Keepin' it real went real wrong.

In my opinion, the most disheartening thing about being a musician isn't having your music ignored or any of the other standard struggles, it's the overwhelming fakeness of the whole thing. Granted, this is "the business of show" as it were, but you don't really expect everything about it to be a show. Long before an artist ever takes the stage they are presenting an image of themselves that is often not true. Sometimes this image is based in reality and just exaggerated, but other times it is a complete fabrication. I don't just mean obvious cases like Insane Clown Posse or Slipknot where an over the top persona is as much part of the costume as a mask or facepaint, I'm talking about indie artists selling the idea that they are much better off than they really are. This is not a condemnation, but rather a sharing of thoughts on an often overlooked part of the music business: selling a line of bullshit.

I've found that a lot of musicians tend to be idealistic, that is, until something breaks them. Then they probably become a jaded, cynical bastard much like myself. Not to say that I'm broken, I'm just rather disenchanted with the entire notion of being a professional musician. Have been for years by this point. I appreciate sincerity in all aspects of my life, art is no different. So when I discover yet another artist I respected is using the same under-handed, dishonest tactics to create their career upon the backs of others, I tend to get a little irritated. Somehow whenever I meet someone new, I tend to assume the best of them until otherwise prompted. I say to myself, "This person is different", and hope that I'm not wrong. I can't blame people for doing whatever they can to get ahead though, this is the world we created for ourselves. Kill or be killed. Lovely.

It seems that our desire to watch, and listen to larger than life personas has created a snowball effect. Artists must be more grandiose than ever. Only housewives like thier pop stars squeaky clean, so push up those tits, go to the awards show drunk, and make a complete spectacle of yourself. It doesn't matter if you embarrass yourself, people's attention spans are so short that they'll forget about the whole thing in two days or less. Us small timers don't really get those red carpet opportunities though, so we go borrow our uncle's Corvette, and pose for photos in front of it. We buy views, we pay-to-play big shows, and we flex harder than Hulk Hogan in 1989. And people believe it's real because they mostly just don't care whether it's fake or not; we just want to be entertained.

So that leads me to the realization that being an idealistic musician is about as beneficial as having a two dollar bill. You can use it for whatever you want, but people are still gonna look at you funny, and think it's not real. So instead of calling everyone out for their bullshit, I'm just gonna keep watching, and shaking my head. I can't waste time or energy on these people, especially since no one really cares. Instead of letting any of this bother me, I'm going to have some fun with it. I think you should do the same. Pretend like you're the biggest pop star in the world, and really sell it, you just might fool enough people into making you rich. We live in a world that considers "fake it till you make it" to be a viable option, so fuck it, let's just be fake! I see plenty of people already started without me.