Wowsers! I am absolutely blown away by the incredible response I got on my last blog post about the music biz titled, Why Your Cover Band Is Killing Your Music Career. It was a subject I had to get off my chest in hopes that it will save someone 5 to 10 years of being trapped in cover band land.
On this post I want to elaborate more on talent, numbers, and money. Because that’s what I’ve learned the music business is in a nutshell. Also, due to some butt-hurt musicians that didn’t like my last post, I have to throw this out there. Don’t get butt-hurt at me! It’s not really me talking. I’m just passing on what I’ve been told and have gathered from successful music business insiders during my 20 years in the business. Let’s get started!
TALENT
This should be self explanatory. You have to have talent and great music. You can’t suck and wonder why no one listens to your stuff. Do all you can to get honest feedback. Preferably from strangers. You can fart in a microphone and your friends and family will give you a standing ovation. Although they’re sweet and supportive, feedback from family and friends won’t give you the material you need to pack out a venue with people paying to hear your original music. So seek honest feedback from people to see if you need to work on something.
I also learned to keep your songs around three to three and a half minutes. People’s attention span is short now days. A powerful 3 minute song can’t be stopped. It will spread like wildfire if it’s really, really good.
NUMBERS
Numbers just means people. Record labels with the connections you’ll need to get to a national level want to know how many people pay to come hear your music. Not how many people come to your cover gigs where there’s no cover charge or ticket sales. How’s a record label going to make money off a tour like that? They want to know how many people pay to come watch your band play a 1 to 2 hour set of your original music. A few covers thrown into your original set is fine. It’s actually encouraged! People love hearing a bands influences.
Also, conquer locally first! You need to conquer your hometown before you can hit the road. If no one cares about you locally, what makes you think people will care about you anywhere else? Focus on drawing 500 to 1,000 people locally first. If there’s no music scene in your small town, then see if there’s a town near you with a music scene that you can conquer. Beware of over playing though! Playing around town all the time weakens your draw. Spread out your shows so you can promote one big show every 4 to 6 weeks. Your show has to be an event. A happening. The place to be for that night! Once you conquer your hometown, it’s time to conquer out of town.
HOWEVER, if you’re just starting out, you need to play out everywhere and anywhere all the time to get practice. Record every show. Once YOU love listening to your live set (and non-friends and non-family tell you they love your band) then you can book real shows and charge a cover. If you suck, you do not deserve to be paid. Get good first. Then you can start charging.
MONEY
Record labels today aren’t what they use to be. They simply don’t have the money for artist development. So, you pretty much have to get famous on your own first. No one in the industry cares about how good your music is. They care about how successful you have become on your own. And what they look at is how much money you bring in. If your band is consistently bringing 500 to 1,000 people out to your shows at $10.00 a person, that’s $5,000 to $10,000 a show! Record labels will definitely be coming for a slice of your pie with those kinds of numbers and money. And that’s not even counting your music and merchandise sales.
Remember though, a record deal ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Record labels are just investors that loan money to musicians. After they hand you the $50,000 bill for the pretty tour bus, the hotel rooms, and other expenses, and you see that your tour only made $30,000. Guess what. You owe them $20,000 with interest. So think long and hard before handing over a slice of your pie.
So, you have to get famous on your own first. Record labels look at your band like a house investment. They don’t have the money to fix things up and make it better. They want a beautiful, move-in ready house where little to no work is needed.
It’s become research driven as well. An A&R guy doesn’t have to go club hopping anymore in search of talent. He just jumps on YouTube and Facebook. If your social media numbers are low, they’ll probably pass on you. Why would a label invest in a band that only gets 53 Facebook likes after they posted their new song? They know half of those likes are from close friends and family.
So that’s pretty much it. It really only boils down to talent, numbers, and money. If you’ve got those 3 things, a label with the connections you need to expand will be coming for a slice of your pie.
In my opinion, you should only focus on writing great songs. The numbers and money will come to you quickly if you’ve got great material. So many bands I see now days are too focused on bullshit. Too many of you are more worried about looking like a rockstar than actually sounding like one. Screw all that! Focus on writing great songs. Great music will bring the numbers and money. Not expensive jeans, not rented tour buses, or a wannabe manager you’ve got tagging along so you look important.
Guys, we’re up against dancing, half naked teenage pop stars that are armed with auto-tune. They don’t even have to sing live on stage. So, the days of being good or mediocre are over! We have to be great!
Before I bid you farewell, I would like to take this opportunity and address some of the butt-hurt people that commented on my last blog post about the music business called, Why Your Cover Band Is Killing Your Music Career.
Although most of the feedback was positive and the advice appreciated, there were some musicians that didn’t take the reality too well.
The comments from the butt-hurt will be in bold letters and my response will be in normal text below it.
“Wow, this advice is so 1998.”
Wait, soooo writing original music and building a show around that music is 1998? Hmmm, I must’ve missed that wave of cover bands blowing up and selling out arenas all over the world.
“The Beatles started out as a cover band.”
You obviously didn’t read the blog post. I stated that you have to pay your dues in the beginning and play in a cover band for a couple of years. And, you’re right! The Beatles were a cover band. But, what songs did they play on “The Ed Sullivan Show” that made them into superstars? That’s right. Original songs! “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was also the group’s first American number one song. A song that they wrote.
“This is bullshit. There is no secret to the music biz. Just get out there and play.”
No where did I say, “This is the secret for success in the music business.” I was only giving a blueprint for what I saw work with my own 2 eyes. Just getting out there and playing with no goal or strategy is like a ship without a rudder. It will eventually become washed up and hit the rocks.
“People just don’t go to live shows anymore.”
Wrong. I see people going to live shows all the time. They just don’t go to your shows and you need to figure out why. Maybe your music and live shows are boring and you need better material. Maybe you need to strategize your gigging schedule. Booking a gig and expecting people to show up when Ozzy Osbourne is playing 2 miles down the road on the same night is not good strategy. Find nights on the calendar when there’s not much going on and book your gig on that night. You can Google “Successful unsigned bands of 2017” and see that people still go out to watch live original music.
“Things have changed. It’s not the way it use to be.”
Waaa, waaa! I’m so sick of this cry baby excuse. Sure, the record labels aren’t the giant wealthy power houses they once were. But, the only thing that has changed is the way we purchase, record, and listen to music. If you’ve got great songs, people will pay to hear you play those great songs live. And you’ll make a fantastic living off of your music. That hasn’t changed. It’s been that way since the beginning and will be that way until the end.
“Venues won’t hire you unless you play a certain amount of covers.”
Venues that specialize in cover bands won’t hire you is what you really mean. Right? Let’s not get it twisted. There are plenty of venues that will let you play your original music for a percentage of the venue’s cover charge or ticket sales. I can think of 5 venues that will do that in my hometown. Don’t even try me with that lame ass excuse. I’ve been in it for too long to fall for that cry baby crap.
“There’s nothing wrong with playing in a cover band.”
I never said that it was. No where did I say, “You’re shitty for being in a cover band”. There is absolutely nothing wrong with playing in a cover band. But nothing compares to having your own songs accepted by an audience ( of strangers) and your show built around those songs. It’s the major leagues.
Conclusion
I don’t share these things to be mean or to shame cover bands. I share this information in hopes of keeping a young musician that wants to get to the next level from making the same mistakes I made. I spent too much time working on other people’s material. Too much time working on someone else’s dream instead of working on my own. Instead of spending hours perfecting Sweet Home Alabama and Van Halen’s Earthquake, I wish I would’ve been perfecting my own songs and shows. But, I blame no one but myself. Now at 38 years old with a family, I simply don’t have the time it takes to grind it out on the road like I did as a younger man with no responsibilities.
So, if you’re 25 years old I hope that you’ll just take the plunge! Just go out and see what the music inside you can do. It could change your life. Or, even better, someone else’s life! Stop aimlessly floating around from cover gig to cover gig like a cork in the ocean that eventually becomes washed up or sinks. Give it 3 years of hard work and hustle. 3 years, that’s it! You can always come back to cover band land. And guess what! You can give it 3 years and make mistake after mistake and still come out young as f%#k! You’ll only be 28 years old! So what are you waiting for? The music world desperately needs you!
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