Labels Indies and DIY- Keepers of the Gate

Click here to download sample pages of this 174 page book.
The Songwriter's Toolkit: From Pen to Push Play

To View The Book Trailer Click Here
Click on the book to purchase now. Pre-sell purchases include a free download card of the new EP by Aaron Blanton (a Grammy nominated and multi Dove Award winning artist.) Aaron Blanton has sold over 1 million CDs.  You'll get a free ringtone and at least six brand new songs recorded in L.A. and Orange County. The download card will ship at the time the book ships. This is a limited time offer!


I find myself having the same conversation over and over. Friends in and out of the music business are all asking the same questions. When it comes to the enormous glut of music, with all its variations and mutations and genres, how does any one artist rise through the noise? The field is vastly overcrowded and shows no signs that a slowdown of new music proliferation is imminent. A statistic I cited in my last article of 98,000 new albums in 2009 is a stunning and nearly unimaginable quantity, even in a land that loves music such as the U.S. Who are all those artists? How do you find the one album or single that you might love to hear but are unaware of, hidden among the masses? It is the proverbial conundrum of the “needle in a haystack.” It’s in there somewhere, but how will you ever get your hands on it? Fans can’t enjoy music they don’t know about.
There are at least two remedies for the “lost” music dilemma. One is more obvious and clearly understood to nearly everyone as “marketing.” Marketing a song, album or band is one way to expose a great piece of music or an artist to those who are eager to learn about something fresh. Marketing includes all of the concepts we have explored in previous articles such as, building fan bases, touring and advertising, social media and much more. Some of this can be done with little or no cost; and some at the price of a Ferrari. Publicists and marketing teams are expensive but do bring a level of ROI (return on investment), in most cases. Their job is to take an unknown, little known, or forgotten product or person and raise the profile enough to produce consumers. Through a series of ad campaigns that might include TV, radio, print media, internet and many other exposures, they work (for a limited time based on budget) on reaching a specified market with a specific message. The clever strategies they employ are probably the reason you are reading this on whatever brand of devise you purchased. The work of marketers and publicists has a nearly unscalable influence on what we actually think or want to buy. This can be done to some degree, by any DIY-er who has the will and stamina to commit to the goal at hand. It is tough but can be done.
The second remedy for locating “lost” music is much less manageable. It isn’t about ads or hits on an internet site. It has to do with what I will call “filters” and is completely outside of one person’s shear brute will power to succeed. “Filters” is the old method of culling bad music. It separated the wheat from the chaff and helped the most durable music get to the top of the heap. When you heard a hit on the radio, it was there because it had met with certain scrutiny of record execs who cleared the production for that song. It meant that an artist, producer, A&R guy, a team of songwriters, radio promoters, session players and several others had had a hand in making it a hit. They were responsible for giving that record the green light to get where it was. They were the filters who held back the music that was of lesser quality (based on their set of criteria) and allowed only the music they believed in to go forward. This was further supported by radio, record stores, and jukebox vendors. With all these entities focusing on “the single”, consumers ran by the millions to buy the hit record they had been dancing to and hearing on their car radios.
Now we see few if any filters to help us locate and fall in love with “the single.” We are left to our own devices in trying to uncover the great music of our time. The idea of DIY was that anyone and everyone who had some talent could make a record and so we all did. At last we had slipped the surly bonds of the “corporate system” that had held us all at bay. Little did we know that our newfound freedom to be creative would also produce the lowest record sales in the history of commercial recordings. But where a vacuum exists, something always rushes in to fill it. So what will our new filtering system be? Only time will tell.
 ©2010 WalkWayGroup


Click here to download sample pages of this 174 page book.
The Songwriter's Toolkit: From Pen to Push Play


Click on the book to purchase now. Pre-sell purchases include a free download card of the new EP by Aaron Blanton (a Grammy nominated and multi Dove Award winning artist.) Aaron Blanton has sold over 1 million CDs.  You'll get a free ringtone and at least six brand new songs recorded in L.A. and Orange County. The download card will ship at the time the book ships. This is a limited time offer!

up

MORE Labels, Indies, and DIY... and My New Book

Click here to download sample pages of this 174 page book.
The Songwriter's Toolkit: From Pen to Push Play


Click on the book to purchase now. Pre-sell purchases include a free download card of the new EP by Aaron Blanton (a Grammy nominated and multi Dove Award winning artist.) Aaron Blanton has sold over 1 million CDs.  You'll get a free ringtone and at least six brand new songs recorded in L.A. and Orange County. The download card will ship at the time the book ships. This is a limited time offer!






I read a statistic this week from Digital Music News that really muddys the water.  "... Nielsen Soundscan offered some sobering stats.  A total of 98,000 albums were released in 2009, and just a handful crossed the million-mark.  Perhaps more sobering, just 2.1 percent managed to cross the 5,000-mark, a group that made up 91 percent of total sales.  Suddenly, fresh artists are staring at a near-zero chance of selling even modest amounts, part of a continued drizzle on DIY optimism."  Believe it or not, there does seem to be some life remaining in the big labels.  Many of the big radio/MTV acts are indeed signed to labels.  One might argue that as long as there is an excessive volume of cash flow, artists will continue to be willing to sign deals with labels.  The point is well taken.  Some artists will go with a major label for the world-wide exposure it could bring.  Since we aren’t privy to the deals they sign, we cannot speak to the issue of remuneration in exchange for whatever compromise they may (or may not) have made for a chance at the golden ring.  However, the stories abound of contracts known as “360’s”, named for the encircling financial absconding that engulfs the artist to control every single item marketed with the brand of the artists from downloads to tees to dolls to tours.  It basically means that virtually everything the touches the artist is owned by the label.  The cross-collateralization (redirecting of funds away from the songwriter) of the publishing catalogs for songs written by the artist, as well as recoupment clauses, take an enormous bite out of the artist’s take home pay.  This is one of the reasons we are hearing the loud outcry from artists (signed and unsigned) desperately trying to collect moneys from a variety of revenue sources.  They simply need the cash.  Who can blame anyone for wanting to get paid for the work they have done?

But that same argument goes for the hard-working labels as well.  If they really get behind an artist, there could be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars spent on marketing, branding, recordings, duplication, tour support and publicity.  The contracts they write are intended to support the bottom line and reward the stockholders (regulated by the Federal Gov.) without a creating Congressional investigation and showing up on C-SPAN. It is a sword that swings and cuts both ways.  In my estimation, everyone who works should get paid for their labor.  Labels and artists should reap the bounty as co-workers toward the same goal.  The reality is that greed drives too many decisions and the smell of money has an intoxicating affect on those who get engulfed in its aroma cloud. 

Conversely, there are artists who would give up everything of value and meaning to have the applause of the cheering, approving, world audience.  They need to play.  When these two extremes of label and artist meet up, it is more like a drug dealer supplying an addict than like a business arrangement.  By now you know I am always about balance and moderation and it is no less true in the music business.  The labels tend to be an over-the-top entity and the seeds of destruction are within.  The more it functions like the old model, the more destructive it is to its own survival.  These are of course, generalizations.  There are labels with different and healthier business models that may take them through to continued viability, but not without some morphing.
     
As musicians take back ownership of the music they create the less they need the glut of the label and all its excesses.  These players will seek out and find Indies who can and will step up in a partnership with the artist.  Indies don’t generally offer 360 contracts but look more like 180 deals.  180’s allow for the artist to direct and control rights of the publishing, merch and certain marketing pieces in an amicable arrangement with the Indie label.  Some Indie labels are offering ala cart deals that allow for picking and choosing the most needed areas of support.  Some share the cost of the record production rather than shouldering the cost alone.  This gives the artist much more power and shifts some of the successful marketing and sales back to the music maker himself.  In some cases, you must come to the party with some financing in hand in order to take on your share of the expense as you partner with the Indie.  This is a model that has existed in one form or another for many years.  It has moved in and out of vogue and has had a bit of a bad reputation because some of the Indies (formerly called custom record labels) were little more than glorified record mills.  They simply recruited anybody who had money to make a record, good or bad, and put a label on the record.  But the more recent incarnation of the Indie is a much healthier iteration of the custom recording company.  They generally offer some form of distribution (an ever evolving thing) to get the record in the marketplace.  Theoretically, they can and will do all the things that one individual couldn’t, wouldn’t or shouldn’t do for his musical career.  Besides distribution, they know who will help build a buzz through the right publicity and who’s who in the music business for the right kinds of connections.  I alluded to this in the previous post but, what is all that worth to you?  You are trading something whether it is points (percentages of sales) or something less monetary such as limiting your rights in some area.  It is about trading and compromise.  It is true; we can’t have it all.  If 98,000 albums are released in 2010 as well, how will you climb to the surface for some airtime? If you are one of the fortunate 2.1%, you will only sell 5000 units.  That isn't enough to buy the baby milk.  You must decide what you need help with and find someone to partner in your musical venture, formally or informally.  Find someone who has what it takes to help move your music out into the world where it can be appreciated.  Strategize a plan as soon as you finish reading this and go make it happen!  And even if you aren't a songwriter, you need to pick up a copy of my new book to give you insight into the world of music.  Until next time... Go Get Creative!    



The Songwriter's Toolkit: From Pen to Push Play

Click on the book to purchase now. Pre-sell purchases include a free download card of Aaron Blanton's new EP. You'll get a free ringtone and at least six brand new songs recorded in L.A. and Orange County. The download card will ship at the time the book ships. This is a limited time offer... REALLY!


©2010 WalkWay Group

Reframe a Bad Gig Thankfully

Often, the source of disappointment and discouragement is our own inability to find proper context. We sometimes get caught up in the ideals of someone else’s career. From the outside we look and seeing success, we imagine that their journey will be our journey as well. After trying to replicate that journey, we realize that things aren’t working out in the same way for us as it did for them. It can become “career envy.” This can be a source of struggle for the musician or other creative brains out there.

We should always capture as much knowledge as possible from those pros, but we must distill from that knowledge only the transferables. Transferables will be those concepts that work in a universal sense including work ethic, connectivity, networking, commitment, creativity, and longevity. Those are the things that will make for a successful career in any field. The biggest challenge for musicians and the creative community in general is to act on that belief. Success will be about the individual as much as it is about the music. In other words, healthy, long-term, success is built on doing the right things and abandoning those things that are not. When we are able to look at our careers from a bird’s eye view, we can see that some things seem to work and some things fail. If we learn early on what those things are, it will move the process forward, perhaps saving us years of “hard knocks.” We then can better appreciate the success of others to get a leg up on our own future.

It is a great time to reframe our failures; to see what good can come from them. Each failure is a real opportunity to replace it with something that works. Every bad gig gives us a chance to redesign the show. Maybe it is the order of songs or perhaps the wrong songs altogether. Maybe the band needs more rehearsal or the frontman needs a key change. Just don’t beat yourself up. No good can come from that. These are the pieces that come together as we choose to view “failures” as points for “course correction.” This is what reframing is all about. And when you see it that way, it’s something we can be thankful for.

And in the spirit of the last blog, here is a list of things we can glean from some tough exposure to reality in the music business.

10 Things You Can Learn From a Bad Gig

1. Never work for that promoter again.
2. Get clear directions to the venue.
3. Bring your own sound guy.
4. Get in-ear monitors.
5. What’s a “Rider?”
6. Rehearse more.
7. Do some cover tunes that people know.
8. You are also in marketing.
9. Use good gear.
10. When do we get paid for this show?

A lesson learned is a success earned. Flops and failures are the perfect opportunity to do it better the next time.

©2009 WalkWay Group, Steven Blanton, All Rights Reserved

When to Call it Quits / Top 10 Reasons to Pack it In

Being a music publisher and a career coach to creative people, I have sat across the table from some wildly successful artists. It is one of the easiest things I do. When working with these people, we are finding new and better ways to build on their past successes. The second easiest thing I do is work with new artists who seem to be on an unstoppable path to fame and success. The world is before them and my task is to point out and help them build on the necessary stepping stones for career and mental sanity in a crazy-making business. These people represent the top of the heap and are the pacesetters for the world of music.

Believe it or not, some musicians will fail at being successful. This is antithetical to all I have been writing in the previous blogs. I know this is self-demising too, since I am in the business of helping musicians succeed at their craft. It’s hard to get someone to pay you to tell them to pack it in and go back to Peoria. We all want encouragement and need to be bolstered along to strengthen our confidence. It’s kind of anti-American to say to someone, “It’s time to stop accumulating gear, quit pitching your songs, stop spending money on your demos, give up on your dream and get a job in radiology so you can pay the bills.” The very thought of that goes against everything we have in us that says we must be successful and have a right to try.

It is incredibly difficult to fully predict who will “make it” in the music business and who will fail. But there are some very strong indicators and people with the right kinds of experience and insight can, with a high degree of accuracy, predict who will go on to make a living and who will fail and move on to some other field. The following list will help in identifying some of the main areas of concern for the musician who wants to succeed. If you find yourself listed among these “negatives” it would behoove you to address them now or make the tough decisions for a career choice.

I am going to give you the Top 10 Reasons to Pack it In (or make a change).

1. You aren’t organized enough to make contacts
2. You hate criticism and are immobilized by it
3. You hate rehearsals and the thought of repetition
4. You think of fans as a nuisance after the show
5. You have an all consuming job that occupies your every thought
6. You quit easily
7. You don’t have fans who follow your music and don’t know why
8. You don’t have your music in a purchasable form
9. You are uninspired and uninspiring
10. You are out-of-control in the rest of your life

There are at least 10 more, but any one of these reasons can be devastating to your music career. If you have several of these reasons working together it is nearly a sure thing that you will not succeed in the business of making a living in music. Make the changes necessary to put yourself on the road to a great living in this crazy music business.

©2009 WalkWay Group, Steven Blanton, All Rights Reserved