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