James Moore's Blog, page 80

Please Stop Expecting A Paycheck In The Music Industry

The music industry is built on free labor. I mean every industry is to some degree, but I don’t really want to get into an argument about Keynesian economics right now. All that matters is that you need to appreciate that this entire thing is built on volunteer work and to feel or believe otherwise is really just setting yourself up for disappointment. Nobody is trying to give out money, and as a matter of fact nobody was ever giving out money in this industry in the first place, no matter what anyone tells you. The music industry is going to require you to work for free for years before you see any measure of success. You can’t just expect things to work out, your profile needs to grow and you need to look at yourself and fully respect the fact that everyone you see with major roles in this world worked for free for years in order to get to where they are at right now. The worst part is that for most people it never actually gets beyond that – it never really gets better – before we continue, I’m sorry.

I know I’ve written articles like this before, but I can’t tell you how frustrated I get with people asking for a quick buck after doing music type things for only a year or two. I mean – I know that that sounds like a lot of time to some of you and that you can start making money in other industries a lot sooner than that – but guess what? This isn’t other industries. This is music, where everything is a nightmare and finding your way forward can be a total disaster. There’s a ton of people trying to find their way in after all. So the music industry is a titanic struggle, a march forward into a world where we are all apparently doomed. People seem to think that they can expect a paycheck, but the fact of the matter is that I still do a ton of stuff for free and most of your favorite artists probably aren’t making any money at what they are doing. It’s not your fault and it’s nothing that could can control – it’ just a world of hurt, especially when you try to do things with any sort of underground legitimacy.

I just want to point out to emphasize wasn’t ‘better back in the day’ either. There were still countless fanzines that paid nothing and that could barely afford to keep in print (And it was crappy black and white, non glossy stuff too). I know a lot of those get romanticized nowadays, but things from our collective mispent youth always get romanticized. The people writing for all those punk zines that are getting reprinted as coffee table books for yuppies who want to stay cool aren’t getting paid and they weren’t being paid back in the day. They were doing it because they loved it and understood that there was something of value in the music industry. Very few of them would ever end up in the pages of even a minor mag like Creem. We’re talking about independent music. Sure the bar for entry is lower, but so is the payscale. I mean – the main difference between then and now is that it is a lot easier to get your work out there.

One might think that having so many bands music industry professionals suffocates the market and dilutes the money. As it happens – it’s quite the opposite effect. It means that more money is consolidated in fewer individuals. There are so few people who have reliably proven that they are trustworthy that those people end up getting all of the power because most of us simply can’t afford to put our money into anyone else. It’s people who have worked at this for years and proved they deserve it. This is part of why it’s so hard for people to break into the industry. They aren’t one of those trusted individuals. They haven’t shown that they are legitimate and haven’t say down and accepted with earnest innocence the sublime suffering that this industry is going to drown you in time and time again. They have yet to appreciate how grim the future is if they want to make their money doing this.

So how do you prove your legitimacy? Well simply doing stuff for free. Doing stuff for free and being good at it. Doing stuff for free, being good at it and being nice while you do it. None of these things are hard, you just need to prove that you are an active member of the scene and do that for years and years. I know that sounds ridiculous, but do you want this? No matter how great you are, there are always people who are better than you people who have done more and people who are more knowledgeable. You’re competing with those people and the knowledge that a lot of those people aren’t making any money. A lot of it comes down to business acumen and being someone that people want to be around. I know that sounds easy, but you’d be surprised how few people actually understand what it’s all about. It’s a living nightmare and one that you will constantly have to contest with.

So please, stop bitching about how you’re not getting paid. It’s impossible to get paid and if you’re dumb enough to bitch about a lack of money then you’re probably dumb enough not to realize that this whole thing can be futile. Dumb enough to think that one day you will somehow luck into a six figure job doing this bullshit. You’re not going to. The whole thing hurts, the whole thing is sacrifice and dedication and finding yourself. If you can’t accept that the music industry is brutal and that it takes more than a few dozen articles and ‘passion’ to get far then you are fucked. Passion never got anyone anywhere – it’s acting on that passion and showing that you can help us to create a better tomorrow.

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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Bands Still Can Explode Out Of Nowhere: The Surprising Reality

There is a myth in music today that it takes years to build up from the underground in order to become a big band. You might be saying “Sure folks like Bieber can come up out of nowhere but they are pop stars with big money behind them, my tiny indie band can’t blow up like that!” And I mean yeah – the odds are you can’t. The odds are it’s going to take you years to get to a point where your band is sustainable, and if it ever makes you any money for your own benefit then you should count yourself as lucky. The point being – your band can get to a point where you are being flown out for gigs and getting in all of the hip magazines – and surprisingly quickly at that! It just requires a lot of personal investment, not just financially but also work-wise, being willing to give everything up for the dream and being willing to dive into anything.

I know it seems unlikely, but just look at a band like Ghost. I remember just a few years ago when only Radio Fenriz was hyping them, five years on and they have won a Grammy and just last month I saw them play a festival show to fifty thousand people. Obviously there is a giant apparatus behind the band that stemmed out of their half a million dollar advance in 2010 for their debut record, but still they proved that if you know the right people then it isn’t unrealistic for a band to go from nobodies to arena fillers in just a few years. This works on a more underground level too. Chrch are currently asleep in my living room – those guys only formed up in 2013, put out their only release a little over a year ago. They have already toured Europe and just got flown out to do a small handful of East Coast dates – and they’re not even playing easily accessible music! So yes – it IS possible to go out and reach beyond to better your band and your future in a very short period of time.

The main thing to be aware of is that the bands who do this are generally bands that have at least one member with a background in the music industry. They are probably local promoters or booking agents so they already have the connections in order to make their band explode. The process of finding these connections is a huge part of why it takes so many bands so long to get off the ground. As I’ve always said on this blog, networking is the key to everything and if you have someone in your band who does that in the music industry for a living and who has proven that they are worth working with then you’re off to a good start. You need to remember that in the music industry everything is about proving your legitimacy and showing that you are not going to screw people over. That’s something that not even a manager can necessarily bring to the table all the time, since there is still that degree of separation from the band.

Legitimacy in the scene is great and all, but you also have to admit the obvious, the bands who explode quickly are the ones who are damn good. Take Pallbearer for example. They went from basement shows to playing three hundred person clubs basically on the strength of one Pitchfork review. Of course the review was of one of the best doom metal albums of all time. They didn’t have any members who were especially involved in the industry but they were nice guys who had a hell of a product and knew it. Even the bands who have major industry connections going into the whole thing have some really solid music. The aforementioned Chrch are one of my favorite doom bands in the world and I have written many a piece referencing their future greatness. At the same time – their main dude is also the main metal booker in Sacramento which helps – a lot. It’s just one of those things you can’t skimp out on, and though it sounds obvious you’d be shocked at the number of people who think they can get realistic sustained success on the strength of connections alone.

Rocketing to success isn’t always a good thing by the way. I know a lot of bands who once faced with everything they thought they wanted wish that they had had a slower path to the top and could have had a little more time to figure themselves out and their personal dynamics out. It’s obviously very difficult to go from being a local level act to a major touring band. The level of musicianship and maturity required is hard to get quickly and that’s what drives a lot of these bands to only be one hit wonders – being in a major band is a hard thing and you have to really be ready for it if you want to go in and not end up just suffering and having your dream cruelly ruined for you. Sometimes it’s a good thing that it takes years for your band to get off the ground because it means that you have a chance to get closer to your bandmates and figure out those important relationships. It’s a case of being careful what you wish for – and sometimes what looks like the dream can actually end up being hell.

So yes – success can be a lot closer than you think – especially if you associate your band with the right people an have the right band members working to take on the world. Success is not this weird nebulous thing that you will never be able to access – rather it is an opportunity that lies just beyond the horizon, and the only thing that’s keeping you from getting there is yourself. If you are willing to put the time, money and networking in then you too can get onto these huge tours. It’s just the building up of the network and establishing the financial backing to do all of these things that holds most bands back. If you have a product that you truly believe in though and one that other people seem to love then what are you waiting for? It will be worth it. You might as well seize the bull by the horns and dive into your bold and terrifying 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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What The Technology Gap Means For Your Indie Band

The technology gap, that is to say, the difference between say a Brooklyn hipsters knowledge of technology versus his grandmother in the south of France’s, is one of the biggest issues that people are going to have to deal with in the next fifteen to twenty years. Eventually it will start to go away as technology gets more ubiquitous (or becomes ungodly to deal with) but for now, we all have to realize that dealing with folks who have different levels of understanding of technology is a fundamental problem in +9*96the music industry – especially when you have a lot of legendary figures out there who don’t quite know how to send an email (Is that a money making opportunity? You should be the judge of that) The point being – you need to embrace it and realize that it can affect the industry on just about every level. I want to take a deeper look at it in order to give you and your band some ideas how to deal with this and even use it to your advantage.

The main way that you are going to see the technology gap impacting your band is with older people. There are a lot of folks out there over the age of fifty who spent their time gigging while their peers were learning about social media. They know a lot, but they can’t communicate it in the modern context. I’ve learned that you need to be careful with what you assume other people are capable of and be willing to step in. I mean, if you think about it technology can be very intimidating for an older person and you need to be sympathetic. Being willing to do those kinds of things and be a servant is going to make people like you because it shows that you’re not too high to do even frustrating grunt work. If these people can properly handle an email you should count yourself lucky. I’m not trying to talk down – merely lowering expectations. You need to be willing to work with anything because sometimes you get a veritable legend who just needs help with his technology and when you do that you will be able to help guide them to the next level.

You can actually see this in action among celebrities all the time. Cracked.com editor in chief Jack O’Brien often talks about his theory that famous people lose track of technology the year that they get a personal assistant. That’s how I regularly find myself talking to famous musicians and having to explain what social media is. It’s easy to get lost in the world of bands where everyone is sharing tips about Facebook followers and optimizing their Bandcamps appearance and forget that a lot of people out there have a hard time with technology, and a lot of those people are the very same who hold a lot of power in the industry and recorded some of your favorite songs. It can be a struggle to deal with those people sometimes, simply because their mindset is so different, but if you crack them, you know what you are going to be able to do great things.

The tech gap is problematic because it also is a class issue – even if you don’t want to admit it. The fact of the matter is that most poor people don’t have iPhones or Facebook or any of that stuff. Other people opt out of it by choice, there are more of those than you might expect. This can impact you on several levels. First of all it’s just a warning to be careful when dealing with anyone that you shouldn’t assume technological literacy. It also means that depending on your location in the world alternative methods of promotion, outside of the internet realm can be extremely valuable. For example in the crust punk friendly city of Philadelphia people promote primarily with fliers because so few people who define the scene are regularly involved in Facebook and other social media promotions. You can’t just assume that because you primarily find out about shows and whatnot through Facebook that your peers will too – it’s part of why you need a holistic approach to promotion.

This is one of those things that’s interesting to think about because it reaches so far beyond just the music industry, even if the lens of the music industry is how we are choosing to view it in this article. It’s important for the future of mankind too, just consider how we will move forward in a world where most of the population doesn’t have internet, but for those of us who are the wealthiest have a hard time imagining life without it. Then realize that only 74% of American households have internet and only 72% have Facebook with the number being lower for other forms of social media. Obviously a lot of the people who don’t have internet are going to be outside of your target demographic but still – just consider that as you move forward and try to figure out the best way to promote your shows. The technology gap is this weird pervasive thing that very few of us even bother to talk about.

In short – keep this in mind. I know it’s something that you think will never affect you, but then suddenly you find yourself accessing audiences who never have found out about shows via the internet and making money and you kind of have to sit back and smile. Sure it’s a shrinking portion of the market and you shouldn’t dedicate ton of time to it, unless your target demographic is primarily senior citizens, but I think you see the appeal. It’s something that most bands don’t think of and a career opportunity that is not really taken advantage of enough. You can build something great by being patient and kind – you just need to take the time to do it and have that heart of service.

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 Albums And Your Indie Band

Live albums are back in fashion. For a long time they had been a relic of the past, but lately it seems like everybody and their brother has been putting out live records. Never more than this past year have I had so many live albums come to me for review. As a matter of fact – before 2016 I can’t recall getting promo material for more than five true live albums . Now I find myself with a handful every month. So why is it that apparently every band, big or small has been taking advantage of their live excellence lately in order to put out live records? Well when you start to pick the whole thing apart you realize that the reasons for having a live album almost outweigh the reasons to go and put out a studio record. The industry is changing, and the newfound dominance of the live album might be a key factor in the twenty first century. Whether this is for better or for worse is really up to you and the bands, more than anyone else.

First and foremost – I think it’s important to remember that there is a certain romance to the live album. A lot of fans live in places that the band can’t afford to go, or simply refuses to go. Giving them a live album is going to satisfy a section of your potential market for whom the live experience was otherwise just a fantasy. Furthermore – if your live show is really that good then you are also going to sell some to people stoked after seeing you at shows, as well as people who think back to your shows and want to relive that experience. The same goes for live DVDs, or even better, the combination live album and live DVD, but more on that later. It’s a bit of a gamble given that you really need to evaluate before diving into, but it’s also one that requires relatively little money to dive into. This is where we start to see how exciting things can get in the triumphant world of live albums.

The beauty of the live album is that these days they require virtually nothing to record nowadays. All you need is a friendly sound engineer and a top notch Tascam recorder which, odds are, your friendly sound engineer will already own. The mixing should probably be there, but in all honesty, if you have a good sound guy, it will already be done – and for free. As a matter of act, if you are at the level that you should consider making a live album then you should even be able to handle one of your main costs – printing the actual CDs and vinyl – with the money from the guarantee, meaning that now you only have to worry about the expenses from PR. In other words – you’re almost printing money. This is perhaps one of the most profitable type of releases that you could ever put together. Of course – not everyone can pull it off.

So how do you know that your band is ready to pull off a live record? Well first of all you need people out there who rave about our live performances and who make a point of seeing you live. You need to be on a level that you can our regularly and get regular positive live press. You need to be a band who have a reputation for leaving it all out on the floor – but if you want to be successful well you kind of need that anyway. Note though that this does not mean that you necessarily need to be a big band. Some bands just do a lot better in a live setting. Some bands, if they don’t do things live would actually have more issues. For example the first time that I truly understood Mothership was when they put out their live record, Live Over Freak Valley using the exact same Tascam method I previously discussed.

Think about what appeals to you the most about your favorite live records. It’s probably the raw energy and the crowd noise. The fact that it captures a moment in time that will never be had again, a moment that you maybe got to be a part of. The record that really got me into heavy music was Iron Maiden’s brilliant live release Rock In Rio and to this day it gives me goosebumps. Find the live albums that speak to you and use them as a barometer for what you want to do with your own live effort. Live albums are a potent medium and one that I think they are finally getting their rightful place in rock and roll. We always talk about ways to save money in the studio though and how there is no money in recorded music – but it seems that we weren’t totally correct. As a matter of fact there is money in recorded music, but as apparently with everything else in the music industry these days we need to go back to an older model that reminds us why live music is and always has been the basis of ALL music in the world. There is no escaping it – so why not record it?

I write this while listening to Powerwolf’s excellent new live record, The Metal Mass – Live and it takes me back to the first time I saw them standing side stage at Hellfest. Powerfwolf are heavy metal titans, and they understand that they are best in the live setting so I’m actually a little shocked it took them so long to out together a live record. As is, this album is fun and exciting and it represents l that a live album should be. You need to take it, and albums like it as an example because it will save you money and stress. It will remind you of the power that this music holds and help to drive this whole fucked up band thing forward because live albums might very well be the 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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Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling Escape the Village on new EP

Michael J. Epstein, the husband, leads on guitar. Sophia Cacciola, the wife, pounds the drums and leaves her vocal chords unhinged. The duo are Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, the downcast numbing punk group from Boston, but their music is anything but marriage counseling.

DNFMOMD’s newest release, In The Village, was self-released online last June. It is the fourth EP in a series that started in 2010. Each release has been made up of “episodes” each inspired by the Sixties UK spy sci-fi drama, The Prisoner.

The EP opens with “Episode 13 – A Change of Mind.” It moves like a slow drive through a dark street. The lights of the tunnel flashing as you make it outside the city. The bass nudges along, vibrating deeply. Cacciola’s voice is despondent, emanating gloom, when she sings, “And I know you’re waiting for a change of mind / but, you’ll be waiting for a long, long time.”

The song burns like a fat stick of incense and its smoke is the ghost tickling the hair on the back of your neck. The power is in the slow build and Cacciola’s bated breathy vocals repeating the line, “What it felt to be free.”

The next track, “Episode 14 – Hammer into Anvil,” is a doomed mood hip swiveller lathered in keyboard sustain. The beat drops into the scene and pulls you by the arm onto the dancefloor. The half-step disco waltz feels like something zombies would groove to in a black lit room. Cacciola’s vocals leave behind hypnotic trails.

The last track is a cover of Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend.” They turn the jacked up Eighties racecar commercial hit into a low slung getaway track. That immediately recognizable keyboard splash, representing the entire decade, gets split by static with a fuzzed out bass. It’s like Paul Dean and Mike Reno took off their bandanas, disappeared into a back room and escaped in a dark unmarked car onto their next classified mission.

Epstein sings the verses with a bedraggled grumble, sounding half-asleep and three days into a binge. The chorus, once the phrase of teenage insolvency, is turned by Cacciola into a panicked war cry.

Over the course of DNFMOMD’s releases Epstein and Cacciola have gotten craftier with their production. Both multi-instrumentalists, they have a lot of reach with their sound. After establishing themselves as one of Boston’s finest live acts, and most productive, they head out west to Los Angeles to further their career. Hear In the Village here.

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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Why It’s Good For Your Management Company To Have A Lot Of Bands

So yes – there are a ton of managers, booking agents, record labels out there who have a whole bunch of clients and who are charging them all similar amounts. It makes you wonder – how can one person, or hell, even one team manage, book or sign all of these bands? Also – aren’t there conflicts of interest? I totally understand why indie bands looking to get to the next level might struggle with these questions. I certainly did. It’s important in the music industry though to look at things from every perspective in order to properly figure out what’s going on, and by dissecting the prevailing philosophies in the world of management, booking agencies and record labels, going beyond the veil if you will, then we will be able to see why in many cases it actually makes sense to have as many clients as possible. In a world where everyone knows everyone else, there are surprisingly few people who can really help you.

One of the key things to realize, is that there are very few bands who generate enough income to sustain a personal manager. Beyond that managers are people too – they want to explore other projects, try out new options and expand what they do. The same goes for booking agencies and record labels. Obviously the billing structure is different for each of these, but the principle remains the same. A big band grossing on the low end of six figures a year is probably not going to support anybody, unless they are being colossally ripped off. At the same time, those bands need people on there team to help them work. It’s impossible to run a band of that magnitude on your own, I mean maybe if everyone in the band has a background in the industry and contributes, but even then. So where does this leave us? It means we need a support system. The thing is – you don’t want to be the only people your support system is helping, you want the people behind you to have as much experience as possible, right? That seems to only make sense.

As I’ve grown in the management field I’ve found that what used to take me hours can now take mere minutes and that as my understanding of the music industry grows so does my ability to get shit done within it. This is part of why managing multiple bands helps .Not every band needs all the same things at the same time, so this is a great way to get experience and maintain relationships across the board. The example I like to use is that I oversee about twenty album releases a year whereas the average musician probably only has an album release once every two years or so. I’ve obviously go a little bit more experience when it comes to handling these types of things. This is just one example though. It’s the same reason you want a booking agent who works fifty tours a year instead of three. He’s going to have a much wider network of people to work with, simply because he has to do so much more.

That being said – I understand the argument with regards to overwork and conflicts of interest. This is a hard one to refute, or even talk about since so much of it is case by case. I think that overwork especially is something that you need to be careful with. Before signing on with a manager, ask other clients if possible what their workrate is like. You can’t just say that “Oh this person handles fifty artists so I shouldn’t work with him” because I know people who do that and are fine. Odds are a lot of those artists are at a slow point in their careers anyway. The same applies for conflicts of interest. When you are hiring a manager it’s essentially like hiring an independent contractor for any small business. You want to make sure that they have good morals ad are someone you can work with. For example – everyone needs a plumber, but if a certain plumber was a jerk who screwed up a bunch of stuff and was mean then no one would work with him. When hiring a manager you need to look at them personally and decide if you think they would suffer from conflicts of interest.

The desire to make a quick buck has hurt the music world as much as any industry. It’s the self serving attitude that makes people afraid of conflicts of interest. Hell, sometimes the self serving attitude isn’t even outright. Some folks might inadvertently hurt you because they are trying to get the best possible outcome for as many bands as possible. In music, a utilitarian approach is perhaps something to consider – but if your band is paranoid about this kind of thing then be sure to take the time to verify that whoever you happen to be working with will take good care of you. You’re essentially hiring someone to be responsible for your future ,you can’t just assume that because someone claims to have a lot of artists they are a good manager. It boils down to personal reputation, and to some degree if you get screwed over by hiring the wrong person, it’s kind of your fault for not doing your research just as much as it is theirs for not doing their job.

Most agencies and companies out there are legitimately trying to help artists out, it’s just that not everyone is as good at it is you would like them to be and not everyone is going to be able to meet your own personal standards. The fusion of professionals and amateurs in music, and the need for solid advice that actually works is ridiculously hard to deal with and reflects a lot about our current state of affairs. The real takeaway from this article is that you really should want a management company, booking agent and label who manage to balance a personal touch with a far more massive set of resources. I know it’s a hard balance to strike – but it’s one that is always worth it.

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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More On Endorsement Deals And Your Indie Band

Have you ever noticed how some bands seem to have literally dozens of endorsements while others can barely get any? Oftentimes it’s not even a question of how big the band is. You can find bands on a similar level where some get everything they could ever want for free and the other is crying all the way to the bank. It makes you wonder – doesn’t it? How do make sure that your band is one of those that gets everything? The secret is surprisingly simple, and as is with anything in the music industry it just comes from being a good person who is more community oriented than they are selfishly motivated. It’s all a part of building up something greater, and realizing that by tapping into the community of endorsers then you are going to be able to take your career to a whole new, financially viable and very exciting level.

The thing is, all of these endorsement people know each other – if for no other reason than that they all go to NAMM and hang out and get drunk together. The beauty of it then is that if you can get in bed with one of these people then the odds are that they are ALL going to be willing to help you out in the long run. Obviously you need to be careful and you can’t just take advantage of them – you have an obligation to give back to the community, either by bringing them new artist or making sure that your artists do a shit ton of work to make it work well for them. That’s why you should be willing to sign contracts guaranteeing you will be using peoples stuff and you will be putting their logos everywhere you can. After all – it’s free stuff that makes you look good. You need to take advantage of all the free stuff that you can get, especially when you are on a musicians salary.

You need to be willing to be flexible to endorsers. Remember that they have a lot of people coming at them every day asking for free stuff – you need to make sure that not only is your presentation the best (And obviously there is a ton of material out there on that) but also that you make them want to work with you more. This is where personal connections come in key. This is where taking full advantage of your internal charisma and the lessons of Dale Carnegie comes into play. Artist reps are by nature very nice people but they also need to know when to put up limitations and stop artists from taking too much advantage of what they have to offer. (And artists – don’t get greedy!) Finding this balance can be hard for a lot of them since they genuinely love the music. I’m not saying to take advantage of this, but rather give them a reason to keep wanting to give you stuff – and if it’s a matter of bringing in top notch artists on your own – well then you had better go out and do it.

Part of the beauty of endorsement deals is that it’s not hard to get your friends in on them. So if an artist rep needs to have you bring on three artists at a discount for you to get their product for free, well if you’re established in your scene and play your cards right then that is going to lead to you getting free shit and seeming like a good dude – a win for everyone. Everyone wants an endorsement deal, they want to pay less and get the fancy professional image that comes from that sort of thing. You need to take advantage of that as you guide your band and bands you work with through the process. The whole thing can be surprisingly easy – but you need to stay smart and vigilant in order to find all the best ways to keep feeding the monkey and have the endorsers remain excited to work with you and continue to burn their budgets on what you are doing. It’s a balancing act to be sure – but one that I know you will be able to pull off.

Ultimately what you need to be asking your artist rep is ‘What can I do for you?’ Sometimes you get roped into weird or hokey shit, but it’s pretty much always worth it. Anytime a favor you are doing for an artist rep seems extreme (Getting them on the list for a show, bringing them new clients, doing their shopping) consider how much you would have to pay to get their product without them. Artist reps are all ridiculously nice people – they don’t have to continue giving you free things, but if you treat the right then oftentimes they do. Why? Because their job is to give stuff away and make people happy, but when people take advantage of them they get jaded. So realize that you are the one who should be doing them favors, with your social media, with your website, all that good shit in order to maximize their reasons for working with you and make them regret turning you down if they ever have to.

So dive into the world of artist endorsements with a smile on your face. Remember that at the end of the day you are probably going to end up with free stuff – so you might as well take advantage of that while you can. Just be grateful and use that attitude of gratitude to give back to your community. Artist reps don’t want to work with people who just service themselves and create bring circle jerks for each other. They want to work with people who are motivated in expanding brands and giving people the most possible access to their products. Respect your artist rep and realize their power, treat them well and realize that any favor that you do for them will come back tenfold upon your head with connections, gifts and more.

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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Why You Shouldn’t Talk About Cats Not Music

I think that not enough people realize that everyone in this industry is a person. I know that might be hard to believe a lot of the time given… everything, be it ruthless efficiency, crazy hair, general cruelty or whatever, but everyone is an individual with thoughts and feelings and you need to appreciate this. Some people don’t even realize this about themselves which makes music industry life a lot harder. I understand that there is an appeal to treating individuals clinically, that you can’t be responsible for all their shit and you have to step up every once in a while and get shit on lock – but you also need to remember that music industry life is not meant for the faint of heart. This isn’t even about making connections anymore but rather just realizing that there are other things to talk about than music, the music industry, and whatever records you happen to be working on at any given moment, and THAT is how you will progress in a world of cutthroats, scam artists and liars.

I know it can be tricky sometimes to reach out to the more human side of the music industry, but the more you get a hold of it the more you are going to be able to advance in a real way. Obviously cracking through to everyone isn’t possible. I can tell you for example that the Carnegie Hall people have a tendency to be a bit robotic – that being said that’s probably for the better since they are Carnegie Hall after all. If they didn’t have an almost robotic way of doing things I would be a little worried. This article is more targeted towards your lower level things where you need to make personal connections because we are all working off scraps and need to use our scraps to benefit each other rather than tear the world down to make ourselves look bigger. Fortunately – cracking through the veneer of professionalism and getting some actual work done can be a lot easier than you might initially anticipate.

The easiest thing you can do is to ask ‘How are you doing?’ The other person will probably say, “Oh fine.” I’ve found though that asking a further, “Really, you doing okay?” or something along those lines is going to get people to open up a little bit more – and getting people to open up is a key part of the battle. Whereas much of the time folks think that their day is just going to be answering a few emails and taking some calls, you have a responsibility to try and make peoples days better. I know that might sound idealistic – but in a lot of ways it is selfishly motivated. After all – what better way to spend your work day than in a fun conversation with someone who at the end of it might be able to help you and your band out? You need to honor the fact that they probably have dozens of heartless calls and emails a day and being the guy who delivers is going to make them look forward to when you call them next. Once you can latch into that then you will be laughing.

I know that technically you should be trying to do this via email, but I think that we all know that this is extremely hard to do – and even if you’re doing mass phone calls its fairly straightforward to get people talking a bit more than if you are contacting][ them via email. In fact figuring out the one two punch of email, and hen follow up phone call can be crucial and really help out your band in the long run. It gives people something to look over ad also reminds them that you exist. The real trick though is, as I’ve been saying to get them talking about things that aren’t music in order to feel comfortable. All we are is a bunch of terminally depressed lost souls rubbing into each other over the course f the generations. Shouldn’t we try to just acknowledge hat and move on with our lives in a way that is productive for the collective? I certainly think so, and you should too.

There are a few historically safe topics of conversation that are going to keep you going through the struggles that this industry can lay on you. The one I like to go with the most is children. People love to talk about their kids and if the person you are talking to has kids AND is working in the music industry the odds are that they have figured out something pretty good – a source of money that is reliable and which can help you out in the long run. If it’s all a question of tapping into the appropriate income sources then people who have to literally take care of other people on their own dime probably are going to know some things that you don’t. Outside of that, I like to try and get people to talk about sports, their childhood, and their families in general. Cats too seem to be a great topic of conversation. I post a ton of pictures of my cat and I can guide many a conversation into friendlier pastures by gushing about him (His name is Jim and he is a perfect little dumbass) I know you don’t always want to hear about your contacts sisters wedding – but that fact that you listened shows that you care – and the fact that you care about them, and recognize their humanity means that you will have a productive interaction.

So there you have it – as I’ve always said – the music industry is a surprisingly easy thing to understand, there aren’t a lot of big secrets, it’s just a question of tapping into the right markets and realizing that these relationships are going to be able to guide you through in the long run. The music business is fun if you let it be. On some level we all got into this to be professionals and make money, but that doesn’t mean you need to be an asshole all the time. In fact it means that the more you focus on personal connections and friendliness the more success that you are going to find yourself having at the end of the day.

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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Don’t Read This Article

So there’s something of a confession I need to make. Band advice articles aren’t really that helpful. I mean don’t get me wrong – I do genuinely believe that I am helping people with this blog and I do genuinely enjoy writing for this site. Reading articles like the ones that I post here is only going to help your music career – but I don’t know if these types of articles are the be all end all. I wonder this because I have had limited success following the advice from articles on segments of the music industry I don’t have as much knowledge in. If I followed all the articles I read, then booking tours would be easy, getting sponsorships just a matter of sending enough emails and getting a record deal just a question of having a clean Facebook page that properly showcases your band and what they have done. Things are never this easy though – and to assume so is really just an insult to you and your band as a whole.

So what should you be paying attention to? If articles aren’t the be all and end all (Though let me emphasize again – they can be very helpful) what actually matters in the music industry? The answer seems to be other people. People who have been through it all. People who understand the madness and the terror that comes from an industry of people trying to rip each other off and fighting for their own personal gain. Success in the music industry can’t be distilled into a few words – though some words can help – every band has their own unique position and that’s why I recommend they seek consultation. Every band needs to set up their own network and find their own place in the world. That’s why bands have managers and consultants and labels and all that good stuff. Sure it would be easier to just be a band but that’s a LOT of work if you want to have all those connections set up yourself. It’s the knowing people though that is going to help long term.

The personal touch is always going to dominate in the music industry. The personal touch is the reason that countless people have jobs – because they can handle specific accounts and specific careers. They can show us a way forward for our individual visions. There is just so much stuff out there and so many different situations that expecting some article on the internet to be able to help you is frankly ridiculous. This isn’t like any sort of hard science – and in fact part of the difficulty of my profession is that as a band manager and consultant I am providing a soft skill. It’s sometimes hard to quantify what a band needs – and there is no science to it. While there certainly are things that have been shown to be helpful again and again I don’t really know if they are going to help everyone all the time. I’ve found that there are always exceptions – and if you try to follow the rules that all these articles nicely lay out you are probably going to be a bit disappointed.

So ask around your local scene – ask the dudes who have been here forever, as the dudes who are moving and shaking, ask your friends who have no experience in the music industry but who seem to be fairly wise. Everyone can contribute and help grow your brand and allow you to better understand your specific niche. If the music industry is about creating your own void, then why bother following the rules of the countless others who are all stuck in the same place? Millennials will always talk about disruptive marketing and how new products can totally revolutionize an industry simply by taking advantage of 21st century technology. Well your band can be just as disruptive by using a 21st century mindset. I mean – we all saw how long it took the majors to adapt to piracy, and we all understand the simple brutality of this industry – so why not be willing to constantly evolve? The only constant is change and the sooner you accept that the better off you will be.

Perhaps I should amend my initial statement – articles can be good for you as long as you read them en masse. The choices then are to study every possible situation or just get really angular on your specific one. While obviously studying every possible situation is the ideal unless you want to be a band manager or something you probably can’t budget the time for that. You need to realize then that 99% of the articles that you are going to read won’t apply to you – unless they are about more general things like your ethos. If you can’t afford to have an encyclopedic knowledge then just keep going to people who do and ask them what’s up. Ask them to help you out and ask them for guidance down a path that we all have difficulty with. There are a lot of distinct challenges brought up by the music industry and properly understanding them is a question of looking to those who seem to have started to figure it out and then trying to pick their brains as much as possible.

You won’t be the only one picking these peoples brains and you need to be sensitive of that fact. We are all trying to do or best in an industry that has historically been really hard to get by in. You still need to do it though. Try to catch on to people before others figure out what they’ve gotten. It’s obviously a question of knowing how to read others and that is a skill in and of itself , but its’ one that you can increasingly not afford to go without. If the night is dark and full of terrors it’s those who have started to find the money who have seen the light and it’s those people who are going to be able to take you by the hand, or at least point you in the right direction. Yeah they need to be paid – but if you’re serious then it will always be worth it.

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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Dealing With The Sophomore Slump

I haven’t written a band advice piece here for a minute – so here goes nothing. One thing that I’ve noticed a lot of bands have trouble with lately is the sophomore slump. The sophomore slump in music though is a little different than a sophomore slump in sports. Where in sports it happens in y’know, your sophomore year, in music the sophomore slump happens after your bands first big album. It’s easy to see why this happens. You’ve grinded it out for months, years even and you’ve put out a great album – you’ve made it. You don’t need to worry about the next album right? You have everything in the can, life worked itself out and you got your much deserved reward for spending a ridiculous chunk of your life working on the band that your parents said would never work out. Unfortunately – it might actually be the sophomore album that requires the most work.

See – laying down a groundwork isn’t worth anything if you don’t capitalize on it. It’s great to have a bunch of contacts at blogs and stuff – but don’t expect them to write about your next album just because it’s you. The brutal truth is that bloggers in particular are overwhelmed and in such high demand that it’s frankly unrealistic for them to just know about your new stuff coming out. You need to take advantage of your groundwork and then push even further. You can’t just assume it will do the work for you. Your job is easier in some ways, however that doesn’t mean that there is less work. You’ve accomplished the hardest step, you’ve made people care once, getting them to care again is far easier. Now you need them to act on the fact that they care – this can be the tricky part. Otherwise you just find yourself back at square one – in fact one might argue that it could be even worse. The old axiom about the higher they rise the further they fall is just as true in the music industry.

The issue is now that people care they are expecting you to act on it. They are expecting you to take things to a whole new level and become lords of this world. If you fail to really deliver with the album after the one which makes people care then suddenly you are, in a word, screwed. You become a band who was a flash in the pan and who don’t have the potential to push beyond all that you could have done. It becomes hard for people to want to care about you because you failed to live up to the initial promise. You set up an expectation, and then you dropped the ball. People are weird, and they expect to see a constant upwards trajectory from any band, not a series of rises and dips which would mark a much more realistic view of the music industry. If you fade out for an album it becomes even harder to come back since you’ve already let people down, and considering the length of the album cycle and the perpetual turmoil in music it’s easy to lose track of your contacts and by the time you are ready to return, many of them might no longer be in the industry.

So how do you make sure that your sophomore album is the next logical step in your career and that you don’t disappear from view? It’s tricky to be sure – but it can be done, countless bands do it – that’s why you know and care about them. The first thing to remember is that it needs to be just like with the album that got big – you need to make sure that your album is everywhere – but to be truly successful you need it to be even more present than the first record. You’re probably going to need to shell out more money – but that’s okay because odds are you will be making more. You’re probably going to need to spend even more hours hunched at the computer taking care of stuff – but that’s okay because you’re probably going to get more tours out of this. It’s going to be more work – but it’s a question of capitalizing on everything that you have done up until this point and everything that can potentially revolutionize your career in the long run.

I know that sounds like a harsh reality, but realize that it will be a lot easier this time around. Though you do have to hit up more people and spend more money you’ve already created interest and you are already able to create something greater. You know that people care so getting them to respond shouldn’t be quite as bad. Obviously you will still be largely ignored and forgotten – that’s just how this goes after all. People need to realize that the music world is extremely competitive even for those who have figured out all the essential steps to start making a little bit of money. The music industry isn’t going to be an easy time – no matter what level you’re at. The basic strategy is just level up on everything you did on the previous record and realize that even then, maybe it truly was just a flash in the pan meant for that one moment in time.

I don’t mean to sound like a nihilist. I do genuinely believe that you can make a ton of money on this music thing and I do genuinely believe that with a little work you can start to move towards a better future for you and your band. The second album is the moment where you get a chance to prove yourself – just as the third is the one where you demonstrate your longevity. Obviously musically it needs to hold up – but the whole campaign around it is what’s going to make sure that people remember it and help you to build a tomorrow that not only you can love but that which will remind us why we got emotionally and financially involved in your band in the first place.

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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