Unsigned Acts and Drawing Fans - Part 2

The 2nd main reason it’s hard to draw new fans revolves around the word “Perception”. Perception includes, in part, the Artist’s perception or view of their “job”, and how it affects the potential fans perception of the “Unsigned Artists Scene”.

Now, let me say here, the problem of perception and the answers to this problem do not lie totally on the Artist’s shoulders, but also fall on the Artists’ Managers, Venues, Promoters and Fans, which I will also cover later and throughout…

It should be made clear here, that Artists should still care about attracting both the over 21 crowd as well as the younger potential fans. For everyone, even those over 21, there is still the need to discover something new and different, something “to do” that people will know will at least be a lot of fun; an escape. 

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A Common Music Business Contract Mistake – Not Thinking Long Term

2 Common Examples:

1. You’re offered 10% as an Artist
[Side Note: Make sure it says of the Retail Price! If it says “Wholesale”, make sure you get 20%!!!]

Why not ask for your rate to rise each album you release by 1/2%?

Why not ask that your rate goes up 1/2% for “Gold” and anothet 1/2% for “Platinum”?

Believe it or not, the Record Company will probably say “Yes” to both! Why? Because if you’re doing well, they won’t mind it, and if you’re Not selling, they can always rease you from the contract anytime they want!

2. Thinking you can stop paying a Manager [for example] when the contract is over

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Why All Musicians Need To Have The Business Know How

The music industry, as we all know, is constantly changing. That’s a dead issue. Forget about digital downloading and piracy, they can both be overcome with the correct business strategies. So, what I want to talk about instead is a observation I’ve been noticing for a while now; There is a serious lack of business knowledge in the music industry.

When I say this, I’m not really talking about major labels (Although some of their signings do make you wonder), I’m more about the grass route independent musicians. There are many with enough talent to satisfy even the harshest critics, yet they’ll never quite fulfil their potential. It may be that they’re not sure how to effectively promote their music, or it may be that they’re not sure how to manage their budget. Either way, without at least some business knowledge you won’t get very far at all.

The thing is, a lot of musicians don’t realise they have to take the time to learn business side of the music industry. Many just go with the flow and learn as they go along. Now personally, I’ve never been of fan of making mistakes and THEN learning from them. If it happens, so be it. But I’d much rather learning as much as I can in the beginning so I can get things done correctly the first time around. This’ll keep your journey sailing smoothly, and save a lot of time and effort on re-doing things from previous mistakes.

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Online music licensing for films, tv series, commercials: here's Have a Sync

Have a sync (www.haveasync.com) is the new tool for music licensing, designed and managed by Bixio Publishing Group. It allows directors, advertising agencies, music consultants to find the perfect music for films, documentaries, commercials, TV series and other audiovisual productions. The research is intuitive, fast and efficient, thanks to the innovative Sync Cloud system. All the tracks on Have a Sync are available in full-track streaming. For most of the tracks, the licenses can be purchased directly online for both  publishing and master rights.

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Future Now Pt1: The Folk Who Live On The Hill

As a result of a slightly intense email exchange with Andy ‘Hobbes’ Richardson, DJ and promoter of, amongst other nights, the consistently smart Limbo nights at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms (together with partner Dave Cumings) I felt inspired to explore just how I really felt about the music business.  The exchange was triggered by a small review on my blog of a talk given, on the day of Malcolm Maclaren’s death by Gavin Blain, a Scot who faked an identity as an American rapper in order to scam a major label record deal and has recently released a book about his experiences.  My view was that he appeared to be ungrateful and unnecessarily harsh about the Sony employees he hoodwinked. 

This is what Andy thought, though: ‘perhaps McLaren’s death has coloured your interpretation of (the talk) but i see the death of the arch manipulator as heralding a new dawn, the beginning of a more genuine and authentic music industry with less cynicism and more integrity all round….i see Gavin Bain equally as a harbinger for this change.  his bitter-sweet experience emphasises the need for more authenticity and underlines the soulless vacuum offered by (more or less) anything else. ‘

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Nine Inch Nails, John Legend, David Bowie Reps Talk Social Media Marketing

BOSTON—Berklee’s Music Business Department and Professional Education Division present Envisioning 21^st-Century Music Business Models, an annual discussion about current and future music industry trends. This year’s panel will examine how leading digital marketers are using Web technology and social media to promote their clients as well as their own companies. Paul Resnikoff, the publisher and editor of Digital Music News will moderate an in-depth panel discussion featuring representatives for acts such as Nine Inch Nails, John Legend, Plain White T’s, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Linkin Park, Morphine, and more.

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Beyond Direct-to-Fan

Brooklyn, NY. March 24, 2010 - Everybody is talking about direct-to-fan, and how it is changing the way musicians can sustain themselves. Never before have musicians had so much direct communication with their tribes’.

Sometimes I look at this progression and think, “What could possibly be next?” Boundaries are often pushed so far so fast that it is difficult for us to even forecast a possible next step, let along carry one out.

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Rock The Biz - Chapter 1: The Music Crisis

This is the first chapter of Rock The Biz, the free documentary about the new european musicbusiness, called “The Music Crisis”.

What led to the crisis in tradtional music business, what went wrong and who is responsible?

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Your Guide to understanding the Music Industries today.

First, I would like to let you know the music industries are the largest they have ever been. Contrary to the doom and gloom predicted by the press, it is only the plastic jewel cases for CDs that are declining in numbers and some very public copyright lawsuits that reflect some archaic business structures in the industries.

Secondly, it might be good news to you that now is the easiest time to enter the music industries as an artist as due to new technologies introduced at exponential rates over the last decade, we have a plethora of mediums through which to present our art.

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An Open Letter to the Music Industry.

An open letter from the co-founders of the Restoring Music Foundation.

There is more music available than ever.  The ability for anyone to easily produce music at low cost coupled with an increase in available distribution channels, makes scarcity and control of music a thing of the past.  This is compounded by the proliferation of online piracy, that has made a significant dent in the revenues of the music business over the past decade.  Competing with “free” music is a challenge.  This has resulted in a devaluing of music, which has affected every stakeholder in the supply chain, from the record company to the musician.  This devaluation is the central reason for the Restoring Music Foundation.

In 2009 we defined the economic crisis with the help of our wonderful network of music industry supporters.  We want to personally thank all of you that pitched in your opinions and helped us ask the big questions.  The campaign was a massive success and it was all because of you.  We hope you will continue to stay involved in the ongoing Restoring Music Dialogue.  Thanks again!

Here at The Restoring Music Foundation, our goal is to create and implement solutions to the crisis and in turn, create an economically sustainable road map for the restoration of the music industry.

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Rock The Biz - Sneak Preview livestream today 08.00 pm (CET)

Rock The Biz - the documentary about the new music business in Europe - can bee seen first and live on http://www.peoplezapping.com/places/rockthebiz at 08.00 pm (CET)

The movie has english subtitles

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Luck?

I’ve had a number of people say things to me like, “well that’s all great, but you’ve got to be lucky” and “sadly, it’s all about who you know”. Well, I think those statements are right… except that there’s nothing sad about it. You need to be lucky and you need to know people. The good news is that you create your own luck, and if you are who you need to become and you do the things you need to do, then you’ll meet all the people you need to know.

Have you ever known someone who always seemed to get in trouble and could never seem to get out of their own way? No matter how hard they seemed to try they seemed to be the victim of circumstances conspiring against them? Well…

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CSI Music Industry, Part 1: The Crime Scene

Frankly, I am happy the record industry is in this current state. We are about to wrest control away from 3 decades of corporate record thugs. We are now unencumbered to discover more new artists, and discover more ways to connect and share artists and music than ever before. Today there are more business models for an artist to reach an audience than ever before and the opportunity to make a living as a performer is emerging. The record business is dead, but the record business still tries to lurch forward with their 30-year old business model.

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How Much Money Do You Make With Your Music? Why?

The following was originally posted on IndependentRockstar.com: Are you making as much money with your music as you’d like? I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this that you’d probably like to become more successful and make more money with your music. So my questions to you is, “What is your story about why you’re not as successful as you want to be?” Is it because of the economy? Is it because club owners are greedy? Is it because the music business is going to Hell? Is it because the general public doesn’t know good music when they hear it? If you actually believe that any of those justifications are true then I challenge you to consider another way of looking at things.

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