Author Archives: Patrick

Poll: What Kind Of Endorsement Deal?

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As of recently, I’ve been asked a lot about how and why endorsement deals work. Needless to say, I’ve done a lot of thinking about them. As is the norm for me, when I start thinking, I like to start picking brains. I’ve always found that the easiest way to learn is to ask questions. Today, I want to pick the brains of musicians who are looking for endorsement deals. So I ask you, the musicians of the world, a fairly simple question – If you could pick one, which kind of endorsement deal would you want?


If you could pick one, which kind of endorsement deal would you want?

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If you’re feeling extra chatty today, don’t be afraid to tell us why you made your decision in the comments section. Any and all insight is much appreciated.

What Is The Future Of The Music Industry – Part 3

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Check out the entire series:
• Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Last week I left you with a lot of unanswered questions. This week, I’m going to do everything I can to try and answer them. Just keep in mind that there is no one solution to any of these questions. I encourage you to explore other opportunities available to you. The music industry is in a state of disarray, and you have the opportunity and means to blaze your own path. Don’t be afraid to break down a few walls along the way.

How do I create value for my music?

The first step in knowing how to create value for your music is to understand how the consumer thinks. Most consumers don’t see value in the actual recording of a song anymore. So, when a song is easily accessible in a digital form, they have no problem listening for free. That’s why services like Spotify are so popular. It provides a simple way to listen to music for free, without having your conscience nagging you about “stealing” music. In order to make your fans part with their hard earned money, you have to supply your music in a way that they actually want to purchase it.

The two most common ways are physical CDs and live performances. Of the 249 million albums sold last year, 75% were physical copies purchased offline in a brick and mortar store. It’s not shocking, really. When you purchase something that you can actually hold in your hands, you’re more likely to appreciate it. This is especially true if there are extras, like great album art, that come bundled with it. It’s not a coincidence that so many bands do limited edition versions of their albums. Consumers want to know they are getting their money’s worth. The special packaging, bonus items, and limited availability all create value.

When it comes to live performances, there is no substitution for actually being in person at a concert. Watching it from the confines of your home will never be the same as actually feeling the sound waves being created right in front of you. A great live performance will encourage the audience to walk straight to your merch booth and buy your music. Although you may not realize it, they are buying it because you created a valuable memory for them. Listening to your music will always bring them back to that memory. On the other hand, if you have a horrible live performance, you’ve created a memory that they probably won’t want to remember.

Albums aren’t the only way to make money as musicians though. Merchandise like shirts, stickers, and buttons are great ways to capitalize on your musical talents. But it doesn’t even stop there. Don’t be afraid to be creative and come up with other ways to add value to your music. Here are some guidelines that will point you in the right direction:

  • Make sure you are proud to sell it. No matter what shape, size, or form it comes in, if you aren’t confident in your product, your fans will be able to tell and therefore be less likely to purchase it.
  • It needs to be hard to replicate. Digital products are easily copied and shared. Physical products are harder to replicate. Experiences are impossible to replicate. If you play a private concert for a fan, they will never be able to replicate that without your involvement.
  • Make it unique. If you create something entirely unique to you and your music, it will set you apart from the crowd. If every other band offers the same thing, why should they bother giving you their money? If no one else does it, you are their only option!

How do I separate myself from the crowd?

The simplest way to make sure you stand out from the crowd is to be the best at everything you do. Easier said than done, but it’s the truth. I truly believe that musicians are trying to spread themselves too thin now days. We are expected to do EVERYTHING, and all without pay. As a result, we tend to do mediocre jobs at a million things rather than doing an amazing job at a small selection of things.

For example, we tend to sign up for every social network and music community possible. As a result, we never actually spend any time developing our presence on each one. Eventually you just become one of the millions of bands that do the exact same thing. If, however, you limited yourself to a small selection, you would have more time actually creating a presence in those communities and networks, and it would actually help your career. There’s a reason people shop at retail chains – they are familiar and they know what to expect. The same is true of music. If people are familiar with you and know what to expect, they’re more likely to listen. Your image and reputation do as much to sell you as the actual songs you write.

You can’t just apply being the best at marketing though. Your music has to be the best as well – both in songwriting and production. A lot of us are too eager to buy an M-box, and record ourselves playing three chords and singing a melody. But if your song is generic and your production is sub-par, no one is going to bother listening to you. Be realistic, if you just sound like a poorly recorded, more boring version of Jack Johnson, why would they ever choose to listen to you over Jack Johnson?

How are we supposed to make money when any money we do make is given away?

This is a little trickier than the previous questions. Individually we don’t stand much of a chance to change the mind of our government or the PROs. However, together we can actually make ourselves heard. We need to realize that without us, PROs, radio stations, record labels, and the entire music industry cannot continue to survive. We, the musicians, are the product that all of those entities are selling and depend on to survive. Recently, we seem to have forgotten that.

By banding together we can make a real difference. Now, I wish I could just point you to a simple online petition to change the world, but it’s not that easy. I can, however, provide you with the first steps to get the ball rolling.

  1. Educate yourself! – The fact that you are reading this article is already a step in the right direction. But don’t stop here. Learn about anything and everything you can in the music industry. The more you educate yourself, the more you will be able to see where we can and need to change the music industry.
  2. Spread the word! – When you learn important information, don’t just bottle it up inside and do nothing. Tell everyone you know. Tell your band mates. Tell the bands you play with. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors, dogs, cats, and anything that moves! The only reason that we are so easily taken advantage of is that a lot of effort has been put into keeping the masses uneducated. The music industry is full of shady practices, loopholes, thievery, and corruption. But if you and everyone you know are aware of it, they will be less likely to get away it. By telling everyone you know about what you’ve learned, you make it harder for the leeches in the music industry to survive.
  3. Work together! – Sometimes we forget that we aren’t competing with other musicians. The more we stick together, the better chance we have of surviving. The music industry is all about numbers. There are a lot of musicians, and if we work together, we have the numbers to change almost anything we put our mind to.

How do we keep up with technology, and create laws that actually help?

Once again, this is a question with no simple, single answer. Most everything I just said applies here as well. The only difference is that this specifically deals with politics. Although I’m not a politician by a long shot, the one thing I do know is that the musician’s voice is largely unheard in politics. Yes, there are a lot of politically charged bands. Yes, there are a few big names in music that do a lot of work in politics. But I’m talking about the young, underappreciated musicians.

Here in the United States, less than 25% of people between the ages of 18-29 actually vote. That means that 75% of young musicians didn’t do anything to help make sure that laws, and politicians that actually care about them, were put into place. We have to start giving ourselves a voice. We need to use the government to our advantage. We can’t have 60-some-year olds who barely know how to use a computer trying to tell us how we should be allowed to use the internet. If we continue to let it happen, we’re going to always be five steps behind where we need to be.

How can we fund our music if we don’t have record labels that are willing to work with us?

Fans are surprisingly generous when it comes to helping fund projects. Kickstarter Campaigns are a very common occurrence for independent bands now days. There are two absolute requirements to make it successful though:

  1. You have to have fans. If you haven’t developed any form of fan base, you can’t really expect to have a very successful campaign. If you’ve been gigging and spreading the word, you should at least have a small fan base that can fund a small portion.
  2. You have to have attractive offers. You can’t just offer the CD and a shirt as the only ways to contribute funds. Anything with a personal touch really works well. i.e. Music lessons from the band members, signed swag, a YouTube video of the band singing happy birthday especially for the fan.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t want to have to depend on my fans to fund my album,” then you really need to sit down and think. No matter how you look at it, in a successful music model, the fans ALWAYS fund your albums. It’s their album, merchandise, and ticket purchases that give you the money to fund recording and touring. Kickstarter campaigns are just another avenue for fans to provide the funds. A record label is just playing middle man between you and the fans. And don’t forget, as said middle man, they take a more than generous share of everything.

How do we make sure that our money is actually ours?

Once again, if you want to stand a chance to survive in the music business, you need to educate yourself. Learn how royalties work. Learn how record contracts work. Learn what rights you have to your own music. You can’t trust a record label to give you a contract that will ensure success for you. Always read the contract. Always have an entertainment lawyer look through it. Don’t be so eager to sign away the rights to your music. Once you start giving away your rights, you’re only asking to run into problems. Always remember that the music business is no different than any other business. Companies are concerned with one thing – profits. They will do whatever it takes to ensure that they are making a profit. Your well-being always comes second to that.

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What Is The Future Of The Music Industry – Part 2

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Check out the entire series:
• Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Last week we gave you three articles and six videos to get you started thinking about the future of the music industry (Click here to read Part 1 if you haven’t already). Now that you have some background as to what’s been going on, let’s discuss some of the reasons that the music industry is in such turmoil at the moment.

Technology

Technology has been the driving force behind the changing music industry. For better or worse, the widespread use of computers and the internet has changed music forever.

The Internet

The effect that the internet has had on the music industry is astounding. Bands now have a method of direct communication with fans. Fans now have a way to immediately discover and listen to new music. It’s possible for a band to release an album without the help of a record label. And let’s not forget that now there is a way for fans to get their hands on your music without paying a penny.

There’s a million and one ways it has changed music, but the easiest way to sum it all up is “ease of access.” The fact is that music is now EXTREMELY accessible. It’s easy to find, listen, buy, steal, and integrate music into your life. But this ease of access is like a double edged sword. On one side, we no longer have any record labels or gatekeepers preventing someone from finding your music. On the other side, it’s become so easy to gain access to music, that now it has lost some of its value. Simply put, by flooding the market, we’ve devalued music.


Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) discussing the current state of the music industry and reality TV shows (American Idol).

The question you need to ask yourself as a musician now days is, “How do I create value for my music?”

Home Studios

When I think about creating value in music, the first obstacle I see is the home studio. Before you start sending me hate mail, understand that I’m not saying that we need to stop people from making music in their bedroom. I’m just saying that now that anyone, regardless of how talented they are, can create music from their own bedroom, we have to find a way to stop oversaturating the market.

As independent musicians, we all know how difficult it can be to give your music away for free. It’s completely insane to think that someone wouldn’t want your new CD when it costs them nothing, but it happens every day. And it’s because that same person has been bombarded by requests from other musicians asking them to listen to their new CD as well. Eventually they just tune us out like we’re advertisements.

The general music consumer has no way of differentiating between good and bad independent music before they listen to it. In the days of our forefathers, they would either hear it on the radio first, or they would trust that the record label wouldn’t push garbage upon them. Whether or not we like it, most consumers still think that a record put out by a big label will absolutely be better than one that you funded and recorded yourself.

So once again, you have to ask yourself a question – “How do I separate myself from the crowd?”

The Infrastructure

The ironic part about technology making such leaps and bounds in music is that the infrastructure of the industry has done almost nothing to keep up. For example, the PROs that were made in order to collect the performance royalties owed to us, still use an archaic system where they only listen to each radio station three days of the year.

Years ago there weren’t nearly as many terrestrial radio stations, and satellite and internet radio were unheard of. Since everything was analog, and computers were non-existent, the only way for the PROs to keep tabs on who was owed money was to do a random listening survey of each radio station. They devised a system where they only had to listen to each station three random days of the year because it would be impossible for them to listen to every station 24 hours a day. If they missed you on one radio station, then they would catch you on another and take note. Then, using algorithms they won’t divulge to us musicians, they would calculate how much you were owed in royalties.

In the current age of digital music, where every radio station has computers that keep logs of every single song they ever play, the PROs refuse to change their system. They still only listen to each radio station three days of the year. For your reference, here is a quick glance of the total number of radio stations over the years:

  • 1943 – 966 Radio Stations
  • 1952 – 3,176 Radio Stations
  • 1970 – 6,751 Radio Stations
  • 1990 – 10,788 Radio Stations
  • 2000 – 12.717 Radio Stations
  • 2012 – 15,029 Radio Stations

    • *Radio station totals according to FCC*

Oh, and that’s only Terrestrial Radio. I couldn’t find a breakdown of Satellite or Internet radio.

As independent musicians, we need to consider the fact that most of us don’t get national airplay. Most of us, if we’re lucky, get limited regional airplay. That means that if you don’t happen to be played in those three days that they listen to the radio stations in your area, the PROs don’t even know you are owed money. Instead, the money that is owed to you is divvied up between the bigger names that get national coverage and are played every day.

The question you need to ask yourself is, “How are we supposed to make money when any money we do make is given away?”

The Government

The only way that we can ensure that we receive our royalties is to go to the people who create the laws – our government. The problem is that the government has a horrible track record of keeping up with technology. Remember that whole SOPA incident? That’s what happens when the people in charge barely understand what is being talked about. The entire internet bands together to tell them to stop making ridiculous laws.

A friend of mine, who happens to work in politics, once told me that the government was built to make decisions very slowly. “Why,” you ask? So that most of the issues would stop receiving limelight by the time politicians got around to making a decision. The problem is that technology doesn’t stop just because our government doesn’t keep up. In fact, it just progresses faster and faster.

The question now is, “How do we keep up with technology, and create laws that actually help?”

Record Labels

Here’s a fact that might surprise most musicians: Major record labels didn’t start until about 1930. Yet music has been around for almost as long as the human civilization.

Artist Development

In its simplest form, a record label is a company who is willing to fund the production of a record because they see the potential for profit. When they first began, they chose artists because they saw raw talent. They knew that if there was the financial backing to produce a good recording, and actually market it, there would be a very good chance to see some serious money returned.


Frank Zappa talks about the decline of the music business in the 80s.

Labels also used to understand that just like any product, it would take time for a recording artist to develop and realize their full potential. That’s why they created record contracts. Instead of betting everything on a single record, they would sign the artist to a contract that guaranteed they would record multiple albums. The plan was to use the marketing and success of each record to make the next one even bigger. This is what we call Artist Development.

By focusing on developing their artists, record labels were able to turn good artists into some of the best and most profitable artists in the world. They understood it was a long process, and there was no true overnight success. However, as the labels got better at their jobs, they began to find formulas that always turned a profit. They started exploiting those formulas as any good business would do. But instead of using these formulas as an additional way to make a profit, they started forcing everyone into one of the formulas. They stopped caring about artist development. And now that those formulas don’t produce profits like they use to, the labels are struggling to keep afloat.

The next question to ask yourself is, “How can we fund our music if we don’t have record labels that are willing to work with us?”

Royalties

If you’ve read The Music Royalty Breakdown, you have a decent idea of how record labels actually play into the royalty equation. If you haven’t read it, you should read it now.

Whenever I hear the horror stories of these huge recording artists being completely broke, I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous the situation is. If you watched all the videos from Part 1, you heard DJ Jazzy Jeff speak about how after winning a Grammy, he went and cried in his car because he only had $500 in his bank account.


DJ Jazzy Jeff (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince) discusses the reality of making money with modern day record deals.

Record contracts are not made to make the recording artist rich. They are built to make sure the record label gets every penny they possibly can. In a typical record contract, almost every penny that is made off of the record goes to the label until they are completely paid back. The recording artist only begins to receive their share of royalties after the label has been paid back in full.

You might be asking yourself, “When an artist sells millions of copies, shouldn’t they be making tons of money?” Not necessarily! The record labels got really good at making sure they kept the artists in debt. If the label sees that in the next royalty statement you are going to be in the green, they will do everything in their power to find a way to spend more money, thus keeping you in debt. Why do they do this? Well, if you are selling enough records to make them money, they want to put you in a situation where you don’t have a choice but to make your next record with them. If by the end of your record contract you owe them money, you’re going to have no choice but to record a new album to pay them back. And of course, they’ll be standing there with pen and contract in hand, drooling over your signature.

So, here’s the next question to ask – “How do we make sure that our money is actually ours?”

Next Week

This week we’re leaving you with all these questions. Think about them. Try to come up with realistic solutions. If you think you have a good one, then tell us! Post it in a comment, email us, or tell us on Facebook or Twitter. If it’s good, we’ll discuss it next week as we propose our own answers to each of the questions in Part 3!

What Is The Future Of The Music Industry – Part 1

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Check out the entire series:
• Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

We spend a lot of time here at Indie And Unsigned writing articles that we hope are helping independent musicians learn to navigate the unorganized streets of the music industry. But since day one, we’ve known that the current state of the music industry is hectic to say the least. Every day, you run into people who are claiming that the music industry is on the verge of collapsing. And when you turn around to avoid the end of the world speech, you find someone who is talking about how the music industry is great because now everything is free. Whatever your take on it, the music industry has changed dramatically since the new millennium. And by the looks of it, it’s not going to stop changing anytime soon.

Amidst all of this chaos, we, the musicians, have to find a way to be able to continue producing music, while still having enough money to pay our rent and feed our bellies. In an effort to figure out a way that we can actually achieve that, we’re going to kick off a series of articles about the future of the music industry. To start things off here are some videos and articles that should hopefully make you think.

Articles

Yes, we know no one likes to read things anymore. Deal with it. These are some of the most important articles you could ever read.

Videos

When you are watching these videos, keep in mind that these come from different time periods, different styles of music, and from people who are not only extremely successful, but also highly respected by a vast majority of the music community.


Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) discussing the current state of the music industry and reality TV shows (American Idol).

Frank Zappa talks about the decline of the music business in the 80s.

Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) talks about rock and how DIY is the way to go.

Henry Rollins (Black Flag) tells us what it means to not play it safe.

DJ Jazzy Jeff (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince) discusses the reality of making money with modern day record deals.

Moby discusses how the music industry ended up in such a mess.

Next Week

Remember, this is just the first part of the series. Next week we will begin discussing a lot of what was brought up in these articles and videos. We’ll also begin discussing realistic ways to survive as a modern musician.

Becoming Part Of An Online Music Community

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I feel confident in saying that there are two things musicians always need more of – Time and Money. Sadly, I don’t have any nifty little tricks to make you more money… well at least legally. What I can bring you, today, is a way to help save you some time, which will hopefully make you more money in the long run. How are we going to save time? By focusing on effectively becoming part of an online music community.

What Is An Online Music Community?

Online music communities come in all shapes and sizes. iTunes, Amazon MP3, Last.fm, Bandcamp, Beatport, Spotify, and Reverbnation are all examples. Each one has its own community of users that uses it as its primary method of discovering and purchasing/listening to music. The idea behind each is that music is why people are there, and there is a way for all the users to communicate with one another.

Now I want to make a very important point. Most of the big social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, are NOT music communities. Why, you ask? Because music is not the reason people are there, nor the focus of the website. Now, don’t get me wrong – There ARE music communities that have formed within them. For example, there is a group on Facebook called Los Angeles Metal Underground, a Music section of Reddit, or the Aesthetic Heart Promotions page. All of them are communities that have formed within social networks and have one main goal – a common interest in music.

Why Should I Care About Them?

If you’re asking yourself, “Why should I care about these music communities?” then you’re in for a surprise. It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to promote, word of mouth is the single most effective way to develop a following. Just think about your own life. Where do you hear about most of your new music from? Is it MTV? Is it the radio? Probably not. You most likely heard about your new favorite bands from your friends. There’s a really simple reason for this – you already know, trust, and care about what your friends have to say. You probably don’t care about what that ad on the side of your Facebook wall says.

Essentially, these music communities are a gathering of friends. Except instead of just being school mates, co-workers, or that dude at the mall that you see every time you go, it’s a group of people who all share similar interests. When one of them talks about a new band that they’ve found, the community listens. They’ve already had numerous discussions with this person, and as a result they know a good deal about what kind of music they like. As long as they share those interests, they’ll most likely give the new band a listen.

How Do I Use Them?

Let me start of by saying that I don’t actually like the term “use them” in this context. A more proper term would be “join them.” What I’m getting at is that for these to really become effective tools for you to get the word out about your music, you actually need to stop thinking of them as tools. The fact is, these communities exist because people want to have real discussions about the music they love. If you join one, make a post about your new band, and never participate in any other discussion, then you aren’t contributing to the community. And as a result, no one will take the time to listen to your music. On the other hand, if you join the community, enrich it by actually talking about things people care about, then post something about your own band when it’s actually appropriate, the community will listen. Why? Because you’ve become part of the community!

How Does This Save Me Time?

It might not seem like it yet, but this will, in the long run, save you lots of time. As independent musicians, we spend a lot of time promoting. For a lot of us, that means finding websites that focus on “promoting” independent musicians, uploading our songs, hoping it’ll make it us famous, and then moving onto the next one. What you may not have realized yet, is that each one of these websites is a community unto its own. Each one will have at least a handful of active users that actually care about what’s going on there. These are the people that care about you coming and becoming part of the community. These are also the people that will vote in the charts, spread the word about your band, and hopefully even spend some money on you!

In order for you to start saving time, you need to remember a very old and very wise adage – Quality over quantity. It’s more important for you to find communities that actually make sense for you and your music to be part of. Stop worrying about being everywhere. The fact is, if you aren’t putting in the time on each one, then it’s a waste of your time. You’re much better served finding a few communities that are a good fit, and sticking in it for the long run.

Which Communities Should I Join?

By now you should understand how important it is to join some of these music communities. But before you join the first one you see, you need to ask yourself a couple of questions:

  1. Do You Like The Community?

    2. It’s EXTREMELY important that you actually like what the community has to offer before you join it. If you don’t agree with or care about anything that is being said, you’re going to find it difficult to actually contribute. Although you don’t have to be a yes man, no one wants to talk to the person who always argues with everything that is posted. As a matter of fact, if you come off as a jerk, you might actually do more harm than good. Remember, you are essentially the ambassador of your music. Whatever they think of you will reflect in their thoughts of your music. If they love you, they’ll love your music. If they hate you, they’ll hate your music. Besides, wouldn’t you rather spend time somewhere that you actually enjoy yourself?

  2. How Intimate Is The Community?

    3. As I’ve mentioned before, music communities come in all shapes and sizes. What you need to remember, is that the larger the community, the harder it is for you to become a recognized member. If you’re joining a forum, and there are 10,000 active members, you’re not going to become the go-to guy on anything for quite a while. Chances are, in a community of that size, there isn’t much intimacy as a whole. There might be little factions within it that are fairly close-knit, but it’s hard to keep up on 10,000 people. If you choose to join something like this, you need to realize it will take a lot longer to see any benefit. However, if you become one of the big guns within the community, you’ll have a lot of people who listen to what you have to say.

    On the other hand, if you join a community that only has 25 members, there isn’t going to be a whole lot of room to expand. Within your first post, you’ll probably run into nearly every member. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. On such a small scale, things will move much quicker. You’ll become friends fast. But on top of that, they’ll be VERY good friends. The more intimate the connection, the more likely they’ll care what you have to say.

Where To Find Your New Community

Which community you choose to join is entirely up to you. You know yourself better than anyone. Pick communities that make the most sense for who you are. But don’t be afraid to explore. As long as you have the time and the willpower to do it, there’s no limit on how many communities you can become part of. If, however, you are at a loss as to where you should start looking, here are a few simple suggestions:

  • Google – Simply search for your particular genre and add the word “forum” at the end. For example, if you search for “progressive rock forum,” the first result is Prog Archives. It just so happens that is one of the biggest communities for progressive music you could possibly find.
  • Facebook Groups/Pages – If you use the Facebook search bar and type in a particular genre of music or your hometown plus “music,” you will probably find a group or page that is dedicated to supporting that particular music scene.
  • Reddit – If you go to the Reddit music section, you’ll not only find the main page, but also a lot of other sub categories ranging from Dubstep to Radiohead. Take your pick!
  • Music Gear Forums – If you’re a gear head, then you might benefit from joining a community that’s based around the gear you use. i.e. Drummers who like to play Pearl can go to the Pearl Forums.

The internet is a very vast place. Use your imagination and you’ll find a community that interests you fairly quickly. Search engines are your friend, don’t be afraid to use them.

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How To Create A Tour Itinerary

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Touring is an essential part of being a performing musician. For any signed act, they’ll be assigned a tour manager to handle the business side of the tour. For us independent musicians, we usually get to function as both performer and tour manager. Anyone who has been on tour can tell you how quickly things can fall apart if someone isn’t on top of everything. The easiest way to avoid any meltdowns and catastrophes is to make a tour itinerary. Here is a list of some of the essentials you’ll need to know for each and every show. As you read this, keep in mind you should have all of this info organized for every show on the tour.

Date

It might seem ridiculous, but you need to make sure you know what day you need to be where. Days can quickly become a blur when you spend most of your time inside of a van traveling from one place to another.

Venue Info

You’ll want to make sure you have all the venue info on hand. You never know when you’ll need it, and the last thing you want to do is sift through thousands of emails to find it. Items you’ll need include:

  • Venue Name
  • Address (Street, City, State, Zip Code, Country)
  • Phone Number

Promoter/Venue Contact

Trust me when I say that you’ll start to lose track of who is the person in charge of what night. You always want to make sure that you know who to call. You also need to make sure they never know you might have forgotten what their name is. So make sure you keep these items on hand:

  • Name
  • Number
  • Email
  • Personal Info (Chances are you will have learned a little bit about the person while booking the show. Keeping a personal connection can do wonders for making sure the night goes well. Jot down any personal details so that you can do a quick study before the show.)

Show Details

Don’t forget to include all the regular info you need to know for every show you play. Here’s a quick reminder of important show details:

  • What time doors open
  • Door cover
  • Load-in
  • Soundcheck time
  • Set time
  • Set length

Other Bands

Unless you’re planning on playing three hours a night, you’ll probably have other bands on the bill with you. Try to get their contact info as well. If they are local, they should be able to help you with any problems you encounter (i.e. directions, good places to eat, places to sleep, etc.). It’s also good to have their contact info for future tours.

Pay

This is one of the most important things you need to have on hand. You need to know how much money you are entitled to. If you don’t write it down, you might ask for more than you agreed upon, and that’s just going to cause problems. Or worse yet, you might shortchange yourself. Don’t depend on the venue to tell you they are paying you too little.

Press Obligations

It’s more than likely you’ll have set up quite a few meetings, interviews, or radio spots while on tour. Being on time and knowing all the details for them is just as important as the actual gig. Details you need to make note of include:

  • What kind of press you are meeting with
  • Contact name
  • Time, Date, Address, Phone number
  • Are you performing, or just doing an interview?
  • Is there any special topic being covered?
  • What members of the band need to be present?

Travel Times

ALWAYS know how long it’s going to take to get from one location to the other. You need to make sure that you allot enough time to get from one destination to another. And always leave some cushion. You never know if you’re going to get a flat tire, if there’s going to be traffic, or if you’ll get lost. Having it listed somewhere what time you need to leave from the previous destination and what time you need to leave from the current one will help tremendously in making sure you’re always prompt.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to go overboard on the itinerary. It can’t hurt to have more information than necessary. Write down anything you think might help you in the slightest. You never know when you’ll need it.

And one last thing – Make sure you keep this infomation in duplicates! If you have it all printed, keep a copy on your laptop. If it’s on your laptop, make sure another member of the band has it on their laptop as well. Paper gets lost. Laptops break. Phones run out of battery when you need them the most. Having a backup will save you a lot of headache in your time of need.

Related Posts

Poll: How Can We Help?

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Indie And Unsigned was created with one goal in mind – To help the independent musician survive. As confident as we are that the articles we publish are a great way for any musician to become educated and avoid some of the pitfalls of music business, there is always more that can be done. So this week we are taking a different approach. Instead of us giving you suggestions on how to improve, we want to hear from you!

The easiest way for us to hear everyone’s opinion is for you to answer one question for us in an easy to use poll. So you tell us:


Which of the following would help your music career the most?

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Be honest with us. Our goal is to listen to your feedback and make one of these come true. The more people we hear from, the more it helps us. So please tell all the musicians you know to head on over and voice their opinion! If for any reason you feel that voicing your opinion in the poll or comments isn’t enough, you can always email us at info@indieandunsigned.com. We’re always open for discussion!

How To Communicate Like A Music Professional

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One of the best things about being a musician is that our jobs don’t have the same strict rules as other industries. Wearing jeans and a band t-shirt is acceptable for a vast majority of us. But sometimes we forget that not every aspect of our business is quite as laid back. Communication is one area that you need to always come across as a professional.

Grammar & Spelling

There’s a legitimate reason for people to keep true to their identity. If part of your music branding is that you have a southern draw, there is no reason to fight it. But having a southern draw doesn’t prevent you from using commas, periods, or the right words. If you use grammar so atrocious that the person you are talking to can’t decipher what you are saying, then you’re going to get nowhere fast.

Needless to say, using proper grammar also means avoiding l337 sp34k, text language (i.e. “U R” instead of “you are”), or swearing. There’s a time and place to use these, and it’s not when you are contacting an A&R guy about representation. I promise you, if you don’t use bad grammar, no one will think twice. However, if you choose to send a message that says “Hey how r u? I want to get me representd by you guyz and make 1000000 dollars sos we can be rich as fcuk,” then people will notice real quick.

You don’t have to be a Grammar Nazi and get your high school teacher to proof every email you send out. Just double check and at least use Microsoft Word to do a spelling and grammar check.

Keep It Short

There’s a magic formula out there to ensure victory in everything you attempt. I just don’t know what it is. But what I can tell you is that people in the music business are very busy. When you’re contacting someone, keep on point, and keep it as short as possible. No one wants to filter through your entire life story just to find out you are trying to book a gig at their venue next month. Remove the fluff. Make every word count. Whoever you might be contacting will appreciate it.

Respect Boundaries

In a world where a simple Google search can give you the dirt on anyone you know, it’s easy to blur the boundary between being professional and being a stalker. Just because you can find a person’s home address, doesn’t give you the right to show up unannounced and intrude upon their personal life.

Don’t Lose Your Temper

There’s rarely a time or place that you should actually lose your cool. I know, it’s easier said than done, but you will almost always benefit if you can keep yourself calm and collected. The music business is surprisingly small, and word gets around quickly. This brings me to my next point.

Don’t Gossip

We all do it. Lots of times we are really just venting when we do it, but gossiping always seems to come back to haunt you. If Facebook has taught us anything, it’s that there is a good chance the person you just met shares some mutual contacts. You might find that the person you are talking to might actually be best friends with the person you are talking about. The easiest way to avoid getting caught with your pants down is to just avoid gossiping all together. Besides, if you are so willing to dish the dirt on someone, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the person you are talking to might suffer the same fate of you gossiping about them? No one wants to work with someone who is going to spread rumors about them.

Say, “Thank You”

This is the easiest, yet most overlooked thing that you can do. We all like to know that the people we work with appreciate what we do. A simple “Thank You” can go a long way. Just in case you are out of practice, here are a couple of examples that you should get used to saying:

  • Thank you for your time.
  • Thank you for this opportunity.
  • Thank you for all your help.
  • Thank you for supporting our music.
  • Thank you for being such a great fan.
  • Thank you for coming to our show tonight.

How Radio Royalties Work

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When a company like SoundExchange claims that they have over $1,000,000 in unclaimed royalties owed to CD Baby artists alone, it really makes you realize how little most musicians know about how radio pays them. By law, whenever music is being performed (played) on the radio, money is owed to someone in the way of royalties. The calculations to determine how much is due can get complicated, but if you’re getting significant airtime, radio royalties can make you a pretty penny.

The Players

To really understand who gets paid and how, you need to understand all the parties involved.

  • Songwriter – The songwriter is the person(s) that wrote the song. If you write all of your own music, that’s you. If you are covering a Pink Floyd song, one or more of the members of Pink Floyd are the songwriter(s).
  • Publisher – The publisher is the person that promotes or funds the song. Sometimes it is a publishing company that is selling a songwriter’s song to a recording artist. Sometimes it is the record label you are signed to. For most independent artists, you are the publisher. If you are funding everything yourself and haven’t signed a contract with a publisher, then you are indeed your own publisher.
  • Recording Artist – The recording artist is the person/group that actually records the song. Not everyone writes their own music. Some people, such as Justin Bieber, often times are recording songs that someone else wrote. He would be classified as the recording artist on any such songs.
  • Sound Recording Copyright Owner (SRCO) – The SRCO is the person/company that actually owns the recording of the song. For a signed band that would usually mean the record label. For independent artists, they are their own SRCO. Remember, this is the recording, not the actual notes and lyrics of the music.
  • Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) – These are companies that license the public performance of music on behalf of the copyright owners. For our purposes here, they are the companies that collect the performance royalty money from radio and give it to you, the musicians. In the US there are three PROs – BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. The royalties they collect are for the copyright of the musical work (lyrics and notes).
  • SoundExchange – Much like a PRO, SoundExchange is an organization responsible for collecting royalties from your radio airplay and giving it to you. However, they are collecting royalties for the sound recording on non-interactive digital radio. That’s the actual recording, not just the notes and lyrics.

Kinds Of Radio

Radio comes in all shapes and forms. Each one has their own rules and regulations that determine what royalties they pay. Let’s start by explaining what each kind is:

  • Terrestrial Radio – These are AM/FM stations. They come in the form of Commercial, Classical, College, National Public Radio, and Non-Commercial.
  • Internet Radio – Radio broadcasts transmitted via internet. There are many different kinds of radio, but the big difference you need to understand is selective vs. non-selective. If you can choose when and what song you want played (i.e. Spotify, YouTube), it’s selective. If you don’t choose exactly which song is going to play, it’s non-selective (i.e. Pandora, Live365).
  • Satellite Radio – Radio stations that are transmitted via satellite (i.e. Sirius, XM).
  • Clubs/Restaurants/etc. – Restaurants, clubs, hold music, and all public performances of music are required to pay royalties.

When Do I Get Paid?

For almost any kind of radio, royalties are supposed to be paid to someone. Here is a chart that can help you figure out who gets what:

You might be asking, “Why are there question marks in the chart?” That’s because selective internet radio is paid on a per-contract basis. As mentioned before, Spotify is an example of a selective internet radio. At the moment BMI (one of the PROs in the US) has no deal with them requiring them to pay royalties for their streams. That means that all the money they pay to the artists is handled outside of royalties. Each PRO and each selective internet radio will have to work out their own rules and fees.

Aside from that, it should be fairly straight forward. Look at what kind of radio just played your song. Then look at what ownership you have over the song. You will get paid separate amounts for each check mark that applies to you. For example, if your music is played on a Satellite radio station and you are the songwriter, publisher, SRCO, and recording artist, you will receive 4 different payments. On the other hand, if your song is played on terrestrial radio and you are the recording artist, performer, or SRCO, you won’t get paid at all.

How Much Will I Get Paid?

I wish that I could give you an easy answer as to how much you will get paid each time your song gets airplay. Much to my dismay, I have no way of telling you that. The actual dollar amounts you receive are determined by numerous factors, including but not limited to:

  • What kind of radio is playing your song
  • How long your song is
  • What time of day your song is played
  • Whether it was a feature performance or not
  • What kind of deal the PROs make with the radio station

It gets complicated very quickly. For whatever reason these numbers are kept secret, and as a result we have no real way to find out how much we are owed. We have to trust in the PROs and SoundExchange. Obviously there are faults in the system, but this isn’t the time or place to discuss it.

Making Sure You Get Paid

Hopefully by now you can see that if you’re getting any radio airplay, then there’s money owed to you. To make sure you get your paycheck you will need to register your songs in the following places:

  1. SoundExchange – It’s free, it’s easy, and there’s absolutely no downside. Just head over to their website to start your registration process.
  2. PROs – You only need to choose one PRO to register with. They all serve the same function, but each one has their own benefits to choosing them. Don’t be afraid to take a look at all of them and see which one you prefer. If you’re in the US, the three companies are BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC.
  3. Tunecore’s Songwriter Service – As of recently, TuneCore launched a new program that was put in place to collect on royalties that you may not otherwise receive. They claim they can serve as a replacement or supplement to any PRO. Since it’s new, I can’t speak as to whether or not it can fully replace a PRO, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that they will indeed find you royalties that would have otherwise gone unclaimed. I highly recommend at least using them as a supplement to any PRO. Click here to check them out.

How To Beat Pay-To-Play & Pre-Sale

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It’s inevitable that at some point in your career you will run across a pay-to-play situation, usually in the form of pre-sale tickets. That means you will be financially responsible for a certain amount of tickets, whether you sell them or not. For most of us musicians, we can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous the situation is. Horror stories run rampant about bands that had to sell $1500 in pre-sale tickets, only to be treated horribly by the venue, and play to no new faces. This is not going to be one of those. Today I want to provide a plan of action that will help crush anyone who is trying to leech money out of musicians, while simultaneously making your gig experience better.

How It’s Done Wrong

Whenever I think of ridiculous pre-sale requirements, the first venue that pops into my head is The Cat Club on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, California. Not surprisingly, they have now shut down and been replaced by a restaurant that has no live music whatsoever. On any given night, they would require 60 pre-sale tickets, at $10/each, to be sold by each of the 3 or 4 bands. Now, to anyone who has dealt with pre-sale before, that may not sound very unusual. What made it so ludicrous was the fact that the venue was barely able to fit 60 people in it. The place was TINY! So, if there were even 2 bands playing, and they each had 60 people buy tickets and show up, the venue wouldn’t even be able to let them all in.

Imagine if you were a fan who just spent $10 on a ticket, drove in the never ending traffic of Los Angeles to get to The Cat Club, paid $10 for parking, and then were told you weren’t allowed in because the venue is full. How angry would you be? Now, switch back into musician mode. If you sold all your tickets, you would have packed the place to such an extent that there wouldn’t be any room for any new fans. You wouldn’t make any money since the Cat Club takes 100% of the door and bar sales. In short, you aren’t doing anything to further your music career. This is pay-to-play at its worst.

How It’s Done Right

The Cat Club is a prime example of a venue that has no interest in anything but money. It’s unfair, unethical, and just plain stupid. With that said, musicians need to understand that venues DO have to make money. If they can’t pay their rent and employees, then they’ll go out of business. That doesn’t mean that we have to choose if venues or musicians make money. There is a simple way to make it a beneficial relationship – We have to work together.

Step 1 – Building An Audience

The most important part of any gig is the audience. As musicians, we turn them into fans. As a venue, they turn them into customers. Either way, if there is no audience, we both fail.

Venue Perspective
Unless the venue is specifically music-only (Which is only the case for larger ones), they are using live music as a method to improve business. It provides a way to attract a larger customer base, as well as tap into any fans of the bands that play their stage. In order for it to be lucrative, the bands that play either need to bring in new customers, or encourage their current customers to spend more money.

Musician Perspective
Musicians are looking for somewhere where they can showcase their talents. When they are first starting, they will primarily be playing to their friends and family. In order to continue growing, they need to play a venue that has an audience there. This will provide a way for them to gain more exposure and build their fan base.

Solution
If the venue has no built in customer base that the band can play to, then they are depending entirely on the band to bring them. In this case, the venue needs to give the band a reason to want to play at their venue rather than one that can provide new fans. In short, the venue is paying to gain access to the band’s fan base. The venue should be giving money to the band in this situation.

If the venue does have a built in audience, then there is now incentive for the band to want to play there. In this case, the band needs to give the venue a reason to want to book them. That means the band either needs to bring fans, or they need make the customers want to stay longer and spend more money. If they can’t provide at least one of those, then there is no reason for the venue to book them.
If you speak to anyone who has booked bands, they’ll tell you that bands often lie about how many people they can actually pull to a gig. Realistically, the only way to guarantee they are telling the truth is to make them financially responsible for those numbers. That means pre-sale!

The trick to making this work is for the venue to be realistic about their expectations. If they only have 15 customers in the venue, then they shouldn’t expect the band to bring more than that. Or if they can only hold 60 people in their venue, they shouldn’t expect the band to fill to capacity.

Some of you might be asking, “How do I tell if the venue has its own audience?” It’s quite simple actually – Go there the night of someone else’s gig. It’s fairly easy to tell the difference between a friend of the band and a customer of the venue. And if you can’t tell easily, start talking to people. The worst that happens is you make a new friend that will come out and see your band.

Step 2 – The Lineup

I’ll never truly understand why building a logical lineup seems to escape most people. Creating a good lineup can be one of the best tools to ensure a good gig. A bad lineup can ruin the night for both the venue and band.

Venue Perspective
Just like with building an audience, the venue’s primary goal is to build a lineup that will draw people in and keep them there. If one act causes people to leave, it means a loss of business.

Musician Perspective
The most receptive audience you can find is one that already likes a band similar to yours. Playing with bands that have a similar style and audience will mean it’s easier to turn them into your own fans.

Solution
If you put an acoustic act in between two death metal bands, you’re asking for a bad night. It’s not impossible to find someone who likes both genres, and would like to see all three acts, but it’s highly unlikely. Just look at big shows. Metal bands open for other metal bands. Rock bands open for other Rock bands. Hip hop acts open for other hip hop acts. Every so often you’ll see some cross-genre lineup, but it’s fair to say that there was a lot of money spent and research done to make sure that they have a similar fan base. On a small scale, you don’t have the resources to make that happen.

By mixing and matching drastically different genres, you’re risking people walking out because they don’t care about the next act. That means less money being spent in the venue, and a smaller audience for each band. If you can get them in there and keep them all night, it’ll improve everyone’s night.

Another plus to booking acts that have a similar fan base is that fans will see it almost as a “Buy One, Get One Free” kind of deal. For the price of one ticket, they get to see two or more bands that they like.

Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to only book Technical-Blackened-Doom-Sludge-Metal for a good night. Just be reasonable. Having Metallica open for Lady Gaga is not an acceptable lineup.

Step 3– Promotion

It doesn’t matter if the gig is pay-to-play or not, promotion is not any single person’s job. Every party involved should be doing their best to get the word out.

Venue Perspective
The venue should be promoting themselves whether or not you are playing there. Your particular gig is just another event that they should be promoting. If they aren’t bringing their own audience, they have a broken business model.

Musician Perspective
There is absolutely no excuse for you to not promote one of your own gigs. You should be trying to pull as many people as you can to every gig. The more packed the place, the better your show will be.

Solution
Work with the venue to promote the show. Not every gig requires you to print physical flyers and pass them out on street corners. But if this one does, there’s a good chance the venue will know how to keep costs down and what corners are best. Plus, if you work with them, they can get other bands involved. That means costs will be minimal, and the work can be divvied up. Which brings me to another point – ALWAYS promote the entire lineup. As mentioned earlier, anyone who likes more than one act is more likely to show up.

One of the best ways to market anything is to make sure that people see it multiple times. More often than not, someone won’t come to your gig if they only hear about it one time. If they see your ad every day for a month, hear their friends talking about it, and drive by the venue marquee every day, there’s a good chance they will come. Working with the venue, as well as the other bands, will ensure that there is more exposure.

Simply put, stop arguing over who is responsible for promotion. Everyone is!

How We Can Make A Difference

The sad truth is that this one article won’t be able to change the mind of the entire music business. In order for a real difference to be made, we musicians will have to work together and show the venues that things need to change. Kicking and screaming will get us nowhere, though. We need to hit them where it hurts – in their pocketbooks. I’m very open to hearing suggestions as to how we can do just that (In fact, leave a comment if you have any suggestions), but in the meantime here is what I propose – Only do pay-to-play after asking yourself these questions:

  • Are there any new fans?

    • Before you starting dishing out all your money, ask yourself, “Are there new fans for you play to?” If not, then don’t do it! If there are, then you need to compare what you are asked to bring versus what they offer. There should be AT LEAST one audience member that they bring for every one that you bring. There’s no reason for you to bring 60 people to a venue if they are only going to bring 2. Use those numbers to find a venue that will bring 60 of their own. Keep in mind, the other band’s fans don’t count as venue audience.

  • Are there any big names?

    • When we are talking big name headliners, the rules change. When the Foo Fighters play, the place is packed with ONLY their audience. Being able to open for them will expose you to so many new people that it would be ridiculous not to take the spot. Of course, that’s only if your music makes sense against Foo Fighters. As mentioned before, you need to make sure that fans of the band will like your music. Generally, if you are selling tickets to a show with a big headliner, you’ll run out extremely quickly. Why? Because your tickets are cheaper. Unless you are including Ticketmaster and venue fees and taxes in your sale price, you’ll always have cheaper tickets. That means all of your friends will want to buy them through you.

  • Would you pay that much for the promotion?

    • Every so often you’ll run across a gig that does such extensive promotion that it makes the money worth it. By being part of the gig, your name will be thrown around so much that you’re essentially just paying for promotion. In these situations, you have to decide whether you could use that same amount of money for promotion that is any better. If it’s as good as it gets, then there’s no harm.

I want to point out that I don’t just mean playing the Whiskey-a-go-go in Hollywood. Yes, they have a famous name. Yes, your bassist’s mom will be super excited that you are playing the same stage that Motley Crue used to frequent. But no one else gives a crap. Any band that is willing to fork out $1,000 in pre-sale tickets has played there. The prestige is only recognized by the people who are so disconnected from live music that they wouldn’t show up even if you put them on the guest list. Record label executives and A&R guys no longer sit in there every night scouting talent. They only show up when big names they represent are on the stage. So unless you’re opening for a big name, you might as well throw your money in the garbage.

If the answer to all of these questions is, “No,” then you really need to reconsider the gig. Don’t let the booker spoon feed you their sales pitch. If the gig is really such a great opportunity, it should be really easy to see how it’s beneficial for you.

As soon as we as musicians collectively stop giving the leeches our money, they’ll go out of business. Use what little money we do make to reward the people who are actually trying to work with us and help keep live music a thriving art. You have to remember, there is no limit to the amount of music one person can like. Music lovers are always itching to find new music to listen to. We aren’t competing with each other. We don’t need to compete with music venues. We don’t need to compete with booking agents or promoters. We need to work together.