Beware: The Internet's Dark Side

Yes, the internet has a down side for bands and musicians. Over time, I have thought of the internet as a wicked promotion tool for getting your music out there. I still think that it is, however, it has its down side.

Online is a really hard market to be honest, because it's all too easy for people to sit and listen to your music whenever they want. Sure they love it - but something needs to happen to make them go that step further and PURCHASE it. But then, why are they going to purchase it when they can log on, listen to their favourite tunes whenever they want without having to part with a cent?

Perfect example, is that earlier today the band got an email that said "ooh I LOVE your music, I have favourited it, and come on every day JUST so I can listen to it, can't wait to hear more!".

Now, that kind of annoys me (remember, I am thinking as a manager/promoter/business person - not as a musician). I'm sitting here thinking to myself - well, these guys have spent a lot of time and money creating and recording these songs and you're too cheap to do anything but favourite it and listen for free!

Seriously, how is that supposed to motivate a musician? I know there are a ton of musicians out there that won't agree with me, and that don't give a damn about the money. That's fine if you don't wish music to be your fulltime career. But if you DO want it to be your fulltime career then you need to treat it like a business, because that's what it is. If you ran a different type of business and provided services for free, or gave away products - I can tell you now, that business wouldn't last very long.

I think musicians deserve to be paid for their efforts and contributions to the artistic community. But I also think that there are too many platforms that allow the exploitation of musicians and what they create. For example: MySpace - do you know the developers make millions of dollars??! What do the artists that provide the music for the community get? ZIP.

It's made me think twice about the internet and exactly how much music to have available. If you're a big, well-known band that can afford to tour - then it's a different story, I think having your songs up for people to listen to can only aid your cause, because if you're touring, chances are you will gain new fans who will pay to come to your shows. But when you're a band that is just starting out and trying to get known, can you expect to make money online from it and tour? That, my friend, is my million dollar question.

How To Contact The Industry Bigwigs

Well I must be doing something right here. Over the past couple of weeks, whenever I contact the 'movers & shakers' in the industry (be it management companies, major record labels or even the bigger indie labels), I seem to get replied to now! Yes that does come as a surprise, because I have been managing this band seriously for a year and previously when I would contact any one of those “types”, I always got the brush off or no reply at all!

A month or so ago I contacted the major US indie label Wind-Up Records. Now, a place like that – they have no contact details on their website, and don’t accept unsolicited CD’s. But it just goes to show, if you know who to contact, are polite, use the correct etiquette and get straight to the point, then a response is more likely. By the way – it is no good being an artist or a band member and trying to contact people like this, ensure you get a representative or look at finding someone to manage your band and do it for you. Anyways, Wind-Up Records replied to me and asked me to send a copy of the album over so they could check it out. Turned out that it wasn’t something they were interested in taking further (unfortunately), but have asked me to keep in touch and send them anything else that I think might interest them. WOOT! BONUS for me! What a great contact to have!!

Yesterday I contacted a couple of well-known band managers here in New Zealand and I heard back from one of them today, which was great. He replied "you're doing a great job with your promo" and gave a few suggestions, which was really helpful. I was happy with that and it was great to hear back from someone like that and receive their advice. Once again, it’s great to have a contact like that. So like my previous post – it’s really all about contacting the destination and asking for directions.

Just three things that I really want to point out, that are so important and will make all the difference if you receive a reply or not – 1) Find out who is the correct person to deal with; 2) Be friendly and polite, and get straight to the point; and 3) Do not contact them if you are a band member – get a management company to represent you – or you are wasting your time.

If this helps even one person out there then it is worth it. Once again, I will keep you updated as I go and you’ll be hearing all the success stories here (there have been a few already - including receiving over 300,000 views in the first 5 days of appearing on YouTube) and the failures as well… along with all the drama’s I encounter along the way! There’s already been way too much of that though – with sabotage from a soundman, a local music forum causing trouble, a reviewer that went to great lengths to bring us down, and a bass player that ditched us 6 days before a big showcase!

Where To Now?

So... the showcase that we had been looking forward to for the past two months has been and gone. Over the past few days, I have felt very disappointed and frustrated with how I felt it all went. I have felt let down and was almost ready to throw in the towel, give it all up, and seek a 9 to 5 job that my family would consider 'normal'.

But then... I read the rave reviews the album has received... I see the emails STILL coming in asking when the boys are touring their country... and I hear the potential songs for the next album they are currently working on....! All of that keeps me going - I know that I have a rock band here that needs to be heard. A band that people are going to love - and that people do already love! I just need to get it out there. I always knew it was never going to be an easy ride...!

First thing I had to do was adjust my attitude. So I had some expectations that weren't met?! That's life. That's the nature of the industry - get over it! Move onwards and upwards. Half the reason I felt so down was because the showcase had been our latest goal - now we had achieved that, but I had set no other goal to work to towards achieving. Yes, we all know "goals" are important - if you don't have a goal in mind then that's something you need to sort out. Let's face it - goals motivate you, they challenge you, they keep you moving forward - always have one (or two!).

So, at this stage, I'm currently putting together a marketing plan. With everything that has happened, I figure that concentrating on their local fanbase here in New Zealand is one of the most important stages of that plan. Hence, that is my focus right now.

The Wheels Are A-Turning...!

Good things are a-happening here right now! Showcase is tomorrow night and already great things are happening.

The lead singer has had two interviews with major commercial radio stations today!! One had been set up a while ago as it's currently New Zealand Music Month, and the other was hooked up via phone through the VIP that has organised the showcase! That station will also playlist the band's first single in a sort of 'homegrown' type segment - that is specifically for the really good unsigned bands. This is a major break for us - commercial radio is really hard to break into, even those homegrown segments - as it really is a 'who you know' industry.

So all is good in our world right now. There is more to add - and will tell you all about it in about 2 days time. I won't post tomorrow (Thursday 22nd) but will be back Friday and will tell you how it all went and also the latest on the drama that's developing with that forum... once again unfortunately.

See ya!

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining...

After all the negativity you start to wonder if it's all really worth it. I struggled many times with that - many times! However, every time I listened to the album, or replied to all the positive comments via social networking sites, or received emails from all those wanting to know when the guys are going to tour - that's what kept me going. It's all that that reminded me exactly what I had sitting right in the palm of my hand. At the end of the day - that is what it's all about: getting the music to the people. And as long as I kept that in mind, I knew I could carry on and do this.

A lot of my time is spent emailing. Emailing music industry 'movers & shakers', newspapers, magazines - online and offline, potential contacts, promoters, radio stations etc. On opening my email one morning, I had a very welcome surprise. One of the biggest VIPs in the music industry here in NZ wanted more information on this band!

I was very quick to reply of course and I ended up posting him a copy of the album upon his request. Consequently he loved what he heard, couldn't speak highly enough of it and wondered why it wasn't on the radio yet. He as also impressed with the 300,000+ views one of the tracks had received on YouTube.

We set up a meeting with him, the lead singer and I a couple of weeks later. Throughout that meeting we discussed all sorts including the state of the music industry at this stage and also the importance of owning your own material - it gives you so much more leverage! Which, at this vital stage, my artist has retained all rights to his music. He mentioned that he'd like to set up a showcase, to ensure that what is heard on the album can be pulled off in a live environment. In doing so, he would like to invite some music industry execs and other VIPs to come along and check them out.

We haven't yet had this showcase, and have no idea if this will open any doors for us or not, but it's one hell of an opportunity to break into an industry that will otherwise shut you out and show no mercy.

The showcase is scheduled for two weeks from now. I will still be posting every day, so be sure to stay tuned and find out how it all goes!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom"

Music Video Time... Did It Work?!

...[continued..] Well, I certainly didn't let the lack of support from commercial radio stations bother me. Actually, it empowered me and made me more determined. I was completely committed to getting this artist out there, and I still am. Next up on my list of things to do, was to get a video done. We had already created a YouTube account and thrown up a couple of acoustic versions, which people really seemed to enjoy.

Time for a real video, now that the album was finished and fully produced and mastered - let's see if the TV stations are any more helpful than radio! We created the video - we did it on a very limited budget, and had a lot of help from friends and contacts we had made - came together nicely. Not the best video - looking back, there are many things I would change - but it was what we could do on little or no budget. Comparing it to other New Zealand music videos - it was in the same league.

So, we sent that off to 2 of the main music video stations here in New Zealand - C4TV and Juice. Result? C4 said they might show it in their Homegrown section - they thought the song was awesome, but didn't think the video did it justice. I'm happy to agree with that. Juice? They were just downright rude! They were not interested - I inquired as to what they thought of the song itself... and they said "it wouldn't fit in amongst Beyonce and Justin Timberlake" (I still have the email - with the very rude tone in it!). I must admit, I had to laugh, because whilst they do play that kind of thing - there's also a tonne of New Zealand content, and this track is by far, as good as (if not better) than any other New Zealand song currently playing.

How the hell do you break into the commercial world ...??? More soon!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: A hidden wisdom is like a hidden star; it shines nowhere"

Getting Radio Airplay.... Or Not!

Today is a wet, rainy day and it's Sunday, so thought I might just give you a recap on where I'm at so far.

I've been running an indie record label/management company full time for about 6 months now. I currently manage only one band at this stage as I would rather focus on one act that has 'hit' potential, rather than 3 that are just pretty good. I spend a lot of time doing the upkeep of all sites (website, Bebo, MySpace etc), replying to every message and every comment, commenting back, adding blogs etc. That alone is a full time job!

We put together a video for the first single this band released off their album, and posted it up on YouTube. Within 5 days it had received over 300,000 views! So I was pretty happy with that, considering that the biggest rock band here in New Zealand has only received 57,000 views! It proved to me that the public were loving it - we received a lot of honours on YouTube and the emails flowed in. It confirmed to me that we had hit the mark with choosing that first song.

So, using the YouTube feedback as our credibility I decided that one way or another, we need to get this song on air. I got hold of the name of every programme director at each radio station fitting the genre, called them and introduced myself. I mentioned that I would like to send them a copy of the album and a couple of weeks later, I called back to follow up. The result I got from them, collectively, were that it was "cheesy" and "wouldn't fit into the playlist" etc. CHEESY???? What the heck? Were they listening to the same track that I was? And the other 300,000 people? I was too polite to mention that many of the current tracks on their playlist were what I would term as "cheesy"! I have sinced learned that getting any kind of air play is a very political venture! In the music industry.. it is not WHAT you know, is is definitely WHO you know.

But... I wasn't about to stop there! No way were they going to knock me down and put me in my place. I was more determined than ever.... [to be continued..]

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Success is your responsibility. You will only accomplish what you believe you can and do what you think is possible"

Join Me On My Journey...

I manage a rock band here in New Zealand - they're a pretty wicked band (and no, I'm not just being biassed - I couldn't promote or stand behind something I didn't believe it). And please note: this blog is NOT for promotional purposes, hence I won't be mentioning the band.

It's a hard industry to break into, especially being a female, I don't feel that there's the respect that there would be if I was male - but I might be wrong there. Either way, I feel that I'm slowly making some headway - completely believing in your artist and having that passion for their music is a major part of it all.

In saying all this, the most important thing I have learned is to leave all the nay-sayers behind. You don't need that - and anyone that just sees the negative in what you're doing is not worth the time or effort. It used to bother me, whenever I talked about what I was doing, or the goals I had, I felt like I had to defend myself, my thoughts and my actions - it became draining and I didn't enjoy those conversations. I can no longer be bothered with it and I fully believe you can achieve anything if you really put your mind to it and really focus on it. Any backlash I get now - it drives me and motivates me. I have a point to prove and I will prove it. Already on this journey I am on, I have left behind several people... because their negativity drains me.

That said, join me on this journey to getting a band to world-wide fame. My goal is to write on this every single day (forgive me if I miss a day!), and to diary the ways and means by which I get there. Maybe it will help some of you along the way. But the whole reason I know it will happen for me is because this band I manage has the ability to make it huge! You will see.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "LUCK is what happens when PREPARATION meets OPPORTUNITY"