Nov. 24, 2025

How Much Stage Presence Is Too Much for Small Artists?

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Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I read an email from a 29-year-old singer-songwriter from Ohio who might…might be doing a little too much on stage.
He’s been experimenting with a new “performance identity,” and it has spiraled into something between:
• a youth pastor
• a motivational speaker
• and Mick Jagger if he tripped over a cable
His band says he “moves like a glitching Sims character.”
A bartender called him “a liability.”
The sound guy said he’s “a hazard.”
And honestly… based on the knee slide during an acoustic ballad, they might not be wrong.
But here’s the real question he asks:
Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH stage presence?
Especially for small artists playing bars, wineries, and small venues where the audience is half-listening and mostly just trying to eat their dinner?
In this episode, I break down:
-What healthy stage presence actually looks like
-The difference between memorable and distracting
-When to go big… and when to chill
-How to find your performance style without scaring the crowd
-And how to stand out without accidentally unplugging the whole stage
If you’ve ever wondered whether your performance style is helping you or hurting you, this episode will give you clarity and probably a laugh.
💬 Got your own question or story?
Go to https://MatthewRix.com and click submit your question The more details you give, the better advice I can offer.

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WEBVTT

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Hey, this is Matthew Rix and today on the music

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business newsletter just just get ready, we got the lead

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singer who's too much for everybody. But before we jump

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into that email, I ask you to go ahead and

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like and subscribe to this channel. If you have a

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question on the music industry that you would like for

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me to answer, just go to Matthewricks dot com click

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submit your question, give me as many details as possible,

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and we'll answer it here on the channel. Now for

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the email, he says, Hey, Matthew, Okay, I'll be honest,

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I have a question. I'm almost I'm almost embarrassed ask,

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but here we go. Y'all. You've been warned, he says.

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I'm a twenty nine year old singer songwriter from Ohio. Lately,

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I've been getting comments from bandmates, friends, exactly one angry

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bartender that my stage presence might be too much. Here's

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what they mean. A few months ago, I started experimenting

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with a new performance style. You're twenty nine years old,

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you've been in a band. You're ticking off the bartender

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with your performance style. The bartender who probably kicks people

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out of the bar quite frequently, or it calls the

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bouncer to do it, but let's continue this email. He says,

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I've been trying to be more memorable on stage because

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I read online that artists need a brand and an identity. Well,

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he says, my apparently my identity has turned into something

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between a motivational speaker, a youth pastor, and a guy

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possessed by the spirit of Mick Jagger. So you're a

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Your identity is a motivational speaker, a youth pastor, and

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a guy possessed by the spirit of McJagger. He says,

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For example, at one show, I try to do a

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dramatic knie slide during a quiet acoustic ballad. Bruh, bruh.

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The crowd looked confused, and a woman in the front

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row gasped like she thought I was hurt. I wasn't.

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Mostly the crowd looked confused, and a woman in the

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front row gasped like she thought I was hurt. I wasn't.

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Mostly bruh. The crowd looked, Why why are we doing

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knee slides during a quiet acoustic ballad? He says. Another show,

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I tried whipping the mic table around for emphasis, like

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I've seen rock singers do, but I accidentally unplugged half

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the stage, and the sound guy told me afterwards that

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I was a hazard. I'm not really seeing where the

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motivational speak where youth pastor is here. If I was

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in your band and I'm the acoustic guitar player and

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there's a quiet acoustic ballad and I got this fool

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in my band doing knee slides on the stage, I

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want to be kind of tick that you. Man. I'm

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just gonna be I'm just gonna be real. And you're

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whipping the mic cable. You know the key is with

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the mic cables, you're supposed to like pinch it and

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then swirl it. You just like around. We go okay,

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he says. Last week my band told me I moved

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like a SIMS character, glitching, and honestly, I can't even

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be mad because I've seen the footage and they are

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not wrong. I don't know it. I mean, I know

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SIMS is a video game. I've never played it. I

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don't play video games and I'm not a I'm not

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a video game guy. I think it's a waste of time,

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he says. But here's the thing. I like performing this way.

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I feel alive up there. I'm plugging the sound system,

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knee sliding during an acoustic lover's ballad. You know, you guys,

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guitarist up there's trumming the acoustic like this song goes

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out to my girl, and there's that fool just sliding

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down his knees. Well, you are from Ohio. You know

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they're weird up there. No offense, But Ohio people are

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they They are a different breed. I got some dear

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friends from Ohio. Y'all are y'all are There's something in

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the water in Ohio, he says. I like performing this way.

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I feel alive up there. I feel like people remember me.

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Oh they remember the fool sliding down his knees during

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an acoustic lover's ballad. Yes, even if it may not

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be for the reasons I intended. I don't understand where

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the motivational speaker or youth pastor is here. I thought like,

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you're gonna be like, oh, I'm prophletizing in a bar,

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and the bartender got mad at me. This is just

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like I'm the drunk fool because you don't men how

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much you drink. But I'm the drunk full sliding on

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my knees during a ballad he goes, So, I guess

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what I'm asking is is there such a thing as

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too much stage presence for a small artist? Yes? Sliding

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on your knees this is even for a small artist.

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Is for any artist? Sliding on your knees during an

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acoustic ballad? That's too much. Not knowing how to spin

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the mic cable, the microphone with the cable attached to it,

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and I'm plugging the system. I don't care what size

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artist you are too much. You're a small artist. So

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how big is this stage where you're sliding across? You

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better watch out, dude. You get the neck of a

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guitar in your forehead. He continues. I'm playing bars, wineries

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and small venues right now. My biggest crowd so far

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was maybe eighty five people, and most were just trying

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to eat dinner. And there's full there's old from Ohio

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just sliding across the stage, whipping the probably you know,

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doing a helicopter with the microphone, taking out your drummer.

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He says. I'm playing bars, wineries and small venues right now.

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Eighty five people. Eighty five people's not a big crowd

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to be so your your sound systems? Are you probably

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don't have a long extension on the mic cable. Your

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stages are probably pretty small. I don't know, Like, so

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people are trying to eat dinner, Like, is this like

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a family of four and you're you're doing the worm

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on stage during a ballad? What does your band think

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of this? Like, I mean, I know, but there's got

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a you should have included. You kind of buried the

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lead here. I want to know what, Like everybody in

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the band is like, you fool if you do this again.

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But anyways, he continues, at what point does being memorable

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turn into being a circus act sliding on your knees

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during a ballad? I mean, if I'm if I'm if

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I'm at dinner with my kids and we're eating pasta

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and you're up there playing and there's a nice ballad

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and I'm watching you slide across the stage on your

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knees or swing in the mic cable that them plugs everything.

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I just don't even know how that's possible. I'm gonna

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think you're on something like I'm not gonna think it's memorable.

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I mean it's memorable because I'll be like, let me

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tell you about this, fool. I saw at dinner tonight. Performing,

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he says, Is it better to tone down my energy

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until I have a bigger stage. I don't think. I

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don't care if you're playing wimbley stadium. You never do

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a knee slide during a ballad an acoustic guitar, he says.

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Or should I fully embrace whatever weird performance creature I'm

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turning into. I mean, you couldn't keep evolving, and then

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when you're out of a band, when your band has

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left because I hate you. That's a lot right there,

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he says. I'm willing to adjust. I just don't want

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to look like a lunatic unless it's a good kind.

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I think you okay, So you put I'm still okay.

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So the emails over. You put a motivational speaker and

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a youth pastor. I get the guy possessed by the

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spirit of Mick Jagger. Yeah, this is what This is,

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the Ohio version of Mick Jagger playing in front of

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eighty five people. The Ohio version. I don't know where

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the motivational speaker and youth pastor is. I thought there

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was gonna be like prophletizing and sales pitches and all

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of this stuff. He says, I just don't want to

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look like a lunatic unless it's the good kind. I don't.

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I don't ever, I don't. I don't ever think when

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you're starting off like this, you want to have a

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great show presence, you really do? You want people to

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be like, he's a great front man. I don't know

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if going in saying you want to look like a

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lunatic the good kind when people are eating dinner in

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wineries is gonna be to your benefit, because then you're

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gonna get people. You know, people are sitting there chilling,

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and you're gonna get people who are gonna complain about you.

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You're gonna get people who are you know, gonna tell

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the bartender they're never coming back. What's wrong with this guy?

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Is he on something? How about this? How about you

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just be a lead singer who commands the stage and

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commands a presence in people and doesn't try to be

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a circus act. I mean, what's next, You're gonna set

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yourself on fire? You know? Oh, in the spirit of

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Ozzie here, I'm gonna bite a head off of a

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real bat. I mean, like this is just if I

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was your band, I'd be so miserable playing with you

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because you just don't know what to expect. You just

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don't know what you know. It sounds like performing with

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you is like a you know, playing with a jack

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in the box man. You whoa Okay, let's unplug the

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whole sound system now, he says, I'd love your honest take. Yeah,

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don't do knee slides during ballads. Don't be trying to

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be a lunatic. It's like, you know you'll run into adults.

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I mean, you're twenty nine years old, dude. I would

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expect this from like a sixteen year old. Well, sorry

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from plugging this. You know power guys, you're twenty nine dude, Like,

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get a grip. But thanks for the email. You made

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the Monday great. If you have a question on the

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music industry that you would like for me to answer,

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just go to Matthew Riggs dot com click submit your question.

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Give me as many details as possible. If you slide

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on the stage during an acoustic ballad, you don't need

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to You don't need to send me an email looking

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for me to approve, but anybody else just give me

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as many details as possible. Wow, I am Matthew Rigs

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and until next time. I will talk to you later.

How Much Stage Presence Is Too Much for Small Artists?

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