Having a Thick Skin in the Music Business

Having a Thick Skin in the Music Business

By T. Perry Bowers

If you’re in a band or you have a business related to music, you probably already know you need a very thick skin.

Internet trolls are everywhere and they are determined to take you down.   It doesn’t matter who you are – a musician with some notoriety locally or nationally or a small business like mine, there are always people trying to knock you out.

Just look at the product reviews on Amazon. A product can have a million five star reviews but you’ll still go straight to the only one star review – and it takes just one negative review to sway your mind. I actually did this just the other day. A product had literally thousands of five star reviews and one negative – but after reading the negative I decided not to buy it. It’s irrational.

Blind Melon was a great band taken down by a bad review. After the success of their self-titled release in 1992 they released another album in 1995 called Soup. I loved Soup. I was a big Blind Melon fan, so I picked Soup up the day it came out and listened to it four times in the first day! I thought it was the perfect follow up to their debut. Darker, grungier, more raw. It included a couple tracks I thought could be singles, but it was an album to me and it was great to my ears. However Rolling Stone decided to bash it. Oh Well.

Oh well, but it killed their singer. Within months of that review, Shannon Hook was dead of a drug overdose. Yes, he was a drug addict. But, even more pertinent, he had a thin skin. At that level, when you’re used to selling millions of records, a bad review impacts your ego and your bottom line. It’s completely understandable he was pissed off and upset, but if you don’t want to end up like Shannon you’ve got to keep going.

When the Beatles released Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967, Richard Goldstein from the New York Times totally panned it, calling it busy, hip and cluttered. Poor Richard is literally the laughing stock of the music business to this day. My point is reviews don’t really mean anything. If reviews meant anything, the Beatles wouldn’t have been the Beatles and Insane Clown Posse wouldn’t have thousands of fans. If people buy your albums and tickets to your shows, you’re a success. There’s always going to be trolls and naysayers.

I study an ancient set of medicine wheels. The teachings are called “The Origin Teachings of the Delicate Lodge.” Among these teachings is a saying, “don’t take something in as an arrow.” There is also the reverse, which is “Don’t send anything as an arrow.” You have no control over what other people do or say, so your part is to not take anything personally. If another human being has taken the time to criticize you, that’s time they have taken away from doing something beautiful and creative themselves. It’s actually about them, not you. Imagine them trying to shoot an arrow at you and watch it miss. I use this visualization all the time and it works. Sure, once in a while there is a ring of truth to what people say about you or your music, and you can take time to look at that because it is important to you, not them.

It’s great if you can stay open to constructive criticism. We all need it from time to time. It’s helpful to have some people in your life that can guide you in the right direction. Maybe it’s a manager, musical partner, musical mentor, or a friend you know has your best interest at heart. (Knowing that a friend has your best interest at heart is a tricky one though. I’ve had many a friend act out of jealousy and insecurity in response to successes I’ve had).

Music is a learning journey. If you succeed on a major level, you’re going to need to keep things in perspective. Why not start practicing now? Create an open environment in your band practice space and let anyone say anything they want about the music being created. If they don’t like a song you’ve brought to the band, let them tell you. If you don’t like the way your lead guitarist plays a certain part, tell him.

If I have an idea and my band is resistant to it, I say, “Well, let’s just try it a couple times and see if it’s better than the old way.” If you don’t even try you’ll never know. When you do try, as long as all the members give it a good shot, it’s usually obvious if it works or not.  A big part of creating an open environment is being able to take criticism yourself. If you can’t take it, no one in your band is going to respect you when you dish it out.

However there’s a balance between being able to take criticism and listening to your own inner voice. I err on the side of my inner voice. It prevents too many hits on my self esteem. When I am truly connected to my inner voice, I don’t need a lot of outside input. (My inner voice is my connection to the entire universe of wisdom!) Unlike the voice of one critic, my inner voice has the capability to research many kinds of song-writing, playing techniques and business methods. One critic has his point of view and that’s all.

Whatever you do, don’t compare yourself to others. The people who make it to the top of the music field are complete anomalies. If you compare yourself to U2 or Jay-Z, you’ll constantly feel like a loser. I’m not saying you can’t make it as big as them.  But listen to your inner voice.  These artists got to where they are by creating their own sound, implementing their own business plan and busting their ass. They never compromised their own vision.  And, somewhere along the way, someone threw a boatload of money at them (which happens less and less now in the music business).

It’s great to admire bands that have their shit together – we need artists to look up to. Learn from them and even copy them. I don’t mean in the creative sense, but in the business sense. If they are using video promos to promote their records, and it is working for them, do video promos. There is nothing wrong with copying someone’s business strategy. But don’t copy their creativity. Find your own voice and creative vibration. There is only one you and you are on earth to express you. So don’t spend your precious creative time trying to be another artist or comparing your art to other peoples. Do you think David Bowie gave a shit about what other people thought of his art? If he did, David Bowie would have fizzled out long before he made the impact that he eventually did.

Create your own inner guidance system. Be open with your own creative team, whether it’s your band mates or business partners. Keep the outside criticism in its place and appreciate the opportunity to be creative in the first place. A few hundred years ago, a creative pursuit of any kind was for artists who had rich patrons. Survival was first and foremost on most people’s minds. Even now, every where but the first world, creativity is a luxury most people do not have. Develop a thick skin and remember there is only one you in this world. Be that you.