No matter what level of band you are, you are NEVER too good to promote yourself. You would be a fool if you thought that someone would take care of everything for you. Even if almost all of it was indeed taken care of there are still people that you could run into personally that don’t know about it and if you mentioned something to them they could come! You MUST use every resource available to get your show info out! You say no one uses MySpace anymore? Wrong, there are still some late adopters who do! You’ve never had anyone from MySpace come to a show before? Well how long ago was that? Maybe this is the time. Maybe you’ll be a featured artist and all of the sudden people will care! And if it’s not posted they’ll never know. What does it take all of 2 minutes to post it on there?

Are you Twittering about it at least once a day? You should be. Probably even twice a day with different wording each time. Is your Facebook profile so locked down private that people can’t even see it? If so then the event you posted that you thought was enough probably won’t be seen by anyone other than those you sent the invite too. Did you put it on Eventful or Lastfm? People use those services a lot ya’ know. How about good ol’ PureVolume. Forgot about them huh? Well lots of other people didn’t.

The point is that you have a responsibility to self promote your shit. How else are people going to know about it if you are a small band? How are the non-hip people going to know about it if you’re a large band? POST THAT SHIT EVERYWHERE! Graffiti the internets with your flyers! And, yes, get out there and hand out real deal paper flyers outside of similar shows! Organize a street team to do this for you or with you at lots of venues and put them on the guest list for free entry or give them a shout out during the set for helping you get the word out. You’re right, not everyone will come but a few might, and they’ll probably bring a friend. So even if three come and bring friends that’s now six people.

If you have too much pride or rely on other people too much no one will come. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they didn’t know.

This week I was auto-added on MySpace by an LA “promoter/booker” called Lexxi Paul Productions. After this a funny and though invoking chain of evens unfolded that lead me to feel inclined to write about bookers and promoters. Before I dive into what actually transpired from this auto-add I’d like to give you a little insight on what production companies/promoters/bookers actually are.

When you are a band and you start to play shows outside your hometown it can be difficult to book shows. See, It used to be harder than it is now with the advent of various social networking sites, but as you can imagine you wouldn’t know people, know venues to play at, or even know other talent to open for you if you are solo touring. Even in bigger cities where there is more competition, such as New York, Nashville and here in Los Angeles it can also be very difficult to get a decent show booked on your own even if you are a local band. For these instances you might need some help getting all these things taken care of for you and getting your shows set up so you can hit the road and tout your craft. Enter booking agents. These are people who have a vast network (other promoters/bookers or direct to the venue) of people throughout the region, nation, or even the world who can take care of getting you or your band on the bill. That’s what they do. That is their purpose, bringing people together to get the band booked where they want to play.

If you dive even deeper, you need to get the word out that you are playing after you get booked right? Right. Better clubs have promoters who are people whose sole job is to get the word out about upcoming shows and acts to try and drive people to the venue and pay for admission, drinks, food or whatever. More popular clubs like we have here in LA really don’t have to do this as much because many clubs are destination spots that a lot of people will frequent no matter what. And believe me, they know this and charge a premium at the door! Some smaller venues, that don’t have the destination appeal, don’t have the capacity for this promoting element of the equations. Enter promoters. Promoters can blur the line between a booker and the official promotion arm of a venue. These people often have access to a venue and book a band(s) to play there for the venue like a hired subcontractor. These acts are set up to play at the venue on a certain date by this 3rd party in exchange for a predetermined reimbursement, monetary or other, from that venue. National bookers will sometimes use these smaller regional promoters to book their shows for them. A good example of this is Mike Thrasher Presents in Portland, Oregon who sets up shows like the Radio Rebellion Tour where the national booking agent for this particular tour would contact the regional promoter of their choice, in this case Mike Thrasher, who will then take care of all the booking for the region for the larger company and promote the show locally for the larger booker. In the end you would see a poster that says something like; Mike Thrasher Presents Radio Rebellion Tour featuring So and So Band (brought to you by Live Nation) or whatever the main company booking the show is. Now you know how it works, well how it is supposed to. Straight forward enough right?

Here in Los Angeles promoters who actually “promote” shows are few and far between. Somewhere along the line the promoters in this city decided that it was the solely bands job to tell people about the upcoming show. All the promoter was supposed to do was get the band put on the schedule to play at that venue at that time on this night. Some of the “bigger” bookers actually charge bands to play at premier venues in what’s called “pay-to-play” bookings where a band pays the promoter a fee (it can cost $800 sometimes) to play there that night and get their name out. A real pay-to-play booker would take that money and do things such as printing flyers and posting bills around town on the walls, having a street team blanket other similar shows handing out fliers talking about the show and driving traffic to it resulting in more cash at the end of the night for EVERYONE! That is, after all, what you are paying them for. But they don’t do any of that. They then punish the band and don’t book anything for them ever again when no one comes out to the show. But they got your cash, so they don’t care and they probably got what ever money they could from the door off the few people that did come!

There are three solutions to this problem;

1.) Don’t book with a pay to play promoter, there are ways to get into those venues with out using one, trust me.

2.) Two, use the money you would have paid that promoter to play there to do the work publicizing a different show somewhere else yourself. Go either direct to the venue or get a non-pay-to-play promoter to book you a show and give them a percentage of something. Keep in mind that they will need some kind of proof that it is worth there while. A lot of times they will make you pre-sell tickets to prove it, like “sell 25 of these or you won’t get paid” type of deal. These are bad too. Just say “look, if I don’t bring enough people, don’t book me again. And make sure you bring enough! I would never buy tickets from a band, I know its better for the band but most of my show choices are spontaneous decisions and I can never commit to anything that far in advance. Good venues or promoters where it matters how many people you draw will keep a tally usually at the door of how many people came out to see you and honest ones will pay you accordingly.

3.) Be proactive in everything you do with your band to make sure you are in demand and the promoters will come to you. If you have a decent management firm backing you chances are you will have an in-house booking agent or access to one that will have your best interests in mind and you’ll never have to really worry about this. But if you are unsigned or on a shitty label, you will. So self promote the fuck out of yourself! Get on message boards and talk it up! Call up magazines and get interviewed! All that fun stuff, eventually you will get a yes in the sea of No’s so just keep at it!

Now we have that all out of the way lets talk about the unprofessional and sorry excuse for a promoter that Lexxi Paul is. Upon being auto added I sent Lexxi a fun comment (They have messages disabled on their MySpace so if you are working with them you can’t even send them an email!) explaining to them that they are not what real bands are looking for. They book small venues and expect you to sell a certain about of tickets and promote the show yourself and draw a crowd. Well what the fuck do you need them for then? If you have to do all the work yourself you might as well contact the venue directly and book it yourself and take all the money. No sense in giving it to someone who did nothing and doesn’t deserve it. I would post what I sent them but I can’t because they had to be comments and MySpace doesn’t save sent comments (I deleted them after I sent the comments and they have a private profile, god knows why when it’s a business, so I can’t see them, although I doubt they approved them). Of course they replied and this is what they had to say:

“A. You are snot nosed who doesn’t know shit about me and what I do. Ask the thousands of bands and you might figure it out. You are burning the wrong bridge. But I will just leave it at that.

Faggot fuck face”

Classy.

Were going to work this finely craft list of bullets, and apparently letters they sent me.

First paragraph; I only had to ask one to hear about your reputation in this town. You are a nice person they said but you don’t actually do anything useful for the acts and you book small venues, all of which are too small for ANY of the acts I am associated with. Thanks for trying. And don’t worry I asked other bands, bookers, and agents and you do not have a fantastic reputation here. You’re just another leech trying to make a buck off bands. There are enough of you here already.

Second; Really? Well that’s ok and that maybe but while we’re talking business, let’s try and keep the focus on the issues on the table. If you have to resort to these kinds of tactics maybe you should revaluate your business model. You should have solid reasons why your method of conducting your business is superior to the ways I listed for you to change it. We can make fun of each others style after this has all been sorted out.

Third; I evaluated if I could afford to burn your bridge and I decided I could. You will never be in any position that would ever affect me in any way negatively. You are very small time, and since I am not in any real band there is no way it could ever effect me. Since the bands that I am associated with are already at a higher level than you are capable of booking you can’t harm them either. And the people I know that you know too, like me more than you because I am real and don’t try and take money from them. Again, thanks for trying, but it’s the other way around you shouldn’t be burning the bridge with me. You never know…

Fourth; That’s cute. You and your friend can book away on the side stages. My people only play main stage. Still burning…

Fifth: Real professional.

Good luck Lexxi Paul, I’ll keep doing things my way, and you do them yours. See how far it gets you.

Lexxi Paul’s MySpace picture

I don’t even know what to really say. I sit here and watch a lot of talented people just totally fuck up and throw it all away while less talented people are getting the prize. The pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow if you will. Take Versa Emerge for example, they don’t have a record out, just some shoddy EP that sounds like shit and they are on Fueled By Ramen (Pete Wentz’s label: Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco, Paramore) and set to appear all summer on the Vans Warped Tour. And here I am watching another person who a full major deal (Sony) in a foreign country, a solid album out (sales are lacking cause she isn’t over there promoting it AT ALL) and her team can’t even get a meeting together for lunch with a small indie US label! I guess what I am trying to point out is what I mentioned in the “Struggling Shit Band Part 1” entry where I talked about the importance of having a solid team. What you are lacking in skill or true talent can usually be disguised in a clever smoke and mirrors show by a properly organized team. I can not stress this enough! You cannot be represented by people who are not aggressive. This is a very competitive, cut throat industry and if you don’t LEAP on every opportunity and stick your foot in every cracked open door you’ll never get anywhere. And worse, your artists won’t either, all because of you. So bands/artists; don’t get locked into a shitty agreement with a shitty manager or promoter! You need to be able to leave that rep and move on to bigger and better reps when you DO out grow them, cause you will. You need to also have people who understand they took you as far as they could at their current capacity and know when to let go of you too a new person/agency.

Think of it this way, the car you get at 16, is it going to be the only car you’ll ever need your entire life? Will you not grow up and possibly have kids and need a bigger car? Will it be as reliable forever? The answer is no, you wouldn’t stick with the car and you shouldn’t stick with the same team forever. Change it up as needed people! If you aren’t happy and getting the results you want put them on notice! Tell them to start paying attention! Then if they fuck up again, submit it in writing that you’re unhappy! Then the third time, there out! Baseball style! Write your contract with that exact clause if you do draw up a formal management representation contract. You’ll thank me later.

Bad managers (this goes for really anyone you work with too not just managers) that use intimidation tactics to scare you into thinking certain things is someone you shouldn’t do business with at all to begin with. The second you hear them say “If you leave me, they won’t sign you” you get the fuck out of there. If the label is truly interested, they’ll come get you no matter who you’re with. It is true this is an industry of “who you know not what you know,” but it’s more so an industry of making the fastest buck so if they think it’s with you they’ll keep coming after ya’!

I am currently watching two acts be the victim of poor management, and it kills me to watch both of these incredibly talented groups struggle and get frustrated to the point of disbanding or quitting all together over simple communication errors that could be easily solved with management changes. People really don’t realize how crucial these manager types are to your success and well being as an artist. They’re a huge part!

Oh and remember, THE MANAGER WORKS FOR YOU! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

One of the best agency’s for modern rock bands. Visit www.theangencygroup.com for more info.

The live performance is where the fruits of all of your labor come to fruition. This is your chance to connect with your existing fans and really drive the meaning of your recordings home. It is also a prime opportunity to attract new fans. Fans who are pulled in by your dramatic performance and presence something they will take with them when they return home and search out your recordings. For existing fans it can also bring about new meanings to songs they might have once just “heard” and not noticed. Also, in this modern age of piracy, it’s also a good chance to make some dolla dolla bills playing the dates of a nice tour and collecting your negotiated nightly percentage of those ticket sales!

Here is how to put on a performance that people actually give two shits about:

First you must set up your stage. Before you embark on your tour make sure you figure out where all you assholes are gonna stand/sit! Drums always go in the back. Sometimes you’ll have a riser, sometimes you won’t. Risers make the drums sit a little higher so the people can see the dude behind the kit all the way back there. Next you’ll have your dudes on your sides. Doesn’t really matter who is on what side and what they are playing, that’s just a personal preference. If you can try and line them all up evenly on each side so that these flanking fellows aren’t standing in front of one another upstaging each other. Next comes the front man. Do exactly what is name suggests, PUT HIM IN FRONT! He should be “taller” than everyone. If you have a short front man or a female one push them closer to the front of the stage effectively making them taller to the audience then the rest of the band. The front man is always the focus. Sorry boys, but that’s just the way it is. They should never be even with the rest of the guitar, bass and keyboard players. They also need to be dead center. Putting them off to one side makes those with OCD in the audience go crazy! When all is said and done you should have a V shape set up with the front ma being the tip of the V and the drummer in that white space flush with the top.

When it comes time to get your asses out there make sure you introduce yourself before you play the first song! I don’t care if you’re a multi-platnium selling artist or some kids playing their first ever show, people get excited when you come out and say “hello [insert city name here] we’re [insert band name here]” and then launch straight into your first song. You can be playing those first notes or recorded intro audio as you come out but make sure you say who the fuck you are! Someone out there won’t know, trust me!

As you are playing be sure and move the fuck around! Front men this is important! There will always be a hefty number of people watching JUST YOU so give them a damn show! When you aren’t singing a part move away from the mic and rock the fuck out. Come to the front of the stage in front of the mic for your solos, pull away from the mic during beats between verses and choruses and rock your head out and swing your guitar/bass or even swing the mic back and forth on the stand if you just sing. Same thing if you are playing keys, you can move your head around just the same! Also it is crucial that you interact with the other members in your happy little band family. Get over there and do some back bends with the bass player, have a strum off with the 2nd guitar player! It’ll get the other members pumped with the energy and the crowd goes nuts when they see two people rocking out hard together, not to mention it’ll get people to pay attention to those puppets back there playing those other instruments. When someone else has a solo be sure they come to the front and make the front man take a step back to put the focus on the guy while he does his thing.

It is best to stop every couple of songs and give a SHORT back story (also to allow for instrument tuning or swapping) on certain songs, never on hits. On hits someone probably already looked up the meaning and besides people will be too stoked to hear it to even care. But DO introduce the hits. “The next song is called [hit song name here]” and then go straight into it. Never talk too long cause people will shy away. A few sentences is all. “This song is about my best friend who committed suicide, its called [song name here]” should be about the extent of it. Never do inside jokes, the audience won’t understand, be confused and start to pull away. Remember the good ole’ saying K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Don’t do it every song cause no one cares that much, trust me. Never preach about religion or politics. You can say something about coming and talking to you after if you want to talk about it but even that I wouldn’t recommend cause there is probably someone out there who disagrees with you. For example, I was at a show the other night and they sang and anti-republican song, and me being a republican pulled away and really didn’t care much for the rest of their show and kind of changed my opinion on the band. They could have just sang the song without some biased, uninformed intro and I wouldn’t have never really cared, but since they pointed it out I was aware and got angry. Stay away from religion and politics always if you can.

On your last song try and do an extended intro and introduce every member of your band while playing the intro. Hired musicians or actual members introduce them, and if you want have them do a fun little solo on their instruments. Here have the drummer do the longest solo, peeps love gnarly drum solos. No matter how big you are introduce your players. It will help people seek out the members after the show for autographs pictures and all that shit that stokes the fans out and makes them buy more stuff from you. Do it. Plus it’ll help the rest of the band not feel so bad about not having the amount of attention on them that the front man gets. Then say “this will be our last song, thank you [city name here], we had a great time tonight. This song is called [song name here]” and then rock out the hardest here.

If you follow these steps people will pay more attention to you and be more excited about your project as a whole. You’ll see, just try it.

You probably don’t know who this band is, which is exactly my point for leading with a cover. Serves them right.

Hi everyone. I know you love me! Especially when I talk about business! Right? Cause I know it all right? Haha! Well I don’t claim to know it all. But there are certain things that I am good at. You can take my “credentials” for what ever you want but I have been very successful all my life in business management and will continue to be. Some things change, some do not. Management isn’t a thing that changes very much. Management is exactly what it says in the name in EVERY industry; Managing people. Simple as that.

It seems that with certain people, and some groups of people, my qualifications on these topics has come into question. Well let’s see if I am qualified to spew out the word vomit I so often do about the topic of business and management:

-At age 17 I got my first supervisor job! w00t! I was in charge of people! I ruled over my minions with an iron fist.

-At age 18 started and successfully ran my first company. It was profitable too. Not to mention our nifty soft-goods line was very popular.

-At 19 I was a manager of a retail store. By 19.5 two of the stores were under my authority. By 21 I moved to the men’s buyer and that elevated me to a position where all stores and managers were under me. At 21.5 I was head of that position and had completely topped out in that company. Only the owners were above me. Not bad for 4 years. By the time I left that company I had over half a decade of management experience under my belt with just them.

-When I turned 23 I helped start up a consulting company specializing in management training courses and business optimization. Became certified in 3 courses from consulting legend Robert Fritz, and became a trainer for his class “The Managerial Moment of Truth.” The same course that helped Blue Shield of California go from $3 billion to over $7 billion since 2004. And most recently I started my very own skateboard company called Ravage Skateboards (www.ravageskateboards.com).

So with almost a decade of real life experience in some sort of position of authority in a company and after starting two successful companies, I think I am qualified to make the claims I do and YES I do know what I am talking about. You don’t know how my mind works. I think very rationally and logically. In fact I probably can have a more clear understanding of the environment you have been in for years after spending one day there. I am not talking about what you do, that could very well take years, I am talking about how you do it. That’s what really matters.

One thing I hear about is how this and that type of industry doesn’t function like a typical business. For example I hear this one a lot: “The music business is different then other business, it’s not typical” or “the skate industry is different cause of….” But I have to tell you it’s not. At all. All businesses function the same on the fundamental level of the basic business. You have people in charge, people doing the work and (hopefully) customers. There are employees’ payroll, accounting, vendors, equipment and other operating expenses, and so on. The one that someone recently had the cajones to say I don’t know anything about is the music business. So we’ll use that for my example. I have been involved in the music business on some sort of level since I was 16. I started out like anyone else does by going to shows. Then I started to have some friends in bands and just got deeper and deeper until here I am today. As most of you know [Name Removed] is a singer and she recently signed to [Unnamed Major Label]. The day that happened any question of this being a “different” business vanished. It is to the very definition of the word, a business. So for those who don’t know, and some that do but don’t understand it, here is how it works. I am going to use generic business terms so that you can see how it fits and I know what I am talking about without jargon getting in the way.

A label “hires” an artist to create a product, in this case a record with songs on it. Much like a manufacturing company hires people to design and create a product like a TV and then they make it.

After the artist is hired they have to create their product. However they do that is up to them. Sometimes it’s a whole team of people (a band) or just one person (solo). When a band signs a contract it’s like hiring a team to make something. Apple does this a lot, they hire a group of guys to create and build a specific product such as the iPod where they hired the people from another company who already had the basic design done. Artists typically have what are called “demos” which are rough ideas/outlines of the songs for the album but are not the polished final version which is the same thing as a product outline. So what happens in basic terms is; the label hires these groups of people to build a record. That’s straight forward enough right? Think of them as hired employees rendering a service for their company. That’s just like any other business right? Correct.

When it comes to solo artists it can, and usually does get slightly more complex. The artist often uses what’s called “studio musicians” which are kind of like what a temp does in the normal business world. (Note: You can make a great amount of money as a studio musician but rarely do they become stars on their own. Why would you want to be in a band and not be famous though?) Another way to think of what a studio player is to the music business is what a sub-contractor in the construction world. They sign up to do a job, bid their rate, and then the main artist picks the ones they want to use based on the info and hires them to work for them for a certain, usually predetermined time (a tour, an album, a song, or just one show) . There can be several of these in one act. In fact if you go and see a big solo act, such as Britany Spears, live the next time you see that same singer, it will most likely be a completely different band playing behind them. They can be used for anything from recording sessions to live shows, even promo shoots and music videos. Functions just like a regular business too. Wow.

When it’s a band it’s like taking a team that has been working together to create something for you and giving them a raise (and just like in regular business individuals and quit and get fired). This would be the actual construction company that bid on the job. Only these are the owners and share in the profits at the end of the project instead of paying a basic salary like they do to the workers. Simple as that.

Believe it or not there are more people than just the band that are required to make a record (product). There are producers, who oversee all things related to the music. These would be like Architects in the construction world. Usually they don’t work directly for the construction company and are instead hired by them to create the plan that the workers (band/artists) will then build (record). Sometimes though, there are in-house Architects and they do it all themselves (Thrice produced their own last album). There are mixers who are like the job foremen who go around the site and make sure everything is being put together the way the architect told them to put it according to the blue prints. Then there are the masterers, these would be like the people who would do the interior decorating and make sure that everything looks (sounds) and can be seen (heard) the way it looks best and that certain things aren’t too lit up or dim (loud or soft) and that everything is clear and clean. Of course you have all the painters (photographers, art people), and even inspectors (executive producers). Those damn inspectors have to sign off on the whole project before it ever has a chance of being opened to the public or lived in (released). See it’s all the same.

I know this is long, but there is more! Way more. Let’s trudge on! In order to run a successful store/business you have to have someone running it; someone telling the workers what to do and how to do it. Now it helps if you think of the Artist as the CEO here of their construction company and they hired this person (manager) to oversee all operations of his/her business so that they don’t have to do it themselves and concentrate on doing whatever it is they did to get them to the CEO position. Like I talked about in a previous blog it is important to select a good manager that is aligned with your best interests in mind. You don’t want to tell them to go over all those crazy safety rules only to find out they are telling the workers its ok to ignore them and then someone gets hurt and sues you! So remember that always, if they are too easily pushed over and lazy they probably aren’t going to make a good manager. Managers are go-getters. Just as in construction, retail or normal business they need to be aggressive enough to tell those employees what to do and how to do it but also balance handling difficult or sensitive employees or even customers (in this case the label, not the people who purchase the product) with finesse and grace but still get things the CEO wants accomplished, accomplished! Management is an art and the sad thing is if you are good at it, people won’t like you, but that’s ok you’re not here to make friends, your here to get shit done. A lot of managers don’t know that fact right there, and if you do and use it, you’re already better than the other guys. There, now ya’ have the 10,000 ft. view of management similarities, but keep in mind that there is absolutely no difference what-so-ever between what a manager in the music business does and how they operate compared to any other industry at all. Don’t even try and tell me otherwise. You are wrong if you think so. Period.

Next there are tour managers, these are like the supervisors in retail and offices that are here when the manager is away and take care of things like making sure the employees (lighting, sound, drivers) are on time and the that they have everything they need (guitars, mics and etc.) when the rush hits and motivate the employees when the manager isn’t there or isn’t required to be there so the company is still moving forward and accomplishing their daily goals (playing an organized show).

Then there are accountants. Oh wait those are in all industries. There are attorneys. Again, the same. Marketers, promoters, distributors, and all those other things that are in EVERY SINGLE INDUSTRY EVER! They all do the same thing in every industry just with different product. Some distributors sell CDs to Best Buy, some sell T-Shirts to Macy’s and some sell steel to Bob’s Construction Company. I could go into more detail on all of these but it’s really not necessary, I am just proving a point to people who question me on the difference between industries. The only thing that is different is the EXACT thing the people do when they show up. Some play guitar, some hold a hammer, some sell tee shirts. But they are all doing business as usual.

I look forward to anyone trying to challenge me saying that they are different. Please do so below in the comments and I’ll show you, using your very example, that you are wrong. Maybe it’s not me who doesn’t understand the music business; maybe it’s you who doesn’t understand just plain, old-fashioned, business business?