I recently announced that in January I will be a speaker at Podfest Multimedia Expo in Orlando. Upon being notified of being selected, I completed the agreement that the organizers ask everyone (who is going to be a speaker at the event) to sign. In there it very clearly states that you are there to share educational content from the stage and not venture into areas like political commentary or selling.
Imagine being an audience member and thinking that you’re coming to hear a speaker who has gotten your attention with his/her session description and/or bio – that got you excited to choose going there instead of into one of the other presentations scheduled at that same time – only to get turned off because he/she decides to stand up in front of the room and downshift into political jokes.
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A song was submitted to me for review that inspired me to write this week’s blog. When something like that comes in, clearly, you never know what you’re going to get. Never mind that you don’t know if you’ll like it or not. I mean that you don’t know what genre it will be in, what the subject matter will be, whether it’s going to sound like a polished, professional production, or something that someone cobbled together on their own, guessing their way through recording and editing and mixing.
Make no mistake, I have gotten lots and lots and lots (okay, one more) and lots of songs sent to me over the years. Sadly, as you can imagine, I’ve heard far more tracks that I want to forget than singles that really got me excited. If you’ve been reading my weekly blog for a while, thank you, and you know that it has to really be something good for me to be okay with putting my name on a review.
But the song in question that brought me to what I’m writing about this week was a very opinionated political song.
Let me stop here to make one thing perfectly clear. I’m all about freedom of expression. By no means am I saying that any topic should be off limits. I also want to make sure you know that nothing here is meant to imply my own political leanings. I am, however, always about trying to provide education.
Keeping in mind that they always say you shouldn’t talk about religion or politics in the first place, consider making something (a song, a video, a book, a podcast) that is cleary a very strong – in the case of the song that got sent to me – political opinion. Here’s the big lesson I want you to take away from this week’s blog. If the person you’re trying to get an opportunity (of some kind) from feels the exact opposite of you, they’ll shut you down without even giving your song a fair listen.
As a Member of the Recording Academy, I know that one week from today the voting begins for songs that will end up on the GRAMMY ballot. So, never mind one person who you’re trying to get to write a review on their blog or play your song on their, let’s say, college radio station. All of a sudden, you’re trying to win over GRAMMY voting members and you’re going to risk it by having something that could very easily turn them off?
That is a gamble that you better spend lots and lots of time thinking about before you take it.
Now, some of you might subscribe to the theory that ‘controversy sells.’ Perhaps. But again, what are you going for? Fifteen minutes of fame? Or instead, do you want your reputation to be that of a s*&t disturber?
So many times, on my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast I hear guests talk about music uniting people. Well, if you’re trying to be edgy to the point of being controversial, I would say that it sounds like you’re going to end up dividing people and not bringing them together.
Now feels like about the time I remind you that I’m not trying to silence anyone.
It’s difficult enough already to get ahead in the entertainment business without making the climb even steeper by alienating people. As long as it takes to get someone’s attention, you can very, very quickly turn someone away with one TikTok that gets far too opinionated and completely turns them off.
Would you rather be known for your talent and how much joy it has brought to so many people or as the abrasive person that had a take-no-prisoners attitude and could care less about whether people agreed with them or not?
Only you can answer that, but I hope this helps you see that the choice shouldn’t be that difficult to make.
A Member of the Recording Academy, I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more for over twenty years. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Connect with me so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.