The Search for Inspirato

I read hundreds of industry blog posts each week, I can talk in depth on subjects like: social media for musicians, the rise of the new music industry, which web tools are the most effective for an indie musician that is trying to be a business. Yet, today I find myself without inspiration to write about anything.

It happens to all of us, no matter what industry you happen to be in or what job you happen to be doing, we all get in ruts and we all find ourselves without inspiration. So what do you do about it?

As I sat here going over the scraps of other topics that you almost ended up reading today, I asked myself that very question and it got me thinking about playing the bass. You see I play the bass and although it is not always the best instrument to write a song on, many a great riff has started life as a bass line. Whenever I find myself in a rut on the bass I always manage to find my way out of it. I never thought about how I managed this until today but the solution to every rut is always the same... get creative. Now that might seem an overly simple solution (getting creative to get out of a creative rut...duh!) but let me explain.

If I found myself in a writing rut, I would stop trying to write music and start trying to make my bass make new sounds. I would tweak all of the dials on my amp, put effects in the signal chain and tweak them, lace things in between the strings and try to get a different tone. Whatever, it didn't matter, I was bored and trying to entertain myself but somehow, something would always come through. I would always come across a sound that was interesting and then I would screw around with it for a while. All of a sudden a bass line that I would have thrown away 5 minutes earlier was now the most exciting thing I had heard in weeks!

So how does this apply to you? Why the heck am I writing this?

If you find your self in a rut with promoting your band or developing your online presence or maintaining your fanbase... get creative. Do something you've never done before, even if it is stupid or not practical. If you keep doing what you are dong, you will stay in that rut. The deal with your instrument is that the feedback is instantaneous, tweak it and it makes a sound. Promoting your band, or developing your online presence is not instantaneous but you can still get creative while you do it. Have you tried a flash mob or asking fans to donate money for a producer credit? I didn't think so.

Don't make it "do what it do", make it do what it don't.

How an Independent Band Gets 200 Fans a Week

It is great to hear how Trent Reznor has gone independent and how he used social networking to increase and or maintain his fanbase but what does this mean for you? Trent already had a great fanbase, he was known all over the world and he had sold millions of songs. You, have not.

So what should you do? How do you make use of the tools that are available to independent musicians to grow your fanbase and further your career? While there is no single answer to this question, there are answers, there is hope and there are success stories from independent musicians that are beginning to emerge.

Here is the story of the band I Fight Dragons and how they are earning 200 new fans a week. Read it. Study it. Absorb it and implement a solution for you and your band.

Click HERE to read it.

The Musicians Middle Class Has Got to Go!!!

Mind you, I am only speaking about the terms "musicians middle class" or "musical middle class", I completely support the movement. I just feel that those terms, which have been adopted by bloggers and writers of all things music 2.0 (another term I would love to move past) are not empowering enough and they do not clearly define what I believe they are attempting to define.

I am not sure exactly who coined either term but back in '07 Bruce Houghton at Hypebot defined the musicians in this category as "artists selling 20-100,00 copies and making a living through direct sales, touring, merch and other streams; and because there are fewer outsiders taking a cut. They are empowered by the viral marketing and direct sales that the net enables."

Even though the artists Mr. Houghton described are aspiring to become sustainable and earn a "middle class" income with their music, this does not mean that they are part of a "musical" middle class and I doubt that any artist would refer to themself as a "middle class musician". Even if the terms are being used to describe the large space that falls between the garage band and the major-label artist and the artists that occupy that space, I will still argue that there has to be a better term(s). Besides, I am not a big fan of using the class system to describe any group, let alone a group that contains members from all walks of life.

When it comes down to it what we are really trying to define is the artist/musician as an entrepreneur. You can find many different wordings for the definition of entrepreneur but the one that I feel sums up the what I mean came from good ol' Wikipedia."Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome."

I propose that today we replace "Musical Middle Class" with the term "Entrepreneurial Musicians Movement". Sure, the term doesn't flow off the tongue very well but I think it is an accurate description of what is actually going on and increasingly more powerful than "middle class". I, for one, am switching gears and I will no longer use the term "middle class" when referring to the Entrepreneurial Musicians Movement and I will be replacing the term "do-it-yourself" or "DIY" musician with "Entrepreneurial Musician" . I beg of you to do the same.

Not happy with these terms? Please make a case for something you like better. I am not married to the terms that I proposed here, I just want to make a change.

Sites That Can Help With Band Business

Lately, I have become obsessed with websites that cater to the business of being in a band. I love hearing about new ones and I love diving in and seeing how they work. Here is my current list of favorites in no particular order.

Reverbnation: Reverbnation is a phenomenal tool for the band that is interested in getting a little more organized.The site is packed with tons of great widgets that help the artist to spread their music and images all over the web and others that help artists collect emails or display their upcoming shows. They have a utility that lets you send out mass emails where Reverbnation will handle any opt-out situations (not that anyone will want to stop getting your emails but just in case). They have a gig finder tool that will help you find venues based off of location and even who has played there before. They even have some pretty good metrics tools that let an artist gauge the success of their efforts. One of my favorite parts of Reverbnation is that they are constantly adding new services and they recently partnered with Microsoft for a song sponsorship program where artists can get paid for people downloading their songs for free. Oh, did I mention that most of their services are free?

ArtistData: I first found ArtistData a few months ago and I was blown away. If you are tired of updating every social networking site out there each time you have a show, this is the site for you. ArtistData allows you to publish content on multiple sites at once from a single location. Update your calendar and status at Myspace and Facebook from a single log-in. Plus you can generate newsletters and tour books as well as post your shows to numerous concert databases. This is a website that can seriously help you cut down on the amount of time you spend away from making music. Oh, did I mention it's free?

Band Metrics: This site monitors and analyzes an artists digital identity. How many hits your social networking sites are getting, how many friends you have, how many time your video has been viewed. Now you can see how many hit your Myspace page received after you did that radio interview or played a big show. On the surface metrics might seem a bit boring but with a little creativity you can use this data to help increase your fan base and keep track of which of your efforts are paying off the most. This site is still in beta and it is only occasionally letting in new accounts so go sign up for the updates so you can be the first on your block to have an account. Oh, did I mention its free?

Bandize: This is an incredible site for band management. This site has great business features that are tailored to the business of being a band. It has a digital ledger that allows you to not only keep track of band money and expenses but you can easily keep track of what expenses came out of who's pocket. You can easily log merchandise sales, keeping track not only of the cash but of your inventory. A band can delegate and keep track of tasks. Keep a contact list online that every band member can have access to. Keep note on each contact. I only recently found out about this site and I was pleasantly blown away by it. This is the only site that I am mentioning that has a monthly fee ($15 per month with unlimited log-ins per band) but if you are serious about organizing your band, this might be well worth-it.

What are you using to manage your band? Drop it in the comments section and I will check it out.

Time spent

So you are trying to make it in music? I have a question or two for you: How much time are you spending on it? The average dead-end job that you hate runs 20-40 hours a week. The average full time career that you vied for takes up 40-60 hours a week and the typical entrepreneur will spend 80-150 (!) hours per week building their career. So, I'll ask again; How many hours are you putting in to build your career in music.

By the way, practicing in your bedroom doesn't really count, you are expected to be good at what you do. So besides practicing your chops in your bedroom and the occasional show; What are you doing?

The Internet has narrowed the distance between you and your fans but more importantly it has narrowed the distance between you and potential fans. Now you can be from Southern California and have some avid fans in a place you have never been on the other side of the planet. Welcome to the worldwide local scene. This is great for music but can be really bad for musicians. Instead of trying to rise above the few bands in your zip code, you now have to find a way to stand out in a crowd of billions of bands and musicians world-wide! Do you still think all you need to do is practice and play shows? Do you still think all you need is a kick ass CD? Do you still think stonewashed jeans are socially acceptable? (By the way, your answer here should be NO to all of the above)

Breathe. I know that this is starting to seem overwhelming but think about it for a second. First off, do you want to make a living making music or are you fine keeping it as an extra curricular activity? This is the choose your own adventure part of the story: If you would like to make a career in music please read on. If you are happy keeping music as a hobby please click here.

All right, you are reading on so I can deduce that you want to build a career in music. I am going to give you the key to building a career in music in the current version of the music industry.

Fans.
You need fans
You need to get new fans
You need to keep current fans
They all need to spend money on you

This is a constant, it has always been and it will always be. So, what are you doing to grow and maintain your fan base?

As the perception of music becomes increasingly devalued by the digital generation; What, besides music, are you offering your fans?

Being that fans are not consuming music the way they used to; Are you exploring other ways to make money with your music?

No one can answer these questions for you and the only truly wrong answer to any of them is "I'm not doing anything." But, you need to be careful not to be delusional that what you are doing is enough. The artists that will be successful will not only have a large list of things that they are doing for each question, they will also have a list of things that they are adding to their routine. The artists that are going to make it in the new music industry are the ones that ask themselves these questions on a daily basis and manage each time to answer with something new.

So, what are you doing? Let me know.

Need help? Send me an email jc@artisanslabel.com

"Whether You Believe You Can, Or You Can't, You Are Right"-Henry Ford

Looking For Someone to Shoot Your Next Video? How About Big Brother?

Here is a band that understands what it takes to set yourself apart in the new music industry. They are called The Get Out Clause and they are from across the pond. They shot one of the coolest videos ever and they did it for next to nothing by filming in public places and using public security cameras. Then they acquired the footage using the UKs Data Protection Act which is similar to our Freedom of Information Act here in the states. Please watch and then read on.



I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. When I think about the amount of planning that went into that video it blows my mind! Plus they had to acquire the videos from their government. I am not sure how it works in the UK but I am assuming it was the equivalent of a trip to the DMV times however many cameras were used to make the video. Most bands that I meet would have given up in the planning stage, but these guys pushed through and have created a truly great piece of 2.0 media.

...but wait, there's more! (R.I.P. Billy)

Visit their website and you will find that if you order now you can get their CD in limited edition packaging, created and assembled by the band. There is even a video of them making one so you can see how much work and craftsmanship goes into it! I was so impressed, I ordered one. But it gets better, the CD has the video on it and a music player that will be updated with new music from the band as it is released. Did I mention that these guys are unsigned!

I love seeing how creative artists can get using the tools available to everyone. This is a great way to cut through the clutter created by the new music industry. Take a look at the tools that everyone has access to and find a new way to use them, next thing you know it might be your band that everyone is talking about.

Now get out there and try something new!

How to Make $19k in 10 Hours Using Twitter!

Alright, here it is. A success story about someone making money using the Twitter. I am posting this as both a reminder and a validation that there is money to be made using the power of social networking as a way to connect with and maintain your fanbase.

I was absolutely blown away when I read this. I have always understood the importance of connecting with your fans. I get that the tools available to artist these days are powerful and can be utilized in creative ways but I never imagined it was possible to make $19k using Twitter. Oh yeah, and it only took 10 hours!

I would like for you to take note that in this posting she alludes to the fact that she has sold 30,000 records and not seen a single dollar from her record company! If she would have released this album on her own (or with help while retaining control) she could have grossed approximately $300,000 already (based on $10 per album sale price).

Please read on, be inspired and be creative. These days ships don't come in, you have to swim.

From: Amanda Palmer
Subject: twitter power, or “how an indie musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using twitter”

this story has just been blowing people’s minds so i figures i should write it down.

1. FRIDAY NIGHT LOSERS T-SHIRT, $11,000
about a month ago, i was at home on a friday night (loser that i often am when i’m not touring, i almost never go out) and was, of course, on my mac, shifting between emails, links and occasionally doing some dishes and packing for a trip the next day. just a usual friday-night-rock-star-multi-tasking extravaganza.

i twitter whenever i’m online, i love the way it gives me a direct line of communication with my fans and friends. i had already seen the power of twitter while touring… using twitter i’d gathered crowds of sometimes 200 fans with a DAY’S notice to come out and meet me in public spaces (parks, mostly) where i would play ukulele, sign, hug, take pictures, eat cake, and generally hang out and connect. this was especially helpful in the cities where we’d been unable to book all-ages gigs and there were crushed teenagers who were really grateful to have a shot at connecting with me & the community of amanda/dolls fans.

i’d also been using twitter to organize ACTUAL last-minute gigs…i twittered a secret gig in LA one morning and about 350 folks showed up 5 hours later at a warehouse space….i played piano, filmed by current.tv, and then (different camera crew) did an interview with afterellen.com.
the important thing to undertsand here is that the fans were never part of the plan..,i basically just INVITED my fans to a press day, the press didnt’ plan it…i did.
i was going to be playing in an empty room and doing q&a with afterellen on a coach with only the camera watching.
it was like….why not tell people and do this in a warehouse instead of a hotel lobby or a blank studio? so i did.

it cost me almost nothing. the fans were psyched.

but back to the bigger, cooler story….

so there i am, alone on friday night and i make a joke on twitter (which goes out to whichever of my 30,000 followers are online):

“i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker.”
9:15 PM May 15th from web

one thing led to another, and the next thing you know there were thousands of us and we’d become the #1 topic trend on twitter.
zoe keating described it as a “virtual flash mob”.

the way twitter works (if you don’t have it) is that certain topics can include a hashtag (#) and if a gazillion people start making posts that include that hashtag, the topic will zoom up the charts of what people are currently discussing. it’s a cool feature.

so anyway, there we were, virtually hanging out on twitter on a friday night. very pleased with ourselves for being such a large group, and cracking jokes.

how do you “hang out” on the internet? well, we collectively came up with a list of things that the government should do for us (free government-issued sweatpants, pizza and ponies, no tax on coffee), AND created a t-shirt.
thank god my web guy sean was awake and being a loser with me on friday night because he throw up the webpage WHILE we were having our twitter party and people started ordering the shirts - that i designed in SHARPIE in realtime) and a slogan that someone suggested: “DON’T STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT’S WRONG”. neil gaiman and wil wheaton joined our party. the fdnas felt super-special.

by the end of the night, we’d sold 200 shirts off the quickie site (paypal only) that sean had set up.
i blogged the whole story the next day and in total, in the matter of a few days, we sold over 400 shirts, for $25/ea.

we ended up grossing OVER $11,000 on the shirts.
my assistant beth had the shirts printed up ASAP and mailed them from her apartment.

total made on twitter in two hours = $11,000.
total made from my huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album this year = $0

2. WEBCAST AUCTION, $6000

a few nights after that, i blogged and twittered, announcing a “webcast auction” from my apartment.
it went from 6 pm - 9 pm, my assitant beth sat at my side and kept her eyes on incoming bids and twitter feed.
while we hocked weird goods, i sang songs and answered questions from fans. we wore kimonos and drank wine. it was a blast.

people on twitter who were tuned in re-tweeted to other fans. the word spread that it was a fun place to be and watch.
we had, at peak, about 2000 people watching the webcast.

at the suggestion of a fan early in the webcastm anyone could, on demand, send us $20 via paypal and we would chew,
sign and mail them a postcard. we sold about 70, and we read all those names at the end of the webcast and thanked those
people for supporting us. here’s how the sales broke down:

all the items were signed by moi and hand-packed by beth and kayla.
the items and highest bidders were as follows:
hilary, ukulele used on the european tour: $640
jake, “guitar hero” plastic guitar controller used in album promo shoot: $250
lary b, copy neo2 magazine, plus two post-war trade slap-bracelets & a crime-photo set: $230
devi, glass dildo, with subtley-sordid backstory: $560
liz b., “hipsters ruin everything” t-shirt, made by blake (get your very own here!!!!): $155.55
shannon m., my bill bryson book, a short history of neary everything: $280
nikki, huge metal “the establishment” sign, used at rothbury festival for the circus tent i curated: $450
j.r., purple velvet “A” dress used in the dresden dolls coin-operated boy video shoot: $400
jessie & alan: who killed amanda palmer vinyl: $100
nikki: wine bottle, auctioned BY REQUEST!!! $320
shannon w., torn-to-shit vintage stockings used in the who killed amanda palmer/ michael pope video series: $200
jodi,
school-note-book break-up letter, written to amanda from jonas woolverton in 7th grade (i still haven’t emailed him about that….): $250
daryl, ANOTHER wine bottle, by request, that we had LYING AROUND: $320

and…………..

reto emailed, having barely missed the wine bottle, and asked us to send him “something funny” for $129.99. we sent a heath ledger statuette.

total made on twitter in 3 hours, including the postcards, was over $6000.
again, total made on my major-label solo album this year: $0

3. TWITTER DONATION-ONLY GIG, $1800
a few days later, i twittered a guest-list only event in a recording studio in boston, to take place a week later.
the gig lasted about 5 hours, all told, with soundcheck and signing. i took mostly requests and we had a grand old time.
first come, first served. the first 200 people to ask got in, for free. i asked for donations and made about $2200 in cash.
i gave $400 back to the studio for the space and the help. we sold some weird merch. i think we should call it an even 2k.

total made at last-minute secret twitter gig, in about 5 hours = $2000
major-label record blah blah blah = $0

…..and for fun, and to thank my fans for being awesome, i’ve been doing some twitter perfomance art, including answering their questions by magic-markering my body until it’s covered, and displaying time-lapse make-up application advice….but that’s another story.

TOTAL MADE THIS MONTH USING TWITTER = $19,000
TOTAL MADE FROM 30,000 RECORD SALES = ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

turn on, tune in, get dropped!!!!!

love,
amanda fucking palmer
http://www.amandapalmer.net
http://www.dresdendolls.com

Facebook is Finally Letting Users Choose Their Names

If you use Facebook you may have noticed that annoying gray box at the top of your news feed that states "Soon you will be able to have a username". What exactly does that mean and why the fuzz should you care?

What this means is that the URL to your Facebook page will no longer look like this: http://www.facebook.com/username/#/profile.php?id=1324668724 it will look more like this: www.facebook.com/ArtiSansLabel.

Now here is why you should care:

First off, Simplicity. When was the last time you tried to tell someone your Facebook address. Never, that's when. You do it all the time with Myspace because it is simple, myspace.com/yourband, but with Facebook it was always "find us on Facebook" or "...there's a link to our Facebook page on our Myspace/website/whatever." If someone tells me I need to check out a band the first thing I do is type their name after www.myspace.com. If it doesn't pop-up or is the wrong band then I do a search.

Secondly, Visibility. Search engines will love the fact that your name is in the URL and reward you by putting your link in one of the top results. It is a very good idea to make sure that when people search for you, they find you.

Third, Establishing your brand. Many bands have similar names, your band might even have the same name as another band. You might have had to settle for a less-than-cool variation of your bands name for your myspace because of this. Well now you can lock in your simple to dictate, easy to find URL for your Facebook page and put yourself ahead of those other flapjacks that have the nerve to call themselves by your band's name! Not to mention that Facebook is pretty much the reigning champ of social networking sites. (check this out if you don't believe) So if you can only have the perfect URL on just one social networking site, make it Facebook.

So what do you need to do?

Visit this page www.facebook.com/username at 12:01 am EDT on June 13th (that's 9:01 pm on June 12th for all us west coasters) and follow the instructions. I know it's Friday night and you have a gig orwould rather go hangout with your friends but I suggest being on that page right at that time (or have a superfan/friend/your mom do it) otherwise someone else might get the username that you want and need. By the way folks, this happens tonight!

Choose wisely...

Expand Your Boundaries

I was just reading a blog from Seth Godin entitled Out of Bounds and it got me thinking. Most musicians I know tend to pigeonhole their band unintentionally. They limit the styles of music they listen to by only listening to music that sounds like their band. They are afraid to add new sounds, instruments or arrangements into their music because it doesn't sound like the music they are listening to (an instant catch 22). They won't play at a venue because other bands that they like haven't played there before. I even heard of a band that tried to hand pick their audience by only letting people they thought were "cool" into the venue. These are the same bands that refuse to tell you what genre of music they play. Ask them and they will say it's a "brand new style" or a "little bit of everything", then you listen to their music and they sound exactly like the band on their t-shirt.

I have no problem with artists emulating their idols, this is the natural progression of most every artist. What I find disheartening is the limited amount of variety that a musician is willing to pull influence from.

I started this blog with a link to a non-music blog, go read it, take influence from it. Just because you listen to what a business professional might have to say, doesn't mean that you need to become a businessman. Just because you write a guitar riff after listening to Jerry Reed, doesn't mean that you are country or that you can't incorporate that riff into your bands music.

If you truly wish to create a brand new style then you need to put together a mix of styles that no one has ever heard before. Before you can do that you need to open up your boundaries and let the world in.

Good luck

No One is More Invested in Your Success Than You Are, So Invest in Your Success.

The past two weeks I discussed how it is going to be a lot of work to reach your goals in the music industry. Contrary to popular belief most musicians are not lazy. They work their tails off sacrificing many things to make gigs, rehearsals, songwriting and recording a priority. A musician will work for many concentrated hours to get that bridge just right, stay up all night trying to master the impossible guitar lick that is the only one that will work in the song. Musicians are not lazy, their drive is just extremely focused. Focused on making music. So there is no doubt in my mind that when I wrote,"These days you have to work and you have to work hard" most every musician that read that post greeted it with a "Where do I sign up?" attitude.

Guess what? It's also going to take money.

I'm sorry is your pen broke? Can't sign up today?

Why is it that in an "It takes money to make money" society, musicians always seem to baulk at spending money on anything other than their tone? If you visit Discmakers website you can see that 1000 CD's in jackets can be had for $790. I am going to make an educated guess and say that with shipping and tax the whole deal will cost your band less than $1100. Now, if you are selling your CDs for $10 at your shows all you need to do is sell 110 CDs to break even. This means that your 111th disc and every one thereafter is 100% profit! The question should not be "Can we raise the $1100 to purchase the discs?" The question should be "Can we sell 110 CDs?" If you can't with confidence say "Hell yes! We can sell way more than 110 CDs!" Then you need to go back to the ol' drawing board because you shouldn't be thinking about releasing an album yet.

FYI- in the above scenario, if you sell all of your 1000 discs you stand to make $8900 profit! This is possible, these numbers are real.

Shirts are another traditionally great way for a band to make money. It is possible to make over $5 per shirt profit if you are selling them for $10 or more. These days there are more and more possibilities for a band to create streams of income popping up everyday. I could go on outlining the potential profit margins of each of them but that is boring. What you need to know is that most of the profit margins are great for you if you are in control of the income stream. However, most every possible point of profit requires an investment on your part.

It is not a new distortion pedal that is going to make you more money, it is not a new drum set or a new bass amp. I don't care how much you hate the equipment you have, new gear will not bring you more money or greater success. Streams of income will. You are a hard worker, dedicated to your art form. Take some of your hard work and discipline and put it to good work. Start investing in your career, not in your gear, and I guarantee that you will be able to afford better gear down the line.

Not sure how to get started? Drop me a line, I can help.

jc@artisanslabel.com

Getting to the Second Floor

Last week I equated achieving your goals with climbing a staircase. This week I am going to continue on that idea. So let's get to it!

Let's say your career is the Empire State Building and in order to achieve your overall goals you need to get to the top observation deck at the 102 floor. Easy, just take the elevator and you're there. Wrong-o! The elevator is broken my friend. So now what do you do? Your dreams and goals are at the top of that building and you have to get there. Well, you can scale the side of the building or you can take the stairs. Of course you take the stairs, all 1,860 of them, one step at a time, each step gets you closer to your end goals.

The bad news is: This is going to be work.The good news is: It's not just 1,860 stairs straight up. They break it into floors, 102 of them. This is the smart way to build a building. This is the smart way to build a career. Speaking of building a career... Let's get started!

Let's say that your end goal/dream is to make 1 million dollars with music. This is the observation deck my friend, the top floor. You cannot focus on the top floor or you will jump off the building half way up. You need to focus on getting to the second floor. Now that we know what your over-all goal is, lets focus on the goals that are going to get you there. Today a Myspace page is usually one of the first three members of a band, it usually shows up before the bass player. I am not saying this should be your next goal, I just needed and example. So, for the sake of this post, let's assume that your most immediate goal is to add 1000 new friends to your Myspace page. This makes acquiring 1000 new friends on Myspace the second floor of your building. Alright, how do you get to the second floor. One step at a time. One friend at a time. Next thing you know you are at the second floor. Ready to move on up!

Now here is where the Empire States Building/staircase analogy begins to fall apart: Building your career is not entirely linear. There are multiple goals that need to be accomplished and if you wait to finish one before beginning the next it will take for ever. My point with the staircase analogy is: There are multiple accomplishments that must be achieved before you can reach your final goal and multiple steps to take before you can reach each floor (or benchmark). Being able to identify your goals and the path to achieve them is invaluable. I'm talking about creating a plan. What is the first step to creating a plan? Writing down your goals. If you write down your goals you are statistically more likely to achieve them.

Consider the simple act of writing done your goals the same as taking first step in the building. Now where are those stairs?

The Elevator is Broken, Take the Stairs

When I was younger I wanted to be a rock star. I was there when Video Killed the Radio Star. I grew up with music television creating an unrealistic idea of how to become a rock star and what that meant. Rock stars on MTV looked like rock stars, they talked like rock stars and most importantly they lived like rock stars. I used to hear all of these stories about living the life on the sunset strip. Being in a band was a constant party that you got paid to attend. So I asked myself, “How do I become a rock star?” I quickly found out that I did not know the answer. So I did what any young teenager would do at the time- I picked up Circus Magazine, Hit Parader and Metal Edge, anything I could get my hands on. I read about how my heroes did it and you know what? It was the same story every time. It seemed that every band that came out was a group of friends who lived in a one bedroom apartment, partied all the time and played shows.

What a great model for success! I had enough friends to start a band. I still lived with my mom but as soon as I graduated high school (or dropped-out as most of the stories read) I could move the band into a crappy apartment so we could party and play shows. I was on my way to rock stardom and yet something was missing. Oh yeah, I had to get discovered! As I read in all of my rock heroes’ stories, if you play enough shows eventually you will get "discovered" and a big record label will give you a boatload of money. How hard could that be?

Play shows, get discovered-This is what the information told us to do. This is what our heroes did. This is what I did and it did not work. This is what my friends did and it did not work. This is what millions of people did and it did not work. Why does this idea (playing shows will get you discovered) still stick in musicians heads? It seems like I meet musicians everyday who seem to think that playing shows is enough to get "discovered".

First things first, That whole overnight success thing rarely happened and when it did it usually took 5+ years of a band being together working hard to make it happen.

Second, the days of the big advance and record labels throwing tons of money at a band are long gone. Follow any industry blog and you will soon learn that the big record companies are firing people left and right, shutting down entire departments and offices. Do you still think they are going to throw a million dollars at you because you had 100 people at your last show? I don't.

There is no longer a fast track to the top, the elevator is broken. These days you have to work and you have to work hard. You have to take stairs to get to the top, one step at a time, one floor at a time. I am not going to sugar coat this- it's hard work and you will sweat but in the end you will be stronger and you will live longer.

The Sweet Smell of Success

How do you define success?
Everyone knows that the music industry is changing at an incredibly fast rate. What worked yesterday might not work today. So how do we measure success in such uncertain times? For the major labels success has always been measured in sales and like I mentioned last week, benchmarks were developed to help them keep track (silver, gold, platinum, diamond). The fact of the matter is that the majority of bands will never reach these numbers and the way things are going major label bands are no exception.

I like the idea of creating "benchmarks" for your success, it helps you to reach your overall goals by giving you a nice place to celebrate in the middle of your journey.Before you begin your journey you need to figure out where you are going, you need to define what success means to you. Success for you may very well may be a platinum record but I think as independent musicians we need to start small. How about: 100 people on your email list, 1000 Myspace friends, write enough material to record an album, headline at your local hotspot or make enough money with your music to quit your day job? Any and all of these are a great start. I recommend sitting down with your band (or by yourself if you are a solo artist) and brainstorming 10 to 20 attainable goals. Start working towards them immediately and you will be amazed at how much easier success comes your way.

So what is success for you and your music? Is it being able to quit your day job? Or, is it getting a big enough cut of the door to afford you some tacos and enough gas to get home? Drop me a line and let me know what you come up with. I would love to hear the way you define success.

Until next time

Suit and Tie Optional

It's finally here! The tipping point in the music industry. The power of the internet, combined with the rigor mortis of the major labels business practices, has created an avenue that allowed for over 50% of this year's Grammys to go to independent artists. What was that I just said? Music's big night, the night when all the labels would get together and see who had the biggest...uh...roster and over half of the awards went to artists without major label backing! If that doesn't reinforce that independents can be successful I am not sure what will.

Yes, Radiohead already had a pretty big fanbase by the time they went the independent route, as did Nine Inch Nails, but what about Joe Purdy? Joe has earned over $640,000 via CD Baby alone and he doesn't have a major label backing him. In fact, I would go out on a limb and say most people that come across this post have never heard of Joe Purdy but trust me you've heard Joe's music. I'll be honest, aside from hearing his music in one of my favorite car commercials ever and the small web search I did to find out the info I just provided, I don't know jack about Joe. What I do know is this: Joe is proof. He is proof in what I believe in the very core of me. Major labels are no longer required to have success in the music business.

Of course, this is all dependent on your idea of success. For the major labels success has benchmarks, and these benchmarks are made out of gold and platinum. A record goes gold when it reaches 500,000 units sold (and remember kids; this does not mean that the artist is making money yet). But what about Joe? Well, let's see, we will assume that he sold his albums for $10 each and we know that CD Baby takes $4 per disc for their services. This leaves Joe with $6 per disc. After consulting with my trusty calculator watch, we find that Joe sold 106,667 via CD Baby. Don't get me wrong here, this is no small feat! That's a lot of albums but it is not remotely close to making gold record status. At this point, if Joe was on a major label he would be considered a failure. Fortunately for Joe, he is not on a label at all. He gets to keep every last dime that he has earned. To me, that sounds like success.

Joe's level of success, although not common by any means, is becoming more and more accessible as the sun sets on the music industry of yesteryear. Over the upcoming weeks my posting will be aimed at helping you define and achieve your success in the new music business.

Thanks for stopping by.

J.C.
www.artisanslabel.com
studio.artisanslabel.com

Who Are You, & Why Should I Care What You Have To Say?

The first thing I think when I start reading a blog, written by some blow-hard whom I know nothing about, is "why should I listen to you?" Now I find myself in the position of being a blogger and I expect that many of you will be skimming my posts and asking yourself, "who the hell is this guy and why should I care what he has to say?" Introductions are definitely in order.

My name is John Cunningham...but I prefer J.C. or John C. I am a bass player...and yes, I chose to be a bass player. I love the role of the bass, being the tie that binds the guitars to the drums, being the most important instrument in the band (and yes I can argue that point) without being the focus. As a bass player, I love being involved in all aspects of a song, keeping true to the song while making sure that my note choices are more about the best interest of the song rather than the best interests of my ego.

I am also one of the Artist Coordinators at ArtiSans Label. As an Artist Coordinator, I have an integral role in every aspect of an album that I help release. I am the hub for all of the services that an artist needs when getting their album released. I make sure that I focus on what is important to the artist and what will most benefit the album release. It's a lot like playing bass...but without the callouses!

I have been involved in music for almost 20 years in one capacity or another, and I have made almost all the mistakes that a wide-eyed musician with hopes of being a rock star makes. I've given money to shady people that made (and broke) extravagant too-good-to-be-true promises. I've played an overwhelming amount of shows to empty venues. I once booked a great gig at the most populated hang spot on a college campus, only to arrive and find that there was a campus dance that night (we ended up playing that show to four very upset girlfriends and one overly excited janitor). I recorded a great album and left myself no money to get it replicated. I have boxes of unsold t-shirts buried in my garage. The list goes on and on and on...

But I've learned from my mistakes. I now have a ferocious appetite for discovering what works for independent artists and passing that information on to them. In my new role as a blogger I will bring my readers the information they need to not make the same mistakes I (and so many others) made.

The tides have shifted. Now, more than any other time in the history of the music industry, independent artists have access to the knowledge and tools to take control of their careers and become profitable as independents.

I just want to help.

J.C.
www.artisanslabel.com
studio.artisanslabel.com