music economy

Tag Archive for: music economy

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 20: The Tooth and the Label.

I am managing a band for a year – “Band A.” I am attaching photos just so there is proof of this next part of the story: How I had toothache and how “Band A” got on a label…
Fact 1: A few months ago I got smacked in the face with a soccer ball and I chipped my back, left, upper molar. It was irritating and made me especially irritable on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. (I went to the dentist on Monday and he said I’d lost half my molar and this morning he sawed the remaining molar in two pieces and yanked it out – photos included.)
Fact 2: “Band A” played at a brewery on Sunday afternoon. One member was out of the country, two members were interested, and two members were not so interested. I went to the Saturday practice and no one wanted to play drums and no one could agree to a set list. There was no center to the band. So on Saturday evening I sent a text around saying my tooth was hurting and I wasn’t going to show up to the brewery show on Sunday either. Then the two members who didn’t want to play – suddenly did want to play. I guess I was being annoying AF. (Derek Allen and Derek Frye can speak at length on this subject.)
Then on Sunday morning, when everything seemed bleak and painful, and I was being a total drama queen, I received an email from KK Records wanting to release an EP by “Band A” – image of email also included.
I checked them out – they have good bands on their roster. (I’ll post the redacted correspondence between me and the label on instagram.) For example The Painkillers are great – check out their song “Tomorrow” – https://kafadankontak.bandcamp.com/track/tomorrow. We’re playing The Painkillers guys on the Holy Crap Records podcast this week. (Funny, cause now I’m on painkillers.)
The label is Kafadan Kontak Records out of Istanbul, Turkey – for real – and they’re putting out a roster of garage rock bands. They said they can book us a tour in Turkey. And they’ve asked for four songs to release on an EP. Check them out: https://kafadankontak.bandcamp.com/..
Anyway, whatever happens, I will be documenting it…

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 19: Dauntless Promotions

This year I am managing “Band A.” The stated goals are to get “Band A” onto a record label, to play at a festival, and to get 100 people to a regular show. I started this investigation because no one seemed to understand the current music business. Bands don’t seem to know how to get on radio, how to put together a tour, how to get press, and how to get onto a label. Basically, bands and artists don’t know how to create a sustainable business out of music.
I started to research these questions and the first article that was clear concise and helpful was by John Richards of KEXP titled “Getting Airplay.” (https://www.kexp.org/about/getting-airplay/) This essay mentioned “promotion companies” – which I just kind of understand, like I kind of understand what “booking agents” do… John Richards listed promotion companies he likes and trusts – these are the companies that have a relationship with KEXP – companies like Dauntless Promotions, and Jennifer Daunt. John Richards said that it was worth it for a band to hire a promotions company if a band was on tour and they wanted to saturate the press and radio before a show.
So Dauntless Promotions represents courtney barnett, Sharon Van Etten – a bunch of truly bad ass artists – and Jennifer was kind enough to chat with Holy Crap Records Podcast. In this interview, Jennifer talks about getting radio play, how Spotify has become the most important medium, and that building a buzz in your local scene is still the best way for a band to get noticed. (Also – this is the Dauntless Records Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jwJLJKSFRUNSqtp5qjmq1?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open)

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 18: The Nitty and The Gritty

The Music Economy

The nitty and gritting of getting a record out. Band management is not all-sexiness, all-the-time. Although, my style of band management is mostly being sexy all-the-time. How do you get your music out into the world? In physical form and on major online platforms? (Most of you know this sh*t already.) And what are you paying? And why are these sites and interfaces so f*cking annoying?”Band A” released a new album. The lead single is being played on the radio in a few markets – so I need to get it on the most popular online platforms right away? iTunes? Spotify? I’m using Tunecore to help me. It costs about $30 to release an album – and they’ll distribute it over a whole bunch of platforms, and deal with a bunch of stuff I don’t understand. Great right? Except Tunecore is annoying the hell out of me. Tunecore asks you to lists the songwriters, which I did in the classical format: “Rose/Gibbons/Justice/Kennedy/Kennedy” – for example. But that wasn’t right. Tunecore wants each person who contributed to the song to get a different line. So I went back into the interface and corrected it. Then I sent the guys at Tunecore an email saying I made the corrections. They didn’t give a crap. Did it about a week ago – and they haven’t done anything to acknowledge I’ve made the changes. Some radio stations have asked “Band A” for CDs – and some of the publication will want a package in the mail, with a CD, a one-shit-er, some merch – so we’re printing 50 CDs using CDBaby. Which costs $156.94. $3 a CD. We could print more, but no one buys them. CDBaby has one very annoying aspect to their interface. Graphics. The cover and packaging needs to fit their specs, which means you need to download their specs on Adobe Illustrator, and then you have to learn how to use the program if you want to upload graphics. And they’ll come back to you, all bitchy, and tell you you’re made shitty design. Come on. Anyway, that’s what I did for “Band A” this week. Also, here is the letter I wrote to 25 radio stations (college and independent) and 3 stations wrote back to say they liked the song. And here’s come additional paperwork on costs and interfaces…

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 12: John Richards, KEXP

The Music Economy

I am managing “Band A” for one year. I believe in their music and want to get them a bigger audience. How will I do this? My secret is that I started stealing ideas from the influential essay, “Getting Airplay,” by John Richards of KEXP.
Read it here: https://kexp.org/about/getting-airplay/
It talks about approaching college radio stations, how to successfully approach those radio stations, writing a one-sheet, working with promotion companies…
I’ve been following his instructions for “Band A” – and it seems to be working. “Band A” is on rotation on KPSU and their first review will be out on June 27.
So I reached out to John and asked him to be on the “4 Questions in 5 Minutes” video series for the Holy Crap Records Podcast.
It was great – he started telling me a story about a band that sent him their release with a number of unpacked hotdogs in the same envelope – and I forgot to hit the record button until after the story was over. Full disclosure, I am in a band called the Egg Eaters and about 3 years ago we had plans to send our latest release with an egg sandwich to radio stations, labels, and publications. When you’re in a band – you’re brain doesn’t work. It seemed like a genius idea at the time and now seems like the fastest way to get your release thrown in the garbage.
Anyway, I am even more grateful to John after the conversation – where he talks about why the music industry should be kind to artists, how Macklemore, Fleet Foxes, and Nirvana approached KEXP to get their releases played, and what he would do to get exposure if he was starting a new band..

Experiment: Band Mangement: Blog 11: Pickled Eggs

The Music Economy

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

The Music Economy

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….

Tag Archive for: music economy

Send Us Crap