Timeless Advice to Musicians from Thelonius Monk
My buddy Wes Price from Polysound Studios sold me on the fact that this handwritten note was created by Jazz God Thelonius Monk in 1960 as an advice sheet for his new drummer. I think that most of the advice here is valid for anyone in the music business. This is a great companion piece to Quincy Jones’ SXSW Keynote speech. Enjoy!
How to Book a Tour in 7 Steps
Touring is hard. With the current economy, its even tougher for independent bands to hit the road and actually make some money. Despite the financial constraints, touring is the most effective way to spread your music across the land. Sure MySpace will get you some ears, but nothing beats seeing the band live, seeing them sweat all over their instruments and meeting them after a gig. Touring is what the music business was built on and is a tradition that will never go away.
Many new bands ask me how they can go about booking a tour. Everyone is so eager to hit the road. I always tell them that it takes patience, perseverance and planning. Also, it takes money and self-sacrifice and its not for everyone. If your bass player needs to mommy and daddy (or his girlfriend) to tuck him in every night, or if your singer needs to eat sushi everyday and wash it down with Evian, chances are touring might not be the best for your band. If you get sick of a car after 2 hours of driving, don’t even THINK about touring.
Tips for Blossoming Concert Promoters
Promoters can be very effective in breaking new bands and creating a music scene. A promoter is a person that contacts venues, sets up shows and assembles a bill of bands that he thinks will draw lots of patrons to the venue. Successful ones are usually well-connected, popular and fair to the core bands they work with.
I have seen many blossoming promoters in town that get bad reps because they mistreat bands and venues. It is really easy to get burned and banned from clubs, so here I offer up some hard-learned tips.
1) Don’t Rely on Bands for Promotions: The biggest mistake promoters make is putting the fate of the show in the band’s hands. As a promoter, it is your job to PROMOTE the living crap out of the show to ensure its success. Promoters have the responsibility to get the posters to the venue 6 weeks out, make handbill flyers to pass out at other shows, contact local music publications to promote the event, create and promote Facebook and MySpace events, email everyone you know, text message everyone you know, etc… Promoters should enlist the band’s help and motivate them to participate, but in the end, its your reputation on the line. Don’t blow it and don’t get lazy.
Trent Reznor’s Magic Million Dollar Music Business Formula
Finding a new and profitable business model has eluded major record labels since the decline of recorded music sales began as MP3s took hold. In his presentation at MidemNet — one of the most elite music business event in the World — Techdirt’s Mike Masnick profiled Trent Reznor’s recent successes selling his music without the help of a major record label and condensed it into a simple formula. Masnick ventures to say that Reznor made over $1.6 million from his latest release alone. That notion definitely got my attention.
Although Masnick quickly mentions that this model can work for both big and small bands, there is a big advantage that former major label bands have over indies and unsigned bands: long-time fans and starting capital. Trent and NIN have been famous for almost 20 years (Pretty Hate Machine came out in 1989) and have built a huge and solide worldwide following. The model explains Trent’s process and highlight that the key to his success was a $300 limited edition signed box set of the new album. For an independent band, it’s tough enough to sell a $10 CD at a gig that is sold to you by the band itself. I bet you people would pay $1,000 to buy a CD from Trent at a show.
Despite the “established artist” lean of the potential of this new model, Trent does connect more than not and he has found a way to keep his business rolling. I am sure fans of all bands would rather transact this way. It also worked for Radiohead. Kudos to Trent for making it work and even bigger kudos to his fans for responding.
The formula is:
Connect With Fans (CwF) + Reason To Buy (RtB)
= The Business Model ($$$$)
Why I Love Music.
Music is the most beautiful form of aural expression a human can create. Beautifully harmonic. Jaw-droppingly elegant. Schizophrenic and analytical. A technology whose goal is to transfer emotional agreement to express situational similarities and therefore confirm our logical authenticity and our commoditization as a species. Sex drives at a fast crescendo. Romantic Love at an andante. Attachment at a fortissimo. Music encourages sexuality to become a tether for reproduction and productivity. Finds efficiency in chaos. For not being able to experience the same thing under the same set of circumstances.
Music is the cartographer of a tonal topography being discovered for the first time, but seemingly familiar. Customizing the experience of being different in our own generic ways. Portals into a neural machine that is wireless, spaceless and codefiable. The greenest source of energy. Music is the string theory of evolutionary exploration. Of recessions and revelations. Of recycling and reincarnation. Of becoming commodities in a sea of experience. Of being absolute and authentic using our common bonds.
Music is a force of nature and a law of physics. It’s a state of mind and consists of overestimating the differences between one source and another. Love it or let it be.
Enjoy. Share.
Ivan Peña
Mohawk Bomb Records
Not Your Same Old Music Business
Over the last decade, there has been much talk and figures to support the fact that the heyday of the music industry has passed, or at least shrunk.
For example, the Top 10 selling albums of 2008 totaled 19 million units, including digital sales. In 1988, the 5 top-selling album alone sold over 26 million units (George Michael’s Faith, Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, Def Leppard’s Hysteria, INXS’ Kick and Michael Jackson’s Bad).
Did music lose its appeal? Does Lil Weezy not hold a candle to the King of Pop? Do bands today suck more than those of the 80s? What gives? I am sure there has been some kind of “lack of quality” perception from some old timers and music critics, but for the most part I think its about greed and lack of following supply and demand.
Ticket Sales for Independent Bands and Venues
Check out TicketLeap is you want to start pre-selling your own online tickets without needing to put up with Ticketmaster. You can sell tickets online, at the door with a Virtual Box Office or over the phone. Venues should think about encouraging bands to do this as a potential way to make a little more money. You will always have a minimum set of people guaranteed to come.
