving me free CD’s or more gigs as a gift. The internet makes it easier to help other bands and help promote them.

Do you think it was easy for Led Zep or the Beatles to get their record deals? No. That didn’t happen over night. These days, all you had to do is become a popular internet sensation and blam, you get a record deal. Just ask Justin Bieber and Susan Boyle who were big internet sensations and they got signed.

The internet is one crazy little world with the music biz, but I like it.

Kev