Hi,
I am an artist and independent record label owner. I would like to thank you for the information about the industry that you are sharing. I look forward to learning more, so that I can be as successful as possible, both as an artist and business owner. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Alfredo Leon, aka Al Johnson
Sweet Harmony Records LLC
Hi Kavit,
It’ very good manipulation strategy for maltileval marketing and grait illusion.
If I do with love and inner light all in my life I receive enrgy that need for me.
And it’s reality.
Thank you
Ian
A couple of things I’ve observed:
-Most artists/bands are not making money doing gigs and because of this they can’t properly promote a show. In the end what happens is either burnout or money-run-out. You can do free gigs, sure, but there is cost involved with them no matter what (gas, food, materials, promo, paying musicians etc) and how do you offset this with a free model? Collections are one idea, but usually this will not cover costs.
-In the US and Canada (and I’m sure other places) there is a huge amount of ‘pay-to-play’. Venues will make you buy a certain amount of tickets or outright pay a fee to play the venue. This is prohibitive for some acts who may be solo and have to hire a band. How do you propose to work around this type of situation.
-Is playing a lot REALLY good? Let’s say you are a local band… If you post a lot of gigs on your calendar in the same area, people will not generally be excited as they see you are playing a lot and they will opt to ’see you next time they are not busy’. Isn’t it better to play fewer shows and make them a bit more rare so that an attendee MUST see your show for fear of not catching you another time? You sort of have to make it something they CAN’T miss. How do you do this when you play in one area a lot? I don’t see how it’s feasible.
-The net has opened up the WORLD to artists. That’s awesome in many ways, but in others it’s a bit frustrating as you find you have clusters of fans all over the world, but there is no way to get to them with a good live show. It’s expensive to tour overseas and hard to justify the cost. Do you think fans would be satisfied with a YouTube posted show or series of shows if you can’t get to them? How do you satisfy the fan base who want a live show experience when you can’t physically get to them?
I question people who say play out a lot because quite honestly in 10 years in this business I’ve watched more artists and bands throw the towel in after touring ceaselessly. Touring absolutely broke them financially and spiritually. I don’t really know of any indie artist who’s truly broken through with touring a lot (to a point where they are sustaining their career with touring/ CD releases alone), especially a solo artist. It’s getting hard for even rock bands now, which is a bit scary. It used to be that the ‘tour till you are known’ model worked, but it isn’t as reliable anymore. Peoples’ interests have shifted. There’s a million other entertainment forms to contend with and also venues are going to DJ’s or Karaoke as they find that revenues are down with the live music model.
What are your thoughts on this? I welcome discussion as there seems to be a real discrepancy between what used to work in the old music business model and what truly works now in the new model.
Questions/Thoughts About Blogs
Ok, so what do you talk about? Some artists have a true angle… but what do artists do if they are not bloggers? I get a bit tired of seeing artist babble on about themselves, that seems so easy to do I guess, but we want something compelling. So is it to find something compelling that you are associated with and blog about it? Do you blog daily, do you blog weekly? What’s a good amount and how do you dig within yourself to find out what you want to blog about and what would appeal to others?
Super video Kavit. I look forward to reading the book and digging into your other resources. I’ll share this video at my Music Business site http://www.musicbusines101.info
Thank you everyone to all the wonderful comments. I appreciate all your feedback.
Natalie - I personally don’t agree or advise about pay-to-play models. It is possible to play gigs that are paid rather than you paying. Also, as for local musicians, I might not have been completely clear as this was not a video about gigs, but I believe the idea of “starting local, growing global” in terms of building a small crowd and moving to different locations can work very well, especially somewhere like the US.
There are now new ways of doing gigs as you know - touring online, gigs in homes, gigs in towns far apart. Perhaps some of it comes under the Zone Booking Strategy that both Joe Taylor Jr and I talk about but also the idea of strategically spacing your locations can help you really get more crowd.
All this is discussed at length in the Musicians Mastermind but I may write an article to spark more discussion on this. Cheers.
As for the blogging question, go through the content in the blog in past articles where I have written about these things before.
Thank you Kavit.. This really helping me to focus. It like building anything, a house, a car, or whatever.. If you have the right tools to work with you can make that whatever and make it well..
I haven’t read the book yet I will read it this weekend.
Again thanks for a good blue print in getting started with the music world.
Hey Kavit,
Thanks for share your insight, as always very informative… Just one question, you mentioned int eh video that the ebook has more information about building a street team. Which ebook, I want through the latest one and can’t seem to find what you are referring to. Could you perhaps point m to the right section?
Thanks again, looking forward to the Mastermind Series.
When reading/listening to stuff, I particularly look out for articles which suggests methods I am using. Why? Because I am by no means an expert in this, I am just starting out like most people. I apply what I believe to be a bit of common sense and fly with it. So if an expert makes the suggestion I must be doing the right thing?
Listening to your article provokes opposing emotions. On the one hand elation, I must be doing the right thing, on the other dread, I am not getting results.
There is the newsletter, regular emails, the blog, the myspace, the website, gigged, travelled, all leading up to the recording of the album. Non-conformity has led me to make the whole album available for listening to before offering it for sale, created a survey feedback form. Yes surely some scum will record/steal it from the site but hey there are millions of potential buyers out there so one or two scun bags are hardly going to make that big a difference and may even help grow the fan base if they give/play to their mates. Yet I am not receiving the feedback via the survey. I know there are people finding the site, I monitor and analyse the web statistics meticulously.
HELLO Kavit Haria THIS IS GREAT VIDEO IT RECAP THE THINGS YOU TALKED YOUR EMAILS BOOKS THAT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS ETC SHOULD BE USEING TODAY TO BUILD A MODEL SUCESS FOR THEMSEVES GIVEN A BLUE PRINT
You really are a star =D I love the way you present your videos/slideshows…in a genuine ‘unrehearsed’ type way, you make me feel like you are simply telling what you know, and that, Kavit is a very good thing.
If I lived over there, I’d be attending workshops all the time! Meantime I will read (and have read) your e-books and listen/watch your videos and take advantage of your kindness and feel inspired and also better, knowing all of us muso’s have similar difficulties!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE FREELY WITH US. I’M GETTING READY TO LISTEN TO THE PRESENTATION YOU SENT ON THE 14TH NOW. VERY USEFUL AND INSIGHTFUL INFORMATION.
Thanks for your promo materials. I run a Sydney jazz band (http://www.sydneyjazzcollective.com.au) which mainly provides wedding music & corporate entertainment - so while not everything you’ve mentioned is directly applicable, it all still helps out.
Hi Kavit,
Very informative. Thank you so much for the video. I need to go read your e book as well!
I will certainly be applying these strategies to my music business.
I enjoyed so much this video, also because I’ve read the “hot to design a music biz” book.
I completely agree with the 4-steps model, because also here in Italy there are so many fans that the greater the musician becomes, the more they want to talk with him to advice him… se let’s listen them!
and I think this is a quite new point of view that can make the difference.
Kavit, great video and points on how to have a winning music business and relationship with your fans. I know that is the most important thing for me, that being to have a strong & personal relationship to fans of my music. I want to make music that positively affects them.
Thanks so much for your wonderful resources and for helping me in my master quest.
There sound but no video mate.
Cheers
john
Thanks for all the sensible advice. I’m looking forward to reading the e-book.
–jp
Hi,
I am an artist and independent record label owner. I would like to thank you for the information about the industry that you are sharing. I look forward to learning more, so that I can be as successful as possible, both as an artist and business owner. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Alfredo Leon, aka Al Johnson
Sweet Harmony Records LLC
Dear Havit…
Thanks so much for all you do….it is helping me develop a focus for the music that I do. You’re making a wonderful contribution to a lot of people.
Best wishes,
Pat Holmberg
Kavit i really connect with your unique and popularized ways of communicating with the indie musician “musoperneur” like you describe him.
Thank you for your great work.
I’ll catch you on the 14th
Peace
Alain
Many good suggestions! Some if which I have already used, and others that are “in progress” as I go. Thanks for your book and video!
Hi Kavit,
It’ very good manipulation strategy for maltileval marketing and grait illusion.
If I do with love and inner light all in my life I receive enrgy that need for me.
And it’s reality.
Thank you
Ian
Questions/Thoughts About Gigs
I question your comments about Gigs…
A couple of things I’ve observed:
-Most artists/bands are not making money doing gigs and because of this they can’t properly promote a show. In the end what happens is either burnout or money-run-out. You can do free gigs, sure, but there is cost involved with them no matter what (gas, food, materials, promo, paying musicians etc) and how do you offset this with a free model? Collections are one idea, but usually this will not cover costs.
-In the US and Canada (and I’m sure other places) there is a huge amount of ‘pay-to-play’. Venues will make you buy a certain amount of tickets or outright pay a fee to play the venue. This is prohibitive for some acts who may be solo and have to hire a band. How do you propose to work around this type of situation.
-Is playing a lot REALLY good? Let’s say you are a local band… If you post a lot of gigs on your calendar in the same area, people will not generally be excited as they see you are playing a lot and they will opt to ’see you next time they are not busy’. Isn’t it better to play fewer shows and make them a bit more rare so that an attendee MUST see your show for fear of not catching you another time? You sort of have to make it something they CAN’T miss. How do you do this when you play in one area a lot? I don’t see how it’s feasible.
-The net has opened up the WORLD to artists. That’s awesome in many ways, but in others it’s a bit frustrating as you find you have clusters of fans all over the world, but there is no way to get to them with a good live show. It’s expensive to tour overseas and hard to justify the cost. Do you think fans would be satisfied with a YouTube posted show or series of shows if you can’t get to them? How do you satisfy the fan base who want a live show experience when you can’t physically get to them?
I question people who say play out a lot because quite honestly in 10 years in this business I’ve watched more artists and bands throw the towel in after touring ceaselessly. Touring absolutely broke them financially and spiritually. I don’t really know of any indie artist who’s truly broken through with touring a lot (to a point where they are sustaining their career with touring/ CD releases alone), especially a solo artist. It’s getting hard for even rock bands now, which is a bit scary. It used to be that the ‘tour till you are known’ model worked, but it isn’t as reliable anymore. Peoples’ interests have shifted. There’s a million other entertainment forms to contend with and also venues are going to DJ’s or Karaoke as they find that revenues are down with the live music model.
What are your thoughts on this? I welcome discussion as there seems to be a real discrepancy between what used to work in the old music business model and what truly works now in the new model.
Questions/Thoughts About Blogs
Ok, so what do you talk about? Some artists have a true angle… but what do artists do if they are not bloggers? I get a bit tired of seeing artist babble on about themselves, that seems so easy to do I guess, but we want something compelling. So is it to find something compelling that you are associated with and blog about it? Do you blog daily, do you blog weekly? What’s a good amount and how do you dig within yourself to find out what you want to blog about and what would appeal to others?
Super video Kavit. I look forward to reading the book and digging into your other resources. I’ll share this video at my Music Business site http://www.musicbusines101.info
Cheers,
Natalie Brown
http://www.natalie-brown.com
http://www.myspace.com/nataliebrown
Sorry that link should have been http://www.musicbusiness101.info Sorry!
Thank you everyone to all the wonderful comments. I appreciate all your feedback.
Natalie - I personally don’t agree or advise about pay-to-play models. It is possible to play gigs that are paid rather than you paying. Also, as for local musicians, I might not have been completely clear as this was not a video about gigs, but I believe the idea of “starting local, growing global” in terms of building a small crowd and moving to different locations can work very well, especially somewhere like the US.
There are now new ways of doing gigs as you know - touring online, gigs in homes, gigs in towns far apart. Perhaps some of it comes under the Zone Booking Strategy that both Joe Taylor Jr and I talk about but also the idea of strategically spacing your locations can help you really get more crowd.
All this is discussed at length in the Musicians Mastermind but I may write an article to spark more discussion on this. Cheers.
As for the blogging question, go through the content in the blog in past articles where I have written about these things before.
Thanks again for commenting,
-Kavit
Thank you Kavit.. This really helping me to focus. It like building anything, a house, a car, or whatever.. If you have the right tools to work with you can make that whatever and make it well..
I haven’t read the book yet I will read it this weekend.
Again thanks for a good blue print in getting started with the music world.
Hi Kavit,
You truly make a difference from the rest of your competitors. Congratulations!
Hey Kavit,
Thanks for share your insight, as always very informative… Just one question, you mentioned int eh video that the ebook has more information about building a street team. Which ebook, I want through the latest one and can’t seem to find what you are referring to. Could you perhaps point m to the right section?
Thanks again, looking forward to the Mastermind Series.
Hi Kavit
Thank you for the information and inspiration.
When reading/listening to stuff, I particularly look out for articles which suggests methods I am using. Why? Because I am by no means an expert in this, I am just starting out like most people. I apply what I believe to be a bit of common sense and fly with it. So if an expert makes the suggestion I must be doing the right thing?
Listening to your article provokes opposing emotions. On the one hand elation, I must be doing the right thing, on the other dread, I am not getting results.
There is the newsletter, regular emails, the blog, the myspace, the website, gigged, travelled, all leading up to the recording of the album. Non-conformity has led me to make the whole album available for listening to before offering it for sale, created a survey feedback form. Yes surely some scum will record/steal it from the site but hey there are millions of potential buyers out there so one or two scun bags are hardly going to make that big a difference and may even help grow the fan base if they give/play to their mates. Yet I am not receiving the feedback via the survey. I know there are people finding the site, I monitor and analyse the web statistics meticulously.
Check it out for yourself, the site is at http://www.telliam.co.uk.
Peace
Sonofman
HELLO Kavit Haria THIS IS GREAT VIDEO IT RECAP THE THINGS YOU TALKED YOUR EMAILS BOOKS THAT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS ETC SHOULD BE USEING TODAY TO BUILD A MODEL SUCESS FOR THEMSEVES GIVEN A BLUE PRINT
MYSPACE
http://www.myspace.com/kob50k
Web: http://www.soundclick.com/Royalkortbeats
Cipher 7 Productions, Inc®. /Titanz Entertainment, Inc®
Email: cipher_07@lycos.com
Office: 775-923-8621
Fax: 775-255-3053
T.OWENS
Hey Kavit,
You really are a star =D I love the way you present your videos/slideshows…in a genuine ‘unrehearsed’ type way, you make me feel like you are simply telling what you know, and that, Kavit is a very good thing.
If I lived over there, I’d be attending workshops all the time! Meantime I will read (and have read) your e-books and listen/watch your videos and take advantage of your kindness and feel inspired and also better, knowing all of us muso’s have similar difficulties!
Thanks =)
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE FREELY WITH US. I’M GETTING READY TO LISTEN TO THE PRESENTATION YOU SENT ON THE 14TH NOW. VERY USEFUL AND INSIGHTFUL INFORMATION.
Hi Kavit,
Thanks for your promo materials. I run a Sydney jazz band (http://www.sydneyjazzcollective.com.au) which mainly provides wedding music & corporate entertainment - so while not everything you’ve mentioned is directly applicable, it all still helps out.
Thanks man,
Tom
Hi Kavit,
Very informative. Thank you so much for the video. I need to go read your e book as well!
I will certainly be applying these strategies to my music business.
I enjoyed so much this video, also because I’ve read the “hot to design a music biz” book.
I completely agree with the 4-steps model, because also here in Italy there are so many fans that the greater the musician becomes, the more they want to talk with him to advice him… se let’s listen them!
and I think this is a quite new point of view that can make the difference.
so thank you Kavit once more for this video
pier
Kavit, great video and points on how to have a winning music business and relationship with your fans. I know that is the most important thing for me, that being to have a strong & personal relationship to fans of my music. I want to make music that positively affects them.
Thanks so much for your wonderful resources and for helping me in my master quest.
Come listen to Andrew Hand’s music @ http://songsforoprah.com & sign up for the fanlist!