Why the industry is not answering.

I read a great article on a site that sells email lists. They wrote that they got a lot of complaints that their lists didn’t work. People didn’t get answers they sent to over 1000 emails and only got two answers. The site explained that you really need to check out the blog, radio station, record label, etc before you send it to them. Not just send an email. Yes, this takes time. It’s quite easy to just put into the emails into an email list and just send a generic e-mail. The problem is that it never fits everyone. The generic email almost never fits anyone.

You have to go into each site to see what’s it all about and adopt your things. So instead of sending 1000 emails in one hour, you are down to be able to send 30 emails a day if you are working good.

Why don’t people answer? Here is a mail that came into one of the festivals we work with. On Facebook not even on the official email that goes to the bookers.

Dear,

Hope you're ok.

We contacted you before, last year, about a concert of ******** from USA, blues, bluesrock.

We got the news that it is possible again to give concerts, with smaller capacity. So we started to plan a July-tour in Sweden.

Because of the situation, ***** will go solo.

We would love to perform at your place. We want to listen how you work with live bands or artists. ***** has an own ticket system, so we can work this way too.

Please let us know if you have availability in July.

And hope we can work something out.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

*** e presskit ***

*** Youtube link ***  [3/11/2012]

Kind regards

***

First, as I wrote. It came on Facebook, the person that handles the social media for the festival is not the booker. It’s not even interesting for this person to send this along. Why I saw it is that I was in there looking for something else. Since it clearly says a lot of instructions on how to reach the festival team on the homepage we can directly see that she hasn’t even been inside.

It’s a festival. She assumes it’s a gig place. Just that should be avoided by a quick look on the Facebook page.

The festival is held in September. She is asking for dates in July! Also easy checked on the Facebook page and the homepage.

She got the news that you could do smaller capacity shows? That is more than I know. Sweden has not opened up like several others and is still in 50 person capacity. And it looks like we will keep that over July as well.

She wants to discuss how we work with artists. We really don’t have time to discuss that even with the artists we book. Anything that says that I need to explain or discuss things is a big no no.

Having an own ticket system. I really don’t see the point. If we where a venue we would have a ticketing system. As a festival, we have that already. And to be honest there are so many ticketing systems out there so getting one is as easy as getting spam mails. Another question that arises is if we used the artist ticketing system how safe is that we ever got the money that we sold for?

Then in the end. Sending a YouTube link of a show done eight years ago is kind of strange. I would like to have something that is closer in time and something on the solo act since this link goes to a full house concert.

Why not writing this back to her? No, then you get a full email with excuses and other stuff. We are not paid to clean up the booking agents’ mistakes. Already here we don’t have any possibilities. We don’t have a show in July, and we are not opened up for more than 50 people and that can change if a second wave would happen. Finally, we are not interested to work with a booker that is not knowing anything around our event and having an error in each sentence they write. We just have to explain everything over and over again, things that already are presented on our homepage.

Instead, you just don’t answer. Leaving the person to make the same mistakes over and over again. Meet them later on a music business conference where they complain that it is so hard to get an answer from the music industry.

More and more also people are just talking to professionals that they know can deliver what they need. They don’t need the fuss.

Artists are the scumbags of the musicindustry!

I got a call from a manager that I know on messenger. We usually talk once a week and especially now in the Corona lockdown. 

- He dumped me! Was the first thing she said. After five years he just dumped me!

I knew exactly, it was her favorite artist that she had been working with for five years. She had told me that the artist had been a bit "off" not answering on things and didn't want to take meetings. Still, she thought it was the Corona lockdown that made the artists depressed.

Now she told me that suddenly she was disconnected as manager from the artist Spotify account, she thought it was odd, but since they weren't releasing anything right now she didn't think of it. Then she was thrown out as admin on the Facebook page then she knew something was up. 

Then she got a short email from the artist saying that he was thinking of releasing in another way now and taking care of his own business.

- He just dumped me! Artists are the scumbags of the music industry! She kept going. Not even my worst boyfriends have dumped me in this way, with just a short note in an email. Like five years I have put in my heart and soul into his project and his music. And suddenly it's not worth a shit! Not a call. Just a damn e-mail like "this is not your fault, it's me that is wrong".

I knew exactly what she was talking about. You put in so much energy, free work and you're to build opportunity for a person and their art. In the end, it becomes like a relationship so when it ends in this way, yes, it feels like a breakup from a normal relationship. And I have been talking to a lot of mangers that felt exactly this, but it's never really discussed openly in the industry. Instead, the artist just moves along and the manger is just left there. I guess that is why usually parents manage, its harder to just cut them off, oh wait no Beyonce even sued her dad!

Two weeks later I got a message from the artist. He had been working on a new release and now wonder if I could help him with things to spread the word around his music. Before I have done that to help my manager friend. She would do the same work for my artist in her part of the world it's like you exchange favors. Here was more can you work for free since you have done it before. Clearly, the artists never understood that the contact is through the manger and swapping services. I had no desire at all to do free work for an artist that just dumped probably the only good person that they had in theri team with just a crappy email. In the end, what was in it for me? The shady part was also that the artist was not mentioning that they had left the manger. He just continued on like nothing had happened. So if I didn't know the situation I might have just done him a favor thinking that I was helping my manger college. I wrote back to him to take the quest through his manger and I could see what could be done. What I got back was just a - Ok thank you!

Nothing that he didn't work with the manager any longer, nothing. More it looked like he was still working with the manager. 

Of course in the network, we all let know to each other that this artist was going around trying to get free services. He approached several people. Just that they should do him a favor, several of these are working also as PR people he had could be smart enough to try to hire them, since that was what the manager had sometimes invested in, with her own cash. I guess the artist never understood that. Then the release happened, of course, the release was a disaster. Even if the manager only managed to get some small stuff (mainly because the artists wasn't good enough, and also didn't fulfill all assets), you could easily see that with the small things gone it was really down to nothing.

Then in one of the digital showcases that were ongoing this spring, I got the artist in a private chat. He was still asking if I could do some favors to get future gigs and PR and Spotify. I asked if the new release went well (of course I had seen it didn't). He complained that the new person that he got was not good enough and with that, he revealed that he didn't work with my manager friend any longer. I asked why just to be curious. He felt that it didn't go as fast as he wanted and that he needed new blood.

He was acting like a person that just bought a new house and want to make a new style. Throw everything old away and just buy new stuff. It's nice but after a month even the new becomes old. And that good sofa you throw away, you just miss it.

This is the reason why the more you work in the industry the more you lean not working with artists. I just got a tipoff from a very experienced and successful person in the industry. She just said, Peter tell your friend to work with companies instead, artists just come and goes and you put into much time and to gets payout is so uncertain if not impossible. 99 % is just waste of time.

I guess it's true. The problem we have is that the gap between these successful companies and the artists needs to be bridged otherwise the companies don't have anything. At the same coin, artists need to understand that it's not just switching outfit switching managers. And not act like scumbags in certain cases.

It takes two to tango! The scumbags are everywhere. But when people talk about the evil music industry, this side never almost never discussed. 

It's like a rocket, how high will you fly?

I many times compare an artist career with a rocket. You start off and this rocket will take you as high you get, and it's straight up. It's never a long ride.

Compare it be in Eurovison song contest. You are a unknown artist. This show can take your rocket to explode in a great stars with colors and a band like it did for ABBA. Or it can it can go just a small way and then the light goes off.

This also goes along with all careers. When they rocket starts you just hang on to it and goes along with the opportunity it gives to climb higher and higher. Soon as you stop or starts to say no to things then the rocket stops and starts and there is where your career will end. The likeness that it later will go higher is very unlike, yes it happens but that is so rare you can never calculate on it.

I'm listen too t.A.T.u right now. I pretty telling example, they got a rocket shot with "All the things she said". A couple of years ago I got a suggestion to work with one of the girls solo careers, of course we said no the rocket took them up but they followed with it down.

So when an artist that is not a superstar saying that it will take time off it's certain that this is the peak in the career. Most of the time this happens is when the career goes outside their own comfort zone like going abroad, an suddenly have to do some of the things once more and have a bad confidence. Many have stopped right there.

I guess the right way many times is to break abroad and bring it back home, seems like a easier way.

So hang on to the rocket and just ride it.

I want it all!

Yes today video really says it all about the topic. Freddy Mercury really know what he is writing about in this song. Literally saying all the stuff that and artist wants.

The problem you can't have it all, and specially not now. The career is never straight forward and your choices will almost never be right. The thing in the businesses is to survive all the struggles that are coming against you in a smooth way.

No you won't get the perfect lightning or the perfect sound on your first show on the local pub. The question is can you make the most over the situation to overcome it. Is your show so good that the audience really don't care if the sound is a bit dull

The thing is that you can stand up for the things you have released years in ago without being embarrassed, and no you always will be embarrassed by your old shit the solution is not to lock everything in a cupboard.

Yes you will do a shitty deal. Still it might the way forward. You have to ride it out and know what you are looking for.

In most cases it's about saying yes and try stuff and minimize damage along of the way. Thinking that you will have a perfect smooth ride is just the  most stupid things you can ever do.

 

You have to do it several times.

Don't go for the myth or believe that one time is enough. It's not enough to play on one showcase festival. It's not enough to just visit another country once. You have to do it over and over again.

Same with meeting people. You have to meet them several times before you do business with them.

It's not enough with one release it has to be several.

You always has to prepare to do things several times. Do it over again, and reinvest in different projects. So when you start have a budget that actually supports to do it several times. Do it once and you can probably skip doing it.

You are not that big, size matters.

It's never too small for you. This is maybe the biggest mistake to think something is too small. I'm going to a smaller conference in Sweden. I got called up by a local artist for some advice. Since I know he lives very close to the conference I ask if he would be at the same festival. No, he thought it was too small and wasn't worth going to it. At the same time, the artist was in desperate need to have a meeting with me, and I was a speaker at the conference.

He laughed and that was a point, but we could see each other outside the festival before or after my speech.

The problem here is that before he spoke to me he had ruled me out as "too small" now it was just someone telling him to contact me and he realized that I was a person to meet. In reality, most of the speakers were good to meet. In fact, some have rather big an cool projects going on, just the artist doesn't know it. And since this is a small conference it would be great opportunity to really grab the speakers and get a better network. Really nothing is too small, only people who can't see opportunities.

PR Agents, is it really worth it?

I was speaking with one of the record labels we are working with. We discussed a new release and what kind of Pr work that should be done.

- I really don't want to hire Pr agents in all the territories. In fact, I want to use them as less as possible. It feels like they just take the money and actually don't get things done, said the label.

And yes that is the case many times. I just studied a friend's release. He is giving out a record more for fun. But he hired a PR agent. Sure the record is a hobby project and they don't expect massive exposure. They got recommend to a pr firm but a friend but called me up to check references.

This Pr firm is mainly one person. It has been there for years has some big clients but really don't do any bigger noise for its clients. Still, I can't say it's bad but you probably would get more and cheaper services if you combined ads and some smaller services where you can send to blogs.

The biggest thing is that the firm also has some management work. When you do management it's usually when you really like a project. So for, hat you go with all your resources. The problem was that even when the PR firm has a favorite project these bands never got any real good exposure. To be honest it was what the label was talking about. No real results.

I told my friend that, but he felt he didn't have any choice so he went on.

They released a single really getting nowhere. Spotify around 3500 streams two mounts later is not that good. A think a student radio show had the song in a list for a week.

Now they album came. All that I can see on media is an outlet where you get covered as soon as you do a pressrelease. Funny thing is that I don't find their pressrelease in the official channels. In reality exact why the label feel insecure to hire PR.

There is a lot of these PR agents out there. In reality the good ones has booked gigs with labels all time so the ones that are open for single projects are usually not able to create any things that really matter. What we give for free service to our artists on the publishing side is better than what a expensive PR agent can provide.

To many projects?

This is not really something that I have an answer for but I see some problems with it all time. Many bands have side projects, they always tell you that ohh this project is the one we are going for. Well, at least the head person will tell you that. Then you can feel that the other persons sometimes are burning more for another project.

So should you let the members have other bands and projects. Metallica is a band that is not letting you have another side project. if you are a member of Metallica you are a member. a reason why former bass player Jason Newsted jumped off after years with them.

The good part of this move is that you won't bump into the problem when a side project goes well and the main act dies. So was the case of Millencolin. They all played in main projects like Seig menn, Charles Hårfager, and Kung Pung. Millencolin was just a side project. Today it's the main thing. They still have side projects but Millencolin is the main one.

Then you have Queen that let the members have really many side projects. Just so that people could get expressions of their art.

But I see a problem when you are on the baby steps of a band. It's not unusual that I work with artists that actually changed names four times in four years and switch members. The problem is that they change project so fast that if something is going ion it won't be since they already have changed. You can't expect that the project will be at full speed all the time and as soon it calms down a bit you change project. Chasing your dream like that will just end you to make a lot of projects that lead to very little to none success.

Are you doing a release or a facebook post?

Right now that is a good question? Seems like most people don't realize that PR takes time. When we work with record labels they usually get up to 10 weeks before to make all the PR stuff that is needed. Okay if you are not famous 6 weeks is enough.

When I get people telling us that they need the stuff on Spotify the next day. They really know there will be no what so ever PR done around that release. The only thing they really do is making something happing so they can do a Facebook post around that they released a new song. if you are lucky they also sponsor that damn post. Still, it's a very expensive way to make Facebook posts.

The funny part is it's almost people that think they are professionals who do this. Most amateur at least uploads a week or two ahead. The fast ones are usually studios and other people claiming to know how.

These people are mainly the reason why the music industry is mainly going from an industry to a hobby.

If you think to long the oppertunity is gone!

I had an artist that we are discussing a contract with answering very fast and very surely on the corresponding we have. And that is really good, but it made me think of all the times when I had artist miss out on opportunities because they could never take a decision.

Okay, I understand that when a contract comes on the table it's quite a big thing for an artist. I'm dealing with contracts almost every week it's not that special. And I also know that this contract is just a piece of paper and doesn't mean a shit until you start doing stuff.

So when artists are looking over a 2-page contract for two months you start to lose interest in them. You are thinking of the more serious problems you have to take very fast decisions on along the way and if they are sitting löike this and just think, well then I really don't want to work with them.

At the same time, you don't want the persons that just go straight ion and just sign the deal and doesn't understand what they have signed. they can be equally bad to work with.

I guess it is a bit like a job interview. You don't have all the time in the world to say yes and don't propose to start tomorrow if the job is scheduled to next mouth.

My record was a band that I sent a contract to and they wrote back eight months later with a lot of comments what they wanted to change in the contract. I never answered them back. Two years later I meet them again and they still thought we were in negotiation.

We will test you!

In bigger corporations they test their next employees, severe tests are usually done to get a good placement into a company. Why do people think this is not applying on when you seek out artists?

I mean in many cases you are gonna work with this artist for at least 10 years or even more. Do you really think we just take the first best that comes in the door with a good song?

Would you be late to an interview meeting with a company that you applied for a job? I guess not. Same here keep the times. And yes we work office hours so starting that you can only take meetings on Sundays between 2 and 6 when you have your rehearsal time, is really not a good opener.

Or even better call in and just ask them to take it another day since you are busy. Just forgetting that you are the one who applied not the opposite around.

Your first day on the work and you start by refusing to do some of the day to day things with the words "that isn't that cool". I guess they won't keep you after 6 months of trial period.

I guess phoning in a week after that you don't come in on Monday since you are spending time with your partner on a weekend trip to Paris and just want to extend that.

We bump into this all the time. I just wonder how many careers have been blown by idiot decisions.

Lost in the studio. Lost in the game.

I got a mail from a manager today. He has been complaining that his artist is not going that much forward. Actually, the whole thing was not moving that forward. I suggested getting to some conferences usually you get new contacts and you get things moving in some way. So I gave him a couple of suggestions of some that is pretty good.

Now he got back thanked for the suggestions but he didn't have time since they were spending time in the studio.

At the same time, I got a message from a band that they were soon ready with their new EP and since they had spent time in the studio the last six months they were keen on going out playing,

This is the greatest stupidity of them all. In the old days yes you were in the studio, then did PR and touring band then went back to the studio. That was the life cycle of an artist. Still somewhat for big mega artists. But for a new unknown artist that is just empty phrases.

In reality, most studio things happen when you don't have anything going on. The possibility that you will spend six months to record an album in a studio is not realistic. Not even the megastars are doing that. To put all other things on hold sitting and rot in the studio is just not an option either.

In this new world, I bump into artists that actually release two songs a week and still do three live shows and think that is the normal speed. You have to be in the limelight the whole time. My artists usually record between shows one day in the studio here, one weekend there. You do it between when you have days off during the touring, and the touring is always.

You are out when you start to say no to opportunities I usually say. But you are also out of the game if you stop looking for these opportunities.

What puzzles me is what the manager is doing in the studio at least he should be out there getting new opportunities for his artist. The artist the answer is possible that easy that they actually don't have anything going on so they spend time in the studio. In the end, it will just be hard to present the finished results. A release of a song is not much of an event today so you have to keep you busy in the feed of things that people are bombarded with all the time.

There is no compromises.

If you have started a business you know how much work and effort it takes. For example to start a restaurant you have to be there and work for years before you get profit and get it rolling so much that you can take time off and let other people work for you.

This effort is mainly the reason it's a certain kind of people that are fit to do this. Many are having a good life going to work get paid and have their time off. And that is okay, but as an artist, you have to expect to throw in, even more, effort than the usual company owner.

How much work that is are hard to grasp. Literally, it means that you have to take your work before everything else. You are gonna miss out your best friends birthday. That family reunion that you do every year, just forget it. Even miss your grandmothers funeral. It's really hard and unforgiven.

Having a relationship is really hard, you have to have a partner that is very understanding. There is a reason why people get together in bands even though the labels don't like it since it can be problems if you separate and still have to work with each other. Just this week I heard stories about how people had to choose between the partner and the career.

The thing I noticed is though that people get this information they still think they can compromise. Sure you need your day job to survive before the career takes off. And if you have a sucky job that is usually not a problem to discard before a gig. The problem I see is when the artist has another job like backgrounds singer, musician for hire, working on a music related job like on a PRO, but try to get a solo career. Many times they pick the paid job before the dream, mainly because they like the job but still is not satisfied.

I usually say that the career is over when you start saying no to shows or development.

We can't build the platform for you!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.