Musicians Don’t Like Being Annoying Either

Dear anyone who can see this,

I come off very bubbly and goofy when I hustle my shows/ gigs. Maybe you take me seriously, maybe you don’t. I probably sound like a broken record (music heehee), like every show is the most important one…well, with the exception of extenuating circumstances in which your physical presence will make or break ours, they are indeed all important. Every chance I get to have face time with real people, ESPECIALLY my friends and members of my community, it’s important! Music and the performing arts cannot matter without souls to reach out and touch and friends who support your passions and expression. Don’t underestimate the power of ol’ fashioned beating the pavement….

If you are not a gigging musician, you probably think we are a lot like solicitors/ sales people- “spamming” your feeds with invites and ticket sales. In many ways, we have to be. Know that we do not actually enjoy peddling our art. It does not feel good to beg- and yes I mean actually beg because support from friends doesn’t always come with open arms- our friends and associates to come see or spend $15 on our art. Especially when musicians/ artists tend to be so introverted. In a perfect world, support would always come freely and compassionately. Well that’s not the world we live in. And let me also say, we understand.

Listen, we get it. ”Good” is subjective! I’ve supported friends music (or whatever endevour) whether I liked it or not! Sometimes it’s sucks and sometimes it’s great, and it can make you want to avoid or fangurl over it. It’s the nature of the beast. We also all have busy lives, we all have this and that going on, it’s inconvenient to try and make a show, or maybe we have so many friends/ relatives out there trying that we can’t possibly appease them all so we give up on all of it, OR simply just get jaded to the requests. Sometimes you just plain don’t wanna go! Sometimes you feel used (we often do too btw). We don’t expect everyone to come out every time either. We. Get. All of that.

We don’t take pleasure in harassing you for our shows anymore than you take pleasure in being harassed for shows. It’s not great on what dignity we have left 😂 but we do it because the industry says to and we believe in ourselves and our art. And we put ourselves out there prepared for whatever the general public throws at us, but still hoping our friends are still a safe place free of judgement (at least to our faces, like a good friend 🤣) it’s a very vulnerable industry to be in.

I’m saying this to you because we all think it but not one talks about it. We ALL, I don’t care who you are, we all as musicians and as original artists go through this pursuit of acceptance and support. We ALL struggle to sell tickets or products 100% of the time. And boy is this field demanding!! So I’m saying this for all of us. Because maybe as friends and relatives of these musicians, or artists, or entrepreneurs, you can better understand we don’t want to be annoying to you and yes we’re aware that we are. We just want to be supported or I’ll take it a step further here- believed in! but the industry makes us be this way because guess what, venues and promoters can’t do it themselves.

Every show is a hustle to sell. Me personally, I’ve been truly blessed by SO many of you, people I didn’t imagine would care, CARING AND SHOWING UP! Cheering me on! Complimenting me! I‘m so grateful. I’ve had such an incredible start to my music career. I actually weeped a little at The Break Contest when I saw who showed up and when we got our final sales count. Know it means THE WORLD to us when that happens. It’s so humbling and despite my personality and big mouth, I still struggle with self esteem and worth. Then there’s still folks who I thought would always be there with me, who have yet to EVER come see me in the years I’ve been performing, even when it was free. Not even since writing and performing my own original music. People who I never thought of as a ticket sale, but I cared about their opinion and them going this journey with me. Sharing something so personal and important to me, with them. You can’t make everyone care that you want to care. And it can hurt. But it’s their loss.

People will gravitate where they’re supposed to gravitate and part of the journey is knowing when to let go, but I’m so appreciative of the following that has found me. I’m grateful for the friends who come to my shows and tell me how good it is even though maybe they’re not into it. I’m grateful for the confidence you’ve given me. WE APPRECIATE YOU.

We musicians are used to being blown off, canceled on, lied to, whatever. Well that shit does not deter me, I’m telling y’all right now. It exhausts me often but it will not stop me. I’m going to keep being annoying, and tagging, and pushing my brand because I believe in it and want to take all my friends along for the come up. I truly do. It’s about community and making it for all of us! And so I can get rich and buy my compound for me and my friends for the apocalypse 🤣 but seriously, I’m from nowhere southern NJ. People around here don’t just make it. They don’t just have connections or just get seen. It’s hard work! I know the world can appreciate me for me, and that there’s room in this big world for all of us musicians in our niche. If you want to ignore my tags and begging, ok. I’ll be sure to ignore requests for those VIP passes at the big arena. Mark my words, $15-$20 tickets won’t be able to TOUCH what it’ll cost to see me one day, so enjoy them now. Every musician reading this needs to have that attitude, and keep saying it until you really believe it!! Just stay out there being unapologetically yourself, grinding, and loving your brand. The right people will follow and believe in you too. Your dignity will be restored 😜 just keep spreading love and happiness whether your friends feeds wanna keep hearing it or not!!

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m the same person in real life as I am on the internet. So you all know I am not. going. anywhere. and neither are my posts/ tags. Buckle up.

In conclusion, us musicians know what many of you think or feel. We’re not dumb. We’re not naive. I wanted a moment to bridge the gap and tell you all how we think and feel. We see you. We know. We play the game too. Hopefully next time you see one of your friends/ family share an event or tag you, you can at least give it a like or “interested/ going” response to boost their algorithms, instead of ignoring it or sneering at them. At least they’re doing something. And some of us dgaf.