I’m amazed at the number of musicians who take image and looks seriously. There are too many unsigned & indie bands trying to look pretty as possible. I never thought image was that important in music. To me, I never cared. When I go to the stage to perform or take photos, I never cared what I looked like, or what I wore. There are too many bands out there, that will play dress up for the stage or photo shoots. They would even go as far as doing make up or try to make their hair cool. This goes for both men and women who play in bands or just acoustic acts. I understand that musicians need to look their genre that they play, but… image should not be all that important.

There are even famous bands & artists in national music today, that don’t even care about image like Neil Young. Perfect example right there. I mean, you never see Neil wearing nothing but all black leather or other crazy band fashion. All Neil mostly wore over the years in his career were ripped up blue jeans and he wore mostly old t-shirts or flannels. He didn’t care what he wore on the stage. He just wears what ever he wore in everyday life, when he goes on stage.

That’s where I come from. As long as you have the talent and the music is good, who the fuck cares about the image, ya know?

Personally, I believe, that the only reason people support your music is because the band looks good. It doesn’t matter to them if the music is good or bad. If the members are good looking people, that’s when fans will support their music. Point being, it’s the image that what makes people like their music, and in my opinion, the looks is cheating to get popularity or fame.

If you want to prove that you’re talented, you don’t need to worry about the image or trying to look pretty. We’re not celebrities so get over yourselves. Let the music speak on it’s own. If I go on stage sometime in the future, I’ll just wear what I have on now. That’s how I always played my gigs in the past. I didn’t care how I looked. Fashion, and image just takes away the music. Just my opinion.

Kev

On a yearly basis, you would often see bands in facebook, trying to get fans to vote for them for various voting contests. You know, they would say stuff like, “Please help us vote for this______” (whatever contest they are trying to enter). This Grammy’s thing is the most popular. Bands would also enter other contests such as opening for national acts, landing a slot on big festivals, etc. I never understood why bands obsess with these things too much. Personally,  this is just my opinion now, they just want to make themselves look good. It’s their way of making their fans feel proud of them, so the bands can have something to jerk themselves off with. I believe they already know that these contests are fake (I hope they do know they are fake), the voting count is usually rigged. The company hosting the contest, already picks the winner even before the contest even started. So why bother with these things?

I understand bands want good opportunities and they want to move forward in their careers. This is not the way to go if you want to move forward and succeed. This is just my opinion, so no offense to anybody. If you want to make your fans feel good and proud of you, in my opinion, you don’t boost your ego, by forcing fans to vote for you for these stupid things. You make your fans proud of you just by making the music, and playing the gigs.

These voting contests makes bands look a little desperate and self centered. If I ever get myself a band, one of these days, I would not take part in any of these things.

Another thing that people fail to realize about these voting contests, is that the company hosting them, radio station or whatever, they usually do these things as a huge marketing ploy for their business. That’s all they care about. These people that hosts the contests don’t really care about the bands, it’s just their way of promoting themselves as a business.

Bands try to do these things just so they can make themselves look like an established act, when in reality, they are nothing. Bands promoting voting contests, also, seems kind of spammy, that’s another thing that bothers me.

Don’t worry about winning opportunities. You can earn the good opportunities and succeed just by making the music on your own. You can get opportunities to open for national acts, land on huge festivals, etc. without entering any contests. That stuff will come to you, if you’re not desperate. Just work hard, keep making the good music, and who knows what may happen. In my opinion, these contests are pointless and a waste of time.

Kev