Experiment: Band Mangement: Blog 11: Pickled Eggs

Experiment: Band Mangement: Blog 11: Pickled Eggs

I am managing “Band A” this year – because I believe in “Band A” and because I’m interested in exploring the current music business world. The goal is: 1) get “Band A” onto a minor label, 2) get “Band A” to play a music festival, and 3) to get “Band A” a hundred people at a show. I want to be clear this isn’t a joke and I am grateful to all the people who intersect with this project. If “Band A” plays on the radio, if a publication writes about “Band A” – I have nothing but the most honest gratitude. (I’m saying this because “Band A” is being played on the radio and it is about to get it’s first press.)
Honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m tangentially involved with a couple of bands. I run the instagram for “Band A” and it is going nowhere. The other band has an instagram and a radio station started following them… 
So this blog is my honest assessment of how the music industry works. And this is what works: Pickled Eggs.
On Sunday “Band A” was set to play at a local brewery, except it didn’t have enough band members. So they joined up with another band, met at 1pm, and figured out 12 songs they could kind of play. One of the band members made pickled eggs: hardboiled eggs, brine, jalapenos. Why not? And, at 4pm, the pickled eggs were displayed prominently at the front of the stage. This is for real. I’m not making this up. The guitarist, who is a bit of a wimp, ate an egg at the end of the second set and nearly threw up. Then a member of the audience went up to the stage, put an egg in his beer glass, and drank it down. Everyone cheered.
So the surprise twist ending is that after the show the guy from the audience went up to the band and said: “Hey, I own a bar in Morganton. Can I book you to play at my place?” 
This is how you get ahead: pickled eggs.

4 Questions in 5 Minutes: Tristen Colby, Styrofoam Turtles

4 Questions in 5 Minutes: Tristen Colby, Styrofoam Turtles

This is the “4 Questions in 5 Minutes” video with Tristen Colby of The Styrofoam Turtles. His best advice for bands trying to break out and reach a bigger audience: play all the time and check oil levels on your vehicle if you’re touring all the way up in Wisconsin….

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 10: On the Radio

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 10: On the Radio


“Band A” is on the radio! I am managing “Band A” for one year, interviewing a bunch on experts in the video series “4 Questions in 5 Minutes,” and then using the best advice to promote “Band A.”
So last week I followed some advice and sent out the lead single from “Band A” to 20 college radio stations. I didn’t expect much. 
But on Monday I got an email from KPSU in Portland saying: “We’d be down to add this single! Are the lyrics FCC friendly? If so, throw an mp3 over to me and I’ll add the track to our rotation this week. Let me know if you have any questions!” 
No sh*t. “Band A” is in rotation in Portland. Fawkkkk.
You don’t know this about me, but I’m a bit of a d*ckhead. (Probably Derek Allen and Derek Frye know this about me.) I’m relentless. If you open the door even a little bit – I will shove it open. The fact is that I didn’t believe you could just send your songs to radio stations and someone would listen and pick it up. So I’m going back to those other 19 college radio stations and letting them know that KPSU has “Band A” on rotation, and I’m adding 10 more college radio stations, and I’m going to tell the local radio stations around here, and I’m going to tell those breweries who pay $200 a show, and I’m going to tell the underground music clubs in Greenville, Charlotte, and Johnson City. Give me and inch and I’ll take a mile.

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 8: Jordan Duttinger, Godless America Records

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 8: Jordan Duttinger, Godless America Records

,

I’m in the business of band management. I have one-year to move “Band A” onto a label, get them on the festival circuit, invited by KEXP to play live at their studio… Hey I’m not the smartest, but I pay attention and follow trends through Holy Crap Records and the The Asheville Rock Collective. What are the best local bands doing to take those first steps to recognition and infamy? Godless America Records puts out an annual mix-tape of the best songs/bands submitted to them during the year. Tongues of Fire is on their mix-tape. Bubble Boys are on their mix-tape. It’s how we find a bunch of bands for the Holy Crap Records Podcast – by listening to this excellent curated mix-tape. So I have to get “Band A” onto one of those mix-tapes. And I totally had to interview Jordan Duttinger for the “4 Questions in 5 Minutes” section. I fucking love hanging out with someone smarter than me. Like Sean from BURGER RECORDS, Jordan started Godless America Records because no one was representing and promoting underground music. Godless America Records is basically Jordan – and finding the sustainable model of putting out great mix-tapes and releasing bands on cassette is what works for him. Yeah, I will be submitting “Band A” to Godless America Records, but I’ll use my second email and see actually what Jordan thinks of the band. Thank you Jordan.

In other management news. F*ck. I busted my ass. I sent of “Band A’s” latest release to 20 college radio stations. I figured out the emails and the DJs most likely to play this type of music. I did it right. F*ck. Let’s see what happens.

This is the email I sent:

Thank you for being a champion of indie and underground music. I am the manager for “Band A,” an Asheville-based new wave / garage rock band. I am sharing their lead single from their latest release for your consideration.

“Band A” have been around for 6 years in the Asheville indie/underground scene. They were voted the number 1 punk band by Mountain X-Press in 2015. (And then Mountain Xpress stopped that category – who knows why? ) Their sound has evolved from raw garage punk to that indie new wave sound of bands like Blondie, Talking Heads, and B-52s. These songs are a catchy ear worm in your brain. “Band A” are recreating and updating the 80s sound like The Strokes with “You Only Live Once” and Sharon Van Etten with “Comeback Kid.”

Please enjoy “Band A” – “Song A”: ***********************

JP Kennedy
Band Management

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 9: The Happening

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 9: The Happening

John Cage staged the first happening – an immersive art experience at Black Mountain College in 1952. This happening led to Andy Warhol and Lou Reed’s “Exploding Plastic Inevitable,” Ken Kesey’s “Acid Tests,” and the world of performance art. 
“Band A” – the band that I am managing – will be playing at one of the major breweries in the Asheville area on June 6th. The idea is to make this a large splashy event, an album release party, a happening on stage, performance art!!!
“Band A” has been playing in the scene for 5-6 years, and most times they do dress up, have streamers, a smoke machines, and maybe a giant tarantula hovering in the air. So they could pull it off. They also have – Andy. Andy lives on a street in Black Mountain where all the kids go to trick-and-treat. And for years Andy has decorated his house as a haunted pirate ship, or a haunted circus, or a haunted rocket ship. The current plan for “Band A” is for Andy to bring all the halloween decorations he has created over the years and fill the brewery and the stage with them. You gotta love the enthusiasm of “Band A.” 
In the meantime my idea for a music video – sticking each of the band members’ heads in a box – is not working out. Two of the band members are out of town for two weeks. Two band members have exactly zero interest in this plan. One band member loves to stick his head in the box – but he’s got a few screws loose. So I’m on my back up plan. I have collected photos of every show, of every costume, of everyone they’ve invited up on stage with them – and I put all those image together and made a music video. Hopefully it will go viral – and if not, maybe, it will remind all their friends and fans how much fun a live show is and they will all make it to the brewery on the sixth and jump on stage with “Band A.” It’s happening!!!

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 7: Autograph My Chest

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 7: Autograph My Chest

So this actually happened last night. “Band A” was playing at a dive bar on Saturday night, and the bass guitar player was singing about “your mom” (the song is actually called “your mom”), and two women approached the stage. One of the women lowered the top of her t-shirt, suggestively and slightly inappropriately, but not a full flash, and asked him to autograph her chest.
So the question is – if “Band A” has captured this lightening in a bottle, if the band is actually sexy, if each stage show results in at least a couple of inappropriate offers (usually to the drummer and the lead singer) how do you reach a larger audience? 
It’s hard to differentiate a band in an extremely strong local scene, at a time when the underground is producing some truly amazing music. Buying likes on social media sucked and didn’t work. I’m still booking the band a ton of shows – that’s the easy part. 
So I got two new things going – 1) music video. People will watch a music video. It’s a format and a framing people can get their head around. Oh, I need a 3 minute mental health break at work? I’ll watch a music video. All I have to do is make the world’s most interesting music video. 
And 2) – time to place “Band A” on the radio. Full disclosure: I’m getting most of my marketing wisdom from an article written by John Richards of KEXP. It’s the first time I read some insider explaining how to get on the radio. https://www.kexp.org/about/getting-airplay/?t=1557070416188. One big take-away is that college radio is still extremely influential, and college radio still actually listens to the slush pile. It makes sense. You’re a super dorky freshman at a college radio station – and you love listening to new submissions, rather than some fat, bored radio exec in L.A. doing coke. So I’m going to send “Band A’s” latest single to: WERS (Emerson College), WFUV Public Radio (Fordham University, WRSU – Rutgers Radio, WCRW (Santa Monica College), KUTX 98.9 (University of Texas), 92 WICB (Ithaca), etc…. 
Anyway, John Richards of KEXP says I can send in the song – and then I can actually call them up and bother them about “Band A.” Oh yeah….

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 6: BURGER RECORDS and Sean Bohrman.

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 6: BURGER RECORDS and Sean Bohrman.

This is what I need to do for “Band A” – the band that I am currently “Murraying” – just sell their art. It’s that simple. There’s this guy “Andy” in the band – there’s always an “Andy” in the band – whose been asking what am I actually doing? This year I will sell their music, maybe merch, maybe concert sales too. There are 5 members, so at a minimum I need to sell $250,000. Fawwwwwk. Well, their bandcamp site has sold 2 copies of their latest album.
So, taking a step back, I believe if people listen to this music they will buy it. How do I get this music out to enough ears? Traditionally, a label helps to get the music on radio, written about in media, distributed, places the band on tours, different ways to reach an audience. 
But what do labels even do these days? – “Andy” asked. 
So I had to reach out to a friend. Sean Bohrman of BURGER RECORDShas always been kind to the Holy Crap Records podcast. We interviewed him for an early show and he’s introduced us to some of the bands we’ve played. Burger Records is one of the most creative ventures I’ve ever met. As well as being a somewhat traditional label (mainly focusing on distribution of tapes and underground bands like The Black Lips and The Brian Jonestown Massacre), they also host an annual around-the-world mass music promotion called the Burger Revolution. You know. We know. It’s an underground music festival that happens in Asheville (at Fleetwood’s) and in cities around the world. These guys just invented that in their minds and then made it a reality. 
Anyway, I’m a cynic. I entered into this conversation with Sean with the attitude that labels, bookers, and radio only care about the numbers – and my goal has been to buy social media likes for “Band A” and hire a publicity agent to get them some favorable media. I asked Sean how he finds new bands? “Word-of-mouth.” Simply, bands he likes tells him about other bands. So you can just be playing in a local scene making the best music you can – and that may be enough to get on that first label. And he listens to demos – if people send him a polite, personalized email about why Burger Records is a good fit for a band. Then we laughed and laughed about the “rock stars” – oh good times. Listen to the rest of the interview here: 
https://youtu.be/FhRBqURkXOE