Music Myths
There are myths everywhere and people who find them interesting but it’s not always entertaining, as it can also be harmful. The music industry is no exception to myths and rumours, and there can often discrourage aspiring musicians or chnge the point of view of a person about something, while it’s not true at all.
While this is not something that should be directly taught to music students, it may be good to keep it in mind and maybe slip it under the rug during class.
These days it’s easy to share thoughts, and many of these “thoughts” or stories, may not be accurate or helpful when it comes to getting started in the music industry.
Big Ambitions Doesn’t Do You Any Good
This is definately a myth but it can do harm if taken the wrong way. Being ambitious is good because it gives you the strength you need to pursue a career as a musician, however this doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily hit jackpot and turn famous in a few months.
Being a musician means lots of hard work, hard work means doing things you don’t like. The whole idea of being a musician is not just about recording music and playing in front of an audience, it’s about investing both time and money, meeting new people, traveling and being open to learn new things.
So you can have ambitions, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.
You Need to Be Like…
Many people say that there are specific personalities, genres, and overall idea of a musician that you need to fullfil in order to make it in the music industry, but this doesn’t make sense.
Being a musician is about innovating every single time a song is made, sometimes it’s easier to see the “new” sometimes it’s the little things, but copying and imitating other succesful artists in the end will get you nowhere.
No More Albums or CD’s
With all these new platforms on the internet, music streaming and YouTube, some people have gotten the idea that the way music was made before is no longer viable. This is true to some extent but when it comes to making singles instead of albums and going all digital instead of releasing physical copies, there is not enough evidence to say this is the only way.
Today people enjoy physical copies more than a few years back when streaming was new. At first digital music sounds great, you could almost say you can now listen to music for free, but as time keeps passing by, several feelings like nostalgia or the sens of belonging, starts to call for CDs and even Vinyl.
From the musician’s point of view, the new “single approach” usually works very well, but that doesn’t mean that releasing albums is a bad idea. This is something that can reach the ears of a new artist and can make the fact of recording an entire album very intimidating or just not worth it.
The thing is that the album is the real deal, releasing a few singles is a good idea for people to know what they are getting into but it’s not the whole picture. Of course this may depend on how the artist develops the idea of the album and the concept behind it.
The best way to confirm if these are really myths or not is to go through it with a clear mind. Experience will be the best judge, but it’s good to have someone to tell you to not listen to some of these myths, in the end they only bring you and your creative wings down.
