5 posts tagged “music business”
Music is a hard business, and it's getting harder every day. Very few people will make it in music, and the competition is fierce. So what sets you apart from the competition? Except in rare circumstances, I believe the ultimate deciding factor is persistence: the main difference between successful and failed musicians is that the successful ones did not quit and were able to outlast their competitors. The one thing I've heard repeatedly from music industry people is: If you want to make it in music, don't give up.
I often read Tim Ferriss' blog. Tim is the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, and a guest lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Princeton University. Independent musicians are essentially entrepreneurs, and so much of the same advice applies to both.
Today I read a post on Tim's blog entitled The Prescription for Self-Doubt: Watch This Video. Here's an excerpt from the post, which I recommend reading in full:
Business icons, superstar professional athletes, billionaires — it
doesn’t matter how rich or how accomplished — I’ve had them all tell me
the same thing…
There are moments when you feel the world is too much. Days and even
weeks when you want to (or perhaps do) pull up the covers and
half-sleep in bed until nightfall, avoiding a feeling of hopelessness
that seems insurmountable. Long-awaited deals fall through without
warning, haters attack you without reason or fact, circumstances turn
good decisions into awful realities — sometimes it just feels like the
deck is stacked against you and there is nothing you can do about it.
Have you felt that way? Has the music business provided you with tremendous ups and soul-crushing downs? You are not alone.
But will you quit?
I've recently completed my second album, Doublespeak, and I'm getting ready to release it. When I released my first album, Things You Never Thought I'd Say, I was entirely new to the music business, and I had absolutely no idea what to do. You would think that, by now, I would be better prepared to do it all over again with the new disc, but the truth is that I don't feel very well prepared. I've learned so much in between albums, and I feel like I'm applying that knowledge to my pursuit of a music career, but the specifics of releasing and promoting an album just don't feel really clear to me. I know that it is not only preferable, but necessary to have a plan of attack. So I am setting out to formulate one. I am not currently supported by a label so, like many of you, I am doing it myself. Here's my list so far in no order of priority or importance:
1. Prepare a new press kit that shares design cues with my new album. Update the bio and the fact sheet to reflect my latest accomplishments. Press a demo with the 4 songs from the album that will captivate the intended recipient (this may change according to the target). Incorporate photos from my latest photo shoot.
2. Have the new album pressed and ready to go, with UPC. Decide on distribution method - CDBaby is an obvious one for me. Last.fm, Indie Pool here in Canada, etc.
3. Create a press release, both electronic and paper, to announce the new album to media outlets and interested parties.
4. Plan a CD release party.
5. Notify the local media of the impending release and party. Send advance copies of the album. Secure a spot on local Breakfast Television.
6. Approach local 'zines for possibility of feature and promotional giveaway.
7. Speak to radio promoter about flogging a single or four to radio.
8. Plan a tour in support (not as easy as it sounds).
9. Find angel investor to fund music video and tour. Or devise a brilliant viral video and get famous on YouTube.
10. Attend the TAXI Road Rally and sell myself to the industry folks in attendance.
11. Try to secure some new film/TV placements for songs from the new album.
12. ?
Have any of you released your own album? What things have you found useful or wasteful? If you have any advice on making a splash or creating a buzz, I'd love to hear it.
Awhile back, an old friend of mine wrote to me and asked for advice on promoting his band. I wrote him a long email, which appears below, detailing all (or almost all) of the main things I do to promote my music. I'm always looking for new and different ways to spread the word about my stuff, but I don't ignore the traditional methods such as through entertainment lawyers, managers, agents, and personal contact.
I'd like to hear what some of you have been doing to promote your music, and share ideas. Teach me a new trick! And if any non-musicians happen to read this, and think they have a great way to promote music and get it heard, please feel free to comment.
And here's that email which outlines what I already do:
I've been a member of TAXI for a few years now, and I've made some really good contacts through them. If you're not familiar with them, they do independent A&R, running music industry listings which you can submit to. They pre-screen your music, and if they deem it worthy, they forward it on. You almost always get a critique of your music with each submission. Some people get critiques that don't say what they wish they did, and which aren't sugar-coated. You can choose to ignore the critiques, but they can be very constructive.
Through them, I signed a few publishing deals with some American companies that specialize in film/TV music. One of those companies, Crucial Music, has gotten me a few choice placements. They accept unsolicited material through their website, www.crucialmusic.com, and they are always looking for new stuff. The deal is non-exclusive, and binding for 3 years, but you keep ownership of all your stuff, and they only get royalties on the placements they get for you.
You could try some radio promotion - I know a good company.
I also had some success at garageband.com. They have an ongoing chart and contest, and one of my songs has placed particularly high, and from that I've had interest from entertainment lawyers, and music supervisors. Some people have been signed from that site. They also hook you up with iLike.com, which is a social networking music site where I've gained new fans.
I've also made my music safe for podcasts, so that podcasters can play it without fear. There's good promo there, and I can point you in the direction of a couple of good ones.
I also have my music up on Last.fm, which is a cool site.
Sonicbids has some cool listings, and you can set up a good electronic press kit. I've had some success there with Coca-cola myTracks, and song contests and things.
Myspace feels like it has reached saturation. So many bands, all with a kajillion friends, too much noise, not enough action.
SonyBMG UK has done away with accepting physical demos, and has setup a blog at http://ar.sony.vox.com/. Here I've had unprecedented access to real A&R staff. Create a blog and share your stuff - ask them to listen, and they will. Mine's at freddynet.vox.com.
Oh, and if you join TAXI, they give a free conference in L.A. every fall, and that's a great thing to go to if you can swing it. That's really about the people you can meet there.
Of course, so much of this stuff costs money, but at least it's a tax writeoff. Hopefully this helps!
I was just reading this post from The Glitch and it got me thinking. These days the changing face of the music business seems to have spun us all into a state of confusion, labels and artists alike. In days gone by, it seemed that all you had to do was make good music. Then came MTV and you had to look super pretty. Then came the internet and you had to have a million pages on a million social networking/blog/music sites, as well as a personal website, all maintained and up-to-date. Oh well, at least in the rise of the digital age, it's nice to see that the gimmick is still alive and well.
I don't know about you, fellow artists and musicians, but it can get somewhat difficult, even exhausting trying to figure out what to do to get your music heard. I get so many spam requests to be added as a 'friend' on myspace, and I turn them all down. Should I have said yes, so that when an A&R visits the site and counts the friends as a gauge of my marketability, I look more popular? Are they counting the number of plays of my songs? Are they counting my Vox neighbours? Are they counting or reading the comments on my songs?
I made a decision when I chose to enter this business: I am going to do whatever it takes to get my music to as many people as possible. But sometimes it is hard even to know what it takes. Make good music, cultivate the right image, play live, build a fanbase, maintain an internet presence, work hard, be professional... Not only am I willing to do all this, but I am eager to do it if it gets me to my goal. I trust that the music I make is good, and that all I need is the right break. But maybe I need to build a full-scale brand with proven marketability before they will take notice.
I can see why The Glitch is frustrated. Are good songs enough? Do we need to blog every day? Should we even be on this site if we're not based in the UK? It's hard to measure up when the standards of measurement seem so unclear.
When I wrote my last post about this topic, I forgot a couple of other things I wanted to mention. This kind reader brought up the excellent point that writing music is an intensely personal experience, and I totally agree with that.
The problem is that I, like so many other musicians on Vox and all the other trillions of music sites on the interweb, want to be successful at making a career out of my music. I want people to love my music, spend their hard-earned cash on it, and tell their friends about it, so I can make more music, without having to work other jobs to pay for recording and promoting it. In order for that to happen, I feel like I need to put the music out there, and deal with what is said about it, positive or negative. Some people will love it, some will hate it, and hopefully there are more of the former.
Reviews and comments on sites like this can be good and bad. We can be supportive of each other, but I'm not sure how much weight such comments and reviews ought to be given. To illustrate this, I have posted a track below from my first album, which features strings. I once had a review of this song that lamented the fact that the strings were so fake, and what a great shame it was that I hadn't used real strings, and how much better the song would have sounded with real strings. Trouble is, the strings are real! It's a live quartet, stacked for a more orchestral sound.
Maybe instead of asking for reviews or comments, we ought to just ask 2 simple questions:
1. Would you buy this song?
2. Would you tell a friend about this song?
