13 Things Local Bands Don't Get
Your mediocrity and kindness is killing music in your town
Why Most of Your Friends Don’t Support Your Music
They are doing you a favour. Mediocrity is killing music in your hometown. It’s more dangerous than perils far more famous. All those folks politely supporting? They are killing music. All those government grants, open mic nights, triple bills, beer company-sponsored new music nights, that local music hour on the big box or college radio station, and municipal government summer festivals? They are all killing music. Every thing in music that succeeds from your hometown will succeed in spite of this stuff not because of it - in spite of ALL these things leaving them out, excluding them, saying it’s weird, not giving them funding, slots, showcases, or even a free beer. Everyone in music who hits big from your town will first be a rejected outsider in your town. And the counterfactual to this is that the most popular band in your town, filling the local bar for over 20 years without fail, will likely never succeed in the real world. Not even a little bit.
That’s the easy part to understand. It gets more complicated from here.
Heard about income inequality? It’s worse in the music business. 99% of the money is made by less than 1% of the artists. That’s the curse of the creative economy. It’s called the Blockbuster Economy. And in spite of anything you’ve heard about equality, equity, and all that music is a place where you can learn the truth, people love elites.
Your music doesn’t matter. It’s not even bad enough to be interesting. Music is not about talent. It’s about a story. You don’t have a story that matters at the moment. Like everything these days, it’s getting more and more complicated to matter. Mcluuhan said the medium is the message. Well, in the social media age, the audience is the medium so they are also the message. Today people want to be able to look down on the stars they put up on a pedestal. If you’re over 27 and you’re not genuinely messed up, you better have a damn good story to tell.
It’s a busy world and people have things to do. Everyone has all the music they would ever need in their lives. Old music is killing new music - outselling it by orders of magnitude. Most likely the most popular bands in your town and the biggest shows are tribute acts and cover shows. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to get away from being bombarded with music. You’re now competing with 70 years of rock music, and 50 years of Rap. 100 years of blues and jazz. Celtic? Well, who knows? What could you possibly offer? As Yogi Berra said, “If people don’t want to go to the ballgame, you can’t stop them.”
Going to other bands’ shows is THE most important thing you can do to support your scene and to make the connections you’ll need to succeed. Too cool or too tired to pay that price? Fogettaboutit.
You’re too old. You’re not pretty enough, or quirky enough, or unique enough. You’re not hip enough, or not unhip enough. You’re not clever enough or dumb enough. Mediocrity is the enemy to beat all things. You’re not of the moment. You’re not a star. Image is everything. You’re not popular. It’s about being with it. You’re with something, but the thing that you’re with is not it. If you’re not connected to a scene then who do you imagine will be in your audience?
It’s called the entertainment business. You get paid when you entertain people. You gotta give something not take. And that includes people’s time. If you just want people to listen to your music then expect to have to pay them.
Fame takes a 100% full-time commitment. There is no prize for trying that’s worth trying for. You also have to be surrounded by people who are 100% committed or you will not succeed. The weakest link proves the chain. It helps to be trapped. If you have another way out you should probably take it. The Rolling Stones had few choices of career after pirating went out of fashion. They had to be rock stars.
Know what success looks like. Seriously. Hint, your friends should not figure prominently in the picture. Easy test? Successful acts have people contacting them. Lots. If you’re doing all the contacting you are not succeeding. If at first you don’t succeed give up right away and don’t try. Or at least mix it up and try something different. You might go a lifetime and not find success, but you can still have a good time. That’s not failure. Finding failure is easy. There are really only two ways to fail. 1/ Act bitter. 2/ Act needy. Only bitterness and neediness will truly close the doors to the possibilities of the future. Or you could just act like a jerk. Sometimes that’ll do the trick.
If you’ve fully committed to an idea for a year and don’t have 1,000 genuine fans, Stop it! Try something else. And also stop blaming the local scene, your hometown, your friends (who don’t show up), people’s taste, the bar owner, the poster guy, whatever the popular band is that you hate, the government, the bass player, your job. It’s not their fault. It’s you. It’s all about you. At least be responsible for that. No one can help you. Not a record company, manager, or agent, especially not the government or any bureaucrats tasked with helping you. If you do succeed it will be in spite of these people not because of them. Don’t let their sweet support fool you. Get off that dope right now. No amount of money can buy this for you. It’s your fault. As the physicists say, “You can’t push string.” At best all these people just want to come along for the ride. Successful people take a lot of others along for the ride.
A small but discerning local market will tell you if your band doesn’t matter by not going to your show. Learn from this. It’s a valuable lesson.
Authenticity and sincerity are almost impossible to fake. No one believes you’re the real thing unless you are. Gut check. If you aren’t suffering, with no way out, you probably aren’t.
Go out of your way to help others in your scene. It will eventually come back around. If you don’t know how read How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, or at least a good summary. Most likely you can’t be a star but you can find a place in the musical galaxy if you sincerely want to and genuinely love music. But remember, think critically, mediocrity is hurting music (and everything). You are hurting music with your mediocrity. If the music doesn’t matter to you don’t support it. It’s bad for music, and everyone. And don’t support people, bars, bands, or systems that support music indiscriminately. As the free press is to government, music criticism is crucial to music. Friends don’t let friends play in shitty bands.
Everything has changed. Did you know that the American Federation of Musicians went on strike through the Second World War because people wanted to play records on the radio? To them at that time that was the work of live musicians and they would do anything they could to keep those radio jobs. They already suffered a big loss just a generation before when they went on strike to keep live musicians in theatres even after sound (and music) came to movies. They called them “talkies” but really they were “musicy” and they changed music forever. Today what’s left of the AFM can’t help you any more than it helped the movie piano players or in-house radio orchestras.
Likewise, today major labels, streaming platforms, and the entertainment industry generally do not have the slightest interest in your new music, nor anyone’s new music. They are in the business of selling old music, AI music, and passive listening experiences. The last thing they want is some regional bunch of dummies ‘stealing’ royalties from their machine. Today samples, loops, grid-based digital audio production, quantizing, and tuning have made music perfect. Mega radio, social media, streaming stations, mega-festivals, mega-corps, and well mega-everything has changed music. Disney invests in music stars from cradle to grave and it’s not unusual to see more than 20 writing publishing credits on a music track. Can it all change back? For sure. Music often circles back after it misses a turn or goes in the wrong direction. Sometimes it goes right back to the beginning and starts over. Music is that changeable.
Yes, that’s the Beatles above, in 1961 playing to a near-empty room. Do what you gotta do if it’s burning deep inside. Don’t take any dumb advice from losers, experts, or teachers. And definitely not from me!
The best music business advice I ever got was from Tom T. Hall in his song The Year That Clayton Delaney Died. The whole story/song is instructional but it can be summed up in the line:
Clayton used to tell me son, you better put that old guitar away
There ain't no money in it it'll lead you to an early grave
Even in today’s changing times, a great song and a great story at just the right moment is a ticket to ride no matter who you are or where you come from. If anyone knew how this worked there would just be a big factory in Southern California that made all the music… or China.
Also on the list of people not to listen to: your Mom, your Dad, your friends, the guy who works at the local music store, that guy on YouTube, the guy who seems like he’s always right because he always says everything will fail, and that little guy inside you who is filled with doubt.
Put your faith in music, not the music business. It will still make demands on your soul, but it won’t take it.
And in case that sounds like I’m ending on a positive note, remember Luke 4:24 "Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” There are a hundred reasons your town will back the wrong horse almost every time and everyone will go nowhere. If the folks on the local scene had any clue what success looked like they wouldn’t be working at the local coffee shop and walking people’s dogs for cash. No matter how delusionally grand their line of talk, their effort is mediocre. They will destroy you if you let them.