I always find it pretty funny that people the farthest away from any business, ALWAYS seem to know EXACTLY what that business needs to do. They talk so confident and yet in doing so demonstrate that they know NOTHING about what they are talking about.

In sports it's called "MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACKING" and none of the blowhards seem to ever have gotten anywhere near a field of play in the heat of the moment, everything on the line, championship moments.They can blab on about everything they don't know from the comfort of their own Lazy Boy.

In the music industry, it is REALLY apparent. EVERYBODY has their friends and their own opinions about what they hear on the radio. And of course, it is always THAT CRAP!!! Pick your definition, "That crappy BRO-COUNTRY" that crappy "Rap country". that crappy "TEENY BOPPER COUNTRY"
Whatever.

Especially when we get new writers coming into town and they want to criticize what they hear. They always talk about their friends or family members that LOVE their stuff. And now a lot of them put their rants up on Facebook or other social media sites. Well, unless your friends and relatives own record labels or publishers or can put YOUR music into those places, you might want to keep some opinions to yourself. Trying to criticize and industry you are trying to get into, BEFORE you are into it, is the definition of insanity.

I had someone today contact me, sending me a couple of their really mediocre songs asking for my opinion. I gave it to them that the songs were weak, said nothing new, and really did not have a lot of merit to them. Hey, I don't blow smoke. Shouldn't chase me down and ask my opinion if you don't want it.
Then they proceeded to send me a bunch MORE emails telling me that I Was another one of "closed minded" cookie cutter Nashville guys" that couldn't hear hits if they fell on them.

Hey, I don't even USE THE WORD 'HIT'. I just give MY OPINION on what works or doesn't. But I did say that if they were so sure of what they had, THEY WERE WELCOME TO get their investment capital, set up offices, hire staff, develop writers and artists, start their own record, publishing and management companies, RAISE MORE CAPITAL, make the political connections, build their reputation over a couple of decades, learn the radio industry, RAISE MORE CAPITAL, and then see how it looked from their point of view in a few years.

Never hear much after that.
The point is that the Internet gives everyone the right to complain about what ever they want to. And they can conduct whatever they want to on THEIR songs. They can make up their own rules and find their own fields to play on. But if they want to play on this field, they better do a lot more listening than talking.

This is not for the feint of heart. And no one FORCES ANYONE TO COME TO TRY TO DO THIS.

Never forget that.

by Marc Alan Barnette
www.marcalanbarnette.com