Feb 23 2010

Music Shrink #12

Be your own A&R.

In today’s world,  everyone creates.  With A&R execs becoming relics of the past, it’s up to a microcosm of taste-makers and local communities to point out the good stuff amidst a sonic avalanche of mediocrity.

The good news is that moving your career forward isn’t dependent on the subjective whims of a few gatekeepers.  While this means you have to work harder than ever to make yourself known,  at least it’s now up to you.

Journalist Paul Rogers sums up the current situation well in his excellent LA Weekly article:  A&R Starmakers:  The Vanishing Gatekeepers.


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Feb 15 2010

Music Shrink #11

The big gig.

A normally laid-back guitarist friend of mine was in a panic.  His band had been picked to open for a headline act in front of a couple thousand people and it would be their biggest concert to date.  He was no stranger to performing live and always felt it was the best part of his life as a musician.  So, why the stress this time?

It’s pretty common for emotions to surface at inopportune moments before big shows.  Fear or nervousness fueled by the realization that maybe your career is actually progressing, and the reactions of this particular audience to you onstage may somehow determine your future, “The higher you climb, the further you may fall” mentality.  You can easily obsess about the myriad of things that might go wrong for the big concert.

The solution?  Have fun.

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Feb 11 2010

Music Shrink #10

Market your music with coordination.

Between writing songs, recording music, touring, paying bills, and day-to-day responsibilities, you can be on an endless wheel of activity.  Sometimes it is easy to get in the habit of throwing out random elements of your work out to the public when time permits.  One week it’s a new song.   A month later,  you complete your  bio and forward it to a college radio station.  Weeks after that, you send a song to popular music blog on a whim because you have created something you and the band are excited about.

Flickr image from user, hotdiggitydogs

Flickr image from user, hotdiggitydogs

When it comes to marketing your music, stop and think about the various marketing elements you’ve created  in terms of when you will use them, and how they can be most useful.  By controlling the timing of when you release information in a particular market to enable it to hit in a focused manner, you give yourself a better chance of being remembered by people.

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Feb 01 2010

Music Shrink #9

Radio under the radar.

There are radio promotion services that can help get your songs to the music directors at radio stations.  These services can also follow up with the stations to see what they think of your music.  If you don’t have the time or ability to send out your music and keep track of the stations, perhaps this option can make sense.  The drawback is it will cost you anywhere from several hundred dollars up to a few thousand dollars.

Flickr image from user, Roadsidepictures

Flickr image from user, Roadsidepictures

Hiring a service may make sense eventually, but initially, the best, most efficient, and cost effective way to get your music a chance at radio airplay is to start small and do some research.  Target only specific stations that you think will relate to your music.

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Jan 26 2010

Music Shrink #8

Your artwork and merchandise design matters.

In working with bands/artists over the years, several truths have emerged in my interactions.  One is that incredibly gifted creative people occasionally don’t grasp the correlation between their daily decisions and the longevity/success of their careers.

A band once proudly showed me the new t-shirts they had designed to sell on the road (merchandise sales being an important source of income for touring bands.)

I stared at the plain white cotton tee.

“Flip it over, I don’t see anything.”

“Well, there’s nothing on the back either, that’s the point,” they responded.   “There’s nothing there.  Its minimalist.”

I’m all for bucking popular trends, but putting the band’s name on your band shirt that you are selling to your fans is, well, kind of the point.

“Hm.  How will people know it’s your band’s shirt?”

“Here.”  They held up the left cuff of the short sleeve within inches of my face.  Sure enough, there was the name of the band, in 12 point type.  It could span 3, maybe 4 grains of rice laid end to end.

“How much are you going to charge for it?”

“We don’t know yet.  Ten, maybe fifteen dollars.”

Conceptually, and perhaps artistically, their approach makes sense.  But it seems risky to bet on people paying five times the normal price for a tee shirt that, minus some illegible tiny type, they can get down the block.  In attempting to make a living with your music, you need to be mindful of what motivates people to buy your work.    It is especially important if you are counting on paying for tour expenses like gasoline and food from your sales income on the road.

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