James Moore's Blog, page 62

Respecting Time

Watch out for people who don’t respect your time. This is one of the big struggles in the music industry that I think a lot of people ignore because of the pervasive myth that ‘everyone is cool man’. It’s the people who don’t respect your time who are going to be driving you to want to jump off a bridge. I’ve had this realization a few times in recent weeks and wanted to delve into what it means for you and what the long term repercussions can be of dealing with people who don’t respect your time. This is one of those thing that I think defines a lot of our frustrations within the music industry and which will time and time again lead to those frustrations that make so many of us want to dip out of it. We all feel the crush of countless wasted hours, an unfortunate reality no one wants to recognize and a sort of curse that we all need to be able to acknowledge and embrace if we really want to grow and get somewhere in this whole thing.

It’s the people who don’t respect your time who are really going to drag you down as you try to progress within the confines of the music industry because in this world time is everything. Ultimately with everyone you work with you need to decide if they are worth it given the time commitment that they demand from you. Now this can balance out in a variety of ways and can be a tricky one to figure out, so I wanted to spend time further down figuring that out. As for now what I wanted to emphasize is that in the music industry your time is your greatest resource. It doesn’t matter if your band isn’t great, it also doesn’t matter if you don’t have a great look or lack connections, with time you can fix all of these things. You need to find band members who are similarly willing to invest time into improving their place in the industry, because that’s all it is. If your band members can’t devote their time then you are going to find yourself running into a brick wall time and time again.

Determining what is worth your time can be a very tricky thing indeed. It’s one of the most important things to figure out in the industry but also the thing that everyone seems to stumble up on. That’s because when it comes down to it, people fail to realize a crucial thing, and that’s that while yes time equals money, you can trade time for other things that end up being worth money too. For example – even though yes time is money when it comes to services you might provide and trying to get paid for this bullshit, information also will turn into money. Sometimes it’s worth spending the time to learn some stuff even though it doesn’t mean an immediate payout. For a similar reason it’s worthwhile to be spending time out there networking. Sure that doesn’t immediately mean a profit, but those connections will lead to an ability to create effective projects in the future. That’s the thing with the music industry, it’s capitalism on steroids, and that can be both very good and very bad.

What this means a perhaps a bit more directly is that with any project you engage in you need to be able to see how that time investment is going to lead to more money for your band in the future. With some things, like going to shows, it’s obvious. It means that you are going to be able to make connections with other bands who are going to be potentially interested in working with you to build up more as you go. In other places it’s not so obvious, like how friending other people in the scene who you don’t know on Facebook actually builds up your profile because it means that when you contact strangers in the hopes of booking shows then they already know that you are invested in the scene and not just some random spammer trying to add them. It all feeds into everything else, and figuring out your precise role in it is not something that you’re going to figure out right away. Rather it’s something that will take a fair bit of time and energy to understand.

I also want it to be clear – I don’t think you should be constantly trying to figure out how to make a buck. That’s in no ones best interest and it will only hurt you in the long run. Kevin Smith always says “Do what you love first and find out how to make money off of it later” and I can’t help but to agree. If you are constantly trying to invest your times in ways that are going to make the most money people are going to be able to tell and they aren’t going to especially like you because of it. People in bands want to have homies and want to work with you on creating cool projects. That doesn’t mean that you should be constantly trying to profit off of those homies, it means that you should be working on developing a future with them that is based off of the strength of relationships. That’s why music is so much fun after all, because we are developing relationships and can enjoy hanging out while getting shit done.

So yes, time is money and other people around you need to respect that otherwise they will just take advantage of you and you will be driven insane. It’s happened to me countless times because I was trying to be a nice guy and if you want to help your scene then odds are that you are going to fall into this trap a fair amount too. That just sucks and if you don’t embrace this reality and these hard truths it will continue to suck. So instead just realize where you stand and work around it. No one wants to deal with someone who constantly tries to profit, but they do want to work with people who have a community vision, and that really is the best time investment of all.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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The Power Of Logistics And You

Double checking your math is just about the most important thing that you can do in the music industry. Obviously this comes on the heels of me making a pretty notable fuckup, nothing too crucial, but certainly not something to scoff at. So I just wanted to take a minute to talk about the importance of double checking and why attention to detail is something that is only going to help you grow in the music industry. This is something tat is going to bite you in the ass time and time again but is also something that you need to be familiar with if you want to have any sort of real progress within this industry. Sometimes you are going to forget it and it’s going to bite you in the ass, but that’s simply part of the maddening fun of this industry. You find out time and time again that there is a very real sense of suffering that defines this whole thing. No matter what you do it’s going to be hard to escape that, but it’s also in my eyes a part of the adventure.

First and foremost I think it’s important to have someone in your network who is a logistics guy and who can work with you on making sure that these things get executed properly. The skills required to coordinate a lot of the major defining aspects of life in the music industry are not always easy to come by and it can rapidly become frustrating when stuff like that blows up in your face. Some of this can fall on a manager, but even talented managers who have a lot of connections and who are talented when it comes to connecting people will sometimes fall flat on their face in truly astounding ways. There’s a lot of moving parts to be aware of with these sorts of things and I think that it requires a certain worldliness that many folks just don’t have in this day and age. Coming to terms with that can be a struggle and one that requires quite a bit of forethought to be properly executed. It also requires a lot of humility – admitting you don’t know everything can be pretty hard to do, especially when most stuff comes so easily.

The thing is that in the music industry we don’t have a lot of room to fuck around because margins are so small. In most other industries getting excited for a thousand bucks would be a joke, in the music industry it can be the difference between life and death. Not a lot of people seem to be super receptive to this idea, largely, I think, because people in the music industry don’t really think about economics in the way they should. They don’t get that by fucking up they are ruining their financial futures and that sometimes you need to take a personal hit if you want your band to grow. Again, this is all very hard to do and you need to be wise in how you start to engage in your logistical approach to things. This is why people hire managers and why managers hire logistics guys. The margins are, again, totally negligible and when you are playing with the smallest slice of pie of the smallest slice of pie it doesn’t make sense to take risks. Instead you need to psychoanalyze everything from the top down to make sure it won’t fall apart on you.

Of course the easy trap to fall into is that ‘this is rock and roll, who cares about details?’ and that’s precisely the attitude that will bite you, and which bit me, in the ass. It’s what proves who is serious about this and who is just a pretender. When it comes down to it this is a business, and it’s a helluva business at that. Acknowledging this unfortunate reality is a huge step when it comes to working on the logistical realities of your band. Logistics are one of those few times when you will find the struggle of day to day life intersect with band life and most people don’t want to deal with that. Most people want to try and find a way around it, but sometimes the government and society as a whole is sufficiently pervasive that there is no other way around it. You just need to embrace the unfortunate realities presented to you and then move forward from there, it’s the shitty and fucked up reality we try to escape the confines us.

It’s important to realize though that there are tons of services that can help you with the madness of all of this, the sort of stuff that only really bites you in the ass once you get a hundred or more preorders on your record all over the world and need to figure out how to ship them to the relevant people. There are merchandising companies out there who would love to take care of your product. There are clearinghouses that will work with you to make sure you never run out of stock and that you will constantly be able to service fans. While yes this can be tricky it’s also a key part to growing your band. If you don’t have an online presence driven by a competently run webstore then you are going to have a hard time growing the brand that you worked so hard to be able to develop in the first place. This isn’t something people want to hear, but sometimes to grow your brand you just need to be willing to suck it up and spend some money.

The music industry is something that is incredibly intricate and which requires a lot more patience and attention than I think we are willing to give it. There’s a certain intensity when it comes to locking in these sorts of things and it requires a lot from the artist to be able to sort out their schedules. There’s a lot of spreadsheets that end up coming into play and quite a bit of tears when these spreadsheets don’t work out. The thing is, no matter how organized you might be, the world of music is one of drunks and degenerates and it’s really hard to overcome that and find a way forward that actually helps to grow your brand and doesn’t just feel like retreading tired ground.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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Some Thoughts On The New Kesha From A Huge Fan

So the new Kesha is out, regular readers know that I’m a huge fan of her first two records, they were a study in not giving a fuck. Kesha perfectly captured a certain trashy Hollywood girl aesthetic that was then built upon with fantastical and weird music videos, unexpected collaborations and a number one single that just wouldn’t quit. Then it came out that her producer and label head Dr. Luke had been sexually abusing her and Kesha disappeared from the public eye for a while. There was a controversial court case with an unsatisfying resolution and ultimately for a long time we thought her career was fucked to oblivion. Slowly she started to get rights back and perform live again. Now we sit here with Rainbow, a new record from the pop queen and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it. After multiple listens as well as revisiting her back catalog I think I’ve started to develop some opinions about the various triumphs and failings of this particular effort.

The long and short of it, as I see it, is that Rainbow was inevitably going to be colored by the Dr. Luke drama. Which is fine. It should be. Dr. Luke is pretty decidedly not a great person. That’s kind of besides the point though. There is a certain heavy handedness here that kind of goes against the ethos that originally defined Kesha. That is to say, much of the first side of this record feels like a stab at the selfsame try hard feminism that fueled the Clinton campaign and led to a Trump presidency. For an artist who once sang about ruining peoples lives, eating her lovers alive and perhaps most memorably brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniels, a song whining about bully’s seems to be a little bit weak. In many ways Rainbow shows us a Kesha who feels fundamentally changed, which is to be expected I guess, I think I just never truly anticipated how radical that change might be.

Kesha has always had a strong feminist flair throughout her music. However whereas on previous records it was based on a devil may care attitude, a shit kicking temper and a love for motherfucking partying, this record addresses feminism more directly. I’m not sure that’s the move though. If you look at a song like Woman what do the lyrics really achieve that haven’t been previously accomplished with the trademark sneer of D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R.? Similarly, the various nostalgic tracks that have defined this record often feel like rehashes of classics like Wonderland and Love Into The Light. For me the point of Kesha has always been that she doesn’t give a fuck, and this record has fundamentally shifted. Now we get a sense of triumph that breathes throughout the record and gives it a very distinctive flavor within the Kesha canon.

Of course – this taps into one of the most important fundamental shifts in this record, the musical style here has totally changed. Kesha has moved away pretty much entirely from the synth pulsing horned up sex kitten sound she so eagerly used to push. Instead we get a much more stripped down set of tracks, none of these, with one or two possible exceptions, are really club tracks. Instead she’s made a move for the more downtempo stuff that defines modern Lorde. There’s nothing wrong with that per say, in fact I quite enjoy the new musical direction, but I certainly miss the reassuring thump of Kesha’s bachanalian romps through the seedier sides of Los Angeles. It’s a daring shift though for an artist who has no real history of putting out music like this (Although her Deconstructed might have been suggesting this) and yet it frequently feels very natural. Sure there are the occasional growing pains, but this is a fully musically realized record and one that is a delicious listen that I can pull back to time and time again.

I think the conversation that needs to be had here is more about the changing role of female sexuality and the role of feminism and social justice in pop music today. For myself as a fan my favorite female artists and the ones I felt best reflected third wave feminism were groups and artists like The Donnas or The Bangles, using their larger vision to suggest a more dominant position for women globally rather than shoving an ideology down your throat. The Donnas for example simply wanted to prove they could party with the dudes and they got the dudes respect because of that. I think a lot of that falls apart with attempts at lecturing in a song, which really only serves to alienate. Now Kesha doesn’t do that outright here, but again, it just feels weird for social justice to be Keshas focus now given that her debut was as an 18 year old singing about stripping. There’s obviously a very good reason for that, but if it weren’t for the Dr. Luke fiasco this lyrical shift would feel forced. As is, I think it’s an interesting reflection of Keshas evolving aesthetic.

Now of course everything that I say with regards to this can easily be disregarded simply because this record is such a departure and as someone who has made Kesha a significant chunk of his life for a long time now it’s hard for me to wrap my head around all of this. That’s just something every fan of any band has to grapple with when shit turns as much as this record does. It’s a musical achievement to be sure, but I don’t think any of us would have anticipated a country ballad from the singer of Party At A Rich Dude’s House. But again, it proves the incredible versatility of Kesha as an artist and makes her all the more alluring. I’m curious to see how she goes from here, her breadth of collaborations are fascinating and lead me to wonder what exactly is going to come next from this fascinating genius.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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One thing that not a lot of local bands seem to understan...

One thing that not a lot of local bands seem to understand is how not to alienate their fans. At first glance this would seem like it was fairly obvious. Shouldn’t it be pretty easy to figure out how to not piss off the people who already claim to like your music? Shockingly enough bands manage to do it all the time and while some of these lessons might seem like they are retreading old ground others I think are the sorts of things that bands don’t think about enough when trying to move forward in the music business. As much as you might be trying to create an image around your band if the image is a shitty one then you re going to find yourself with more trouble than you’re worth, hurting your band and limiting your ability for growth as you proceed in trying to develop your band. Yes, a lot of this boils down to personal charisma, but there’s a hell of a lot more too, and that’s where things get a little interesting.

First and foremost I think it’s important to realize that the rock star aesthetic can be a double edged sword. While on the one hand I think it’s important to hold yourself a little bit above the common fan when trying to present yourself to the masses it’s also important to not be super haughty. You need to be realistic of where you are at and then build from there. If your band is starting to have a draw and make an impact on the scene you need to be able to step back a little bit and show that you understand where things are coming from, you need to show that you appreciate the love fans are giving you and that this in a small way pushes you higher. This is especially relevant to touring bands. Remember that you are selling a fantasy and your ‘character’ should play into that. If you’re just a know nothing local, or even a local with members who attend a ton of shows then that’s just being pretentious. But if you recognize what your brand is then that’s going to help to give your brand a sense of power it might not normally have.

That being said, it’s also important not to act entitled. If you make it seem like people owe you drinks, owe you favors and shouldn’t talk to you that puts you in a weird and separate place that is just going to blow up in your face. Fans want to buy into a fantasy but they don’t want to think that the singer of their favorite band is an asshole. By refusing to hang out at merch, by not buying drinks and hanging out or generally trying to shut down people who try an hang out with you then you are only hurting yourself. Just as much as people want to have an idol to look up to you can’t make yourself more popular by being inaccessible. You need to be around ready to hang and acting like a goddamn adult. If you can’t meet these moderate tasks which are your charge then you might as well not be in a band because it just turns you into some random asshole who can’t seem to get anything substantial done because he thinks he’s better than everyone.

Conversely, I think here’s something to be said for not being too desperate, and this ties into the first point of a certain degree of separation going a long way. If you’re constantly trying to make friends, acting weird and generally being a little too in your face then that doesn’t typically read well and folks will be alienated. You don’t want to be that overeager dork at the show who remembers weirdly specific details about people and who stands just a little bit too close. You can’t just ‘cool guy’ your way through everything but you also can’t try and make yourself seem silly and pathetic and then expect it to work in your favor. Remember, folks in underground music always think that they are cool, and frequently they are, because underground music is an inherently cool thing. This means that if you are distinctly uncool then you’re going to wind up hurting yourself and what you’re trying to create.

Ultimately what a lot of this boils down to is that you need to have your most charismatic person handling a lot of the fan interaction. I know that kind of sucks, especially when the one with the charisma plays something lame, like the bass guitar. Still – if that’s what’s going to move units and help your band grow in popularity then that’s what needs to happen. I know that you probably have a shy member or two, but guess what, you can’t expect to succeed if your entire thing is ‘we are all neckbeards and virgins’. The thing about rock and roll is that it’s inherently sexy and if you don’t have that sexiness, at least to some extent then you aren’t going to get anywhere. Rock and roll is a genre built around charisma and since underground music descends from rock and roll this is an unavoidable reality.

At the end of the day a lot of what I’m saying here might not even impact you. These are general rules that I think tend to be helpful for most bands but as comment sections love to remind me there are always exceptions. Still – when I look at the bands who tend to do best, they follow some semblance of these guidelines in order to make things run smoothly. Sure you can possibly find a different way to run things and that can become part of your brand, but again it has to be part of your brand. You can’t just be an arrogant shy dick and expect that to work out. You need to acknowledge what you are worth and then grow from there, mighty forces will come to your aid, but only if you do things right.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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When Backstage Bites You In The Ass

Man, getting drunk backstage and telling stories is literally my favorite thing Like, of all the things, that is my favorite. That’s forty percent of why I work in the music industry and also a huge part of why I’ve been able to make the connections required to make a career out of this. That being said, you need to be careful what you say backstage. Odds are if your band is getting anywhere in the music industry then you need to know how to keep your mouth shut when it counts and also to know which pieces of information can be shared with a group and which pieces should probably be limited in who gets to access them. Of course – this isn’t always as obvious as one might think. Information is the currency of the music industry, in many times much more than actual currency. Being able to figure out how to use this to your advantage and how it should impact your work in music is going to be vital to your ongoing development.

It’s important to define, going forward, what a secret even is in this industry. Obviously they come on different levels, if, for example, your band is about to release something on a smaller label, you’re probably fine leaking that. If you’re getting ready to open for a mid level band, you’re probably okay leaking that. Not on social media of course, but in person I certainly think those opportunities will fairly rarely come to bite you in the ass. That being said, realize that any information that isn’t completely public should probably not be discussed openly. That’s just sort of a general rule in an industry that can get very intense very quickly. Your ability to keep secrets and maximize opportunities is only going to help you in the long run, it means that you need to be able to detach yourself from the inherent excitement of moving and shaking and realize what really matters for you.

When it comes to dealing with sensitive information in the music industry the first thing that I have learned is to NEVER assume that someone knows something. Even in situations where someone you are talking to who tells you a secret works as a partner with someone else what they told you might not be for their partners ears. That’s just how this whole thing goes. You can’t make any calls, let the other person volunteer the information first and ten go from there. It doesn’t make sense to offer up too much information, that doesn’t work in anyone’s favor and really only leads to added stress for everyone involved. The thing is, the second you accidentally leak a secret is the second it has a potential to get out of hand. If the wrong piece of information falls into the wrong hands people can turn that against you. Furthermore, if you show yourself to be someone who can’t handle privileged information do you think you are really going to get high level opportunities?

I know that it can be hard to hold these secrets. I have some real whoppers I’m keeping under my belt right now. Hell, I’m on a plane to go handle the final details of one of the biggest one of my life. The only reason I’m comfortable saying that is because by the time this goes live the secret will be out. There are a ton of unique and potent opportunities that are to be found in this industry, but you need to be aware that some information is for all to know and other pieces of information are for only you to know. I think it’s important to realize how that kind of behavior will directly inform how other people view you and what other people will do in order to work with, or avoid working with you. If you can’t acknowledge the power of secrets and the greater good of what we are all trying to work on then you are going to alienate people in positions of power. It might feel like you’re bursting to share that you are opening for Matchbox 20, but sometimes it’s necessary in order to preserve the relationships you have.

There are two key things to realize about the big secrets happening in the industry. The first is that they start to hit you all of the sudden, so suddenly when your band wasn’t doing anything of merit and no one cared it was fine, but now you’ve got to deal with some harsh consequences in case you fuck up. That’s a weird shift for any band and you need to be fundamentally aware of the challenges that is going to give you. On top of that is the fact that secrets are often used, especially at the entry level, as a test. They are used to see if you are someone who is to be trusted or someone who is going to end up screwing a mover and shaker over. There’s a bible story about how those who can be trusted with little can be trusted with much, and this is extremely true in the world of music. If you prove you can keep things quiet for stuff like show announcements then it will be easy to prove that you can keep things quiet for tours and other big things.

Really – you just need to use your noodle. Think about what the impacts are of you leaking a secret to a specific person and then evaluate from there. If you think someone is to be trusted and is your friend then tell them. If you think they are going to dick you over then don’t. Be aware that you too can use secrets as a litmus test for trust and as a way to figure out what’s really going on in the industry. You an use them to figure out who is trustworthy just as those above you do. Once you start to determine these things and start to build your future around a reputation of honor and honesty then things can’t help but to go up for you. It’s just as with any other industry, those who are easy to work with and realize that small leaks sink ships always win.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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On The Importance of KISS

KISS is another one of those bands who have had an incredible impact on the industry, their impeccable branding and willingness to break into just about every sector of the entertainment industry has proven that they are one of the most important bands of the modern era. Sure they are pretty ‘Spinal Tap’ and they do a lot of corny shit, but when it comes down to it they are one of the defining rock and roll bands. With seemingly endless studio releases, a surprisingly intense touring schedule given their age and a willingness to sell literally anything to anyone (I’m looking at you KISS air guitar strings!) they have made an impact on many a young self promoter. While yes a lot of their legacy has been marred by Gene Simmons being an asshole and yes a lot of what they did back in the day is no longer really viable I think that to look at how KISS was able to turn the industry on its head and give it a whole new face is really important to realize, because the moves KISS made forty years ago still have an impact on you today.

So yeah, let’s talk about the most visible part of the KISS legacy first, the look. KISS knew from the start that they wanted to be rock stars. There was no desire with this band to be a club band who maybe worked their way up, they knew from the first that they wanted to be mega stars. They booked massive gigs and somehow pulled it off because they knew that they could. They had minimal backing at first, they were selling some units, but not enough to really break until they realized, people responded to their live show, their vision and the way that they were totally unafraid to go for the throat when performing. By being these larger than life characters both on and off the stage, they crafted a sense of godhood that has rarely been matched in the world of music. Despite that though they always talked about their roots, all living together in a shitty New York apartment, adding a sense of legitimacy to what KISS was doing, even when they started to sell kids lunchboxes.

I think this is where KISS proved that they really didn’t give a shit what people thought if they knew it would make money. When it comes down to it you can get KISS anything. If you want a KISS kitchen set you can find one licensed by the band. If you want a KISS bedspread, it’s yours. The list goes on, all the way down to the KISS Koffin, a coffin which I personally plan on being interred in. Of course not every band can afford to license things from top to bottom like this, and it doesn’t make sense after all. But there are also countless artists who do have large budgets who don’t bother to create this variety of merchandise. KISS wanted to ensure a future for their band and even though that future has proven to be extremely fucking weird (KISS nappies anyone?) it has also ensured long term success. When you look at all the stuff the band sells you can’t help but to be impressed. It’s a marketing strategy that has influenced countless huge bands and one which has been proven to make money time and time again.

Tied into the endless KISS merchandise is the way the group has worked to extend their brand to all aspects of the entertainment business. Be it weightlifting videos with Paul Stanley, one of Gene Simmons multiple TV shows, their record label, their animated series, the comic books, the branded radio shows or any of myriad of projects that KISS has tied themselves into. Through it all they make sure these projects maintain a constant image, circling back to their famous logo and their ability to tap into the imaginations of countless fans. I think this is almost as important as anything else the band has done, is the fact that they have an image which is proven to work across countless platforms. So whenever they roll out a new project, you can tie it into a much larger thing. This is actually something bands can do substantially and reliably, your band should be creating more than just music anyway, so why not work your ass off on branding it all together? It’s been proven to work after all!

Here’s the thing though, KISS has a lot of bad songs, a lot of bad business ideas and a general wealth of clunkers across the board. They were never especially attractive guys (Except for possibly Paul Stanley) nor were they ever especially talented at their instruments. The songs are usually good, with a few truly great ones and a whole mess of stinkers. But somehow that’s okay, because there is just so goddamn much to unpack with KISS. They give you just about everything you could ever want, and if you’re not getting some weird specific piece of KISS branded content then I’m sure Gene Simmons is working on figuring out how to create it so that you can buy it from the KISS wedding chapel next month. That’s just how these things work. They have been able to drown the world in content such that they have become one of the most important bands of all time without ever coming close to being one of the best bands of all time.

Few bands out there are as truly ridiculous, fun and over the top as KISS ever was. Few bands ever really understood the magic of rock and roll in the way that KISS did and thus none were able to market the hell out of them the way KISS has been for what will soon be approaching fifty years. They have created one of the most recognizable global brands by sheer persistence. Those dudes didn’t go to college for this, they just paid close attention to what their fans wanted, what the market wanted and then were able to grow from there. The music industry would be totally different if KISS hadn’t come out of the blue to take over the world, and I think we can all be grateful for their enduring and oftentimes life changing influence.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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What We Can Learn From ABBA

Regular readers know about my passion for ABBA, they are after all one of the most important bands of the twentieth century and probably the band that I have logged the most hours listening to this year. Scratch that, they are without a date the band I have logged the most hours listening to this year. I’ve found in my music industry adventures that seemingly no end of folks from all over the industry, have a deepset passion for this band. This suggested to me that ABBA aren’t just some campy pop artist from the 70s who happened to sell a ton of records, but rather that they were a truly important musical force and one that a lot of folks in the music industry could benefit to learn from. So I decided to step back and try and figure out what helped to make ABBA such an industry force and why they have perhaps the most important and enduring sound of the disco era. You don’t just luck into that sort of thing after all!

I think first and foremost is the songwriting. Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the core songwriters of ABBA had a unique partnership that extended years before and after ABBA’s reign. They realized that they had something special going on and they channeled this into some of the best and most important songwriting of their generation. The way that the band has constantly been able to balance their work between rock, pop and disco speaks to the power of these composers and the incredible hooks, genre defining harmonies and danceable rhythms came on to be the sound of a decade. These guys got past the limitations of having poor presentation (Have you SEEN that first album cover?) and grassroots beginning almost singlehandedly with the power of their songwriting. Once they started to get things off the ground thoughwas then the impeccable branding of this band ended up coming to the fore.

It’s difficult as a millennial to understand all that ABBA did in terms of branding. But there are a few key aspects that I think we all should focus on. First and foremost was the fact that they were made up of two married couples. That defined a large part of what made ABBA so special. This balance is scene in all of their art and videos. When they ended up getting divorces it was obvious that this would be a death knell for ABBA. On that front by the way, I think it’s also important to realize that ABBA were one of the first groups to pioneer with music videos, and not only that, they developed a very unique fashion aesthetic that would go on to be synonymous with the band. This is a fashion aesthetic so powerful that we still see echoes of it today. Sure they borrowed from other places, but no one gave it a bigger platform than ABBA.

A key thing to understand with ABBA though is their unique ability to balance opposite sides of the spectrum. For example, they always placed an emphasis on their marriages and their songs often discussed working class values. Simultaneously though they were hugely popular in the gay scene and were a major part in normalizing that culture and making it ‘safe’. By the same token there was a certain innocence portrayed by the female singers of the band counterbalanced with revealing outfits and an eventual status as international sex symbols. This unique positioning allowed them to service a broad variety of markets in a way that most other acts of their time could only look on with envy. Defining their brand was an overall sense of fun, but there was so much content and ways to present the group that they were driven t be, at one point, Sweden’s single largest export, across the board, a stunning accomplishment.

Ultimately what it boils down to with a lot of ABBA’s work is the amount of content they put out. They dropped a record almost every year from the 70’s through the early 80’s. They had a non stop barrage of singles and their pioneering work in music videos and fashion along with constant live performances across the globe meant that they were able to access fans constantly and use that to maintain their growth. Hell, this is band who realized that they had a strong following in South and Central America so they stopped everything and recorded a bunch of their songs in Spanish! If that’s not direct servicing to your fans I don’t know what is. The sheer quantity of ABBA related material out there also led to a collectors mindset, in the years before the boxsets became the ubiquitous way to listen to ABBA, countless people spent hundreds of dollars collecting every last record, thus creating a real sense of ownership.

Yet none of this would have been possible if it weren’t for one basic truth, ABBA are really fucking good. People aren’t really marketing ABBA anymore, at least not to the millennial set, and yet they still generate interest in that fanbase. They have won over the parents so goddamn hard that kids, even those who want to rebel can’t help but to end up falling in love with this band. There influence is almost unmatched and their legacy truly epic, and it’s because the band was able to routinely build from their basis of excellent songwriting. Once they went from there the world was their oyster. They had a unique product, knew that the world demanded it, and then were able to give it to everyone to spend years digesting.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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Income Inequality In The Music Industry

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the issue of finances with music. It’s an interesting and very weird balance that we all need to figure out and one that I think becomes increasingly tricky the more we try and understand it. What it comes down to is that we don’t respect artists who come from wealthy families because we think everything was laid out for them. Simultaneously, in most Western countries we don’t have a support infrastructure for poor people to be able to come up and have the resources that they need to eventually have a career in music. On top of all of that, oftentimes the people who do have the funds to do a fair amount of touring and put in the hard work needed to really make it seem to think that they can pay their way past everything, refuse to tour in ‘sub par’ vehicles and get cranky when they are told payouts are low and they will probably have to sleep on someones floor. So how do we balance resources with entitlement with even being able to get a break in the industry in the first place? It’s a tricky thing.

Let’s be clear, first and foremost, independent music implies a certain amount of wealthy any wa you cut it. That is to say, if you could grow up and have expensive instruments for you to play, gear to use and had access to a vehicle so that you could go out and attend shows you already had it better than most people. Obviously a lot of people save money to be able to do this and things are getting easier and cheaper than ever before, but there is still a financial barrier of entry to the world of independent music. Think about all of the people who don’t even get to participate because they don’t have that kind of support system to help them out as they try and grow in this industry? It’s one of those fucked up quirks of capitalism that we often don’t even think about but which lays right in front of us. When you toss in the costs of being in a band, that is to say PR, advertising and the rest of it you start to realize there’s a real problem here.

Of course there are ways forward in the industry even if you don’t have that funding early on. Singular talents will usually come out of the woodworks somehow, even if they are just singing and playing on a battered guitar. By the same token, people who really want it are going to find a way. Be it in bumming rides to shows, figuring out ways to cut costs and taking on additional jobs there are often ways to make things work in the music industry, it just takes even more ingenuity. It sucks though, and even then it requires a certain degree of education that once more implies at least some money. This is of course why we view artists who came from nothing as so much greater than their peers. They had to overcome all of these struggles and then deal with the subsequent struggles that come from how fucked up the music industry is in general. Of course I think these environments breed tenacity, hell, that’s where pretty much all of the great punk music from the last forty years comes from!

Now there’s the flip side of the coin. You can’t imagine how much bellyaching I’ve had to deal with entitled and wealthy artists who think that because they can afford my fee then they should get everything handed to them on a silver platter. These are the artists who don’t want to get in the fucking van and schlep it out, who insist on three meals a day and who don’t understand that sometimes you have to play a punk house in Wichita because it’s the only place your drummer could book on the route and if you didn’t play this show you’d have to drive 30 hours straight. These are the people who don’t understand that no matter how big you are there are certain hoops everyone has to jump through, and unless someone you are related to has a direct connection to the folks at Atlantic you’re pretty much screwed until you tour for a decade and start to really figure out where the market is for whatever type of music you make.

When it comes down to it, just as you need to have a certain degree of wealth to even enter into the music industry most of the time you also need to realize that you can’t buy success. Yes money can help because it can get you radio spots, advertising, managers and all of the rest of it, but you aren’t going to end up with the true success you want unless your songs are good and there is a real market niche for what you are trying to do. It’s happened countless times that bands have fallen apart because they though they could buy their way to the top, just as countless bands have quit the industry because they were hemorrhaging money every which way. It seems to me that no matter where you come form financially there is still a degree of tenacity that you need to have if you want to get anywhere and a willingness to give it all up in the name of rock and roll unless you want to to wind up facing the same struggles time after time.

As much as I don’t want to be a dick, there’s a certain degree of having to suck it up that’s going to need to be done anytime you try to proceed within the record industry. It’s like the tenacity I mentioned before, it sucks for everyone and unless you have truly astronomical amounts of money then things are going to suck for a really fucking long time and probably will never get better. Even if you do have an astronomical amount of money, you can’t force people to come out to shows and you can’t force people to buy your merch. You still have to look at the needs of the populace and consider the long term impact that they will have on your band and what you can do in order to adapt to that, it’s the name of the game.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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Music Business Sycophants And You

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Niche Gear Endorsements and You

Something my bands are always hounding me about is endorsement deals, it’s one of the trickiest things to do, and one which has a very real impact on your long term success as a band. Now I’ve written about this before, so this time I wanted to talk about something a little more angular and important, getting endorsements in niche markets and how that can be just as important for your band as playing a cool show, being a key figure in your scene, or any other number of things that you can do in order to increase your branding and prove that you are part of something greater than just your band and that people should stand up and respect you. I know this is a bit of a tricky thing to understand but it’s also going to change your future for the better, so it’s up to us to dive in and try to properly embrace all that it can entail.

Every scene has its nerds who love to build gear and who want to get the best possible tone and sounds. Obviously every band wants to sound as good as possible and who better to ask than these selfsame nerds who are so obsessed with the intricacies of the craft. Of course, underground music being the weird insular thing that it is means that these people sort of become heroes in the scene and people argue about who creates the gear that gives you the best sounds. So then a certain knowledge of this gear becomes a prerequisite for truly understanding a scene and working to create something that is truly substantive. This is in turn leads to a lot of niche companies forming which gets more and more people interested in the scene and if you can tap into these curators of a specific sound and get them to back your band then you end up with a sort of seal of approval that can end up helping you for years to come.

This clearly means that getting these endorsements is kind of a big deal and you need o find ways to facilitate them so that you can get these seals of approval and meet the veritable codes that define entry into your scene. In independent music it’s all about getting respect and acknowledgement, and this is an easy way to do it. So how do we get these seals of approval? First and foremost you should buy some gear from the company without any expectations. Just do it because you’re a fan and because you just want to work with the scene. Thank them for making some of your favorite bands sound the way they do and say that you’d like to sound like them too. Just initiate the dialogue and realize that that is exactly what these gear builders are doing it for, to facilitate some of the great art of our time. Once you’ve done that, and the shown how you are going to implement their gear, either by playing shows or recording with it then the door is open and you are on your way to a much bolder and brighter future with this whole thing.

As for the request itself that should be a low key thing, if you already have established a dialogue then asking for gear should be fairly easy, just a point of complimenting them and establishing your value. Then once they know who you are and that people actually fucking care then they are likely to toss a pedal your way. Just be aware that you can’t be entitled or annoying, don’t whine when you don’t get the exact pedal that you want or that they don’t give you everything you want. Instead be grateful for whatever you get, and if you get nothing then try and be understanding and appreciate what it means for you and what it can do to shape your future. It means that you’re not quite where these folks think you should be and if they are going to bless you with free stuff you’re not giving them quite enough to really justify moving forward, and that’s fine. This shouldn’t be taken as a setback but just another indicator in what you need to be working on in order to be taken seriously.

The big issue that a lot of bands seem to run in to is that they don’t understand that certain brands are just too big for them. The world of big gear companies is much more corporate than the world that they serve and this can be tricky for a lot of bands to understand. I know that this is frustrating because most people would rather have a Gibson guitar than one built by their friend John, but the one built by their friend John brings on a lot of benefits in and of itself, most importantly the tie that it implies with the local scene, which at the independent level is crucial. Don’t go out trying to get national level endorsements unless you are a free band, and don’t expect to get anything for free unless you are an asshole. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask for free things but it also means that you shouldn’t be surprised when you get told no.

Gear endorsements are a tricky thing, I mean asking for a discount on anything is a tricky thing, especially when that’s tied in with someone tying their companies name to you. If you end up being a nazi, how do you think the company will feel after all? It’s one of those things that’s based on being friendly and able to make connections and not be a mere peon like all the rest. You need to embrace what endorsements can do for you and then work to make sure that they benefit the company so that you can get more free stuff down the line. If you can’t do this and just act like a child then you have no right to complain, so grow a pair and embrace the bold future.

Independent Music Promotions’ (www.independentmusicpromotions.com) revolutionary music PR campaigns are the most effective in the industry. Submit your music to us today.

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