Marketing is Marketing is Marketing
Several years ago, I worked in the music industry. In college I was a concert promoter both for my school as well as a local club and occasional parties. After college, I worked as a talent agent booking punk and ska bands like Blink 182, Reel Big Fish, the Skatalites and the Toasters into colleges across the country. As a result, I would talk with a lot of bands that were trying to work their way up the ranks into record label deals and agencies such as the one I worked for.
I remember one band in particular that asked me for advice on how they should go about things and if I could help them out. In reality, I was so junior level that I had to struggle to get my phone calls returned, but at that point I was the closest ‘in’ they had. My advice to them was to forget about trying to get the record label deal. They’d most likely end up getting stiffed in the deal and only make a dime for every CD sold if they even got promoted by their own label. For every big band you hear about, there are tons of ‘signed’ bands that just twist in the wind and break up.
I advised them to tour, and by tour I meant starting with a small local circuit getting on stage wherever they could and hitting the same areas every 2 to 3 months, each time gradually expanding the distance of the circuit. They would gradually develop a fanatical fanbase and most bands make their money not on the CD sales in the stores but rather on the merchandise they sell at their shows. In short, slog it out, pay your dues and earn the following. Develop a strong following and ultimately your precious labels will be competing to pick you up and give you a better deal because you’ve got a proven product. They didn’t like my suggestions.
Recently, we sold our house in Boston and moved to Grand Rapids to be closer to family. In preparation to sell the house, we did all the research necessary to come up with a fair price for the market. We got a storage space and moved about 2/3 of our stuff out and ‘staged’ it. Also, we built a website that provided pictures, house details, information about local schools and shopping and its Walk Score and finally timed the open house to meet peak home buying season. In a similar scenario, our neighbors put their house on the market because they wanted to move to another city also to be closer to family. The difference was that they put the house on the market in January, overpriced the asking price, took very few pictures (mostly of the neighbors houses to show the quality of the neighborhood) and didn’t promote their open house at all. Guess whose house sold on the first day and whose house has yet to sell?
The point is this: it doesn’t matter if you are promoting your band, selling your house or trying to sell an e-book online, market it well and you will sell. Determine your audience, build it well, price it fairly, promote it well and it WILL sell. Yes it takes work, but it’s really not that hard to make yourself stand out among your competition because few people are willing to do the work to make it happen.
And that band never toured, never signed a deal and never went anywhere.
Interesting comparison, but it totally makes sense.
Expecting the success fairy to drop out of the sky and land on your business is a losing strategy in any endeavor. Some talent, and a lot of perseverance will work almost all the time.
And your advice to the band was definitely good advice that too few bands actually follow.
Of course, the music business is a weird case that, at least at the highest levels defies the laws of business logic. It is oversupplied, monopolistic and random.
But absolutely, a band can succeed by bypassing the traditional approach of a) get signed by a label, and b) get screwed, and go nowhere (or a 1% chance of smashing success!)
But even in a business as brutal as the music industry, you can succeed at least enough to make a living by following a plan such as you recommended.