Musical discrimination?

[Divinehippie]

I did a search and couldnt find a thred about this, if there is one or im posting in the wrong place i'm sorry (this is my first thred).

Anyways, Do any of you out there feel like you are discriminated against because of the music you play? for my example it's metal but im sure there are other genres in the same boat(?).

I live and play in Burlington, Vermont. Burlington has claims to be a musically progressive city. B.S. if you are a hippy jam band or a country bar band you can play every night of the week and even get paid a decent amount. on the other hand, if you play metal, expedct to jump through hoops just to play for nothing to a bunch of ungreatful scene kids=/. we only have one venue currently with any sort of metal going on (which is nice but who wants to play the same stage every month?).

because of this we travel (NY/NH/CT/ME/anywhere else that'll have us). does anyone else run into this problem? i feel it shouldnt be this hard to get a show in your hometown. and the sad thing is it's only metal, any other genre you can see a show of pretty much any night of the week and yet metal gets shafted=/. we have a decent scene with some good bands around here, admittedly the kids have stopped coming out as much and the ones who do just stand around texting. if there were more oppertunity and more shows happening then this wouldnt be an issue. people booking venues are just not trying to have metal.

/rant

am i wrong for feeling this way or does any one else notice this trend?

-B

 

[Waelstrum]

Is that discrimination or the invisible hand of the market?

 

[ArkaneDemon]

I hear you 100%. It happens to me all the time, and it's funny. I predominantly like metal of all kinds (from black metal, to death metal, to stoner metal, to everything in between), and a lot of punk music (hardcore punk, crust punk, grindcore, etc), and everybody gives me shit for it. Even other metalheads give me shit for it. The death metal elitists give me shit for liking black metal, and vice versa. And then the regular people give me shit for liking "that horrible, talentless noise". People focus way too much on the stupid shit. They ignore the fact that I love a lot of electronic music, jazz, noise, and a whole bunch of other stuff, they focus solely on one thing they don't like and judge as if that was the whole picture.

In my area it's very easy to get gigs if you play mainstream rock or pop punk or folk stuff (folk is huge here somehow), but if you play metal or punk, it will be many times harder. It sucks.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Metal isn't something that you can ignore in bar type setting though. I don't blame them for not letting you play.

 

[chipsta21]

Where im from its either Metal or nothing ha its awesooooome

 

[Divinehippie]

Metal isn't something that you can ignore in bar type setting though. I don't blame them for not letting you play.

its not just bars though. Venues of all kinds. you can bearly even get into a shitty town hall or tiny VFW without jumping through hoops/begging/bartering. with that said i do understand what you mean, and we pride ourselves on our ability to be loud =P

-B

 

[Phlegethon]

I hear you 100%. It happens to me all the time, and it's funny. I predominantly like metal of all kinds (from black metal, to death metal, to stoner metal, to everything in between), and a lot of punk music (hardcore punk, crust punk, grindcore, etc), and everybody gives me shit for it. Even other metalheads give me shit for it. The death metal elitists give me shit for liking black metal, and vice versa. And then the regular people give me shit for liking "that horrible, talentless noise". People focus way too much on the stupid shit. They ignore the fact that I love a lot of electronic music, jazz, noise, and a whole bunch of other stuff, they focus solely on one thing they don't like and judge as if that was the whole picture.

In my area it's very easy to get gigs if you play mainstream rock or pop punk or folk stuff (folk is huge here somehow), but if you play metal or punk, it will be many times harder. It sucks.

seeing as you're from the same area as I am (southern ontario) I can back this up 100%. it's much harder to interact with other musicians because mainstream three chord rock/punk and the folk scene are the primary focus of the artists in the KWGC area. if you're a more technically adept musician then your only choice of music is blues based rock working under the assumption that you want to interact with the musician base that's in the area

and a lot of these musicians will take an unhealthy interest in your tools that you use as well. there have been times I've caught hell for not using a strat, tele, or les paul into some form of "classic" tube amp (fender or marshall) for the times I did make the attempt to interact. seeing as what I've done musically (teach guitar) with my music doesn't rely on being in a band with others it's not an issue for me to fly solo and not participate in a band or the scene present. granted, going to school for mechanical engineering doesn't help either ... the time I get to spend doing something that isn't related to school is rather small lol

 

[Lankles]

Is that discrimination or the invisible hand of the market?

Trufax. It's not discrimination (as in the bad kind) if there are substantively relevant differences involved. Like noise complaints and driving away regular patrons.

 

[Divinehippie]

@tony scene is tight? that sounds like what i'm lookin for, i'll check it out.

and i guess as a though has anyone started a thred with local contacts for shows (booking agents/venues in their area)? i think it would be cool and maybe help a lot of people out. perhaps give the venue name, contact info. some info on what kind of shows/genres they prefer to put on and maybe how the scene in that area is (usual crowd turn out and what not). is this something that has already been done and im not searching (/using the search feature right) hard enough?

-B

 

[-42-]

Because it's like that, and that's the way it is.

Frankly, metal is niche market. You can't sit at a cafe and sip a latte or enjoy your sandwich while some guys are playing distorted guitars at 120 dB. Also, remember that metal fans may be devoted show-goers, but there's not that many of them. Venues are in it for tickets.

 

[Go To Bed Jessica]

I play in a stoner metal/rock outfit and our options for venues around town are kind of limited as well. It's hard to get a scene going, and the people running the venues are going to go for what pays... it would be a rare venue owner who would be happy to forsake profits for the sake of helping a particular genre get better exposure.

I guess the best thing you can do is promote your gigs hard, and try to get enough people through the door to get the venue owners interested.

I also think playing mixed bills (within reason) can be a good thing. I like going to see a band and finding out that the support is not the same genre as the main act. I'm talking about related genres here, not dixieland jazz and grindcore on the same bill... more like old skool thrash, punk and metal maybe? Of course "metal" itself is a very broad description and there is huge variety within it alone.

 

[BucketheadRules]

I don't know about the local live scene around here, but as the metal scene is non-existent (I mean really non-existent, I don't know of a single metal band around here) I'd imagine that pub gigs are hard to come by.

As for me personally, I catch a lot of shit for my music tastes. Obviously there are the usual wankers saying "OMG ITS JUST NOIZE HOW CAN U LISSERN 2 DAT SHIT?!?!?11!!" but the worst thing is getting flak from other metalheads.

Like, I have two friends (who are brothers) who are both into black metal in a big way, the really badly-produced uber-kvlt stuff from a haunted cave in Poland or something, and although I like black metal to an extent (Corpus Christii, Emperor, early Mayhem, Blut Aus Nord etc) they give me shit for liking death metal as well, and both have an unreserved hatred of Dream Theater or any other band that plays remotely complex music.

And then I have a mate who seems to think he knows all there is to know about music, despite the fact that he finds musical value in Skrillex... he bangs on constantly about how bad metal is and worships Radiohead and Celldweller like a ridiculously devoted fanboy. It's rather sad tbh, the extent of his obsession. Mind you, he thinks that Queen are "a poor man's Led Zeppelin" and that Mark Knopfler is a bad songwriter, so it's hard to take him seriously at the best of times.

The only other serious metalhead I hang out with is into loads of the same stuff as me, although admittedly not prog metal (it's weird, all my mates seem to hate it ) but at least he doesn't judge me for liking it. As you may be able to guess, he's the guy I can actually have a decent conversation about music with

 

[Go To Bed Jessica]

Way too many people don't understand the concept of being able to appreciate stuff even if you don't like it. Way too many people are quick to deem anything they don't like as Crap.

Narrow minded douchecopters!

 

[highlordmugfug]

Way too many people don't understand the concept of being able to appreciate stuff even if you don't like it. Way too many people are quick to deem anything they don't like as Crap.

Narrow minded douchecopters!

I give you, the majority of all people, ever.

 

[Go To Bed Jessica]

Yep... and that drives me insane.

 

[Explorer]

Anyways, Do any of you out there feel like you are discriminated against because of the music you play? for my example it's metal but im sure there are other genres in the same boat(?).

...am i wrong for feeling this way or does any one else notice this trend?

-B

Just had to note that there are all kinds of topic which happen here like this:

"This genre of metal is true, others are false, as is all other music!"

So, when I think of the intersection of people being intolerant and of SS.org, I really don't go beyond some of the membership. *laugh*

----

Given that metal, like hip-hop, is not a universal music, and doesn't even rise the popularity level of country music, I can see why there are less venues available.That's just the way it is, and if it were actually popular beyond one small segment of the population, then there'd be more places for you to play.

Having lived in a few major cities over the years, I don't know if I'd say there are really so many venues for each of the subgenres of music (metal being a subgenre of rock), as opposed to the category of the whole. It would be surprirsing if there were ever more places for a subgenre than the rest of the category out of proportion of the popularity of the subgenre.

----

I know, it's disappointing to find out that the world in which one is immersed is far larger than one ever imagined, and that something which one considers to be hugely popular only appears so because one is immersed in a particular scene.... minus, of course, the numerous venues which a more popular genre would have.

 

[SenorDingDong]

It isn't discrimination; there's just no audience for it.

Bars and venues are businesses. They don't have the time to take pity. They know what will bring in money and what won't.

 

[Murmel]

In my town there's almost nothing but indie bands, there are a handful of metal bands, and some electronic stuff.

It's basically like this: The indie people hate on the metalheads and vice versa. Or should I say; the indie people hate on the metalheads and everyone else hates on the indie people.

Then there's people like me who don't really give a shit. Play whatever you want, I don't care. I have friends that like indie and friends that don't, they're just people.
I appreciate some indie stuff, I've even played in an indie band (it turned out more pop by the end though).

This shit happened yesterday actually, I was at a gig with some friends and we were just sitting there chatting. One of my friends hates indie with a passion and started ranting on this dude that had played a solo project eariler that evening. It was pretty fucking embarrassing sitting by the same table as him, because I bet you that at least half of the hipsters in that room (probably including that guy) overheard him talking.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

It's not discrimination, most people just don't like Metal, or to be specific going to Metal shows. Such is life.

 

[Sephael]

Louisville has a pretty good metal scene. It helps when you have bars/clubs that are metal clubs ( <3 love walking into a bar that usually has Iron Maiden playing).