It’s interesting to watch human nature during a massive paradigm shift within any industry; a songwriter is no different. We hate change. The more successful we are in any particular field the more removed we are from the undercurrent that is facilitating the change; and the more we fight it.

It makes sense, really, you make money via a certain pipeline or methodology and you get good at it, you have those relationships, you have that “groove” down. When something comes into the market that is disruptive to the status Songwriting Hate Change imagequo, we rebel.

We don’t trust it

We don’t want to start over.

We can’t think about the concept of it except for remembering and waxing about the way it was.

It doesn’t stop disruption from arriving, though.

I like disruption.

The music industry has certainly been disrupted by the internet, Napster, streaming technologies, too much consumer choice, etc.

What does the future of a professional songwriter look like?

Tomorrow will be way different, but it IS better.

Listen, all the answers are not in place yet. Big thinkers are working as we speak to identify and fill some of the vacuums that are being created with these disruptions.

Trust the Free Market

Trust the free market, many people will discover ways to make consistent money selling music on the internet. Then they will figure out ways to bring the supply to the demand. THAT fact we can count on.

If we look at what making a living as a songwriter used to be like, we can better understand the mindset songwriters currently have. Once we identify the old mindset and define it for what it is, which is old, we can tackle what’s going on now.

 

 

file9351251928986The old business model provided big bucks to the lucky few who could find their way into the party. The words “Lucky” and “Few” are the key words in the previous sentence because there are only a very limited amount of coveted radio slots to spin songs. So the club was exclusive, man.

 

 

If we generalize (yes, I’m REALLY generalizing but you get the point), a hit single, more specifically a #1 single on the country charts, is worth about $1 million of overall performance revenue unless it crosses over to the Pop market, then it is worth more. For the argument, let’s stick to $1 million. Since a #1 single requires “X” amount of radio spins in the same markets, the performance revenue difference between 1999 and 2014 is relatively the same.

Here is where a songwriter suffers today: mechanical royalties.

Mechanical royalties are paid to the songwriter based on record sales.

Let’s study a few of the top selling country records released in 1999 (Just 15 years ago) and 2014, dissect the sales of each (so we can determine the mechanical royalty income), and create some comparative data.

With this information we can calculate a paycheck on gross mechanical royalties for a songwriter.

In 1999 the mechanical royalty rate was 7.1 cents per song. A “cut” on a record would pay the songwriter 7.1 cents for every record sold.

  • 100,000 Units sold would generate $7,100 in gross revenue
  • 500,000 (Gold) sold would generate $35,500 in gross revenueOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
  • 1 Million (Platinum) would generate $71,000 in gross revenue
  • 10 Million (Diamond) would generate $710,000 in gross revenue

These numbers are for ONE song-cut on a record that may or may not be a single. A single, of course, would generate a whole other huge cash register of performance royalties.

Let’s look at a few of the most popular country records released in 1999 and attribute the songwriter revenue to each. NOTE: publishers share of royalties would be 50% and the co-writers would split accordingly; we are just looking at gross revenue.

  • Dixie Chicks “Fly” 12 Million Units sold
    •  1 song cut = $852,000 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    •  #1 Single = $852,000 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Faith Hill “Breathe” 8 Million Units soldSongwriter Faith Hill Breathe image
    •  1 song cut = $568,000 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $568,000 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Tim McGraw “A Place In The Sun” 3 Million Units sold
    • 1 song cut = $213,00 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $213,000 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • LeAnn Rimes “LeAnn Rimes” 1 Million Units sold
    • 1 song cut = $71,000 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $71,000 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Gary Allan, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Keith Urban, and Montgomery-Gentry are just a few all the artists that had platinum records in 1999 so everyone was going platinum if you didn’t go platinum you damn sure went gold.

Now let’s look at a few of the top selling records for 2013 (the mechanical royalty rate has risen to 9.1 cents)

  • Luke Bryan “Crash My Party” 1.9 Million Units soldSongwriter Luke Bryan image
    • 1 song cut = $172,900 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $172,900 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Blake Shelton “Based On A True Story” 1 Million Units sold
    • 1 song cut = $91,000 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $91,000 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Keith Urban “Fuse” 354,000 Units sold
    • 1 Song Cut = $32,214 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $32,214 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Kenny Chesney “Life On A Rock” 392,000 Units sold
    • 1 song cut = $35,672 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $35,672 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)
  • Darius Rucker “True Believers” 502,000 Units sold
    • 1 Song cut = $45,682 in gross mechanical royalty revenue
    • #1 Single = $45,682 (gross mechanical royalties) + $1 Million (gross performance royalties)

FYI, I believe these were all #1 records in 2013.

You see the difference? Record labels are releasing fewer records because they are making less money per record and nobody is really buying records anymore. Sheesh!

Just a quick glance at the difference between songwriter revenues in 1999 vs. 2013 shows that without a #1 single, the revenue is around 10%-18% of what it used to be 15 years ago. You used to be able to make a seriously good living with a cut on a record that would never be spun on the radio but that has significantly changed.

The AWESOME performance royalty revenue is on its way out too. As terrestrial radio continues to erode a hit single will definitely dwindle in financial significance.

So what does the future look like for a songwriter?

I think the outlook is good and certainly accommodating to more writers. Before you really had to be “in-crowd” to get a cut, much less a single. Cuts were rare and singles even more rare, but they paid WELL. So we judged our Songwriting Exclusive imagerevenue and/or potential revenue per song or per artist as 1 song had the power to change everything.

The key to success for the songwriter of the future will be volume. The songwriter business model of the future is not really going to have any “home runs” in it, it will be founded on “base hits” instead: lots of base hits.

1 hit song, even right now, has an amazing revenue potential, the kind of financial impact that results in an “Achy Breaky kitchen”, an “Achy Breaky Ferrari”, or an “Achy Breaky west wing of the house”

The future will belong to fragmented, unexciting, financially insignificant revenue streams per song. The “living” we all aspire to make will reside in the aggregate revenue of many songs; many base hits.

Songwriter Moneyball imageThink the true story plot of the baseball movie “Moneyball” and apply it to songwriting. It’s all about base hits now guys.

I see a smart minded songwriter changing his business approach to coupling with as many artists as they can. Maybe between mechanical royalties and performance royalties (from YouTube for instance) a songwriter will make only $2,000-$3,000 per song, per year. However, there is no velvet rope, no terrestrial-radio-log-jam to limit the universe of revenue bearing opportunities, essentially no tyranny of space.

So ideally, a prolific songwriter could place 20-30 songs a year or more into a pipeline that generates revenue. The revenue could also be consistent meaning that if a songwriter placed 20 songs into the pipeline that generated $2,000 per song each per year they would gross $40,000 in revenue; the next year they could add to that.

It’s conceivable that the songwriter could build up his/her book of business over time well into the 6 figure range.

Keep writing. The world is about to change.

 

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By Johnny Dwinell

So terrestrial radio is gone…or almost gone. If you’re a new artist you certainly can’t count on it to break you in the Rock or Pop music genres anymore. MAYBE you’ll do it in country, but the clock is ticking on that too. Ugh, I know, it’s totally depressing, but when one door closes a window opens up or visa-versa I don’t remember. LOL

What are the newly opened windows?

Well, the good news is they’re AWESOME 40 foot tall giant picture windows with a view of the entire planet…and WHAT A VIEW!!

I am so freaking excited about the future of the music industry, man. I’m rambling.

Btw I’m listening to this killer band right now.

DSC_0907

 

…And I am about 3 cocktails in, its 1:00 am in the morning, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m gonna try a little artistic writing experiment and just type stream-of-consciousness as much as possible, ok? Little writer’s block I guess…ugh.

I’m getting off on this record tonight. These guys are friends of mine (remember that blog about relationships??) and I produced one of the tracks on the record. (Email me if you wanna know which one.)

It all starts with the song; they’re all fucking great. They write feel-good, laid-back, vibey songs about love. Probably shouldn’t bother listening if you prefer to be anxious…just sayin’

The musicianship is incredible.

Eli Hludzik provides the perfect feel for these songs with his smart percussive arrangements; like there can’t be Eli Hludzik Poker imageanother drummer that could shape this sound the same way.

What you think?

Eli’s extremely creative with the sonics as a percussionist; I remember he literally brought a footlocker full of drum toys (including goat’s toes!!) to my studio.  I loved that about our session together, it was refreshing.  We were like two kids in a sandbox.

 

The arrangements are SUPER creative by all members which YOU KNOW is rare.

Etienne Franc Poker imageEtienne (pronounced A, T, N,) Franc starts this intricate, brilliant instrumental effort with a foundation that not only serves the song but gently keeps you intoxicated inside each track. Seriously, somebody please tell me…how the hell does he do it so well when the he gets elaborate with the bass lines? How does he make it work so flawlessly?

 

 

Etienne and Eli are like a good wine and exotic cheese paired perfectly.

The singer is Mike Frieman. His smooth, easy-going, Sunday afternoon voice just takes the edge off of any situation and puts life back into perspective, a good perspective. I can’t explain why really, but it just totally has that effect onMike Poker Spaceneedle image me. His vocals are somewhat hypnotizing and somehow the lyrics kinda belong to the melodies ya know?

Hand-crafted, I guess?

He communicates in a simple way that is lyrically more intelligent than pop but certainly dripping with pop sensibilities in a jam bandy kind of way. I think you’ll find Mike artistically identifiable and smart. I sure did.

Out of everyone in the band, I’m probably closest to the guitar player, George Laird. I’ve known him for awhile now. We met outside of the music world and, oddly, it took us years to connect those dots…weird right? Strange, but true!

Listen to George’s beautiful arrangements, man. He really nailed these guitar parts on this record with grace and melody. His sound is very organic even with the electrics in the mix (their first record was totally acoustic, FYI, but that’s a whole nutha Oprah).

 

George Laird Poker imageI remember the night we tracked the guitar solo on the song I was STOKED to produce. We were definitely drinking, vibing, feeling good, and trying to find the most appropriate soaring melodic guitar solo. We worked that one…I remember…it didn’t come right away. But it did finally come and in a BIG way! We crafted the arrangement together and then we needed the performance, ya know? Then, BOOM he nailed it! George delivered an amazing performance that required controlling the feedback Hendrix-style at the end. We were freaking out, LOL! (We really were.)

George is a really sick guitar player; an artist. He is just so creative, man, fun to produce.

Listen to the guitar arrangements under those vocals first and focus on his right-hand, you won’t be disappointed; it’s smooth.

I’m drifting along with the silky current of the guitar arrangements on “Forever Sometimes” right now. The acoustic sucks you in a little left of center and then there is a gentle, clean, cascading set of guitar showers that rinse the day away cleanly. Oh, and it builds to a euphoria that I just recovered from, whoa.

I forgot about that one.

(Yeah, I’m a little drunk…don’t judge me, man, LOL)

Now go back and listen again but this time to the solos. George has great pocket, sense of melody; he moves you with each solo performance, more cleverly and crafted then any jam band, btw.

Ultimately there is SPACE

…that might be the opiate in this musical equation; great space. I offer sincere respect to the whole band for their sense of space which really is the final frontier for any musician.

The mastery of space means you finally get it; you’ve arrived artistically.

The lead-off single called “The Stand In” is a song with TV/Movie star Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl, Country Strong) who joins Mike in a duet about meeting your true love (Hint: this is NOT the one I produced). Leighton starts with a wonderful vocal that is supple and vulnerable floating on a well constructed melody. Then Mike comes in softly and takes the track to another level; forget about the chorus…you’ll have to experience that yourself. You can get a free download HERE if you want.

CITD + Leighton Meester Poker studio image

I am tripping on this record mostly because I’m feeling it tonight, but partly because it is the record that we are about to release.

Listen I’m proud of the band for their effort. I’m proud of my effort with the band for one of the songs we worked on together, and I’m proud of what we are about to do very quietly in the marketing space.

Oh, yeah, the name of the band is Check in the Dark.

Btw, the significance of the name revolves around Poker.

Poker winnings funded the debut album. LOL

I’m interested in your opinion with regards to the market.DSC_5393

Who do you think their audience is?

What other artist’s audience would most likely dig Check in the Dark?

What tour would be the most advantageous to them?

 

 

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Myths-Feature-image-2

I was reading a Bob Lefsetz blog post called “Myths“ the other day and it got me thinking (btw, you should subscribe and be reading Lefsetz too) Bob’s a little negative sometimes but there is good, ACCURATE information in there. It’s free, we can never have enough education).

Here are 6 additional myths I thought I would add to the mix with specific regards to the music industry.

Myth #1

Good music will find its own audience. This is categorically untrue.

  • Step 1: make good music!file00041345220
  • Step 2: you have to expose that good music to TONS of people and THEN they will respond to you.
  • In other words YOU have to find your audience.
  • There is a flashpoint somewhere after a massive amount of people are exposed to good music and it takes on a life of its own.
  • It doesn’t happen “magically” on the merits of the music alone, sorry

Myth #2

Your music video will possibly go viral on YouTube.

  • Again, 99.9999% of the time the viral videos are from artists (like Karmin [90 million views now] andNoah Myth Viral Video image[21 million views]) that built up a solid foundation of subscribers through consistent WORK and content before their big video went viral.
  • There are always exceptions to the rule, but if your business model is founded on the success of these very rare occurrences you’re naive; you’re setting yourself up for needless disappointment.
  • FYI, the algorithms change, ranking you higher on YouTube, when a large amount of people view a video within hours of it being posted.
  • The better ranking can post you on the front page of YouTube thus creating a ton of organic traffic.
  • Then it takes on a life of its own when corporate money comes in.

Myth #3

If you make a “demo” of your music then “shop” it to the labels you might get a record deal.

  • Myth Record Labels imageThis procedure was once the normal protocol but that process died 15-20 years ago, seriously. Anybody telling you this is the way to go is out of touch by a decade or two.
  • Of course there are VERY rare exceptions to the rule, but again, if you are basing your future on these exceptions you are betting your entire future on winning the lottery. I mean, it COULD happen, right?
  • Record labels don’t really develop talent like they used to because they can’t afford it anymore.
  • EXAMPLE: In 1978 when Tom Petty released “Damn the Torpedoes” it cost $8.00, that’s the same as $27.14 today.
  • Multiply $27.14 times 500,000, then 1 million, then 10 million. Get it?
  • You are going to have to figure out how to create real momentum on your own.
  • You are going to have to be at least a regional success with a profitable business model before you get your major label deal.
  • FYI, by that time, you probably won’t need the majors anyway. LOL.

Myth #4

Once You get a record deal life will be easier; you’ve made it, you’re finally getting paid. This is so wrong!

  • With the current business model of every record label, once you are signed you now enter into a club where Myth Easy Street imageonly 10% of the artists make money and succeed. The remaining 90% reside in the “artist protection program”; meaning they don’t make money and often can’t get out of their deal.
  • The work STARTS once you get your deal and by that time you better have your team-building, business savvy, and communication skill sets at a very high level or you will be forgotten and put aside; there are just too many people who know how to play the game better than you, that are waiting to take your place.

Myth #5

Artists like Taylor Swift and Trent Reznor made it because they were rich so if you had their money you would make it too. FALSE!

  • Yes, they were rich.
  • Taylor’s father invested GREATLY in her career and Trent is a descendant of the Reznor Air Conditioning Company.file3061238876703
  • Yes, money doesn’t hurt your chances but it isn’t everything.
  • Consider this; there is no shortage of money.
  • If it were just about cash everyone with money who wanted to be a star would be one.
  • It takes WAY more than just money; you have to be the right person in the right place at the right time. (that line is stolen from former Taylor Swift manager Rick Barker)
  • I can’t tell you how many times I have seen someone throw PANT-LOADS of money at a career and nothing happens.
  • I’ve seen parents spend over $100,000 on a record for their children with the best producers and nothing happened with it.
  • I’ve seen a father spend $500k to get his daughter on a major tour with a country legend and nothing happened.
  • I’ve seen an artist get an investor with $850K, blow the marketing money on a tour bus (yes, that’s right, a depreciating asset with no tour to use it on because no demand was created, so no revenue stream was produced) and then get an additional $1,000,000.00 and a major label deal (you’ve never heard of this artist, probably never will.)
  • I promise you that Trent Reznor and Taylor Swift have outworked all of you.
  • Trent got a job at a recording studio in Cleveland in the mid-80’s to gain access to the recording equipment late at night where he created the first Nine Inch Nails record, when did he sleep?
  • Taylor had TENS OF THOUSANDS of MySpace fans long before she ever recorded her first song for a record label. She constantly asked the fans what they wanted her to write about; THIS is how she found her audience and connected with them.
  • Think about all work these artists did with little or no immediate return on the time invested.
  • Do you have that kind of resolve about your music?

Myth #6

Writing a hit song happens magically.

  • Look sometimes this does happen but not until the writers understand and honor the fact that songwriting is aMyth Billboard image craft.
  • They KNOW how to toil over the lyrics, melodies, chord changes and work their butts off to do it right.
  • Once you get this concept and put in some serious time, the Gods just might throw a 5-minute hit song in your lap. Yes that song “wrote itself” but it takes a lifetime of work to make it that easy.

 

 

 

 

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Imagine Feature image

Imagine Every Artist just wanted to make art.

Imagine Every Artist started paying attention to effective content marketing and social media.

Imagine Every Artist stopped SELLING on social media and focused on building relationships.Imagine Lyric image

What if legacy and heritage artists monetized their million dollar brand names via direct-to-fan marketing?

What if legacy and heritage artists changed their business models to be subscribership/internet mail order businesses?

Imagine indie bands, singer/songwriters, and major label artists actually had a customer list like every other successful business on the planet. (How is this constantly overlooked?)

Imagine indie bands, singer/songwriters, and major label artists surveyed these customers to see what exactly they wanted and what they were willing to pay for like most other successful businesses.

Imagine Customer List image

Imagine Every Artist wanted to learn from a producer

What if every artist could be half as good at creating relationships on social media as Amanda Palmer?

 

 

Imagine Every Artist was interested in being better rather than famous.

What if every artist stopped making excuses for why they aren’t doing their art?

Imagine Every Artist lived for the journey and stopped focusing their emotions and self esteem on the time it took to get to some fleeting destination.

What if every artist could find a way to make a living being an artist? ($30k-$40k isn’t that difficult. What do you make right now?)

Imagine Every Artist stopped coveting other artists and started working on their own art?Chain

Imagine Every Artist knew the idea of being famous was a lot better than the reality.

What if every artist replaced the energy they spent on worrying, hating, coveting, pontificating, waxing nostalgic, brooding, complaining, and being narcissistic with real work/creativity?

Imagine Every Artist understood that their weak points need to be as cool as their strong points.

What if every artist could hear the difference between “art that is done” and “well done art”? (Yes, art can be objective)

What if every artist continually worked to create opportunities instead of waiting for opportunities to show up at their door?

Imagine Every Artist understood that commerce wasn’t a bad thing if it was done on the artist’s terms, done well, and done consistently.

Imagine Every Artist understood that to really be unique you need to be brave enough to be yourself. (Stop being derivative!)

What if every artist knew how to build a decent team?

Imagine Every Artist knew terrestrial radio was going to be 1000 times less effective tomorrow that it is today. (How would that change your approach?)

What if every artist used a company that offered text phone number capture technology to build their customer list during live shows because text messages have a 99% open rate?

Imagine Every Artist didn’t give away 90% of their revenue to tell their parents and friends that they have a record deal.

Imagine Every Artist understood how a squeeze page with the proper language could maximize the exposure of Imagine Don't Be Afraid imageevery public appearance including live shows, magazine interviews, podcast interviews, song placements, TV interviews, blog interviews, etc.

Imagine Every Artist wasn’t afraid to be afraid.

Imagine Every Artist expected relationships in the music industry to work like their personal relationships with quid pro quo and adding value.

What if every artist focused on making a living being and artist instead of being famous?

 

Imagine Console imageImagine Every Artist stopped making excuses and started recording.

Imagine Every Artist used Stage-It to reach out to their fans for the purposes of including them in the song selection for the upcoming release ala Bon Jovi’s Pizza Parlor Jury

What if every artist understood that it’s a numbers game and you have to constantly create opportunities through hard work rather than placing all their emotional “eggs” in one basket, for one deal, with one person, at one company?

Imagine Every Artist stopped being closed off to constructive criticism and opened their mind to constant improvement along their journey.

Imagine Every Artist wasn’t afraid to fail.

What if every artist understood it starts with the song and spending money on a better recording of an average song will render a better recording of an average song?

Imagine Every Artist stopped asking and started giving.

Imagine Every Artist knew they needed a team to get to the next level.

What if every artist knew they needed to shop for this team rather than shop for studio rates?

Imagine Every Artist stopped bad-mouthing successful artists.

How will you add value

Somehow, we have lost sight of the simple, honest truth that people need to add value, real value, to any organization to be accepted and succeed in that organization. If you don’t add value, the relationship will inevitably end or at least DRAMATICALLY shift gears to accommodate your lack of value.

In real life you have to earn respect.

There are people at your current job who demand respect simply because they outrank you. You want to keep your job so you intelligently play the game and feign respect to these people; but they don’t really have your respect do they?

Your respect is counterfeit because they haven’t earned it.Add Value Demand Earn Respect image

Consequently, you have people that outrank you and that you outrank at your current job who DO have your respect; they’ve earned it. They somehow bring value to the relationship.

Think about these people for a second. How exactly do they bring value to your relationship?

Let me tell you how important the concept of adding value is to me. I was hired to manage a phone sales room in LA by a friend who knew I could turn the 2ndshift around and make it profitable. He wanted me to start managing right away. I was flattered but one thing I KNOW about killer salespeople is they are cocky; as they should be.

I wasn’t going to have top sales people’s respect until I EARNED it and I NEEDED their respect to get them to perform for me.

So I agreed to take the gig as long as they put me on the sales floor first, so the room could see me work; as one of them. When the room saw I was a real hitter (took 1 day) they would respect me as a manager. Two weeks later after I was one of the top 2 or 3 salespeople in the room they announced I was a manager. The room loved me.

Get it?

My mother always told me water seeks its own level.

Add Value Water image

Translation: you’re going to end up where you end up based on the value you are adding.

 

 

I interact with young artists every day who simply can’t understand why they didn’t get a blue ribbon for showing up in the music industry.

They are genuinely frustrated by the lack of attention, the missing tickertape parade, the blase reactions they get from industry professionals after pitching their music or act. They are heartbroken because they met someone important in the industry one time that was polite to them and that person didn’t return their call or further the relationship as the artist expected them to do.

These aspiring artists often feel they should be famous or important simply because their parents told them so. Well, that part is true, you are important to your parents because they love you, unconditionally.

The rest of the world doesn’t care.

The rest of the world will need proof that you can add value to their cause before they offer up any kind of help.

It’s impossible to have a reputation based on what you’re planning to do.

You can only develop a reputation based on what you already have done. Add Value Henry Ford image

If you think about this in terms of managing your expectations, you have yet to prove your music has value in the marketplace. The professionals, whose help you need to break through to the next level, will require something more than a promise from someone they “don’t-know-from-a-can-of-paint”.

You behave like this too, by the way.

Would you let someone watch your kids or your gear because they knocked on your door and told you they are planning on being the best babysitter on the planet?

How about your money? C’mon, man, you should be a good person and give everyone that really wants a chance a shot at managing your money; you know, like a bank. I mean they PROMISED that they would be really good at it, right? Isn’t that enough?

Get the point?

This thought that everyone should instantly respect you before you add value is a bass-ackwards approach that is certain to yield disappointment and frustration.

It is also offensive to the people who are students of the game and have paid their dues. Think about it, if you worked you backside off your whole life to create something and then you encounter someone who wants you to help them (when they haven’t ever really done any work or enough work to help themselves) it’s downright insulting. It’s insulting because the artist is not bringing anything to the table; they just want to take.

When you were 8 years old you made trade agreements the lunch table. “I’ll trade you my Twinkie for your Ding Dong, interested?” You didn’t expect to walk over to some kid and say “I want you to help me get a Ding Dong by giving me yours” because you knew it wouldn’t work.

file0001434770515

So how will you add value?

When an artist asks for “help” in the wrong way at the wrong time, it’s insulting the person whose help they require. This in turn leads to rejection which mortally wounds us as artists; but we set it up that way from the start.

This naive method is akin to repeatedly putting your naked hand into a bag full of rattlesnakes, getting bit, and then consistently reacting to the event with emotions of surprise or betrayal.

If you’re gonna handle rattlesnakes, you better know what you are doing or you’re going to get bit; that’s just plain old common sense and animal instinct.

Next time you are at a friend’s house who is waxing negatively about their lack of success in the music business (or the next time you are) consider the possibility that you are going about it wrong.

Consider the fact that whether you are lazy or just naive, the damage is the same. You don’t have enough of a resume to compete at the next level until you have enough of a resume to compete at the next level.

There are no short cuts so KEEP WORKING.

I receive an email every other day from an aspiring artist who wants our “help”. These artists are frustrated because Labels won’t talk to them, booking agents won’t help them, club owners won’t book them, they can’t get a band together, etc.

Add Value I want you image

I am genuinely baffled about how to respond to emails like this.

The real message inside these emails is I want you to make me successful.

I want you to put a band together for me.

I want you to get the club owners to book me.

I want you to make the labels like me.

I want you to find my audience.

I want you to do all this because I won’t do it myself. I promise I will START TO WORK once you get the ball rolling “trust me.”

Imagine someone coming up to you wanting to play guitar for your band. Imagine them saying they are going to be a great guitar player but they really don’t want to commit any time to learning the guitar until they are sure that they have a gig with you.

Can you all read this and consider how insulting this is?

I put my first band together when I was in 8th grade. We played one or 2 parties, we were horrible, but we were practicing and playing gigs immediately. By junior year we had done ENOUGH WORK to get regular weekly gigsAdd Value Delavan image and add value to a couple clubs in Milwaukee. Incidentally, I grew up in Delavan, WI population 5,000 (at the time). We had multiple band-member changes in that shallow musical gene pool over the course of the first 3 years. I will never understand anyone who says they can’t get a band together. To me it means you just don’t want it enough.

Where there is a will there is a way; period.

Understand booking agents work on commission.

Once you prove you can ADD VALUE by making them money then believe me, booking agents will fall all over you like a cheap suit.

Record labels need to sell records to survive.

Once you sell 100,000 downloads of your song, believe me the labels will be clamoring to sign you because it would be impossible to deny that you can ADD VALUE to their cause.

Do you really want a counterfeit commitment?

Once you start thinking about how you can add value to a relationships, instead of asking what they can do for you, you whole world will change.

 

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Be the Bee Feature image 2

Be the Bee Jungle Love image

Have you ever listened to a song you’ve heard a thousand times and then really “heard” it? Or heard something you’ve never heard before in that song? The other day I was listening to Steve Miller’s “Jungle Love which I’ve heard literally a million times, but this time I HEARD the bass line for the first time. How inspiring and badass!

We are going to do a fun little artistic exercise today

This got me thinking. We are going to do a fun little artistic exercise today. Some of you are aware of the 90’s Seattle band named Blind Melon. Some of you have heard their big hit “No Rain and some of you haven’t.

Be the Bee Blind Melon No Rain image

Here’s the deal. I want you ALL to take a 4:06 artist date with yourself and watch this Blind Melon video right now.

I don’t care if you have heard this song a million times, or seen this video a million times.

Listen to it AGAIN, right now.

Watch it AGAIN, right now

 

Focus on it. Do whatever you have to do to get your head right so you can really experience it for 4 short minutes of your life.

Then I want you to read the rest of this post.

and GO!

We need to belong, we HAVE to belong to something

Part of the human experience on this planet is the hard-wired instinctual need we have for acceptance. We need to belong, we HAVE to belong to something.

To live, we HAVE to feel loved.Be the Bee Desire for Acceptance image

Think about it, this need is so instinctual that we often belong to groups or organizations that are bad for us or beneath us simply because they let us belong and make us feel welcomed.

Many of us never reach our full life potential because we are deathly afraid to leave our comfort zone of acceptance even though we have emotionally surpassed everyone in the group. Everyone has experienced this, is experiencing this, or knows someone right now that is experiencing this.

Some of us don’t leave the hood, some of us don’t leave our small town, some of us don’t move forward for fear of not being accepted somewhere else.

Some of us don’t think we are good enough.

Some of us don’t think we are worthy.

Some of us don’t think we deserve better.

We all secretly want to drink the Kool-Aid and are wired up to mortally fear a lack of Kool-Aid

Be the Bee Kool Aid ImageI believe the video y’all just watched to be a microcosm of the music industry. I see this video as a clever metaphor for our amazing artistic community (and all of life for that matter).

Did you notice that the community did not find our little bee?

Did you notice that our little bee had to find the community?

 

Did you feel for our little bee as she suffered the rejections?

The cool thing about this new music business is that, as artists, we have the ability to find and cultivate our own little, very specific field of bees.

With the access we all have to the internet, we can find the communities that fit our needs as they pertain to our current location on our respective journey.

The old music business created a homogenized, very sterile field of bees that are willing to follow any artist that shows up on their radar screen because that artist can be “force fed” to the bees.

The old music business was about chasing a “formula” that they felt was “guaranteed” to work in the pipeline they created.Be the Bee Control image

The old music industry had the power to control what the field of bees were exposed to.

The old music industry had the power to control who was allowed in the field.

Our core artist in us hates this fact. We don’t want to be forced to compromise our art to gain acceptance amongst the pre-chosen bees. We want to be like the bee in video and find our OWN field of bees who like us just the way we are.

Now you can.

It’s all out there for you and most of it is free; at least the start of it is free.

I got news for y’all, the “powers that be” on radio, television, running record labels, booking agencies, management companies, bloggers and mass media, you know, the ones whose help you need to achieve success they’re bees too.

They want to belong too.

They need to be a part of something.

YOU have to create and distribute your own Kool-Aid just the way you like it.

You have the power to connect with people who are looking for your kind of Kool-Aid; even if they didn’t know it!

If enough people are drinking your Kool-Aid the “powers that be” will too; because they’re just bees like you and I.

Be the bee

 

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Chances Red Van image

At some point in your life you are going to have to take a chance

Why is it that some of us are willing to take chances on not wearing protection when we have sex or we chance falling in love, but we won’t risk failing in the music business or failing at our dreams?Chances Excuses or Results image

Is that because the haters are in your ear?

Is that because your parents said you can’t do it?

I’m sure we all have really good reasons for either not pursuing our dreams or pursuing them “half-assed” but these reasons are excuses. It’s ok to have them, no judgment here for sure because the Universe is always as it should be and this life certainly is NOT for everybody.

However, there are some of you who are teetering on the edge of going “all in” and there are some of you that are “all in” already but you haven’t created an effective business plan so you’re working hard but still not experiencing the momentum that you should (in the South they call that “going around your ass to get to your elbow”). Many of you are “Legacy Artists”or “Heritage Artists” which is fancy talk for you had a record deal before with a brand name and you do it on your own right now. Most of you have an outdated business model as well. There is no excuse for an outdated business model. Either you are naïve or ignoring the changes in the music industry; either way the damage is the same; you don’t sell records.

 

Either way the damage is the same; you don’t sell records

Chances Life begins at image

Listen, I thought I’d write about taking chances today. I thought I would share some of the chances that I took throughout my life to inspire you to do the same. There are two concepts that keep me somewhat calm when taking any chance in life:

  1. The Universe is always as it should be
  2. Life (and your pending chance) is a journey, not a destination. Win or lose, you will LEARN and move forward which means if you are doing what you are supposed to do in life, every failure brings you one step closer to success; ultimately you always win.

Talent doesn’t matter with taking chances

Once again I submit this important fact for all your brains to devour.

If success in the music industry was all about talent, there would be no crappy songs and no crappy bands, Chances Doesn't Being Scared imageand no crappy singers on the radio or in the public eye.

It’s a pretty simple fact that we all need to be reminded of when we are in our proverbial moment of doubt. By the way, if you aren’t having any moments of doubt you aren’t taking any chances, just sayin’.

As a man looking back on my life at 45 years old, I have had to start over often. I regret nothing. I can truly say the ONLY thing that I would’ve regretted was NOT taking the chances presented to me.

Close, Trusted Confidants with a Secret Agenda

In fact, passing on a chance is quite often the foundation for emotional bitterness, hatred, and ultimately bad health (yes, I really believe this). I’ll bet every one reading this article currently knows or has encountered someone who is generally nice with the exception of discussions involving following your dreams; this discussion gets uncomfortable for them. These people often manifest themselves in the form of haters or worse, close trusted confidants with a secret agenda to keep you down (because if you find any modicum of success they will feel worse about themselves and the chances they chose not to take). You are doing what they didn’t have the stones to do. You can openly see evidence of these “haters” on any one of my given blog posts on our website Daredevilproduction.com or the posts that Music Clout has promoted (thank you David). These are the anonymous comments from “writers” and “musicians” that are clearly mad at the world for their lot in life. They routinely lash out at these articles to make themselves feel better or maybe they just need to vent; who really knows for sure.

Want to avoid being this person?

You need to take some chances.

In 8th grade I started my first band. We were horrible, of course, but we were passionate. We took IMG_0261every opportunity to play at our high school. This was an emotional chance because every single time we played, people would take the opportunity to tell us how much we sucked. LOL. We did suck, but we were having FUN and we were on a mission to get better.

By junior year In High School, we were playing rock clubs in Milwaukee once or twice a week, during the school week. This was a chance because certainly some of our parents didn’t approve of the 4am mornings on a school day but we pressed on. It was also a chance because in 1985 most bands were playing and writing music like Warrant, Ratt, or Whitesnake and we were playing and writing more obscure, heavier music like Black Sabbath, Queensryche, and Iron Maiden. We played and wrote what was turning us on regardless of what the market was up to.

They wanted us because we were different

That chance led to our first big opener in Milwaukee for a band called Hericane Alice who were not signed by Atlantic Records yet but were arguably the biggest band in the Twin Cities music scene at the time. The band told Chances Hericane Alice Imageus that there were literally 40 bands who would give their first born children for the exposure that would happen opening for Hericane Alice and they unanimously wanted us; because we were different (and much better than the 8th grade version btw thanks to all the rehearsals and week day shows we played). This first opening chance we were offered was not necessarily ideal. Yes it was a sold out show in a 3,000 capacity club but it was Christmas Day night up in St. Paul which was 5 hours away. Remember, we were in high school, man, and some of our parents were definitely NOT supportive of our best “Rock & Roll” artistic efforts, so asking off for a major family holiday was dicey at best.

We took the chance and smoothed it over with all the hostile parties

That chance led to 8 or so more opening slots for Hericane Alice up in the Twin Cities which helped us create a killer relationship with the regional booking agency that represented them. This relationship led to a touring contract with the booking agency.

Now our little band became a little too real for a couple of the members and they bailed.

The Universe is always as it should be.

This was not supposed to be their path man, so if we wanted to move forward and capitalize on this contract we were going to need to take a chance on some new members that were not going to be our “homies”; can you say UNCOMFORTABLE??

We took the chance and found a new bass player,

a new guitar player, and put together 3 sets of our favorite music to get into the AAA Midwest/Canadian club scene.

This was a huge chance because at that time we had to carry production and a road crew as the clubs didn’t provide Chances Idols of American Youthsound & lights. On one hand we had far more control over our audio/visual presentation every night, but what that meant to us on a business level was called OVERHEAD. We had a truck rental, road crew salaries, plus all the normal hotel, fuel, booking agency fees, Commercial truck fees, food, etc that come with any tour, let alone your first tour.

YIKES!

Talk about pressure.

We took the chance and went out on the road.

The club owners and attendees LOVED our band but couldn’t figure out what the hell we were playing (because it wasn’t top 40) so we went everywhere once (touring for about 1 year) and we weren’t asked back by most of the clubs. (Fail) When the tour ended the chance we looked HORRIBLE on paper because while we grossed the equivalent of $250,000 today, we spent $16,000 more than we made. I owed $16k to Ryder truck rental services! (fail) Welcome to the music industry now go see the demon in the corner for your jacket! LOL. We got educated real quick.

After the tour ended we fired our idiot lead singer (with the big clean voice that allowed us to cover those heavy bands) mostly for being an unconscionable moron 100% of the time.

I then took a huge artistic chance when I proposed the next version of our act to the remaining members of the band. I told them that I was gonna be a lead singer because I could be a WAY better front man than the previous Chances Kidd Gypsy imagesinger was. This was huge because the previous singer was a total dick and loved to rip on me because I couldn’t sing that well; admittedly, he got into my head about singing. (fail)

I took the chance and most of the band took a chance by believing in me. The bass player left to move back to Minneapolis because he was in love with a Vikings cheerleader. So we had a brand new artistic direction, with a brand new singer, and we needed a brand new bass player. Wow, see how this doesn’t look good on paper again?

I mean, what if we sucked?

We took another chance when the guitar player and I began writing a lot. I mean, what if we sucked? (fail)

We took a chance and took out a $4,000 loan to purchase an 8-track recording device, a drum machine, some mics, and other home recording gear. That wasn’t cheap but we needed a way to record demos.

These chances led to a (real crappy sounding) home recorded demo tape (fail) with some early versions of our new songs.

Chances of Success imageThen we took a chance letting some people here this demo. What if they hated it?

That chance led to some interest from Bud Snyder who was (at that time) part of the Allman Bros Band production team.

Now we had a producer who was interested in working with us and no bass player (fail)

So we took another chance and hooked up with a local guy that we haven’t ever heard of on a recommendation from the lead singer of a rival band, LOL

That chance led to another offer to move down to Florida where Bud’s studio was.

We talked our new bass player (just 30-60 days in) into moving to Florida with us to go full throttle on this dream of Chances Bud Snyder imageours. This was a huge chance for us because we only had each other and it was a huge chance for him because he really didn’t know us from a can of paint.

We all took the chance and moved down to Florida.

We applied all the lessons from the first tour and managed to make a living down in Florida for 4-5 years touring on half the gross revenue. So the previous chances and “failures” that were a part of us came together to help us navigate successfully to the next level. We got all the way up to Rob Cavallo at Warner Bros Records with whom we had regular conversations and demo exchanges; he was interested to see what Bud’s influence and the ABB scene would have on our sound. We agreed the ingredients were cool and intriguing.

Then the Nirvana record came out; game over. (fail)

So I left Kidd Gypsy and decided Nashville was where I needed to be in 1995 to learn how to be a better songwriter. This was a huge chance because I knew absolutely NOBODY in Nashville and I was totally alone.

This chance led me to an opportunity where I learned that I could make money in business; I was making $75k per year at this time.

This chance led to an offer to move to Los Angeles and work with a company called Zephyrtronics that had some emerging “walk on water” soldering technology. This opportunity initially meant that I would earn 1/3 of my current wages and triple my expenses! This was a huge chance and certainly didn’t look good on paper, ya know?

But I took the chance which put me in debt right away, (fail). It’s not always about money man. 3 short years later I was earning checks up to $20k per month but that didn’t come without the financial suffering of the previous 3 years. It was worth it.

With my newly found discretionary income I took a chance and spent $40k putting a decent recording studio in my house and began looking for acts that needed a producer.

Then the cyclical recession (fail) was followed by the Dot Com meltdown (fail), which was followed by the terrorist Chances Winner Take imageattacks (EPIC fail). Manufacturing industry was on its knees. The President of Zephyrtronics (someone I still consider a dear friend and mentor) lowered his prices and the net result to me was unacceptable; so I took a chance and left.

That chance led to an East Coast circuit board design company called ACDi who offered me good money to purchase my amazing West Coast aerospace customer list and a West Coast Key Accounts Executive positio. So I took that chance even though I knew NOTHING about circuit board design. I made some great friends and learned A LOT being blessed with yet another business mentor; the CEO of ACDi.

Eventually the yucky economy caught up with ACDi and I was let go being the lowest exec on the totem pole. (fail) I learned a lot from these chances though, so no regrets.

The next chance I took was getting into the mortgage industry. Again, I knew nothing about mortgages. Still, It seemed like an interesting challenge. Once I got my head around how mortgages work, I focused on a better way to Chances Live Boldly imagemarket myself; being the 70th unsolicited caller that DAY for any given consumer was a crappy way to start any relationship.

I took another chance and used my recording studio to create a radio show where I would share mortgage knowledge with whoever was listening. The radio station I chose only offered 6 month contracts so with each show costing around $500 (for the radio timeslot) or so, I was staring down a massive $13,000 financial risk with only my gut making it feel like it was ok. This chance paid off as well, in a very short amount of time I had expanded to 3 markets and 5 stations with an advertising budget of $15,000/month that was generating over $200k/month of gross revenue.

In January of 2008, with the pending decline in the mortgage industry coming, I negotiated 1 year contracts with all 5 stations in exchange for a lower cost; which I received.

Then in February of 2008 Wall Street shut down and refused to buy any mortgages for over a year. Imagine me with a $12,000/month advertising bill and ZERO dollars coming in. (fail)

YIKES!

This looked, sounded, felt, and smelled bad on paper!

I took another chance. My thinking this time was when the government gets Wall Street back up and running, I will Chances Take One imagedefinitely NEED those radio station relationships so I paid all the contracts off with a credit card and Line of Credit I had taken out for growth. Bad move, man. It didn’t come back quick enough and it turned out that my business model was based on refinancing which was a bubble, a market anomaly, as most mortgages are historically based on purchases. So I had successfully capitalized on a bubble but failed to be a true “student of the game” and I paid a massive price for my ignorance

I lost everything. (EPIC fail)

It’s ok. While I was in the middle of this devastating financial crisis, divorce, and subsequent emotional meltdown I learned that I hated mortgages. More accurately I hated mortgage consumers. FACT: most consumers spend far more time researching and shopping for a flat screen TV than they do researching and shopping for a mortgage (which would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!) which means you have to give them what they want even if it’s a toxic loan to them.

Ugh.

I had so much information to give but the consumers just didn’t want to hear it; too complicated.

So I was broke and looking for my next adventure. Why not get back into the music industry? At least I could be broke and HAPPY because it’s what I have always wanted to do.

Over 10 of the 15 years I was in Los Angeles, I was producing records on the side and working with my business partner Kelly Schoenfeld. Google him, his name is on over 70 million records, He’s awesome and he’s my best friend. We had spoken many times about what the new music industry was going to look like and maybe joining forces to conquer it. Alas, he was never going to leave Nashville and I was never going to leave Los Angeles as my wife was a television producer; L.A. is where the food is.

Then my wife and I separated and agreed to divorce. (fail)

When I told Kelly about my breakup, we spoke for 3 hours and he ended the conveChances In The End image 2rsation by asking me, So, when you moving out, Hans?

Whoa

So I took a chance and sold my house that was massively underwater (fail) and moved back to Nashville to team up with Kelly. We are a small, rapidly growing company with proof of concept on how to change the music industry by moving music online; without radio spins.

We are not afraid to fail because our failures help us when we are doing what we are supposed to do.

Don’t be afraid to fail.

Learn from failure.

 

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Danger Opportunity Feature image

Baron Rothschild, a 18th-century British nobleman and member of the Rothschild banking family, is credited with saying that “The time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.” By now, you must be aware that the music business is in a serious crisis. Yes, there’s blood in the streets. I think about this crisis a lot these days.

Crisis = Dangerous + Opportunity

Did you know that the Chinese word for “crisis” is made up of 2 characters: 1 means “danger” and the other means “opportunity”?Crisis Danger Opportunity image

That’s the way I think about the music business; danger and opportunity. The old music business required you make demos and connections until you could find a label that was willing to sign you and invest millions.

THEN you had to be really lucky again to end up in the 10% of signed artists that actually made money on said label. You heard me right, in the heyday of the music business, only 10% of the artists made money, meaning 90% of the signed artists lost money. The old music industry business model was beholden to what they call the “Tyranny of Space”. There was a finite amount of valuable shelf space to place your CD and an even more finite amount of radio spins allotted for new artists. That equates to the limited space of distribution and the limited amount of spins on the radio each hour. The old business model created situations where an artist who had a great record out, was charting in the top 20 on Billboard, touring like crazy, creating real momentum, essentially doing EVERYTHING right would often lose their deal because the label found another act in the same genre with a little more momentum and had to drop the prior artist due to the “Tyranny of Space”.

Huh?

Yeah man, there are only so many radio spins per hour so the label would (intelligently) put their eggs into the better basket Radio Airplay Danger Opportunity imageso-to-speak. THIS is the old model that is falling apart right before our eyes. Tragic to some I am quite sure but very necessary and I believe much better overall for the art and the artists who create it. As an artist, you have to be aware of the big picture to really see the opportunities that lie within the danger and chaos.

The new music business doesn’t suffer from the Tyranny of Space. The costs to make a record are much less expensive, there are no distribution issues because there is always room for one more CD on a server, and (most) social media is free. So as a developing artist, the velvet ropes are gone, the ‘luck of the draw’ has disappeared to a large degree. Now artists are really freed up financially, and in the marketplace to make their own way, to create a name for themselves on a worldwide basis.

As an artist, YOU now hold all the power to write music that YOU love, record it the way YOU want to, find your audience online, and sell it to make a living.Danger Opportunity YOU have the power image

YOU now have the opportunity to create a small profitable business that will sustain YOU and your family while doing what YOU were born to do; music.

As an artist, YOU now hold all the power to create your reality and prove to the world that there is a market for your specific music. Once YOU do that work, all the big money in the form of private investors and major record labels will find YOU.

YOU literally can change what “mainstream popular music” is going to sound like; you can change what the “suits” are willing to get behind.

Don’t believe me? Look at the Zac Brown Band and Florida Georgia Line. Whether you like these artists or not, they got deals after they created the buzz and sales on their own. This was after both acts were turned down by every label.

Mumford & Sons and Adele were also acts that forged their own way and STILL didn’t get major label deals (they Danger Opportunity Mumford and Sons logo imageboth have indie label deals). So it really can happen in a big way for you but you have to come to terms with the fact that

YOU will be responsible for making it happen.

YOU will have to put together the team that will take you to the next level artistically and in the marketplace.

YOU will have to create enough buzz to get the bigger money involved.

 

So how do you do it?

You have to start by understanding that the new music business now suffers from an equally abrasive oppression called the “Tyranny of Choice”. Have you ever eaten at a restaurant (like Jerry’s Famous Deli in Los Angeles orCheesecake Factory) with a ridiculously massive menu?? I was always apprehensive to eat at JFD because I could never decide what to eat! There were too many choices.

This is the current issue we need to overcome as artists, managers, labels, etc.how do you stand out? How do you rise above the noise on the RADAR screen and get the attention of the music consumers?

The answer is 10% making good music and 90% doing good business

The answer is 10% making good music and 90% doing good business. Most of you have that equation reversed; you Danger Opportunity Music Biz Now imagebelieve it to be 90% good music and 10% good business. If the latter were true, only good music would be on the radio. Think about that for a second.

YIKES

There’s your proof. Good business trumps good music in the marketplace. You can morally & artistically agree or disagree with this statement, but it’s true nonetheless. The sooner you get your head around that concept the more successful you’ll be regardless of your talent.

 

Bottom line is everybody can always improve. To be a successful business (which you have to be to succeed as an artist these days, like it or not) you need a good team, accurate information, and the drive to execute many little tasks that are crucial to your momentum.

You can grow your brand.

You can grow your audience.

You can expand your influence.

You can make a living making music.

Doesn’t that mean you’re successful?

 

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Social Media and Momentum

We recently had an opportunity to pitch an indie artist on Daredevil Production’s online marketing expertise. This artist (who shall remain nameless) has generated some serious momentum and attention from a key song placement in an Oscar winning movie. This momentum has garnered them over 30,000 downloads of the placed song; not bad.

Check this out, their social media company has taken this momentum and worked it into just

  • 3,900 Facebook Likes
  • 943 Twitter followers
  • NO EMAIL addresses to speak of

W…T…F

They are smart enough to know what they don’t know

Here’s the snafu. Indie bands like this are quality artists because they are very smart. When you have an indie act that is this intelligent, they are smart enough to know what they don’t know, like social media, accounting, booking, legal matters, etc., and they surround themselves with a team of professionals who are hopefully experts in their respective fields. Of course, the artists build a relationship with these professionals and they (have to) choose to trust their professional opinions; after all these purported experts are part of their team.

This tactic makes absolute sense as long as the professionals are doing their job. I understand how social media is somewhat of a mystery to many people, but many artists are not “inspecting what they expect” with regards to their social media team members.

If the job description is to expand your Twitter influence then you should see measurable daily gains.

If the job description is to expand Facebook likes then you should see measurable daily gains.

If the job description is to monetize the social media you should see money rolling in every day/week/month.

You have to remember that “Social Media”, “Social Marketing/Content Marketing”, and “Monetization” of the social media assets are 3 completely separate processes that are easily confused.

Artists, I implore you to ensure that whoever you are paying your hard-earned money too is taking care of business and earning their paycheck. I have had meetings now with several indie artists, even a few multi-platinum artists who used to have big record deals, and their trusted advisors on social media are completely inept. The artists understandably aren’t aware of all the details regarding social media and therefore remain unaware of any methods to measure the effectiveness of these companies and rely too heavily on the opinion of their chosen experts to determine if they are doing a good job.

This is akin to leaving the fox in charge of the chickens and then accepting the fox’s professional opinion on exactly how many chickens are left in the coop.1-IMG_9155

If you don’t stick your head inside the coop, you will never really know what the hell is going on.

Btw, in every one of these meetings the social media contact person for the company the artist was using was present or on the call. ALL of them condescendingly responded to our strategies with,

“Oh yeah, we are familiar with email lists.”

“We are familiar with squeeze pages”

“We are familiar with all these technologies”

…as if to dismiss our silly age old ideas. You know what?? I am familiar with open heart surgery but I won’t be performing any operations today because I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FREAKING DO IT AND THE LIVES OF THE PATIENTS ARE DEPENDING ON THE EXPERIENCE OF THE DOCTOR!

The process of targeting, finding, contacting, engaging, and maintaining a core audience online is comprised of very common technologies mixed with, a consistent work ethic, and very common sense…which is not so common.

In an effort to ensure this isn’t happening or won’t happen to you, I have attached a report we regularly present to artists so they can more effectively measure the performance of their social media company against some successes we have had with our clientele (if we have real conversations on the phone with their social media experts online, it ends in confrontational disaster). Think of it as a sort of social media report card. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I hope this helps you.

DDP EMAIL LOGO social media image

What We Do Different

Gents, you asked me a question during our conference call that I felt was better answered with visuals rather than just words. The proof is always in the pudding. You asked regarding your current social media strategy, “What will you do differently than what we are doing right now?”

Here is a good look at what we are doing DIFFERENTLY than what your social media company is currently doing with you.

Twitter

We will actively expand your social media accounts. Take a look at daily/weekly numbers that Daredevil Production gets on Twitter.

DDP_Twitter_numbers Social Media image

Take a look at another Twitter account we are working for a Facebook magazine called Real Country Music Fans. Again notice the daily/weekly gains in followers and unsolicited fans.

CountryMusicFB_Twitter_numbers Social Media image

These are the kind of monthly gains you SHOULD be experiencing. With both Twitter accounts you can see that we average a solid 1500 to 1800 new followers per month with 12 to 14 per day being unsolicited followers.

Twitter_Monthly_Totals social media image

Facebook

Take a look at the Facebook LIKES for Real Country Music Fans. I should point out that this is our magazine and we haven’t even been pushing it or trying to expand it, yet you can see through clever activity we experience regular gains on LIKES.

�Real_Country_Music_Fans_FB_LIKES social media image

 

Social Media ENGAGEMENT

This particular case study was with an artist named Collin Raye. Check out the results from a Facebook contest we put together. With this contest we were able to create much needed activity on the artist’s Facebook account. We generated over 70,000 comments in just 40 minutes.

NOTE: there are over 100,000 comments because people kept playing well after we ended the contest.

Collin Guitar Contest 100k comments Social Media image

Additionally, this contest created 5,000 new Facebook LIKES for Collin.

Lead Capture

Collin Raye Email List Growth

The image above shows that we added 1,268 emails in 13 days.

MONETIZATION

Of course, getting the emails through consistent online and live show disciplines is one thing. Turning those social media follows and LIKES into email addresses, and the email addresses into revenue is something else completely.

Take a look at this 4-day sale we did for Collin Raye. Note the different product columns and the fact that most of sales happened during the sale days which are highlighted.

NOTE: these numbers reflect the sales that came from the web store we set up for the artist. There was an additional $1,750 of revenue generated from Tunecore as well.

Collin_Raye_4-Day_Sales_social media image

Red arrows below show there are 5 pages of receipts. 172 receipts to be exact

Collin_Raye_Email social media image

Here is a look at what one of the receipts look like. I show you this to support the data shown in the excel spreadsheet.

Collin_Raye_Reciept social media image

Hopefully this will demonstrate exactly what we are doing differently. In my humble opinion, after all the attention you have received from “Insert Oscar Winning Movie Here”, your social media numbers should be much higher. They’re abysmal at less than 1,000 Twitter followers, less than 3,900 Facebook Likes, and no email addresses to speak of.

Again, the technology is nothing new. In fact, the solutions you are looking for to grow your business are about 10% common technology and 90% language and experience. Compare these numbers here to your current numbers and I think you will find the differences compelling. My father always taught me “The numbers don’t lie because the numbers can’t talk.”

Some points to consider:

  • If you or your current social media company is aware of all this technology why isn’t it being implemented?
  • How do you have 30,000 downloads and hardly any followers on Twitter, Facebook, and hardly any email addresses?
  • How have you been using your YouTube activity to drive traffic to your website?
  • Why are your social media numbers so low?
  • What social media strategy, exactly, has your current company been using?
  • What are your financial goals with this project?
  • Are you certain you have the right team around you?

 

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Demon Angel Commerce image

In order to be a professional, commerce is required

DSC03525-BThat’s right, to be a professional musician, ditch-digger, lawyer, doctor, plumber, construction worker, snowboarder, hooker, drug dealer, police officer, and even school teacher, COMMERCE must happen! Somebody, somewhere, somehow, is charging money for something and part of the money they collect covers the cost of your paycheck. Y’all get that right?

Wow.

You don’t get paid unless commerce happens

When commerce stops, people stop getting paid and their respective positions will end with that particular organization.

You may be the best musician, artist, producer, engineer, or songwriter but you are not professional by definition until you pay your bills in that trade. This holds true for all the previously mentioned jobs and all the occupations that weren’t mentioned.

Commerce Define SuccessI personally believe that success is defined as making a living (which requires you to trade a TON of your precious time in exchange for a living wage) doing what you love to do.

For those artists who enjoy making music as a hobby, why not eliminate the discretionary income portion of the equation? This will require commerce.

 

For those artists who aspire to one day leave the crappy job they suffer through to “make it” in the music industry, COMMERCE IS MISSION CRITICAL!!

Why then, do I read so many comments disparaging commerce as if it somehow means the artists are selling out? Isn’t that the point? Ugh, “selling out” has such a negative connotation doesn’t it?

So this got me thinking as to why, exactly, some artists are so “against” commerce. Whether you are the ultimate Commerce Hello My Name is Sellout imageindie artist who always wants to maintain a “cult following” or you aspire to be bigger than Jay-Z and Beyonce put together (like DethKlok), commerce has to be involved. Kurt Cobain clearly despised being famous (which I TOTALLY understand), but I am pretty sure the goal all along was to make a living making music. This, of course, required the demon commerce.

Why do some artists feel like the art gets diluted with commerce? Well, because it happens sometimes. Without any negative judgment, that’s entirely up to the artist.

Why are most aspiring professional artists ignoring the simple fact that commerce is required to be professional?

Let’s dissect the old music business to articulate where and why art could have been diluted with commerce.

  • Records cost $250,000 to make and $750,000 to promote.
  • Very few artists were even given the chance at a career because it was so expensive. A huge risk for the label (aka investors)!
  • The delivery/exposure mechanism of choice for the music was terrestrial radio and touring
  • Terrestrial radio is a whole different set of corporations with an agenda that has NOTHING to do with music.
  • Radio stations are interested in one thing and one thing only; selling ad space.

Looking at these facts it is easy to surmise that when the commerce of any art has to meet the file9151263244692approval of 2 different committees at 2 different massive corporations with zero interest in the personal and/or artistic well being of the artist, compromises will come. Glen Campbell sang “There’s been a load of compromisin” on the road to my horizon in his Larry Weiss penned hit “Rhinestone Cowboy”. The label feels they know what is marketable (usually based on the very last hit record by the newest hit artist that we will name “Johnny Hot-Sausage”). Therefore, the label wants the artist to adapt the art to their proven methods so they can sell more records. while this situation is not ideal, it is certainly understandable. The radio stations feel that if you sound more like “Johnny Hot-Sausage” they can sell more ad space, so they too, want you to compromise. Or worse, the artist changed the market forever with their original music all the while growing artistically, however, the label just wants a carbon copy of the previous big record so they put pressure on the artist to comply. This can, if the artist lets it, create sterility. Some artists got lucky (and/or remained strong) and didn’t comply. Some artists did conform to ensure they could remain professional artists: thus, the purists are pissed because they feel the artist “sold out” and the art got compromised due to commerce.

Derivative Commerce

I could agree with that argument in some cases. I mean, there is certainly more powerful, original, and important art in any genre. Then, of course, there are the derivatives (which are called “Me-Too” products in the business world). The “me-too’s” also get to be professional artists.

If we dig down, we could also argue that while the art may be getting compromised (to what must be a suitable amount to the artist or why would they do it?) they are in fact, in the game. The artist is able to make a living Commerce Indian imagewriting, recording, and playing their music. Hell, some of them simply wanted to be professional musicians/artists whatever the circumstance and that’s no sin. I mean, we can’t have all Chiefs and no Indians, right? So while their specific circumstance may not have been perfect, they were “successful” to some degree because they were doing it professionally.

Is that selling out?

Maybe

One has to concur that while one may not like or agree with the method the artist utilized to become professional; the artist is in fact, professional. So there’s that position.

I have countless conversations with artists actually forewarning them that the haters will multiply exponentially with the attention. I advise them that “sell out” or not, haters tend to get real pissed off when they see someone living out the dream the hater didn’t have the balls to maintain. I know from experience that often times the “sell out” conversation is rooted deeply in personal baggage from the antagonist and has nothing to do with the artist.

I would tell the hater to examine their specific circumstances. What does the hater do for a living? Unless said naysayer can honestly say they LOVE their job, then aren’t they selling out too? Aren’t they trading all their precious time doing something they don’t necessarily love for nothing more than a paycheck? Doesn’t that make the aggressor a “dancing chicken” of sorts for nothing more than money? How are they different exactly from the artists they claim supposedly “sold out”?

Some people love to fish. Some people truly believe that a bad day fishing is better than the best day at the office, so if they were professional fishermen…you get my point.

I mentioned before that huge success almost always requires compromise. I do see real artists in music and acting who have found a palatable balance between big budget mass market projects that deliver big paychecks, press, and notoriety (keeping the proverbial train on the tracks), and small, quiet, indie projects that feed their artist souls.

Why is that bad?

John Mayer comes to mind with his 2 pop records then the John Mayer Trio blues record approach. One could argue that Mayer’s methodology actually brought massive attention to a genre that is sadly almost forgotten in the Commerce John Mayer Triomainstream marketplace. So is John Mayer selling out or did he breathe new life into a dying genre?

I do find it offensive when a popular artist seemingly runs out of ideas and starts to release music that is clearly trendy for nothing more than commerce. That process usually ends up in failure although I could argue that Kiss’ attempt to capitalize on the disco trend, “I Was Made For Loving You” is pretty cool. The Rolling Stones tracked one of my very favorite songs “Miss You chasing the same trend, so sometimes it ends up brilliantly.

 

WE ARE NO LONGER IN THE OLD MUSIC BUSINESS!!

Arguments about “selling out” and Commerce Pro Art imagedemon commerce diluting the art are literally a waste of time. Now artists have the power, infrastructure, and access to knowledge to create a business based on finding fans who like the artist’s music just exactly the way artists want to create it; without anyone telling you what to do. Without compromise!

Again, Commerce is required. Not only do you have the amazing opportunity to capitalize on this dynamic, but this approach is MISSION CRITICAL. For the most part you have to create a profitable small business first.

The only way to be successful, which means making a living (by my definition) doing what you absolutely love and need to do, requires commerce. You are going to have to become a business person of sorts so stop avoiding it! Embrace it.

Commerce is not a demon.

Commerce is your friend.

 

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