Was sent some questions by Millbrook High School senior, Alving Garcia, who is currently working on a research project about the music industry. Part of the project involves interviewing a professional in the field.
Posting his questions and my answers here, so MusicMarketing.com readers will benefit.
This is Part 1 of 2. More tomorrow...
1. What do you specialize in within the music industry?
My specialty is marketing. I work to help bands, musicians, songwriters, and other music businesses or music business people sell more product, get more people to shows (or other events), and make more money.
However, like a lot of people within the industry, I've been involved with various other aspects. I currently do a lot with music publishing and licensing as well as broadcasting (see Music Business Radio). I started my "business" career doing radio and street promotion. Before that, I was a musician myself...although I've always been better at marketing music than playing it.
2. What advice would you give to a student entering the music industry as far as the education goes?
The best education for anything, not just the music business, comes from actually doing it, not reading about it or watching other people do it...although those things certainly help.
Most people know how to drive a car. Many have been to a "Driver's Ed" class. That's great. But what you learn in a classroom isn't nearly as important as actual experience behind the wheel of a car.
Personally, I studied commercial music at the University of Memphis in Memphis, TN. Graduated in 1995 with a BM. It was a good experience, but having a degree isn't necessarily going to help you be more successful. Most of the people I work with didn't study music (or music business) in college and several of them didn't go to college at all.
With that said, I feel college is a good choice for most people. Even if you don't graduate, it's still a good transition from "school to work." I'd suggest almost everybody go, get an internship as soon as possible, and get the best of both worlds.
3. What is your opinion on the current state of the music industry?
I feel that this is the most exciting time to be in the music industry ever. The changes we're seeing right now when it comes to creating, recording, distributing, and promoting music are incredible.
When I started doing music promotion, one of the techniques we used to get people to hear new music was to set up an answering machine on a phone line and have people call and listen a quick recording of the music. Today, you can send an entire high-fidelity song, not just a sample, within seconds thanks to the Internet. It's more more effective at getting the word out about new music.
And this is just one example...
The problems is that there are musicians now, as well as managers, booking agents, and other music business people, who were never around to experience the "old days" before promoting and marketing online was so cheap and easy. They look at it like, "Hey, this is free, so why not throw this promotion against a wall and see if it sticks?"
This has lead to a lot of "promotion" out there which doesn't work. Yet people still do it, because they think it's not costing them anything. But it's costing them plenty in opportunity cost.
So it's a mixed bag... We have some good tools available to use, but people are using them nearly as effective as they could be.
4. What sort of help do you provide to aspiring producers trying to get their foot in the door to the industry?
I do work with producers, but more from a marketing perspective...helping them to get new clients and grow their production businesses.
If you're looking for advice on how to produce, you should check out Steve Fishell. He's been at the helm of a diverse array of projects over two
decades, including work with Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Pam Tillis,
Little Richard, Emmylou Harris, The Dixie Chicks, Radney Foster, The
Duhks, Charlie Major, and The Mavericks.
He received a Grammy in 2005 for his producing work on Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster.
His new project is called Music Producers Institute and he actually takes people into the studio with him as he produces a record. It's a very cool experience and one you can't get many places, if anywhere. I've certainly never heard of anybody else doing something like this.
5. Is there anything that you did during your career that you regret doing and would change if you could?
I've certainly made decisions in the past that I wouldn't make today, but that's part of learning.
Something that has helped me tremendously and that I recommend to all entrepreneurs, whether they be in the music business or not, is to outsource any task that it's not absolutely critical that you do.
For example, if you're a musicians and you need a flyer for your next gig, it's not the highest and best use of your time to design that flyer, run copies of it, or put it up everywhere. Let somebody else do that.
Your job as a musician is to make music and put on a good show. These are things that can't be outsourced.
Flyer design can be done by a friend who is good at graphic design or art. Can't think of anybody? There are plenty of good people available online at sites such as Scriptlance. People from all over the world will bid on jobs you post, which lets you get a really good deal for quality work.
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