"Cesspools of Mediocrity" — Are online music communities worth the hassle?

Why the rooms you avoid might have the people you need.

Reddit Communities for Musicians

I’ve often heard online music communities — YouTube Channels, Discord servers, TikTok accounts, Facebook groups, Reddit communities — described as “cesspools of mediocrity” or something similarly dismissive. And I understand the impulse.

To the trained ear, phrases like “edit everything to the grid” or “I always use this preset for this plugin” might make you want to shriek into that dusty SM57 and sell the sample to the Splice overlords.

Seasoned musicians are wary of spaces where advice flows freely but isn’t always grounded in lived experience, in craft, in 10,000 hours of real work, or in actual face time with clients. There’s a lot of misinformation floating around, especially on “YouTube University” and in the small corners of the internet.

In an industry with such little regulation, it is not surprising that we find groups of people with a lot of bravado and a LOT of bad advice. However, it’s worth making a distinction that often gets lost in these convos: not every online music community exists because someone wants a megaphone for their own ego.

Yes, if you hand a platform to someone with an inflated sense of their own expertise, you’re going to get a lot of ego. That part is true. But a lot of them genuinely want to help. Not everybody builds Discord servers or YouTube channels or TikTok presences because they want to shout from the rooftops about how much they know.

They want to help people like them. They want to reach people who might be isolated, who might be lonely, who might have no other door into this world.

Here’s where it gets complicated: that distinction is nearly invisible to a beginner. They can’t always tell who’s grounded in reality and who isn’t. And honestly, why would they be able to? The music knowledge industry — production tutorials, engineering courses, songwriting programs — operates just like the diet industry, or the fitness industry, or the get-rich-quick financial world. Anyone can build a platform and say whatever they want.

So where does that leave the person who just opened Logic for the first time, sitting alone somewhere in the Midwest with no local scene, no mentors, no supportive family — and a YouTube search bar?

For some people, these online spaces aren’t a preference. They’re the only option. They’re the only place that connects them to their passion at all.

The danger isn’t just that bad information exists. The danger is in assuming that anyone who followed bad advice is just as much of a lost cause as whoever gave it. The beginner who followed the wrong TikTok account shouldn’t be fully to blame. Which leaves me wondering: who’s gonna tell ‘em? Because you don’t know what you don’t know.

And then there’s the word itself — mediocrity. It gets thrown around like a verdict. It’s such a hard and fast and sweeping label. All of us are mediocre at something. Every single one of us was mediocre at the thing we now do with expertise. When we use “cesspool of mediocrity” as shorthand for an entire community of people still finding their footing, we’re not being discerning. We’re just being unkind.

Now, I'm not here to soapbox. "Fixing people" isn't your responsibility, and I'm not saying it is. Finding collaborators who share your values and standards is critical to making good art. It's always a good goal to be in a room with people who are better than you. It's trial by fire. You learn fast. Everyone deserves access to rooms like that. And no matter your level, you should be seeking spaces that help YOU grow.

But to keep deserving those rooms, you should be willing to show up for the ones where you're the one giving back — mentoring, sharing, returning the favor. Why? Because it raises the floor for everyone around you.

After years of teaching experience, I can say that mentoring beginning musicians has strengthened me just as much as being around people more advanced than me. People who are new to music aren’t stuck in the trenches yet. They’re not locked into their methods. They ask genuinely thought-provoking questions. They challenge the system, and force me to know it better as a result. They’re hungry. They’re curious. And they should not be counted out.

Because where you are in your music journey is not a permanent verdict on who you're becoming.

Here’s what I think is worth picking apart: we conflate experience level with seriousness. We assume that where someone is in their journey tells us how seriously they take it. But we were all beginners once. And you can be a really devoted beginner. (No matter your age!) A deeply committed, endlessly curious, hardworking beginner — whose questions are worth the time of a seasoned musician.

So my more seasoned friends, the next time you’re tempted to turn away from a beginner who maybe spent a little bit too much time on a Reddit forum — pause a second. Listen to them. Let them ask questions. Share what you think without judgment. Let them be curious around you. Stay open to what you might gain from someone else’s curiosity. Because sometimes a beginner’s question gives you a new perspective you didn’t know you needed.

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