We know exactly how you feel when the word, “business” comes up in a conversation about music. You cringe, because that territory is completely alien to you. It’s like pulling teeth or learning a new language. Rather, you’d probably prefer to pull out your own teeth, or attempt to learn how to write and speak Chinese. But, the reality is that the business side of the music industry is in fact a reality and most likely the largest driving force behind your music campaigns.
Don’t get cocky
You may be saying, “hey I know the music business.” You sell CDs, and assume that your social media presence comes from Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. To an extent, you’re right, but that’s only 2/10 of the reality of what it takes to build a successful music career, and one that includes being able to eat while making music. Now that music labels are a fractured industry, trying to squeeze every last penny out of their portfolios of musicians, their importance slowly wanes.
You are your own record label
The fact of the matter is, is that today, “the digital age means you are a record label. You can now host, promote and sell your own music all online yourself. The digital age allows you to get your music out to everyone and anyone,” and Dotted Music’s new eBook, “Ten Truths about ‘Making it’ in Music” by Ben Brown lays out all the necessary bricks and mortars in steps to show you exactly the do’s and don’ts that benefit only you (or your band). I’ll break it down the ten chapters for and give you a snippet about each section. You may see something that will pique your interest. If so, you can download the eBook by clicking here.
Chapter Overviews
Chapter 1 – Puddle Of Mudd’s Paul Phillips: “Success is not in the charts anymore.”
The first chapter offers you an introduction to the changing scope of the music industry and realizes the power that a band adopting the digital model really has.
“You, as a musician, can make a living through having 1000 ‘super fans’. This applies in the digital age more than ever. A ‘super fan’ was traditionally someone who bought everything you put out, attended every gig within 200 miles of them and wrote you fan letters. Now these fans are online and not only are they following your every move online and still buying your content, but they are sharing your content with hundreds of Facebook friends or Twitter followers.”
Chapter 2 – Reader’s Wives’ Niall James: “No point in being good at music, and no good at business.”
The book gets down into the nitty gritty of the business side to offer you suggestions to prepare yourself for an area of the industry that you are not entirely comfortable with, by finding the right people and pursuing a niche market.
“If you really do suck at the business side of it, get someone on board who knows what they’re on about!
- 1. Hire a manager
- 2. Get a smart friend on board
- 3. Consultancy”
Chapter 3 – “30 Second To Mars’ Jared Leto: “We’re taking full advantage of the digital age here.”
Got questions about your online presence? This is your chapter. It has the following covered:
- Myspace
- Band website
- Email lists
- Blogs
Chapter 4 – Dire Straits’ John Illsley: “”How you get music out there is irrelevant, as long as people can hear it’.”
This chapter deals with:
- Creating a release plan (detailed timeline included)
- Music hosting
- Selling your music online
- The logistics of getting your music on iTunes
- Radio Play
- TV/Film Plugs
Chapter 5 – Gama Bomb’s Philly Byrn: “Music should be free.”
People will pirate your music. It’s an inevitable fact. Laura Stevenson of Laura Stevenson and the Cans would back me up on that point. This chapter offers you statistics, but more importantly, strategies to work with offering free music:
- Offer a free download in exchange for an email address
- Tweet for a track
- Facebook Share
Chapter 6 – Anthrax’ Scott Ian:”You better show up with a good sense of who you are as an artist.”
While business may not be your forte, something you or your band can control is your uniqueness, comprised of your image and your story.
“Defining who you are as an artist or band is the first step to defining your target audience. If you have a target audience then you can generate a much more effective use of time and funds and it makes you much more likely to get noticed by those interested in what you’re doing.”
Chapter 7 – OK-Go’ Damian Kulash: “YouTube is the main medium for videos now, not MTV.”
If you’ve been lazy or deliberating over the benefits of a Youtube account. Look through this chapter for how-to’s and networking on Youtube.
“You’ve got a YouTube channel right? No? Are you crazy? YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. Three times as much music is consumed by watching videos on YouTube as by legal downloading.”
Chapter 8 – Whitechapel’’s Alex Wade: “So the only way we can really make any money and be able to do it as a career is to tour.”
If you’re planning on touring, chapter 8 offers you tips and things to think about to prepare yourself both digitally, socially and mentally during that long period where you won’t be able to sleep on your bed:
- Before the tour
- Making the Most of Your Tour
- Networking
- Using social media on tour
Chapter 9 – Sevendust guitarist on music marketing: “Plant the seed and it’s going to grow.”
If you’ve skimmed all of the above and said to yourself, “I’m already seasoned enough that I won’t have to look through those 8 chapters,” make a music “business plan.” It’s not the traditional 30 page technical writing that the book is referring to. Rather set goals that you’d like to achieve. For example:
“• Subscribe to a few music industry blogs and read 3 articles a week from them.
• Gain ten new Facebook fans or Twitter followers through sharing content this week.
• Add ten email addresses to your mailing list in two weeks.
• Record a behind-the-scenes video and get 500 YouTube hits.
• Write the brief year plan”
Chapter 10 – Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil: “Just believe in yourself.’”
By this chapter, the technicalities of the music business have been thoroughly covered. In turn, this final chapter offers you some mental advice to keep you going through what will be a difficult but exciting journey.
“Music is an emotional outlet and when an artist believes in themselves and loves what they’re doing, you can tell in their live performance.”
