Next week, Ryan Williford will be celebrating the completion of his first ten years in music. The ride has rarely been easy, but having stayed true to himself and his mission to succeed Ryan has found a way to navigate the often tricky waters of music without losing his heart. Today, in a very special guest post, Ryan makes a damn good argument for why more people in our industry need to not only speak their minds, but also stand by what they believe.
Unless you have been living under a rock this decade, you should be well aware of several culture shifts. These shifts include the ever growing sense of entitlement, the “everyone gets a trophy” train of thought, widespread political correctness, and the move to be as non-offensive as possible. But you may be asking how these four things all relate, especially in the music industry? Well let me tell you, people feel so entitled for something as minuscule as a participation trophy that it infects the rest of their lives. They now feel entitled to be offended by every little thing that is said or done; for god’s sake “trigger warnings” are a thing. It makes the world too politically correct and conforming. Here is the rub though; if you feel entitled to a participation trophy, then I should be entitled to offend you. Now of course this does not mean you have free realm to say or do as you please, with the perfect example of stepping out of appropriate boundaries being Property Of Zack founder Zack Zarrillo.
On August 4th Zack posted an article, just two days after announcing the site’s end, about how he felt ENTITLED to post leaked information. He went on to explain that he was told numerous times by different professionals that he should not be posting said information. The 22-year-old then had the audacity to try to tell the industry professionals how to do their jobs and went as far as calling out Another Reybee Production, whose founder, Rey Roldan, has been in the industry for over two decades and has worked with the likes of Brittany Spears, Dashboard Confessional, and Yellowcard. The main issue here is, yes he is allowed to write and say what he wants to, but he went by it in such the worst possible way. He talked down to the professionals while also calling out a respected publicist that has done more in 20 years than any of us will hope to achieve in our lifetime. By not thinking the post through, Zack continued to burn bridges in an industry that he so desperately wants to be a part of. If he had presented the article in a more professional manner or as a self-reflection of how he should have taken the advice of his fellow industry professionals, it would have been more effective and not burned any bridges.
Then on the flip side we have the July 8tharticle where Kevin Lyman (Warped Tour, Mayhem Fest) was quoted as saying, “What happened was metal chased girls away because what happened was metal aged. Metal got gray, bald and fat. And metal was about danger. When you went to a metal show, it was dudes onstage; there was some danger in it.” He is absolutely 1000% correct in his assessment of the metal genre and community as large. What was already a predominantly male skewing community saw its female fans and new females shift over to the new breed of hardcore that would eventually be called post-hardcore. This new breed saw the addition of singing and pop like elements mixed into the hardcore and then the added touch of attractive band member, specifically frontmen. Pop-like elements were already enough to bring in females who would never listen to a straight up metal band, but-add in physical attraction- and you have the ingredients to be the youngest, most female-skewing community this side of Top 40land. Before the discussion begins, metal can try to claim metalcore all it wants; however, metalcore is more entrenched in hardcore and post-hardcore than it is in metal. The fact of the matter is, Kevin Lyman stated his truthful opinion professionally and saw severe backlash because our politically correct culture today sees us in a sterile slate where everyone thinks and says the same damn thing and anyone with an opposing opinion is terrorized and guilted until they apologize for having an original thought. Fans of The Audition, another past client of Another Reybee Production, would recognize this idea, I’m sure.
Kevin Lyman saw firsthand that we are in a culture where we cannot speak our minds truthfully for fear that we offend someone and/or hurt someone’s feelings. If you are offended or hurt by what someone says then maybe, just maybe it is because there is at least a nugget of truth in there yeah? Why else would you be offended? If something is false you can calmly state as such and move on with your life. Once you firmly take a stand that something offends you or hurts your feelings, you have proven that what is being said is in fact true. What makes this worst is that the music industry is so tiny that we are told to not speak our minds for fear our career would be hampered if we ever needed the help of someone we have spoken about. I am sorry but the previous statement applies here along with ‘let the individual’s work speak for said individual.’ I have always been one to speak my mind and be the bull in the china shop as opposed to walking on eggshells hoping to not offend anyone. Has me speaking my mind affected my companies any? Only once just far, but I’m letting my work speak for itself to those who otherwise didn’t want me on the job because of past statements.
If the past two months have taught us anything, it is that no matter if you speak the truth, if it is not politically correct you will never ever hear the end of it. Unless your name is Donald Trump, then you are the GOP frontrunner in this election cycle. In the end though, we are entitled to offend and should start to speak our minds more and stand by what we have said. Regardless of if you agree with him or not, “Angry Metalcore Guy” (also known as The Paramedic’s Mike Luciano) has done this. The more we as a human race speak our minds in the proper manner the better the chance that more real people will appear in influential roles. However, if we continue down the entitled conformity path, then future generations will be nothing more than Yes-Men who feel entitled to more money for just showing up and agreeing with their boss. In the end though, being able to offend and being offended means we still have some semblance of personality and original thoughts. Instead of trying to suppress those who offend you, either accept it or you know where the door is.
