Mistakes

THE MISTAKE

This is one of the more tragic mistakes I have seen repeated many times.

RECORD YOUR MASTERPIECE

After many years of training and some success with a band Miss AB decided to have a shot at the big time. She had written songs for her previous band and they were among the most successful getting radio play on JJJ. Her previous band had performed in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra but had broken up. She had had written about 20 good songs and selected the best 12 to record a release quality product.

Her plan was to: Record an outstanding album, sell it to a record company and get tour support to tour the larger east coast venues. The record company has the clout with commercial radio station so they will play it on radio then influence agents and promoters to book the show. The record company only needs to provide 8 weeks of saturation advertising on radio, TV and the street press and she will be as big as Kylie in Australia. She just needed the release quality product.

She found a producer who owns a studio and has produced a gold selling album. She did a great deal on studio time getting it at half the advertised rate for a bulk booking and up front payment. Over the next 6 months she called on all the best musicians she knew and many of them worked for free. She loved the artistic freedom and everyone was very supportive of her vision.

COSTS BLOW OUT, BUT DON'T COMPROMISE

Production costs blew out a bit but it was going so well it would be a pity to compromise it by hurrying. She found the extra money and finished it.

A PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE

She had a photo shoot done with a big name fashion photographer. She had a small run of CDs produced with artwork designed by a friend. The final package was exactly as she had imagined it and made a clear artistic statement.

She sent a highly professional package to the major record companies and to the more successful independents. A week later she started following the packages up with phone calls.

THEY JUST WON'T LISTEN

This is where the wheels started falling off her plan. Her phone calls ended in leaving messages with a receptionist who 'promised to pass them on' or being put through to a extension with voice mail on it. She never managed to speak to an A&R person from a major record company. Over the next several weeks about half the packages were returned in the mail with polite rejection letters. Unfortunately some of the CDs came back with the shrink wrap still on. It was obvious that she had been rejected without her CD ever being heard. The 10" x 8" photos were damaged or missing. Other companies gave no response at all.

NEW HOPE DASHED BY SHORT SIGHTED MUSICIANS

Miss AB tried smaller independent record companies in her next wave of promotion. She found one who was interested and said they would release it if she could get a good live show together and start working it. This would be easy as she had played in a successful band before.

She had trouble recruiting musicians. All but one of the musicians who had played on the album were committed to other things so she had to find a new band. There was initial enthusiasm due to the impending record deal but then playing the gig like a covers show, exactly like the album, did not go down too well. The vibe was not happening and after 2 months of rehearsals 2 of the 4 musicians quit. It was another 3 months before the band was doing its first gigs.

At this point they were just a new, unheard of band. Bookings were scarce, the record company was waiting for them to get a good vibe going live. The promise of joining a band with a record deal was not materialising so the band fell apart. (Something about musicians; they don't want to work for peanuts while being made to feel like just a backing band. Strange?)

MANAGER FAILS, AUSTRALIAN A&R LACKS VISION

I took this album and several other items to a person I know who works as an A&R Manager (the A&R Manager is the talent scout for the record company). He hated it, said it was "self indulgent crap", didn't like the lyrics or vocal technique and said there was no market for that type of music. I took a diluted form of his comments back to Miss AB who was deaf to the feedback. After all, she is "an incredibly talented artist with a fantastic product." She was telling me something about Savage Garden and the 'lack of vision in Australian record companies.'

The last I of heard of Miss AB she was looking for 'a good manager with strong industry contacts' who could make it happen for her and focusing her efforts overseas.

DOING IT RIGHT

If you really have what it takes and want to get it out there successfully:

Start by doing some research as to: what works in your local originals venues; what are the best bands doing that makes them the best; look at the ARIA annual charts and see what is selling; find out who your demographic is and what their aspirations are; read lots of those books sold by IMMEDIA! about the music industry to get an understanding of how things work; join the Music Managers Forum. Join a band and do as many gigs as possible over the next 2 years, think of this as your apprenticeship in the music industry and hang in there through the good times and bad.
Record your material in a home studio and get it up on the Internet. Build a vibe with interesting, quirky stuff on the Internet. This is your private communication channel to your friends and fans world wide. Once you put a song on the Internet you have just done a world wide release. Video you shows and get them up on the Internet for download as a Quick Time download. This way you can do a 'virtual world tour' without leaving your own suburb.
Start working your material live and gig test it. Once you are pulling people to see your shows and attracting a following you know you are heading in the right direction. When I say pulling people, I mean: 100 plus real punters at every gig to see your show and doing gigs at least weekly. NOT a few 'showcase gigs' with 'rent-a-crowd' there. Get this! If you can't fill your local pubs then there is no way you are going to fill the Superdome. If you can't get gigs then the Universe is telling you something, think about it...
Seek out a manager (see Australian Music Industry Directory from IMMEDIA! for names) and see if there is some interest.
Your manager will be able to help you build the vibe in the media from your live work and do a self released CD that is followed through with reasonable sales. The majority of artists came to prominence in Australia from being famous on TV or the publicity generated around doing live gigs (or working as a DJ.)
At this point you should find it EASY to get a record deal and the record company will then pay for the recording of the final product.
You will already be building the vibe through your live work etc. to sell the product the record company has recorded. Did you get that? It is your job to sell it! The record company will typically invest about $20,000 in marketing. How are YOU going to sell 10,000 or more CD's???

FEEDBACK FROM READERS

Since starting this site I have had numerous young women contact me and say they had a similar experience of paying big money for a recording and photos. They sent their 'very professional package' to record companies and had it returned with a polite rejection letter. In one example a woman paid $50,000 to have 4 songs recorded, a photo shoot and 'promotional activities' including paying to have her songs put on a compilation CD with other hopeless hopefuls. RIPPED OFF!

Listening to the recordings, looking at the photos and 'promotional activities'; I could have organised a more effective package for nearly a tenth of the price. The 'well known producer' she used has not have a hit in a decade or two and is better known in the industry today as a con man... but he is a slick con man.

SOME FACTS - STOP READING THIS PAGE HERE IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE

Record companies almost never release these self produced 'finished products'. The best you can expect is a distribution deal where you have to press and promote it yourself.

Record companies don't want to hear finished product because you are not trying to sell them a production team. How would you feel it they used your production team to record another girl who was more effective on self promotion? Don't showcase other people's work at your expense. Self produced dance acts are an exception to the finished product rule.

The ability to produce a good sounding record is of no value to a record company. If you can demonstrate the ability to SELL a significant number of CDs that is of interest to all record companies. They are not looking for people who can make records they are looking for people who can SELL records.

Any plan that involves 'sending stuff to record companies' is doomed from the start. A good plan involves building such a vibe that they come to you.

There are more people who have won Lotto TWICE than there are who have started a career as a recording musician by sending off demos. Pretty girls with a nice voice are a dime a dozen. It is often said that the most plentiful and expendable thing in the music industry is the talent.

What does a 'finished product' style of demo demonstrate to an A&R Manager? That Miss AB can write a cheque and get people to work for her. That she had too much money and not enough knowledge of the industry. That she did not do her research. All of these are bad things to demonstrate about herself.

Stuff you read in mass market magazines about people 'being discovered' is usually so inaccurate as to be fiction. The 'girl gets discovered in local shopping centre' story is a good angle for a human interest story. No real need to mention 10 years of training, practice and experience doing gigs. (Even the evening news is about 30% fiction, spin and propaganda. Ever notice how different the facts are between Channel 10 and ABC?)

Unfortunately people like Miss AB don't start looking to management until after they have blown all their money or are drowning in debt and they think a 'well connected manager' will be able to salvage the situation.

I have met a number of solo artists who have given me lots of reasons why they can't get a really great live show out working. These are not reasons why they can't work live they are the reasons why their music careers failed.

You have a much better chance of success if you are an average musician and a talented marketer than a great musician who is not willing to get out here and effectively market their product. Alas, it is not really about the music any more - it never was. The music business is much more about marketing than music - music is art not business. They call it the music business because it is a business. As an independent musician you are up against globalisation and corporatisation where big companies market music as a well researched commodity. Even the biggest companies are merging to make even bigger companies.

The best thing you can do for your career is to forget that record companies and start performing, promoting, build a web site and self release a CD then sell thousands of them.
Actually build a career as a performing and recording musician rather than posting off packages asking people to give you a career.

WARNING

A survey of young people found becoming rich and famous was considered to be the most important thing in the world. If this desire is added to naivety about how the world works then there is considerable opportunity for exploitation of young people.

The business side of the 'entertainment industry' is infested with predators, con men and well meaning idiots. Most of the income of many recording studios, managers and small record companies comes from the exploitation of young people. Many of these people have NEVER delivered the desired result to anyone or, did it once and trade off that fleeting success for decades. There are a number of sexual predators (straight and gay) at major label (and small) record companies who make offers 'too good to refuse' in exchanges for 'services'.

A&R representation companies who, for a couple of hundred dollars, offer to put your demo on a CD with 19 other suckers and send it to 1,000 record companies in Australia, Europe and America are always a scam. Record company executives have better things to do than listen to 20 losers on a junk mail CD.

This web site is not about the bad side of the industry, although it is a very real threat to artists and needs to be exposed, it is about how to make it in a dangerous world. It is about how to follow in the steps of other successful people and achieve a good result in an exciting industry.

I have met many people who have paid agents in the modelling or acting industry for representation and only got one or no jobs. Then there is the notorious 'you will need a portfolio, use our in-house photographer' scam. Never pay an agent an up front fee for representation as it is always a scam. Show reels sent to TV stations are a total waste as the people in the mail room are instructed to throw them away. The mail staff don't have video players so nobody will ever see it. (At least record companies will listen to 15% of the material sent to them, even if it is only to steal your ideas.)

I am interested in your feedback. Please feel free to e-mail me on: info@digitalharmony.com.au