Sunday, 14 October 2012
Mashable - The place to get social network smarts
Mashable is a fantastic website where musicians can create great understanding and learn to make full use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, learn what Apps are hot and what are not and take advantage a brilliant small business brains.
Taking the time out to learn a little, or a lot, everyday, will really enhance your ability to create greater awareness and build a solid, interactive audience with your projects. Here's a direct link to the Twitter Guidebook and Facebook Guidebook
Mashable is a great place to start. Have fun and keep focused on the business side of your career as well as your creative side. Drive your music to success. Australian Music Business Manual
Labels:
artist manager,
Band Management,
Facebook,
how to,
learn,
LinkedIn,
Mashable,
musicians,
Twitter,
Youtube
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Gain Professional Management or Self Manage?
It really is a mixture of both that creates success!
Many artists we speak to who represent themselves find it difficult to get people in the music industry to take them seriously regarding band business when they also perform in the band. Self-promotion can be difficult so making contact as the band manager will help in many ways. For example, on the phone “I am in this really good band and…....” can be seen as a little self-indulgent particularly when you’re starting to learn telephone skills and nerves can affect your delivery of a call.
It is important therefore, if you are a self-managed band or artist to separate your management business from the performing artist. This will come across as more professional and help you project the act you represent (You) from an outside perspective and less as self-promotion. Think about it.
Which of these two examples sounds more professional to you?
i)“Hello, my name is Jane/John, I play in a great band called….”
ii)“Hello, my name is Jane/John from D’music Management, I represent an upcoming band called….”
Setting up your music management business as a separate entity to your musical performance act while you need to self manage will make your business look and feel a lot sharper while creating a buffer zone between the two. And it separates you the business person from you the performer.
Many individual musicians and ensembles successfully self-manage their careers for years, building at least a regional reputation and a following. Once you are successfully doing this, you are in a good position to attract reputable professional management.
Regardless of gaining a professional management team, it is imperative that musicians maintain a healthy hand on their own business. If you are a musician or in a band, ask yourself this, do you really want to rely 100% on someone else making all your decisions without understanding why they are directing your career that way? Or, would you like to play an active role always understanding what is going on, and helping to knowledgeably handle time consuming tasks and make educated decisions that will allow your new manager to tackle larger tasks and build your brand to higher levels.
To many times I have started working with hard working self managed artists that have chased my business for pro management. Then out of no where, they take their foot off the gas as soon as I start working with them. It is as if by signing to management, all their troubles are over and they kick back. However, pro management is only as good as strong, if the band works alongside the manager or management team. So kicking up the heals and thinking that your job is over in the decision making and proactive management work is suicide.
Don't suffer your future in others hands. Work hard throughout your career on the business side. And if you gain professional management, work together to create a bigger team
Australian Music Business Manual Delivering the tools to success.
Many artists we speak to who represent themselves find it difficult to get people in the music industry to take them seriously regarding band business when they also perform in the band. Self-promotion can be difficult so making contact as the band manager will help in many ways. For example, on the phone “I am in this really good band and…....” can be seen as a little self-indulgent particularly when you’re starting to learn telephone skills and nerves can affect your delivery of a call.
It is important therefore, if you are a self-managed band or artist to separate your management business from the performing artist. This will come across as more professional and help you project the act you represent (You) from an outside perspective and less as self-promotion. Think about it.
Which of these two examples sounds more professional to you?
i)“Hello, my name is Jane/John, I play in a great band called….”
ii)“Hello, my name is Jane/John from D’music Management, I represent an upcoming band called….”
Setting up your music management business as a separate entity to your musical performance act while you need to self manage will make your business look and feel a lot sharper while creating a buffer zone between the two. And it separates you the business person from you the performer.
Many individual musicians and ensembles successfully self-manage their careers for years, building at least a regional reputation and a following. Once you are successfully doing this, you are in a good position to attract reputable professional management.
Regardless of gaining a professional management team, it is imperative that musicians maintain a healthy hand on their own business. If you are a musician or in a band, ask yourself this, do you really want to rely 100% on someone else making all your decisions without understanding why they are directing your career that way? Or, would you like to play an active role always understanding what is going on, and helping to knowledgeably handle time consuming tasks and make educated decisions that will allow your new manager to tackle larger tasks and build your brand to higher levels.
To many times I have started working with hard working self managed artists that have chased my business for pro management. Then out of no where, they take their foot off the gas as soon as I start working with them. It is as if by signing to management, all their troubles are over and they kick back. However, pro management is only as good as strong, if the band works alongside the manager or management team. So kicking up the heals and thinking that your job is over in the decision making and proactive management work is suicide.
Don't suffer your future in others hands. Work hard throughout your career on the business side. And if you gain professional management, work together to create a bigger team
Australian Music Business Manual Delivering the tools to success.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Derek Sivers, an inspiring industry leader
Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby and an all round music industry leader contacts me from time to time and always inspires me with his work ethics. Recently he sent me a link to some of his videos and this one in particular runs along the same ideals as to why Australian Music Business Manual was developed. Jump over to this link and listen to Derek's' inspiring speech to first year Berklee Music College students in 2009 .. http://sivers.org/berklee6
Labels:
Berklee College,
Derek Sivers,
education,
music business
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
What prevents a band being managed?
'Setting up your music business while you build your song writing
capabilities is imperative for you to succeed in music. If you spend
$5000 on a new guitar but you don't learn to manage your career, how
will the the guitar pay for itself ?
I was asked a heap of queries by a Melbourne rocker with the proactive self managed band called The Deep End last week about bio's and endorsements and how to get his band better prepared to tackle these and other tasks. After a while I pointed Dale towards Australian Music Business Manual. His next question was a ripper and in reality, the question that is more than likely on the lips of every band in Australia.
Dale Asked "Purely out of curiosity and curiosity only, from a managerial point of view what are some things preventing the band being managed by a company such as Blue Tongue Management for example? Always nice to know what we need to do better."
I thought about tip toeing through this as the facts are actually scarey. However, I decided to hit it straight up and tell him how the current landscape stands.
'Dale, there are about 20 great management teams in Australia and maybe 100 second rung managers and it goes down hill from there, purely through lack of experience and access to knowledge. 'And you can hear those fingers pickin', and this is what they have to say'. So outta those 15,000,000 fingers playing guitar, who will the management teams choose?
It takes approximately two years to develop a bands brand to a stage labels might take interest if the bands songs are good. This two years is about setting the band or artists business up and building their brand. So if a band takes three years to develop their music and then seeks management, five years have got behind you.
Most musically good bands can get to the five year mark but this is where most start to break down due to no business structure or understanding. Usually bands don't even think about business until it is too late. It generally takes 3 albums before most bands break the market to a financially successful level. That is another five years on top of the initial five and now ten years have got behind you. So throughout this time period, you need to be building the income. And at this stage you want to be folding wads of those crispy $100 bills for self-use.
So, in answer to your question, to set a band up, a manager such as myself would need to place some 1500 hours work a year (probably more actually) with a hands on band putting in similar time on the business and marketing side to get the ball rolling properly. So that is 28 hours a week with no, or very little pay in the first two years. Everybody wants a manager but nobody wants to pay.
Musicians have to take hold of their career early in the piece and make the band financially viable, or at least be showing leadership in the direction of smart business, and then seek successful management.
Metallica, KISS, INXS, ACDC. They manage themselves. Yes they may have a manager that runs the business, but the fact is they count their own cash and control how their business operates and that is why they make the big bucks."
A band needs to work with a manager on a level playing field.
Australian Music Business Manual
I was asked a heap of queries by a Melbourne rocker with the proactive self managed band called The Deep End last week about bio's and endorsements and how to get his band better prepared to tackle these and other tasks. After a while I pointed Dale towards Australian Music Business Manual. His next question was a ripper and in reality, the question that is more than likely on the lips of every band in Australia.
Dale Asked "Purely out of curiosity and curiosity only, from a managerial point of view what are some things preventing the band being managed by a company such as Blue Tongue Management for example? Always nice to know what we need to do better."
I thought about tip toeing through this as the facts are actually scarey. However, I decided to hit it straight up and tell him how the current landscape stands.
'Dale, there are about 20 great management teams in Australia and maybe 100 second rung managers and it goes down hill from there, purely through lack of experience and access to knowledge. 'And you can hear those fingers pickin', and this is what they have to say'. So outta those 15,000,000 fingers playing guitar, who will the management teams choose?
It takes approximately two years to develop a bands brand to a stage labels might take interest if the bands songs are good. This two years is about setting the band or artists business up and building their brand. So if a band takes three years to develop their music and then seeks management, five years have got behind you.
Most musically good bands can get to the five year mark but this is where most start to break down due to no business structure or understanding. Usually bands don't even think about business until it is too late. It generally takes 3 albums before most bands break the market to a financially successful level. That is another five years on top of the initial five and now ten years have got behind you. So throughout this time period, you need to be building the income. And at this stage you want to be folding wads of those crispy $100 bills for self-use.
So, in answer to your question, to set a band up, a manager such as myself would need to place some 1500 hours work a year (probably more actually) with a hands on band putting in similar time on the business and marketing side to get the ball rolling properly. So that is 28 hours a week with no, or very little pay in the first two years. Everybody wants a manager but nobody wants to pay.
Musicians have to take hold of their career early in the piece and make the band financially viable, or at least be showing leadership in the direction of smart business, and then seek successful management.
Metallica, KISS, INXS, ACDC. They manage themselves. Yes they may have a manager that runs the business, but the fact is they count their own cash and control how their business operates and that is why they make the big bucks."
A band needs to work with a manager on a level playing field.
Australian Music Business Manual
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)