What does Kuwait’s music industry need for musicians to thrive?
Ok, after the enthralling discussion that happened on the “Top Facebook Fan bases” post , we wanted to focus on the issue and open up true forum.
So…. to the subject at hand!
Some fronts(for the purpose of healthy discussion, lets not use names) believe that maintaining a super support ecosystem for the country’s musicians (old, young, talented or not, well setup or not) to come to the forefront and be heard and evaluated. Other believe that providing super-ultra support regardless of talent or ability hurts the scene more than helps it and we must be brutally honest in criticizing and evaluating them.
We want to know what you think. Let’s discuss fairly and from all viewpoints. With all the restrictions and challenges we face in Kuwait when it comes to music, do you think providing positive and supportive promotion to artists regardless of their style or ability is important, or are we to maintain a critical, anal and conscientious approach to help musicians thrive and get exposure in this country?
Express please! (Posts with foul language will be removed)
About the Author
Caesar (Kuwait Music) Caesar is the Founder and CEO of Kuwait Music. A passionate musician and web nerd, Caesar spends most of his time thinking about how to build a healthy music business in the region Follow Caesar at the below links: Google+
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I think people should operate according to their beliefs.
A) If you think that having the most fans, the biggest records sales, the best technical abilities would make you say “we’re the best” fine. Why shouldn’t you be happy with that. We have no right to change it.
B) If you think that creating music should be against all norms founded by the man and the industry and you feel happy abouth that. No body has the right to change that.
So seeing the chart in the previous entry don’t make feel upset or even mad. It made me feel happy because there is diversity and that is good.
absolutely agree Ahmad- Diversity and support are paramount.
As far as I’m concerned, the music scene we have in Kuwait today only needs what it already has, if not more of it. We have devoted fans, we have a friendly community of talented musicians, and we have te support of each other and places like Kuwait-Music and Operation Kuwait Music Awareness.
Outside of what I’ve mentioned there are a few things that would help this community tenfold, and they include, people organising shows, perhaps government backing of some sort, and maybe even a few sponsorships to ensure that any gigs go through without fault. Those are considerably harder, but all attainable if the right marketing and all is done.
However, to me its all about the fans. Get them into what you do, get ten to spread the word about you, and who knows what could happen.. It’s just te support that’s needed the most.
I spoke about this a few days ago with a friend of mine, saying that the reason Justin Beiber and all those other wastes of musical space got famous was that they started out on YouTube. And thanks to the power of sharing and commenting and getting the name out there more and more repeatedly, it will be noticed. The fans we have in Kuwait, as great as they are, don’t seem to support the bands as much as they should. I mean, say I post a video from Jelly Shot, or a solo thing, who else will share it? Kuwait Music? Operation Kuwait music Awareness maybe? Possibly some close friends… But that’s it. Noone else thinks to share it, our other fans who we only know by name on Facebook, where are they? Why aren’t they sharing about their band? If they like the band and really care, then why aren’t they trying to help too?
But that’s enough of that..
Now along with all of that, I do agree with a point brought up in the last discussion here on Kuwait-Music, which said that the people of the music scene can be too nice/generous/sugar-coating etc. in regards to what they say about fellow musicians releases and that they lack criticism etc.
That being said, as much as I agree, I do also believe that the praise te artists of Kuwait DO get for releasing whatever they release, regardless of how it holds up against others and how well written/recorded it is, is something that is needed in order to keep people doing what they do.
Take Jelly Shot for example. When we released our debut EP, we were met with plenty of praise and plenty of criticism. After reading through every comment we got, we took a step back and read them all again objectively while listening to the album again in that same light. The criticism we got was all warranted and helped us learn and gave us ideas as to where we can improve as musicians, songwriters and collectively as a group.
That criticism helped us improve, and will forever be something we look back on to learn, but don’t underestimate the power of praise. If it wasn’t for the praise we got for what we did, regardless of how it turned out, we wouldn’t be driven to do much more.
The praise told us they wanted more, the criticism told us how they want it..
Couldnt have said it better myself Hashim
as I mentioned in a reply earlier, at the end of the day we need the balance from both sides and your comment basically nailed that concept on the head!
Look at the interview we did at Ahmad’s diwayniyah for example. those young kids need feedback and criticism yes, but must we not talk about them on KM ? ABSOLUTELY NOT. They deserved to be on KM just as every other band we’ve featured in the past. If folks dont like the way they play for example, the platform was available to comment and provide constructive criticism. But nobody did as you rightly said- there is no participation as usual.
so if we are to build a proper thriving music ecosystem in the country we need the big dogs (or at least the ones that think they are, lol) to help and support the young ones who arent as good as them. That was the whole purpose of the Sub Urban Man feature and the “core” on which Kuwait Music was founded. It is not just for the joe satriani’s or the Tiesto’s of Kuwait.
In the end, we all need to put aside our egos and participate, participate , participate.
I can give you examples of at least 20-30 musicians/ bands/ DJ’s who we have spent time and effort to feature but have never even commented, replied or bothered to share. That’s the state of musicianship in Kuwait. Until musicians themselves rid themselves of the self-righteous attitude, the fans will never take notice.
This is more like it.
I agree with Hashim, feedback is very important as well as musicians self awareness in regards to improving their skills.
I’d play the Jelly Shot EP at work and even the EarSplit albums at work as part of indirect advertisement but i also benefit from the lessons through what I hear. The recent local album I played was Khalid’s forbiddin chapters which like the quality of the production and wonder how I could bring the production of my material to that standard.
As for what Caesar said, yes better musicians should work with the less fortunate to provide guidence and tips.
This is the way the scene should develop in my opinion and the more bands out there the better. We’ll be looking back at this in a few years from now and say gosh that happened?
I believe that balance is everything, without criticism we cannot grow, honesty is by far the best policy, but I believe it is all down to the way you put it. You can comment in a helpful way without the need to be scathing, hurtful, plain rude or even in an aggressive way. So all in all criticize away but put it in a way that is constructive not destructive.
Since when has being nice to people been a bad thing?? seriously have u ever thought that some people aren’t just over icing the cake but its their personality to be nice to people?? they like to make people feel good, personally i think there is enough people out there who are a**holes and enough negativity in our world without creating more and not enough who are genuinely nice and i emphasize the word genuine because i do not want you to think I am agreeing with two faced lies.
As for the music industry, I agree with Hashim, If the fans and friends really do like their bands music then they should support their bands more in a nut shell, if not then don’t bull**** them and pretend they do. This plus the usual governmental issues we face.
Yes true Kathryn , however not just fans but musicians need to participate s well . I still maintain that the vision of Kuwait music is to promote and elevate artists which it has done and will continue to do so, but if the.musicians themselves are not participating , it will make no sense and we can all just go back to the black non awareness we were living in pre Dec 2010 . The platform and tools are available , we just need to use it !
yes Caesar you are right and hopefully they will, I may be wrong but i feel lately there has been a bit more participation from musicians..to be honest i only recently started participating because i never felt i had anything of worth to actually contribute,but I found that doing so actually helped me clear my head and progress with the advice and criticism i have received from the reply’s, and i hope my views have maybe helped others a small bit. anyway hopefully it is onwards and upwards for all of us musicians here in Kuwait.
. Have MANY more music related competitions, live/online; give people something to work towards. I mean cover contests, solo contests, etc.
. Start an individual ranking system for members in bands to drive them to get better.
. Make gigs with smaller audiences, and a smaller lineup, just to create chances of actually playing live. Document everything, upload it all on the tubes.
. Yeah, criticism is desperately needed aswell, i dont ever recall seeing a local band being criticized directly to them :/ maybe make a critic-corner or something on this site?
I agree with Hashim. I may have come off too strong in the other article but the gist of what I was trying to say is just be honest. It will help the artist/band learn from mistakes and mature musically.
People also need to draw the line between criticism and being just plain rude because “YOU SUCK” isn’t going to help anyone. If XYZ going to dish out criticism then the burden of explanation in on XYZ.
Also, artists/bands need to learn to filter the criticism. Accept it from people you respect or look up to and from those with experience but if a kid with no musical background wants to school you the best thing to do is IGNORE.
Finally, I’m here to help and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past 6 years. I’m not a know-it-all but I do have years & years of accumulated knowledge and experience which makes me a sort of an expert and if you want my expert opinion I won’t charge you for it. Come and talk to me with an open mind, the willingness to learn (and a cup of coffee, if it’s not too much to ask!) and I WILL help you.
Cheers
Sajd without going to your place and seeing the Ez-drummer I’d still be stuck with the midi-drum machine. So thank you.
Sarj is more than just that, Ahmad .
Thank you guys, that’s exactly what I wanted to do when I got back home today, read for an hour and a half until i could comment haha
I feel I lean a little more to Sarj’s side of the argument with this one, quite honestly, because that’s the model that worked with me,
I mean sure, all bands need support, but it’s important to point out that supporting a band involves helping them grow and learn, not stay still.
I had my head up my own ass for ages, Sarj told me what I had to hear to get it out, it was as simple as that.
People who are ranting on about how many facebook likes that a band gets, you’re totally missing the point, my band got number 10, do you know how I feel? I’m surprised we made it on there at all, do you know why? Ask Kareem and Sarj how often they tell me I don’t promote Depth’s music enough, and I am FULLY aware of how much time I spend promoting online
As for who goes on Kuwait Music and who doesn’t, I say I trust Caeser’s opinion on what is and isn’t music, as for everyone else, go on the band’s pages, and CONSTRUCTIVELY criticize them, yes yes we like it when you go on our pages and say our music is awesome, but we like it more if you have something of content to tell us, I can speak for all us musicians when I say trust me we can take the criticism haha
We all want that that coz without going like “hey man you could fix that and this ” kind of comment we’d be going in circles.
unfortunately though i have witnessed extremely destructive criticism made towards various musicians efforts here and have even received it myself. But i am an advocate of constructive criticism and not everyone puts it in a bad way, and yes totally agree put in the right context it worth its weight in gold.
I’d rather have this discussion in a group where we all sit together, see eachother and talk to one another in over a chilled Bebsi
Loooool BEBSI ma fi sefen ?
An Industry to start with should be good enough to thrive on at this point
hello,
im new on KM, but this was too interesting a topic to resist.
a musicians hangout place or regular get together or open night would be very welcome.
a reviewing system for new releases would be good. even short reviews (covering playing, songwriting and production at least). im a semi-professional reviewer (avantgarde-metal.com) as well as musician and know that criticism is crucial.
one trend i noted here was that most of the bands are kids/youngsters and its reflected in the songwriting as well as the proliferation of certain sub-genres more than others. hopefully the more experienced ppl can act as mentors to the others.
all in all, a site like KM is a good step in the right direction
Very interesting topic … After going through the previous thread as well i believe Support and criticism is great for the musicians however I’ve got to agree with the Kuwait music guys here that musicians themselves are not playing their parts !! I mean we have a great pages here to allow for sharing our feelings and responses but most of the people responding as mr caesar said are not musicians
so how will the industry grow if the best music site in kuwait doesn’t have the musician itself in it ? they are working so hard to build the music industry here , I feel the minimum we must do is support them ! Sorry but this is my thoughts I dint mean to offend anyone …..
Caesar is a musician good sir. His efforts in Kuwait-music is reflective of that I agree with one thing that musicians better themselves and others to progress. And thank you for you comment dude XD
Hi Guys. I’ve been following this thread with great interest. For the record, I am a musician and play guitar with TUSH. We play a lot of gigs out here, mainly at the embassy and have had crowds of 1,500 (including the recent Queen’s Diamond Jubilee thing)… but, that’s not really the point of all this. I meet a lot of passionate musicians out here, really liked the “Jelly Shot” guys at Kuwaitstock and a whole bunch of the other guys we’ve been very lucky to meet. The scene out here is tough but these musicians – who I suspect also have day jobs – put something into the community that we all should applaud. Despite (or inspite of) the “prohibition” feel here, these guys work hard to bring music to our events, parties, BBQ’s etc. Some are even managing to get things recorded which is amazing and should be supported.
I don’t think this is ever about us and them – we are all music fans and all contribute to the scene. I sometimes feel dissapointed that band members can get way too competitive – a music scene should be about a bunch of music lovers having a blast and living the dream
So whether you’re the one fronting the band, making the tea, lugging the kit, having your Eddie Van Halen moment; or taking the time to come and see the bands do their stuff – then we should all celebrate this.
Caesar’s site contributes massively to enable all this to happen. This is like the London scene in the 60′s, Manchester scene (Stone Roses and all that) in the 90′s. Anyone who has blogged on this site is cool and is contributing…… one day there will be a tipping point and music will win.
Its awesome to finally have you comment and visit KM Barry! Heard so many good things about you from Allan, Paul and Co
ps: to musicians. Critical comments and stuff is all well and good, but I wonder how many records would have pushed music forward if the bands hadn’t shrugged if off. Remember; Led Zeppelin were called that because the music press had said that the new line-up would “sink like a led zeppelin”… Bob Dylan was booed at the Isle of Wight gig when he went electric…… the rest is history. Critical acclaim matters to us cover band guys as that is how we get our gigs, but for you guys making things happen and doing original stuff – then keep on going on.
So true Barry… Its so important to have positive support no matter what. Negative criticism got us nowhere
Right on, Brrrother! *actually says the last bit with his best Hulk Hongan impressination XD*
A matter of fact, a scene would not exist unless people are creating music. Cover bands are included in the formula. In fact, anyone with an instrument and passion is included. We can have camps within camps within groups but at the end of the day, Though we sound veeery different everyone is making music.
I was feeling like I’m living in a loop. Now I’m having my RAWR moment so thank you.