James Moore's Blog, page 68

New Flaming Lips=your day-tripping soundtrack of 2017

Presenting: the day-tripping album of 2017 — Oczy Mlody by the Flaming Lips. The album, released this past January,  carries the listener through many different universes, many different soundscapes with Wayne Coyne as the pinwheel-eyed pilot with smoke coming from his ears.

The album, the Lips’ fourteenth, starts with its title track, a daydreaming instrumental that paints clouds on the back of your eyelids. If you time the consumption of X, Y and Z correctly “How??” should be the pupil-expansion period, your forward-march step into the next realm. It’s a psychedelic call-to-arms with Coyne on the soapbox, echoed megaphone in hand. “Legalize it / Every drug / Right now,” he sings. “Are you with us? / Are you burning out?” Sweet spring leaks all over the room.

“There Should Be Unicorns” is a trip down the conveyor belt leading into Coyne’s head. A pre-set Bossa Nova Casio beat romps forward as spatial effects spew about. The psyche groove of “Nigdy Nie (Never No)” pushes the listener out like Sandra Bullock in Gravity, attached only to a rope, hanging, floating until the dirtiest, filthiest bass knocks the calm like propelling space debris.

Timpanis rumble with a low-key EDM shuffle on “One Night While Hunting for Faeries and Witches and Wizards to Kill.” Coyne sounds so far away, as if his voice is arriving late on a soundwave, through the pupil slowly. “Galaxy I Sink” prattles along with a toy drum marching beat and Coyne singing like a hypnotic child. Eventually orchestral sweeps unfurl sounding like the cinematic third-act ending to an film.

“Sunrise (Eyes of the Young)” and “The Castle” harken back to the washed-out beauty of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Soft Bulletin–pop music made of sunshine. Starchild Miley Cyrus shows up on the final track “We A Famly” singing a verse or two and backing up Coyne on the chorus. It strings along with a fledgling guitar and the power of pure positivity.

The Lips have been busy as ever releasing live albums and endless singles, giving Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a crusty brown acid facelift and collaborating with Miley Cyrus, but this is their first official album since 2009’s The Terror, a detour of mostly unlistenable keyboard sustain. Oczy Mlody is the Lips’ first truly great set of songs since their gold rush classic, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots from 2002.

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 “Prisoner” Ryan Adam Misses her like Candy

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In reading some reviews of Ryan Adams’ new album, Prisoner, released earlier this year, I saw one writer describe the cover as a self-portrait. Could be. But, really, I see two people embracing, one face-forward, one back, with an emotional finality.

These songs were written in the aftermath of Adams’ marriage to actress and singer Mandy Moore. If Ryan Adams, released in 2014, postulated on the circumstances that inevitably lead to their divorce, then Prisoner sees Adams in the empty, discolored days of solitude after the case was closed. Here he takes on the stages of grief song by song.

Prisoner opens up with the just-add-water classic first single, “Do You Still Love Me?” a song only Ryan Adams could muster with such perfection. An organ leaks into the track like sunlight across a windshield and leads to a three-hammer jab of  disgruntled guitar. The song is jolted each time it hits. The chorus finds Adams pleading desperately with the title’s question. He’s hoping against hope for a positive answer, but knows there are none. There could be no better way to start an album primarily focused on the separation of wife and husband.

There is a clouded Eighties lens over the sounds of these songs. The drums sound 25-feet in diameter. The guitarwork twangs like Johnny Marr and pasted in the background are thick “Streets of Philadelphia”-era Springsteen organs. Adams switches between an electric and an acoustic guitar. The harmonica takes its seat in the front for “Doomsday,” a rambling look back at a finished relationship. The drums are big and roll through with echoes.

Adams’ mumble buzz heavy on “Haunted House” as he paces the place where love once lived. The acoustic guitar strums with kitchen reverberation. “My friends all disappeared / They all got lost,” he sings. On “Shiver and Shake” Adams starts to regretfully accept his circumstances. His fingers barely drag across the guitar. The organ matches the tremble in his voice as he tries, woefully, to drag himself forward. “I miss you so much / I shiver and I shake,” he sings. “I’ve been waiting here like a dog at the door / You used to throw me scraps / You don’t do that anymore.”

On the sixth song, “To Be Without You,” at the halfway point of the album, Adams begins to make amends with the pain of his separation and starts to confront his new reality. The second half of the album continues with Adams lifting himself up with song. “Anything I Say To You Now,” “Breakdown” and “Tightrope,” with its streetlight saxophone moping along, are the best of these.

In Prisoner Ryan Adams has given the world another classic album to reach for in times of intense heartbreak (‘cause there’s never been a shortage of demand). He gets down the raw, misguided emotions that come when those feelings turn. Prisoner will heal anyone in distress as I’m sure it’s already been cried on by the millions.

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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So part of what I do is work as head of marketing at a mu...

So part of what I do is work as head of marketing at a music studio that my buddy runs. It’s a good studio, we have a lot of fun, party a lot, and record some good music with some very cool producers. The studio owner was looking to pick up some interns and thought it would be a good idea to try and get some from a well known local university. I was a bit hesitant, but hey, I need interns too and I can’t just keep going for teenagers in the scene, ya know? So I went with him with the hope of perhaps finding a kid of two who could maybe help us out. Now a few things to remember for context, I run a fairly successful management and consulting company with employees and interns of my own, am a college dropout and am only 21 years old. These kids didn’t know that of course and were just trying to find work after a flawed system told them that going to college for the music business was a better choice than just being a part of your scene and diving in with the hopes that you will figure out how to make it work.

College students are interesting to me. They’ve been told that if they get this piece of paper that will cost them literally hundreds of thousands of dollars then they will be able to get a good job. Meanwhile, me and the owner of the studio, who never even went to college, were sitting there, smelling like weed and booze, saying fuck a lot and listening to kids giving us their elevator pitch about who they were and their personal brands. While some were definitely pretty good and would make great candidates for these internship positions I felt like a lot of them were missing fundamental realities of the industry in a way that was, frankly, kind of sad. I mean, I’m only a few years removed from living in a crust punk house, and now I’m the kind of person who stands behind the table at job fairs while potential candidates beg to work for me for free. If that’s not a trip then I don’t fucking know what is.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the appeal of college if you’re trying to go into more traditional business ventures or obtain specialized information. I think that for a lot of people college is a great choice. It gives you a chance to mature and become an actual goddamn adult. That’s something I wish I had, rather than having to figure out a whole bunch of shit by the seat of my pants back when I did more cocaine than was good for me. College can be a very helpful thing if you know what you want to do with your degree and how you are going to obtain your goals. It theoretically allows you to skip some key paying your dues type aspects of whatever industry you might want to hop in so that you can walk into a comfortable salary, launching you to strata and connections you might not deserve because of hard work but rather where you went. In other words, it’s also a great breeding ground for classicism and the American aristocracy.

This seemed to be the issue that a lot of our potential interns had. They seemed to have pretty much no context for what the music industry actually entailed. They didn’t seem to understand that a lot of the bands we work with frequently play basements and are glad of it. They didn’t understand that a lot of our bands are influenced by weirdo punk acts they have ever even heard of. There was a general lack of depth of knowledge of the music that they purported to love. Maybe I’m just being a condescending dick, but in my experience most of the most successful people in the industry are the ones who have a thorough knowledge of the music and a strong place in the scene. That being said they also drove me to a realization that I am truly uncomfortable with and one that I don’t think many of us working on the DIY level even think about too often – though they didn’t realize it most of these kids weren’t trying to intern for people like us and didn’t even want to have a relationship with our sorts of companies.

What is easy to forget about when you make your name on being DIY and a part of a scene is that there is a whole world of non-indie music out there. There is a world of major labels that hire literally thousands of people and act as major players in the industry. Sure you and I might never deal with them but all of these kids thought that those were the kinds of positions they should be searching for, and you know what? They were right. The reason I’m excited to wake up every morning and work in music is because I love working with my favorite bands, partying hard and getting down and dirty with my homies. These kids didn’t want that. They weren’t trying to be a part of any sort of scene, they just wanted to engage in bigger events, more corporate structures and conventional career paths that allow for a clear way forward. That’s totally fine too – but for a dude raised on punk rock and gristle it’s hard to even cogitate wanting that lifestyle.

So perhaps one of my big takeaways from the job fair is that conventional industry jobs still disgust me and I should just avoid them. Moreover it made me realize that if you want to look for people who want to support the underground, then they aren’t going to be the ones going to college. They are going to be the ones who are running shows while working at a convenience store, the ones who gave it all up to tour with their favorite band so they could learn about the road, the ones who are literally starving but still trying to manage bands. Those are the people who push for it, the ones who throw caution to the wind and enjoy the very beautiful nature of human suffering when it comes to working your dream job. Figure it the fuck out because this is a very real struggle and if you’re not ready to take a hit your life is gonna suck.

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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Live Review: Wire at Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix

Lewis, Newman and Gotobed of Wire playing at the Crescent Ballroom. Photo by Eli Jace.

Wire’s tour in support of their new album, Silver/Lead, struck first in Phoenix, Arizona on March 28 at the Crescent Ballroom just days before its release.

Though the excitement in the room was palpable, it was a little unnerving to see such a sparse crowd for punk rock’s most influential outlier. Since their debut, and most celebrated, album Pink Flag hit stores in 1976 Wire have released multiple albums, each with a sound all their own. Silver/Lead is the the UK band’s sixteenth album.

After the openers the lights went low and the band members quietly ambled up onto the stage from a side room. Singer and guitarist Colin Newman, under the shade of his bucket hat, bassist Graham Lewis, drummer Robert Gotobed and guitarist Matthew Simms with combed flowing hair took their spots.

Drummer Gotobed. Photo by Eli Jace.

The set started off with Gotobed launching into his steady punk rock version of a Charlie Watts beat–consistent, stable, locked in place and unbending. The song was “Boiling Boy” off 1988’s A Bell Is A Cup… Until It Is Struck and it brought the movement of a train into a room. Guitars built up around the relentless beat creating an incredible progression of live sound. Simms, on the left, stomped on pedals and released squalls of feedback. Newman’s moss-covered vocal chords blended lowly into the mix.

Next were the new songs “Diamonds in Cups,” with a sparkly chorus and jagged guitars, the slow rolling “An Alibi,” “This Time” and later, the ghostly “Brio.” They reconstructed a large chunk of Silver/Lead. What a nice change to hear new music before it’s been released or leaked.

Anyone hoping to hear anything from the landmark works Pink Flag or 154 would have to settle for the quick sixty seconds from the former’s “Three Girl Rhumba,” inserted early on between the new songs. The big regret there being unborn in London fifty years ago. Wire remained in the present playing mostly songs from this century.

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 Bands Do Wrong With Bandcamp

Bandcamp is simultaneously one of the most important and least understood aspects of the modern music industry. While on the one hand it certainly is a major boost to the music economy, especially for independent bands I get the distinct impression that most bands don’t understand the full potential of Bandcamp. They also have kickass editorials I want to look into the potent magic of Bandcamp and start to guide you guys along to figuring out what needs to be done in order to get the most bang for your buck when using this service. It’s something that can drive your work to brave new heights, but a resource of such massive potential that to ignore all that it could do for you is functionally shooting yourself in the foot. I’ve met many artists who make their living almost exclusively off of Bandcamp, and this is exactly what drives so many labels to use it almost exclusively and what inspires the masses to become so deeply invested in what Bandcamp has to offer.

First off is the importance of things being totally pay what you will. While evidence seems to suggest that if you make it totally free you will get more downloads, having it be pay what you want assures that assuming your music and marketing isn’t godawful you should be getting at least a little money. It’s the sort of thing that can help you subtly generate enough income to maybe get a few van repairs or perhaps another run of CD’s. Putting your stuff up for pay what you want on Bandcamp is a great way to help get your music onto peoples desktops and other solid state devices. Sure most things are streaming oriented but downloads still hold a significant part of the market and you need to be able to tap into that and help people have easier access to your work. Remember at the end of the day – Bandcamp is all about facilitating access to your band.

I think one of the main things that most bands don’t seem to even realize is that you can sell your bands merchandise through Bandcamp. Not only that but you can do it at a preferential 10% rate as opposed to the normal 15% rate that most bands have (Until of course they reach $5,000 in digital sales) Selling your merch on Bandcamp has actually replaced many bands webstores. It simply makes more sense, after all – it all fits onto one page that simultaneously showcases your music. If you can’t get behind that then you are once again – just shooting yourself in the foot. Considering that most webstores cost money to run, this is actually a cheaper option for most bands involved since they probably aren’t making back their monthly fee in merch sales every month. Bandcamp provides a mostly free alternative that keeps your price per piece a helluva lot more reasonable. It’s just another way that they help to create a better future.

Tied into this is the subscription model that Bandcamp has. While I think this was probably more intended for hip hop and rap artists who can regularly drop massive amounts of tracks there certainly is validity for any rock band that is able to produce a large amount of singles for whatever reason. This also is a great model for labels to use in order to ensure a certain base income. If you can come up with a model that makes sense for your band for a subscription method then you are going to start finding a very real success. I think that a lot of the bands who launch these usually have large back catalogs and the incentive for signing up is that you get the back catalog for free. If you’re in a situation like that too it can help you to create a nice little boost in income. Knowing these little tips and tricks on their own probably can’t bring your bands financial realities to a whole new level, but the combined assault tends to be surprisingly helpful.

So why is it that bands never seem to be able to take advantage of even these three fairly basic features of the platform? Well it is simply because they don’t spend enough time with the scene, checking out bands who have been able to really capitalize on this whole thing, and not only that but figuring out that if you just read the Bandcamp blog you are going to wind up with a much greater chance of making a whole bunch of money. Don’t think that anything is guaranteed though. For example – if your music sucks and the rest of your marketing is awful then you’re not going to find any sort of reliable way forward. By the same token, you have to be going out there and promoting the fuck out of your Bandcamp. What many bands do is they reinvest all of their Bandcamp record sales back into promoting the Bandcamp and consequently their Facebook page. This leads to greater long term triumphs and allows them to grow even when they aren’t touring.

At the end of the day, Bandcamp is not an especially difficult thing to understand. It’s a service that helps bands move their music in more effective ways but also lets fans subscribe for regular content and buy merch. It’s a straightforward and frankly kind of beautiful system that has been able to make massive economies of scales and find a way forward as an independent music seller in an industry that seems to be pushing more towards monopoly with every passing day. Not only that but their blog frequently suggests great music and helps you find a way towards making your Bandcamp even more effective. If you can’t start to get behind everything that these guys represent then maybe there never was a place for you in the world of independent music.

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 How To Get The Most Out Of Patreon

 

I think one of the single best things that a band can do in order to promote themselves is to exploit the true power of Patreon. There is a way to use it that I think very few other people fully realize or are willing to put the effort in to make happen. You simply need to put together a few individual thought processes that are rarely properly combined. First of all – you ne to realize that your band is a brand. We’ve talked about this one before, but it means if your band is brand you need to be able to provide things auxiliary to music. You also need to realize that while some bands certainly have launched a Patreon for their work they haven’t actually changed how they release content as a band. That is to say – they still only put out an album every two years and play a hundred shows a year. Sure know they might have some exclusive merch, but even that isn’t too special. So what does a band gotta do to make a Patreon that doesn’t suck and can even work at low levels?

Now I put a lot of thought into this. Bigger bands that do Patreon can get away without hcanging their content model and just doing exclusive merch but that’s not really feasible for your band with a few thousand Facebook likes. So what you do is look at other arts industries that are more Patreon dependent and see what you can do to copy from them. What you find is that the people who create successful Patreons are in the business of releasing regular content, frequently weekly or even daily. Obviously you can’t release a new song every week, but there are other types of content you can create. For example my clients in the band Starkill have been creating funny videos related to band life. The videos are high quality and filmed in their studio. Sure there was a high initial investment, but isn’t that the case for most things that actually end up making money? This is where things get interesting.

Suddenly Starkill are raking in enough to boost their Facebook ads significantly, since starting a Patreon they have been able to more than double their advertising budget. This has created recursive feedback because the more they advertise the more people are going to find out about their Patreon and the more people find out about their Patreon the more money they will make. Suddenly you go from just being some asshole with a Youtube channel to someone creating branded content that helps to fund what you truly love to do – your music. You have made the next step in making your music a brand and not just some assholes begging for cash. You are providing concrete and solid content in return for payment, and the best part is the bulk of the stuff isn’t hidden behind a paywall, so people can start to dig in before they wind up being invested. Suddenly content models for bands are radically altered and the music, while the centerpiece, is no longer obligated to be the regular income generator.

This is perfect for bands like Starkill who relied for a long time on touring income. Then when they have a string of bad luck with agents screwing them out of tours and tours being canceled they know that there is still money coming into the band account and helping them to grow their presence. Remember that and realize that when it comes down to it, being able to get your shit in front of a million people is a key. The key to remember is that you’re not asking for money for your music but you are asking for money to facilitate your creation of music. It’s a subtle difference but one that implies that you are giving something beyond just forty five minutes of pretty sounds every 700 days. I know that sounds really bitter, but when you look at it, and you realize that this gives you a chance to develop not just your band but the entirety of your lifestyle then suddenly the hard work that goes into this alternative Patreon model seems a lot more worth it.

Realize too that you don’t just need to create videos or art or anything of that nature. While those mediums certainly provide a lot of flexibility there are other pieces of content you can tie in. For example my clients in Pilgrim are creating role playing game content in order to generate income. Then they, like Starkill, plan on including all sorts of fun band content in order to tie things back into the band. As much as they might enjoy creating the Patreon content I think it’s key to keep the band at the forefront because that way you are keeping your eyes on the prize. It’s great too when you can do something like Pilgrim and find way to create content that ties right into your bands brand. Another idea would be for a video game centric band to release a new level of a game they are creating every week. I know that’s high falutin’ but I think you see where I’m trying to go with all of this – this is how you monetize your marketing.

At the end of the day – figuring out how to make money with your godawful band is always going to be hard and a lot of these Patreons require a tooon of upfront work or a huge up front investment in order to create something that gives you income down the line. This isn’t exactly something that you can quickly throw together just because you feel like it. You also can’t just imitate lot of the bullshit bigger bands do. You need to find a consistent way to fund your content and then be able to use that in order to keep things driving forward and taking advantage of bold new horizons that can fund your band and allow you to reach heights that you never before thought possible. Patreon is the future if you do it 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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Scene Leadership And You

Every scene has leaders, on a local level, a regional one and even national and international levels. That’s just a huge part of how independent music works, there are people out there who provide guidance to their preferred genre, giving up their lives for the music and often sacrificing their own health and financial resources in the name of the music they love. That’s how anyone has ever gotten big, is by working with these leaders, these tastemakers and finding ways to work together to create some truly powerful stuff. However people seem to have a lot of issue with scene leaders and often try to tear them down and create hate pages. The music industry often feels like a high school, and it’s things like this that only serve to tear down the scene that I thought we were working together to create. In light of a few recent events I wanted to look into the role scene leaders have and what we can do to help them and by extension grow our own bands.

I think the first thing that most people just getting involved in a particular music scene find is that scene leaders get hated on a lot. They get hated on more than managers or other industry people too largely because other industry people tend to be quieter, while scene leaders are out trying to be architects for a larger community. Of course people get upset when they think someone is trying to lead them and they don’t think that person is totally qualified, often because said person is LGBTQ, non-white or y’know, a woman. Other times scene leaders sometimes say cantankerous shit just because they are tired of dealing with your bullshit. I’m not defending anything a scene leader might say ,but sometimes I feel like I get it. When it comes down to it, the people who are trying to give the most to the scene are routinely the most shit upon and this leads to some greater long term issues in terms of development of the music you love.

It’s easy to get into a scene and look up to the people who tend to direct the whole thing and wonder how they got there. I think the immediate question many people have is why they can’t be at the top like some of these scene leaders, especially if they have been involved with the music for longer. In my view it’s easy to ignore all of the hard work those people did, the shows they promoted and the articles they wrote in order to be among the best and the brightest. It’s easy to forget that to be a scene leader is to dedicate your life and your sanity to the name of something far greater than yourself. It’s to sit down and realize that you will never have normalcy. Now a lot of people who don’t lead the scene can claim to have all those attributes – but I’ve found many of them have never really sat down and thought about it. Do you really stay up late every night honing your craft and giving back? Or are you just smoking weed with your buddies in bands? Those are the sorts of questions you need to be asking yourself.

The other thing to remember is the scene leaders gave up their lives for this crazy thing we call music for a reason. They are probably super nice and supportive of new bands. They probably go out of their way to give new bands shows or to write articles about upcoming releases. Scene leaders got to where they are by having their fingers on the pulse and if your band is remotely good then sending it over to one of them should be helpful. I mean a lot of these people are busy, but message enough and you might strike gold. Don’t be offended if you don’t get the coverage you want though, remember that these people are busy and if you go out of your way to insult them or express frustration then you are entirely missing the point of their years of effort on the behalf of people like you, people who just want their bands to be even remotely successful. I know that sounds harsh but these are the realities we must face.

So what does it take to be able to network with he scene leaders who can help to rocket your band to popularity? Well a lot of it is simply taking the time to figure out ways to help them fight the destructive people and collaborating. I would almost advise against hitting up scene leaders directly and instead letting them com to you after they have been impressed with your work ethic. People who are invested in heavy music know what’s going on and they can tell when a band has been putting in the effort required to contribute to the scene in a meaningful way. Sometimes you just need to grind it out until folks start to take notice. I guarantee though that some of the first people to notice will be these scene leaders and they will want to collaborate on something greater. As long as you prove you are a positive force and can be reasonable and friendly the world will start to find a sustainable path forward.

It’s 20% of the people in the scene who do 80% of the work, but it’s really only the top 1% or so who really matter. This is not an easy lifestyle, nor is it one that makes a ton of sense for most people to get involved in. To become a big fish in the relatively small pond that is a given music scene takes a lot of hard work and it gives you a minimal reward. Most people who could be viewed as ‘scene bosses’ still have day jobs after all. Yet for them things are worth it and there is a consistent path forward. As long as you want to actively be a part of this and help to develop a system for everyone that is sustainable then your scene leaders will come to you. There are plenty of Hard Times articles joking about the scene elders – why not become one?

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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New Flaming Lips: your Day-tripping Soundtrack of 2017

Presenting: the day-tripping album of 2017 — Oczy Mlody by the Flaming Lips. The album, released this past January,  carries the listener through many different universes, many different soundscapes with Wayne Coyne as the pinwheel-eyed pilot with smoke coming from his ears.

The album, the Lips’ fourteenth, starts with its title track, a daydreaming instrumental that paints clouds on the back of your eyelids. If you time the consumption of xxx correctly “How??” should be the pupil-expansion period, your forward-march step into the next realm. It’s a psychedelic call-to-arms with Coyne on the soapbox, echoed megaphone in hand. “Legalize it / Every drug / Right now,” he sings. “Are you with us? / Are you burning out?” Sweet spring leaks all over the room.

“There Should Be Unicorns” is a trip down the conveyor belt leading into Coyne’s head. A pre-set Bossa Nova Casio beat romps forward as spatial effects spew about. The psyche groove of “Nigdy Nie (Never No)” pushes the listener out like Sandra Bullock attached only to a rope in Gravity, hanging, floating until the dirtiest, filthiest bass knocks the calm like propelling space debris.

Timpanis rumble with a low-key EDM shuffle on “One Night While Hunting for Faeries and Witches and Wizards to Kill.” Coyne sounds so far away, as if his voice is arriving late on a soundwave, through the pupil slowly. “Galaxy I Sink” prattles along with toy drum marching beat and Coyne singing like a hypnotic child. Eventually orchestral sweeps wash in sounds like the cinematic third-act ending to an film.

“Sunrise (Eyes of the Young)” and “The Castle” harken back to the washed-out beauty of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Soft Bulletin–pop music made of sunshine. Starchild Miley Cyrus shows up on the final track “We A Famly” singing a verse or two and backing up Coyne on the chorus. It strings along with a fledgling guitar and the power of pure positivity.

The Lips have been busy as ever releasing live albums and endless singles, giving Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a crusty brown acid facelift and collaborating with Miley Cyrus, but this is their first official album since 2009’s The Terror, a detour of mostly unlistenable keyboard sustain. Oczy Mlody is the Lips’ first truly great set of songs since their gold rush classic, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, in 2002.

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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How To Grow Your Fanbase One Person At A Time

Now I write a lot about personalized marketing, but I think that one of the issues with that is we often view that purely as face to face marketing when it really isn’t just that, it’s so much more. There’s a lot of weird math that you need to breakdown which can open up your options for what your band can do for you. The music industry can be a surprisingly easy thing if you take your time and look at how you like to get marketed thing. You need to look at things from a variety of perspectives and have a realistic view of yourself. This is why figuring out a plethora of ways to capitalize on personal interactions is going to be able to launch your band to a new level. The key to remember is that at a low level no one cares about you, so if you can become a part of a greater scene then you will start to find a better future for your work.

Look at it this way, if you are trying to promote your band you can either go out and buy a ton of likes or do a huge sponsored post that targets a bunch of fans of ‘rock’ music but how much of that would actually convert? Sure you can tell yourself ‘maybe some people will legitimately fall in love with the music but we all know the amount of effort expended and the money spent isn’t really wort it. You’re just shooting yourself in the foot because it makes any social media following you have seem illegitimate which in turn makes promoters, labels and agents paranoid about working with you. But as much as I might make it seem like this is all nihilistic social media is still a great way to reach out to people. Before I go on, also realize that sponsored posts are a key part to any social media plan, but also be aware that they are not the be all and end all. Rather they are another part of a larger plan that you need to put together.

When it comes down for it it’s all about creating personal relationships with people by following them on Twitter, commenting on Instagram and generally engaging people directly. You are going to get a lot farther by being a nice guy on Facebook then you are by doing a bunch of sponsored posts. The people who dominate in this scene are the ones who realize that they need to interact with one potential new fan every day and one band they could work with every day. This is a lot simpler than I’m making it sound too. A lot of the time it’s as simple as adding a band member on Facebook and telling them their music is sick. Hell – even just commenting on a few of their posts will probably get them to check you out. For example, I made all of my connections by writing literally thousands of reviews, now it has paid off dividends in my favors because I was able to become a part of a greater thing.

I think that when you are devising your social media strategy you need to realize a few key aspects of how underground music scenes tend to work. First of all – pretty much everyone involved isn’t trying to be a professional musician. Now I know that seems obvious but consider that the next time you put out an ad or try to figure out how to make you band big. Most people are in this because they want to make friends and become a part of something greater. They are not trying to figure out the most ‘professional presentation’ whatever the hell that means. Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t present yourself professionally but it also means that you need to approach people in a way that is actually going to make things happen. You’re often not going to get very far by sending a wordy email with lots of links. But if you send a simple “Hello” after adding someone as a friend you have a much higher chance of getting a response that ends up being productive.

Be aware that reaching out directly to fans is usually very different from reaching out to bands, unless of course you operate in a scene where most people are musicians. It’s tricky reaching out to people personally because it’s hard to tell how engaged they are in the scene. On the one hand there is a lot of potential with fans who view musicians as rock stars because they like the personal outreach. This is often helpful for pop music where the fans, especially on the entry level tend to be a little more naive. On the other hand though you need to be careful to not talk down to people because it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that they are far more deeply involved in th scene then you are so you being a condescending dick will fuck you over. That’s why the cult of the rock star needs to die because in a world where no one has any influence then those with even a smidgen of it become gatekeepers for us all. The thing is – once you get the bite THEN you blow them away with good content and professionalism. But getting that bite isn’t going ot happen becaus you paid someone.

At the end of the day – early on you’re only going to be playing for your friends. But that’s how you prove your worth, by being god enough that people who openly admit to liking you come out to see your music. Obviously you want to make as many friends as possible for this sort of thing because you are going to want to be a part of a greater collective. You need to go out an contribute in a way that is actually valid and isn’t just self serving bullshit. The folks who understand that this attitude needs to also extend to social media with developing personal relationships and remaining a friendly and positive contributor to the music are the ones who are going to find a way forward. If you can’t embrace this then things will go south fast.

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 I learned From South By Southwest

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So I’m on my way back from SXSW, surrounded by dudes with their instruments and wondering about the sheer bizarre majesty of it all. The festival is simultaneously the most clued in and clueless thing that I have ever attended leaving me with countless questions about the event but also having taught me a lot about where the music industry is these days. There’s a lot to pick apart with the inherent beauty and magic of a festival of this scale. While I see exciting opportunities unfolding before me I also have to wonder if we were all lost from the start. We need to understand what this greatest of industry events can mean for us and help us to figure out a way forward within the sturggle that these events can represent. In a world of high costs, lots of money up for grabs and unique corporate opportunities South By is an anomaly.

So I think the first thing that struck me when I was there was the sheer power that corporate accounts have when it comes to SXSW, even for unofficial showcases. One showcase I attended was clearly throwing around at least thirty thousand dollars and it was put together just by some industry folks I know from Brooklyn! These guys were fairly high level but it isn’t like they are throwing together massive events every week. It was cool to see some dudes I normally hang out with in crowded bars throwing around massive amounts of cash. Good for them of course, but also, think about what this means for the underground scene. Even fairly low level bands with a few tens of thousands of Facebook fans were commanding five figure guarantees just because they knew the right people. I know that’s out of the reach of most bands, but also realize that these numbers are easily up to ten times what these bands normally receive, just because it’s South By Southwest.

Of course this isn’t going to be relevant to your band. Your band is struggling just to play small shows in front of a few dozen people, even at home. Well South By is interesting because it allows you to tap into broader markets. Sure a lot of these events, even for big bands are underattended, simply because so much is going on, but you also can count on getting to play in front of a new group of fans who probably fit into your target demographic, especially if you find the right people and are able to perform a few times over the course of the festival. I know it’s a lot to be asking for especially since most SXSW events don’t pay, especially the unofficial ones, but it’s perhaps the best way to access new fans and maybe meet one or two industry people who will be able to help you a little further down the line. If nothing else – showing you have that initiative is a good thing and can help you meet other bands willing to make similar sacrifices.

Now it’s important to realize what South By Southwest is not. It is not a place where major labels are going to go to try and sign new bands, unless of course those bands somehow managed to get on a major official showcase. In fact, SXSW is becoming less and less of an industry thing and more of a fan oriented thing with every passing year. That’s a huge part of why the festival has become more and more sponsor oriented. Sure it started out as an industry event but now it’s just for people who love music. This is great if you’re trying to access those fans, but don’t think you’re going to stumble into a record deal because of it. A lot of bands will spend hundreds of dollars to travel to play free showcases at SXSW to few people with the impression that at least those few people are folks of importance – trust me, odds are they are not.

That being said – the networking potential of SXSW should not be underestimated. If you can go to an event where you know for a fact some industry people will be you are doing okay. But that’s not really the point. The point is similar to networking at any festival – figure out who will be there ahead of time, message them well in advance, offer to buy them alcohol and then become their best friend. The difference is just that at South By Southwest the scale is significantly larger. This is an event that you can’t deny yourself of on a networking scale but one that is also easy to fuck up. You need to realize that South By Southwest is so goddamn busy that at least half of your planned interactions aren’t going to work out. That’s just because people are busy. If you can accept that and the absurd majesty of the entire thing hen you might make some serious steps forward. In a world where evidently no one gives two shits, South By brings together at least some of the people who care.

At the end of the day SXSW probably isn’t going to make or break your career. You can use it to improve your connections and but it’s rare you are going to create new and exciting ones. However if half of the industry is just perception and the power of showing up then you might as well give it a shot. While I certainly am excited about some of what I have learnt and some of what I think this week will allow me to bring to the table I also am trying to be cautious, you don’t want to throw the baby with the bathwater but instead use every new opportunity you get in this industry as another step forward in an inexorable trek towards a future that could very well save the whole world, from tip to taint.

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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