I was just going through my file cabinet, and I came across a file called "old marketing plans."
I had myself quite a moment laughing at my very specific instructions to my years-ago self, things like
-reply to all MySpace comments every day
-go to at least one open mic per week
-play one full show a month, no more and no less
-print and put up 25 posters for every show
They weren't rocket science, but they were things I knew I could do and control, and I did my best to faithfully execute them. Over time I wrote new plans, dropping unimportant things and adding new ones (MySpace fell off some time in 2009).
There's no magic bullet marketing plan, career advice, or "how to make it" guide because everyone has their own situation with its individual advantages and disadvantages.
The closest thing I think can be said is "Do. Learn. Do Better (repeat)".
As I look at these old pieces of paper, I'm reminded that early on, my applied version of this was:
"Make Plan. Execute Plan. Revise Plan (repeat)."
And that ultimately that cycle was much more important than the specific content of the plan itself.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Medium-Size Risks
This isn't news, but risking $50 on a cool idea to promote your band is a very different beast from risking $500, which is a very different beast from risking $5,000 or $50,000. (obviously this is a sliding scale. If you're a big record label $50,000 might still seem like a small expense.)
Most people don't have a problem with low-expense items. In general, it's good to take lots of low-expense risks on a regular basis, because you don't expect much from them and it's not hard to get your money's worth.
On the other end, when it comes to high-expense, the decisions end up becoming similarly clear, because the cost is so high. In music this generally means a radio campaign, and the goal is almost always to break the artist, to pass a tipping point. It's balls to the wall, with lots of money and resources committed, and you'll know very clearly if you've succeeded or failed.
However, the real trouble comes in the middle. What about when something will cost you a chunk of change, but the end goal the metrics for success aren't quite so cut and dried? You want to advance / improve / grow the band, but what's the best way?
On the label end, it's easy to sign a band with a small advance and make a record, but it becomes a lot harder to commit a larger chunk of money to release and promote that record.
On the individual level, promotional items like stickers are a good example of this, you want people to take them and use them, but the costs can add up quite quickly since you're making and giving away huge numbers of them, and it's hard to justify spending that big chunk of change.
2 thoughts on medium-size risks:
1. You've got to be much more realistic about your goals with medium-expense risks than with low-expense risks, and you've got to think them through very carefully. Taking too many of them too casually is an easy way to bankrupt yourself, your label, or your band.
2. It's vitally important to be willing to take these medium-expense risks when it's appropriate. The overly cautious 'safe' route can be just as disastrous over a long term. The truth is, if you invest almost nothing, you're very likely to get almost nothing in return.
Most people don't have a problem with low-expense items. In general, it's good to take lots of low-expense risks on a regular basis, because you don't expect much from them and it's not hard to get your money's worth.
On the other end, when it comes to high-expense, the decisions end up becoming similarly clear, because the cost is so high. In music this generally means a radio campaign, and the goal is almost always to break the artist, to pass a tipping point. It's balls to the wall, with lots of money and resources committed, and you'll know very clearly if you've succeeded or failed.
However, the real trouble comes in the middle. What about when something will cost you a chunk of change, but the end goal the metrics for success aren't quite so cut and dried? You want to advance / improve / grow the band, but what's the best way?
On the label end, it's easy to sign a band with a small advance and make a record, but it becomes a lot harder to commit a larger chunk of money to release and promote that record.
On the individual level, promotional items like stickers are a good example of this, you want people to take them and use them, but the costs can add up quite quickly since you're making and giving away huge numbers of them, and it's hard to justify spending that big chunk of change.
2 thoughts on medium-size risks:
1. You've got to be much more realistic about your goals with medium-expense risks than with low-expense risks, and you've got to think them through very carefully. Taking too many of them too casually is an easy way to bankrupt yourself, your label, or your band.
2. It's vitally important to be willing to take these medium-expense risks when it's appropriate. The overly cautious 'safe' route can be just as disastrous over a long term. The truth is, if you invest almost nothing, you're very likely to get almost nothing in return.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
You never know what's going to be popular in the future.
I just finished paging through this month's Rolling Stone, which includes a several page interview with one of my favorite Fantasy authors, George R. R. Martin.
Let me be clear here, I am a Fantasy nerd. I have been reading this stuff all my life, ever since I decided as a child that stories with under 500 pages were too damn short for me. (Eventually stories with less than 3 giant books also seemed far too short).
I pre-ordered "A Dance With Dragons" from Amazon.com in 2002. Suffice it to say I had to wait a few years to get it, but I have been way into Fantasy for basically my entire literate life.
I'm not saying all of this to brag and be all "I liked this stuff BEFORE it was cool."
Don't get me wrong, I did like it before it was cool, but I'm not angry about it becoming cool, I'm elated!
Now that Game of Thrones has broken through, Fantasy popular in a whole new way. All of a sudden instead of being mocked for my laughably deep knowledge of this stuff, I'm being consulted and asked questions and (gasp) even admired a bit for my reading prowess!
Here's the point: I love Fantasy, I always have and always will, even when it inevitably fades from coolness again. If you had told me growing up that it would become anywhere near as popular as it has become in the past year, I would have laughed in your face. I love the stuff to my core, but the idea that everyone could love it seemed preposterous.
Yet here we are.
To me, the moral of this story is to make the art you love instead of chasing phantom 'hit' songs. The music you make might only appeal to a small group now, but you never know what's going to be popular in the future...
Let me be clear here, I am a Fantasy nerd. I have been reading this stuff all my life, ever since I decided as a child that stories with under 500 pages were too damn short for me. (Eventually stories with less than 3 giant books also seemed far too short).
I pre-ordered "A Dance With Dragons" from Amazon.com in 2002. Suffice it to say I had to wait a few years to get it, but I have been way into Fantasy for basically my entire literate life.
I'm not saying all of this to brag and be all "I liked this stuff BEFORE it was cool."
Don't get me wrong, I did like it before it was cool, but I'm not angry about it becoming cool, I'm elated!
Now that Game of Thrones has broken through, Fantasy popular in a whole new way. All of a sudden instead of being mocked for my laughably deep knowledge of this stuff, I'm being consulted and asked questions and (gasp) even admired a bit for my reading prowess!
Here's the point: I love Fantasy, I always have and always will, even when it inevitably fades from coolness again. If you had told me growing up that it would become anywhere near as popular as it has become in the past year, I would have laughed in your face. I love the stuff to my core, but the idea that everyone could love it seemed preposterous.
Yet here we are.
To me, the moral of this story is to make the art you love instead of chasing phantom 'hit' songs. The music you make might only appeal to a small group now, but you never know what's going to be popular in the future...
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Singing Voice Templating
As I've said before, I firmly believe that copying is at the heart of artistry.
Artists learn to do what they love by imitating the artists they admire, then once they have the tools and skills they begin adding their own creative voice into the mix.
However, this has an interesting effect on the actual singing voices involved in this process, especially in the age where voices can be digitally manipulated so seamlessly.
It seems to me that there is a tendency towards vocal uniformity within genres as they progress, which occurs naturally from people learning to sing by imitating their idols.
For an outsider to the genre this creates the perception that "that music all sounds the same." because the biggest factor the average human naturally associates with is the human voice.
For example: despite many subtle differences in the musicianship / production, people hear a 'country twang' or an 'indie whine' or a 'metal scream' and end up lumping the music they're hearing into one big pile.
Usually I would try to end a blog like this with a zinger, but honestly I'm not sure what the moral of this story is. I just find it fascinating.
Artists learn to do what they love by imitating the artists they admire, then once they have the tools and skills they begin adding their own creative voice into the mix.
However, this has an interesting effect on the actual singing voices involved in this process, especially in the age where voices can be digitally manipulated so seamlessly.
It seems to me that there is a tendency towards vocal uniformity within genres as they progress, which occurs naturally from people learning to sing by imitating their idols.
For an outsider to the genre this creates the perception that "that music all sounds the same." because the biggest factor the average human naturally associates with is the human voice.
For example: despite many subtle differences in the musicianship / production, people hear a 'country twang' or an 'indie whine' or a 'metal scream' and end up lumping the music they're hearing into one big pile.
Usually I would try to end a blog like this with a zinger, but honestly I'm not sure what the moral of this story is. I just find it fascinating.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Corporations Are People Too
There is a tendency musicians get when talking about labels to lump them into one entity.
"Labels don't care about artists," "Labels are bad," etc. etc.
While all of these companies do share a common goal and business model (selling lots of music), it's actually kind of crazy to talk about them in the same way.
IBM and Apple both sell massive amounts of computing devices, but they are incredibly different companies.
A label is exactly as great or as shitty to work with as the people running it, and those people are individual humans with strengths and weaknesses and proclivities just like everyone else.
Actually it's even trickier than that, because usually a label is only as great or as shitty to work with as the handful of people handling your band, because they're the only ones there who have any bearing on what the label does for you. (Your band's A&R person, product manager, etc.)
You could have a great experience at a generally crappy label if you're being worked on by the right people, and you could have a shitty experience at a generally great label if the opposite is true.
More than anything else, a label is just another aggregate team member made up of a few humans, and those individual people have much more bearing on your experience than some phantom concept of "The Label."
"Labels don't care about artists," "Labels are bad," etc. etc.
While all of these companies do share a common goal and business model (selling lots of music), it's actually kind of crazy to talk about them in the same way.
IBM and Apple both sell massive amounts of computing devices, but they are incredibly different companies.
A label is exactly as great or as shitty to work with as the people running it, and those people are individual humans with strengths and weaknesses and proclivities just like everyone else.
Actually it's even trickier than that, because usually a label is only as great or as shitty to work with as the handful of people handling your band, because they're the only ones there who have any bearing on what the label does for you. (Your band's A&R person, product manager, etc.)
You could have a great experience at a generally crappy label if you're being worked on by the right people, and you could have a shitty experience at a generally great label if the opposite is true.
More than anything else, a label is just another aggregate team member made up of a few humans, and those individual people have much more bearing on your experience than some phantom concept of "The Label."
Sunday, May 13, 2012
"Through Disappointment You Can Gain Clarity, And With Clarity Comes Conviction And True Originality"
You tell it, Conan:
"For decades, in show business, the ultimate goal of every comedian was to host ‘The Tonight Show.’ It was the Holy Grail, and like many people I thought that achieving that goal would define me as successful. But that is not true. No specific job or career goal defines me, and it should not define you. In 2000—in 2000—I told graduates to not be afraid to fail, and I still believe that. But today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality."
http://www.quickanded.com/2011/06/quick-hits-best-of-the-graduation-speeches-3.html
"For decades, in show business, the ultimate goal of every comedian was to host ‘The Tonight Show.’ It was the Holy Grail, and like many people I thought that achieving that goal would define me as successful. But that is not true. No specific job or career goal defines me, and it should not define you. In 2000—in 2000—I told graduates to not be afraid to fail, and I still believe that. But today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality."
http://www.quickanded.com/2011/06/quick-hits-best-of-the-graduation-speeches-3.html
Saturday, May 12, 2012
How To Do What You Love
This is a wonderful piece by Paul Graham about finding the right path for yourself in the world:
http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html
It's rather long, but the part that struck me the most is this paragraph about the necessity for constant production:
"Another test you can use is: always produce. For example, if you have a day job you don't take seriously because you plan to be a novelist, are you producing? Are you writing pages of fiction, however bad? As long as you're producing, you'll know you're not merely using the hazy vision of the grand novel you plan to write one day as an opiate. The view of it will be obstructed by the all too palpably flawed one you're actually writing."
That 'hazy vision' he's discussing is terrifyingly seducing, especially for those of us with a default set to 'learn' instead of 'do'.
http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html
It's rather long, but the part that struck me the most is this paragraph about the necessity for constant production:
"Another test you can use is: always produce. For example, if you have a day job you don't take seriously because you plan to be a novelist, are you producing? Are you writing pages of fiction, however bad? As long as you're producing, you'll know you're not merely using the hazy vision of the grand novel you plan to write one day as an opiate. The view of it will be obstructed by the all too palpably flawed one you're actually writing."
That 'hazy vision' he's discussing is terrifyingly seducing, especially for those of us with a default set to 'learn' instead of 'do'.
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