Battle of the Bands- Waging war with Music

WAR!

Armies have been gathered and the battle lines have been formed. The battle-axes are drawn to their ready positions. The peace negotiations have all failed and there is no going back. This is WAR. The battle beat begins driving the troops forward. Now play those guitars fast make them slash make them wail. Thump that bass loud until it brings down the house. Use the swell of the organ to repel the opponents. And sound the battle cry, there can only be one winner and the rest will die. No need to be perfect just be better than the people around you, and sabotage when possible.

A Crime…

I think that battle of the bands competitions are a crime against music and the creative writing process. Instead of artists working together to share their resources and fan bases, the artist try to tell their fans how bad the other bands are and how much better they are. Then there is only one winner and the rest of the people go home as losers. This is not how music should be viewed. The creative process is about expressing experiences, emotions, life lessons, and new ideas. These are not things that should be used to just be better than another band or to convince fan bases not to listen for but only how bad they are. It is really a self-defeating purpose. Music should be for enjoyment and new artists should be appreciated for what they do, not where other people are in there musical journey.

Online Competitions

I have to say that I think that the online battle of the bands competition is even worse than the live ones. These do not show how much skill a band has or how good their show/music is. It really comes down to how many people they spam on social networking sites. I can’t count how many messages and wall post that read something like this: “Please!!!! I NEEEED your vote now and for the next 150 days. Go on fill out this application, then click then answer some more questions and then do that over and over again. If you really are a human being you will do it, and if you are my friend, you will have all your friends do the same thing…” So, if you do that enough then you will be able to actually play your music somewhere and compete yet again for a spot.

Isn’t this how the music industry is?

Someone might say that it is just how the world works and bands just try to sell records by being better than the competition. I would say that I have a problem with the mainstream music industry as well and that the sole purpose of music is not to make money. Though I realize that it is an important part to keep bands creating and distributing music but I am also a believer that music will never die. Even as the money in making music dwindles due to the internet, good music is being made and produced. When music is truly an art form instead of a business then it is what it was meant for. Competition in music only promotes stealing, sabotage, and division. The true purpose of music is to unite people and for enjoyment. Battle of the band competitions should be avoided and real shows should be attended instead.