When I worked in Hollywood among the show business crowd there was a saying--"No press is bad press." As an internet musician who does not play live and must rely on the Web to spread the word about my product, finding a way to use everything written about my music, good and bad, is a must. I adhere to the saying.

If you are, especially, a musician who is hawking your goods with no live theater to pump interest, you too should live by this saying. Making positives from negatives is tricky, but not impossible. In the political arena they call it "spin." And it works, primarily because people love to read bad things. This goes for bad reviews you might get from critics.

The perfect example of the spin is what we have done with a critical piece for our new CD, "The King Of Monkey Island."

A net music reviewer known simply as Les, has not been a fan of mine over the past few years. He is, however, an excellent writer and his bad reviews are written so well that they draw attention. This is something we want -- attention is important.

So, when Les decided to be critical about how we were promoting our work-in-progress CD (you can read it on the KOMI page of EvO:R) we decided it was just the type of thing that might make people more interested in listening to the project. After all, if a reviewer is going to spend the time putting together words carefully enough to deliver a clear expression, people will realize that ultimately the bad review is paying attention to the artist. And, so, people will pay attention. Of course, so many of them will not wind up with the opinion the reviewer has documented and you will have listeners who become potential fans and product-buyers.

Also, no well-written review is filled with total put downs. Les's piece had many positives. The whole idea that he made comparisions between myself and Brian Wilson, although his thoughts were filled with negatives, was a terrific thing. It is making Wilson fans curious enough to explore the progress of our CD and making them want to hear the final product.

Never let a bad review get you down; look for the positives in a bad review and sensationalize on them. Post bad reviews on your websites along side of good reviews. Your ability to show you understand both sides of the jury's opinion will make points with people who are new to your act. They will find you objective and admire the fact that you don't take yourself so seriously.

No one receives only sparkling notices, but a lot of artists ignore or take bad ones so personally that they never look at them. You need every bit of attention you can get in this traffic-filled arena of internet musicians. Remember that "no press is bad press" and you can learn to make bad into good.