If you’re in the music business, whether as a songwriter that doesn’t step foot on stage or if you’re a nightly act, it’s important that you recognize that IMAGE IS EVERYTHING. Perception is what counts. Entertainers care about what people think and how they’re perceived – if they say differently, they’re full of shit.

Think about it this way: if you were a guitar player that played rock, blues, and modern rock music (NOT Coldplay or something like Slipknot – extremes of the spectrum, if you will) – there are expectations of your image and look that people expect to see from you. Yes, it’s true. For example – since I play sessions at a studio as a guitar player in a certain genre, I’m hired to play a certain kind of music. I’m also sort of hired to display a certain attitude and image. Although it’s probably illegal to put that in a job listing or evaluation, if I cannot display that attitude or impression on the bosses from the start, I never would have been hired. Period.

Social expectations on all of us are very powerful motivators and regulators.

I was on the train to the studio the other day dressed like a rockstar and was continually inspected – partially because the Schwaben (in Germany) are typically superficial, and partially because Germans are NOSY as hell.
Yep – folks who probably don’t listen to my type of music judging my value as a musician (and a person) based on my looks – did I pass the test? I think so – designer jeans with a HUSTLER t-shirt on and cool shoes, I looked like someone who should be carrying an instrument and didn’t bear any uncomfortable looks. However, I could tell there folks in this city were comparing me to their image of what they think a cool guitar-player-type should look like. If I had been carrying a billboard, everyone would have visited my website if it were painted there because I looked the part and would have sold it well without actually saying a word. But if I hadn’t, there’s many people that would have passed it over.

Small things like types of shoes, shirts, and how you speak can impress on others your position in the music industry – or any industry, for that matter. My day job is NOT music, but I make a decent chunk of change from it and still have to “play the game”.
You should be acting the part. If you don’t – what part are you playing? How can you come any further in music (or life!) without playing by their rules? You won’t get any further – and you won’t make any impressions. Go with the grain totally or go against the grain totally – but make sure it MAKES SENSE. People need to know how to categorize you. If you think you’re 100% unique, that’s cool; but there are 6 billion people in the world who will categorize you based on only your skin color, language, or ability to impress by the way you’re dressed.

If you’re a musician – dress the part. Talk the part. Drive the car that shows the part. Play the instrument and do what’s expected of you – plus more. Do it for your own good – if you’re bullshitting, everybody knows it.