When are you what you say? My friend Boyan hit on the spot for this post.
Today anyone can just print a business card and become a manager, booker, record label. Still, you are just a manager, managing your own band or a booker that just done two gigs or a record label just giving out two songs on SoundCloud.
So we all know success is part of the equation. At the same time, you must start somewhere.
I remember when I had my record label and was very nervous to meet the big established labels. Today I see the same labels as quite amateurish and most laugh at their attempt to build up stuff.
But I bet my ass they still see me still like the small label guy.
I the beginning I felt I hadn't had enough experience to call my company a record label. But after my first cd, it was a milestone. And back then it was, today it's so easy to give out something that giving out is not counting.
So I have some hold points to measure, not if you are what you are, more witch level.
You live on your work as a label, manager or booker. That is a very pro level.
You are focused. Over a period of time you have given the project 100%. That is prospect level.
Everything under is mainly hobby. And boy do I see so many people with no focus at all. Today's problem it's very hard to see this on just one meeting.
So right now I'm doing over seven festivals at the same time on different locations. The next couple of week will be kind of not so updated because of this. After 9 of September, it will cool down and start all the traveling. Of course, it won't totally empty but less long things.
The worst thing you can ever do is to betray your working people. One of the worst is putting off problems to someone else. I get this from time to time.
For example, I was booking a band, they demanded a kind of a big sum of money. I couldn't agree on that so I just sent it back with the note that I don't have that budget.
Suddenly I get an email from a booker in a totally another part of Europe, saying that they are the booker for this artist.
Hey, wait a minute the band applied to me saying nothing about a booker. I have for six emails talked to the band and they are not telling me they have a booker. Suddenly now when they have to negotiate, they suddenly throw in a third party?
You really hate these things when suddenly when you are negotiating with a "manager" "partner" or something else just pop up like a jack in the box and you have to start everything all over again.
What in hell where this band even negotiating a deal if there was someone else that should do that part? If you have a signed a deal that is what it's for.
When these things happen, these artists and their people around them go straight into the blacklist of people you should not work with. If they fuck their own like this, imagine what they can do to you.
Let the right person handle the things.
PERSONAL:
I feel a lot of changes is going on. I wrote it before. And the consequences for these will be severe. I'm not so sure the industry will understand what I'm about to launch. I guess I'm in the position like bands are when you have to drop a member and you know it will be bad but you have to do it to move on and reach what you want to reach.
So read what is a showcase festival. Okay, so this is an arena to get your career forward. You are here to showcase not play a festival gig.
So complaining that it cost you money to go on a showcase festival I can inform you that there are bands taking their career serious enough to go to the other side of the world to play a showcase festival. So you complaining about going a couple of miles in a car are just pathetic.
Also if you start a company (which actually an artist career is) you spend at least the first three years just spending money on PR. Why would this be different just because we are dealing with music? If you don't want to spend money on your career, well stay at the local bar and play there, but don't complain that you don't go anywhere.
And never, never ask the festival how you should find your money.
Also when you only can play on weekends since you much take off time from work. Well just that you won't take time off work is a good sign you are not a proband more a hobby band. And on a Showcase festival, you try to get just pro-bands since the hobby bands are more just a hobby you are not calculating to become something you are just happy to play. That is good but don't bother people that want to take you somewhere with it. Here is more around that theme.
It's hard to fill out to apply for a showcase festival so I rather send a mail asking if I can play.
Oh good, the forms are not tricky, yes they will be tricky since you don't have your shit together. In the field to show a live video and you don¨t have one, well if you don't have one your probably not ready to be on a showcase festival. This is why these fields are there.
On a normal festival, you usually deal with booking agencies that have all this for you. Showcase festival deals with the new ones and a good sorting point is to give some simple questions like, do you have a bio, a video a Spotify link can take off quite many artists that shouldn't play on a showcase festival at all.
PERSONAL:
The backstage passes have also their own story. It started very very long ago that a band that we had on the record label was collecting backstage passes and we compete with them to have the most. They have quit now but we kept going. Over 30 years of career yes we have been on quite many events. The fun is that every pass has its own story and I can just put them in front of me and I can tell you a special story around just that one. After 2010 I have also picked up all pins and other stuff and added on the badge I'm wearing at that festival so in the bigger ones I really look like a Christmas tree.
No, we have never counted them, but they are in around the order we actually got them. These will be a pain in the ass to move when we changing office.
This problem is usually one of the major headaches I have as a manager. I almost see it happens with every artist I work with. And many times I even got myself treated this way.
A kind person wants to help a band and fix a lot of things for them. In the beginning, the band is really thankful for what they are doing and the things actually shoot them off to bigger things. After a while, though they feel that this person is just another person and are not so excited about the things they come up with.
Here I have to keep the relationship up as manager and start to save the relationship. Today one of the more important people called me. He likes one of the bands I have and has done marvelous things in form of sponsorship deal and gig opportunities. In some cases, the band doesn't understand how important it is, in some cases they do. And a couple of months ago he really saved their asses when they need to get into a very important festival.
Of course when he did that he also wanted them on another important festival. He wanted to show them off for some of his hotshot contacts they could have lead to really big things. The band was on for the second festival as well but canceled in the last minute on him.
Why? They had met a new manager that had some gigs in another place and they took these instead. And of course, the band was really happy meeting a new person that can give them gigs. The problem here is that I know these gigs are kinda crappy. They are okay if you don't have other things going on, but here you had a really good and important gig and on top of that a sponsor that could do much bigger stuff in the future.
Couldn't they do both gigs, yes they could but choose to put one off since they were a bit lazy.
On a way, I guess this person for them is just a normal dude that always will do stuff for them. In reality, he was kind of pissed and I had to try to cover for them. In the end, though he chooses to help another artist out for next year since they had handled the cancelation really crappy.
So next time they come around asking for favors (because they will since the new dude they have won't last for long) the sponsor will not do anything. In the end, it's the part of the road that is going downhill. Never piss on a sponsor either how small they are.
PERSONAL:
I just finished last night part of my genealogical tree. Yes, this also one of my bigger projects. My background is one of the longest family in recorded history. And sometimes I just got stuck in the history and stories around people. I'm trying to do a family tree, but it's so big it won't fit on the wall in the house even with the font 10pp. Right now I'm down on Viking time and seeking out relationships. I guess you have to be geeky to be in this business.
It's quite easy to say that you want to do something full time. I have written about it before that I have a passion for cooking. I just picked all cherries and black currants and done liquor and jelly the whole weekend. I love it it's really fun to test new recipes and stuff.
It's quite easy for me to say that I should be a professional chef. I should open a restaurant doing my own menu and all that stuff. But I have one advantage and I know how hard it is to be that chef. You have to be closed in the kitchen for years just to get that restaurant to fly. Overall it is at least ten years of investment in your life.
I'm an amateur chef I don't even know if I have the talent to make it as a professional chef. My friends like my food. Still says nothing how the general market would say. And also standing in the kitchen doing the food I want to do instead of getting orders for what kind of food I should cook is a huge difference.
Here is see many do the mistake when we ask if you want to be the hobby band or be the professional. It would be nice living out of your music. Go on tour and make a lot of money while the fans scream out your name.
The thing is that it's so much more than that. It's the same that you are locked in that kitchen but here you are locked in trying to do new songs all the time. Also the same you don't know if your talent is enough to be one of the biggest stars in the world. Still, when you get the question you still say that you want to do it.
I usually pout some extra questions in for it. Could you be away from your friends for two years? Can you just focus on music nothing else for two years? In overall, they all say yes.
If they say no it's already clear that you can't do it.The funny part even the ones that say not as the ones that say yes want to try. And here is the tricky part. We know that only one out of thousand bands has what it takes to even do a test run. We easily test them by putting some important at the same time as their holiday. If they fail to cancel the holiday they are not in the position to make it. Then we even get harder by putting the thing in all the time. Here if you have ten bands that made it out of the thousand. Nine out of ten will fail. Yes, it's very few that have what it takes and most failures come from that the artist wasn't ready for the amount of work that has to be done to make it to the top or be a hobby band. My calculation is that in my whole 30 years career I will only find around 10 acts that really have what it takes among these ten thousands of artists I meet. The question would I find them and nurture them in the right way?
PERSONAL:
I guess I have exposed that I like to cook food. I actually do quite many strange hobby things where I do some arts and crafts. For example, I do strange garden gnomes. I have developed different technics in doing things in concrete. Over the summer months, I usllay do over three hundred different kinds of garden statues. Usually with a strange twist.
This summer it has been garden gnomes with a certain theme. I have done the Punk Gnome, The Terrorist Gnome, the Weed Gnome and the Gangsta gnome. Here is a gnome with attitude.
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You just hate them. The artists that really don't fit in your event and are nagging to get in there. Then you get an open spot and just for sake of it, you let that artist through. Suddenly they start demanding things that no other artists get like free booze and their own dressing room and of course special backline.
Suddenly they are demanding to get all the dates times and stages even though the main act hasn't got it yet. in the end, they are more demanding than your headliners.
It's funny they should get that they just got the spot on pure luck and friendship. Now they are getting that friendship really a lot of tension. Later you get all these asking favors next time on other things but you really don't take them again.
Try not to be such a diva if someone gives you an opportunity. You can be the diva when you get famous.
PERSONAL:
I'm on a University today to listen to songs. It will be fun, most of the time they usually take out other musicians to do this kind of things. In reality, you should take people like me that should actually do the pr for the song. I mean you wont get the guy that put together you iPhone to market that damn thing. No you present the product to the PR team. And over the years most musicians I have had judging things are totally wrong. They like the Iphiobne geek that are excited of a special function that the majority doesn't give a shit about. The best ones to pick out songs in my teams over the year was a guy working in a car factory. He listened to songs in his headåphones every day. He could hear when a song was a hit. Truly a mastermind on that in the end.
This is when musicians try to explain why they have done a bad song that I should market.
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The biggest no no, in social media that I really see the most artists do is promote their latest single. Someone said that social media is social. So if you were at a concert and saw one of the band members standing in the bar and you struck up a conversation like Hey really great gig tonight!
Yes, buy our latest single or listen to it here on Spotify.
Okay, how many gigs do you do this year?
Oh yes, listen to our new single on Spotify!
I really like your new single.
Yes so listen to it on Spotify and don't forget to put a heart next to it!
Of course, you would think this member in the band was a bit crazy. In fact, this how you feel when an artist just posts on the latest release, or even worse just pictures of rehearsal or studio recordings. We know these moments are fun for the artist but hell no I don't want to see a post around it. No, I want to see the really bad breakfast you ate in the last town,. Or the funny backstage area or anything personal.
So to be able to even promote something you need to have a normal flow or posts that are about something that a normal person can relate to. Even that you could have conversations around.
So when an artist tells me that they need to get something out just to have something to talk about, you know they are not really good at social media. You should be able to maintain that stream without releases. In theory, you should be able to do that with just one song ever released if you are good at it.
Just release and think that the post will be huge just because you release a song is very self-centered.
PERSONAL:
So I'm I good on social media? Hell no! I just comment on things and then leave the conversation. I have been trying to do the blog a bit more personal and more in a personal touch if you have read the last ones you see me more telling about different memories from the past.
The whole blog is an experiment to show for my artists that you can do things like this if you really put your mind to it. So the next level on more personal.
One of my artists always said, better to do something then do nothing at all. And he also said, see the possibilities instead of the obstacles.
Right now I really like this advice. Just gave artists an opportunity to almost go to the other side of the world to play on a really cool thing. You think they would be happy? No, the response is, how can I get time off from work. I mean this is not until April next year, so you roughly have 6 months to ask your boss for the time off. Tell your partner that you going away for a two month on an adventure.
But these reactions become more and more common. It seems like people don't have the confidence anymore to achieve things? The only see the negative things and the fear of a failure. I don't saw my generation like that? We just took the risk and if it crashed we mainly laugh about it. Like the story, I will tell on the person down here. Yes, I think people are too afraid nowadays even though it's safer than ever. Start seeing the positive in everything, my artist was damn right on that one.
PERSONAL:
My mom worked on the railroad when I was young. With that came a free pass to trains in all Europe for all members of our family. My best friends dad also worked on the railroad so he had a free card too. Our thing was to catch trains and just go where ever we were landing. Of course, telling our parents that we slept over at each others place. Instead, we took the train all over Europe and ended up in a lot of places. And we were young and really wanted to discover things.
One trip we did was to London. My friend really wanted to stand in the cheering crowd of Millwall and be on the football riots. I really wanted to check out the London discos. Especially one called Equinox that had full lasers. So we went over a long weekend.
In London, we meet a crazy Australian guy that claimed that he had all the right connections to get into clubs. We tagged along and we went to a place called Stringfellows. The people who know what it is understood that this is not a place where you come in with a t-shirt and blue jeans. But we were traveling light and that was the only thing we had. The Australian guy somehow got us in even though the place was really crowded and we didn't fit the dress code. Inside the Australian warned us that the prices were very high in the bar. So we mainly just stood there in the crowd looking like two aliens.
I decided to go to the bathroom. I went in and after doing my thing came out and washed my hands. I couldn't find a paper but there was a big black box in velvet on the wall. I thought it might be a hand dryer so I checked it out. There was a big golden button in one of the corners, but not much more, I pressed the button but nothing really happened.
Then some really strange dude came out from one of the stalls. Coming up to me looking as confused as me. We struck a conversation trying to figure this machine out. In the end, we found a small opening for coins on the side. I was of course always broke but my new friend had a lot of pound coins so we shoveled in at least five of them then pressed the button.
The machine went on and just poured out condoms in golden packaging. We were laughing like hell. Kind as he was he gave me half of all the condoms that the machine got out. We got up to tell the funny story to my friend. When we got up we meet the duds friend a small guy that was really strange. He was trying to order a drink but couldn't get any service. Well, he looked like an alien like us so no wonder. My friend warned him about the high prices. He just looked at us and said: I can get you any drinks you want we just got paid. We didn't understand but the little guy just got in drinks after drinks to us. We partied really much for an hour with our new friends. Then we had to get to Equinox. They wanted to go but had to stay for some reasons.
So went to Equinox and was amazed by the lasers. The next day we went into a real football riot among Millwall fans, we almost got tattooed with the Millwall logo, we got out of that and hit the illegal clubs in the Docklands in London.
A year later I was watching MTV and suddenly a new group came along. And there was my buddy from the toilet at Stringfellows. he was playing the guitar like a god. Here is the video. and three minutes in the video he shows up, my condom buying friend Saul. On Saturday he plays in Sweden again. Sadly we only took pictures of the lasers, not our new friends.
Yes, back there were no obstacles. We just did it and saw where the road took us. I feel that has changed with the new soicla media. Today I have great stories. Sure failure to not change phone numbers with Slash, or even take a picture but hey.
No, don't take a friend that makes great Instagram pictures to take your band photos! No, don't be damn artistic that you can't know what the pictures are portraying! And for f**k sake, if you don't know how to work with colors and lightning and make then in black and white we just know that it's not good.
I got a phone call from a booker that will take out some bands at our festival. Of course, he has no chance to listen to all 150 bands that are on the site. Instead, he went into the band that he knew and after that those that had great pictures and said something.
- Usually, if the band has a professional picture they usually have a full show.
I could see so many good bands just be overlooked because they haven't taken the time to work with the picture. Yes, it needs to be a good photographer that knows about lightning that should take pictures not your best friend with a system camera. This is what gets people to look on your band in a rooster or a post.
So I will make some examples.
Nice picture? I took it. The Magnettes need a new band picture very fast and they were playing in Visby so we quickly went down to the harbor and did some shots. Yes, I had a flash but only one. This picture you can see is very indie but utterly boring and really the lightning is not good at all. The band looks cool, but they always look cool. Many would consider this a good shot and a good promo picture, but in reality, doesn't hold up the standards. Many bands have just this kind of pictures.
This is more it. A real photographer, real flashes. Also painted with colored light. This tells more about what the band is all about. look on the crisp in the picture. How you can see everything in the picture it's not shaded in the wrong places as the first one. This picture had many bloggers as and the press saying "wow".
Also, don't put a lot of text in the picture with the band logo and shit. This makes it harder for people to use it and in the end, you will lose many opportunities for it.
PERSONAL:
My crazy schedule keeps on going just go invited to Japan and to the Czech Republic and Canada this autumn. On top of that, I already have been invited to Spain, Austria, and Luxembourg. I just love the life I live right now. Meeting so many people with different visions and with the same interest in the music industry. I really made my own path to be where I'm.
I don't know if this is just for Sweden? I guess it could be applied to the whole world. Many of the older A&R:s (read old grumpy men) is blaming the social media to kill the rock star. Many of the old rockstars were assholes, but in media they were nice. I heard so many times that John Lennon was an ass. And maybe he was or not. I don't know since I never meet him and can only tell from the interviews and stuff he has done. These interviews are of course controlled so it won't give the right picture. And it's in this the people now say the social media is killing the star.
Let's assume John Lennon was a real asshole in person. Of course, you can't hide that on social media. It will shine through. Same with the star thing. So many times when you get starstruck and then spend some time with the star and you realize they are just a normal person, very talented, but still just a person the icon and the status is falling.
Is this right? I don't know but what I can see is that interviews are rarer today with artists, especially around their work. What has replaced this in the media is more writings what they say on social media. Not unusual that a whole article is about a tweet of a famous artist. Today the media get the most information from Donal Trump in form of tweets.
Most careers are in very short forms.
I spent time with an influencer last weekend. She posted a picture of her on the street and in 5 minutes she had over 5000 comments. At the same time, she is not famous, she has over a million followers ion different social media. During dinner, we were talking about one of my bands and she was really impressed and told me that this band was really big. I told her that they not even had 20 000 followers on all their social media. Yes she said but they do big things and they write interviews with them. She explained how the followers were not anything that really goes to media until you are a name. And to get the name you need to do extra good things.
I guess the social media is not killing the start it's just harder to see where the breaking point for an artist is really on.
PERSONAL:
They are playing Eurythmics on the radio. Great band and great songs. I actually worked with Dave Stewart once which was one of these strange larger than life experience I'm getting involved in.
In this case, I got involved by a supervisor on a big project that Nokia was doing. They were building a game which contained music along the clues and should have been launched to a certain phone and work with GPS. In the beginning, I was placing some of my songs in the game but the crew understood fast I had some greater knowledge around everything in licensing so they called me on consultant things now and then.
This was in the middle of the summer. I had a short vacation in the archipelago north of Stockholm. Out there the coverage is not that great, but when you where in the local grocery store you had a tiny bit of reception. That was the great thing people couldn't reach you and you could really have a vacation.
One day we where down doing some groceries and out of the blue the Nokia team contacted me and wondered if I could jump on a Skype call about a thing. I wrote back that my line was not that good but I could try.
Out in the parkinglot I got on the call. It was not easy since the reception sucked. I got introduced to a bunch of people and they had a big discussion around different ways to get the music in the game. I mainly listened. After awhile a guy adressed a question to me...so Peter I heard you had good experience of this. And yes I had, the last project I did had the same problems and I knew how we solved these. So I gave them a pretty good and safe plan solving the problem. The guy that asked was impressed and continued, that is great Peter, your line is kind of bad but I want to ask you some more. Can I call you after the call. Sure I gave him my number. The conference call went on for awhile more. I bought a ice-cream because it was hot and keept trying to keep up.
Then it was finished and Ulrika wanted to go back with the grocery. Then my phone rang. I answered and a familiar voice said, Hey its Dave Stewart really good input on the call. I have some other projects that I would like to get your opinion on.
I was not sure. Was this that Dave Stewart? The guy from Eurythmics and the guy who did all the keyboards on Ramones Too Tough to die record. Can't be?
The call went on and I explained the different ways of placements and what could work. My ice-cream melted and Ulrika was annoyed over the time it took.
Over the whole call, I was trying to figure out if this was Dave Stewart. In the end, I managed to get in a question about his music and there he mentioned Eurythmics. I was standing in the parking lot of the local grocery talking to Dave Stewart. It was totally surreal.
In the end, I got to ask around the recording of the Ramones album. He had no real memorys around it. He was mainly hired to do the electronic sounds on the single Howling at the moon. He laughed that was the question I had.
I got some more calls from him. And I just looked in my phone and I still has his number in my phone book as Dave S. I wonder if he still answers if I called?
I feel more and more that people are afraid to make decisions. Playing with all doors open and a big fear of Fomo (fear of missing out). In the end, there are no commitments done and everything is kind of lose and really nothing happens.
Yes, it can be scary to get along a path but not taking decisions and just float around is maybe easier but doesn't lead anywhere.
And all paths can be altered and lead to a lot of new places.
I also feel that people want me to have all the answers to impossible questions to be able to take these decisions. It feels like being a fortune teller with an all success guaranteed attach to you.
People are more and more insecure. Has it always been this way or is it coming along recently?
In the end, it's better to do a bad decision to learn from then no decision at all.
PERSONAL:
No, I don't play an instrument. And with that, I'm kind of unusual in the business. Most people working on the administration side is usually failed, musicians. I won't lie that I'm a failed one too, it's just that I failed so early it won't count.
In reality, I got it pretty clear that people liked to have me in their bands since I was good shuffling papers and getting things done. But playing was just a necessary evil to have me. I got the point and got myself a degree as a recording engineer. Same here I know the technical skills, but I'm not good on sounds or the knowledge how to get to them. I was good hearing when a song is good and have potential to be marked. And I became obsessed with that for the past 20 years. And I still don't know how to tune a guitar, but I can easily say if your recording will work or not. Even more, I can see if your setup will hold for something bigger.
Yes, you find inspiration in people, but try to copy their career is not that smart. I get quite much that this person played on this festival was on this radio show etc. Just because of that we should do the same.
You know (Joey Ramone always started with), playing at CBGB:s was not cool when The Ramones did it. Sure all these years bands have been nagging they should play there since it went well with the first bands playing there like The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads etc.
In reality that was what came out from CBGB was these first bands. They took a chance, they were the leaders, the rest was just dead fishes that followed the stream.
I feel many are afraid to do something early. They want to wait until someone else has done it and they can follow. In the end, they are just chasing the next thing instead of creating it.
Go back to the iconic photo of the Ramones of the brick wall. It was not thought thru it just happened. And I bet you haven't seen the picture after that iconic one when Dee Dee is scraping dogshit from his shoe?
How many bands haven't been inspired by that picture? Instead, they should have done their own brick wall photo. Try to be the leader, not the dead fish that follows the stream.
PERSONAL:
I wrote about facing your fears a couple a days ago, also I wanted to write a more personal blog. And here I have to face the fear. I know what is interesting to write about, but it's hard personal and not pleasant. Still, that is what you want to read. I just noted myself going back to just write in the personal things that I'm excited about but can't say anything about yet. Pretty boring to read about. When I was changing I thought of giving out more anecdotes around me, but it's hard to write about it. You have to face the fear.
Oh well so here is a kind of strange story that I know is a bit untold and I usually never talk about.
If you ever visit our office you can't miss our pinball machine. And I know early in the blog I have revealed that I'm a keen enthusiast of restoring pinball machines. Nowadays I don't have so much time for it. But I really like to dig in around pinball machines made between 1992 to 1998 with digital displays. And that has been something I been told quite often in the interviews of odd facts about myself. What is lesser known is that the pinballs are there because a court settles after I was kidnapped.
Yes, it is true. I was kidnapped after a night out in Stockholm. We where celebrate a friend's birthday and was going from one restaurant to a bar. Suddenly a guy came up to us and pointed a gun at me and wanted me to follow him up the street. You really don't argue with a guy pointing a gun at you so I followed along. We went up to his buddy on the other side of the street. I guess they just wanted to mug me but also knew I didn't have any cash on me so it could turn ugly.
At the same time my friends was calling the cops. When we reach his buddy you can just tell both of them was high as fuck on some drug. The friend just laughed and said it was just a joke to get someone to follow them along. Okay I said turned around and walked back over the street to my scared friends.
A minute later the cops swarmed the street. A guy waving with a gun is not taken lightly and a block away they arrested them.
Since the forced me over the street it was counted as kidnapping and the damage money for that is kind of high. So before it went to court I decided if I got any money I would buy a pinball machine.
And there you have one of the two pinball machines I bought from the kidnapping money. The guy was as I thought high and had no idea what he was doing and got a longer prison sentence.
I just saw one of my friend's bands, they were posting on Facebook about a gig they had done. I checked out and they were still doing the same old gigs as they did five years ago when I meet them.
They play gigs all around the world. But never more than 200 people. The fanbase is around the same as before, no growing. Their name is not getting bigger. In a nutshell, they are on the spot as five years ago just some shows done in other countries.
In their beginning, I invite them to some showcase festivals which they played. They played, they just used the festivals as a gig. They didn't do any meetings. Didn't go to the conference, they played their gig drank some beer and went home.
This the worst way to miss out on an opportunity. Don't do the groundwork and just treat everything like another festival in the roster. A showcase is more about the opportunity to meet new people to work with then play a gig. The gig is just a chance to get people to see the show. Not audience, professionals from the business. So if you don't do the groundwork it will be a kind of crappy gig.
Well, my friend's band won't go anywhere and maybe that is fine for them. But they are taking up space for artists that really want to get somewhere and that annoys me.
PERSONAL :
This episode is why my job is so hard. I look for the artist beyond this band. Yes, of course, they asked if I could work with them. In their case, I thought the music was not good enough. Later on, I discovered that they were totally useless to develop. They were thinking that hard work was to do the same gigs over and over and really never aim to be bigger.
So I know that they want more but don't get how to get the things. It's like they do half of the job.
The hard part is to single out these artists from the really serious ones. The ones that will work with you to reach a global audience.
People love to spend money. Spending them on content on social media is often like throwing money in the fire.
People record songs in expensive studios make costly photoshoots and videos. But the quality is not the reason why people will check your things on social media.
Social media is more about getting many things out during a long time. Spending it on one post is not a wise thing.
Then, of course, you want it to look good. And yes the biggest stars hire professionals to even take their Instagram pictures. You can't compete with that until you have the same amount of followers. To get followers you need to be consistent.
The key is to make it into a story. The audience wants to see the next thing and that has rarely anything to do with the quality of the content, rather what the content contains.
So plan your money in a longterm thing instead of trying to make a big thing when you don't have the massive following.
PERSONAL:
Kind of excited about everything that is going on. Yes, I have to go back to the start again but it feels alright just as I can find the right material to work with.
I just got offered to join a new venture and it will be fun working on an international project and see where it goes.
As usual, I'm a bit impatient to get things to get started
You have to face your fear. This last conference I held a speech for 10 minutes about Live at Heart. Then a one and a half hour panel debate. Both in English and both with Chinese interpretation. Yes, the interpretation makes it a bit more difficult. I would estimate it was in total around 150 listeners. Also very professional and knowing people from the music industry.
Do I like these speeches? Now yes, but I was really not a big fan of doing presentations or panels when I started. And from time to time I'm still very nervous. But with experience, I'm getting better and better.
It's all about getting exposed to the fear. My travel has taught me a lot of things that before was a fear now totally ok to do.
And it's the same in an artist career. Many say no to things out of fear. It's not stage fright we talk about. Can be other things that are much harder and can stop you from taking that final step. It's not easy, but start facing the fear.
PERSONAL: Today I leave for the USA and touring a bit with The Magnettes on Summerfest in Milwaukee.
Before we start you can get the latest post in your mailbox just by putting your email in the box up in the right corner.
You have to wake up and think how am I taking my career forward? Most people I meet both artists and people in the industry usually claim they work hard but with some small tests, you easily see that people are really not doing that much. They rather stay in their comfort zone waiting for things to happen or just work on one target.
Just an easy test is to make an important call or meeting. I had a manager that wanted some stuff done for her band by me. I know the thing I would do was important to her. We booked a time to meet. The day before she canceled because of her kids where sick. Okay, that can happen. But also at the same time if it is important and you really want it you would have said to their dad to be home or fix a friend babysit for a couple of hours. So we booked another time. That was canceled by her busy schedule. Then it went for awhile and then I suggested a time since I was close by but she had to go out to ski with her children.
Today she is not working in the industry. She never went anywhere and her artist has closed down. In reality, she didn’t want it bad enough. She wanted it like a 9 to 5 job where her free time with family is more prioritized.
And that is okay. But I don't want to waste my time on people that just want that.
Also the same with artists if they have trouble to free time to take important meetings or opportunities you also know that the motivation might be high but not in the top that is necessary.
Many think it's not that dangerous to skip a thing or just take things later but it is a good indicator that you're not that serious.
PERSONAL:
Just waiting to do my panel on GMA. It will be fun. I might take the thing I wrote up here on it. It's about breaking bands around the world. And the biggest problem is the find the artist with the right motivation. They hide the level quite well, but I have developed some tests that I use to shine it through.
Artist: just got some new things done for my artists worldwide it will be fun to see their reactions, it's quite massive stuff.
Here hanging with Deputy Minister, Ms. Celest Hsiao-ching Ting. Yes, I have been quite determined with my career to get meetings like this.
I had a meeting with a friend some weeks ago. He has an artist he has tried to get through for two years now. The artist is pretty good. Yes, there are some flaws it's not perfect but overall good and with the right training a star. The problem is that the artist is not getting anywhere since it won't take directions. My friend has given him so many opportunities and gets him the right spots at the right time. All with just that the artist didn't think it was cool enough.
And my friend has done the most of it. Now when we meet he told me that the artist had signed with a major label. Okay, he still had so-called management deal on to him. Still, the major deal was done by the artist, one day he walked into the office and just told him that he signed a deal.
Okay, my friend won't do any more favors for this artist. I know that. But the funny thing is that the major signed they guy since they saw him getting many opportunities and wanted the artist to keep that up.
The problem he just pissed at the guy who took up all opportunities that the artist then pissed on. Now the artist came back and was begging him to get him on an opportunity they turned down six months ago.
I never have seen my friend so upset. The thing here is just that the artist now got feedback of what my friend did was right. At the same time, the artist blew all chances by getting a major to tell him that.
PERSONAL:
Reached my destination and started to business in the cab from the airport. It seems to be more hectic schedule than before. The GMA festival seems also be growing.
ARTISTS:
Tomorrow The Magnettes plays their first showcase in Asia. at Golden Melody Festival in Taipei in Taiwan, it will be so cool to show them off for the Asian music industry.
Have you ever seen someone take a soccer team from they were 18 years old and win the champions league with the whole same team?
Not really so why should that be possible in the music industry? It seems like changing players is so much harder in the music industry then it in the sports world. In reality, it's not. The Beatles changed drummer before becoming big. AC/DC switch singer and Rolling Stone even dropped the guy creating the band.
Most bands think they are a gang and they will hold together and so on. But the reality is that most bands change people right before they hit off. It is like the soccer games they take out the best team just when it's a game.
I guess in many cases the downfall is that you keep a person a bit too long. I will gladly say that on our side also keep bands that will never go anywhere for long. Yes, the team switching is not easy but has to be done from time to time and nothing is holy.
PERSONAL:
I hope to be able to update my adventures in Taiwan here. if i'm not this text will still be here.
ARTISTS:
Today I will actually go back in time with the music. One of the album I'm most proud to be part of "Escapism" with Spiral motion. I just went back and saw an old poster and brought back the album and yes it's a masterpiece that never got the light that it deserved. I guess it came in a time where it was to turbulent in the industry to get things done. To much new and to much old that wanted to much space. Still this album is so amzing. Get my favorite track "Vacuum" from Spotify.
If someone would offer you that you could go around the world on free flight tickets, free hotel and play a show in each city. Why is the answer from many artists like this:
Yes, I can do that if you upgrade me to first class in both hotels and flights. The shows must though be paid even since I don't have an audience there. And they should at least hold a crowd on 700 people dedicated to my music.
The myth of the struggling artist has so many cracks in it it's really a myth. A struggling person would have jumped on the first offer. In so many cases the struggle is just a myth to hold on to. Yes, there are artists busting their asses off I know. But for those doing that hustle, there is at least a thousand thinking that they are doing the struggle. It's a bit different to struggle then just doing things like releasing music or doing Instagram posts.
The answer is not uncommon, really not. But usually in a different way, but the context is the same. This is also the reason why many fail even with good music. If you don't do the struggle you won't even make it with the best songs.
PERSONAL:
Time to travel again. Going to Taiwan and GMA and I'm really excited as I wrote in an earlier post. I just got several VIP invitations and have meetings with great people. Still, it's a bit calmer with traveling this summer. I'm on my way into Stockholm for a last meeting before I leave with a new interesting person from Estonia
ARTISTS:
In negotation right now and it feels great. I hope everything become clear and we can get some new thing inside. Elin K released a new song last Friday here it is on Spotify.
