#jimrosecircus NUMBER 1 MISTAKE BANDS MAKE

We have all seen bands make hay out of being anti-establishment. They revel in thumbing their noses to the music industry and the fans eat it up. I assure you they weren't anti-establishment until they were hooked up to the big machine that creates the fame. 

Rage Against The Machine opened for me and it was one of their first live gigs ever. They did no raging and in fact while thanking me they said something to the effect of: "If we ever get famous we won't forget this, Jim". Of course other than Tom the guitarist I've never seen or heard from any of them since. Seeing Tom doesn't mean much because he goes to a lot of social events. 
I will say that Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam were more from the heart about the anti-establishment ramblings, but there were angles and other motives connected to them as well. I know this to be true because Eddie and I were pretty close friends back in his angst days. 

I love Eddie, Tom, Rage and Pearl Jam. My point is that a band that is anti-establishment before gaining fame is doomed to failure because the actual number of people who can make or break careers these days is less than 400, and everyone knows each other. 

If a band causes trouble and has no fame leverage, word spreads quick and top shelf entertainment bizz people will have nothing to do with them. Those bands are in effect over. They can still do a few regional small shows and pretend to be rock stars, but any chance at a bite of the big apple is gone. It sucks too because I've seen really talented artists get labeled as trouble and deep down they weren't. They were playing a role; their mistake was playing it too soon.

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#jimrosecircus new artist DIY tips

One thing that I see time and time again on tours with other DIY bands is the blurring of the line between business and creative on the way up.  When you are on tour with a band, make friends with them, hang out with them, party with them, whatever… but don’t turn every hang into a networking meeting.  From what I’ve seen, it never works as well as a band thinks it will.  A lot of times they don’t make a lot of the decisions anyway (because they aren’t a DIY like you… They have higher ups to answer to).  If their manager is around, THEN put on your business hat.  If you’re hanging out, grabbing a beer with the headliner after a show, just hang… Don’t start selling yourself for other tours or collaborations.  All that fun stuff happens with time and with a good relationship. 

Finally, this is a full time job.  If you’re going to “do it yourself”, expect to do A LOT more work than if you were just going to be on some label where they do the work for you.  Lots of emails, late nights, early mornings, hiring, firing, failing, problem solving, budgeting… PLUS the creating, writing, performing, practicing, interviews, photo shoots, video shoots… EVERYTHING.

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DO IT THE RIGHT WAY

"Knowing how to promote your band is the first step towards the achievement of your goals in the music industry. As a musician, your goal is to progress in the local scene and the entire music industry. However, promoting a band is not a simple task. It requires amount of effort that is similar to that of creating your music. Nevertheless, there are simple ideas that you can follow while promoting your band to realize the desired results."  

Click on the link below to check out the 60 top tips on how to promote your band: 
http://www.lastminutemusicians.com/how_to_get_gigs/?p=1426 
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WHAT HAPPENED TO RECORD COMPANIES?

We have all heard the story about a band playing their heart's out on stage while a mysterious person in the audience was lurking around. After the gig the mystery man approaches the band and tells them he is a record executive for a big label and wants to sign them to a contract worth millions. The band signs it on the side of the stage and instantly become mega stars. If this story was ever true it sure isn't now.

Due to the revenue streams drying up because of the ability to download content for free, everything has changed. Record companies now wait until the artists are signed by a big agent before approaching. The reason is because of the new paradigm in the music industry. There has been a power shift over the last couple of years and the big agents now have a strangle hold. Do the big agents want this new power? No they don't. They would love to revert back to the old days when record companies were in charge of PR, promotion and getting bands airplay. The music industry still makes many people a lot of money. Someone had to step in and save it after the collapse of record company spending and it was the big agents. If they hadn't have stepped in there would be anarchy. 

Anarchy sounds good in principle but it's a disaster for the music industry. Anarchy would mean that there would be no structure in place for artists to rise to the top and get out of a 40 mile radius of their home town. Anarchy would mean that there would be no system to weed out the bands that suck. 

How did big agents save the music industry? I will explain that in my next blog.

#JimRose

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BANDS BE CAREFUL CHOOSING A MANAGER

In the 1990s managers were a very important part of the music industry. They used their connections to get their bands record deals and made sure the deals were for maximum money. You could trust around 70 percent of them to be honest and try real hard. They did this for 15% of the artists gross income.

The record industry colapsed in around 2002 due to free online downloading. Most of their revenue streams dried up and they quit signing bands that didn't already have a media foot print. High end publicists became more important than managers. Small cheap publicists hearts are usually in the right place, but they don't have the connections to get much more than blogs or small mainstream press mentions.

Managers have been left out on a limb without much to do. It's usually better to hire an entertainment attorney to do a one time negotiation for around $400 than to have a manager take 15 % for the rest of your career.

This has turned most of the "manager" entity into scrambling for other ways to make money. For example: asking for a monthly fee or suggesting pay to play gigs; both of those proposals are rip offs. 

Bands be careful: over 60 % of managers operate that way these days.

There are still some who do it for the right reasons but they are the ones who have established bands, and to them we salute you.

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