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"Not selling" = EMPLOYEE MENTALITY

This is a continuation from my 3/28 post...

Are you a businessperson or are you working for somebody else?

If you want to sit on your ass and wait for the world to come to you, be my guest. Even with all of the yoga and meditation that I do, I don't have that kind of patience. Why? Because the world will never simply come to you...you have to invite it in.

If you don't ask, you don't sell.

CD sales will never simply come to you. If you've released an album and just expect it to sell simply because it exists, you're an idiot.

So what do you do now that you didn't research your market or ask them what they wanted, and released something anyway?

There is still hope for you...

You simply need to get out, hit one person at a time, and ask for the sale.

Successful releases are built upon a series of successful events. Eventually, what will most likely happen when you start asking for the sale is that friends will start telling friends, and the "buzz" will start to happen. Then things will move a bit faster.

But it won't just happen on its own. Like the world, "buzz" doesn't just come to you. It's a symptom of you getting off your ass and pounding the pavement.

This is a business of smoke and mirrors. People like me lead you to believe that things "just happened" because it's a great story, but the truth is that nothing "just happens."

Nashville Star

For those of you who don't know, Nashville Star is the country music version of American Idol.

Went to the taping last night. Was glad to see they played original music for this episode.

One guy got up and played a song with no chorus. That's almost as bad as playing a one minute intro when you've only got 90 seconds to give your best stuff.

Yes, the Five Second Rule applies on television as well.

Most people are either:

a. Busy

b. Lacking in the ability to focus on something for more than a few seconds

c. Too lazy to dig through the noise

d. All of the above

The solution? Get to the point.

Taco Bell and the Music Business

Hit Taco Bell last night with my friend Kim. As I was enjoying a bean burrito, some guy, possibly homeless, was walking up to people and asking them to buy one of his rap CDs. And if they didn't take one, which none of them did, he'd ask for money.

I admire hustle...whether it's asking for money or pushing your CDs. And since this guy was doing both, I put down the $5 he was asking for and took one.

A couple of days ago, I had a phone call with an old girlfriend. We hadn't talked in a couple of years and she was telling me about her blog. When I mentioned mine, she said, "Don't send it to me if you're just selling stuff on it."

Now, I don't think I'm "just selling stuff" here, but selling is part of it. Why?

If you don't sell, you don't eat.

The guy at Taco Bell knows this. How is it that so many people, including most of the musicians reading this blog, miss it?

If you want something, go after it. It will not come to you.

Music Business Lessons from Donald Trump – Part 10

DT has the contestants take charge of an 8-hour shift of pedicab drivers.

This lesson is a great “money on the table” lesson.

One team simply drove the pedicabs around while the other not only drove around, but also sold advertising.

This is very similar to what my friend who owns a gas station. He doesn’t make his money on gas and they didn’t make their money on driving people around…

I see a lot of bands who could do something similar…and I know several. One sold $1,000,000.00 in t-shirts, which was a lot more than their royalties have ever been.

They got in the music business to make music, the music that they have allows them to sell t-shirts, and the t-shirts are what allow them to make music. No problem.

“There is no money in music.”

Maybe so, but there is a ton of money to be made because of it.

Bill O'Reilly vs. Ludacris

In August of 2002, Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly said, "I'm calling for all responsible Americans to fight back and punish Pepsi for using a man who degrades women, who encourages substance abuse and does all the things that hurt particularly the poor and our society."

As if sexual harassment and Thailand sex shows aren't degrading...

Now, Ludacris has an answer for Bill O'Reilly.

Music Business Lessons from Donald Trump – Part 9

The assignment is for each team to pick an artist and sell as much of his art as possible. Very similar to what a label does, I suppose.

Each team looked at the art, tried to figure it out, talked to the artist, tried to figure him out, and thought about the task way too much.

What is there to think about? For one, you can’t THINK art. And also, you simply have to run numbers to figure out what will sell well and what won’t.

How I would have done it…

I wouldn’t have looked at the art at all. I would have looked at the artist’s fanbase, mailing list, and sphere of influence.

I would have then contacted the people on this list, invited them to a gallery, and sold everything.

Case closed.

I wouldn’t worry about what art is good, or whether I liked the artist, or anything like that. Instead, I would have used that time to bring people into the gallery and make sure that they left with something.

"In the Music Business."

Living in Nashville, I meet a lot of people who are "in the music business."

But 99% of them are not really in the music business. It's not because they're not making a living at it...lots of people have other ways of paying the bills. In fact, like my friend who owns a gas station yet doesn't make his living selling gas, many "full-time musicians" are doing the same thing with t-shirts, licensing deals, and other income streams rather than music.

Forget those people though... I want to talk about the people, regardless of how they make their living, who only claim to be "in the music business." I want to talk about the folks who talk big and dress the part, but just pretend to be doing this for real.

As many of you guys know, I'm a big fan of yoga. I've been practicing for seven years and do it daily for at least an hour. And not only that, I subscribe to a couple of yoga magazines, I take workshops, I've got all the props here, I've got a shelf full of books, and all the other things you'd expect somebody who is interested in yoga would have.

So I find it amazing that people who are "in the music business" aren't doing something similar.

Before I locked the doors on my music business consulting program, the first thing I'd do when a new client would come though is send them a box via UPS which contained several of my music business books, hours of recorded conference calls, seminars on CD, and a lot more information on the business to really give them a jumpstart on things. All in all, it was probably $800 worth of stuff.

During this time, I had a moneyback guarantee. If you'd work with me for six months and what I told you to do didn't help you to sell more music, get more people to your shows, and make more money, you'd simply send everything back and I'd give you back not only everything you'd paid to me, I'd also throw in a check for an extra $50.00 just to say thanks for giving me the opportunity to work with you.

While I was doing this, I only had two people (out of hundreds) return their stuff to me. And both of those packages, contained the books, the conference calls, the seminars, and whatever else I'd thrown in...still in the shinkwrap.

Now, I supposed I could have called these people up and said, "You guys have to actually open my stuff and use it for it to work." But the truth is, I've seen enough folks like this to know you can't do anything to help them if they're not going to help themselves.

Don't move the lazy. It's one of my 14 Qualities of Successful Musicians, Songwriters, and Music Business Professionals. And it's why most bands never get the attention they think they want.

If you're "in the music business," wouldn't it make sense that you'd want to read up on everything that the music business involves? If you don't, you might want to think about how bad you really want this.

Below are some recommended resources that I recommend for music business information. Some are free, others are not. And if you're really "in the music business," it won't matter to you either way.

CD Release Party Strategies: Insider Secrets for Independent Bands, Musicians, and Songwriters--How to Have a Major Label Event on a Shoestring Budget - Essential for anybody who will release a CD or needs to throw an event.

14 Qualities of Successful Musicians, Songwriters, and Music Business Professionals - $39.95 at Amazon, but you can get a free copy here.

Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook - 201 Self-Promotion Ideas for Songwriters, Musicians & Bands

Music Promotion Blog - News, notes and ideas on music marketing, self-promotion, artist empowerment, and more from guerrilla marketing expert Bob Baker.

SpineMe.com - Daily news and tips for the working musician by artist manager Joe Taylor.

"May I Speak to the Man of the House?"

Somebody at SXSW last week asked me about how I got started in sales...

I've always been involved in sales. But my first "real" sales job, where I wasn't hustling for cash doing odd work around my neighborhood, came when I was 16 and I got hired to sell newspaper subscriptions via outbound phone calls.

I'd go downtown to a boiler room with about 30 other folks, sit at a table with a phone and a list of numbers, and start dialing.

This wasn't my first choice of employment, but I'd just gotten canned from a Baskin-Robbins for telling off the boss. I needed something quick and this was it...a good job to have between other jobs.

What I didn't realize is that I'd like it so much. And the skill of getting "in the door" within the first five seconds of the call that I learned and developed there is something I'll always be thankful for.

When you can sell, you can do anything. You can earn a great living, get the loan you want, get a date, beat a speeding ticket... Anything.

And when you can sell by phone, without the help of body language or other cues, you're that much more effective when it comes to getting things done.

Having problems getting bookings? Get a telemarketing job. There is nothing like on-the-job training when it comes to getting good with the phone and where else will you be able to talk to hundreds of people per night?

Music Business Lessons from Donald Trump – Part 8

The two groups were assigned the task of selling bottled water. Another great example of how important perceived value is.

When bottled water was first introduced, people said it would never sell. After all, why would people pay for something they can more or less get for free?

But today bottled water is a huge business. Whether or not it's actually any better than what you can get from the tap doesn't matter; people think it is and they're willing to pay for it.

The big lesson here isn't one of perceived value though. The big lesson is that you should never sell on price because you'll never win.

I see bands do it all the time. One group is getting $5000/night for a gig, so guys will go and try to undercut that group by doing a similar show for $2500.

What usually happens is that the $5000/night group continues to be employed while the less expensive guys just end up looking like second-tier scabs.

But let's say that you could go in and undercut people on price. What would happen then?

Well, you'd likely be broke. You'd also be pissed off that you were in a contract to play for almost nothing.

Marketing Lessons from a Las Vegas Craps Table

Last month during my Music Business Brainstorm in Las Vegas, when we were done, a few people went to the hotel casino to play craps.

One of the guys who was there with me leaned over and asked, "How much money do you think is on this table?"

Just the black chips were at least $50,000. And this was one table, in one casino.

Needless to say, there was a lot of money being spent on table games that night.

The funny thing about casinos is that it's very easy to lose grasp of how much money you're spending. And they, of course, want it that way.

But the same is true for you, as a musician, when you take credit cards for your CDs and other merch.

Like chips in a casino, people don't view credit cards as "real money." Charging a CD for $15 isn't the same as handing you $15 in cash. And because of that, people spend more money with credit card than they would with cash.

Bottom line for you is that, if you're not taking credit cards, you're leaving money on the table.

Apply for a Merchant Account Today and start making all the money you're entitled to.