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  6 0 I don't think that's true at all. There are a lot of really good and promising bands who just don't know how to approach certain aspects of the music industry. A good musician doesn't always make for a good business person. Good bands get screwed by bad record contracts all the time. And I know a lot of great musicians who have horror stories about clubs or bars refusing to give them whatever money they were promised at the end of the night, or having shows canceled or poorly promoted when they're in the middle of a tour... all that stuff sucks to deal with and, while sometimes it's unavoidable, it helps to know the best ways to deal with those kinds of things. Everyone--even the best bands--need some help now and then. Good music isn't the ONLY thing that goes into a band's success. Megan Seling answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report 3 comments by the stranger's music dept. sucks, Megan Seling, and the stranger's music dept. sucks… 0 0 what is "success" and how much of it relies on "good music"? i would argue that the only point of being in a band is to create meaningful art. that art will garner it's own success by simply existing. bands get screwed all the time because bands are comprised mostly by desperate individuals who are starved for attention and will go after that attention by any means necessary; which means, they will play weekday shows at the sunset, comet, funhouse, highdive, etc because they hold onto the false truth that playing shows will somehow get people to like them. in reality those shows are offered 7 nights a week becuase otherwise those bars would never see any traffic. they can only hope that by giving an unknown band a gig there, they will in turn bring in a few friends that will pay a few dollars cover and buy a few drinks to pay for the sound guy and their nightly operating costs. basically, the music industry prays upon people who have huge dreams but no desire to spend the time and effort to truly learn their craft, at which point they won't really need to ask questions on a message board because they will have already found the answers. the stranger's music dept. sucks commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 "bands get screwed all the time because bands are comprised mostly by desperate individuals who are starved for attention and will go after that attention by any means necessary" I think that statement is SOMETIMES true, yes. Bands get put in shitty positions because they're willing to play crappy shows at crappy venues with with crappy people. But that's not always the case. Bands with artistic merit and flawless intentions can end up in shitty positions too. If you disagree, well then we'll just have to agree to disagree. If the only point of being in a band is to simply make meaningful art, as you suggest, then that band wouldn't ever have to leave their garage or living room or home recording studio--they'd never need to worry about being put in bad positions because the creation of the art would be enough, right? And who cares if anyone hears it. But that's often not the case. People want to get their art out there and doing that, without running into people trying to take advantage of them or other hassles, can often require even a little help. Megan Seling commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 well.. yeah. i think all of what you said is correct. my only advice to bands would be to work on your craft and if the art is good enough things will work out for you on their own. don't get ahead of yourself... there's no answer on a message board that's going to sign you to a major label or get people all over the city or the world to love your music. the only answer is to make good art. some people cannot do that, for the same reason we don't all grow up to be professional athletes.. it doesn't matter how your press kit looks or how many websites you have; if you're art is shit and was conceived for the purpose self-masturbation then it will serve humanity in no way but to prolong your greed and ego. if an artist is making meaningful art in their garage or bedroom that art will find a way of reaching the world. if the art is that good and it has something to teach the world it will do so regardless of whether it's discovered now and the artist does a world tour or if it's discovered in a thousand years. i saw this message board Q&A experiment as one more glimmer of hope for those bands that get taken advantage of by easy-ways-out of working hard, learning a craft, honing their talent and their art and becoming successful based on the merits of their skill and not because they learned some trick to get their foot in the industry. if we offer no help to bands on how to "make it" we will weed out the ones who are good at marketing but make crap entertainment that sets us back intellectually for decades and we will be left with meaningful art that will stimulate our minds and allow us to view the world in a much broader way... less mad rad / more intelligence the stranger's music dept. sucks commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  6 0 I would advise people posting questions here to work on their spelling and syntax. Dave Segal answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 0 Related question -- does this seem like the kind of question a silly dickhead would spend their (note spelling) time crafting? I'm thinking yes. Nicolas Heliotis answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report 4 comments by the stranger's music dept. sucks, Nicolas Heliotis, and the stranger's music dept. sucks… 0 0 only took about a 2 minutes from question to asking. i think that's why i misspelled "there".. it came together rather fast actually. i wouldn't consider it a "dickhead" question. i just think that too many bands waste their time on wondering how to "make it" when they should be worrying about the actual reason they should be existing, which is to make music that doesn't inherently suck. there are far too many people that from day one they are trying to make a name for themselves and they are contacting all the people who are responding to questions here and they may even get shows out of it but that doesn't make their music any good and further more it just clogs up the already overwhelmed shitty music scene we already have in this city, namely. less time should be spent on trying to get in with a broken and worthless industry and more should be spent on exploring music as an art form.. music hasn't had a significant shift in years because everyone is worried about fitting into an existing industry model which makes it impossible to create something new. the stranger's music dept. sucks commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 You know, I appreciate your response. You actually do bring up some good points here -- I was initially responding as much to your user name as your question. I spend a lot of time on the Stranger website and find all the troll activity hugely obnoxious. Sorry if I was a bit cranky there. As for the local scene, the "existing industry model", and all that -- it isn't perfect, but it is what we have. I for one would much rather spend my time working within the system and the scene than raging against it (or whatever). And, for the record -- TONS of bands working absolutely within the parameters of the "existing industry model" have created important art. Lastly, I will concede that lots of bands do indeed spend too much time networking / preparing press kits / etc. Nicolas Heliotis commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 totally fair.. i troll.. but i never say anything unless it's warranted or valid. i don't think people should necessarily work within it or rage against it.. i think it should be thought of as obsolete... i dont think the "music industry" should influence people in one way or another. i just see way too many bands forming with the intent of fitting an existing mold or a genre and to me that completely misses the point of what art is.. it shouldn't just be a reflection of a trend or standard that already exists and that the artist is just taking advantage of, it should be something new that comes from within the artist, something they are trying to say as an individual or group of individuals. the fact that people go into a band thinking about what style would give them the best chance of success and how their press kit looks and who they need to talk to to get the most exposure just completely misses the point. what does it even mean to pack neumos if you're just hashing out a bunch of garbage to get paid? will anyone learn anything? will there be any intellectual stimulation at all? this problem extends to our entire society. everything we do is based more around fitting into a mold as opposed to forging a new mold all together. ps: the golden triangle tape rules.. i saw them 3 times at sxsw and every time was amazing. not too sure how to feel though about the song they put in that bmw commercial..?.. you getting kick backs on that? the stranger's music dept. sucks commented over 2 years ago | Report 0 0 quickly, to the main point you make -- I agree and am all for artistic originality. I consider it extremely important and am similarly distressed by any band that sets out to sound a certain way in order to get noticed. That said -- I am not really sure what that has to do with the music industry itself. The music industry (whatever form it takes) is simply a framework -- at it's best it is a support system for artists. Now whether people choose to work hard for artists that are really doing something artistically honest or cynically aping trends...well...there is obviously going to be a lot of both. Re: Golden Triangle. Glad you like the album and the band. I am obviously a huge fan. As for the BMW commercial...I am not going to go into specifics here. I will say that I think denying yourself music you enjoy based on some sort of ethical anti-commercialism grounds would be a bit of a shame. But these are things we all have to sort out for ourselves. Nicolas Heliotis commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 1 did this actually change from "there music" to "thier music"? because that's gold. Eric Grandy answered in Music Panel over 2 years ago | Report 1 comment by the stranger's music dept. sucks… 0 0 this in fact happened. the stranger's music dept. sucks commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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