MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

1. Martin, what qualifies you to give advice to artists about self-promotion and management?

Experience.

..owning an independent label for the last 20 years, starting and building my own studio, traveling the world with PiL, Killing Joke, touring with Ministry, starting my own insane revolving band Pigface that has had over 300 members so far.  Stuff like that.

In 1995, I started to put package tours together, inspired by labels like STIFF that organized a train tour in the early 80’s.  It wasn’t the most sensible method of traveling with bands and equipment but certainly most press worthy.  Between 1995 to 2006, I was always tying new ideas on the road, pushing the envelope, and did a free 40 date tour a couple of years before Ozzfest was free.  Amongst all of that, there was a tour where I lost $60k and one where my wife had a miscarriage on the road.

I just turned 50.  I have lived through all of the so-called end of the music business chaos from the punk rock revolution and the threat of the blank cassette tape to the end of the majors (the first time) to the format wars (digital vs. analog, betamax/vhs etc.).

2. Your most recent publication is titled Tour Smart.  How are most artists currently ‘touring stupid’?

Too many local shows.

No t-shirts or only one design (you have to have at least two).

Not booking themselves.

Not having a live CD or a second CD that they can give away for free.

Not learning how to screen print.

Waiting for the knock on the door that is never going to happen.

Treating their fans like fans instead of friends.

etc. etc.

3. How did you come up with the tip jar idea?

I re-mixed it from a band called Sheep On Drugs ? they remixed it from homeless people.  The guys with the humorous “need money for drugs and alcohol” signs get more $$$ than the guys with the “homeless veteran, please help” signs.  A band just wrote to me to say that the $10 to $15 extra per night they collected from tips made the difference between them eating or not.  They said that without the tip jar, they wouldn’t have made it through their first 10 day tour!

4. What did they write on their tip jar sign?

Sheep On Drugs had “Sheep On Drugs alcohol fund – please give generously”.  They made people laugh right when they had their change in their hands from a t-shirt or CD purchase… perfect!

5. To Tweet or not to Tweet?

Tweet.  @marteeeen but don’t #follow… #lead!

6. I want to get signed.  It’s the only thing I care about.  I want the money.  I want the professional support.  I want the big tour bus.  I want to live on stage and die in the studio.  Can you help me?

Yup, if you are prepared to spend 5 years working your ass off to get there.

But it can’t be about the money.  If it’s just about the money, then I think you’re fucked.  If it’s just about the size of the tour bus, then once again, I think you might be fucked.

If you said, “I want a better tour bus so that my crew guys ? the ones that put up the scenery and help make all of this possible can get a better night’s sleep and have more room for their espresso machine etc. etc.” then that’s a different story but, if it’s just so that you have the biggest tour bus in the car park, then that’s lame ego driven stuff and you will fail.

7. Give me one way to make money from my music today:

Stop trying to make money specifically from your music.  Give it away..

..but with a t-shirt ($5).

..or hand bound book of recipes that you cooked up while you were recording ($15).

..or a re-mix CD ($10)

Related Posts
Don’t tour stupid, tour smart!
How to raise $10,000
Quit your day job.  Start a label.

This is an update follow-up on one of the most promising enterprises in music tech at the moment.  ArtistData is attempting to solve a ubiquitous problem: today, an artist’s online presence consists of several social network pages among other web assets which, unfortunately, are not connected with one another.  As such, gig schedule updates and other content must be ‘updated’ manually on each network.  This is time consuming.  ArtistData addresses this problem by translating and syndicating a single update to all of the artist’s network pages.  More about this topic here.

In addition to ArtistData’s core offering, the company developed some nifty side-features based on geo-specific attributes such as where to get a cup of coffee or new set of guitar strings near the venue.  Not a huge selling point but certainly a nice-to-have.  The “Local Listings” feature is more compelling, serving as a local press distribution platform for live show promotion.  Anyone who has had to manage a PR campaign, hire a publicist, or distribute through PR Newswire will appreciate the value of such an application.

Local Listings Tour:

While every leading and emerging artist service is selling “self-promotion” as its mantra, ArtistData has beautifully positioned itself by focusing on the necessity of syndication: making data quick and easy to manage.  Simple and brilliant.

Full Product Tour:

Remember Hanson?  Well, they’ve been operating independently for some years now and been doing so with as much flare and vigor as any bootstrapping hero taking the stage today.  Their self-released album, “Underneath”, which debuted at #1 in the Billboard Top Independent Albums in 2004, remains one of the most successful indie releases of all time.  Hear them now.

This year, SXSW, the Austin mega music festival, will showcase a rare collaboration indeed: former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist, James Iha; Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos; Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger; and Hanson’s very own Taylor Hanson taking the mic.  Ladies and gentleman, Tinted Windows have arrived!

ArtistData caught my attention a few months ago as an excellent solution for updating your gig schedule across numerous platforms, saving much time and ensuring consistency across the board.  The service currently supports the major music-oriented networks, including ReverbNation, Virb, PureVolume, Sonicbids, Indie911, and, soon, facebook, by importing your gig schedule from your MySpace page and publishing the data simultaneously on all of your registered network profile pages.  The service also syndicates the data across a number of concert databases, including Jambase and Last.fm, which serves as a swift and effective live music marketing solution.  ArtistData is limited to gig schedule syndication but reports to be working on other data publication solutions for artists.  Ping.fm, which I learned about on Hypebot today, also provides a data syndication solution but focuses on message posting across multiple sites as opposed to gig schedules.  However, the two services combined may serve as a very powerful set of tools to notify all your fans, regardless of how they are connected to you, in one single blast.

As an artist, getting your ass on stage and performing to as many people as often as possible is key.  In the US, SXSW is arguably the largest draw of both music fans and artists, certainly independent artists.  Should you get on a SXSW stage?  Of course you should.  However, assuming that you are not yet well known, playing live at an over-crowded and super competitive event has its limitations.  Sometimes, you have to get off the stage in order to truly make an impact and, year after year, I’m seeing more independent artists attending music conferences, on their own behalf, and with their business hat on.  Although the largest of the lot, Midem in Cannes and Popkomm in Berlin, also offer a variety of live performance opportunities to acts big and small, the true event value is in the aimless wondering between the booths and random handshakes with industry professionals.  I’m not joking.  You’ll meet a lot more people on the floor than on stage.  If you meet someone who wants to hear you play, both Midem and Popkomm have listening rooms big enough for you to perform acoustically.  If nothing else, attending these events will teach you a lot about the current music market and provide you with the confidence to approach prospective partners who may [or may not] invest in your next recording, touring, licensing, or writing initiative.  You never know.

Related post: RedGorilla