Music Competitions, Battles of the Bands, and Hoping For the Worst – From The Mind of McFarland music blog.
A few weeks back, I posted a link to a video answering the question of “what would happen if John Lennon had done a blind audition on The Voice?” He sings “Imagine”, and is selected by none of the judges – they give him “helpful” advice about changing the key of the song to better show of his range, song selection, etc. The video ended with a “next time on The Voice” showing a clip of the judges cringing while Bob Dylan sings. That video has since been pulled down due to copyright infringement claims (due to the use of live footage of John Lennon’s performance), but it got me thinking about everything that’s wrong with music competitions and battles of the bands, and why I decided about a year ago that I would no longer participate in them.
I’m not referring just to competitions like The Voice, The X Factor, American Idol, or any of those, though I certainly won’t be auditioning for any of them – I’m referring to any event that pits musicians against one another. Whether it’s battles of the bands, songwriting competitions, open mic contests, or “vote for me to play this festival” online popularity contests, I’ve discovered that all of these twist my perspective in ways that cause me to dislike myself in the mirror.
See, I’m a pretty competitive guy. When I compete, I like to win. And that means that in any competition of this sort, I’m always hoping for the worst for my fellow competitors – that they’ll have an off night, that they’ll play poorly, that they’ll forget the words of their songs, that a string will break. Hoping for the worst, especially when the people I’m competing against are friends, is one of the last things that I want to do.
So here it is – I pledge to not participate in any music competitions. You will not see me asking for your votes for any competitions. If you want to support my music, ask a friend to check out my new record, or check to see if anyone you know lives near any of my tour stops.
Let’s make the future of music be about building up the things we love, not hoping for the failure of others.
-MMcF
