So true, sir - one of the very early gig reviews I had back in about 2001 said that - you turn up as an audience member, but leave as a friend - I've always seen my audience as a bunch of people I get to hang out with and play music to. My gigs are rarely big enough for there to be much physical separation, let alone the kind of stand-offishness that people try and foster in the name of looking 'pro'...

here's to finding those 1000 friends - I guess this ties in well with my recent post on how to use Facebook music pages to connect with your friends...

Sx

it does dovetail into the facebook thing you wrote about.

i'm fascinated with the way technology changes the relationships an artist can have and foster AROUND their art.

as we've both blogged about before - it's about being accessible where ever people feel most comfortable meeting.

could be a gig and other real world music events - but also on facebook, myspace, twitter etc...

Sometimes an artist with great work turns out to be a dick. Other times a mediocre artist is a fun, nice person. That feeling interferes with my appreciation of music, and very often I shy from meeting or knowing much from my idols out of fear of disappointment (other times I've been a real pain in the ass). I`d like to know what have been your feelings after meeting some of your heroes (no names needed, of course) or interacting in any way with them. Has always been a positive experience? Thanks

LIberty - I'm totally with you on that. Good point.

Kevin's article even says not all artists have the temperment to actually deal with fans in which case they should get a manager or handler to help them out.

I do have reservations about approaching artists I admire sometimes. I have met artists who turned out to be douche-bags and that has soured my opinion of their music.

And to be honest - I've never once changed my mind about an artist whose music I don't like just because they were nice, good peeps.

I'm happy to report that most of the bassists I've met who actually have stuff going on have been really great people.

In my experience - the most common place for the dick/decent person ratio get out of whack is with rock musicians

Why is that?

Based on Liberty's question my mind starting running this calculus.

A.) Being a nice person doesn't make me like your music if I didn't like it already.

B.) Being a dick WILL totally turn me off of your music even if I DID like it already.

=

Artists should keep their mouths shut cuz there's no apparent upside to engaging with fans even if you're a nice guy.

what do ya think?

mm i'm not sure. If you know the artist pretty well, and you see that he's really cool and nice, and you see all his incredible amount of efforts he put in his new reccord ( for example), Even if you don't like the music, you will respect him and appreciate him in some ways... no? So you will slowly start to enjoy his creations after that... anyways it's my opinion.

And on the other side, there are many many artists that I completly hate their personnalities but love their music. But these are all the big ones: Gun N Roses, Motley Crue, Oasis, Kayne West... they are all ego-centrical show off bastards( Well that's what their image is showing us, we don't know them in person ) and even Jaco Pastorius, people used to hate him because of his gigantic Ego... but they still loved his art...

good stuff marco!

there are more than a few artists who music I love - but hate their antics & personalities.

mostly rock musicians. Hmm.

BTW - everyone - marco is a terrific young solo bassist with a very promising & creative future - check him out!

"Artists should keep their mouths shut cuz there's no apparent upside to engaging with fans even if you're a nice guy.

what do ya think?"

Well, Jeff, these questions are dificult to answer in general. Game theorists spend their whole lives with that stuff. But, in your particular case I am so grateful because YOU engage with US. I bought your CD (although I already had it via P2P) because I'm happy to support you and your projects. And probably my main reason is what I've read in your blog and online interviews. Keep on like this. At the very least, you can count on me to sell your shit ;-)

I appreciate your support LC - thanks for buying a copy when it's pretty clear one doesn't NEED to these days!

Hey Jeff, just came across this post and I think you're absolutely right. Interesting discussion here about artists keeping their mouth shut so people don't find out they're absolute idiots.

Seems to me that the world has changed quite a bit. It's probably less likely that an artist will become wildly popular in the current system if they are anti-social. Rather than keeping your mouth shut, the smart thing to do would be to start working on being a decent person. Acting like an ass is not a genetic thing or an unsolvable physical problem like losing an eye or a limb. It's attitude and behavior. If you want to succeed, and you're an anti-social idiot, you should probably either adjust your expectations downward, hire someone to do your talking, or learn to be nice to people.

I think that comes back to the point of your post, that the value is in making connections with people in a really direct and personal way - making friends. If you're not capable of pulling that off, it's probably something that needs some serious attention.

I've really enjoyed reading this blog during my lunch hour. Very entertaining and insightful comments.

Jeff, you were playing around with the following ideas:
---
A.) Being a nice person doesn't make me like your music if I didn't like it already.

B.) Being a dick WILL totally turn me off of your music even if I DID like it already.

Artists should keep their mouths shut cuz there's no apparent upside to engaging with fans even if you're a nice guy.
---
I think for me, there's almost a 'C' part which is: if I did like your music before, and if you're also a really cool, nice guy, then I tend to listen to the music even more and engage more.

You were mentioning the thing about needing 1,000 fans who were actually friends. I think being nice to fans is actually THE WAY to make friendships with these fans. By interacting with someone and gaining their friendship, the relationship is stronger and these people will support you more. So therefore, in my opinion it is beneficial for the musician and 'fans' to interact - unless one or the other does not behave appropriately.

If I may just mention my own experiences on the good ol' YouTube, I try to reply to every comment, but not because I have this agenda of making friends; I just want to express my thanks for them watching and I'm also trying to just be decent and polite.

Lastly, I think it almost depends on the sort of music the person makes with regard to whether or not bad behaviour affects opinions of their music. Jeff, you touched on this with rock music. I don't care if rock artists are horrible (unless they were directly horrible to me). I'll still think they're a cool band because they're rocking out. But if someone who plays slow, pretty music is a jerk, then it kind of ruins the feel of the tunes.

Anyway, back to my sandwich.

Peace.

Zander