Buy Me Some Peanuts & Marketing

I always say this:

“Hope is not a plan”.

What I mean is this:

“Your ass better have a bona fide plan, with strategic, realistic, and actionable steps towards growing your fan base, or you can kiss your lagging music career goodbye in a few years. Don’t have a plan? Ask for help before it’s too late.”

Just trying to share some insight from hindsight. My apologies for beating your head over a dead horse. But you think this doesn’t apply to you? Then show me your plan. :-)

Here’s why this is so important:

There are more than EIGHT MILLION artists/bands on MySpace.

This is who you’re competing against for your fans’ attention.

To comprehend the sheer magnitude of people stealing your spotlight, let’s visualize. Let’s say each member of each band is represented by a fan sitting at a ballpark. We’ll estimate that there’s an average of 3.25 people per artist or group. This means that you’re competing with a group the size of the crowd at every single Angels home game from the last ten years (www.baseball-almanac.com). And just like at the ballpark, everyone’s shouting & making noise. How does your music get heard over the roar of the crowd? How do you stand out?

One choice solution is Ariel Hyatt’s company Cyber PR.

I spent some time hangin’ with Ariel on her turf in New York this past week. She's an intelligent, driven, knowledgeable, finger-on-the-pulse, bundle of maroon-topped spunk. For over a year now, I have been observing Cyber PR’s operation. The verdict? It’s the best bang for your marketing dollar money can buy. And Ariel is the real deal.

There are many companies that claim to grow your brand. What attracts me to Cyber PR is RESULTS and ACCOUNTABILITY. I could talk for pages & pages about all the value Ariel has crammed into the Publicity Packages. Instead check ‘em out here.

One “secret” to music success is spending more money on marketing than on gear. Or beer. Not fun. But it’s not rocket surgery. Or brain science. You simply MUST let the world know what you’ve got! Think I’m not talking directly to you? If you have more guitars hanging on the wall than gold records, then I’m talking to you. GO HERE NOW. (If you have more beer bottles in the fridge than guitars on the wall…invite me over.)

Cyber PR will put your face on the hypothetical ballpark’s hypothetical Jumbotron…and blast your music over the hypothetical P.A. system, for all the journalists, bloggers, podcasters, etc. to see & hear. That’s how you stand out.

But Cyber PR is oh so much more.

I’ve barely scratched the iceberg.

Stay tuned. :-)

Cyber PR Publicity Packages are now available for all ArtiSans Label artists.

Which Land Mine Did David Step On?

So I'm on the subway, headed back from the (rained out) Angels-Yankees game. I was standing next to a group of rough-looking thugs, who all managed to be taller than me somehow. I was doing the "I'm gonna look at these strangers invading my personal space...but not LOOK like I'm looking at these strangers invading my personal space" thing. The car was quite packed...kinda inevitable.

When the doors split open at the next stop, some dirty little rude punk pushed his way through the crowd, making his way to the center of the car. And in the most projected yet unenthusiastic & whiny voice I have ever heard, he said,

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my name is David I'm down on my luck had some hard times and now I need your help to continue my pursuit of becoming a world renowned opera singer"

The thugs laughed out loud, without tact.

"Any amount of money you can give me will be put to good use even if its pennies."

This punctuation is correct, by the way. No pauses for breath.

"Now I will sing for you a piece I once wrote that was important to me."

Crap. I hate when this happens. I really do NOT enjoy opera. Or socially awkward situations. Double whammy.


WAIT.


What the hell is THAT? This guy's voice is INCREDIBLE! I'm talkin' bonafide, genuine protege talent. A surprise of Susan Boyle proportions. Maybe even Paul Potts.

So my mind began racing. What can I do to help this guy? Music contacts? Money? Some food? Paula Abdul's phone number? I don't think her life has room for more crazies.
(For the record, I don't watch American Idol. The names are simply hard to avoid.)

In the end, the thugs standing next to me acted as a deterrent, and David never made his way down to our end of the subway car to ask for money. I never got to ask him questions. He just appeared, sang like god, and was gone. But days later, I'm still wondering. HOW does someone with such rare talent not rise to the top? How does this incredible voice get buried under life's struggles, muted for the mainstream?

I know the answer. I deal with it everyday at ArtiSans Label. I just still don't want to accept it.

Talent is not enough.

The music industry is a field riddled with mines. Talent has to navigate shady business practices, finite funding, group dynamics, family challenges, damaging hedonistic influences, etc. Step carefully! Any one of these can kill a career. But thing about mines is they're hidden. There's no threat if you can identify that which will bring down your career & disarm the mine. It's the hidden ones that getcha.

For my own career as an artist, years ago, the hidden mine was my distrust of industry people and the subsequent protective bubble I kept my career in. I found it incredibly difficult to relinquish control over my career and trust a notoriously shady industry to keep my best interest as the priority. So I made a strategic decision to "do it myself". Did I know best? I thought so. But only in hindsight can one determine where they made mistakes. It was damn near impossible to excel at art and business simultaneously. If I had to do it all over again, I would use my energy to find trustworthy business people who can help my career, instead of using my energy protecting it from the world. Very counterproductive.

Had I not made these mistakes, however, ArtiSans Label wouldn't exist. We're working very hard to bring you a new concept in the music industry...one that I SORELY NEEDED back in the day...a record company powered by good ol' fashioned customer service infused with integrity. Integrity! (Make sure to check out our Artist Bill of Rights when you get a chance).

I don't know what tripped up David's career. Maybe it was his own fault, maybe it wasn't. But that voice should be bouncing off concert hall walls, not subway tunnels.

Don't be David. Don't be me. Ask for help.

Michael

Hope Is Not A Plan

I love Las Vegas.

It's expensive, indulgent, grand and invigorating, but also seedy, dirty, risky and damaging at the same time. Bonus. I'm equally at ease whether sipping on McCallan at a new club like the Encore's XS, or making friends with a blue-haired lady & her sidecar oxygen tank downtown at the Fremont. I love the architecture, the lights, the clink of chips, the hours, the exhaustion, the music, the history, the excess, the grit, the emptiness...the sum of its dichotomy. But what I really love most about Vegas is what hangs "in the air". Thicker than the smoke...thicker than the perfumed people...is the palpable sense of HOPE; of an excited expectation that something special is about to happen to you. I seek out this sensation to bask & marinate in it. And nowhere is this more concentrated than in the casinos.

Which is stupid, really.

If you expect to walk out of a casino with more money than an unemployment check, you're dumb. Vegas itself would cease to exist if even a single game's odds were in the players' favor (Hold 'em excluded). We all know this. So why do we play? Because we HOPE we're the exception. It compels us because, somehow, we convince ourselves that we are deserving of success. Smarter than the average bear. But for every rare gambler who can boast about striking it rich, there are thousands who leave Vegas every day, filled with regret. For some, we can rationalize the fun along the way was worth the expense. The free drinks. The encouragement of vices. Loud music. The beautiful people. Free shampoo. In the end, most go home broke, possibly with a consolation prize that requires an ointment.

But this is just one weekend. You bounce back, strong like bull. What really weighs on my shoulders is that this is an analogy for what unsigned artists go through every day.

Just like Vegas, the hope of rare success--taking your music to the masses--is intoxicating. MTV makes it appear that anyone can do it. Moreover, you want it so badly that you can easily fantasize & convince yourself that you DESERVE to defy the odds; that not only SHOULD it be you, it CAN be you. So you schlep gear around to endless shows; pass out flyers to extremely grateful strangers; get carpal tunnel from MySpacin' all day; put up with primadonna bandmates. Again & again & again. Like a fly ramming repeatedly into a window. "Maybe this time I'll get in. Maybe this time I'll get in. Maybe this time I'll get in." Hoping...while eating crap food. Hoping...while dropping out of school. Hoping...while driving a P.O.S. car. Hoping...with growing debt. Hoping...while growing older.

I know this because I WAS this. An unsigned artist for a solid decade +. Reading all I could get my hands on. Attending seminars. Collecting email addresses. Getting a degree in music. Stalking A&R guys. This, of course, on top of songwriting & rehearsals & recording & shows. Only in hindsight...and the bitter-sweet wisdom that failure brings...did I learn one very, VERY important lesson:

HOPE IS NOT A PLAN.

With that golden nugget of presumed wisdom, I welcome you to the first entry of ArtiSans Label's blog, Release Your Music. Here, through daily updates from a collective of authors from various areas of expertise, we will "pay it forward". We will share with you, from our combined 50+ years in the trenches of the industry, how to strategize & PLAN for a sustainable music career. We'll cover topics ranging from recording & producing to marketing & online social media strategy. You'll also learn about us as people, what makes us tick, and why we feel that the future of the music industry will be built on honest, reliable, good ol'-fashioned customer service.

One more thing I dig about Vegas: Frank Sinatra. So I'll leave you with a quote from ol' blue eyes:

“People often remark that I'm pretty lucky. Luck is only important in so far as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you've got to have talent and know how to use it.”

Hot damn.

Michael
www.artisanslabel.com
studio.artisanslabel.com