I’m fairly amazed by some musicians. Mostly by how some answer questions. Others by how they put themselves on a pedestal in relation to other musicians. A recent thread on a songwriters board I peruse covers the talent level of American Idol. A debate ensued with one poster claiming they and their friends sing better than any AI contestant even on a bad day. Instantly stupid was the first thing I thought. It’s akin to a band comparing themselves to say The Beatles or U2 or something, by saying their band is better.
Several bands have made such mistakes and paid dearly for it. It’s almost an instant career killer. Why? Well, you’ve now declared yourself (a relative unknown) to be better than a dearly loved band who is hugely popular. Whether it’s true or not, it’s stupid. The only people allowed to say stuff like that is the fans and critics. If enough of them say it, then maybe you have a fighting chance to get some fame. I don’t take comparisons like that lightly, and would not sit around spouting how much better I am. There’s too much diversity and stuff to be created to worry about. Besides there’s only one me.
Sometimes I’ll ask a direct question on something and instead I’ll get a very vague answer. Thus it’s musicians like that may very well be suited to being a politician instead of being a musician. Promotional efforts is a good one. Usually if you see a non-signed artist with certain numbers way out of wack you want to know how it was achieved. About two years ago, I had a myspace music buddy suddenly jump in “friend” numbers and it just kept climbing. I asked him point blank how he was doing it. He replied he was spending 8 hours a day on myspace. I knew full well it was a bullshit answer, he was using a friend adding program and didn’t want to admit it. Yet he had the audacity to tell me this to my face. Myspace has since made that practice very difficult. But they have started a new thing for bands with lists of over 10,000 people where any friend requests you’re sent are automatically added.
There’s a plus and a minus to this. I’m over 20,000. Of that 20,000 I would say less than 100 are other music pages. I’m very specific about that. I don’t want market to other musicians and I don’t want them marketing to me. That’s what myspace is, a marketing tool. I turned off friend requests from bands for that very specific reason. No offense, and when I’ve been asked, I tell them exactly why. Which is why I was put off by myspace when I started getting friend requests from bands in my inbox even though I had that blocked. Now, if I’m sent one, I’m not even told, it just adds them. While I understand the reason, you get a large number of requests and it’s time consuming to march through them and attempt to make sure they’re actual people and not other bands or businesses hawking wares. Eventually they’ll make it a choice. Until then I’m sorta stuck.
How did I achieve that number? Targeted searching and a program called friend request broadcaster. Alas it no longer is updated and I’ve not found a viable alternative, so it’s now useless. I admit it. I didn’t spend 8 hours a day, it was usually about a hour. It was part of the plan. I know there are other programs out there now for things like getting listen counts up. I’ve yet to try them as I’m curious to know how they work. But I’ll ask about it only to be answered in vague terms. Which is heavily disappointing, when I’m willing share information.
Stay is how I feel some people do things. Attempt to change or force change on others. I don’t know the story behind the song, but it’s a good concept in how I view relationships gone sour for one reason or another. Could it be hiding answers to questions? Could it be pretending to be something when it doesn’t fit character? How do you regain trust? Do people really change? How do you know when you’re really right for being with someone else? How does it get to that point where one is expressing they’ll change then ask the other person to stay like a dog and wait for the change. How about change first then ask them to join you?
I suppose the idea of stay is enhanced after seeing Juno last night. That is a wild movie. It felt more like European film in it’s attitude, yet with the quirky nature of say Garden State or something. Once you see the movie you’ll understand how I can make the connection between it and this song stay.