The Long Haul / Personality on Lefsetz
Looks like Bob’s stepped up the advice and tips on his blog this week and has plenty of his usual impassioned theories on what’s going to cut the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the next generation of music entertainers and performers.
A lot of young people just getting into don’t realise just how hard it is and what they’ll have to sacrifice.
It’s true that you’re not just going to walk into the music business just because you’re talented because there is so much demand from people out there who all want to be famous, who want to be recognized.
“There are very few job openings for rock star”
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1. Focus on the music. Get it to the point where the audience only needs to hear it once to get it.
2. Let people listen for free. Then sell the physical product as a souvenir, and put out unique product online.
3. One great track is better than ten mediocre ones.
4. Don’t worry about confusing the marketplace with more product. It just allows new fans to discover a plethora when they finally tune in. Meanwhile, the Internet allows the fulfillment of the true fan’s dream, a steady flow of product. In the old days, you were a fan of a band in high school, their next record came out when you were married. Today, you can put out new songs while students are still in the same semester! And you should!
5. You must work live. It’s the best way to connect with people. You’ve got to be so good, you close the audience. Performing is a different skill than playing in a studio. Start honing your chops now. Play anywhere and everywhere you can. Not focused on the money, but the development of stage skills.
6. Radio is gravy. People no longer believe radio builds career acts. Don’t be beholden to the airwaves. See them as just another outlet.
7. Make videos. Creativity is key. We’re returning to the age of MTV. Either play live, demonstrating your skills, which is how Andy McKee built a career on YouTube, or come up with an OK Go-type video. Wow us visually. The means of production are now in the hands of the proletariat. Hell, you can get a Flip HD camera for $150 and you can edit on your computer…
8. Experience counts. Everybody gets better the longer they do something.
9. Haters abound. If you’re not being criticized, you’re not doing it right, you’re only playing in front of family and friends. Hate intensifies the bigger you get, especially in the Net world, where everybody gets a voice. There is no protection. Wander into the world and experience the slings and arrows, toughen your skin.
10. Respect your audience. Don’t send unsolicited MP3s, don’t send unsolicited fliers. Everything should be opt-in.
11. Let your audience participate, let people help you. They’re dying to! Stay in the houses of fans on the road. Let fans design fliers and t-shirts. Give them tools to promote you. All they want in return is attention, and a bit of access. These sneezers are your key to success. Treat your core fans incredibly nicely.
In the old days it was about being nice to the PD. Now you go directly to the fan.
12. Put up live videos.
13. Tweet.
14. Be available on every social networking platform. Of course, Facebook, but a new act could make headway using Foursquare. Hell, have your fans come meet you at Starbucks!
15. Press is a bonus. Press is ignored by most people. It’s seen as hype. Just keep thinking about being one on one with your fans.
16. Don’t think any one opportunity or gig is the key to success. You never know what will break you through. And most times, it’s later than sooner. And, if it happens too soon…momentum tends to peter out.
17. Release dates are irrelevant. You’re in constant marketing mode. But the best marketing is a great track, that will be spread far and wide.
That drop after the first week?
It just got worse.
Was 33.9% in 2000, it was 62.8% in 2009.
SoundScan is spinning some phony baloney about pre-orders, old school “Billboard” is lamenting the lack of price and positioning and radio support, and you’re sitting there saying…um, seems right to me!
The nineties are over. Where the goal was to ship as much product as possible, create a public hoopla and not only see albums fly out of the store the first week, but for weeks to come.
First of all, people don’t even want the album, they just want the track.
And most people don’t care about the act anyway. And they can ignore it.
In other words, you’ve got to be in it for the long haul. The really long haul.
You’re better off not blowing your marketing budget in anticipation of the first week. If you don’t have a two year campaign in place, you don’t believe in the project. Or, you’re working for a major label, inured to short term results, desperately trying to make sure you don’t get fired.
In order to have sustained fans, you’ve got to reach an audience with music. Not with photo shoots, not with talking head TV appearances, you’ve got to make sure people hear your music again and again. But you should start with a small group.
That’s what old wave media doesn’t understand, how to harness the public, how to use social media to create a conflagration.
Old wave media believes you use social media to spread the word. No, you infect fans, and then THEY spread the word on social media. And it can take a very long time to happen. And if you go for profits too soon, if you don’t continue to improve the underlying product, you end up with something like MySpace. A hit for a minute, then toast.
This is scary to the old timers. They want insurance.
But that insurance can only be bought in a recording studio.
Yes, creators are more important than ever before. Which is why labels keep going to the usual suspects, they don’t want to take a risk. But so many people are tired of this sound and have tuned out, and the oldsters are fighting over crumbs.
If you want longevity, you’d better create a new sound. Or at least an individual sound, a personality.
A good example of the future of music is Zac Brown. He’s been recording for years. His album’s been out for eons and he’s still on the road. Not on vacation. Furthermore, word spreads about his passion for cooking, and his desire to feed fans. This hook builds his audience. Anybody can have a hit on the radio, but can you bring people to the show, can you get them to keep coming?
My friend Jim Urie is lobbying to get ISPs to crack down on file-traders. This is completely wrongheaded. We don’t want to cut down any access people have to becoming fans. As for acquiring music… A better mousetrap is far superior to playing Whac-A-Mole. Don’t take away the cheese, make it more enticing!
We’re never going back to the sales figures of yore. Not because of theft, but because no one can get that kind of mindshare.
But you can get some traction. If you’re willing to work really hard, continuously, always leading with your music.
1. Are you willing to work?
Plan on giving up television. Nights out with your friends. Marriage. Children. Making it is about sacrifice. Talent is at best fifty percent, desire is the rest.
2. Can you interact with other people?
Sure, history is laden with abusive rock stars. But they weren’t abusive at the beginning. Hell, Bob Geldof abused programmers at a big radio convention and it halted the Boomtown Rats’ career in America permanently. I’m not saying you’ve got to kiss butt. It’s just that you’ve got to appear rational. And you’ve got to be thankful. Which brings us to:
3. Show gratitude.
Thank the guy doing radio promotion, or maintaining your Website. Thank the guy who opens the door. People love to help, you’ve just got to pay them in attention. Sure, if you’re abused, go off on them. But if someone’s going out of their way to treat you nicely, to do a favor for you, let them know you’re appreciative. Labels have more than one act. And most successful managers do too. If you’re an ungrateful sonofabitch, they’ll focus their efforts on someone else.
4. Be willing to listen to advice.
You don’t need to take it, but certainly be willing to let the other person talk. Sure, the label might want to mold you improperly, scrub off all your rough edges, but the people working there have also been doing it for a long time and know stuff you don’t. Like what media outlets will promote. Who will take a chance on new music.
5. Be nice to your fans.
New paradigm acts don’t concentrate on radio or print. They go directly to their fans. A fan will do anything for you, he’ll not only put you up for the night, he’ll let you sleep with his sister. But you’ve got to talk to him, you’ve got to sign an autograph, you’ve got to remember the effort. Nothing thrills a fan more than having a famous person remember them. Not only do they tell the story to everybody they meet, they say how great you and your music are. This is good will you cannot buy, but it can be earned.
6. Overnight success is elusive.
Don’t moan when you don’t have instant success. As a matter of fact, those who triumph quickly tend to fade just as fast. If for no other reason than potential fans go on instant backlash. You have to earn the trust of the hardest core of fans. But once you’ve got it, they’ll never let go. Don’t we all have favorite acts that no one has ever heard of? Aren’t we still imploring people to listen to their records, even decades later? Sure, if you become monstrous, some hipsters will leave you. Then again, many will want to tell the tale of how they were there in the BEGINNING!
7. Fame is mindbending.
As Chris Blackwell puts it, “you go from a bum to a hero in a second, and you’ve got to be savvy enough to guide yourself through the maze.”
Beware of having your prayers answered. Yesterday nobody knew you, today people you don’t know are writing terrible things about you all over the Net. It takes time to adjust to fame. Which is why it’s best if it comes slowly. So you can learn the ropes and cope.
8. Money isn’t everything.
Morris Levy might have ripped off Tommy James, but would Tommy James have been a hit on another label? Doubtful. Mr. James was Roulette’s only star at the time. Morris killed, maybe literally, for Tommy’s success. In other words, just because you’ve read Don Passman’s book and are an expert on the business, don’t think you don’t have to give up a bit to get not only a little, but a lot. There are very few job openings for rock star. Chances are you’re going to have to experience a few raw deals in order to make it. If you sustain, you can turn the tables and dictate on your terms as time goes on.
9. Be Reasonable
If you don’t know of a band which negotiated themselves right out of a deal by being too demanding, you don’t know any lawyers. No one needs your record to hit. You’ve got to earn your opportunity, you’ve got to build trust and maintain relationships.
10. Trust is key.
Involve yourself with people you trust, whose words you believe. Not only is it hard to extricate yourself from a bad deal, hell, Billy Joel paid Artie Ripp for years after making it, words are cheap and just because someone says they’re going to do something for you, that doesn’t mean they will.
11. Passion is everything.
In your music. In your team. In your fans.
People can’t manufacture passion. And human beings can sense hype and fake interest and belief a mile away. Hell, just go online and experience the trolls hyping acts so they can earn some b.s. reward from a band or a marketing company. We know when someone is testifying for real. In other words, even though your music might be great, you’re gonna be a nonstarter unless you can SELL your music. By that I mean going on stage and convincing people you’re great through your performance, and convincing those you come in contact with in the business that you’ll forgo everything to make it. You’ll sleep five to a room. You’ll dumpster dive. You’ll get ripped off, be underpaid. That’s the story of rock and roll. Instant stardom is a facade. Either the act has been working for years or is two-dimensional cardboard, the product of a svengali, and will fade as soon as their song leaves the radio.
It’s not only about the music.
In order to make it, you need a team. No one can do it alone.
And labels and managers and agents invest in people, not only music.
