Here is the secret how to break!

No there is no one that can fix your career. Stop looking! The time where an artist could just be on for the ride and do drugs and just have a party is no longer there. Yes, it was in the 80:s and 90:s mainly because you could write off things as tax defaults. Today that is no longer possible.

There is no secret label that can fix your career. You have to do the work yourself. the closest you get to someone to fix your career is the manger, but that person needs help to keep the wheels turning.

A band that I know was in this discussion. Their friends had been signed to one of the three majors. And my band thought it was cool as hell. I just told them taht it won't make any difference. The band is totally unknown and the major can only operate on their local market. The chances that this will go further is so slim taht I cit's a bigger chance that they get an offer to play on the mainstage of Swedens biggest festival. Still, the band thought it was a cool thing.

Now a year later we have the outcome. The band I had have done gigs in front of thousands of people in both USA, Asia and Europe. They have released four singles with full promotion on everyone just with the help of their management that really cares. The other band just showed up with an application for my company looking for a new A&R. My guess they already have been dropped by the record company. The only thing that happened was that the band was slowed down for a year doing nothing and in the end, the major released their songs without any PR and just some adds on some of Spotifys more horrible playlists with background music and the major labels own playlists with fake users. Okey the playlists get you numbers but in reality, the major signed band has only 500 followers and the other band has 750 followers. Nothing that really affects your career in any way.

The thing that affects you is where you have played and where you are going. Actually, the major signed band is still unknown none of the bookers at my festival did know about them. The other band they had seen in several places and considered a band to reckon with.

The funny part is that when the band was looking for an A&R they mentioned that they had seen the success from the other band as a reason to seek us out.

I see this problem every day. Actually, it was not the major company's fault that the band was failing. They should have kept on going and do the same things as the other band. Instead, they sat on the sofa and thought everything was clear, their job done, they were signed.

I guess that is what people are looking for someone to just fix your career. That magical person that just does everything and you just tag along and become rich and famous. I see this issue every day.

Yesterday it was an artist that wanted to get signed. Why? I asked. Well, he had done all the things himself and could only reach this level. Now he needed someone to take it further. Not bad thinking. But here is the problem. If he was good enough it would actually happen by itself. he has been around so much that it would have hit someone that could do something. The reason why it didn't happen is that he is just ok, nothing more. Is not utterly bad like Eilert Pilarm



And he is not super good as Elvis so a bad Dj twenty years cand do a great remix.



No, he is just ok. Not good, not bad. That is the big issue and that is the reason why he doesn't move forward. Nobody can help that position. There is no magical label or person that can fix a mediocre artist.

Then it was the old guy that was asking me if there were a lot of industry people are these days, Midem, SXSW? Yes, there is but not for an artist that only does three shows a year and has a problem to tour because they are involved in so many other projects. There is no reality for a professional to work with an artist in those conditions. It doesn't matter if the band is really really good, they are not in for taking the risk And that is the reason why they never meet any industry professionals. They won't show up for a thing like that.

The secret of how to break is to become better and better. Then surround you with people that can get you opportunities, not big ones, just opportunities in a steady stream. Then take action to these opportunities to collect the people that like what you do. This is how you break. Yes, it's brutally hard work that is on the line.

Know what people do! It can be crucial.

I was talking to a colleague around that artist problem we both had. We were working on the same project and the artist wanted more out things that could be really done. The biggest mistake was that the artist had skipped several good people and went after people that the artist thought where higher up. In reality, it was the opposite around. The persons the artist was going for were hot in the business year ago and now more considered done in the business. So, of course, the results were pretty mediocre, nothing we could really do, in this project the artist could choose themselves.

I guess it's a normal problem that artist have. They don't really know what people are doing and not doing. I got a call from another artist about their problems and in the conversation, we got down to that much of the stuff that was lacking was mainly done by the artist's former label. The artist fired the label because they thought the label wasn't doing anything. In reality, they did exactly what they should, maybe didn't do the extra stuff, but did quite much work and also had a lot of knowledge that now the artist had to figure out.

Suddenly the artist thought that I should help them with all this information. I explained if I should do that I need a contract with them and then after a while, they probably would grow tired of me. The problem was that they didn't understand what these different people were doing. Also how their network that they had built up where structured. A lot of the things that was lacking was done by the network. Then the artist got the brilliant idea to then build their own network. I guess they can do that but it will take years to get what they need and they need that in less than three months.

You really need to understand what people are doing and not doing.

Get these blogs updates straight to your mail.
Enter your email address:

The single that went nowhere!

You need to get all your team members to work in the same direction. That is like the movie director, their job is to get all in the team into the same vision. And yes there are two ways, either by being nice or by fear.

If you don't get the team in the same vision they will start losing interest in the whole thing. If you just tell them bad things and scream at them they won't like your vision. If you are too nice you might lose power and they will suddenly bring in their own vision. So yes it's a balance.

In the end, you have to have a sense of when and where you say stuff. I was working on a single release last year. The artist, as usual, was not that good on providing the assets I needed so I had to improvise to just make things happen. The assets were simple stuff, like the metadata to the song, a simple English bio, and a new press picture. Not really the hard stuff.

In the end, I had to write my own bio and had to find a picture online to have something to send to the press. It's hard to just send a damn link with the song saying, this is a great song (yes we get those emails a lot from aspiring artists in the demo section). So I put out the first things and was really feeling I could get some results from it.

The suddenly the artist wrote a mess. The bio had a spelling error and a small info part was not correct. The picture was kind of old, he had a new hair color now!

And you just lost the feeling for this project. Nothing about, thank you for writing a whole bio from nothing and even have to find the information online. No, I got something wrong, a small thing which was not even important. Since the lazy artist didn't provide a picture, of course, we will just take one. If you need the right picture, then for f*ck sake give the right info to us.

No, it was not fun to work with this single. The work I had done of course needed follow-up. But the taste in my mouth was not good. Suddenly it all felt boring and there was no joy of working with it. I just gave up and actually didn't put any more job into it.

Of course, the release was as usual. I don't think the artist ever knew that I just stopped. Of course, I did the basic stuff, like upload and send the press release that is needed. But to be honest that is just the basic. When a single really hits off it's because you go that extra mile. In fact, you need the whole team to go that extra mile. The artist killed my feeling to go that extra mile. I stopped doing the extra emails that are personal to friends in good positions that can make a difference. I stopped coming up with smart things around the release. In the end, the single went nowhere. Like it said many times the doors in this business is closing very silent.

Work hard is just not enough!

We work really hard! I get that from artists quite often, especially when they seek us out to work with us. Here is the same rule as in the numbers game it all depends on what you do as well as what kind of numbers you got.

Working hard seems for many artists be to rehearsal quite much. That is the number one answer when I ask back what are you working hard with. And yes rehearsal is good also writing songs which is usually the second answer. Still, if you write just mediocre songs and then rehearsal them a lot won't really take you any forward. I ask if they are actively seeking out other writers or go to writing camps or write songs for other artists? I can't remember if I ever got a yes on that follow up question.

Then they work hard on the style. That is also a trap, that style doesn't mean anything if you don't have the gigs. And when I ask how hard they work on gigs the answer usually is: It's hard to get gigs you know.
Yes that is why you need to work hard to get them and when you get them you need to prove that you are so good they want you back, and there comes the rehearsal in again and we are back if the songs are good.

Then it comes to social media where they don't treat social media as social it's just screaming come and listen to my new song or today we had a rehearsal.

In the end yes you can work hard but as long as you work hard on the wrong things it won't matter. And I would say that quite many are just doing that. They work hard on the things they things is fun to do when you should work on the things that actually is kind of boring and struggling.

I know that is hard, I too usually just jump the shit and goes for the fun ones, still, I start to think to get things going as well and keep things rolling.

Are you really put everyting on your career? Work...

Right now I feel I have this communication with several people in several layers. No, the post is not about you even though it touches the subject. This week I just dedicate the blog to the most common things that are pretty good sign that you are not putting everything on your career.

I get so many times that people are really serious about their careers. They are doing everything to get a spot with the stars. They are really putting everything on it. They want to know how to get to "the next step".
At least that is what they say.

Work! This is where many fail in the beginning. You manage to get a gig in another town. It's not the hottest gig but ok. The payment is ok but is not pay any rent or anything. But any gig is needed, also the artist has been nagging about getting more gigs and be able to been seen in front of more people. Also, all gig is part of a story around the artist. You present that for the artist.

Suddenly that gig is not that important. They have trouble to get off work. It's fast away and not cool enough. They could take it another week or if it was closer.

When your work is going before your opportunities, your career is not first, it's your job that is first. This I meet a lot. Artist gets a pretty nice well paying job and the opportunities are sorted around the job.

You know what, I always took my jobs in second hand to be in my position that I'm in today. Yes, I have burnt many bridges and many of my old bosses would not recommend me in any way. Just because I put everything in my career in the music industry. Not as an artist but behind the scene. I can't count all the times I have said no to things or called in myself sick just to be on that festival or that showcase that propelled me forward. And Yes I expect the artist to do the same if they are serious with their career.

You just have to make things work and put your career first. that is the only thing that is the right. You cant be a hard-working artist and have a nice job on the side. Not even if it is a job with music connections for the government. You won't be able to combine the both you have to choose.

When you hear that their regular job is in the way for an opportunity you know they are not putting their career first. This is mostly shown when they can get time off for something they think is cool but not for the regular stuff.

Don't push problems over.

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.

Well, I have come to drop the bomb.

A showcase is not a gig.

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.

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/

The ground work you forget.

I have just going through 46 blogs, 25 newspapers and 13 radio stations on a Saturday morning. All because The Magnettes and Royal Prospect are playing on Youbloom in Dublin, Ireland first week in June. Also The Magnettes is playing in London a week earlier so I guess by the end of today I have done around the double.

This is the ground work artists forget or don’t realize that it should be done, especially when you don’t have a PR firm doing for you. Actually in The Magnettes case they have two PR firms in UK doing it. Still I’m doing it just to get some extra things going.

If you are going to another city playing. You should contact the local media. That is the groundwork. The funny part is that when I speak to journalists they usually never get this kind of information. I work a lot with Live at Heart (showcase festival in Örebro) and when we book bands to the festival the ones that does questions about how to reach local media are the ones that have professional managers. And I will assume that on Youbloom we might be the only ones that actually reach the press in Dublin out of the 100 acts that actually play.

Yes the statistics shows that I will probably get 45 no answer from the blogs, 25 no answers from the newspapers, and the same results for the radio stations. Still 50% of the times it actually comes one back. And that one could be huge for your audience. So even that the number is against you. When you get it in you have a good benefit so wasting a couple of hours doing this is worth it.

Also that some journalists will remember you. We know they see the press release. Okay they will not act on it this time. But when you go back a couple of months later they might remember you and actually put you their paper, blog or radio show.

This groundwork is rarely done by the artists. It’s usually forgotten or pushed over to someone else to be done.

Right now I’m about to send emails to my friends in Dublin asking witch news outlets they think is important, check that to my list, but also ask them if they have some personal insights in these media outlets. Yes you have to do the groundwork but you also have to think twice.