Why Are Audio Groups So Fucking Toxic?

Recently, there have been a string of posts in audio and music production groups about “gurus” and how they seem to be the worst thing mankind has to offer and I’m curious what you think.

Although skepticism can be healthy, I wonder if it’s worth giving people the benefit of the doubt that they are y’know…not trying to sell you invisible clothes, steal your women, and fraud you out of your mortgage?

You may know me as the “Step By Step Mixing guy” but a lot of my work is actually as a business and marketing mentor.

I’ve worked as a marketing strategist and business mentor for small businesses and startups, and I also serve as a mentor and venture advisor at the university level.

In that time I’ve been involved in a lot of different industries and markets but I feel like the music industry is one of the most skeptical markets I’ve worked in, especially when people are trying to help others succeed in their niche.

Why is our industry in particular so sensitive to other people’s success?

I know that there are plenty of sleazy marketers out there that give me the creeps. But I also know there are others who provide massive value that’s worth learning from.

I was once a beginner. I decided to learn from people more successful than me and it helped me tremendously.

I don’t consider my teachers and mentors to be selfish even if I paid them thousands of dollars for their expertise.

In fact, they were quite generous if you consider that I got more money out of applying their principles than what they charged me for the knowledge.

That’s literally the definition of a return on investment.

That’s ultimately what coaches/mentors should strive for – a value transaction where both parties are better off just like I talk about in my book You Get What You Give.

Maybe it’s just me but I’m disheartened by the negativity…I’m tired of it.

I hate the fact that there’s an entire Facebook group dedicated to “Audio Engineer Shitposting” because it makes the entire industry seem like we’re just a bunch of juvenile losers.

If you’re in that group and you think it’s funny, you’re part of the problem and I want nothing to do with you.

I once joined that group out of curiosity and I didn’t last longer than a few hours with that garbage sludge slithering over my newsfeed.

To quote Colonel Frank Slade,

“…if I was the man I was five years ago I would take a FLAMETHROWER TO THIS PLACE!”

I rarely see the type of vitriol and negativity in other creative communities but it runs rampant in the music industry,

It’s even worse within the smaller audio community because we all seem to know it better than the next know-it-all.

Why are we like this? Have we been sold some dream too many times?

My mentors may have sold me some dream back when I was starting out but it was my responsibility to be realistic about what I could achieve at that time.

It was my responsibility to follow their program and do the work necessary to succeed.

There is no magic bullet any marketer can give you that will instantly make you successful. It will always require work and sacrifice on your part to get to where you want to be.

Maybe I have a different window into the industry because I run hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of advertising and I see the worst comments from our market on a daily basis.

Having run a successful online business in the audio industry I’ve been called every name in the book just for daring to sell my products and services online.

Here are some sweet examples:

• “Snake oil salesman”
• “Scammer”
• “Unethical and terrible”

All just because I run ads to sell a $7 eBook – and sometimes even ads to FREE stuff – that help musicians and producers succeed with their music.

(…maybe so that they don’t need to hire a curmudgeon-y engineer who thinks they’re the best thing since Autotune and drum replacement…).

In my opinion, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with selling your products and services if you know that you can people results.

My materials have been proven to get people results thousands of times over again so I know that they’re worth every penny.

Follow my step-by-step mixing process and you’re guaranteed to make better mixes or your money back. It’s that simple.

So if you know that you can get somebody specific results, whether that is writing killer lyrics for them, recording awesome drum tracks for their production, mastering their record, or helping them set up their business and marketing strategy, you owe it to yourself to charge for your service.

Otherwise, you will never succeed because you’re literally giving away your livelihood.

So I wonder…

If you’re already established and making at least a side income, did you get there WITHOUT help?

Did you pay for mentorship or did you refuse to listen to anyone and go it alone?

I would love to hear your perspective on whether or not you think our industry is “friendly” to people trying to make a living in it.

If you’d like to chime in with your thoughts, feel free to leave your comments to this post on Facebook.

That’s all for today. I hope you have a good one.

Björgvin

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