Chapter 1
Getting on the Path to Results
In This Chapter
Discovering the best musical path for you
Jump-starting your plan to get what you want
Knowing who to listen to and who to avoid
Differentiating between the music and the music business
The journey into the music business starts with two steps. The first step moves you forward toward the creativity, writing, performing, and love of the music and the art. The second step takes you toward the organization, optimization, planning, and structure of the business side. The best path to achieving the greatest results in the music business mixes the creativity of the music with the budgeting and organizational nature of the business side. It combines the spontaneity of the music with the planning and contractual structuring of the legal side; a yin and yang mix of freedom to create with the conformity of recordkeeping.
This chapter gives you an overall look at the two sides of the music business. I talk about social media and a little about the legal stuff you need to know about conversions and your music business plan. Odds have it, you’re already familiar with the creative side of this industry, and you now need an insight into the business aspects. Throughout this chapter (and the book, actually), I stress that the music business is a career. Hopefully it’s your career.
Differentiating between the Music and the Music Business
There’s a big difference between your music and the music business. That might sound like a “big duh” statement, but take a minute to think about it. As much as you’re already established on the creative side of music, you might have little to no experience in the business world or the business side of music. A great musician might have no knowledge about or experience in business — one discipline encourages freedom to create; the other demands left-brain practical thinking. Music and business are truly two entirely different forms and practices.
All too often, the lines blur between the two and cause musicians to make big career mistakes that cost them in the moment and often in the long term. As much as the lines get blurred, always remember that your music is your art. Whereas you might be in the beginning stages of business, never let anyone make you doubt the music you create and love. That’s the creative part, not the business part.
Some claim there are formulas to writing hit songs, and million-dollar successes bring all the fame in the world. But the reality is that for every formula presented or example of how the ten best songs of any given year were hits, there are millions of other songs that went nowhere that followed the same exact structure and at least another ten songs that did just as well in completely different molds.
Even though you need to know the business side of the music industry, regardless of the job or role you take, trust in your art and your creative side so you can learn and grow in your craft. Don’t make the music all about business, or there will be nothing creative to it.
Many different tasks are presented to and required from you throughout your career, but those activities make up the business side. When you separate and differentiate the two, both are much easier to do and give you a greater understanding of how they both work together.
Why you need to grasp the business
You don’t need to go to business school and get an MBA, just like you don’t need to learn every aspect of the music business to succeed. Still, taking business and accounting classes as well as intellectual property, copyright, and marketing courses can help to supplement your knowledge. Learning about each position, each expense, each revenue, basic legal and copyright information as well as the fundamentals of contracts inside and outside of your music, your band and the people involved with you gives you a better understanding of everything happening around you. Also, networking and connecting with the right people can also help. Never feel bad about asking questions regarding contracts, copyrights, and other legal aspects.
When you have a basic knowledge of what goes on in your career, you have a better idea if you’re going in the right or wrong direction. In turn, you can make better decisions when things are going wrong and make things grow even larger when things are going right.
When you let others take care of your career, you have no idea if your business matters are being handled in your favor or to benefit others. Many artists who have lost money and prestige, more often than not, let it happen to themselves by being ignorant or uninvolved in decisions that directly affected them.
Understanding the basics of the music biz buffet
The music business can be compared to a buffet composed of tables with platters of copyrights, publishing, sync licensing to television and movies, CDs, performances, digital downloads, download cards, T-shirts, hats, glassware, posters, bags, performance royalties, mechanical royalties, online advertising revenues, and many other revenue-generating and tasty choices.
Sitting at these tables with you are producers, mixing engineers, managers, publicists, publishers, promoters, graphic designers, SEO people, mastering engineers, lawyers, investors, web designers, distributors, photographers, videographers, consultants, songwriters, talent buyers, venue owners, booking agents, insurance agents, radio promoters, fundraisers, and others who want their share of each dish.
It can seem overwhelming and intimidating; many avoid it all together. But the best way to simplify everything while still addressing every detail is to make sure the following five elements are covered for every person and every product.
- Understanding and planning: Make sure everyone has a clear understanding of what each person is doing, what they’re getting, and how long they’re involved. Also make clear how monies are spent and how work is being done. I discuss more of this in Chapter 9.
- Protection and contractual obligation: This is where you and your legal team draw up and sign binding contracts that clarify each role and what each gains from revenues also discussed in Chapter 9.
- Problem solving and preventative maintenance: Make certain that you have an emergency preparedness and readiness plan in place and that you have solutions ready to resolve the issues. I go deeper into this in Chapter 18.
- Education and updating your learning: Stay up to date with new products, old contracts, and changes in the law for entertainment, intellectual property, and other related issues.
- Due diligence and fact checking: Before working with anyone or signing any agreement, making sure to verify your information, and check up on the people giving you that info before you go into business with them. From calling references to checking reviews and past clients, make sure the people you’re working with and the path they want to walk leads you where you want to go.
You don’t need to know every aspect of every job and every detail, but the more familiar you are with the basics of all the different people, jobs, companies, and requirements, the better the decisions you make and the more you’re able to take for yourself at the music biz buffet.
Disconnecting the business from the music
Understand that on any given day, you have to focus time on the business side of things to make your music thrive and succeed. This takes time and effort away from actually making music. Just keep in mind why you’re in the music business and the business side will be less stressful and tedious.
It’s okay to get lost in the creative side of your music and let it take you to another place, somewhere carefree, inspiring, and almost like you’re lifting off and flying. But don’t let that happen with the business side. Keep a firm grip on all things and all people around you, and you won’t have to feel the sensation of your legs being swept out from under you.
Practicing Responsible Career Tactics
Creating the plan for your career or any career in any business is a great first step, but if you aren’t using responsible tactics in your plan as you begin to execute that plan, it could cost you a lot in the long run. By asking all the questions that you need to know, preparing for the best and worst-case scenarios and getting everyone working with you on the same page, both conceptually and legally (signed contracts), you can keep the confusion, misunderstandings, and potentially devastating problems to a minimum. At the same time, you reinforce the clear expectations you have with others and what they can have with you. More about the plans and the planning in Chapter 4.
Planning for the plan and creating the blueprint
A great number of musicians work from the mindset that after they connect with the right people, agent, manager, label, or investor, everything gets taken care of as far as the business side is concerned and they get to live the rock-star life.
Not to completely discredit that view, but less than half a percent live that dream, which actually is a nightmare. Never forget that when you have someone doing everything for you, they can take everything from you.
Your music, art, and creative vision are priceless to you. When you bring that to the music business, however, what it takes to get you, your music, and your brand out to the world without your help means the bulk of profits end up with those who had control. Plan to stay involved in the business side of your career.
Create a basic music business plan that you can begin to implement immediately, regardless of where you are in your career. This blueprint helps to map the path of where you want to go while showing others just how far you can go. The organization early on helps you start on the best path to lead you to the most opportunities and the most connections to get you where you want to be. More details about music business plans are discussed in Chapter 4.
Building your own foundation first
The more you can put together and the more you can take care of yourself, the less you require from others. Sounds simple, right? But think about it — if you can create the basics for others to work from, you create and have the rights to that much more of your branding, graphics, and foundational elements. You’ve done that much more work that you don’t have to pay others to create.
The more you do, the less you need others to do, and the more you can keep for you. When you handle the basic business structure, as well as the basic plan, the logos, content, one liners, bios, and preliminary branding elements, you can move forward that much faster with people who can work with what’s already been put in place. More about this is Chapter 7.
Focusing on conversions and rules of engagement
Many musicians get so wrapped up in the idea of numbers that they don’t create any real or pertinent numbers for them or their careers. The amount of friends, followers, likes, views, plays, and shares builds nothing other than numbers if there’s no conversion. Would you rather have 100,000 followers on Twitter or $100,000.00 in conversions to revenues for albums, downloads, product sales and so on? More about your conversions as well as tracking them in Chapter 17.
Social media has helped reach many people and yet at the same time has taken some musicians backward with the idea of how to engage all those people and convert them to fans who buy music, merchandise, and show tickets. In the past few years alone, artists boast and brag about the number of views on YouTube, the number of followers on Twitter, or the number of likes on Instagram like they measure success. When they’re asked, however, how much music has been sold, how many gigs they have lined up, or what opportunities are coming from those numbers, most give a blank look and answer with very low numbers.
How to use social media summary
Simply summed up for the music or any other business, regardless of having the biggest budget in the world or not having a penny in the bank, it’s the same — using social media for marketing and promotion is a requirement that most understand. Still, using social media with the most responsible tactics to create the best engagement and conversions comes from thinking of every post as a marketing and promotional tool that helps you today, and reinforces and compounds what you posted yesterday as it helps to push tomorrow’s post and solidifies all posts in the future.
Those who just sell, sell, sell and bore their existing fans with the same pitch over and over, with the same videos or posts over and over, end up losing their existing audience as they reach to grow it larger. The content is key and with the addition of an editorial calendar and basic posting plan for online marketing, you can keep the existing fans engaged, reach for new fans, and continue to sell without spamming, boring, or pressuring your existing or new audiences. Chapter 11 goes deeper into organizing and posting content.
Acting and behaving in the music business
Responsible tactics also include how you behave and present yourself in emails, phone calls, and in person. An arrogant approach and a rock-star persona attitude are all too often presented to music industry people who have seen it all too much and are sick of it.
Take that extra second before you post online or send that email to make sure your Is are dotted and your Ts are crossed. Thinking about not only what you are presenting, asking for, or looking to discuss, but also thinking about your communication, the volume of your voice, the confidence in your tone by mixing humility, integrity, and respect helps you be seen as that much more of a professional. From how you dress to your posture, and even your eye contact, a great deal of your first impression creates that many more opportunities for you.
What you’re asking for or what you want in most cases has been heard a million times before by the people you’re pitching to. Keep that in mind and formulate a pitch that’s strong in its delivery and shows that you understand the people you’re talking to. This individualized approach helps industry personnel see you as more of an individual, instead of just another musician thinking they’re the best thing since sliced bread.
Taking the high road on your music path
Even as things go wrong or when others do wrong by you, take the high road. Going online to bash whoever you feel did you wrong is usually not going to help you get what you need. It also presents an immature and reactive image and a lack of professionalism that may drive away potential music business professionals and companies. No one wants to work with those who hang their dirty laundry out to be seen by everyone.
Keep that stuff offline and out of marketing, and handle your business like a professional business person. That doesn’t mean being taken advantage of or letting the business steamroll you. It means that you will contact the right people the right way to try to make things right and stay offline and quiet about it. Your existing fan base and the new fans you are reaching out to don’t need to see this side, so don’t show it to them.
Letting go of the things that aren’t going to change
There are times when letting go is the better option over continuing after something that will never get fixed, never get you paid, and never be right. It’s good to right the wrongs; righting a wrong from someone who wronged you is even more desirable. Still, if you spend a hours, money, and energy to chase after something from the past, it can end up stalling you from moving forward.
Pick and choose your battles wisely. You can’t win them all; if you try, you could end up losing everything.
Keeping your online info in check
Responsible marketing and sharing both online and in interviews can help keep your fans interested in you. Social media has turned into a cesspool of over-sharing, however, both with celebrities and normal people alike. Then bring in the paparazzi, TMZ, and rumor trains, and you have way too much over-saturated information that has infected the online world.
Keep your pages about your music and your business. Whereas sharing personal aspects about yourself can work in your favor, make sure the info ties directly to something that can lead these people to want to find out more about you. Just sharing, “I like scrambled eggs” and showing a picture of scrambled eggs is pretty boring, mundane, and pointless.
From doctor’s appointments to private jokes to other pictures of food, keep the personal stuff personal, and keep the marketing for your music pages. Think before you post and stay responsible! Is this post going to be good for marketing, promotion, and helping to reinforce your branding for new and old fans, reviewers, booking agents, investors, and other music business professionals? Can this post be effective in two years? If the answer is no to these questions, don’t post it and keep it private, or put it up through personal channels.
Create personal pages for personal information or the over-sharing information if you really want to put it out there, but make sure that those pages are named something other than your stage name. For example, if your real name and stage name is Nerol Namsie, and you already have http://nerolnamsie.com/ as well as a number of pages on social media tied in to that name, try using a nickname for your personal page and make it private. This helps to avoid confusion from both new and old fans searching you.
Keeping the personal stuff private and not sharing too much can also add to a mystery and a mystique about you. It’s that much more refreshing for new and old fans to know that when you post, it’s something they might want to see, as opposed to being inundated with too many posts that don’t give them the information to build better engagement.
Think of the brand new fans who have come upon you by accident. Do you want to have to make them scroll through page after page of meaningless posts that have no tie to your music or marketing? Or should they immediately get a sense of your music and you?
Marketing for musicians: Basic anatomy of a good post
Jumping back to the scrambled eggs update (see the earlier section, “Keeping your online info in check”), each social media site has different best practice rules for posting.
As shown in the earlier section, the post was eggs and just “I like scrambled eggs” for content. And, yes I have seen this come across my feed from a musician in the past. This isn’t made up. Now, if you shared a picture of scrambled eggs shaped in your band’s logo, the logo next to scrambled eggs, or on a plate with your logo super-imposed over it, then band’s the caption, you get what’s seen in Figure 1-1. Nice, hm?
Figure 1-1: This attention-grabbing social media post gives the reader all the info they need.
Here is the breakdown:
- You start with a headline that jumps out, even if it comes off a bit weird.
- The band name is clearly mentioned — Kitty Likes Avocado.
- You give a vivid description of the track.
- You include the call to action and accompanying URL where fans can listen to the track and access your main web page.
- The image upload of the eggs is named (scrambled-eggs, funk-music, kitty-likes-avocado.jpeg).
- You finish with a couple hash tags that tie into the topic and the post.
In Google+, you can get some pretty amazing optimization on words and photos if you post correctly. They offer this as a push to get more people on Google+, so take advantage of that! The post can still be shared to all your other pages, as well.
The post can draw in a new fan, keep an existing one engaged, and help with search engine optimization (SEO) and the uniform branding that needs to be there. Taking those extra steps to come up with a post and then tailoring it for the best results gives you a serious leg up in social media.
Weeding out the Myths, Scams, and Scammers
There are a lot of people with a lot of claims that promise you the world, fame, riches, and success as long as you listen to them. Unfortunately, the truth usually boils down to anyone who’s promising the world, fame, riches, and success right out of the gate is most likely a scammer or part of a scam. There’s money to be made in the legitimate music business, but it doesn’t come close to the totals that have been made off fake record labels, consultants, coaches, producers, studios, managers, and agents who prey on the sensitivity, lack of experience, and ego of many artists.
From taking money to getting these artists signed into contracts that can have a negative effect for years to come, one of the most important elements of thriving and sustaining in the music business is to clarify and watch out for the scams/scammers who are all over it and a major part of it.
Take it all in, but choose wisely who you listen to and what advice you choose to follow. From research to references to due diligence, things can still go wrong, but the chances are much more in your favor that they’ll go right if you know what to look for.
The old quote “Born on third base and you think you hit a triple” has been credited to a number of different people, but it’s absolutely true. When you choose to buy into the hype of someone who has a very successful career but delivers information from second guesses instead of backing it up with the numbers and the proof, you are headed toward a model that will hurt more than help.
These people present themselves by feeding in to a musician’s dreams, their weaknesses, and their desires as they look to make money off them. There are some with the best intentions to make things go that big, but their lack of experience, knowledge, and problem solving mixed with their abundance of ego, ignorance, and foolishness set themselves and the artists up for failure.
You don’t need a life coach or cheerleader
Let me repeat this section heading — you don’t need a life coach or cheerleader. If you need someone to help you find the drive to do the work that’s required to be successful in music, you might be in the wrong profession. You do need those who can guide you, who have the experience and proof to help in today’s music business. You need to track the results of what you’re doing to see what’s working and what isn’t. You need you more than anyone else to ask the questions, follow up on the claims, do your due diligence, and be patient with what you’re creating.
Opinions, facts, theories, and proof
Watch for the morphing of opinions that turn into facts, just as you keep an eye on those who discuss theories that somehow shift into proof. You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for. By taking simple steps to ask questions and then question the answers you get, you can to surround yourself with honest people and make better choices about the direction to take your career.
The music business has changed dramatically over the decades and continues to change each year. Certain facts that were once true are now expired; certain proven theories that were once right are now wrong. Differentiating between what was and what is needs to take place with every decision you make for your career and every piece of advice you choose to follow or take. With so many people sharing so much information — from the creative elements of what it takes to write a hit song to the budgeting elements of how much it costs to record that song to the performance elements of what kind of team it will take to put you on tour performing that song and everything in between — make sure for each concept, tip, approach, or piece of advice you get, ask the following:
- What made it work?
- When did it work?
- What was the budget?
- Who made up the team?
- How long did it take?
- What are the similarities to you and your situation?
- What are the differences?
- What direction do things seem to be going to make it work or not make it work again?
Looking up and addressing those elements and finding out the details can help you in any business, but especially in the music business. Think of yourself as a card-carrying red-flag holder who’s ready to raise that red flag as soon as something sounds too good to be true or hits you the wrong way. And realize there are so many different personal approaches. This is not a one-size-fits-all business.
Find out as much as you can whether an opinion is worth its weight in gold and truly can be justified as a fact or is just an opinion with nothing to truly substantiate it.
Not every opinion can be proven as a fact, but in that case look at the track record of who’s supplying that opinion and other facts they have supplied in the recent past. Although facts and proof are best, the opinions and theories from those who truly know the music business can give you reason to believe them to be true.
It's okay to say I don't know
It’s actually one of the best things you can say and one of the best things you can hear. If you don’t know something, then don’t pretend to know it, and don’t make something up. It’s not cool. Would you want someone to make up something to try to come off cool? Probably not.
Take a path of honor and honesty by being honorable and honest about what you know and what you don’t know. I wasn’t the greatest drummer by far, and I wasn’t the best music producer either. I never claimed to have all the answers and I still don’t claim to. One of the things that got me a lot of work and connections, though, was being the first to say I didn’t know something. That humility you carry in the music business will take you far.
As I shifted to becoming a music industry consultant, speaker, and author, being able to say “I don’t know” got me even more opportunities. It reinforced the belief from others that when I said I knew something, I really did, and it built trust that I wasn’t making things up when I said I didn’t know but I would find out.
Don’t try to be cool by pretending to know something. Be cool by being the first to say that you don’t know, but you’ll find the answer.
Committing to, Reinforcing, and Running a Career
After you get your plan in motion and your music the best it can be, and you supplement it with the efforts to make the music-business side run as smoothly as possible, you’re in the longest stage of your career in the music business: the continuity stage.
This stage consists of the ongoing commitment to both your craft and the business of your craft that allows for sustaining success and continued growth. This commitment is key and needed in both hard times as well as good times. The continued commitment allows for certain aspects of the business to be that much more streamlined and allow for the business and creative sides to flow that much easier. By understanding what worked well, you can repeat it, just as having the understanding of what didn’t work so that you won’t repeat it helps you survive, thrive, and succeed for years to come.
The humility of your business and creative sides
Humility is one of the last pieces of the puzzle that helps you build the best map as you create the smoothest roads and most productive path for your music business career. The humility in the art you write and perform, the business you partake in, and the artists you work with gives you a leg up in a world of arrogance and excessive egos.
Stay centered, stay humble, and understand that not everyone is going to like you, believe in you, or want to work with you. You can always grow in all elements of your craft from the business to the creative sides. Whether it’s handling criticism a little better to keeping that level head when someone is hyping you up, the way you act in front of the biggest fan to the person you’re the biggest fan of should be similar if not the very same. The humility, respect, and drive to stay grounded as you fly high helps you stand out among a sea of egos.
You’re an original, but you aren’t the only one
As new as it is to you, whether your marketing, music, approach, look, lyrics, performance, or anything else you can think of, it has been described before, asked for before, and done before. Maybe not exactly like what you’re doing, but close or at least in the same ballpark.
Don’t get discouraged, and don’t go changing who you are, the music you write, or the way you perform it. That creative side is you. It’s just a key point to keep in mind as you approach booking agents, talent buyers, record labels, investors, agents, and whoever else when you’re looking for support, a connection, or an opportunity. That pause you take and that breath before the send, the ask, or the request can make all the difference. It also helps with your connections and networking with others in and out of the music industry ten fold.
Your endurance and patience
The music business is made for those with the endurance and the patience to make sure that all the pieces are created the right way and presented in the right fashion. From recording the music, to the graphics on the album, the touring plan, marketing, and so on, your endurance to build it the right way yields the best results. Managing your time, multitasking, practicing patience, and realizing there are enough hours in the day is part of the winning formula; how you allocate those hours makes the difference.
Understanding your audience, fans, and customers
There’s a big different between reaching a potential fan and converting them to a fan who comes to see you play, buys your music, and truly stays connected and engaged. As you think about the engagement and connection of each fan over the friend, like, view, listen, or follow, you create the best fan base that stays with you for a long time to come.