I get in more and more artists that really haven't done the whole job of the platform. So what do you need in a platform?
A homepage, yes you need a homepage. This is the place where you have your bio (no it's not good to have it on Facebook, hidden in the about page. Also here is where you build your funnels and have a proper tool to pick up your fans info. Also here you have press pictures in high res and not in some strange format where you can't save them. Then links to the social media.
In social media, you need Facebook just because it's biggest, Youtube because it's where you can make money. Instagram because many are turning to that. Then it's good with Twitter (yes you can post things in cross over so getting things like HootSuite).
Then are several more you can add. Still, I see too many only having Spotify and Facebook, even artists that really should have the other stuff in place for a long time ago.
And when you have the basics in place, work it. When you have done that for a couple months then you are ready. And no this is not the job for the record label, the manager and hell no the publisher.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
One thing is crucial.
I just got a newsletter from an artist that I'm following. I really like this band, they are nice good live and working their asses off. Unfortunately, they are based in the USA so really can't work with them also their genre is not an area I'm good at.
Still, I want them to succeed. They do everything by the book. Have all their channel correct, take all right steps. In a way that should be paid off. So I took some of their music and sent off to a couple of good people in the industry in that genre they are playing that works in the USA.
What I got back was that well it didn't trigger any sparks for any of these people. They said, yes it was good, but not exceptional. Also, they had so many bands at that level that they would be drowned in the competition.
I was a little bit like the parents of artists that come in. You think your kid is so good since you are close and you really don't know whats out there. same for me I can't read this genre, they were better than many of the acts I have seen, but I'm not seeing the best in this line of music.
This is a problem that is not easy to fix and probably the hardest problem to have. You are not good enough. You are good so in your local town you are the hero, but nation wide you are just one out of five hundred. There are only two ways to fix this problem. Change your things so you become unique. This is really hard. In away you already tried it, you think you are unique.
The other one is to work so hard and create a fan base so big that people can't ignore you.
This has been done, there is a famous case called Nickelback. Not so special, just mediocre but the fan base was so big that they couldn't be ignored. You have to work uphill though, no one in the media likes you and you get nothing for free, it's easy to quite there.
The crucial is to have that "it" factor. If you don't have that it's gonna be harder in a really hard game. How do you get that "it" factor? Hard to tell. In many cases you just have it. In some cases, you can build it up. Some will never have it.
Still, I want them to succeed. They do everything by the book. Have all their channel correct, take all right steps. In a way that should be paid off. So I took some of their music and sent off to a couple of good people in the industry in that genre they are playing that works in the USA.
What I got back was that well it didn't trigger any sparks for any of these people. They said, yes it was good, but not exceptional. Also, they had so many bands at that level that they would be drowned in the competition.
I was a little bit like the parents of artists that come in. You think your kid is so good since you are close and you really don't know whats out there. same for me I can't read this genre, they were better than many of the acts I have seen, but I'm not seeing the best in this line of music.
This is a problem that is not easy to fix and probably the hardest problem to have. You are not good enough. You are good so in your local town you are the hero, but nation wide you are just one out of five hundred. There are only two ways to fix this problem. Change your things so you become unique. This is really hard. In away you already tried it, you think you are unique.
The other one is to work so hard and create a fan base so big that people can't ignore you.
This has been done, there is a famous case called Nickelback. Not so special, just mediocre but the fan base was so big that they couldn't be ignored. You have to work uphill though, no one in the media likes you and you get nothing for free, it's easy to quite there.
The crucial is to have that "it" factor. If you don't have that it's gonna be harder in a really hard game. How do you get that "it" factor? Hard to tell. In many cases you just have it. In some cases, you can build it up. Some will never have it.
Friday, August 25, 2017
Save you from the DIY mistakes!
One of the biggest reasons that DIY (Do it yourself) will not work is when I look back on all the times I have to save artists from making total asses of themselves.
Most of the situations are about that the artist doesn't understand what is reasonable or not. Also, what is polite or not. The reason is mainly that they are rookies and not experienced in these things. Of course, as they grow bigger they get better to read the situation. The problem if they had done those mistakes they would never get that far.
Here are some of these situations that were close to disaster.
One band that we signed to a label wanted on the first meeting with the boss yell at him because they wouldn't get to play on the company kick off. The thing was that they were signed two weeks before the event and the spots were already taken by far bigger bands on the label. Took me two hours to get them to understand not to even talk about it. My guess would have been that the band had been dropped if you start your first meeting with the crew by telling them that they are doing a bad job before you even start.
One I managed to see the rider the band was supposed to send into a festival we just managed by a really hard struggle to get into. Gene Simmons in Kiss had been jealous of that rider. After all this festival owned several other festivals so make these requirements would them laugh and probably not book them again,to the other festivals.
In one case a band needed money for a video. Their budget was bigger than the biggest video shoot in Sweden that year. And this should be put on an artist that just releasing their first album. There was no way they even get 10% out of that budget so this would just have been a disaster. Of course, we had to make another budget and another strategy.
In many cases, the industry is never forgiving and making stupid mistakes over nothing can be very costly. One artist that was recommended to us by her manager was very unpolite against what she thought was my "girlfriend". Of course, that "girlfriend" was the boss of the company and she never forgave that and the signing went off even how talented the girl was.
Another band was arguing around a clause in the contract that you couldn't change (and had to be there to make the contract correct). Their stubbornness just made us walk away. When they understood that they came back with another offer, but the damage was already done there was no point to work with this band.
One band, we discovered two days before we released their debut album that they had taken the promo copy that we gave them for press and sent them to other labels to get a better deal. All PR for that band was just stopped and no money was spent on them.
Yes, what ever not kills you gets you stronger. The problem here is that this kills your career. And what we expect is that a DIY artist should just have the same experience as a person that has worked with it for 20 years is just stupid.
Most of the situations are about that the artist doesn't understand what is reasonable or not. Also, what is polite or not. The reason is mainly that they are rookies and not experienced in these things. Of course, as they grow bigger they get better to read the situation. The problem if they had done those mistakes they would never get that far.
Here are some of these situations that were close to disaster.
One band that we signed to a label wanted on the first meeting with the boss yell at him because they wouldn't get to play on the company kick off. The thing was that they were signed two weeks before the event and the spots were already taken by far bigger bands on the label. Took me two hours to get them to understand not to even talk about it. My guess would have been that the band had been dropped if you start your first meeting with the crew by telling them that they are doing a bad job before you even start.
One I managed to see the rider the band was supposed to send into a festival we just managed by a really hard struggle to get into. Gene Simmons in Kiss had been jealous of that rider. After all this festival owned several other festivals so make these requirements would them laugh and probably not book them again,to the other festivals.
In one case a band needed money for a video. Their budget was bigger than the biggest video shoot in Sweden that year. And this should be put on an artist that just releasing their first album. There was no way they even get 10% out of that budget so this would just have been a disaster. Of course, we had to make another budget and another strategy.
In many cases, the industry is never forgiving and making stupid mistakes over nothing can be very costly. One artist that was recommended to us by her manager was very unpolite against what she thought was my "girlfriend". Of course, that "girlfriend" was the boss of the company and she never forgave that and the signing went off even how talented the girl was.
Another band was arguing around a clause in the contract that you couldn't change (and had to be there to make the contract correct). Their stubbornness just made us walk away. When they understood that they came back with another offer, but the damage was already done there was no point to work with this band.
One band, we discovered two days before we released their debut album that they had taken the promo copy that we gave them for press and sent them to other labels to get a better deal. All PR for that band was just stopped and no money was spent on them.
Yes, what ever not kills you gets you stronger. The problem here is that this kills your career. And what we expect is that a DIY artist should just have the same experience as a person that has worked with it for 20 years is just stupid.
If you give me this, I will work with you.
I just got another of these messages from an artist with no clue. Sure I have written about this in my blog hundreds of times in different versions, still, I get these messages. So I will take it one more time, sorry if you feel that you have read this before.
What I got was a single of course already recorded and mastered. The artist asked if we could work on this, they wanted to release it in early September. They were already recording an album and wanted it to reach a bigger audience (sorry they all tell this, so it's not YOU).
Nothing wrong with this. At least they sent their stuff before it was released (see this post). But the timing is not that good. We are a couple of days to September. Always count that we need 10 weeks minimum to release a track. Yes, there are idiots that now will tell me that they can upload a track in 24 hours to get it online. Yes, I can actually get a track up in 3 hours. But what's the point of that? These 10 weeks are preparing and doing PR so your track really has the chance to get as many peoples attention as possible. Yes, it can be done faster but not that good.
Also, don't you think we have other artists that we work with that already has booked time to release around here? I don't think we would drop any of these jobs to get on your project. Oh yes if your project could guarantee us to get a lot of money in return we might push something, still quite unlikely.
This is a good artist though so they were willing to push their release to another time this autumn.
Of course, they had been asking us if we wanted to listen to the music. In fact, I just wanted to know more if there was a point to listen to them. I asked the question that actually no one sends in but every company wants an answer on.
What are your plans for this autumn and spring?
The answer I always get is:
1. We keep going to record the rest of the album.
2. We are planning to get some gigs.
3. We are really not sure.
4. We are giving out more singles.
The answer I want:
1. We have planned and booked these gigs and we are planning to visit these industry events to promote our music.
2. We are also planning to this things on social media to promote this single we are planning.
3. We are going to be on this thing that people really watch.
4. We have all these things for the first single that we are planning to do.
I guess the best answer was a band telling me that to the spring they will "burn rubber on the road in Europe". So you have booked a European tour? Well, not yet but we plan to do it, it can't be that hard.
I guess many think that this is the job of the label, PR team, booking team. Yes in a way but you have to start the things to happen. I can't get your radio interviews if you are not visiting that city that the station is broadcasting from. I can't get my booking contacts down to a show if you don't have any shows. It's hard to support nothing.
Then they usually go to technical stuff. Our single is recorded in this studio or and mastered by this person. Sorry, that is a none story. That won't get you the gigs or the PR or anything. The sound of the recording is probably really good if you used professionals. At the same time, I have number one hits recorded by a nobody in a kitchen. It's really not that important. Your song won't be better if it's mastered at Sterling Sound in NYC. It will be a good master, but if the recording and song are already crap it will be like polishing a turd.
Let say that the song, recording and the master are brilliant. Still, nothing will happen if you don't have planned what steps you want to take to promte the stuff. That has to be in place before the release, it's nothing you make up on the way.
When you hear people talk about that it came up on the way, it's usually when something is already in motion. Things are dragged to things that are in motion.
The secret is that I already know what is going to happen with my artist I work with. Right now we are planning the spring of 2018. The Autumn we already spoke about before summer and we are mainly updating around the events that we agreed to work on. Then, of course, things change. Suddenly you get a really great opportunity and we have to reschedule. That is a good thing and usually if a single is pushed because of events it's just a good thing. If it's pushed by laziness then it's bad, usually not happening that often.
Same with my professional things. I know I will be in Barcelona on Future Music Forum in September. Also, know that I will be on Reeperbahn in Hamburg in September. I will be in NYC in October and in Tokyo. In fact already know where I will be in January, February, and March next year. Right now I'm checking the opportunities of April 2018. Yes, this schedule will change, still, as long nothing better comes up I at least know where I'm heading.
So can you give me a good plan that is reasonable, the chances that I will work with you is pretty good.
What I got was a single of course already recorded and mastered. The artist asked if we could work on this, they wanted to release it in early September. They were already recording an album and wanted it to reach a bigger audience (sorry they all tell this, so it's not YOU).
Nothing wrong with this. At least they sent their stuff before it was released (see this post). But the timing is not that good. We are a couple of days to September. Always count that we need 10 weeks minimum to release a track. Yes, there are idiots that now will tell me that they can upload a track in 24 hours to get it online. Yes, I can actually get a track up in 3 hours. But what's the point of that? These 10 weeks are preparing and doing PR so your track really has the chance to get as many peoples attention as possible. Yes, it can be done faster but not that good.
Also, don't you think we have other artists that we work with that already has booked time to release around here? I don't think we would drop any of these jobs to get on your project. Oh yes if your project could guarantee us to get a lot of money in return we might push something, still quite unlikely.
This is a good artist though so they were willing to push their release to another time this autumn.
Of course, they had been asking us if we wanted to listen to the music. In fact, I just wanted to know more if there was a point to listen to them. I asked the question that actually no one sends in but every company wants an answer on.
What are your plans for this autumn and spring?
The answer I always get is:
1. We keep going to record the rest of the album.
2. We are planning to get some gigs.
3. We are really not sure.
4. We are giving out more singles.
The answer I want:
1. We have planned and booked these gigs and we are planning to visit these industry events to promote our music.
2. We are also planning to this things on social media to promote this single we are planning.
3. We are going to be on this thing that people really watch.
4. We have all these things for the first single that we are planning to do.
I guess the best answer was a band telling me that to the spring they will "burn rubber on the road in Europe". So you have booked a European tour? Well, not yet but we plan to do it, it can't be that hard.
I guess many think that this is the job of the label, PR team, booking team. Yes in a way but you have to start the things to happen. I can't get your radio interviews if you are not visiting that city that the station is broadcasting from. I can't get my booking contacts down to a show if you don't have any shows. It's hard to support nothing.
Then they usually go to technical stuff. Our single is recorded in this studio or and mastered by this person. Sorry, that is a none story. That won't get you the gigs or the PR or anything. The sound of the recording is probably really good if you used professionals. At the same time, I have number one hits recorded by a nobody in a kitchen. It's really not that important. Your song won't be better if it's mastered at Sterling Sound in NYC. It will be a good master, but if the recording and song are already crap it will be like polishing a turd.
Let say that the song, recording and the master are brilliant. Still, nothing will happen if you don't have planned what steps you want to take to promte the stuff. That has to be in place before the release, it's nothing you make up on the way.
When you hear people talk about that it came up on the way, it's usually when something is already in motion. Things are dragged to things that are in motion.
The secret is that I already know what is going to happen with my artist I work with. Right now we are planning the spring of 2018. The Autumn we already spoke about before summer and we are mainly updating around the events that we agreed to work on. Then, of course, things change. Suddenly you get a really great opportunity and we have to reschedule. That is a good thing and usually if a single is pushed because of events it's just a good thing. If it's pushed by laziness then it's bad, usually not happening that often.
Same with my professional things. I know I will be in Barcelona on Future Music Forum in September. Also, know that I will be on Reeperbahn in Hamburg in September. I will be in NYC in October and in Tokyo. In fact already know where I will be in January, February, and March next year. Right now I'm checking the opportunities of April 2018. Yes, this schedule will change, still, as long nothing better comes up I at least know where I'm heading.
So can you give me a good plan that is reasonable, the chances that I will work with you is pretty good.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Facebook a new music channel?
The whole summer has been rumors what is going on Facebook? We have seen employment ads where they have hired music lawyers.
Of course, it has to do with that you can put up videos in the Facebook feed, and as it is right now the creators won't get paid. Still, we already see that Universal has stopped their songs to be on Facebook if you upload any Universals stuff you get a warning.
It's kind of easy to see that Facebook must pay for other peoples content. They probably in the same as Youtube working up a fingerprinting system and that you will have ads in front of the video.
The interesting is what happens when people start marketing things like a radio station inside Facebook. This also would include Instagram that is growing fast (Facebook is slowly become not so cool).
And how will it affect Spotify? I mean you would be able to create channels like that inside Facebook, they would just need to add a function so they play after each other.
This can shake things up.
Of course, it has to do with that you can put up videos in the Facebook feed, and as it is right now the creators won't get paid. Still, we already see that Universal has stopped their songs to be on Facebook if you upload any Universals stuff you get a warning.
It's kind of easy to see that Facebook must pay for other peoples content. They probably in the same as Youtube working up a fingerprinting system and that you will have ads in front of the video.
The interesting is what happens when people start marketing things like a radio station inside Facebook. This also would include Instagram that is growing fast (Facebook is slowly become not so cool).
And how will it affect Spotify? I mean you would be able to create channels like that inside Facebook, they would just need to add a function so they play after each other.
This can shake things up.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Though weeks
I'm entering the toughest weeks of the year. It's time for Live at Heart the showcase festival we are owning a part of and are creating some parts of. It's a really big task to take care of all the speakers that come internationally to the festival. But it's nothing compare to take care of 220 bands that are playing, that is tough.
It will be really fun. I hope I have time to write in the blogg, still, it can be some down time while this is going on. Yet there will be so many subjects to write about.
It will be really fun. I hope I have time to write in the blogg, still, it can be some down time while this is going on. Yet there will be so many subjects to write about.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Celebrating 500 posts
This is post number 500, the blog has proven what I wanted to prove. It was mainly a test to see if you can do a blog on a very tiny narrow subject like artist development. Also, test out tools to give away to our artist that we work with.
It's easy to just sit and say "do this, do that" when you don't know the effort.
So the project has gone on now for a bit over two years. I have changed the language to English, not easiest move.
35000 views, it's not the biggest blog still I got around a 100 a day logging in and reading. Not bad for such a narrow topic.
Most read is still a Swedish post where I tell how the political institutions in music Sweden are not that serious. You can read it here. The funny part is that is now an uprising to get the money from these institutions to give to real artists.
The second is where I out a kind of scam PR stunt. A Swedens version of Nickelback said they should try to get to the USA. The problem here is that I know they didn't even make it in Germany which is much easier. The band also sign in the USA to a label that really can't do anything. And yet we have not seen anything about this USA thing, so I was right about the bad PR stunt. You can read it here.
The third is the post with the name Spotify is Dead! Of course, it was also a test if the headline effects the reads, oh yes it does. The funny part here is that I was early on to this and now the moment is very strong and the most streamed song Depacito was broken through Youtube, not Spotify. I guess the game is on and here you can read this post.
It's easy to just sit and say "do this, do that" when you don't know the effort.
So the project has gone on now for a bit over two years. I have changed the language to English, not easiest move.
35000 views, it's not the biggest blog still I got around a 100 a day logging in and reading. Not bad for such a narrow topic.
Most read is still a Swedish post where I tell how the political institutions in music Sweden are not that serious. You can read it here. The funny part is that is now an uprising to get the money from these institutions to give to real artists.
The second is where I out a kind of scam PR stunt. A Swedens version of Nickelback said they should try to get to the USA. The problem here is that I know they didn't even make it in Germany which is much easier. The band also sign in the USA to a label that really can't do anything. And yet we have not seen anything about this USA thing, so I was right about the bad PR stunt. You can read it here.
The third is the post with the name Spotify is Dead! Of course, it was also a test if the headline effects the reads, oh yes it does. The funny part here is that I was early on to this and now the moment is very strong and the most streamed song Depacito was broken through Youtube, not Spotify. I guess the game is on and here you can read this post.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Learn how to own your fans.
11) If All Your Eggs Are in Instagram You’re Doomed
Yes, Instagram is the hottest social app out right now (sorry Snapchat). But that doesn’t mean it always will be. I’m sure you’re too young to remember Myspace, but at one point the only online presence that mattered for musicians was Myspace. Those that didn’t grab their fans and transfer them to a database they owned (i.e. email list) lost contact with all their fans when Myspace died.
You rent your fans to social sites. You own your fans email addresses and phone numbers. Get them.
Don’t ignore the social sites where your fans exist, but also have a way to keep in touch with them that isn’t dependent on the whims of the latest hot social app.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This is a part that most artists forget (and labels too). These numbers are held by the site or app you are using. And in many cases like Facebook or Instagram, they want money for you to reach all your people, which is really insane but we buy it every day. You have to get things in your feed to get these people to give you their emails and phone number and location.
And to be honest this has been proved to work in many cases over the years. Per Gessle (singer in Roxette) had people sign postcards to send to radio to get his first single played. Yes, he went out manually to get these people, easier today, still you have to get down to do it. Part of Blink 182:s plan was that they called up fans personally in the city they were heading at. Of course for a fan to get a personal call from your favorite band telling you to bring friends with, yes you will bring friends with you.
So the tools are easier today. Still, you have to get down to have that list. You don't have the emails on facebook. But you can use Facebook to get people to get you there emails.
Yes, Instagram is the hottest social app out right now (sorry Snapchat). But that doesn’t mean it always will be. I’m sure you’re too young to remember Myspace, but at one point the only online presence that mattered for musicians was Myspace. Those that didn’t grab their fans and transfer them to a database they owned (i.e. email list) lost contact with all their fans when Myspace died.
You rent your fans to social sites. You own your fans email addresses and phone numbers. Get them.
Don’t ignore the social sites where your fans exist, but also have a way to keep in touch with them that isn’t dependent on the whims of the latest hot social app.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This is a part that most artists forget (and labels too). These numbers are held by the site or app you are using. And in many cases like Facebook or Instagram, they want money for you to reach all your people, which is really insane but we buy it every day. You have to get things in your feed to get these people to give you their emails and phone number and location.
And to be honest this has been proved to work in many cases over the years. Per Gessle (singer in Roxette) had people sign postcards to send to radio to get his first single played. Yes, he went out manually to get these people, easier today, still you have to get down to do it. Part of Blink 182:s plan was that they called up fans personally in the city they were heading at. Of course for a fan to get a personal call from your favorite band telling you to bring friends with, yes you will bring friends with you.
So the tools are easier today. Still, you have to get down to have that list. You don't have the emails on facebook. But you can use Facebook to get people to get you there emails.
Friday, August 18, 2017
You need knowledge in the studio.
9) You Can’t Trump Talent With Tech
Yes, 18 year old Steve Lacy produced a song (and played on) Kendrick Lamar’s new Platinum record DAMN with just his iPhone, but that doesn’t mean all you need is an iPhone to make a Platinum record. You, of course, need talent. Just because you can make an entire record on your iPhone doesn’t mean it’s going to sound good or compete. Whether you’re working out of a giant, state of the art studio or in your bedroom, never settle for ‘good enough’ and attempt to cover up your lack of chops with tech. It may fool your parents, it ain’t gonna fool your musical peers who matter.
10) You Don’t Need a Big Studio to Record a Big Album
And the flip side of that, of course, is that if you have the talent you don’t need all the bells and whistles of a gigantic studio. Know who cares that you tracked Neumann U47s through the same Neve console as John Lennon? You do. Nobody else. All anyone cares about is what your record sounds like – not what studio it was recorded in. Not what amps or mics you used. Stop wasting your money.
If you can get the sound you need from your bedroom, there’s no need to drop $1,000/day just for bragging rights.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This has always been the case. It has always been a discussion about having better studio better mics. But always end up that is the talent and a good song that is the thing. Beatles still did their song on four channels, still great songs.
Today I usually say that the tech is there, but the knowledge is not. Yes, you don't need a fancy studio but have a person that knows how to mic your instrument, and use the tools is everything.
So look for the experience rather than the gear.
Yes, 18 year old Steve Lacy produced a song (and played on) Kendrick Lamar’s new Platinum record DAMN with just his iPhone, but that doesn’t mean all you need is an iPhone to make a Platinum record. You, of course, need talent. Just because you can make an entire record on your iPhone doesn’t mean it’s going to sound good or compete. Whether you’re working out of a giant, state of the art studio or in your bedroom, never settle for ‘good enough’ and attempt to cover up your lack of chops with tech. It may fool your parents, it ain’t gonna fool your musical peers who matter.
10) You Don’t Need a Big Studio to Record a Big Album
And the flip side of that, of course, is that if you have the talent you don’t need all the bells and whistles of a gigantic studio. Know who cares that you tracked Neumann U47s through the same Neve console as John Lennon? You do. Nobody else. All anyone cares about is what your record sounds like – not what studio it was recorded in. Not what amps or mics you used. Stop wasting your money.
If you can get the sound you need from your bedroom, there’s no need to drop $1,000/day just for bragging rights.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This has always been the case. It has always been a discussion about having better studio better mics. But always end up that is the talent and a good song that is the thing. Beatles still did their song on four channels, still great songs.
Today I usually say that the tech is there, but the knowledge is not. Yes, you don't need a fancy studio but have a person that knows how to mic your instrument, and use the tools is everything.
So look for the experience rather than the gear.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
If you have a manager, you have a manager!
Things you really hate are when an artist contacts you. You answer the questions. Then they artist hands over to a ”manager”. It’s really annoying when this manager is just some dude that really knows as much as the artist does in the matter so when you answer (in some higher terms) you get an answer back that is so stupid you want to kick them in the face. In the first place, it just annoying that it hands over to someone else.
While you are having the painful task of explaining this to the “manager” the artists start sending new questions in many are questions to explain what the “manager” doesn’t understand. Suddenly you are answering the same questions to two different people.
Of course, now you look like a real asshole as an artist.
If you have a manager, well then it’s the manager who should ask the question, in fact, that manager should have started the conversation and you should not hand it over. Then it’s good if the manager is someone that knows something about the business. It’s okay to have friends as “managers” that deal with the backline at gigs and sell the merch, but when it comes to more complex things get a real manager, and stop doing the managers job.
While you are having the painful task of explaining this to the “manager” the artists start sending new questions in many are questions to explain what the “manager” doesn’t understand. Suddenly you are answering the same questions to two different people.
Of course, now you look like a real asshole as an artist.
If you have a manager, well then it’s the manager who should ask the question, in fact, that manager should have started the conversation and you should not hand it over. Then it’s good if the manager is someone that knows something about the business. It’s okay to have friends as “managers” that deal with the backline at gigs and sell the merch, but when it comes to more complex things get a real manager, and stop doing the managers job.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Live at Heart Tip Off, Use your social media.
This is a part of a series of a tip off I give in front of the showcase Live at Heart that is going on in Örebro 30 of August to 2 of September. The tip off is not just for Live at heart would work on any showcase festival.
Use your social media.
Actually, use media over all. If you are chosen to play in a showcase festival, the local media reports on events like that. So go a head send a press letter to the local media in that city. Take a couple of hours to scan the internet. This also makes you stand out so this media usually choose a couple of acts that they will say: Don't miss this during the festival. Sending out make that chance much bigger.
Then, of course, make a facebook event and invite relevant people. Post about it a couple of times. This is really important. Both for the festival but also for you to build up that you are chosen to this festival.
Use your social media.
Actually, use media over all. If you are chosen to play in a showcase festival, the local media reports on events like that. So go a head send a press letter to the local media in that city. Take a couple of hours to scan the internet. This also makes you stand out so this media usually choose a couple of acts that they will say: Don't miss this during the festival. Sending out make that chance much bigger.
Then, of course, make a facebook event and invite relevant people. Post about it a couple of times. This is really important. Both for the festival but also for you to build up that you are chosen to this festival.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Live at Heart Tip off, You can drink beer later!
This is a part of a series of a tip off I give in front of the showcase Live at Heart that is going on in Örebro 30 of August to 2 of September. The tip off is not just for Live at heart would work on any showcase festival.
You can drink beer later!
Yes, we know after a really exhausting show it's really nice to get backstage and grab that cold beer that waits in the dressing room. This is really not a good time to drink beer. Just minutes after the show get back out there in the audience and mingle.
I have been both sides my self. I have seen bands and wanted to get their contact information and answers to some questions. Hey in some cases I wanted to book them to Live at Heart. But they never come out again and I need to get to the next show. And since time is going fast I manage to write to them and in the end that opportunity they didn't know was there is lost.
One of my jobs as a manager is to actually go backstage and get my bands out of there to mingle some 20 minutes with new fans or industry people. Sometimes it's the beer that keeps them, but in most cases is that friends of them are invited backstage and keep on talking how good the show is and so on. And it's hard to say to a friend, excuse me I come back to you I just need to work the room. In many cases that are my job to be that irritating person that nags them back out.
Some also go back and then they go directly on the stage taking things off. That is necessary. But if you are not a solo artist, send someone to work the room and the rest pick things off and join in when they are ready.
You can drink beer later!
Yes, we know after a really exhausting show it's really nice to get backstage and grab that cold beer that waits in the dressing room. This is really not a good time to drink beer. Just minutes after the show get back out there in the audience and mingle.
I have been both sides my self. I have seen bands and wanted to get their contact information and answers to some questions. Hey in some cases I wanted to book them to Live at Heart. But they never come out again and I need to get to the next show. And since time is going fast I manage to write to them and in the end that opportunity they didn't know was there is lost.
One of my jobs as a manager is to actually go backstage and get my bands out of there to mingle some 20 minutes with new fans or industry people. Sometimes it's the beer that keeps them, but in most cases is that friends of them are invited backstage and keep on talking how good the show is and so on. And it's hard to say to a friend, excuse me I come back to you I just need to work the room. In many cases that are my job to be that irritating person that nags them back out.
Some also go back and then they go directly on the stage taking things off. That is necessary. But if you are not a solo artist, send someone to work the room and the rest pick things off and join in when they are ready.
Live at Heart Tip Off, Bring your music.
This is a part of a series of a tip off I give in front of the showcase Live at Heart that is going on in Örebro 30 of August to 2 of September. The tip off is not just for Live at heart would work on any showcase festival.
Bring your music
Yes, it's kind of usual that I meet artists that don't have their music with them to give me. Sometimes they want me to listen to songs on a phone right there and then. That never works for me. I want to listen in my office when nothing is disturbing me.
But then you have the people that bring CD:s. I remember when I got to showcase festivals in the 90:s and you got a suitcase full of CD:s, to be honest with you, I never listen to CD:s. mainly because of the only CD player, we have now is on the Xbox that is in the living room. I won't have time to get there to listen to a CD. So they are mainly just lying around.
Here is a picture of CD:s that I got the past year. Last week we went to the land fill with the CD:s I got over the past five years, and just dumped them.
No, I will never listen to them.
So what is better a USB stick. well better, but today I took one of these USB sticks and erased it since I needed space on it. Did I listen to it, no! same with all these download cards I get, also very hard to do, you have to go to pages and put in a hell of a long code.
The most I know in the business prefer to get links. And prefer video links so you can see the band. You get approached by several so you won't remember their names, but if you see them you usually remember who they were.
The trick is to make business cards, cost almost nothing. Put your contact details there (email, phone, and homepage. Then put a link to your songs. Okay, some one says that would be a hell of a long link on the card, that will be trouble to put in for you.
True but do it this way. Do a secret page on your homepage ( yes you need a homepage, if you go on a showcase festival with just a facebook page or Bandcamp page you are out of the game, a homepage with bio and contacts is a most). Then on this secret page, you put in links to secret songs from Soundcloud, better even embedded. So the link would look like
www.rockband.com/LAHsongs. Easy to put in.
And yes put videos there as well embedded.
Another thing you should do is try to get the address of the person you speak with and then send an e-mail with the links to that person on the same evening. Don't expect them to answer, but you got the links in front of them.
If you are really good, put your gig times on the card. Then you have to print cards to every showcase, still a low cost.
Bring your music
Yes, it's kind of usual that I meet artists that don't have their music with them to give me. Sometimes they want me to listen to songs on a phone right there and then. That never works for me. I want to listen in my office when nothing is disturbing me.
But then you have the people that bring CD:s. I remember when I got to showcase festivals in the 90:s and you got a suitcase full of CD:s, to be honest with you, I never listen to CD:s. mainly because of the only CD player, we have now is on the Xbox that is in the living room. I won't have time to get there to listen to a CD. So they are mainly just lying around.
Here is a picture of CD:s that I got the past year. Last week we went to the land fill with the CD:s I got over the past five years, and just dumped them.
No, I will never listen to them.
So what is better a USB stick. well better, but today I took one of these USB sticks and erased it since I needed space on it. Did I listen to it, no! same with all these download cards I get, also very hard to do, you have to go to pages and put in a hell of a long code.
The most I know in the business prefer to get links. And prefer video links so you can see the band. You get approached by several so you won't remember their names, but if you see them you usually remember who they were.
The trick is to make business cards, cost almost nothing. Put your contact details there (email, phone, and homepage. Then put a link to your songs. Okay, some one says that would be a hell of a long link on the card, that will be trouble to put in for you.
True but do it this way. Do a secret page on your homepage ( yes you need a homepage, if you go on a showcase festival with just a facebook page or Bandcamp page you are out of the game, a homepage with bio and contacts is a most). Then on this secret page, you put in links to secret songs from Soundcloud, better even embedded. So the link would look like
www.rockband.com/LAHsongs. Easy to put in.
And yes put videos there as well embedded.
Another thing you should do is try to get the address of the person you speak with and then send an e-mail with the links to that person on the same evening. Don't expect them to answer, but you got the links in front of them.
If you are really good, put your gig times on the card. Then you have to print cards to every showcase, still a low cost.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Live at Heart Tip off, Get the most of it
This is a part of a series of a tip off I give in front of the showcase Live at Heart that is going on in Örebro 30 of August to 2 of September. The tip off is not just for Live at heart would work on any showcase festival.
Get the most of it.
Live at heart has a conference part to it. Use that! Most showcase festivals have a conference part, most artist never uses it. Okay, some of the panels might seem boring. Hopefully, they will give you new information. Think of it, not for the panels. It's the mingle before and after that is important. also knowing who is who, get a face on people.
Last year Royal Prospect was on Live at Heart they went on every seminar, if not the whole group at least part of the band. They introduced themselves to Tommy Rehn from Rehn music and asked him to come down to their showcase. This was Royal Prospects first showcase festival and they came in in the last section so they only had one show on the festival. Tommy had gone through the list of bands, but since they introduced themselves he was determined to see them. At the same time, there was a really popular band playing at another venue so Tommy needed to take a decision. And that introduction was why he went for Royal Prospect. The rest is history, Tommy was so excited he signed the band directly after and he is now taking them to the international market.
You can see Royal prospect this year as well looking for a booker. This time they have grown bigger and have three shows during Live at Heart 2017.
Instead of just doing a show you have to drag people down to it. You are faced against 220 good bands so start to mingle and try to be active. Two years ago a Danish band was signed after a panel talking to one of the speakers. The showcase is only 30% of the work, most are the legwork around it. I know myself if someone comes up to me and introduce themselves I usually try to see that artist showcase. By doing that you get a better chance that the important people come down to your show.
Also, the panel is a good way to know what people are doing. Just because they work at a booking agency or record label it might not fit. If you play metal and they work with country music it won't be a match. During the panel sometimes, you find new ways. Maybe this country label has just started a metal division.
I was on a showcase in NYC a couple years ago where I took care of two bands. One band was the headlight, people love that band. But the artist wanted to do some sightseeing instead of going to the conference. The other band I had went to the conference with me. Suddenly I got the opportunity to play two songs acoustically in the mingling part. The band took it and that drew a lot of important people to their showcase in the night. The other artist mainly just played on the festival and nothing got out of it.
This method also works quite well even though you are not playing at the festival. The introduction part is a huge part of the success of an artist.
Think of it as an opportunity to just be chosen, use it.
Here is "Fire" from the gig of Royal Prospect on Live at Heart 2016
Get the most of it.
Live at heart has a conference part to it. Use that! Most showcase festivals have a conference part, most artist never uses it. Okay, some of the panels might seem boring. Hopefully, they will give you new information. Think of it, not for the panels. It's the mingle before and after that is important. also knowing who is who, get a face on people.
Last year Royal Prospect was on Live at Heart they went on every seminar, if not the whole group at least part of the band. They introduced themselves to Tommy Rehn from Rehn music and asked him to come down to their showcase. This was Royal Prospects first showcase festival and they came in in the last section so they only had one show on the festival. Tommy had gone through the list of bands, but since they introduced themselves he was determined to see them. At the same time, there was a really popular band playing at another venue so Tommy needed to take a decision. And that introduction was why he went for Royal Prospect. The rest is history, Tommy was so excited he signed the band directly after and he is now taking them to the international market.
You can see Royal prospect this year as well looking for a booker. This time they have grown bigger and have three shows during Live at Heart 2017.
Instead of just doing a show you have to drag people down to it. You are faced against 220 good bands so start to mingle and try to be active. Two years ago a Danish band was signed after a panel talking to one of the speakers. The showcase is only 30% of the work, most are the legwork around it. I know myself if someone comes up to me and introduce themselves I usually try to see that artist showcase. By doing that you get a better chance that the important people come down to your show.
Also, the panel is a good way to know what people are doing. Just because they work at a booking agency or record label it might not fit. If you play metal and they work with country music it won't be a match. During the panel sometimes, you find new ways. Maybe this country label has just started a metal division.
I was on a showcase in NYC a couple years ago where I took care of two bands. One band was the headlight, people love that band. But the artist wanted to do some sightseeing instead of going to the conference. The other band I had went to the conference with me. Suddenly I got the opportunity to play two songs acoustically in the mingling part. The band took it and that drew a lot of important people to their showcase in the night. The other artist mainly just played on the festival and nothing got out of it.
This method also works quite well even though you are not playing at the festival. The introduction part is a huge part of the success of an artist.
Think of it as an opportunity to just be chosen, use it.
Here is "Fire" from the gig of Royal Prospect on Live at Heart 2016
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Live at Heart Tip off, Use your time.
This is a part of a series of a tip off I give in front of the showcase Live at Heart that is going on in Örebro 30 of August to 2 of September. The tip off is not just for Live at heart would work on any showcase festival.
Use your time.
A showcase festival will give you 40 minutes to play 20 minutes to change over. Prepare a set that really is 40 minutes, not 35, not 45. If you play longer, of course, you eat someone else playing time and that is not fair. Things like that can fuck up the schedule bad time. So clock your performance.
Playing to short is equally bad. Okay only are affected by it. A showcase festival is several artists playing at the same time, during Live at Heart it can be up to 25 artists at the same time on different venues. And yes some people want to see artists at the same time. what you do is that you see a couple of songs from one band, goes to the next one. But if you end your show to early there might be people coming in that wanted to see your performance missing it, even if it was just the last song.
The 20 minutes change over. Practice this, I don't know how many times I see artists do change over and run around like chickens and it takes longer than it really should. Practice it so it goes faster.
And in all cases, it is main line check. And when it comes to line check it won't be that perfect. Don't waste time to find the perfect sound on your snare. Don't try to squeeze in a full sound check into these 20 minutes it won't work. Also, everybody that is professional knows that the first song in the set usually sounds a bit strange since some of the sound checks are done there. We know it is your time to shine, still, we are also interested to see how an artist handles these situations, that is why I love showcases you can sort out the professionals from the beginners just by see the changeover.
Whatever you do don't go over these 20 minutes. It's horrible when you get into a show where you want to see the first two songs and they are still doing the changeover. In severe cases, we have left before it starts. If something is going wrong try to go around it instead of changing the fuse of the amp. One time it was a black out during a showcase and the artist just took the gear and started play acoustic, it was marvelous.
If you have some asshole artist that has gone over the 20 minutes and leaves you with only 10 minutes change over. It's critical to do it all in 10 minutes instead and rather start in time, here the practice comes handy. If it's so bad that it even has taken off time of your set. Shorten the set to help the festival get the schedule on track. Don't think that you should have your time worth of show that you only contribute to the problem the rest of the evening.
Use your time.
A showcase festival will give you 40 minutes to play 20 minutes to change over. Prepare a set that really is 40 minutes, not 35, not 45. If you play longer, of course, you eat someone else playing time and that is not fair. Things like that can fuck up the schedule bad time. So clock your performance.
Playing to short is equally bad. Okay only are affected by it. A showcase festival is several artists playing at the same time, during Live at Heart it can be up to 25 artists at the same time on different venues. And yes some people want to see artists at the same time. what you do is that you see a couple of songs from one band, goes to the next one. But if you end your show to early there might be people coming in that wanted to see your performance missing it, even if it was just the last song.
The 20 minutes change over. Practice this, I don't know how many times I see artists do change over and run around like chickens and it takes longer than it really should. Practice it so it goes faster.
And in all cases, it is main line check. And when it comes to line check it won't be that perfect. Don't waste time to find the perfect sound on your snare. Don't try to squeeze in a full sound check into these 20 minutes it won't work. Also, everybody that is professional knows that the first song in the set usually sounds a bit strange since some of the sound checks are done there. We know it is your time to shine, still, we are also interested to see how an artist handles these situations, that is why I love showcases you can sort out the professionals from the beginners just by see the changeover.
Whatever you do don't go over these 20 minutes. It's horrible when you get into a show where you want to see the first two songs and they are still doing the changeover. In severe cases, we have left before it starts. If something is going wrong try to go around it instead of changing the fuse of the amp. One time it was a black out during a showcase and the artist just took the gear and started play acoustic, it was marvelous.
If you have some asshole artist that has gone over the 20 minutes and leaves you with only 10 minutes change over. It's critical to do it all in 10 minutes instead and rather start in time, here the practice comes handy. If it's so bad that it even has taken off time of your set. Shorten the set to help the festival get the schedule on track. Don't think that you should have your time worth of show that you only contribute to the problem the rest of the evening.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Live at Heart tip off
It's almost time for Live at Heart 30 of August is it opening day in Örebro, Sweden. 220 artists will play and people from the international music industry will come and talk.
I will take five days here to give some tips for artists around showcases. I get the question quite often and even sometimes the answers are quite logical, still it gives a quite aha experience to many when I say them.
I will take five days here to give some tips for artists around showcases. I get the question quite often and even sometimes the answers are quite logical, still it gives a quite aha experience to many when I say them.
Do you really want to get signed?
8) The Goal Is Not To Get Signed The Goal Is To Make a Living Doing What You Love
“How do you get a record deal? Don’t try to get signed. Try to become popular first.” – Avery Lipman, President of Universal Republic Records
You know how cool it is to say you just signed a record deal with Warner records is? Kinda cool. But that coolness wears off very quickly. You know what is less cool? Three years down the line still signed to Warner with only one song released to your name and no tours, no growth and no money to speak of. But hey, you’re signed to Warner! Sometimes record deals can help tremendously. Sometimes they can hurt. Sometimes they’re right for an artist. Sometimes they’re not.
If your goal is to get signed, then you’re going to miss. If after building your career on your own to a level where labels are begging to work with you, then, and only then, should you decide if it’s the best move for you.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This I think is the biggest mistake that artist is doing. I meet so many that only work only to get signed. The rest of audience songs and other shit should just come automatically after you signed that paper. The worst cases also only go for the majors, a major deal is an ultimate goal.
Today that is no option. In the 80:s and 90:s sometimes it was, but now that window is totally gone. Today the device is we find you you don't find us. You have to build up a presence so the companies start to look at you.
I have worked on that theme for the past 15 years. I develop my artists so there is a platform where the labels are interested to step in and work WITH us. Yes, the labels are more like an extra engine for all the things we do. A label is a really hard time to just take an artist and build it up to be a star. It takes to a long time and is too risky so these projects are so rare.
The things people believe is that the labels are doing the job Musichelp is doing. You can't be more wrong. The labels have not a chance to be close to all the things that an artist development company can throw in. That is why they have started to rely on us as new artist providers. Also, the artist developers work in all fields the record labels only try to present the music to listeners.
Yes, you have to be built on all levels not just on a level. We are back to the team, you need the right team.
Another problem we have is that the artist that hunt record labels doesn't get what they are doing and why they are doing it. A good example was a guy that I had on the development side. Every time it became slow the solution was to get a record label. If a single wasn't played on the radio the fault was that it was not a record label behind it. Sure we were looking for a label that could join our team. The problem was that the band wasn't doing shows enough and was horrible to pick up fans and social media was an unknown word for them. In the end, the lines were right and I found a bigger indie that could do some really good things.
Here started the downfall. The band really thought that the label would do the work so they literally put their fat asses on the sofa doing nothing. The label became frustrated before at least some things happened now nothing happens. Also, the label wanted them to produce tracks that fitted the PR. The band had their deal so they thought they could do a strange album that was totally insane. We left the ship, and later I heard the label left them and the band split up.
I have hundreds of stories where bands writers on facebook in the big capital letters that they are signed. And I just think to my self
- Poor bastards, what should they do with a label in that stage.
and in 99% of the cases, nothing happens with the band. Then years later when you meet them you think they have learned their lesson. No hell no then they think it was something wrong on that label and are hunting another label that will do the same to them.
And in the most cases is that the band is doing noth9ing waiting for the label, and the label is waiting for the artist.
I usually say the hard work starts when you sign with a label. In the end, you don't need a label you need a team and do the things that are needed to be done.
“How do you get a record deal? Don’t try to get signed. Try to become popular first.” – Avery Lipman, President of Universal Republic Records
You know how cool it is to say you just signed a record deal with Warner records is? Kinda cool. But that coolness wears off very quickly. You know what is less cool? Three years down the line still signed to Warner with only one song released to your name and no tours, no growth and no money to speak of. But hey, you’re signed to Warner! Sometimes record deals can help tremendously. Sometimes they can hurt. Sometimes they’re right for an artist. Sometimes they’re not.
If your goal is to get signed, then you’re going to miss. If after building your career on your own to a level where labels are begging to work with you, then, and only then, should you decide if it’s the best move for you.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This I think is the biggest mistake that artist is doing. I meet so many that only work only to get signed. The rest of audience songs and other shit should just come automatically after you signed that paper. The worst cases also only go for the majors, a major deal is an ultimate goal.
Today that is no option. In the 80:s and 90:s sometimes it was, but now that window is totally gone. Today the device is we find you you don't find us. You have to build up a presence so the companies start to look at you.
I have worked on that theme for the past 15 years. I develop my artists so there is a platform where the labels are interested to step in and work WITH us. Yes, the labels are more like an extra engine for all the things we do. A label is a really hard time to just take an artist and build it up to be a star. It takes to a long time and is too risky so these projects are so rare.
The things people believe is that the labels are doing the job Musichelp is doing. You can't be more wrong. The labels have not a chance to be close to all the things that an artist development company can throw in. That is why they have started to rely on us as new artist providers. Also, the artist developers work in all fields the record labels only try to present the music to listeners.
Yes, you have to be built on all levels not just on a level. We are back to the team, you need the right team.
Another problem we have is that the artist that hunt record labels doesn't get what they are doing and why they are doing it. A good example was a guy that I had on the development side. Every time it became slow the solution was to get a record label. If a single wasn't played on the radio the fault was that it was not a record label behind it. Sure we were looking for a label that could join our team. The problem was that the band wasn't doing shows enough and was horrible to pick up fans and social media was an unknown word for them. In the end, the lines were right and I found a bigger indie that could do some really good things.
Here started the downfall. The band really thought that the label would do the work so they literally put their fat asses on the sofa doing nothing. The label became frustrated before at least some things happened now nothing happens. Also, the label wanted them to produce tracks that fitted the PR. The band had their deal so they thought they could do a strange album that was totally insane. We left the ship, and later I heard the label left them and the band split up.
I have hundreds of stories where bands writers on facebook in the big capital letters that they are signed. And I just think to my self
- Poor bastards, what should they do with a label in that stage.
and in 99% of the cases, nothing happens with the band. Then years later when you meet them you think they have learned their lesson. No hell no then they think it was something wrong on that label and are hunting another label that will do the same to them.
And in the most cases is that the band is doing noth9ing waiting for the label, and the label is waiting for the artist.
I usually say the hard work starts when you sign with a label. In the end, you don't need a label you need a team and do the things that are needed to be done.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
How you collect the fans
7) You Don’t Need To Have An Online Presence To Make a Living as a Musician
There is no one way to make it in music anymore.
There are musicians who make six figures getting their songs synched to films, TV shows and ads with no Instagram or Twitter to speak of. There are people who make good livings touring colleges or house concerts with very little to show online. There are composers scoring for TV shows and films. There are freelance musicians who aren’t on any social platforms. There are producers who have recently been labeled as ‘fake artists’ because they don’t have an internet presence anywhere outside of Spotify (where they have millions of plays) and are getting paid by a production house to pump out these highly playlistable songs.
There is still a physical world out there where money can be made. You have to find what makes sense for you and how you want to structure your music career.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This one I'm really not agreed with. The syncs numbers are really down so that era is really over. I don't think a career is to tour colleges and living rooms. Sure there is money to be made. Still, you will go crazy over after awhile.
I think you should have a presence all over the place, but learn how to pick up these fans. In the end, the e-mail and phone numbers and area they are from are the golden pot to monetize from people that like your music. So all these places are just connecting points for you to grab this information. in the end, you need a good homepage to pick all this stuff up.
In the end yes presence by it, the self is not good. You have to pick the end clients also. and this is was most of the artist's miss.
There is no one way to make it in music anymore.
There are musicians who make six figures getting their songs synched to films, TV shows and ads with no Instagram or Twitter to speak of. There are people who make good livings touring colleges or house concerts with very little to show online. There are composers scoring for TV shows and films. There are freelance musicians who aren’t on any social platforms. There are producers who have recently been labeled as ‘fake artists’ because they don’t have an internet presence anywhere outside of Spotify (where they have millions of plays) and are getting paid by a production house to pump out these highly playlistable songs.
There is still a physical world out there where money can be made. You have to find what makes sense for you and how you want to structure your music career.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This one I'm really not agreed with. The syncs numbers are really down so that era is really over. I don't think a career is to tour colleges and living rooms. Sure there is money to be made. Still, you will go crazy over after awhile.
I think you should have a presence all over the place, but learn how to pick up these fans. In the end, the e-mail and phone numbers and area they are from are the golden pot to monetize from people that like your music. So all these places are just connecting points for you to grab this information. in the end, you need a good homepage to pick all this stuff up.
In the end yes presence by it, the self is not good. You have to pick the end clients also. and this is was most of the artist's miss.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Following the trends
6) You Don’t Have to Follow Musical Trends to Make it
Don’t make music you think people want to hear. Make music that is meaningful to you. You can find your audience. Or rather, the audience will find you if you market it properly.
You don’t have to be a pop musician if you don’t want to. Yes, if you want to be a pop musician, then it’s a lot easier to follow musical trends. But chances are, by the time you’ve put out your record that trend will have shifted and you’ll be behind or simply a “me too” act which will be tired and boring. Make the music that moves you and makes sense to you BUT make sure you know where to find that audience. You don’t need 100 million people to listen to your music. You only really need a thousand or so true fans to support you for life. Go to them. Find them. Nurture that relationship. Respect them. Build your community.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This one is true. The problem is that the industry is always trying to figure out what people want to hear. I got several rejections from Spotify because right then they only wanted mid tempo dance music. Then the track hit on the radio so there you go, people wanted to hear it. Also, Spotify got alot of critique from blogger telling them that their playlists sucked and were too generic.
Still, Spotify relied on what people actually listened to. The problem is that people really don't know what they like or not like. They think they know. Also, people are complex and like the different stuff at different times. But of course it is the wet dream for the industry to know before you know what you want to hear, still, it will never happen.
That is why you should do music you like. Also, don't take off music that you liked before just because it's old, someone that has the same feeling can come along and grab it.
Don’t make music you think people want to hear. Make music that is meaningful to you. You can find your audience. Or rather, the audience will find you if you market it properly.
You don’t have to be a pop musician if you don’t want to. Yes, if you want to be a pop musician, then it’s a lot easier to follow musical trends. But chances are, by the time you’ve put out your record that trend will have shifted and you’ll be behind or simply a “me too” act which will be tired and boring. Make the music that moves you and makes sense to you BUT make sure you know where to find that audience. You don’t need 100 million people to listen to your music. You only really need a thousand or so true fans to support you for life. Go to them. Find them. Nurture that relationship. Respect them. Build your community.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This one is true. The problem is that the industry is always trying to figure out what people want to hear. I got several rejections from Spotify because right then they only wanted mid tempo dance music. Then the track hit on the radio so there you go, people wanted to hear it. Also, Spotify got alot of critique from blogger telling them that their playlists sucked and were too generic.
Still, Spotify relied on what people actually listened to. The problem is that people really don't know what they like or not like. They think they know. Also, people are complex and like the different stuff at different times. But of course it is the wet dream for the industry to know before you know what you want to hear, still, it will never happen.
That is why you should do music you like. Also, don't take off music that you liked before just because it's old, someone that has the same feeling can come along and grab it.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
This is why DIY don’t work.
It feels like 2003 again. When the digital revolution started everybody was talking about that the labels and the publishers and all other professionals could be taken off that the whole thing could be handled by the artist direct. The system would provide them with the copyright money and they could solely live off their music.
I was on the same path back then. My idea was to create the services that the artist needed to get the things out, like CD pressing, distribution some small marketing things. In the end, we had over 40 different services we could provide the artist with, it was the start of Musichelp.
As you can read in my post about how labels services should have been gone, they are still here.
The problem was not money. We profit a lot from these artists using our systems. The systems were good. It was the same systems I used my self to release records. Still, after almost 10 years in operation, we did a survey and checked how it was going. Around 8000 artists had gone through our systems in one way or the other. We put up the criteria that to “made it” they had to live from their music. Not just playing it you could be an artist making money of a studio you were running. Or an artist but wrote songs for others in the spare time. But you were not allowed to have a day job and just doing it as a hobby.
Out of 8000 artists, we pinpointed around 300 that fit the criteria.
We started to wonder why these 300 hundred. We could easily see that it was not the best acts that contained these 300. When we came up to was that these 300 had the help of someone professional. It could be a manager, a publisher but someone who had a bit more know-how than the general DIY.
Why couldn’t the rest of them do it? They had the same tools. The problem I saw was that with every new DIY that called us they invented the wheel again. The professionals build up knowledge about different things that are essential. This knowledge can’t really be thought out, we tried with info banks, seminars, we did everything to teach these DIY to get it right. Still, they did the mistakes over and over again.
Are DIY more stupid than others, no definitely not. It’s just that there are too many components that affect things that if you don’t do everything totally right it really won’t work. And actually, the most frequented question was
- I just want to be sure I’m doing it right now.
The second is the market. When you are a DIY you actually only have one product, your music. Let’s say I look for a song to a commercial for my brand. I really want this rock anthem to go with it. But you are doing slow ambient pop songs. Your product doesn’t fit the criteria. If you send it to me I will be annoyed because it won’t fit my criteria. If you just skip me, well then you don’t get what the customer needs. That will lead to that I probably won’t call you next time I’m looking for a song even if this time I look for an ambient pop song.
As a publisher or a record label, you have a catalog and you will get it pretty close to at least keep the interest. As a DIY this is really hard. And this applies to a lot of things like festivals, gigs etc. The DIY is like having a store with only one brand even just one thing. We got cheese, only Gorgonzola, nothing else. That kind of store is really hard to have.
Then there are the limitations. When I got my distribution deal we need to have 250 000 songs to get in and get that good percentage that makes sense to go through them. The big amount of songs gave the distribution a feeling of safety that all the work they do actually will give them something for that small percentage.
AS a DIY you don’t have that many songs. Okay, you say but we can go together with other DIY to build up to that many. Well, then you are not a DIY you are a record label. The problem will you have only one account and one password that should be distributed around to 1000 of members. Okay, so you let on a person do it. Suddenly you are just a normal distribution.
This can be gone around if you are a really famous artist and people are sure to make money off your release. And there are a couple of theses DIY like chance the rapper. Still, they have done their brand, and in most cases that can take years and in most cases it won’t work.
So a lot of doors are closed to a DIY. Sure we have put up companies mimic the options for a DIY artist to have the same as the big ones, in reality, that is not the case.
It’s also about the team. DIY is usually the artist some band members. Chace the rapper has 60 employees. Max Martin has over 15 people just to check out his rights in the copyright society systems. This is the part that the DIY world always forget. The team will be hard to create as a DIY. The record labels, publishers even managers most of the professional world has built in teams that they have tested and use. And to build these teams takes time and trial errors. As a DIY you don’t have that time to do these errors. We calculate that it takes 10 years to build up an artist to the level that we sat as “made it”. If you going to do all the mistakes we did you have to add 20 years. And 30 years well it will be too long without money to make it.
When it comes down to it. Most the time people that are talking about this DIY are an artist that gives out music that is a very Nish genre, like Keltic Metal. They usually also get their income from another place like working in a bar as a gig promoter or on a PRS something that holds music but really is just a 9 to 5 job that has elements of music. In these kinds of situations, the DIY world is fine. Won’t take you that big but it’s a neat little hobby.
The problem I see right now is these people are telling this to people that really want to be on “made it” level. I stop believing in this years ago. And yes I have the experience of answering the phone for ten years answering the same stupid questions every day since the DIY always invented the wheel again and again and again repeating the same mistakes over and over and over.
I was on the same path back then. My idea was to create the services that the artist needed to get the things out, like CD pressing, distribution some small marketing things. In the end, we had over 40 different services we could provide the artist with, it was the start of Musichelp.
As you can read in my post about how labels services should have been gone, they are still here.
The problem was not money. We profit a lot from these artists using our systems. The systems were good. It was the same systems I used my self to release records. Still, after almost 10 years in operation, we did a survey and checked how it was going. Around 8000 artists had gone through our systems in one way or the other. We put up the criteria that to “made it” they had to live from their music. Not just playing it you could be an artist making money of a studio you were running. Or an artist but wrote songs for others in the spare time. But you were not allowed to have a day job and just doing it as a hobby.
Out of 8000 artists, we pinpointed around 300 that fit the criteria.
We started to wonder why these 300 hundred. We could easily see that it was not the best acts that contained these 300. When we came up to was that these 300 had the help of someone professional. It could be a manager, a publisher but someone who had a bit more know-how than the general DIY.
Why couldn’t the rest of them do it? They had the same tools. The problem I saw was that with every new DIY that called us they invented the wheel again. The professionals build up knowledge about different things that are essential. This knowledge can’t really be thought out, we tried with info banks, seminars, we did everything to teach these DIY to get it right. Still, they did the mistakes over and over again.
Are DIY more stupid than others, no definitely not. It’s just that there are too many components that affect things that if you don’t do everything totally right it really won’t work. And actually, the most frequented question was
- I just want to be sure I’m doing it right now.
The second is the market. When you are a DIY you actually only have one product, your music. Let’s say I look for a song to a commercial for my brand. I really want this rock anthem to go with it. But you are doing slow ambient pop songs. Your product doesn’t fit the criteria. If you send it to me I will be annoyed because it won’t fit my criteria. If you just skip me, well then you don’t get what the customer needs. That will lead to that I probably won’t call you next time I’m looking for a song even if this time I look for an ambient pop song.
As a publisher or a record label, you have a catalog and you will get it pretty close to at least keep the interest. As a DIY this is really hard. And this applies to a lot of things like festivals, gigs etc. The DIY is like having a store with only one brand even just one thing. We got cheese, only Gorgonzola, nothing else. That kind of store is really hard to have.
Then there are the limitations. When I got my distribution deal we need to have 250 000 songs to get in and get that good percentage that makes sense to go through them. The big amount of songs gave the distribution a feeling of safety that all the work they do actually will give them something for that small percentage.
AS a DIY you don’t have that many songs. Okay, you say but we can go together with other DIY to build up to that many. Well, then you are not a DIY you are a record label. The problem will you have only one account and one password that should be distributed around to 1000 of members. Okay, so you let on a person do it. Suddenly you are just a normal distribution.
This can be gone around if you are a really famous artist and people are sure to make money off your release. And there are a couple of theses DIY like chance the rapper. Still, they have done their brand, and in most cases that can take years and in most cases it won’t work.
So a lot of doors are closed to a DIY. Sure we have put up companies mimic the options for a DIY artist to have the same as the big ones, in reality, that is not the case.
It’s also about the team. DIY is usually the artist some band members. Chace the rapper has 60 employees. Max Martin has over 15 people just to check out his rights in the copyright society systems. This is the part that the DIY world always forget. The team will be hard to create as a DIY. The record labels, publishers even managers most of the professional world has built in teams that they have tested and use. And to build these teams takes time and trial errors. As a DIY you don’t have that time to do these errors. We calculate that it takes 10 years to build up an artist to the level that we sat as “made it”. If you going to do all the mistakes we did you have to add 20 years. And 30 years well it will be too long without money to make it.
When it comes down to it. Most the time people that are talking about this DIY are an artist that gives out music that is a very Nish genre, like Keltic Metal. They usually also get their income from another place like working in a bar as a gig promoter or on a PRS something that holds music but really is just a 9 to 5 job that has elements of music. In these kinds of situations, the DIY world is fine. Won’t take you that big but it’s a neat little hobby.
The problem I see right now is these people are telling this to people that really want to be on “made it” level. I stop believing in this years ago. And yes I have the experience of answering the phone for ten years answering the same stupid questions every day since the DIY always invented the wheel again and again and again repeating the same mistakes over and over and over.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
This is how you "make it"!
5) Making It No Longer Means Superstardom
It is the most exciting time to be a musician in the history of the music business.
Never before could you have a successful career as an original performing musician without the help of a record label. There are more ways than ever before to make a living as a musician. For some reason to many, music seems to be the only industry where the sole definition of ‘making it’ is superstardom. Don’t waste your time with people who think that. If you are making a living, supporting the kind of lifestyle you’d like to have, doing something you love then you are making it. Anyone who tries to belittle your success is unhappy with their own. F*ck em.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This one is both true and untrue. Yes, I'm totally in that if you make a living you have made it. The truth is that all these strange artists that everybody is talking about that make a living out of some strange fan base, where are they?
I get a lot of these so called artists having internet courses about different kind of "smart" marketing tips, that other artist should buy from them. Then you have the occasional ones like Amanda Palmer who makes a lot of money on crowdfunding to get out her music and makes a living on it. The other side of that has anyone heard Amanda Palmer's music? I have read about her but never heard a song. To be honest I really don't feel like it either in some way it feels made up.
I guess some have tried listening to her, I just wonder how many go away and how many stays? What is the ratio? Also, Amanda was the first phenomena in this game of crowd funding. A lot of her story is that people told that store, not so much about the music.
I checked her stats...I know I have been talking about that numbers doesn't count. In this case, it can be interesting though. On Spotify she has under 10 million streams. She has the number of my indie success, which is kind of low compared to the publicity she got.
Facebook, here she has 390 000 followers. Okey the engagemnet is pretty ok, it's around 1000 to 2000 likes comments on her posts. Yes it very small from all of her followers. Still A good crowd that cares about her.
Youtube was just a death, her account seems to have four videos, the main one 2 million and the rest a couple of hundred thousand.
Instagram 150 000 followers. The interesting here is that what she market first is her BOOK "art of asking". 2000 in engagement on each picture is kind of low under 2%.
We can easily see that Amanda is not that good musician. She is a good facebook poster, or good on social media, old social media to be honest. Is that success? Yes, she makes a living out of it. I guess she does what she wants to do. Still, it feels like many stars today more lives out of the social media channels than their real art.
I guess that many means to "make it" is to be famous for what you really want to do. Angus Young wants to play guitar, not post pictures of cats on Facebook. He won't publish a book, he will play a guitar solo. I guess there is the success that people identify with. Today do it's fully possible to juggle this around on different platforms. Like being successful blogger and author. Right now in Sweden, there is one of the dancers from"Let's Dance" who released a single and wants to be an artist for a small while.
Then what happens to Amanda if Facebook and Instagram disappears? That never happens...I'm not too sure. the companies will remain but the can burst into other markets. We all know the story of MYSpace and in Sweden Lunarstorm. That is just 10 years ago and this will happen over and over companies and sites comes and go. So if you are stuck in a system like Amanda you can have a hard time. Angus Young, he will still keep playing guitar on the new platforms as well. He will only go under if we ban guitars, I have a harder time to see that happen then Facebook disappear.
We just have to hope that Amanda has been smart enough to also collect a lot of email addresses and phone numbers to super fans. And to tell you the truth I think she has.
So just the definition of "make it" is hard. Then you have an artist that has "made it" totally independent like Chance The Rapper. But remember he had a team of 60 employees to help him. To get to that is not easy, but doable, also nothing new. We have seen an artist before go independent and start labels like Epitaph records that were founded by Brett Gurewitz to give out his band Bad Religon.
I guess the goal here is up to you. I remember when I spoke to Johnny Ramone short after Joey Ramone died. Johnny couldn't get how much attention Joeys death was causing. He didn't realize how big The Ramones actually was without ever having a solid chart hit. At the same time, they were more than the one hit wonder. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I guess the goal is to do what you like the most. That is what I'm doing. I guess they will never do a Wikipedia page about my work. I hope though that many of the artists I work with get a lot of pages and change peoples life.
It is the most exciting time to be a musician in the history of the music business.
Never before could you have a successful career as an original performing musician without the help of a record label. There are more ways than ever before to make a living as a musician. For some reason to many, music seems to be the only industry where the sole definition of ‘making it’ is superstardom. Don’t waste your time with people who think that. If you are making a living, supporting the kind of lifestyle you’d like to have, doing something you love then you are making it. Anyone who tries to belittle your success is unhappy with their own. F*ck em.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This one is both true and untrue. Yes, I'm totally in that if you make a living you have made it. The truth is that all these strange artists that everybody is talking about that make a living out of some strange fan base, where are they?
I get a lot of these so called artists having internet courses about different kind of "smart" marketing tips, that other artist should buy from them. Then you have the occasional ones like Amanda Palmer who makes a lot of money on crowdfunding to get out her music and makes a living on it. The other side of that has anyone heard Amanda Palmer's music? I have read about her but never heard a song. To be honest I really don't feel like it either in some way it feels made up.
I guess some have tried listening to her, I just wonder how many go away and how many stays? What is the ratio? Also, Amanda was the first phenomena in this game of crowd funding. A lot of her story is that people told that store, not so much about the music.
I checked her stats...I know I have been talking about that numbers doesn't count. In this case, it can be interesting though. On Spotify she has under 10 million streams. She has the number of my indie success, which is kind of low compared to the publicity she got.
Facebook, here she has 390 000 followers. Okey the engagemnet is pretty ok, it's around 1000 to 2000 likes comments on her posts. Yes it very small from all of her followers. Still A good crowd that cares about her.
Youtube was just a death, her account seems to have four videos, the main one 2 million and the rest a couple of hundred thousand.
Instagram 150 000 followers. The interesting here is that what she market first is her BOOK "art of asking". 2000 in engagement on each picture is kind of low under 2%.
We can easily see that Amanda is not that good musician. She is a good facebook poster, or good on social media, old social media to be honest. Is that success? Yes, she makes a living out of it. I guess she does what she wants to do. Still, it feels like many stars today more lives out of the social media channels than their real art.
I guess that many means to "make it" is to be famous for what you really want to do. Angus Young wants to play guitar, not post pictures of cats on Facebook. He won't publish a book, he will play a guitar solo. I guess there is the success that people identify with. Today do it's fully possible to juggle this around on different platforms. Like being successful blogger and author. Right now in Sweden, there is one of the dancers from"Let's Dance" who released a single and wants to be an artist for a small while.
Then what happens to Amanda if Facebook and Instagram disappears? That never happens...I'm not too sure. the companies will remain but the can burst into other markets. We all know the story of MYSpace and in Sweden Lunarstorm. That is just 10 years ago and this will happen over and over companies and sites comes and go. So if you are stuck in a system like Amanda you can have a hard time. Angus Young, he will still keep playing guitar on the new platforms as well. He will only go under if we ban guitars, I have a harder time to see that happen then Facebook disappear.
We just have to hope that Amanda has been smart enough to also collect a lot of email addresses and phone numbers to super fans. And to tell you the truth I think she has.
So just the definition of "make it" is hard. Then you have an artist that has "made it" totally independent like Chance The Rapper. But remember he had a team of 60 employees to help him. To get to that is not easy, but doable, also nothing new. We have seen an artist before go independent and start labels like Epitaph records that were founded by Brett Gurewitz to give out his band Bad Religon.
I guess the goal here is up to you. I remember when I spoke to Johnny Ramone short after Joey Ramone died. Johnny couldn't get how much attention Joeys death was causing. He didn't realize how big The Ramones actually was without ever having a solid chart hit. At the same time, they were more than the one hit wonder. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I guess the goal is to do what you like the most. That is what I'm doing. I guess they will never do a Wikipedia page about my work. I hope though that many of the artists I work with get a lot of pages and change peoples life.
Friday, August 4, 2017
This is how you do to get real fans.
4) Your Follower Numbers Don’t Matter As Much As Your Real Life Numbers
Oh really, you have 100,000 Instagram followers? Cool. Oh, you can’t pay your monthly bills? Not so cool. Everyone knows followers AND engagement can be bought. Follower numbers aren’t as impressive as CONVERSION numbers. How many people are actually backing your crowdfunding campaigns, showing up to your shows, buying your merch? Just because you got bots to Like (and comment) on your shit means nothing. Well, it means you’re desperate and have no desire to make a living with your music. Bots don’t come to shows. Bots don’t buy your merch. Bots don’t back your crowdfunding campaigns. Bots don’t support you in any way financially. Bots don’t help you become a full-time musician.
We are now living in a post-follower count reality.
Don’t tell me how many followers you have. All I care about are how many fans you have who are willing to support your career.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This has passed on to the pros in the music industry. Still, 90% of the business thinks these numbers counts, so this is not just a misunderstanding by the artists, most of the industry is equality dumb. Just a couple of months I was at a meeting called "Off the record" arranged by IFPI of Sweden. They presented a new company that was built on that they would take artists out of the streaming numbers and social media numbers. I was baffled. This we tried 2010 now it was 2017. I mean the majors tried this five years ago with Spinnup and failed heavily. I just wanted to stand up and just scream how stupid and behind they are. I just left straight after with no network. It's a big reason I don't want Swedish music industry on my panels when I talk (i choose the good ones, there are starts in the darkness), sorry to say in this field they are so damn after. Even worse was that this company also ripped the artist off of different incomes.
We will be in this mess at least in five to ten years more. I meet people all the time that talks that about numbers like it would matter. 2015 we stopped this after we saw the results of Major Lazers - Lean on. They got million of streams but when they played in Stockholm they only could sell 900 tickets in a venue with 1500 capacity. In reality, they should have sold out in an arena with 50 000 people if the numbers were correct.
Like the text says, the numbers don't show how many who really care. Like AC/DC fill out that arena three times in a week and they are not even on Spotify. But yes people care about AC/DC. To be honest no one knew about Major Lazer it took them until now and several hits to be close to where they should have been in 2015.
We took the decision to build an artist from scratch the old way that year. Don't care so much to have the biggest numbers. More to have the real numbers with people that care. Sure it's not easy and with the stupidity, you get overruled many times with talentless artists that have used bots to take your space. Our strategy was to build up a live show that was easy to take around and get people an experience. We looked quite much on the EDM scene that was fading and realized that people were tired of a guy standing behind a computer waving a hand. They just started to add explosions and stuff then but the audience was still lost.
Of course, we got critic from the artist that often felt that their numbers were too low. Still, we wanted to reflect what we did. Instead, we pinpointed places to go over and over again to build up a crowd and build a base to stand on just locally. The new thing was to spread these bases over the world at once. in the old days, you started with your own country, we started abroad.
Yes, it's really tempting to boost your numbers. But it will come back and bite you in the ass. We are back in the 50:s where you broke and artist by showing them to people. When you reach a certain massive point it will work by it self. The good part is that it's more outlets than in the 50:s, the bad part is the same you are competing against the whole world.
What you have to do is stand your ground, take every chance to show off your art. The express highways are not that attempting. Yes, it takes longer than before to make it today. Pick these suoerfans one by one, the tools to keep them is here.
Oh really, you have 100,000 Instagram followers? Cool. Oh, you can’t pay your monthly bills? Not so cool. Everyone knows followers AND engagement can be bought. Follower numbers aren’t as impressive as CONVERSION numbers. How many people are actually backing your crowdfunding campaigns, showing up to your shows, buying your merch? Just because you got bots to Like (and comment) on your shit means nothing. Well, it means you’re desperate and have no desire to make a living with your music. Bots don’t come to shows. Bots don’t buy your merch. Bots don’t back your crowdfunding campaigns. Bots don’t support you in any way financially. Bots don’t help you become a full-time musician.
We are now living in a post-follower count reality.
Don’t tell me how many followers you have. All I care about are how many fans you have who are willing to support your career.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
This has passed on to the pros in the music industry. Still, 90% of the business thinks these numbers counts, so this is not just a misunderstanding by the artists, most of the industry is equality dumb. Just a couple of months I was at a meeting called "Off the record" arranged by IFPI of Sweden. They presented a new company that was built on that they would take artists out of the streaming numbers and social media numbers. I was baffled. This we tried 2010 now it was 2017. I mean the majors tried this five years ago with Spinnup and failed heavily. I just wanted to stand up and just scream how stupid and behind they are. I just left straight after with no network. It's a big reason I don't want Swedish music industry on my panels when I talk (i choose the good ones, there are starts in the darkness), sorry to say in this field they are so damn after. Even worse was that this company also ripped the artist off of different incomes.
We will be in this mess at least in five to ten years more. I meet people all the time that talks that about numbers like it would matter. 2015 we stopped this after we saw the results of Major Lazers - Lean on. They got million of streams but when they played in Stockholm they only could sell 900 tickets in a venue with 1500 capacity. In reality, they should have sold out in an arena with 50 000 people if the numbers were correct.
Like the text says, the numbers don't show how many who really care. Like AC/DC fill out that arena three times in a week and they are not even on Spotify. But yes people care about AC/DC. To be honest no one knew about Major Lazer it took them until now and several hits to be close to where they should have been in 2015.
We took the decision to build an artist from scratch the old way that year. Don't care so much to have the biggest numbers. More to have the real numbers with people that care. Sure it's not easy and with the stupidity, you get overruled many times with talentless artists that have used bots to take your space. Our strategy was to build up a live show that was easy to take around and get people an experience. We looked quite much on the EDM scene that was fading and realized that people were tired of a guy standing behind a computer waving a hand. They just started to add explosions and stuff then but the audience was still lost.
Of course, we got critic from the artist that often felt that their numbers were too low. Still, we wanted to reflect what we did. Instead, we pinpointed places to go over and over again to build up a crowd and build a base to stand on just locally. The new thing was to spread these bases over the world at once. in the old days, you started with your own country, we started abroad.
Yes, it's really tempting to boost your numbers. But it will come back and bite you in the ass. We are back in the 50:s where you broke and artist by showing them to people. When you reach a certain massive point it will work by it self. The good part is that it's more outlets than in the 50:s, the bad part is the same you are competing against the whole world.
What you have to do is stand your ground, take every chance to show off your art. The express highways are not that attempting. Yes, it takes longer than before to make it today. Pick these suoerfans one by one, the tools to keep them is here.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
More ways to kill your career.
Just got this in my feed. Another good list of don't.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2014/06/09/17-ways-kill-music-career/
Read it, I will go through it later I'm still on the other list. But since it's a don't list I will tell you what to do.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2014/06/09/17-ways-kill-music-career/
Read it, I will go through it later I'm still on the other list. But since it's a don't list I will tell you what to do.
This is the hardest to learn as an artist
3) Your Branding and Story Is More Important Than Your Music
This is a hard pill to swallow for every artist. But the ones who not only accept this reality, but approach it head on are the ones who jump leaps and bounds past their counterparts. People judge you based on your aesthetic, story and image long before they hit play on one of your songs – if they even make it that far. Your branding (which includes your image, your story (!!), and really your overall aesthetic) are what non-musicians (bloggers) talk about. They ain’t talking about your drum tones, syncopated rhythms, plugins or mix techniques.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
I was lecturing one time and was talking about brand your self and of course, some of the artists in the class took that to be a "sellout" or like they said being "commercial". First of all, you are commercial if you try to sell something and I guess you want to get paid for doing your shows and you like the money that comes from the PRO:s and Spotify. So starting to state that if you require money you are commercial, even if it is money you need to pay your bills etc.
When you are commercial then you are a brand. If I go to a Bruce Springsteen concert I would be kind of disappointed if he just played cheesy country songs. If the poster and the commercial around the event told me that it would be only cheesy country songs it's different. If it was market as a normal Bruce concert I would have been really mad.
Why? Well, Bruce brand is that he will play rock songs and including in that should "Dancing in the dark", "Born in the USA" and "Hungry Heart" be on there.
The artist started to understand, then one guy raised his hand and said,
- Do you need to be successful? Are you not allowed to write songs that no one wants to hear?
It was funny, but there is a point in it. I started to see artists that are a bit of afraid to be professional and take the big leap, actually doing songs that are really hard for an audience to get and in that way, they can always blame that people are not smart enough to understand their music. In reality is more a fear of making a great song and then get refused.
This is not actually new. It has been done for the past 30 years to get an artist into media. Right now it becomes more of it though because of the bloggers and small media outlets. The story has to be more clear and kind of straight forward, the band has to be understood in just a couple of seconds.
I also get a lot of artists almost getting angry at bloggers and media not asking about how they recorded or the drum loops and mix techniques. I even have seen them rehearse the smart answers they would tell when they get these questions. A big part of my job is to actually clean out all that mambo jambo from the bios they send in. It's not unusual they write in the names of the person who mixed and master it, and in severe cases, they even name dropped name of equipment. Of course, for a normal reader, it's damn boring to read about. A little light in the tunnel is though there are special magazines where these type of questions are held, it will take you a long journey until you get there.
Look on it today. I actually had heard more about Ed Sheeran in writing and about his personal life before I heard a song from him. The story that took me was when he got all 12 songs on the top chart. Then I had to get into and listen to one of them, and I was like...okay not that blown away. Right now though I have been exposed to "Shape of your body" so many times that I really like it. Still, I have known about Ed Sheeran in over five years.
Everybody has a story just pick the one up and stick to it.
When we have worked with The Magnettes we have applied this quite much. They have a couple of stories that they use depends on the situation. The three biggest are these ones.
Coming from an exotic place! The Magnettes is from Pajala a small village above the arctic circle. On the summer is daylight the whole day. And in the winter just an hour of sunshine. they also have their small minority language. To have grown up there and still have that is their headquarters is a great story and appeal to a lot of people that have been brought up in small villages all over the world.
The music is fuck pop! What the hell is fuck pop? That is the point, the expression was actually invented by Jay Frank head of their record label. People would read it and say - what the hell is fuck pop and listen to the songs. And if you look around you will see that a lot of the press use the term and do spins on it, for example, Metro Uk wrote like this
- In taking a message that once upon a time was more synonymous with alternative and emo bands like My Chemical Romance and placing it in a pop application as anti-heroes of pop music, The Magnettes are doing pretty f*cking well.
Earmilk wrote - Each song on "Ugly Youth" is well thought out and meant for lovers of pop.
Fuck-pop group The Magnettes release "Ugly Youth" album
The fuck pop term works well since the band curses quite much in their songs.
The last one is the feminist approach. This is the broadest so it's not that unique still it opens certain doors. The members in interviews give their view how women of today are portrayed, the song Bones is even about that theme.Look at this picture from a photo session and see the tattoo on the finger.
Like you write your songs about certain things you decide the branding. We get it that you are more complex than just these topics. Still to be complex in a tweet will be almost impossible. And that what the media looks like today, short texts and pictures. But yes you are a brand but you decide what that brand is about.
And here is some fuck pop from Pajala.
This is a hard pill to swallow for every artist. But the ones who not only accept this reality, but approach it head on are the ones who jump leaps and bounds past their counterparts. People judge you based on your aesthetic, story and image long before they hit play on one of your songs – if they even make it that far. Your branding (which includes your image, your story (!!), and really your overall aesthetic) are what non-musicians (bloggers) talk about. They ain’t talking about your drum tones, syncopated rhythms, plugins or mix techniques.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
I was lecturing one time and was talking about brand your self and of course, some of the artists in the class took that to be a "sellout" or like they said being "commercial". First of all, you are commercial if you try to sell something and I guess you want to get paid for doing your shows and you like the money that comes from the PRO:s and Spotify. So starting to state that if you require money you are commercial, even if it is money you need to pay your bills etc.
When you are commercial then you are a brand. If I go to a Bruce Springsteen concert I would be kind of disappointed if he just played cheesy country songs. If the poster and the commercial around the event told me that it would be only cheesy country songs it's different. If it was market as a normal Bruce concert I would have been really mad.
Why? Well, Bruce brand is that he will play rock songs and including in that should "Dancing in the dark", "Born in the USA" and "Hungry Heart" be on there.
The artist started to understand, then one guy raised his hand and said,
- Do you need to be successful? Are you not allowed to write songs that no one wants to hear?
It was funny, but there is a point in it. I started to see artists that are a bit of afraid to be professional and take the big leap, actually doing songs that are really hard for an audience to get and in that way, they can always blame that people are not smart enough to understand their music. In reality is more a fear of making a great song and then get refused.
This is not actually new. It has been done for the past 30 years to get an artist into media. Right now it becomes more of it though because of the bloggers and small media outlets. The story has to be more clear and kind of straight forward, the band has to be understood in just a couple of seconds.
I also get a lot of artists almost getting angry at bloggers and media not asking about how they recorded or the drum loops and mix techniques. I even have seen them rehearse the smart answers they would tell when they get these questions. A big part of my job is to actually clean out all that mambo jambo from the bios they send in. It's not unusual they write in the names of the person who mixed and master it, and in severe cases, they even name dropped name of equipment. Of course, for a normal reader, it's damn boring to read about. A little light in the tunnel is though there are special magazines where these type of questions are held, it will take you a long journey until you get there.
Look on it today. I actually had heard more about Ed Sheeran in writing and about his personal life before I heard a song from him. The story that took me was when he got all 12 songs on the top chart. Then I had to get into and listen to one of them, and I was like...okay not that blown away. Right now though I have been exposed to "Shape of your body" so many times that I really like it. Still, I have known about Ed Sheeran in over five years.
Everybody has a story just pick the one up and stick to it.
When we have worked with The Magnettes we have applied this quite much. They have a couple of stories that they use depends on the situation. The three biggest are these ones.
Coming from an exotic place! The Magnettes is from Pajala a small village above the arctic circle. On the summer is daylight the whole day. And in the winter just an hour of sunshine. they also have their small minority language. To have grown up there and still have that is their headquarters is a great story and appeal to a lot of people that have been brought up in small villages all over the world.
The music is fuck pop! What the hell is fuck pop? That is the point, the expression was actually invented by Jay Frank head of their record label. People would read it and say - what the hell is fuck pop and listen to the songs. And if you look around you will see that a lot of the press use the term and do spins on it, for example, Metro Uk wrote like this
- In taking a message that once upon a time was more synonymous with alternative and emo bands like My Chemical Romance and placing it in a pop application as anti-heroes of pop music, The Magnettes are doing pretty f*cking well.
Earmilk wrote - Each song on "Ugly Youth" is well thought out and meant for lovers of pop.
Fuck-pop group The Magnettes release "Ugly Youth" album
The fuck pop term works well since the band curses quite much in their songs.
The last one is the feminist approach. This is the broadest so it's not that unique still it opens certain doors. The members in interviews give their view how women of today are portrayed, the song Bones is even about that theme.Look at this picture from a photo session and see the tattoo on the finger.
Like you write your songs about certain things you decide the branding. We get it that you are more complex than just these topics. Still to be complex in a tweet will be almost impossible. And that what the media looks like today, short texts and pictures. But yes you are a brand but you decide what that brand is about.
And here is some fuck pop from Pajala.
Mind the gap!
Today has just been crazy. You can really see the gaps in the industry. I was sitting with a deal on over 100 000 dollars and got bugged by some new amateur "manager" who was calculating the dimes on a Spotify bill for his artist trying to get more money out from the distribution. The funny part is that saw that it's probably fake numbers that the artist used a bot to get. I'm not sure that Spotify will pay out from bot numbers. I know a thing or two that they actually do around things like that. The problem is that people like this can't get it at the same time I really don't have time for the monkey business.
Then I got an older record boss calling me about a PR plan straight out from the 90:s. What concerned him the most was that he couldn't get his artist biographies up on Spotify. I mean just take a look at only the bigger artists has their bios up, it won't people listen more to the songs. Even worse then his artist called me on the same matter.
This is the same story repeat itself. It was the same thing when Itunes was in its heyday. I tried to explain that Itunes sales were bogus and no one cared about those numbers and in a few years streaming would take over. All these small people just laughed and kept on nagging.
We are back again, these small people think that Spotify matters, no it stopped matter 6 months ago even a year. Why can I tell, just precisely that amateurs mind the shit and think that these numbers matters. Also, that bigger companies are looking for other stuff also tells a pretty good story.
Unforntuanly it will be for me to explain these idiots whats going on for the next three years. That what it took to get rid of the idiots that just cared about Itunes.
In the end, the gap between the professionals and all the crap is getting bigger and bigger. More and more artists are consumed into this world that actually nothing is working. Too many of these people have no clue what so ever what to take an artist to the big audience and the ones that will be fooled are the artists. It's like if you have two apples, they look the same on the outside. Just that one is heavily poisoned with pesticides and is rotten from within. The other one is fresh and good. You really can't tell so when the salesman tries to get rid of the bad one he lowers the price with 10 cents and the artist goes for the bad without knowing.
The artist can't pick right. The only way you will have that knowledge is to know the whole growing process. Only the people with real insight can do that.
Later, of course, they see it. I just got an email from an artist doing that mistake and now to a bite in the apple with a maggot inside. Now coming back trying to get back to where we started. But I with the good apple has taken that further away, now it's in a store where this artist even can get access to it. A costly experience.
Just another day seeing where we are heading.
Then I got an older record boss calling me about a PR plan straight out from the 90:s. What concerned him the most was that he couldn't get his artist biographies up on Spotify. I mean just take a look at only the bigger artists has their bios up, it won't people listen more to the songs. Even worse then his artist called me on the same matter.
This is the same story repeat itself. It was the same thing when Itunes was in its heyday. I tried to explain that Itunes sales were bogus and no one cared about those numbers and in a few years streaming would take over. All these small people just laughed and kept on nagging.
We are back again, these small people think that Spotify matters, no it stopped matter 6 months ago even a year. Why can I tell, just precisely that amateurs mind the shit and think that these numbers matters. Also, that bigger companies are looking for other stuff also tells a pretty good story.
Unforntuanly it will be for me to explain these idiots whats going on for the next three years. That what it took to get rid of the idiots that just cared about Itunes.
In the end, the gap between the professionals and all the crap is getting bigger and bigger. More and more artists are consumed into this world that actually nothing is working. Too many of these people have no clue what so ever what to take an artist to the big audience and the ones that will be fooled are the artists. It's like if you have two apples, they look the same on the outside. Just that one is heavily poisoned with pesticides and is rotten from within. The other one is fresh and good. You really can't tell so when the salesman tries to get rid of the bad one he lowers the price with 10 cents and the artist goes for the bad without knowing.
The artist can't pick right. The only way you will have that knowledge is to know the whole growing process. Only the people with real insight can do that.
Later, of course, they see it. I just got an email from an artist doing that mistake and now to a bite in the apple with a maggot inside. Now coming back trying to get back to where we started. But I with the good apple has taken that further away, now it's in a store where this artist even can get access to it. A costly experience.
Just another day seeing where we are heading.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
The big advances time is over....by far.
Today is number two in the list.
2) You’re Not Going To Jump Out of a Day Job into a Million Dollar Advance
The days of the big break are pretty much over. Labels don’t sign unproven acts with nothing going on. Labels want a sure thing that already has built it on their own. Oh and labels don’t offer million dollar (or six figure) advances anymore to new acts. If you’re waiting around to be discovered and aren’t taking your career in your own hands, you will be waiting till you’re dead.
This problem I really see a lot. The artist that thinks that it will be a big advance (especially if you sign with a major). It was a long time ago I saw these advances. Then someone always tells you about someone that got a huge offering, but always its something behind it. Like Joel Adams that took his song single handed to 200 million streams on Spotify, yes he got really big upfronts thrown after him. Like it says he had done the bigger part himself.
This is also reflected quite much other stuff that artists think is going on. For example, that bigger artist gets really big sums for playing on festivals, yes Justin Bieber does, but a midsize rock band is not. I get so many artists thinking that a showcase festival should pay them to get there. Duh, it's showcasing you are showing off products. If you think that companies get paid to put their stuff on fairs think again.
So what happened to the big advances. To explain it during the 80:s in the USA it was easy to write off an advance on the tax money. But not paying so much taxes they instead just signed bands and like a lottery sometimes one of these bands actually took off, still many didn't.
I don't know if the rules changed but today this is not the case. Today you have the time to wait until the act is finished and then do the move to grab it. Today it's more like to be a bidding war around a good band.
Yes, you have to do a lot of stuff yourself. Luckily there are some new companies (Musichelp is one of them) who invest time and resources to develop artist to the level where it becomes interesting. It's Do it yourself or try to build the team with experienced people that have large networks. Sometimes these people are called managers. I would change that term a manager is more to like to work with a really established act. These are more to be called developers. It's really in its infancy but this will be the hot part of the music industry in a couple of years, much like the songwriting teams.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
2) You’re Not Going To Jump Out of a Day Job into a Million Dollar Advance
The days of the big break are pretty much over. Labels don’t sign unproven acts with nothing going on. Labels want a sure thing that already has built it on their own. Oh and labels don’t offer million dollar (or six figure) advances anymore to new acts. If you’re waiting around to be discovered and aren’t taking your career in your own hands, you will be waiting till you’re dead.
This problem I really see a lot. The artist that thinks that it will be a big advance (especially if you sign with a major). It was a long time ago I saw these advances. Then someone always tells you about someone that got a huge offering, but always its something behind it. Like Joel Adams that took his song single handed to 200 million streams on Spotify, yes he got really big upfronts thrown after him. Like it says he had done the bigger part himself.
This is also reflected quite much other stuff that artists think is going on. For example, that bigger artist gets really big sums for playing on festivals, yes Justin Bieber does, but a midsize rock band is not. I get so many artists thinking that a showcase festival should pay them to get there. Duh, it's showcasing you are showing off products. If you think that companies get paid to put their stuff on fairs think again.
So what happened to the big advances. To explain it during the 80:s in the USA it was easy to write off an advance on the tax money. But not paying so much taxes they instead just signed bands and like a lottery sometimes one of these bands actually took off, still many didn't.
I don't know if the rules changed but today this is not the case. Today you have the time to wait until the act is finished and then do the move to grab it. Today it's more like to be a bidding war around a good band.
Yes, you have to do a lot of stuff yourself. Luckily there are some new companies (Musichelp is one of them) who invest time and resources to develop artist to the level where it becomes interesting. It's Do it yourself or try to build the team with experienced people that have large networks. Sometimes these people are called managers. I would change that term a manager is more to like to work with a really established act. These are more to be called developers. It's really in its infancy but this will be the hot part of the music industry in a couple of years, much like the songwriting teams.
The red part is from an article in Digital music news, here is a link to the whole article.
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
It will be crazy as usual.
I guess I never learn that you can't put in too much on the schedule. Still, in June everything was empty nothing was sure so I just put hooks out. Now it turns into the most exciting schedule that I have seen.
Like always we start with one week with madness on Live at Heart last week in August in Örebro that we get two small satellites in Stockholm and Trosa as well.
In middle of September, I have my own panel with Ömer and Tommy on Future Music Forum in Barcelona, Spain. Then go home and bounce out to Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg, Germany.
Then we take a stroll over to NYC, USA for some touring in beginning of October. Get back and then go to Tokyo to get on TIMM. Get straight back to Hultsfred to be on Rookie.
Then start of November UK tour with The Magnettes.
Well, December is empty if someone has something to throw in.
Like always we start with one week with madness on Live at Heart last week in August in Örebro that we get two small satellites in Stockholm and Trosa as well.
In middle of September, I have my own panel with Ömer and Tommy on Future Music Forum in Barcelona, Spain. Then go home and bounce out to Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg, Germany.
Then we take a stroll over to NYC, USA for some touring in beginning of October. Get back and then go to Tokyo to get on TIMM. Get straight back to Hultsfred to be on Rookie.
Then start of November UK tour with The Magnettes.
Well, December is empty if someone has something to throw in.
11 Things Millennial Musicians Just Don’t Get, streams and fans.
I got this article in my feed and it's brilliant. As an artist (not just millennial) you have to read it to start to understand that some of the features are no longer there.
Here is the whole article
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
I will discuss the 11 things what to do about them and how you should think. So we start with number one.
1) Spotify Plays Don’t Equal Fans
I can’t tell you how many artists I see on Spotify with hundreds of thousands or millions of streams, but can’t get even 100 out to their local (or any) shows. Or get anyone to back their crowdfunding campaign. Or support them in any way whatsoever. These listeners are not fans of the artists, they are fans of the playlist these songs got included on. You must understand this new world of streaming we are in. 10 million plays ain’t impressive anymore. Know what is impressive? Bottom lines.
The number crunching is really over. Sure we will have stupid people doing the number crunching for at least ten years more. The serious players though has just left that game. I wrote about this in the blog post "We don't care about your social media numbers"
Here is the whole article
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/27/millennial-musicians/
I will discuss the 11 things what to do about them and how you should think. So we start with number one.
1) Spotify Plays Don’t Equal Fans
I can’t tell you how many artists I see on Spotify with hundreds of thousands or millions of streams, but can’t get even 100 out to their local (or any) shows. Or get anyone to back their crowdfunding campaign. Or support them in any way whatsoever. These listeners are not fans of the artists, they are fans of the playlist these songs got included on. You must understand this new world of streaming we are in. 10 million plays ain’t impressive anymore. Know what is impressive? Bottom lines.
The number crunching is really over. Sure we will have stupid people doing the number crunching for at least ten years more. The serious players though has just left that game. I wrote about this in the blog post "We don't care about your social media numbers"
The smart part of the industry knows you can manipulate any numbers and it's kind of easy to check so it gives no guarantee. You have to build real fans that are the only way. Still, right now it's easier than ever to actually do that. There are hundreds of different tools to use to keep in touch with the people who like the stuff you do. So staring yourself blind that you don't have that many Spotify streams is not getting you anywhere. When you get real fans and the word is spreading anyway it will come by the fault. So start doing what you should do, take every opportunity to perform your art in all possible ways. That is the secret trick. No, you can't just sit home and think you can do it behind your computer.
So when you bump into a stupid booker that only book bands that have over 50 000 followers on Facebook. Whatever this person is booking for it will go down fast. It won't be in your interest to be there anyway. In reality, many times they use that as an argument to not book you since you are not good enough. When you hit that value they won't care if you just have 10 followers on facebook.
So when you bump into a stupid booker that only book bands that have over 50 000 followers on Facebook. Whatever this person is booking for it will go down fast. It won't be in your interest to be there anyway. In reality, many times they use that as an argument to not book you since you are not good enough. When you hit that value they won't care if you just have 10 followers on facebook.
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