Your Band's Best Friend

The face of content is really changing, and in general, it’s getting shorter, richer, and more passive.

People are reading magazines more than they’re reading books; Blogs more than magazines; Micro-blogs (ie, twitter) more than blogs…. the trend to consume in smaller, and therefore more convenient, packages will continue.

This is where video comes in.

My guess is that if you told someone you had a video that took 5 minutes to watch, or a blog post that took 5 minutes to read, the majority of people would choose to watch the video. This, despite the fact that the blog post would theoretically have more information, since you can read much faster than the average pace of video. So why is this?

Video is richer content. It’s information, sound, & visual stimulation, all rolled into one. It’s also much more passive, meaning you can sit back and consume with less effort than if you had to read text. For these reasons, it’s also more likely to grab your attention and focus without distraction.

So how does music fit in? Well, in my opinion, video is going to be a huge part of the musical revolution. In fact, it kind of already is. But I would even go as far to say that videos may replace albums altogether. Video producers may become the new record producers, or will at least start working more closely with them, creating continuous, bite-sized content that is both aurally and visually appealing.

What do you think? Could a great videographer become the 6th Beatle?

I’ve blogged before about building your team around you as an artist. There are all sorts of people who will help your along your path to (hopefully) succeeding: a manager, a label, a publicist, a graphic designer, a web designer, etc.

It’s an important distinction to note that some of these people are helpers, and others are partners. What do I mean by that? To boil it down to the most easily understood terms:

Some people are partners. They work with you and take a percentage.

Some people are helpers. You pay them money, and they provide a service.

Of course, there are some roles which are very clearly partners (i.e. managers) and others who are helpers (the mastering engineer you hire). Some roles straddle this line, becoming both a partner and a helper.

Whenever you start working with someone, it’s important to remember which they are. Or, put another way, make sure you understand the relationship you’re entering into, since partners and helpers are two different beasts that you don’t want to confuse.

I met up with a group of music industry professionals this afternoon, and as we were chatting, we got on the topic of the problems that exist in the area of live shows.  I’m not talking about soft-seater or stadium shows, I’m talking about gigs in small, local venues.

It’s clear that there are lots of different opinions on what works and what doesn’t, but right as we were wrapping up, I made a comment that I think warrants publishing, and it’s this:

There’s nothing that bothers me more than shows that cost $5 to get into.

Five bucks, in my mind, is WAY too low.  When I played in bands in my early twenties (about 10 years ago), shows cost five bucks THEN. You know what else cost five bucks? A pack of cigarettes. Try finding a store that sells you smokes for under $10 now. (Note: I’m in Toronto, Canada, so your prices may vary depending on where you live).

The live music scene – and again, I’m talking about club shows, here – has sort of backed itself into a corner.   How often do you hear this:

“You’ve got a show on Friday? Cool! What is it, like, $5 to get in or something?”

People have gotten so used to charging $5 at the door, simply by default, that if you charge more, patrons tend to be surprised. But the cost of guitars, amps, strings, gas to get to the venue, food, and virtually everything else has gone up.  Why hasn’t the price of seeing bands?

No business in the world can survive without raising their prices at some point. Nobody likes doing it, but imagine if a can of Coke still cost a nickel, or hotels (nice ones) were still $10 a night. They would have gone out of business ages ago.

Of course, just doubling the price to $10 to get in (where it should probably be by now) isn’t the solution.  Like one of the artists I was talking with pointed out, they’d rather have 40 people at $5 than 20 people at $10, because it’s the head count, not the dollar amount taken at the door, that the bar cares about when deciding to have you back.  Fair enough.

If we had been raising this incrementally all along the way, however, maybe today $10 would be second nature – the ‘going rate’ if you will – and younger bands would be in much, much better shape.

So my solution? We can start now. Surely, raising your prices to $6 or $7 probably wouldn’t cause that much of a dip, if any, in your attendance.  More importantly, however, is that the price continues to go up in line with the cost of doing business (and we all agree that running your band like a business is vital). It’s not a price gouge, it’s smart business, and it’ll help keep you afloat for longer.

Everyone – bands, promoters, venue owners, and supporters – need to be open to change in order to find the right price for a night of live music.

$5, as a default, just isn’t cutting it.

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What are your thoughts? Comment below!

One of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned came in the form of a rhyme.

I was working in the marketing department for a production company, and I was asked to come up with a script for a radio spot. It was my first shot at it, and I labored over those words (all 30 or so of them) for days. When I finally sent them to the president to review, he called me into his office.

He had printed off the email as he often did, and he read my copy, for the first time, right in front of me. Once he was done, his head shook back and forth in a “no no no, this is isn’t right at all” gesture.

Then came the rhyming words that changed my outlook on copy:

“Are you selling or telling?”

I read the copy, and it was clear: I was telling.

Telling involves… well, just telling people the facts. Selling involves giving people motivation to act, getting people excited, and conveying the types of emotions they’ll feel if they take action (or, sometimes, what they’ll miss if they don’t).

Example: Telling: “We’re playing a show next Friday at John’s Tavern in Houston, TX at 8PM. Hope to see you!” is telling (with a little bit of begging at the end).

Selling: “The lucky folks at John’s Tavern get to play host to our craziness for what’s sure to be a memorable, exciting, and surprising night of music and more. Next Friday, we will bring down the house. Care to join us?”

See? I’m still not good at writing copy that sells! But I think you’ll agree the second one is more likely to get a reaction.

You don’t want to be a car salesman (“Come on down for some deals!!!”) but you should at least try and get people excited about your shows (as well as other events in your career).

Don’t just tell. Sell.

For decades, the driving force behind the music industry has been the direct sale of recorded music. Vinyl, cassettes, CDs, legal MP3s… it’s all been a very simple business (in theory, anyways): record music, package music, sell music.

Today, more and more artists are opting to give their music away for free. I’ve posted on this topic before, and I stand by the opinion that it depends on your situation, your goals, and your strategy.

If you do decide to go this route, however, it’s vital that you have strategic reasons for doing so. “To gain exposure” is not enough. “Exposure” doesn’t pay your bills. “Exposure” won’t help you pay for recording that next album. “Exposure” won’t fix your van if it breaks down on tour.

Let’s take it out of the music world for a second…. You know those crazy ‘door crashers’ that big box stores have, where they sell products at ridiculously low prices (sometimes almost free)? They’re commonly known as ‘loss leaders,’ and for the most part, they work. Why? Because loss leaders not only get you into the store (so you’ll buy something more expensive), but they also get people talking about the brand, all of which leads to an overall increase in sales.

Essentially, giving away your music for free acts much like a loss leader. If you’re going to take this approach, you HAVE to have a plan as to how, specifically, you’re going to capitalize on the benefits of free music. A big box store isn’t going to sell a $100 product for $5 JUST for the exposure… they’ll have a strategy as to what else they’re hoping to sell to make up for the lost revenue.

More importantly, though, they’ll be prepared for those other sales (having enough in stock, displaying them properly, advertising, etc) and you should be too. If you’re hoping the $0.00 price tag on your album will bring more people out to your shows, make sure you have plans to tour… but more importantly, make sure you know how to reach those people who downloaded the freebie when you DO tour. Seems obvious, but it’s an important point that’s often overlooked.

Free music for your fans changes the fundamental approach to your career – namely, you’re going from a ‘direct sale’ to an ‘potential indirect sale’ – so realizing that potential is vital to success. There’s a big difference between giving something away for free and hoping for success, and giving something away for free because it’s part of your overall strategy.

Another analogy, but hopefully it will prove a point. Bare with me once again…

Let’s say you were going to bake a few apple pies.  In order to bake ‘em, you decide you need 20 apples, so you head to the grocery store.

When you got there, would you go to the produce section, pick 20 apples up, and carry them to the front? No, most likely the FIRST thing you’d do is get a basket, or at the very least a bag, to put em in. Otherwise, you’d lose some on the way to the check out.

If you’re a touring band, and you’ve chosen to build your fan-base by playing live (yes, there are other ways), then you need to realize that your fans are apples.  Success, in this case, isn’t having 20 pies at the end, but having enough fans to fill a venue/get signed to that label/get picked up by that agent, etc.

If you’re ever going to get there, you need a container to put them in.  Use Facebook fanpages to collect ‘likes,’ twitter to collect follows,  a good mailing list client to collect and use email addresses, or whatever else works for you.  But remember, you MUST have a container, and you must have it FIRST.

Otherwise, you’ll find yourself without enough apples, even though you SWORE you picked up enough.

I’m sure that “Am I good enough?” rolls through the minds of most musicians on an almost daily basis.  It’s natural, of course, but I think there’s a better question for artists to focus on, and that question is: “What’s my audience?”

To illustrate the point, I’m going to use a very strange example: Crocs.

Yes, these:

Are these shoes “good?”  Well, it depends on who you ask.

If you ask someone in the fashion world, they’d tell you that they’re hideous abominations that should never have existed.

If you asked a nurse or a gardener, they’d tell you they’re the greatest shoes ever invented.

Your music career is a business, and you’re the founder and owner. Your job is to figure out IF your ‘product’ has an audience, and WHO that audience is.

Luckily, those two things usually happen at the same time.

Despite the enormous success and impact that social media has on our society (which includes the music industry), there are still some nay-sayers out there.  One of the more common arguments against it can be paraphrased by the following:

“Musicians should focus on creating music, not on Twitter and Facebook.”

The implication is that social media is a time-sucker. Every minute wasted on social media is a minute they could (or should) be practicing their instruments, writing new songs, and refining lyrics.

It’s true.  If an artist were to ignore social media entirely, they would have more time to write music. It’s a simple equation.

Unfortunately, it misses the point entirely.

If one were to take this simple statement further, it would also be true that if an artist decided to ignore emails, they’d have even MORE time to write music and practice.  Same goes for talking with their fans after gigs, attending music conferences, or learning about publishing.

Or what about the time artists have to spend preparing meals and sleeping? Imagine how much someone could get done if they didn’t have to focus on these pesky tasks.

The point is, no business owner spends 100% of their time working on their product or service.  Partly because they understand that there are other things that need to be taken care of (like sleeping and eating), but also because they understand that their business is more than just creating their product. It’s using everything in their arsenal – social media, traditional advertising, customer service, business development – to add value TO their product, and being completely immersed in their chosen business path.

Those who tell you that social media is a waste of time are the ones who haven’t figured out how it can add value to their careers.

It would seem, too, that they are quickly becoming the minority.