In an amateur setting you can let your emotions run free usually with no consequences. In a professional setting if you are difficult very quickly you will have no job and will find it very hard to find another job.
50% of being a professional is being easy going, flexible, understanding of other people's needs and basically a good guy or gal to be around.
Very few people can get away with a diva attitude, the rest most follow your advice....
Actually, everyone should follow that advice. it is ok to expect good working conditions, but
when musicians/other artists start to make ridiculous demands they need to be stopped before they get out of hand, otherwise they get to a point where they feel above even the law and we get to sadly see things like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in a worldwide televised event.
Not to mention the words exchanged prior showing a conduct unbecoming of a gentleman led alone a celebrity.
I believe good communication is the way to prevent a lot of issues, but unfortunately, a lot of people (sometimes myself included) have a hard time to express what they really feel
in the moment so they let it "slide", then later on, after some time to reflect, they feel that they could have handled it differently but it may be too late to rehash the situation, and now, the offender
conveniently doesn't even remember what happened, and since it was not properly addressed, the chances of that happening again are high.
To prevent being put in the spot and having to respond while things already got bad, a prospective (or current) band member needs to make clear what his/her expectations are, and the band leader needs to make clear what their expectations are.
I know
at a professional level contracts are signed and clauses initialed, but for the rest of us, a simple honest conversation should suffice, and if things start to drift from agreement, don't be afraid to remind them about your expectations and limits. ( I am getting much better at communicating this way and it has worked great, I have avoided a lot of conflict). I guess it has a lot to do with age and confidence level too. And with age comes also a different level of tolerance which fortunately prevents me from wasting time with unprofessional people. (Not strictly talking about musicians here, just people in general). I remember reading something (when I was around 4 or 5 years old, about you controlling your emotions and not the other way around was the way to real power. Can't remember much more of that but that stuck with me somehow). I have practiced that since, therefore, it is very hard for me to understand things like irrational fears (clowns, needles), jealousy crimes, or any other "passion" crime, or in general just losing control of your emotions to the point where you make a fool of yourself or worse, commit a crime.
Why is it ok for people to lose control and have a free pass to be an ass? don't allow it around you, and teach your kids it is not right to do it either.
Ok enough rambling.
