A friend of mine who has some great success in the music business shared this with me . A lot of this hit home ,and a lot is pretty much truth and is how it really is. I thought I would share it wit yall . ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bob Lefsetz Date: Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 8:28 PM Subject: How To Make It To: the.pentatonic@gmail PRACTICE Your ability to play exceeds social networking. Your chops are more important than your social skills. Frequently the best musicians are near mute, they speak through their music, which brings adoring fans to them. First learn how to play. Everything else comes next. WRITE You can make it with other peoples songs, but its hard to sustain. Consider writing another club in your bag, not only does it give you more options it also makes you more attractive to labels and other investors. RECORD A great song translates with just you and your instrument on YouTube. But if its someone elses song, youre not going to go far. We all pass around YouTube covers, but none of the acts ever stick, because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but its not the way into our hearts. RECORD 2 Yes, if you hire name people and record in a top-notch studio your track will sound better, but ultimately its about the song. Slick means nothing if the song sucks. DISTRIBUTE Put your music everywhere. Starting on SoundCloud. Its the default home of the wannabe. If you get any traction thereafter, get it on iTunes and Spotify, et al. YOUTUBE Comes after SoundCloud. A lyric video is good enough assuming people want to see it. But if someone comes to your clip and the count is low its going to work against you, especially if you told people to go there. HYPE You start with your friends. And try not to burn out your friendships. Seed them with material. Listen to their feedback. Dont lean on them to spread the word, if they like your material they will. If you give it to them and two weeks go by and youre not hearing from other people, especially those you barely know or dont know at all, your track wasnt good enough. Maybe good enough for you, but not good enough to make it. MAILING LISTS Retain all the contact info of anybody who contacts you about your music. You want to know who your fans are. MAILING LISTS 2 Put yourself in the shoes of your fans, look at it from their perspective, not yours. You may be frustrated youre not more successful, but thats not their problem. Only contact people when you think theyll be thrilled to hear from you, when theyre interested in what youve got. MAILING LISTS 3 If youre getting positive feedback, feed information on a regular basis. If youre seeding people and getting nothing back, the problem is you. Back to the drawing board. Yes, you may want to tell everybody they dont get it and youre misunderstood, thats your prerogative, but that wont help you make it. TWITTER Almost meaningless unless youre already a star. Then its purely the cherry on top. And sundaes taste quite fine without the cherry. The problem with Twitter is most tweets go unseen. But if you notice retweets and feedback feeding the system is not a bad idea, as long as it doesnt take your focus away from your music. FACEBOOK A home for looky-loos before you can afford your own URL/website. But dont expect any virality on Facebook. PLAYING LIVE Comes last. Its after youve learned how to play, practiced, written and recorded. If you put it first, youre probably gonna be in trouble. Especially if you dont know how to play and make mistakes. Yes, road chops are the best. But thats assuming youve got somewhere to play. Thats the problem today, live music is not everywhere. Venues dont want to pay and certainly dont want to alienate their patrons. Theyd rather spin records. So dont beg anybody to play at their venue unless youre going to make them money. Thats the cardinal rule. Its your responsibility to bring people in, not theirs. Certainly if youre completely unknown. Having said all that, its not a bad idea to start out as a cover band. But use originals sparingly. And if people stop dancing and/or leave the room, pull them. If you can get places to play, more power to you. But dont put the cart before the horse. BLOWING UP Its gonna happen slower than your wildest dreams. Its gonna be long after your buddies have graduated from college and have careers and are starting families. If youre not willing to risk it all and fail, music is not the business for you. And if you do fail, dont complain, either get out or go back to the drawing board and work harder. BLOWING UP 2 Your one big break is never the one you think it is, and is oftentimes a series of mini-breaks. TV CONTESTS Are about the shows, not the talent, about advertising, not music. At first, they were such a hit surprise this wasnt completely true, but Kelly Clarkson made it a decade ago. Contests are short cuts that usually lead nowhere. They tar your resume. MERCH Assuming people come to see you, and like you, theyll want to buy something from you, to evidence both their support and their identity. T-shirts are great, but make sure theyre well-designed and made with good materials, otherwise people will buy once, if that, and never again. As for CDs...this is what theyre made for, live gigs. Theyre souvenirs. The music is available easily online. But personalized, signed product is not. A MANAGER No act makes it without one. Dont sign a contract if you can get away with it. If you do, give up no more than twenty percent, hopefully fifteen. And hire a MUSIC BUSINESS LAWYER to negotiate the deal, not your dads attorney buddy. Whatever you spend will be a pittance compared to how screwed you will be if you actually make it and have signed a bad deal. The bottom line is when you start no one good wants to manage you, and chances are youre going to leave your initial garage manager for someone more experienced. Its gonna cost you, remember that. AN AGENT More important than a label these days. Agents work on commission, usually ten percent. And they dont like to work for free. So if youre not making any money, an agent isnt gonna wanna represent you. I know its a conundrum. You need an agent to get work, but you cant get an agent unless youve got work. Figure it out. Oftentimes its the drummer who both manages the band and gets gigs before professionals get involved. As to why its the drummer, were still trying to figure that out. A LABEL You might feel good youre signed, but that dont mean diddly-squat if its an indie who neither distributes nor promotes you. Give up rights commensurate with how much youre being paid. Up front. Upon delivery. Guarantees of marketing and promotion are worthless, even if theyre in the contract. If youre not getting any money, you want it to be a one or two album deal, with a hefty royalty rate and a return of rights upon termination of the deal or shortly thereafter. A MAJOR LABEL You give to get. Your deal will be lousy unless you dont need them. If youre pulling in thousands of people a night and tracks are flying out of the iTunes Store the major label will cut you a good deal, otherwise they wont. And just because you have the deal dont expect the label to break you. The hard work is just beginning. Give them tools, i.e. music. And play nice. Otherwise the label will blackball you, they dont need troublemakers, unless theyre guaranteed revenue makers. And major labels only want acts they can easily market and profit from, i.e. radio acts. Remember that. If youre not one of these, a major label deal is worthless, furthermore you wont get one. TRACTION Comes slower than you expect once youve got a deal. Its all work with very little reward for a very long time. In other words, if youre not willing to enter the Ironman competition, dont be a musician. Just when youve scaled one hill, theres a mountain range looming in the distance. HITS You need more than one to sustain a career. MONEY Comes long after you think it should. Not only does the label take most of it, what you deserve isnt rendered for eons, thats the nature of royalties. GETTING SCREWED It goes with the territory. Youre never going to receive what youve earned. You just hire the best people and try to get the most you can. SUCCESS Wont be as sweet as you think itll be. But dont freak out in the middle of it. Because we need neither you nor your act. Do your best to be humble and sustain. Otherwise, youll be replaced. EXCEPTIONS TO THE ABOVE Exist. But theyre rare. Do you want to bank on being the exception?
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 02:59:40 +0000
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