I’m always intrigued to hear artists and musicians tell their personal stories. With many of them, there is a common thread within their story–a bit of resistance they feel, especially as they get older, usually from family or significant others. The words may vary slightly, but the sentiment behind the words is pretty much the same:
“When are you gonna grow up?”
“When are you going to get a life?”
“When are you going to get a ‘real’ job?”
Sorry for the void of regular posts in recent weeks…a combination of holidays and heavy work loads. (Hey, they don’t pay me to write this stuff.)
Meanwhile, while I haven’t been posting much, some other places have been putting out some good info for DIY musicians. So to get you through in the meantime, check out some of the links below. And watch for more good stuff here in 2012.
Hypebot lists 15 revenue opportunities for indie artists in 2012.
Live Unsigned tells you how to connect to 10,000 fans.
(Read part 1 here.)
In the previous post, singer/songwriter Angie Stevens gave an independent artist’s take on the music business. Today, we continue with the same Q&A from a manager’s perspective, with Angie’s manager and Boss Koala Records co-owner, Mike Lavelle.
Q: What’s happening in the music industry these days?
MIKE: That’s pretty much the million dollar question. The industry is clearly changing, but where it is headed is anyone’s guess. There is an abundance of music, with most available free in some form. Pandora, Spotify and the like are making almost all music available to everyone, for free. And with the ability for practically anyone to record music, there’s virtually more than any one person can take in.
Photo: Shelby McQuilkin
For this post and the next, we have the opportunity to get an insider’s look at the state of the music business, from two distinct viewpoints: artist and management.
With all the self-promotion tools available to DIY artists, the bottom-line goal with all of them is simple: get your music noticed. Get your act on the radar with as many people as possible, both consumers and industry professionals. The question is how to do it–and despite what anyone might tell you, there’s no single formula to get it done.
Photo: Jenny Rollo.
Let’s cut to the chase: as a DIY musician, you want to make money from your music. That doesn’t just mean paid gigs; it also means music sales. If you’ve recorded anything (which you should, if you’re serious), you want to sell records. (Unless, of course, you’re some richy-rich heir doing this as a hobby.)
Despite what digital technology and illegal downloading have done to record sales overall, it is still possible for you to make at least some money by selling your music, even if you’ve given lots of it away on the front end to build name recognition. I know of at least one guy who draws in thousands of dollars a month in digital downloads, just from instrumental piano music. It’s not easy, but it can be done.
One of the biggest challenges songwriters face nowadays is how to get their music in front of people. Not just any people–people who can help take the music further. If you’re a songwriter at any level, novice to expert, I’d like to share a unique resource with you: the Durango Songwriters Expo.
The DSE holds two major events per year–one in Colorado and one in Santa Barbara, California. The next one is October 6-8 at Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Colorado, just north of Denver.
There’s something rather intangible that we look for in musicians, that thing that gives them their “star quality.” Sometimes we call it the “X-Factor” (which is the name of Simon Cowell’s new talent show); I sometimes refer to it as the “oomph” (which is what I’ve named my other blog). But whether or not you think you possess this intangible quality, there are things you can do to stand out from the throng of mediocrity. For lack of a better term, I’m calling this the “WOW” Factor.
A lot of what is said in the category of “artist development” these days (especially in diy music circles) really boils down to classifying music as a product, and looking for creative ways to market that product. It’s unfortunate, but it is a reality of the world we live in, and something we all have to deal with. But today, I’d like to veer away from that discussion a little bit and talk about you as an artist, and your music as an art form–and about becoming yourself as a musical artist.
(Read the previous post to catch up.)
In the last post, we talked about the untimely death of Amy Winehouse, and let it steer us toward a discussion about how artists and musicians seem to be prone to addictive or self-destructive behavior. We talked about the compulsive nature of creativity, and I theorized (“rambled” is more like it) about how we as artists might avoid becoming the next casualty of addiction by aiming our compulsions in positive directions rather than negative ones.
