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Don’t Stop Once Signed: Just getting signed isn’t as much as having a really solid group of management, producers and your band behind you. You can be signed to a label and not have the people to really utilize what that label can do for you.
—Joe Cotela of Man Made Machine Nov.
Know Why You’re Making An Album: If you’re [doing it] is “to sell them”—wake up and smell the coffee. In this “social networking, file sharing” age we live in a CD is just one tool to help get your message out. For most musicians today, playing live to bigger and bigger paying audiences is the goal. Nowadays, a CD is just an expensive calling card. It’s important to keep your goal in mind so that you can say “NO!” to the expenses that don’t make sense.
—Mark Winkler, songwriter Sept.
Be Big Somewhere: You don’t have to be famous in every single country. As much as we’d like to have each of our artists be big here as well, sometimes it’s just not going to happen. At the end of the day, does it really matter where the dollar came from? If you want to earn a living off this, it’s not a bad thing to be big in Spain, Mexico, anywhere.
—Tomas Cookman, President, Nacional Records May
It Takes More Than Creativity: Artists need to be as active in business as they are in their music. They can’t just focus on the creative part of their careers and live in a creative bubble. Artists need to have a serious intent to succeed or they won’t make it.
—David Macias, President, Thirty Tigers Records July
Make Fans A Part Of Your Team: Put fans in control by letting them choose songs for albums, remix them, and even design artist merchandise. Fan designed T-shirts––even if the artists don’t like them––sell more than the ones the artists prefer. The bottom line is that if you get fans “emotionally invested” in your brand, your music and your merchandise, they’ll not only buy something, they will promote it for you.
—Terry McBride, Co-founder and CEO of Nettwerk Sept.
Wear Several Hats: In this age, everything is cumulative. Every full-length album, every EP, every post, every video, every tweet, every bit of press. In order to be successful at this game in the long haul, you really need to do at least a little bit of all of it and you have to do it all well. For me, there is no such thing as a “big break,” which I think is kind of a good thing. The music industry, at least on some levels, has become more honest—if you do good work and are persistent, eventually you will be rewarded.
—Jay Nash, artist July
Trim Your Business Model: You’ve got to cut the fat and simplify. This goes for everything, your music and your business model. Be open to ideas and suggestions, but keep your ideals. You don’t need complicated robots to get you friends online; keep it personal and real; labels and promoters can sniff out the bullshit. There’s no hocus pocus or industry secret; just work hard, use your social networks and make the music you want to make.
—Aaron Mort, the Stone Foxes July
MORE GREAT TIPS
Tune Your Instrument Without A Tuner: Every musician throughout history who played a tunable instrument used his or her ear to get in tune. Not anymore! Players are becoming tone-deaf, no longer responsible for hearing if their instrument is in tune or not. Your ear is more important than any piece of gear, so train it well and often. Buy a tuning fork or a pitch pipe and start tuning your guitars through your own ability to hear pitch.
Complete Your Package: If you’re trying to get signed, have everything ready, like a neat package. You’ve thought about your name, image artwork and performance. If all those elements fit together, it might resonate more because then labels can see the full picture.
—Jonti, artist Sept.
Take Care Of Yourself: Musicians often play hurt, and later think the pain will go away. That’s the biggest problem. All too often musicians wait until a problem is so severe they’re begging for help. By the time they seek medical attention, it’s a serious situation. A “wait and see” attitude can end your career.
—Janet Hovarth, author; Dr. Yaniv Farbenbloom Aug.
Show You’re Invested: The last thing I want to do is invest my time and effort into a band that thinks someone will do everything for them. … I get e-mails from bands, “Hey, our music’s great, we just opened for this national band and we’re looking to go to the next level.” Those are all the wrong things to say. What they’ve done is ‘new band 101’ stuff. You have to get to that next level on your own for me to be interested, because then I know you’re invested in your career.
—Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, co-owner/president Mercenary Management (Nekromantix, Black Veil Brides) July
Follow Your Heart: Being in the right place at the right time made a big difference in my career. But that didn’t always happen by chance. I put myself in situations that created opportunities. You should always be aware and recognize when an opportunity presents itself. Sometimes they even appear without warning.
—Daryl Hall, artist May
