Hey folks...

Kids are back in school, we are getting closer everyday to the arrival of little Ms. Peyton Rowe, my health is grooving, things are pretty flippin' good all around!

This morning I read online that Gene Simmons from Kiss turned 60 years old this week. It hit me as I was a huge Kiss fan as a pre-teen (and off and on since then) and just couldn't imagine him as a 60 year old man. But, he is. He's getting older and so are you and I. Might as well embrace it! :-)

It did get me thinking about my run in with Mr. Simmons in 2003 with my band at the time "London Calling". Gene liked our CD and was interested in us. But due to the "youth trend" in music at the time, he opted to pass on us. But I still have this voicemail that I shared on facebook today:

It started a conversation in "commentland"..some about the unspoken rules of the past music industry and the new opportunities in the viral/internet age.

After working as a viral marketing consultant for the past 5 years I have seen the landscape change...rapidly! I can also see the mistakes some new musicians are making that I made too in my post-Guardian years.

I have a couple thoughts on this that I'll bullet point here..Just some personal observations:

• Fans

You need them. They are priority one! Don't try to put the cart before the horse. Build the audience one person at a time. If you are a new artist, this is going to likely mean giving away your music and playing low (to no) paying shows. The goal is to make fans not money. You have new music but no audience, what's a better way to get them on your team:

a) Putting the music in their hands free of charge as a download with no manufacturing  or distribution costs.

or

b) Asking them to pay 7 to 12 bucks to discover your music.

Be smart. Your only reward could be the opportunity to permanently warehouse 5,000 units of your album out of the dealio. If you must sell your music, put it on iTunes..see if it sells, if it doesn't sell in the world's #1 music retailer, then chances are putting it onto a CD isn't going to be the push over the cliff for your career.

I actually hope to release a new collection of songs soon. I'll give away the main track and plan to sell the entire project for $1.00 with a digital booklet included. I bet it'll be easier (and better in the big picture) to have 50,000 people spend a dollar each and have my music than it would be to try to convince 5,000 people to give me 10 bucks. (If anyone steals this idea, just at least give me credit!!!!!)

Playing gigs? MuteMath came out with a new record last week that shot up the iTunes chart. Just 3 years ago, I know for a fact that they toured like maniacs for approx $250.00 a night and roughed it for that first year. But they earned their audience and when it counts, they are now there!

• Lose the hype

While hype was THE tool of choice for promoting in the pre-millennial music business. It's practically useless today. People were so over exposed to "the next big thing" selling point that if it shows up now, it's an instant red flag that something's probably not so great. I made this mistake in London Calling. Working hard to calculate a larger than life atmosphere around the band. It became more of a priority to spend time on fueling perception than it did to create undeniable music. I should have been more focused on making great music that would entice people to want to tell their friends about it. Not being a mouthpiece saying "We are awesome, check us out". I've made this mistake on myspace in the past..finding 30,000+ friends but no one really responding to the music. This has been a scary thought I have heard for years "Let The Music Do The Talking" and I don't know why I couldn't just embrace that because really no matter what I did, it still came down to the music. I LOVED "I want you" by The Ruled (still do actually), but at the end of the day, no matter how much I tried to push it, the audience evidently didn't feel the same way about it. The bottom line is this: If YOU are the only one talking about your music..then YOU are likely the only one interested in it.

• Make it great

People like good, but GREAT causes them to get involved. Thinking about the Guardian years, we did our job of promotion with interviews, radio calls, etc. But so did a lot of bands at the time. However, Guardian had a great album at the time "Fire and Love" and we put in the rehearsal time (3 nights a week 6pm-10pm and later for approximately 9 months) that made us an undeniably tight rock band. We also made engaging the audience a top priority onstage. Participation. None of that costs money, it costs time and commitment. And we were well rewarded- people showed up the shows, brought their friends, and bought merchandise. You know that phrase from the film "Field Of Dreams" : "If you build it, they will come"? There's huge truth in that!

• Use Social Networking

BUT DO NOT MAKE IT A ONE WAY CONVERSATION! Otherwise, once again, you're just acting like a megaphone and shouting about yourself. AKA: Hype. If you have a problem hanging out with your audience and don't really enjoy their company, opinions, etc. Then you are likely in the game for the wrong reasons and will be found out quickly!

Those are my thoughts from this evening on the music biz...

What are yours?

jamie

¶ 8/27/2009