James Moore's Blog, page 84

Pay To Play Shows And What They Mean For Indie Bands

Pay to play shows are… interesting. On the one hand some argue that this whole thing couldn’t exist without them, meanwhile others say that it’s just about the worst thing that can happen to the music industry. That being said, I can sympathize with promoters who buy into them, at least to a limited extent. There is an interesting balance at play here and as someone who has had to deal with this pressing issue from both sides of the spectrum, I think I have a unique perspective to contribute to a debate that has been raging for decades with even giants like Ozzy chiming in. It has led to many of the broken hearts and fall aparts that so often define life in the music industry. What I’m trying to say is that, the music industry can be kind of a nightmare, especially now that shows are the only way to make any real money.

So let’s take this apart, first from the promoters perspective. In many ways it makes sense for them to want to do this. The fact of the matter is that, especially with new bands, you have no clue how these people are going to draw and if you have a bad night at the bar then in the high stakes world of music venues then you might be seeing everything fall apart. Furthermore, you don’t want to have a touring band who has to play in front of nobody because the locals couldn’t get anyone to show up to their concert. It guarantees that at least some effort will be made to get people to the show rather than the usual thing that happens where indie bands don’t bother to promote their gigs at all and then wonder why no one bothers to show up.

As controversial as it might be, venues really do need a way to set a fire under the asses of musicians. After all – folks are resigned to not getting paid for shows anymore, so why bother to spend time promoting something that will make you no money? People are awful, always. they don’t understand the importance of ambition – in fact I might go so far as to say that that is the true problem with this generation. All griping asides, it makes sense for venue owners to do this, especially with bands they don’t know who are simply going to give them a grossly exaggerated estimate of what their draw will be. As a venue owner, every night you are taking a risk with amateurs, so why not ask them to put a little bit of skin in the game before you stick your neck out?

Now as for the band perspective. Well – a lot of bands simply aren’t going to have the money, especially for some of the bigger shows that requite you to sell as many 50 tickets. Venue owners will say ‘well if you can’t sell 50 tickets then you shouldn’t be on this show, go play local shows’ but of course as we all know, in an increasingly fractured market you can only get so many fans just by playing local shows. Furthermore – even if you can draw fifty people to one of your shows – what are the odds that you can get every single one of those people to buy a ticket before the show? A lot of fans are into walk ups because they often don’t know if they can make a show until the day of due to work schedules and the like. And after all, by the time you are drawing 50 people to local shows people in power will already be reaching out to you.

The other side of the band argument is that they are doing the venue a favor by bringing themselves out and lending their brand to the venue. Now – I’m not entirely sure if this is a valid metric for everyone involved but I certainly can see the argument, especially for some of the larger names in local music. A venue that has a reputation for booking some of the best local acts will eventually be able to boast a built in audience which is always good. Playing a show is hard work and often requires band members to take a day off their normal jobs – should they be expected to pay to do this? It’s pretty easy to evidence all the struggles that come from being deeply involved in the music industry like this and it’s certainly going to give up and coming bands a hard time.

In my experience the answer lies somewhere in the middle, as it usually does. Venues and promoters have a right to expect bands to provide an audience for them. However, the venues and promoters have an obligation to know the scene and have realistic expectations from their groups. In most cases they are only asking for each band member to bring three or four people – frankly speaking this shouldn’t give you too much trouble if you are spacing your shows out appropriately. If it is giving you a hard time… well then you probably need to re-evaluate your priorities. Music costs money to be able to create. That being said – venues also need to learn to be a bit more sympathetic and engage in higher level promotion on their end. Finding this balance is going to be one of the great struggles of the music industry in the 21st century.

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

The post Pay To Play Shows And What They Mean For Indie Bands appeared first on Independent Music Promotions.

Filling Out Forms And The Glamour Of The Music Industry

Ya know – for an industry that’s supposed to be about sex and drugs there sure is a lot of filling out forms. I mean yeah – there IS sex and drugs, that’s why I’m looking at property in Vegas, but god damn if there are not a lot of forms that need to be filled out. These forms appear just about anywhere – be it on booking requests, awards submissions or even just plain and simple social media setup. A lot of these forms are necessary and they have an important role in the industry. They help to make sure that everything is properly organized and set up in a way that remains sustainable and minimizes headaches for those on the receiving end who are generally the folks with some measure of power. The real issue is just going through and spending the requisite hours to get all of this set up.

The worst part – and maybe this is just because I’m bad at technology – is that a lot of these sites are using different or unique setups, meaning that dropdown menus can’t come to your rescue as they so often do with forms elsewhere. Beyond that – these forms often require very specific information and force you to doctor your bio such that it will fit into whatever the restrictions and guidelines du jour happen to be. What I’m trying to say, in so many words, is that filling out forms in relation to your band is a pain in the ass. Of course, as we mentioned, it’s also a necessary evil – so I guess you’re wondering now, “What larger point is Matt trying to make? Or is he just drunk and a little bit more bitter than usual?”

The larger point I’m trying to make is that paying your dues manifest itself in a lot of different ways. Yeah there’s the time on the road with your band replete with both groupies and breakdowns in Nebraska in the freezing cold. I know that sounds romantic – but it really isn’t. In fact it’s possibly the most miserable thing that can happen to you. But beyond that there are also the times when you have to sit behind your laptop and not go out with your friends because you are building a better tomorrow for your band. That is not to say that you should live in monk-like solitude when you’re not on the road, but by god it would really help your cause. That’s one of the weird dirty secrets of the industry though – you don’t need to be that high functioning for most of it, because the vast majority is grunt work that none of us have the money to pay someone else to do.

Of course – you can pay someone to do a lot of this stuff for you, just remember that you’re still probably going to have to spend at least some time on the phone sorting your stuff out and you’re going to be essentially throwing your money away if you have the time to tackle that on your own. I’m not necessarily saying that it’s wrong to pay someone to sit on their couch for a day or two to fill out your forms (Hell, I do that all the time) Just be aware that that is exactly what they are doing. Obviously they should be held accountable and working to build your brand and guiding you to make sure the right forms are being filled out in the best ways possible, but still, I think that the point stands. As with anything in artist services, you technically CAN do it on your own, it’s just highly unlikely that you’re actually going to be able to get anywhere with it efficiently.

That’s the weird state that we live in these days – you can get people to pay most of your dues for you as long as you have the money to do it. (Then again, maybe that has always been the case and it used to be hidden better) I’m not saying that you should, after all, I’m a punk, and half the punk ethos is driving around in shitty vans, doing it yourself and generally being bitter. That being said – there is a lot of validity to having an assistant on hand to fill out your forms and act as your VP of accounts payable. Going into this whole thing, realize that whole days are going to go down the drain to awards submissions that may or may not pan out. But if they do – well – then you probably are going to be seeing yourself moving somewhere great.

So, I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a tired old man trying to protect you kids from a lifetime of bitterness. That’s certainly valid right? The point I’m trying to make is that a lot of your time in the music industry is going to be outside the music. Not only that though, it’s going to be a lot more than the sexy stuff like networking and interviews, it’s going to be a lot of repetitive crap that is going to make you want to die and wonder why you got involved with this in the first place. As far as I can tell though – this is how it is in every industry, so why not just take a risk and do it in the only one where hookers and blow are a fundamental part of the corporate structure?

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

The post Filling Out Forms And The Glamour Of The Music Industry appeared first on Independent Music Promotions.

When And Why You Should Add Someone To Your Team

I had a really good conversation with a good friend and client this morning and it made me realize something fundamental about moving forward in the music industry. When you grow your team, it should be begrudgingly. This is sort of tied into my last article about scammers, but it represents much more than that. As I have mentioned in previous pieces, younger people tend to screw up a lot more. This is fine, but it is also a brutal reality that we all have to deal with. In fact, this applies to most folks in the music industry, young or old. So, what does this mean for you? Simply that you need to be doing as much as you possibly can before you ever consider hiring someone, unless you have a very goddamn good reason to do otherwise.

See – adding someone to your team is going to cause all sorts of problems, almost inevitably. The growth process is always a hard thing to handle, especially when you don’t have a clear vision for what you want from the latest member of your team. People should be willing to bring on employees, and should be willing to pay people, but to expand the group working with you is always going to be a very delicate and refined process. Finding the appropriate steps forward is not always going to be an easy task. The point I’m simply trying to make here is that lots of people are going to want to hop on board right away, it’s the gradual hiring process that needs to be refined very carefully before moving forward.

Ultimately – having a staff is useless if you’re not generating the revenue to support them. It’s great if you have three people on your staff and board meetings, but if no money is coming in then why bother? You are just engaging in puffery for your own ego. The real question is how effective is each member of your staff and what does it mean for your bottom line? The people who actually have money to invest and who will be willing to help you to grow your company are the same people who are going to be the most cost conscious. It’s people who understand the fundamentals of the way businesses work, not just the music industry, who are most likely to have a positive impact on your career – and the way you structure your band, label or whatever, is going to need to follow the same models that your peers in more traditional business roles are going to be taking.

In a lot of ways this makes sense. The biggest businesses didn’t form because one smart guy was willing to hire all his friends and see what happened .No – they formed by being very careful in who they brought on board and carefully growing themselves only when they had to. You need to figure out how much work is ‘too much’ for you and then gently expand from there. As to how much work that means, that is a very personal thing – but you should have a good idea of where you want your income to go and then develop from there. Entrepreneurs have been at this sort of thing for years, and if your band is truly a business (Which all good bands are) then why wouldn’t you want to follow that sort of model?

As luck would have it – a lot of very high profile bands manage to do a shocking amount for themselves and do very well financially because of it. DRI for example have managed to sort out their management and booking among every member of the band such that they have been able to survive for thirty years playing crossover thrash. That’s no mean feat! Other bands like Napalm Death have managed to keep their staff small by staying true to their punk roots and making sure that they can document every dollar. This goes beyond the punk world too – just look at how much success our fallen icon Prince had, self producing and handling most of his major business decisions on his own! The man was consistently well ahead of the times! Artists can and will innovate in ways that go beyond the industry.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be willing to hire a manager or consultant. There are people who definitely can do stuff for you that you could never have done yourself Just be aware that a lot of the good people who can help you out are not going to be interested until you have shown that you are at least somewhat able to do stuff on your own. From there, the evolution and gradual advancement of your band and brand should be obvious. You need to add people to your team just as you would add band members, slowly, meticulously and with the future of the whole project in mind – not just how much you want to sleep with them.

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

The post When And Why You Should Add Someone To Your Team appeared first on Independent Music Promotions.

Scammers And How To Choose Who You Work With

Not getting scammed is one of those music industry things that always ends up being much easier said than done. Far too often people will dump hundreds of dollars into someone only to get limited or no actual support from scammers. It’s part of what has made so many folks in the music industry leery of spending money outside of commissions, even though at lower levels we all know that commissions don’t really work at all. So you are going to need to pay people – it’s the how, why and when that allows you to figure out if the people you have paid are here to scam you or if they are going to help you to build something greater for yourself and your friends.

The first, and most obvious way to tell if you are dealing with scammers is if the person in question does not consent to regular phone calls and does not reliably respond to to emails. This isn’t always the case, I have a few people on my team who are just bad at email, but it should raise a few red flags. The fact of the matter is that you are the client and you should be treated well. If people are regularly taking over a week to get back to you, if at all, then perhaps you should start to worry about whether or not this is someone you should be trusting with your money, and quite possibly the future of your career, be it as it may.

Another important way to tell if you are dealing with a low life is to see how many of your friends have worked with them. In this industry everyone knows everybody else, and if there is more than one degree of separation between you and another person you should start to worry. Again – this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are out to get you, but it should raise another red flag. If they can impress you with their resume and connections then you know that you are at least on the right track, but be sure to keep this in mind as you move forward. People who get by on shady connections alone are not the kind of people you want on your team. Generating a posse to back you up is a key part of the music industry, but remember, with things like this, you and your team are only as strong as your weakest link.

Tied into that previous sentiment is that you want to see what this person has done before. Maybe there role has never been quite like what they are doing for you, but make sure that they a least have some credentials to back them up. If you’re trying to promote a strong professional culture around your band you don’t necessarily want to be the guy who gives some new kid trying to break in a chance. And if you do give said new kid a chance, make sure you vet them very carefully. The fact of the matter is that most people trying to break into this industry don’t realize the hard work that it requires and are going to end up screwing themselves, and you over. That’s not an indictment of any individuals, just a brutal truth they all will have to deal with.

Why am I so concerned with this. Aren’t a lot of these basic truths that people should be aware of? Yes. But you can never be too clear in the music industry, and you have to work hard, and fight hard in order to make sure that you get what needs to be done done. Every day is a struggle and sometimes it pays off to have reminders of what you need to be watching out for. If you think these things are obvious, good, that means you have a step up, but this article isn’t for you, it’s for the young kids trying to find their way in an industry that far too often hurts them. I’ve been that kid who was hurt time an time again and I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that.

I hope that this doesn’t come off as overtly doom and gloom either – there is a lot to be said for this industry in as much as people seem to be coming around and realizing that honor really matters. We had a rough few years to be sure, and still have people in dark corners of the internet preying on bands, but it seems like things are moving forward. Yet we still need to be careful. The glut of lies that exploded with the internet have permanently scared the collective psyche, and I think we will all be dealing with that side of things for a good long while.

This might all sound very romantic, and I want to emphasize, you should not be establishing a culture of opposition. That is to say, don’t think tha you are fighting the whole world, this is probably not the case. That only leads to paranoia and being paranoid is going to make people dislike you. Instead you need to be willing to embrace people, but also show that you are long in the tooth and able to tell what’s what. It’s a careful balance to strike, but there is a way to be friendly and open, whilst sincerely demonstrating that yes, there is a limit and you do not want to be crossed. Finding that path has the potential to make or break your career.

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

The post Scammers And How To Choose Who You Work With appeared first on Independent Music Promotions.

Does Your Indie Band Need A Consultant?

A lot of bands are in a place where they need advice. They’ve gotten their music recorded, they’ve got their band together, great achievements to be sure, but they don’t seem to know where thy need to be moving next. At this point, a lot of artists would say that they need a manager, but the fact of the matter is that most managers who know what they would need to do to reach the next level would essentially be working for free. It doesn’t make sense for effective managers to be doing five hours of work a month for a band every month with the hope that two years down the line it might start to pay off. But what if there was another way? Something people could do in order to find out what they need to do but keep things financially realistic and practical for everyone involved? It seems like a solution from the business world has presented itself to us.

The answer seems to be consulting. Bands need people who can help them construct a narrative, find the correct PR solutions for them, help them hook up with fitting record labels and booking agencies and generally guide them forward such that they can find a way to grow their brand. As we’ve discussed time and time again on this site, the music industry is all about establishing a brand these days, so why shouldn’t we be willing to hire people to help us to establish that brand? What a consultant can do for you, is allow you to identify ways to save money and drive your career forward in a way that is actually meaningful. Instead of the meandering process that seems to dictate so many bands careers a consultant can help to make sure that every dollar made is going to pay for the best possible next step.

Of course this doesn’t mean that your work as a band is done. You still have accounts payable and tasks that need to be completed if you want to keep moving forward. The role of the consultant is merely to tell you where you need to be putting your money and how you need to be moving forward with those funds. In the long run, this will actually save you a ton of time and money because it will stop you from making the beginner mistakes that most of your peers are going to have to learn the hard way. This isn’t because they are stupid, but because the music industry is a nightmare and quite frankly more twisted than the legendary Gordian Knot. You simply are not going to be able to find all of the most effective solutions, and a consultant just might actually be able to. After all – if you’re constructing a team, doesn’t it make sense to have someone directing it for you? Of course it’s the implementation that really matters.

So how does this work? I keep saying how great this partnership can be, but I haven’t clarified how it should organize itself. It seems to me that the best way to organize it is a monthly pay structure. This guarantees that you are going to get the attention of your consultant, and of course, the more you pay him the more accessible he will be for you. While a billable hour system might not be the most effective, expecting to pay $20-40 an hour in addition to a retainer (Depending on the privileges you are seeking) seems like it would be a reasonable introductory level. This should translate to at least a few hundred bucks a month, a consultant can only get so much done per hour. Of course – this is a lot to invest, so you want to be sure that you are working with someone who you can trust. This has always been the case in the music industry though, and making sure that the person you want to pay to help you out is not scamming you is a story for a different day.

The other way that the pay structure can work is on a per project basis. This might make more sense with a band who has direction but would like some guidance to move forward with their album release or tour schedule or something along those lines. That being said, there are a lot of issues with this kind of model, largely because you’re probably paying less than the consultant might charge as a monthly fee and asking for something that often requires a several month commitment. This could end up with you getting burnt a little bit in your development process because the consultant may be less interested than he otherwise could be. The problem being, if you didn’t take his advice leading up to this point then you probably are going to be in a difficult place for him to start from scratch. Still if you’re operating on a budget, something like this might be helpful for you to start getting things moving forward in the right direction for your band in order to guarantee a more successful album release.

This is not necessarily a system that is going to work for everyone. A lot of bands tend to have a strong understanding of the industry and a lot of connections o their own – they can figure out their own path whilst periodically asking for advice from old friends. But for a majority of acts, there are some things that music industry professionals understand that your peers in bands might never get. That’s not an indictment on any specific groups, but simply a reflection on how this whole thing works. You’re going to need to find your own path forward as you navigate this industry of broken hearts and fall aparts and having a consultant who has seen it all before can be very helpful.

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

The post Does Your Indie Band Need A Consultant? appeared first on Independent Music Promotions.

What Awards Mean For Your Indie Bands

Awards are an interesting thing and I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately, especially given the success of my beloved client Nic Nassuet. I mean – what do they mean in the long run, and,more specifically, what can they mean for you? They actually have a surprising amount of clout, even if the event itself can feel a bit circle jerk-y. The fact of the matter is that awards, while perhaps not super relevant to your fans, help you, and your PR people to construct a narrative based around them. Furthermore – these awards can hook you up with the right people – because as discussed in previous articles – this is exactly the type of thing that is going to help to get you in the same room as the other folks who genuinely care about independent music and what it can do for the world.

With certain award ceremonies it can feel like everyone gets a nomination or an award, and sometimes this is true. That’s why you need to be careful who you decide to work with. In a lot of cases it can be an executive decision since a lot of these places demand that you pay to submit. As a matter of fact the places that don’t make you pay to submit are probably just factories. The idea of a small paywall is actually very important to these things, as I have found out, because though the payment is a bit annoying it is actually a very smart way to make sure that you only have serious people applying. Paying 25 bucks is going to chase off a lot of poseurs who are just there trying to be cool and be a part of something but whom don’t really merit any honors or accolades.

Ultimately – it boils down to the 4 C’s – constant, compelling, creative, content. And the fact of the matter is that awards are going to be a key part of that. Frankly speaking – If you’re willing to dump 50 bucks into a Facebook ad then you should be willing to dump 50 bucks into awards that can give you some form of recognition. It’s ultimately why a lot of these awards become circle jerks, because a limited number of people are willing to spend the money. Yet those who do tend to be the best of the best, people who realize this might be the only way forward. You need to be aware of this. Most awards are mere puffery, and that’s going to be the fact of the matter from minor accolades all the way up to the Grammies but that’s the case with all sides of the music industry. With awards, it’s knowing which ones to pick which is ultimately what is going to separate the boys from the men.

One of the beautiful things about these awards shows is that you meet two distinct types of people. The first type of person who you meet is the kind who think that these actually mean something and are going to move you forward among fans. They believe that it will directly impact your draw. The second are the ones who realize that this is part of a larger narrative an who understand what I means in a larger context – the idea that it pads your credentials and grows your profile to people who matter. They realize that maybe these awards won’t raise your draw, but it could certainly justifying you raising your guarantee. These people don’t care what awards you won, but they care that you are invested enough to pay the money and invest in the production values that are going to win you the awards that you evidently deserve.

The thing is – these awards are a vetting process. They are the way that people can help to figure out who actually matters and who actually cares. Sure the individuals might have great music or be the real deal, but being a person who is willing to invest is going to get you interest from people who truly matter. If you can win an award, that’s not necessarily going to raise your guarantee or launch you to success right away, but it is going to make people a little more comfortable with investing in your band. Why? Because they see that if a panel of judges, no matter how bullshitty they are, believe in your music to at least some degree, and if THEY believe in you, well then that means that other people should find some reason to believe in you too – and at the end of the day that might be the recognition that pushes you over the edge.

Of course your own vetting for a strong awards academy needs to be at least moderatel educated. You’re obviously just wasting time if you apply to everything and then turn around and ask why no one cares. The awards that I have found best are the ones that provide genuine services at a reasonable price in addition to the awards themselves. For example – Indie Music Channel will also help hook you up with discount rate radio placements and seminars that will help you find your way forward in the music industry in a meaningful and helpful way. I’m hesitant to recommend any other groups by name, simply because your bands needs are very case by case and that will directly impact where you should consider submitting.

So is it worth investing a few hundred bucks in awards ceremonies? Yessiree bob, and it’s worth investing just as much in going to accept your award in person. Yes, there needs to be a vetting process, and yes, you need to be careful in how you do it, but it’s a crucial step forward if you want to really do something in this industry. It’s going to let you meet some important people and figure out what you really want to do with this weird thing that we call music. In a world where everyone makes music, its things like this that separate you from the rest. Awards, while definitely a distinctly Los Angeles thing are going to be a key for any independent musician going forward because they allow us to prove ourselves and find a path to freedom despite the fires and the flames.

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

The post What Awards Mean For Your Indie Bands appeared first on Independent Music Promotions.

Social Media, Memes and Your Indie Band

I’ve been noticing something interesting with social media lately that has driven me to write this article. It’s stemmed from multiple factors. Even though I can’t say for sure, I get the impression that Facebook is choking out bands more than ever before now and I’m wondering if I should move my own social media presence to the Twitter-verse. Beyond that – I think I may have found one of the keys to free organic Facebook followers. It’s a bunch of stuff to process at once and I sincerely hope that the writing process of this article doesn’t come across as scatterbrained as the inception so evidently was. Social media is a nightmare sometimes, and it’s our job to soothe it and make it work for independent bands of all shapes and sizes.

The first thing to realize, and something I’ve touched on before here is the simple fact that pretty much nobody who isn’t looking sees your Facebook posts – so why not just post all the time? It’s not going to get more views because you only post once a week, trust me. However – if you post regularly and frequently, not only will more people see your posts but also when people go to check your page they will see that you are active. Most music industry folks realize that Facebook is a joke unless you pay for sponsored posts. They aren’t likely to hold you accountable for having fewer likes. However, if they see your dedication to maintaining a constant stream of content then you are a little more likely to get the right people nodding and smiling in your direction.

There is of course an upper limit, as there with everything. You don’t want to become the sort of person who just spams people all day teasing “Big announcements” No you need to be able to contribute to something larger than yourself. All of this needs to be constructing a narrative, and even if that narrative is “Wow, our drummer is a dumbass sometimes” at least that’s something and at least that will get people starting to think about you and your dumbass drummer. There are a lot of weird existential struggles when deciding what kind of stuff you want to post to your page, after all – this is a representation of you!

One thing that seems to be doing strangely well (Admittedly it shouldn’t be THAT much of a surprise) is memes. My clients in Tengger Cavalry have managed to get a ridiculous amount of shares for unsponsored posts, simply because they try to share funny memes fairly regularly. Is it totally relevant to the band? Not really, though they do tend to be about metal. I understand why you might think that it is thus out of line to be sharing those kinds of things, and in certain contexts it might be. But look at it this way: I’m friends with a hardcore band called Ground from South Jersey, they have two and a half thousand Facebook fans. Imagine my surprise when one day I woke up to see I had multiple friends in Britain sharing Ground’s meme! Of course the band also managed to take a nice little leap in likes as a result of this, and they gt their without paying a cent. It gets your name out there, sure it isn’t ideal, but anything that boosts Facebook likes and that weird “Talking about this” stat is going to be helpful in the long run.

I’m not claiming to be any sort of meme architect, I personally don’t share memes on my own page, but I, like the majority of you, see hundreds if not thousands of memes every day. We all know people are sharing these things like STDs. It’s an unavoidable fact of life, and in fact perhaps the highest form of communication available today. So why not tap into it? It is perhaps not a proven method, and certainly an unorthodox one, but hopefully it will at least get some momentum going in your favor. That doesn’t mean you need to be a meme page and a band page, but it does mean that you need to take advantage of these things that were crafted solely because of their viral potential. They don’t even need to be your memes that you are sharing, because such is the nature of the art form. Even if the first attempts don’t take off one of them eventually will, and getting a few hundred shares of a picture that links back to your bands page is never a bad thing.

I hope I don’t come across as crass in recommending meme sharing to people. I know that they are a legitimate art form to a lot of folks. I mean – in many ways they are an elevated form of humor uniquely suited for this time and place. I get that. What I’m saying is why not take advantage of them? Of course – there are other things that you need to incorporate too. For example bands who are able to post regular photos from practice or meetings tend to do very well – if only because it shows you are constantly busy. Tour selfies are another one of those things that gets peoples blood pumping. Anything that captures the romance of being in a band is almost certainly going to get you at least a little positive attention and things moving in the right direction.

At the end of the day – social media is going to remain a nightmare as long as you can buy likes and sponsor posts The old time days of youthful anarchism that Facebook once held so dear are long gone in a wash of corporate interest. I mean, we are using their service, so we can’t really complain. I just find this whole thing a bit weird and frustrating, as should you. As with many other aspects of the industry we love in recent years it has sunk into the sort of thing where we are forced to rely on gimmicks. If you can take advantage of those gimmicks though, then you are on your way to creating something greater.

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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A Deep Peek at the Artwork for VIEWS by Drake

There he is. Tiny Drake sitting atop the CN Tower of the Toronto skyline taking in the views, reflecting on the city below. His legs dangle down like a kid sitting on a giant puffy chair. Though, proportionally, he would be a giant if he came down and walked the streets.

Drake’s fourth album, VIEWS (now shortened from Views From the Six), is out tomorrow. At the start of the week he posted the cover on Twitter. It’s the final chunk of information to spill out before the 20-track album plays from car stereos all summer long.  

The cover immediately establishes a connection to Toronto with two Canadian icons sharing the same space. Drake, arguably the most well known Canadian today, is dwarfed by the tower. Once considered the tallest skyscraper in the world, the CN Tower stands today as the third largest. It’s positioned to the left of the cover going out of frame in each direction. It’s a great use of the square canvas, the tower zoomed in and cropped out.

Drake is surrounded by the single most image to remind him instantly of the Toronto skyline, a welcoming sight whenever he finally gets off the road. It’s the city he loves and the city that loves him back. It suggests the album may look more outwardly in Drake’s confessional laments. He’s at the top, but looking down at the place he understands best.

The cover of his last album, Nothing Was the Same, showed an illustration of Drake with his head in the clouds for a set of songs that looked back heavily on his days before fame. VIEWS, then, might be more focused on the world around the artist today, the changes his hometown has undergone in recent years and his role in that transformation.

After all, he has put Toronto on the cultural map. No one can say for sure, but would this year’s NBA All-Star game have taken place there if not for his position as “global ambassador” to the Toronto Raptors? The team, currently leading the Indiana Pacers 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs, holds Drake Nights during the season. His lyrics are littered with sixes, a number that has come to represent the city because of its placement in two area codes. His OVO Fest, now in its seventh year, has become one of the premier East Coast festivals. Drake and Toronto lift each other up. When listening to Drake it’s easy to get sentimental for the city even if you’ve never been there and know nothing about it.

The colors on VIEWS are all grey shades, concrete, rain clouds. The tower is catching what looks like the last bits of sunlight, leaving its eastward side shrouded in shadows. Something this way looms. The clouds are dark and gathering in the background. The scene looks to be happening in the final hours of daylight, a transition period between AM and PM, where our desires, and our mistakes in relation to those desires, become cloaked in the darkness.

Judging only by the cover it seems VIEWS could end up being considered the quintessential Drake album up to this point. The only thing that could make it more Drakian is if he were wearing a Kyle Lowry jersey.

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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Social Class: The Weirdest Thing Impacting Your Indie Band

I listened to an especially interesting episode of the Cracked Podcast the other day, if you have a chance you should check it out. The main point they made on this particular episode was that people in different social classes can have as much difficulty communicating as people who speak foreign languages. This is by and large true – there’s a lot of weirdness, in America especially in regards to class. Me being the nerd I am of course had to circle it back to the music industry and think about how something like class can be an important factor to consider the lives of people like us, who live and breathe this music stuff. As I quickly figured out – it can be far more important than I think anyone realizes.

Pretty rapidly I came to the conclusion that not only is the ability to navigate between social classes one of the most important in the music industry, but also that it’s historically been those who know how to best navigate this who have the easiest time of progressing in this industry. It’s the people who can bridge the gap between punks and upper class white people who get things moving. The reason why should be fairly obvious – you need to charm rich people in order to get any sort of seed money for your projects and then you need to be able to deal with a lot of people in the music industry in order to enact it, and I think we all know that if you’re in the music industry at all, then you are probably lower class. You need to be able to know how to dress and talk in ways that extend beyond your class though if you want to rise up and somehow contribute to something greater that will garner the attention (And hopefully money) of the world.

The most facile way to learn to deal with different classes is to slowly garner life experience, but if you need solutions now, then that probably isn’t going to be the way forward that you want or need. Still, it’s important to remember that all of your success in the music industry is based on your ability to deal with people, and the more types of people who deal with just for practice the better you are going to be when the time comes for you to impress that billionaire into letting you set up a venue in a ghetto. Life experience is crucial too because it gives you things you can relate to with those are the most difficult to contact with, in most cases this is the super rich or the extremely poor. All the tropes you see are tue to some degree, and you need to be aware of that moving forward. Remember that if people are to removed from you socially they might as well be cartoons to you. For example – you might think the Ivy League folks in Caddyshack don’t actually exist, but trust me, they do. The fact that you haven’t met them is simply because of how American society is set up.

So what is the other, perhaps more immediate way to being able to deal with people of any background? Books. Reading constantly is going to allow you to develop a clarity of language that will make you able to deal with just about anyone. They serve as a beacon to experience without having to go into the scary outside world. This can be tricky though, while it’s definitely helpful to be able to drop a knowledge of fine literature on an upper class potential sponsor, the same quote on a more lower class person is going to get you punched. Again – this is not a judgment on the classes themselves as much as a statement hat you need to be careful, because certain things will work extremely well with certain classes that wouldn’t work at all with people from a different one. This is a highly specific reality we need to embrace if we want to be able to incorporate the whole world into our dreams.

I really hope it doesn’t come off as crass to categorize people in this manner, but I only do it because it works. To some of you this whole thing may seem obvious, and in many ways it is, this is more a call to really try and pay attention to it because once you start noticing what the implications derived from social class and by consequence social interaction are, then your ability to approach conversation and understand where individuals are coming from is going to be radically improved. And like I said, this is especially relevant in music because of the way that it sees the rich and poor comingle. Far too often you will see rich folks who don’t now how to deal with more street level musicians, and musicians who have no clue how to handle black tie events and high level negotiations. Finding a balance is where you can succeed.

It seems simple on the outside, and in many ways it really is. After all – the whole modern music industry is about being able to do a bunch of small, seemingly easy things really well. While we all dream of being able to wear 2-3 hats and just do that the stark reality is that in most cases you are probably going to be doing something more like 10-15 jobs every day from the time you start your career until you die. If you’re going to be doing so much then you are going to need to be able to cross cultural boundaries and be both a canned beer lover and someone who can talk for hours about champagne. I know it sounds impossible, insane and kind of badass, but such is the struggle. The choice to take it on is up to you.

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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Reflections On My Red Carpet Experiences

Red carpets are… interesting. I’m honestly still not sure where my opinion falls on the whole thing, although getting professional photographers to take pictures of you and your friends is always a good time. There’s a whole lot more to it than that – and I have to say, it’s a kind of weird experience, especially if, like me, you’re rather new to this whole side of things. Los Angeles is a weird and magical place, and it has given me a lot to think about, especially in regards to where I want my career to go and what these kinds of events could mean for me. These things are surprisingly easy to break in to, and quite the honor if you’re willing to just go for it. This is a city of neon lights and strange nights, and entering its clutches… it’s just a little weird.

One of the weirdest things about the red carpet, to me at least, is the way that they throw a bunch of people into a room during receptions and essentially say “Network!” Of course, that’s exactly what happens. I’ve given out and received countless business cards this weekend. I’ve even managed to collect a handful of CD’s… well collect wouldn’t be the right word… they were more shoved into my hands when people found out that I had some vague idea how to move forward in the music industry. That’s where things start to fall apart. This entire industry – in LA at least seems to be based off appearances and coming off as more important than you actually are, and it’s the people who know how to play the game and use this to their advantage who seem to be coming out on top. It makes LA a unique place in an industry of dreams.

Perhaps part of my confusion with this whole Los Angeles thing stems from the fact that I’m very much a New York dude and in New York we just go to shows, watch each others bands and drink beers. Here in LA the vibe seems rather different, some of that exists to be sure, but so much more of it seems to revolve around ‘getting noticed’ and having yourself go out to the right bars on the right nights to meet the right people. It’s a city which is built entirely on networking, there is no other reason to go to many of these bars than to network – and that has a huge impact on the way things are done around here, be it for better or for worse. I know that seems like it would be my dream come true when you consider so many of my other pieces here, but in all honesty it’s actually kind of concerning, if only because it feels a lot less organic.

What I really learned from this whole thing is not so much how to network or even what it means to be a dude making connections and taking names in LA – but rather that people want to feel important – and there is perhaps no better place in the world to feel important than LA. Everyone who was anyone, and literally anyone can be allowed on that carpet, for better or for worse. And while I certainly made some connections this weekend that are going to lead to financial benefits for everyone involved (And I’m certainly glad I came) it has helped me to realize what a sham LA is sometimes. It’s a place where people go to get huge, and people keep trying to tell you that you don’t need to spend the time to pay your dues to get through.

Red carpets are, by nature, really cool. The paparazzi, the chicks, the famous people, I met one of the original Coaster’s last night for heavens sake! It’s easy to get swept up in it. That doesn’t mean you should though. As a matter of fact, you need to realize that the people getting swept up in all the red carpet madness are actually the people the least likely to succeed. It’s the folks who go to these events to do some hardcore networking, who get up and talk about copyright law with each other and share the projects they’ve been working on. The people who find the other people with power and work together in order to find a way forward that guides us all forward. In other words – the same old rules apply, it’s just that in these situations you are going to be confronted with more snake oil salesmen than ever before.

In some ways it makes me wonder if the red carpet is really just a filtration system. The people who get caught up in it at low levels simply aren’t able to continue up because thy are overwhelmed by it all. The red carpet is in many ways just a measure of how you handle attention and if you can stay true to yourself. In that regard I think I did fairly well, I made a joke about Danzig memes and being drunk all the time, it made people laugh. But really – this whole thing can be painful, and if you’re not sure you’re ready to dive on in, then maybe hold off and keep playing local shows, the red carpet will always be there.

So perhaps the thing that really matters when you find yourself swept up in these situations is simply how well you can keep your cool. If you just remain yourself and meet cool dudes, like my new friend Les Fradkin, then you are going to make valuable connections. However if you find yourself getting lost in the noise and the lights then you might as well not even bother. Finding your path through the music industry remains the same no matter what the context. Big breaks are kind of shitty – so why not advance through a series of small breaks – ones the at gives you connections so that on the inevitable way down you can figure out a way to bring the whole world forward with you.

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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