Music Business lesson 101

Talk about anything specifically related to local music. Local CD's, websites, local, local, local!

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bassjones
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Music Business lesson 101

Post by bassjones »

Promote, promote, promote.

I just got new gigs booked at a new place for one reason and one reason only. I added one of the booking agents for a club we're playing at later this year to our email list. For last night's gig, I sent out an email two weeks ago, then another last Friday, then one Thursday of this week. He emailed me back with this...

Brad,

This is fantastic!! This is exactly what I want all the bands I book to do. It is just plain good business for the bars and the bands. Keep up the Good Work!!! Looking forward to having you guys at (Venue blocked out).

FYI- I just started booking bands for the (New Venue) on West Jeferson, if you are interested in another gig, let me know.

(Name blocked out but the bar owner),

Isn't this great! This is a band that truly "Gets It".

Hasn't even heard us play yet - he's heard some of our band members' other projects, but not this band - and he's booking us for another gig at a new club just because we're promoting the crap out of ourselves.
"brad!
...your tunes and your playing sound really great... all the best to you and god bless-
adam nitti" www.myspace.com/adamnittimusic

www.bradjonesbass.com
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tadly
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Post by tadly »

Most musicians--especially young ones--don't realize that playing the music is only half (at best) of being in a band. You have to market and promote your band. Once you have your web site, email/newsletters are a remarkably cheap way to promote. As I've been auditioning for bands, one of the things I've made clear is that, once the band starts "making money," part of that money has to go to the band. Everybody seems to just want to split the money between the members--their cut--but most don't want to pay the band. I'm sure this has cost me at least two gigs, but after dumping over $1000 of my own money (in a 10 month period) into my last band, I have to insist on the "band cut." I have auditioned for a band who puts all of the money toward the band; they are extremely dedicated guys, and it was a pleasure just to audition for them.
ZychieG
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Post by ZychieG »

i would like to include...

Make sure all the members invest into the band. If you believe your band will be successful and only you put your money into it. Guess what! Those members will decide somewhere down the line that they dont want to be in your band, leaving you with all the expenses and a member short.

Also make sure you actually invest in your band. If you want to get signed, do not make a demo with one mic in your basement. Go to a professional studio and record with professional equipment. Think about it, a label guy receives your basement demo. He will toss it. He doesnt care if you are the next John Petrucci! If you don't invest in yourself why would others invest in you!

Eventually you can pay back your personal money if you have a good product and good music that sells. And you wont have to lay anymore of your own money down. It will all come back if you promote, hustle and promote some more!!
Sign of the Hammer!
If you would like to book with Argonaut email at booking@Argonautmetal.com or call 260-413-2027

Also check us out at
http://www.Argonautmetal.com

If you would like to book with Cougar Hunter please email:

cougarhunterfortwayne@gmail.com or call 260-413-2027
bassjones
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Post by bassjones »

ZychieG wrote:i would like to include...

Make sure all the members invest into the band. If you believe your band will be successful and only you put your money into it. Guess what! Those members will decide somewhere down the line that they dont want to be in your band, leaving you with all the expenses and a member short.

Also make sure you actually invest in your band. If you want to get signed, do not make a demo with one mic in your basement. Go to a professional studio and record with professional equipment. Think about it, a label guy receives your basement demo. He will toss it. He doesnt care if you are the next John Petrucci! If you don't invest in yourself why would others invest in you!

Eventually you can pay back your personal money if you have a good product and good music that sells. And you wont have to lay anymore of your own money down. It will all come back if you promote, hustle and promote some more!!
That's actually not true. They would rather know you write good songs and can actually play than hear an excellently produced demo. A number of label people I know personally have told me they'd rather have a hissy, poorly recorded live recording cassette tape of somebody with talent than a bright shiny turd. With today's recording techniques it's too easy to shine up a turd.

At any rate, promotion is the key to success.
"brad!
...your tunes and your playing sound really great... all the best to you and god bless-
adam nitti" www.myspace.com/adamnittimusic

www.bradjonesbass.com
http://groups.myspace.com/northeastindianabassplayers
www.myspace.com/bassjones
www.myspace.com/whitehotnoise
www.esession.com/bradjones - hire me for your session from anywhere in the world.
ZychieG
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Post by ZychieG »

yes i agree that talent is an important factor, but if you have a piss poor recording, why would you invest into someone that wont invest in themselves. You may send a piss recording with your press kit, but the chances of you being signed under a label will be less. If you take the time to make a good recording and put together a good press kit along with talent (hopefully you have some) your chances will be greater of getting gigs, selling more merchandise, getting more fanbase, and of course getting signed under a good label. Not one of those piss labels!!! Its very much like writing a resume. A good resume gets you the interview. Like a good press kit gets you the gigs you want.
Sign of the Hammer!
If you would like to book with Argonaut email at booking@Argonautmetal.com or call 260-413-2027

Also check us out at
http://www.Argonautmetal.com

If you would like to book with Cougar Hunter please email:

cougarhunterfortwayne@gmail.com or call 260-413-2027
Garr
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Post by Garr »

Who really wants to get signed anyway? I think the new trend is going to be getting away from major AND indie labels and going truly independent. Why let someone else get a cut of your art, you know? I predict that in the next ten years artists are going to be hiring people to work for them instead of being hired themselves.

Get a good manager, booking agent, lawyer, and promoter. You may have to shell out 10-15% to each of them, but I'd rather shell out 60% and keep 40% than get raped by a label who might not even give you anything at all. Hell, most bands come out of their deal OWING the label and settling to get out of their contract.
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand binary. . .

. . .and those who don't.

[url]http://www.garrmusic.com[/url]

Check out these sites:

[url=http://www.OhSoHumorous.com]OhSoHumorous.com[/url]
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More to come...
bassjones
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Post by bassjones »

Garr wrote:Who really wants to get signed anyway? I think the new trend is going to be getting away from major AND indie labels and going truly independent. Why let someone else get a cut of your art, you know? I predict that in the next ten years artists are going to be hiring people to work for them instead of being hired themselves.

Get a good manager, booking agent, lawyer, and promoter. You may have to shell out 10-15% to each of them, but I'd rather shell out 60% and keep 40% than get raped by a label who might not even give you anything at all. Hell, most bands come out of their deal OWING the label and settling to get out of their contract.
=D> =D>

Agreed! DIY!
"brad!
...your tunes and your playing sound really great... all the best to you and god bless-
adam nitti" www.myspace.com/adamnittimusic

www.bradjonesbass.com
http://groups.myspace.com/northeastindianabassplayers
www.myspace.com/bassjones
www.myspace.com/whitehotnoise
www.esession.com/bradjones - hire me for your session from anywhere in the world.
ZychieG
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Post by ZychieG »

You can hire a lawyer, booking agent etc and lay lots of money down. You can provide all the money to record, buy good merchandise, buy onto tours that benefit etc. If you want to live off music you play a label can do that for you. Its like getting a loan at a bank. They dish out the money for the now, and you pay them back.

Either way works and is beneficial. I would rather be signed to a good label and negotiate a contract that is beneficial to the band and the label. So that I would not have to lay any of my personal money down to provide for my band.

Since I don't have a lot of money and young. This would prove to be a better option for a band as a business.
Sign of the Hammer!
If you would like to book with Argonaut email at booking@Argonautmetal.com or call 260-413-2027

Also check us out at
http://www.Argonautmetal.com

If you would like to book with Cougar Hunter please email:

cougarhunterfortwayne@gmail.com or call 260-413-2027
Garr
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Post by Garr »

Why don't you ask Dave, and the boys from Jettingham how well that works?
There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand binary. . .

. . .and those who don't.

[url]http://www.garrmusic.com[/url]

Check out these sites:

[url=http://www.OhSoHumorous.com]OhSoHumorous.com[/url]
[url=http://www.TopDailyMemes.com]TopDailyMemes.com[/url]
[url=http://www.RandomDailyMemes.com]RandomDailyMemes.com[/url]
[url=http://www.BestDailyMemes.com]BestDailyMemes.com[/url]
[url=http://www.FortWayneMusic.om]FortWayneMusic.om[/url]
[url=http://www.Kwalis.com]Kwalis.com[/url]
[url=http://www.SoHumorous.com]SoHumorous.com[/url]
[url=http://www.FailUniversity.com]FailUniversity.com[/url]
[url=http://www.FaceFullOf.com]FaceFullOf.com[/url]
[url=http://www.NuZuDu.com]NuZuDu.com[/url]
[url=http://www.FireFlyGoods.com]FireFlyGoods.com[/url]
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[url=http://www.DontStealMyMemes.com]DontStealMyMemes.com[/url]

More to come...
ZychieG
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Post by ZychieG »

Thats not the point! A of labels and people try to screw you. It seems to me its some peoples life goals. you could do it yourself but the chance of you actually living off your music is possible but takes longer. It could take you a year or two to get known and make some profit via a label. Doing it yourself will take a lot more. I have known no band that has done it themselves and are making profits off of it. If you just want to play music and not live off it! I say do it yourself! If you want to live off it, get on a label!!

And dont get on a sh*tty label either. Cause they are the people that want to screw you! You just have to look around to find a label that shares the same vision as your band and will help produce and promote the best product out there!
Sign of the Hammer!
If you would like to book with Argonaut email at booking@Argonautmetal.com or call 260-413-2027

Also check us out at
http://www.Argonautmetal.com

If you would like to book with Cougar Hunter please email:

cougarhunterfortwayne@gmail.com or call 260-413-2027
Oliver's Army
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Post by Oliver's Army »

How long have you been in the business?

I would like to glean more insight.

What exactly is a sh*tty label? Specifics, please.
bassjones
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Post by bassjones »

I know of no band that's ever been with a label that was happy with how that turned out either. Homeless J. and Jettingham among them. I think LLC is on a good label for them, so maybe I'll know one signed band that had it work out. I know a number of other people who've signed with labels and ended up far worse off for it. Some of them to really good, big-name labels too. I met Aimee Mann from Til Tuesday a couple of years ago and the biggest things she told me was to NEVER sign with any label, ever. She's now putting out solo albums by herself and actually making more money than she ever did when Til Tuesday was all over MTV and selling records by the ton. She's also a brilliant songwriter.

Today's technology and environment makes it even more possible to make a living at it without dealing with a label. Why make somebody else all the money?
"brad!
...your tunes and your playing sound really great... all the best to you and god bless-
adam nitti" www.myspace.com/adamnittimusic

www.bradjonesbass.com
http://groups.myspace.com/northeastindianabassplayers
www.myspace.com/bassjones
www.myspace.com/whitehotnoise
www.esession.com/bradjones - hire me for your session from anywhere in the world.
beck
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Post by beck »

DIY is a great thing for bands today. I have a lot of friends that play around the world, DIY, and make a living doing it. I also have a lot of friends that spent time searching for the right label for them, and they also make a decent living doing it. The bottomline for an original band wanting to make a living playing music is TOUR,TOUR, and more TOUR. Label or DIY, noone is going to buy your albums, or show up to your shows, if they don't know who you are. In addition, clubs are not going to pay you decently if noone knows who you are.

We are COMPLETELY happy with our label, but they are a good match for us. We own all of our music, all of our publishing(where the money is at), and we make nearly all of the decisions. The label provides us with money, publicity, and good marketing. Even with all of these things, we stand to make no money if we don't tour, and noone knows who we are.

As far as the poorly recorded demo conversation, Brad you are right. Labels look for talent, not quality recordings. Virtually all labels are going to send you to rerecord your album for them anyway. They will invest in a poorly recorded band because the only thing they are looking for is a marketable sound that they think they can sell, not if you are willing to spend a small fortune on your album you send them.
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Post by fragile_funk »

I don't think it makes much sense to group together all labels as 'good' or 'bad'. Obviously, the style of music and size of the label are important in determining whether it is a good idea to sign on.

With more popular styles, like pop or radio rock, a small label would probably provide a helpful starting boost in distribution and promotion. After that, such a band would probably have the resources they needed to continue onwards without label support or they could sign to a major label that would likely exploit them.

Non-'mainstream' bands (metal, etc.), however, don't always have that built-in audience, and if they do it is likely in a completely different part of the world (ex. Power/Black metal in Europe). Self-promotion becomes significantly harder because of the lack of support from radio and other media. Labels can offer a lot of help to these kinds of bands by providing distribution and promotion to potential fans at a much faster rate than the band could do on their own.

As far as recording quality, I'm sure it can't hurt to have a nice-sounding CD to send along with press kits. A lot radio stations probably won't play your songs if they aren't to their standards. Most importantly, though, it gives your fans a nice feeling to know they didn't spend their money on something that sounds like crap.
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Post by bassjones »

by demo, I meant something you send to labels and/or clubs to garner interest in your product (you). Certainly if you're going to be selling a CD or marketing it to radio, you need a more quality recording, although the Violent Femmes' first album was pretty much a 4-track cassette recording...
Last edited by bassjones on Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"brad!
...your tunes and your playing sound really great... all the best to you and god bless-
adam nitti" www.myspace.com/adamnittimusic

www.bradjonesbass.com
http://groups.myspace.com/northeastindianabassplayers
www.myspace.com/bassjones
www.myspace.com/whitehotnoise
www.esession.com/bradjones - hire me for your session from anywhere in the world.
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