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Your Drama At Home: More Rockin’ And Less Squawkin’!
By Sheena Metal
No matter how we, as human beings, live our lives…drama
happens. And the average musician has more drama than the crazy
cat lady down the block has bags of used litter on her porch.
At every turn, your average wannabe rockstar has a crazy squeeze,
a crazier ex, a harem of would-be lovers, and a gaggle of insane
stalkers. Then there’s the band drama, manager drama,
club drama, fan drama, gear drama, and let’s not even
get started on the online drama potential. Before you know it,
your band makes “Desperate Housewives” look like
60 Minutes.
Certainly, no one ever said that music was going to be a safe,
secure and solid profession to get into. Any industry that pays
buckets of money to young, pretty people for jumping around
and showing off is bound to inspire zaniness to some degree
or another. And the creative process often brings with it a
certain amount of tortured genius that fuels the seeds of drama
like miracle grow on weeds. Plus, there are more than twenty
million musicians around the world that are clamoring for maybe
a thousand record deals like contestants on “Survivor”
running obstacles courses for a single meager chicken wing.
If there was a country built on drama, a musician would be its
queen.
However, as much as the music biz is filled with glitz and
glamour and the stuff that tabloid headlines are made of, it
is also a business. And if there’s one thing you don’t
want in the middle of your business, it’s drama. There’s
a reason why doctors don’t fight over dying patients about
their golf scores, pilots don’t announce to a plane full
of passengers that they’ve been dating the stewardess,
and the chef doesn’t come to tell you he forgot to wash
his hands before he cooked your four-star meal…drama does
not belong in business. Whether you’re aspiring to get
a record deal or searching for a cure for cancer, leave your
drama at home!
The following are a few tips that will help you to navigate
the gossip and erratic turbulence of life in the music industry
without becoming a slave to your own drama:
1.) Don’t Let The Internet Suck You In---Every since
the invention of the internet, there’s been more drama
in cyberspace than at a convention for bipolar drag queens.
It’s easy to gossip and backbite while you can stay anonymous,
so the internet has becoming a breeding ground for anyone and
everyone with an agenda, an out-of-control jealousy problem,
an axe to grind, or an unbelievable ego. Angry, upset, small-minded
people with inferiority complexes like size of Shamu will use
the internet to poke at your band with a cyber stick. As hard
as it may be, you need to learn to let it all roll off your
back. As long as they’re posting about you, it means they’re
listening. Removing their inflammatory posts, or replying with
similar negativity, feeds the drama until your entire message
board is about the trouble-maker on your web site and not your
music. What if a potential magazine reviewer or an interested
label rep is perusing your page with interest only to find more
info about your fight with some internet psycho than about your
band? It’s not worth risking a loss of opportunity to
engage in drama.
2.) Drama Doesn’t Belong At Your Gigs---When you’re
at a show, your goal is to make music, engage the audience,
sell CDs, and win the club over so that you can play there again
and again. People make room in their schedules, pay for gas,
and fork out cash for a cover charge and bar priced drinks,
just to hear you play your songs for them. They want to be entertained;
to get away from the pressures of their real lives and escape
into the safety and excitement of your music and lyrics. What
they don’t need is more drama at your gigs then they get
from their office co-workers, their wacky neighbors, and bully
at their kids’ school combined. Whatever problems you’re
having in your personal and professional life, keep it away
from your fans and your industry contacts or they’ll start
to remember your shows more for the drama than for the music.
3.) Your Manager Is Not Your Therapist---Although a manager’s
professional duties make them almost like the band’s parent,
don’t cry to mommy every time the drummer calls you a
name or your girlfriend decides she wants to play the field.
There is too much music industry drama that your manager has
to deal with every day, to add to his/her troubles by piling
a heap of your personal woes on top of his/her already overburdened
shoulders. If a club owner stiffs you at the door, tell your
manager. If another band records one of your songs without permission,
tell your manager. If your wife compulsively flashes her breasts
at your shows, send her to a therapist, but leave your manager
out of it.
4.) Take The Crazymakers Off Your Mailing List---A lot of damage
control can be done simply by eliminating from your mailings
the nuts that show up and bring their own boatload of drama.
If you know that your ex has never gotten over you, that she’s
off her meds and that she likes to show up and start swinging
at every girl she thinks is catching your eye…why would
you invite he to your shows? Comb your address book with a big,
black sharpie pen and ink out the stalkers, crazies, attention-getters,
and overblown drunkards that will turn each and every one of
your gigs into a three-ring circus of drama that you’re
forced to ringmaster from the stage during your set.
Once you remove the drama from your musical career, you’ll
find that your gigs go smoother, your website is a more positive
place for fans to hang in cyber space, and the industry is less
wary about getting behind what you’re doing. It may seem
silly, but too much drama can often be a warning sign that something
is really wrong with a band and you may find that industry types
will become gun shy around your band if they’re worried
that your reputation as drama queen will be more trouble than
it’s worth. Working in the music business is hard enough.
Don’t give anybody any reason not to work with you. Be
smart. Leave your drama at home and show the industry that your
music is what’s most important to you and your band.
Sheena Metal is a radio host, producer, promoter, music supervisor,
consultant, columnist, journalist and musician. Her syndicated
radio program, Music Highway Radio, airs on over 2,400 affiliates
to more than 126 million listeners. Her musicians’ assistance
program, Music Highway, boasts over 10,000 members. She currently
promotes numerous live shows weekly in the Los Angeles Area,
where she resides. For more info: http://www.sheena-metal.com.
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