I just listened to Monica Lewinsky’s TEDTalk today and I’m blown away. Her speech is very powerful and intense. I listened to the whole thing. Ya know, she made a mistake years ago and after listening to her TEDTalk, I think it’s time to forgive and forget. She deserves it. This was a very brave and ballsy speech. She was honest throughout the whole thing.
So what, she sucked someone’s dick? What woman hasn’t done that? Big deal, ya know? That doesn’t make her a slut and all that stuff. People make mistakes, learn from them and they change for the better.
I do agree with her that cyberbullying and trolling has become a huge problem in this day and age of the internets. It continues to be even more of a bigger problem today.
I know what it’s like to become a victim of public humiliation on the internet ’cause I experienced that myself many times. I get cyberbullied and trolled by losers all the time and still do to this day. This is part of why I’m very strict on moderating in social networking, my blog, youtube, etc. It’s just my way of eliminating trolls and losers. I have no time for that crap. People actually thinks it’s okay to say what they want about me and I’m not gonna let ’em, ya know? I don’t let trolls and losers get me down. I even gotten bullied by the local music community too over the years but that’s okay.
You just gotta learn to ignore that stuff. Be tough and stay above ’em if you wanna survive. All I care about is my music, working out in the gym and doing my online stuff. Don’t have time for negativity and bullshit.
She does have a point that cyberbullying, public humiliation and online harassment has become a huge problem. I’ve been putting up with this stuff for the past decade or so. Why would people troll and attack others? In my opinion, they’re just losers who don’t have much going on in their lives. Successful people wouldn’t waste their time with this stuff. Haters are gonna hate.
Just ignore ’em and continue to be yourself. Fuck everyone. Can’t please everyone, ya know what I mean?
I know I posted something like this before, but since I came across Amanda Palmer’s Ted Talk video today, I thought I would get this off my chest now.
All bands & musicians want to get discovered and get heard. I hear ya. I want to be discovered and get heard for my own music as well. There are plenty of bands & solo artists struggling to get heard and become established for their talent. All bands & artists expect to be super popular with their music, and they expect to please everyone with their tunes, but does music have to be that way? No! Absolutely NOT! I’ve been a struggling solo musician for years, and still am. I have a hard time being accepted as an actual musician and songwriter. A lot of people want to be critical, hateful, and opinionated about my music and my dreams. I’m sure a lot of them go through the same thing. You get all kinds of musicians trash talking you. Getting rejected by the clubs. Getting rejected by record labels. Not getting much support from actual music fans. Not getting much support from your own family and friends. All that stuff. You get the deal. I’m going through all that too.
I try my best to improve my talent and musicianship, so I can be accepted and welcomed in the music community, but after seeing Amanda Palmer’s video here, just made me look at music in a totally different way. She’s struggling through the music industry herself. Amanda Palmer (former Dresden Dolls singer), has been dealing with a lot of negative stuff with the labels, but that’s not stopping her from doing what she loves. Playing music in bands. So she starts her own kickstarter campaign which earned her over a million dollars to help finish her album with her current band she’s in. How did she get all that money? Just by asking people, and not demanding. Despite the negative stuff she’s going through, she keeps going with the music ’cause that’s what she loves to do.
It doesn’t matter how many people think she sucks musically or how many people dislike her. If music is your passion, you shouldn’t have to give it up for anything. It’s about what you want to do and not worry about anyone else. If music is what you like to do, fuck everybody, and just do it. If you want to be proud of your music and enjoy your own music, nothing wrong with that either. Bands & musicians shouldn’t listen to negative people.
Like always, I do music for me. It’s good to let the music speak on it’s own. It’s all up to the people if they want to support it or not. I want a lot of people to support my music, yes, but if it doesn’t happen at all, I’m all good and cool with it. Even if you’re a struggling musician and if your music is not for everyone, chances are, you WILL still have loyal fans and supporters. There will be people who will be kind enough to support you, every step of the way. I have a very small fan base (I think, anyway), and I’m fine with just a few supporters enjoying my music.
I also agree with Amanda, that more bands and artists should be giving away their music for free. I always saw that music should be a free market, and I’ve been saying that in these blogs for many years. I’ve always gave out my music for free. Why? Because, it shows, I was never into music for the money, and it’s a good marketing skill. I think unsigned and local bands are very delusional when they want to sell their music and make money off of it. A lot of bands are selling their albums at ridiculously high prices, somewhere around $10 – $15. Sure, I understand bands want the money back after all that money spent on studio time, but if you give your music out for free, people will respect you even more. Amanda gave her album with her band out for free ’cause it would be wrong if fans would have to pay for it again after they had to pay for your kickstarter campaign. With this being local and unsigned music, bands & musicians have the power to give out their music however they want to. Music doesn’t always have to be about the money. I was never about the money. I don’t do music for that. I do music for the love of writing songs, and playing on the stage. I don’t care to make as much fans and money as possible.
If you want your kickstarter campaign to work and be successful, asking, instead of demanding is the trick.
Thanks to the gorgeous Amanda Palmer for this powerful and inspirational speech. She just got a whole lot of respect from me. I’ll be following her stuff. Somebody introduced me this video in facebook after I complained about being a struggling musician, and she made me feel better!
Kev
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