Music Marketing [dot] com

The number one mistake in the music business is…

Are you working hard, working smart, or just plain lazy?

I spend several weeks each year attending various music conferences including SXSW, NeMO, and 2NMC (of course…). At each conference, I often meet hundreds of people involved at various levels of the music business from musicians to label executives. When I do, I give every one of them a business card.

Not that I can help everybody, but for most of the musicians (or for anybody in the business of selling records) at these conferences, I could EASILY double their music business income with a few tweaks to their promotion plan. And for the guys who aren’t in the business of selling records, I’d still be a good guy to get to know because if I can’t help folks, I usually know somebody who can.

How many of these people followup, even with a simple “hey, it was great to meet you” message? Maybe 5%…on a good day.

About a month ago, I was speaking at a local college to about 400 students. When they found out that Kathode Ray Music was looking for interns, almost all of them came up to meet me afterwards.

So how was it that only about a dozen of these folks followed up with me? And when I emailed or called them back, how is it that NONE of them responded?

Lack of followup is the NUMBER ONE mistake you can make in the music business. If you’re going to spend the time, effort, and money trying to make a connection, the least you can do is make sure the connection is solid.

You should make a phone call, send an email, send a fax, or send some kind of communication for every package you send, every show you book, every CD sale you make, and every business related person you meet. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on it. Just a one line email will work most of the time.

For instance, if I were to meet you at a conference, you’d get something like this from me.

“Hey, John. It was cool to meet you at the Nashville New Music Conference. Email me if you need some promotion assistance for your band.”

That’s it. It can take weeks to make a connection, but it only takes a minute to strengthen one…and one is all it takes to build a career.

Need a job? You’d better learn to followup because they’re getting harder and harder to come by.

And if you don’t followup…that job is going to go to somebody who does.

This business is based on relationships. Rather than going for volume in the number of contacts you make, try going to quality.

Instead of sending an email about your band to 1500 management companies, pick one, call them up, and start getting to know them. Send them a package via next day mail and followup again. It will take some time, but it’s worth it.

Instead of sending out hundreds of resumes when you graduate from music business school, make the connection now, build on it for a few years, and watch as a job is waiting for you the day you graduate…even in this economy.

If you can make THREE contacts per week, you’ll have over 150 by the end of the year. The music business isn’t that big! 150 contacts is more than enough to get whatever you need.

Who do you need? A manager? A booking agent? A publicist? A reporter to print something on you in New York?

Pick up the phone and get to work.

Wanna see something really scary?

It’s Halloween. Boo.

The US is still in Iraq, Britney has a new album coming out, and fires are out of control in California. But you know what’s really scary?

It’s really scary that so many “educated” musicians have no clue about the business they’re working in. Not a day goes by when I don’t get a letter from some “I’ve been in the music business for 20-years and now I’m off to my job at the bowling alley” musician who thinks he knows what is going on, but somehow hasn’t been able to get it all together for himself.

If my car is a mess, are you going to hire me to clean yours? If I’m fat and out of shape, are you going to listen to me when I give you advice on how to lose weight?

This business is not just about getting into the club and playing songs. It’s not just about hanging out in the studio all day and working on a new “project.” And it’s definitely not about hanging out and waiting for somebody else to do all the work for you.

Today, I got an email response to my last newsletter which said, “you’re a rip…..every artist needs a manager….we don’t need you to get singed. we need a manager.”

So I checked the guy’s page out…

Two local gigs plus one that was “CANCELLED BECAUSE OF MUSIC INDUSTRY POLITICS.”

And this guy thinks he needs a manager? There is nothing to manage!

While a manager is a great ego stroke, if you don’t have anything going on, it’s going to be a waste of your money.

But, wait… Don’t managers work on a percentage of income?

Yes, but what happens when there is no income? In that case, you’re going to have to pay out.

Plain and simple, nobody cares about your music (or your career) as much as you do. The only reason most people, at least the ones worth anything, get involved with a music project is because they’re going to get paid.

Sure, you can probably find a “manager” at any level in the music business, but you get what you pay for when you try to cut corners. Your friend is not a manager. Your wife is not a manager. Your brother is not a manager.

Don’t get a manager until people are knocking down your door and you have something to manage.

Street People and the Music Business

So I’m at this meeting yesterday afternoon at a restaurant… The weather has been really nice here for the last few days, so we were outside on the street.

This homeless guy walks by one direction as these college girls were walking by the other. They met up right by our table, and when they met, he asked them for money.

The girls said no and kept walking. They didn’t get the Fear of God® look, give him any grief, or anything else. They simply said no.

And what does this have to do with the music business? Everything.

TWO POINTS:

1. When you don’t ask, nothing happens. If you’re not asking for the sale at every opportunity, you’re leaving a lot of potential money on the table.

If you’re a musician, you need to be asking for the CD sale from the stage. If you’re playing a gig soon, you need to ask people at your day job to come out.

Do something else in the music business? You need to ask for the sale every time you have the opportunity to do so. And those opportunities happen a lot more than you think, by the way.

2. The worst thing that can happen is that people will say no. And if you’re not able to handle rejection like that, you’re in the wrong business.

Sure, these girls declined the guy. How could he know that would happen if he didn’t ask though? Rather than judge them, he put the request out there and took the response that came with it.

And even if somebody says no, the fact that you asked still sets the INTENTION (see last week’s newsletter) that you’re our looking for CD sales, people at your shows, and ready to make more money with your music business. In other words, even if somebody says no, it still helps you bring in more money.

Try it. For the next week, ask ten people every day to either come to your gig, buy your CD, or do something else that will help you further your music career.

How to be promoted to over 60,000 people…

I don’t often feature artists in the newsletter, so last week’s information about Shelley Miller and how our relationship evolved from her being rejected at 2NMC one month to sending me vegan cookies the next got a lot of response.

The main question: How can I be featured in KR Promo Tips?

My answer: Do something interesting.

Yes, you have to have the relationship (at least on some level), but you’ve got to do more than that.

Send me a full-size toilet with your CD inside, send me a tombstone with your band name etched on it, or parachute on top of the building I work in.

Just do something memorable. Simply existing won’t cut it.

Better yet, sell a ton of CDs and let me know how you’re doing it. If it’s something my readers can benefit from, I’ll put it in here.

Shelley Miller sent me cookies!

Got a box this week from Shelley Miller of Chicago, IL this week. Not the usually “submission” box either.

Opened it up to find a bag full of vegan chocolate chip cookies.

Yum.

Why do you care? This bag of cookies (which I just finished off, by the way) represents the FOUNDATION of the music business.

I met Shelley when she applied for 2NMC and emailed me because she was REJECTED. I don’t have the email exactly, but it said something like, “I’ve been working really hard on my music for a few years now and have been rejected from 2NMC twice. Would like to know what I can do to improve my chances for next year.”

She seemed honest enough, so I checked out the link she included.

And that’s when I realized that the listening committee had made a horrible mistake by not including her in the lineup.

And since the lineup was full, I booked a club myself and put Shelley in the lineup. I filled it with people who had sent me similar letters.

Then Shelley became a client. When she came to 2NMC, I took her out to breakfast, with a group of other clients who attended and some industry people I thought should be there. I do that at every music conference. It’s what I call a “mastermind networking session.”

And I found out she was vegan. And she found out I was vegetarian.

You see, that’s how it works. It’s not about record deals or “what can you do for me” stuff. It’s about relationships. The business isn’t made up of record people, musicians, producers, or anything like that; it’s made up of people.

And that’s why she sent me some vegan chocolate chip cookies.

And that’s why I’m introducing her to the 60,000+ people who are getting this newsletter today.

People help people they like. They come to the shows of people they like, they buy the records of people they like, and they go out of their way people that they like.

Think about that the next time you’re dealing with fans, sending off a demo, or checking out at your local grocery store.