|
Good
Things to Know
OK,
the first CRUMBS Night Out panel discussion—the music critic
panel—was a blast. We were still going strong after 75 minutes,
answering a ton of questions. The conversation was more philosophical
than I was expecting, but that’s where it wanted to go.
Next Thursday (Nov. 13), Scientific Maps will perform, followed
by a panel talking about licensing music to TV and movies.
While we’re blessed with a couple local commercial radio stations
and a bunch of college stations that regularly play local
music, for the most part radio’s dead and irrelevant in terms
of getting music heard. These days more songs break, and more
money is made, on television shows and commercials and in
movies. Find out how it works from Steve Ellis, president
of online music-placement service Pump Audio, musician and
music publisher Gary Burke, television composer Rich Tozzolli,
music attorney Paul Czech, and yours truly. If you’re a recording
musician you want to be here.
This being Metroland’s Local Music Issue and all, I’m
gonna list some things a local musician ought to be thinking
about:
Look
beyond Albany. Listen, being the king or queen of Lark
Street doesn’t mean squat, unless your primary goal is getting
laid. Open your eyes; we’re within three hours from a couple
a dozen markets roughly the size of the Capital District,
and a couple of major markets. Go to them, even if the trips
are money-losers to start.
Demos.
Don’t submit “demo versions” of songs hoping to get some kind
of deal. You can circulate demos to fans (in fact, that’s
a really powerful way to keep your fans engaged), but when
you want to really make a move, take the time and make a recording
that’s ready to ship. With decent recording studios on everybody’s
laptop, it’s not a money issue anymore.
Record
deals. A record deal doesn’t need to be your goal. You
can do it all yourself. You really can. There’s plenty of
good reasons you might wanna be on a label, but it’s not the
only path anymore. And for a lot of you, it’s probably not
the best path.
Internet.
There’s no such thing as working the Internet too hard. A
major music consultant recently suggested that any serious
band should have one full non-performing member whose job
it is to work the Internet. These days, the number of MySpace
hits matters; the number of fans you can blast matters; you
have the ability to have a one-on-one relationship with your
fans. Have it.
Competition.
Don’t diss other bands on the scene. That’s small-time
crawfish-in-the-bucket stuff (see Look beyond Albany,
above). If your big “competition” on the scene gets signed
and goes double platinum, guess where the labels are gonna
be sniffing for their next big thing?
Collectivise.
One of the really exciting trends I’m seeing is local
music collectives, groups of artists that pool resources and
expertise and act as DIY labels and event producers (see page
18 for an example). Create your own scene, share expertise
in graphics and production, share equipment and music talent,
cross-pollinate fans. One of you breaks, everybody’s connected.
Who knows? Your cheap-wine apartment-based music collective
could be tomorrow’s major indie label.
Free
works. Understand that payment for music is more or less
voluntary these days, so don’t be stingy about giving your
tracks away from time to time. Would you rather have 1000
free copies of your song on peoples’ iPods, or 10 copies people
paid you 99 cents for? Which alternative is more valuable
to you in the long run?
Work
your fans. Involve them, engage them, feed them information,
make them part of your world. There’s a theory floating around
that if your band has 1000 real fans per band member, you
can make a comfortable living. And I’m sure you can squeak
by with a lot less than that.
Learn
about the biz. These days, being the aloof artiste,
man, just doesn’t cut it. You have to understand how the business
works, where the money comes from, how royalties work. Read
a book like Don Passman’s All You Need to Know About the
Music Business. Once you understand how this stuff works,
you can pretend to be the aloof artiste, man, with
confidence, ’til the cows come home. Knock yourself out.
—Paul Rapp
|
Site
Search 
