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Respect, You Need Some.
I'll have to admit here, that as I write this, I'm becoming increasingly angry. Last night, (January 28) our very own staff member Jen was disrespected in public by the tour manager of a band that she was set up to interview. I'm not going to throw names around. But it got me thinking about the proverbial pecking order of this industry.
When we started out with this website, we knew that it would be a fight to get it to the point that it's become. We knew that there would be long hours and lots of knocking on doors so to speak before someone gave us a break, and we were willing to put that effort in, because this is what we love to do, and we have a huge amount of passion for it. We have all stood around in freezing cold weather, rain, snow, blistering heat, torrential hurricane force wind, the works, to get our name out, to get those first interviews... and right now we've gotten to the point where we've garnered the respect of our colleagues and peers, whether that be bands, or label reps, what have you. We worked hard and proved ourselves to the people that took risks on us to get that respect.
When I hear that Jen, my friend, colleague, fellow staff member, was completely disrespected by a tour manager because of something that was all-in-all HIS fault? You bet your ass that I'm pissed off about it. There is an understanding of mutual respect in this industry, we will respect you and help you, and you respect and help us, that's how this works. When our journalists were there fifteen minutes early for the scheduled meeting time, and you show your face hours later, that's on you, not on us. To yell at Jen in front of people, in front of the very band she was scheduled to interview, is beyond disrespect. It is uncalled for in every form of the word.
You don't burn bridges in this industry. This is a hell of a rough one to be in, and you never know when you're going to need to rely or ask for help from someone, and it better be that the bridge you formed is still in good shape, because one tiny little thing here can make or break you. So, anonymous tour manager, learn some god damned respect, before you tank your managed band into the ground.
