21 years of music business experience in band management, concert tours, music festivals and music business consultation.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Derek Sivers, an inspiring industry leader
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
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
Monday, 12 September 2011
Touring just became a lot easier for artists with airline Virgin Australia announcing a new initiative aimed at addressing the ongoing problems musicians face when travelling with musical equipment.
After discussions led by national body The Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN), Virgin Australia have made an offer exclusively to the music industry that includes a baggage allowance of 32kg (across three pieces of checked baggage) for individual artists – with an additional 32kg able to be purchased in advance for just $15. Bands will also now be able to ‘pool’ their baggage allowance across their travelling group.
Q Music Executive Officer and AMIN Director Denise Foley says the agreement will have a major impact on the ability of Australian artists to tour more often and more cost effectively.
“Dealing with high and inconsistent excess baggage charges has been a burning issue across the music industry for many years,” Ms Foley says. “And Virgin Australia should be congratulated for having the willingness to not only listen to the industry’s concerns, but actually putting in place a system that addresses the problem. The impact of this new deal for artists will be significant and ongoing.”
Virgin Australia’s Group Executive (People) Richard Tanner – who made the announcement at the official opening of Brisbane’s BIGSOUND music industry conference tonight – says working more closely with the music industry was a natural fit for the airline.
“Ours is a brand that has a long and historic association with music,” Mr Tanner says. “It has been a pleasure to work with the industry to develop a solution that will deliver real tangible benefits to Australian artists on a daily basis.”
While the discussions have been led by AMIN, a range of key music organisations from around the country have played a key role in the development of the new deal.
They have included the Association of Artist Managers (AAM); Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR); The Australasian Performing Right Association :The Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (APRA:AMCOS ); Live Performance Australia (LPA); Music Council of Australia (MCA); and Symphony Australia – alongside AMIN’s member organisations Queensland Music Network;Contemporary Music Services Tasmania (CMST); Music NSW; Music NT; Music Victoria and The Western Australian Music Industry Association (WAM).
The deal offered by Virgin Australia will be made available only to members of music industry organisations that elect to partner with the airline – the complete list of organisations will be announced over the coming weeks.
Ms Foley explains: “That approach will encourage artists and industry to become more actively involved in the many not-for-profit music organisations doing amazing work within our sector across the country.”
More details on the deal and participating organisations will be announced in the coming weeks.
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