Top 5 Music Business Mistakes of 2010 (#4)

Top 5 Music Business Mistakes of 2010 

#4 Apples to Oranges

On the off chance that the title of this article is a piece of slang that was unique to my parents (I ran the title by someone who was baffled by the fact that a music blog would be discussing fruit) I am speaking about comparing two things that can’t be accurately compared.  I have found that is very common for artists to have the belief that exposure = sales and that all songs and all artists if given the same exposure would get the same response from the public.  This issue gets especially cloudy when an artist is comparing his or her own career to the career of someone in the public eye.

The most hate mail I ever got was from an article I wrote that contained the words “Great bands make great managers”.  Musicians and managers alike hated this statement but it is one that I still stand by.  What did I mean when I said it?  Well, there is an old (and awful) saying I heard in my record company days – “You can’t polish a turd.”  There were simply some acts back then that no matter how much a label spent on getting them on Radio, MTV and on great tours they just never connected with people.

Many things have changed in the music business but I don’t think this has changed at all – sometimes all of the exposure in the world just doesn’t matter.   I get into a ton of trouble using the word “great” so let me clear that up for the comments you are writing in your head about how much Nickelback sucks and how could Lady Gaga and Kesha possibly be considered great and how I don’t know what I’m talking about…  First off you should know that on any given week I actively dislike about 90% of the top 200 albums on the Billboard charts.  Secondly I neither know nor do I think it is entirely knowable why something connects with a mass audience and some things don’t.  I do know that some artists seem to be opportunity magnets and many more are not.

Back to the statement about managers – very few people refer to managers without successful clients as “great.”  Even if a manager does everything right and gets his or her clients exposure, if they don’t yield results very few people take notice of that manager’s ability.  There are other times when you can’t seem to stop opportunities from arising for a song or for an artist and contrary to popular belief this really isn’t always related to an artist’s team.  Yes- a good team can bring in great opportunities and tip the balance in an artist’s favor but generally speaking it is as much the music as the artist’s handlers that makes things happen for an artist.

We see this phenomenon in a much more overt way with viral video in the digital age.  People either see something and pass it on to their friends or they don’t.  I always find it interesting when someone sets out to “Make a viral video”.  Barring a Trojan type virus that would automatically make a video play every time someone turned on their machine (please don’t do this) there is no way of predicting what will be viral and what won’t be.  You can market and spend all you want but some things catch fire and other things just don’t.

Okay, I have probably beaten this point to death and depressed a bunch of you.  Not at all my intent and not at all the focus of this article.  If such things are believed to be truly out of your hands then what is an artist to do?  My suggestions are two-fold:

One:  Acceptance-

Acceptance is not the Acceptance of failure.  It is the acceptance that if you are doing everything you can to promote yourself- at this moment in time it may not be your turn to be widely embraced by mass media.  Enduring and building the best you can is sometimes all you can do until the stars align for you.

Two: Growth-

It could be the passage of time alone might make the world ready for your music, stranger things have happened.  If it were my music career though I would err on the side of caution and make sure that I put the time in to get better at my craft just a little bit every day.  Perhaps your abilities are just a tweak away from being ready to react with people in a different way.  The Plain White Tees released “Hey There Delilah” a few different times before a version of the song finally caught fire.

While I never heard the words come directly out of his mouth Ahmet Ertegun was often quoted as saying “A hit will find a way”.  I think there is a very real feeling that is not at all subtle when you have hit upon a formula with a song or with a group that is really connecting.  I also think that there is no telling when (or if) that moment will ever grow in to being.  Until such time keep improving your craft and stop comparing yourself to others – it tends not to do any good.  If all the exposure in the world was suddenly heaped on you- you might not be ready for it yet.

Originally Posted and Written by MusicianCoaching.com 

Top 5 Music Business Mistakes of 2010 (#3)

#3 – Poor Planning

Once again, I don’t mean to appear unsympathetic.  I know first hand how difficult it is to remain objective once you have put your heart and soul into a project but I have to point out that I have seen far too many careers that have suffered greatly due to poor planning or even worse – no planning.

It sounds ridiculous but something as simple as writing out a list of goals for your business can force you to clarify that vague plan you have in your head – I highly recommend it as I have made the mistake of winging it one too many times when an organized written document would have saved me time, effort and expense.  When I am at my best I find that I am often re-visiting revising such documents for my business because I am continually moving closer to my goals.  When I am at my worst I am unable to carve out the time to extract myself from daily distractions to reflect on the big picture.  I am certainly not saying it is easy but it can be done.

There are two main areas in which musicians seem to flounder the most.  Probably not coincidentally they are two of the most important events in a musician’s life – Music releases and Touring.

Music Releases:

With regard to music releases I am always surprised to hear how many people will start looking for a promotion and marketing strategy after their album, single or E.P. has been released.  While it is never too late for someone to start such efforts it is probably a good idea to start thinking of such things the minute you enter the studio or even the minute you start writing the next release if possible.  I have said it before and I will say it again that websites have ceased being billboards and have become like 24 hour news channels.  With this in mind it is important to collect as much content (Journaling, photos, videos, rough mixes, live takes etc) from the writing and recording process as possible.  “Why?” You might ask.  Simply because there are only so many ways you can say to the people who you hope will care about your music that you have a new record coming out.  If you’ve collected no material about the making of your latest product you will not have nearly as many interesting ways to hype your release.  Saying “New record coming next week” is not nearly as interesting as even a goofy video of you spilling Bong water on the console (not that I recommend it).

Another rookie mistake (and again – I empathize – I really do) is rushing a product to market.  I watch artists record an album, master it, order a few hundred CDs and schedule a release so they can get it out to market as fast as humanly possible.  Oh, I get it, you are excited and you have made sacrifices to create your latest work and you are anxious for the world to hear it.  Resist this at all costs.  If possible have advance copies of your CD or digital album in the hands of those who can expose it to more people than you can (Journalists, music supervisors, bloggers, morning TV shows, local radio, podcasters, promoters, club owners or even your most successful friends in music for a testimonial about your work).  Make sure that you have all of your marketing and promotional materials in hand to the best of your ability – a bio, an EPK, compelling live footage, press clips, artwork, a video (even if it is just the album artwork synced up with your single).  Make sure you have events lined up – a record release party, a listening party, a Ustream concert, a house party, some kind of album giveaway, a tie in with a local retail store – anything that gets people talking and anything that exposes your music to new people.

The longer you promote a record the better chances it has of doing something…  try your best to line up several months worth of marketing and promotional ideas if possible.  The most obvious of these of course is…

Touring:

Think about touring for a second.  You have a new release or you finally got transportation to take your act on the road – what is your plan?  I’ve watched countless acts bleed money on cross country tours before they have even built up their own home market, let alone several regional markets.  I suppose that’s okay if you’re in your early 20s and just want to compare the taste of beer in New York to the beer in Los Angeles (it’s the same as near as I can tell by the way.  Pizza though?  A different story – don’t leave New York).  Most of the good agents I know tell me that barring very exceptional gigs it is generally not worth touring in any market unless you can revisit that market every 3-4 months to maintain and build a following.  What this means for most on a budget is concentric circles around your hometown.  It is much easier to do several three day weekends or pull the occasional sick day on a regional build than it is to take two weeks off of work to visit a dozen markets that you won’t revisit more than once per year.

It is generally not worth touring any given market unless you can find some kind of support in said market.  This can be as simple as family and friends with a place to crash or a good opportunity like finding a local act that does well to trade gigs with.  If you pick five markets to target there are only so many college radio stations, indie record stores and local readers you have to service and create relationships with.  Yes- easier said than done but it is do-able.  Prior to this step is of course making sure you mean something in your home town so you will have a crowd to trade on with other out of town acts.

This post turned into rather random musings about releases and touring but I urge you to write out a plan and think about having a long term strategy for record releases, tours and your career in general.

Originally Posted and Written by MusicianCoaching.com