'To be a good journalist you've got to be angry at society'

I was in a seminar the other day and my lecturer gave me, what I believe to be, some very good advice. He said:

'To be a good journalist you've got to be angry at society'.

Well society has definitely angered me today so I'm going to write about it. I was sat browsing Facebook, until I came across a band page. The band was described  as 'thrash metal', so with the distinct lack of thrash metal bands around these days, I decided I'd give them a listen. I clicked on their music page tab only to be greeted by a message reading:

'You must like our band page to listen to our music'.

I beg your pardon? I'll listen to your bands music first before I decide if I'm going to 'like' it or not. So in my rage I closed the page, however this is not the point of the story.

To me, making music is a hobby and therefore something you enjoy. It's something to be proud of so naturally, you want as many people to hear it as possible. So how is blocking people from hearing your music on your Facebook page logical? In short, it's not, but I can give a pretty good guess as to why some bands do it.

The amount of 'likes' a band has on Facebook is often a symbol of how popular they are and bands want to increase their likes, in whatever ways possible, to increase their popularity. Now I know promotion is a very important aspect of being in band but is it really necessary to block people from hearing your music in favour of a few extra 'facebook' likes?

To me it's not.

I think it's greedy and greed is the epitome of what is wrong with the music industry. People aren't making music because primarily they enjoy it and and want to get it out there for the world to hear. They're making it because they want to be famous and want all the riches that come with fame.

I don't think that's what music should be about. Greed is the cancer which eats away at our society and here in music, is a fine example of it.

I'm not stereotyping everybody here. I know there's bands and artists out there who are still making music for the right reasons and really, I take my hat off to you. To the bands and artists I am referring to in this blog though however, please re-evaluate the reasons as to why you're making music in the first place.

I don't like to be angry at society even if you might be making me a good journalist.