Hiring Professionals to Help You Succeed as a Musician
By T. Perry Bowers
I’ve been having a lot of conversations with musicians lately that want to take their career from amateur to professional. Back in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, it was all about the record deal and the advance. Nowadays, a record company won’t even look at you unless you’ve sold thousands of albums and can pack clubs around your region. I know a local reggae artist who has a major label record deal right now. His deal is such that the record company will promote a song as soon as he produces a “hit”. Basically, they tied him up just in case he does produce a hit, so they can capture the profit from that song. I’m not sure how they got him to sign that contract. It was probably with a small advance (loan) against future profits. These are the kinds of things one is seeing in the music business now. Back in the day, a record company would see you, believe in your potential, sign you, give you an advance and get to work for you. Of course, there are many nightmare stories, but that was how it was supposed to work.
In this day and age, artists are expected to produce their own records, garner their own fan base, book their own tours, promote their albums and shows, all by themselves. And, this is a good thing! Record companies are just banks. The executives simply hire people who are good at what they do to make the music happen. And it costs a lot of money. And it’s all a very expensive loan against the band’s future profits. You can do the same thing they do. It’s not rocket science.
So why are independent bands and artists skeptical and afraid of spending money on themselves? Sure, there are some con-men out there (actually, a lot of them). But, you should be able to tell the difference pretty quickly. Do they do what they say they are going to do? Do they show up on time? Do they answer your calls? Are they straight forward with you? If the answer is yes, then they are more than likely legitimate. Even David Geffen can’t guarantee that you will be successful. A lot of that is up to you. You want to put together a team that can help take your career to the next level. These people cost money and usually are not willing to take a percentage of future profits. Don’t be afraid to pay them. They are what you want to be someday: professionals in the music business.
Full disclosure here, I am a studio proprietor. I don’t run into many people that think I should help them record and produce their album for a future profit. But every once in a while, I get a phone call that goes like this.
Me: “Hello, this is Taylor Sound Studios”
Caller: “Yo, my name is Slice and Dice and I’m going to be the biggest star you ever saw. You need to hear my rap right now. You ready? [some decent rapping…]” Yo, what d’you think? Tight right? I promise I’ll make tons of money for you if you just give me a shot. Just help me record my album and I’ll give you 50% of the profits. Blah, blah, blah, blah.”
At this point, I try to calm them down and explain how it really works. But, they’re determined and I’m sure every studio that he can Google is going to get the same rant. Now, obviously this is an example of a very naive, very young artist. But, we all live in a certain amount of naiveté. We may think that a producer should always be willing to take profits on the back end. We may think that a producer always has time to give us free consultation and advice. We may think that a booking agent owes us a response if we send them a media kit. The reality is, we all need to eat. Or in other words, money talks, bullshit walks. People in the production and promotion realm (music producers, promoters, publicists, agents, managers) aren’t in the business of judging your music. They are in the business of making money. I’m not saying to throw money at all of your projects. And, it doesn’t hurt if your music is good. I’m saying if you have a project you believe in, don’t be afraid to spend some money on it. Get a game plan and a budget and implement your strategy. Hire some people to make it fly or get really good at doing it yourself. and make it your life’s mission.
The following is an example of a good start that got stopped midstream. I just recently had a client hire me to produce a song. It was two mothers and their 4 daughter singers. 3 of the girls were 14 and one of them was 17. They had a few songs. One of them was very catchy. They decided to work on that one. I hired someone who could produce their vocals and write and perform their music (a fairly well known local R&B producer). I had my engineer record, mix and pitch correct their vocals. They paid me half the money up front (something, I normally don’t do, usually I collect all the money up front). We did the recording session. The producer finished the music track in a separate session. The engineer used another session to do the pitch correction and work on the mix. I played the song for one of the mother’s over the phone and she was literally speechless. This song could be a hit song. There was only one problem. The mothers got to talking to other people. These “industry experts” were telling them that I charged them too much for the song. In other words, they got cold feet. One of the mother’s called me and asked for their money back. Mind you, at this point, only one of them has even heard only part of the song over the phone. I explained to her that, not only will I not give her back her money, that I had every right to sue her for the balance. After paying the music producer and the engineer, I had not seen a dime. Not that I would sue her, though, I hate dealing with lawyers and court rooms. The point of the story is that she almost had purchased a potential hit song. The producer, the engineer, the mother and I all agree on that. If someone can help you make a potential hit song and give it to you with no strings attached, isn’t that worth a considerable amount of money? One really can’t put a monetary value on that. If someone can help make you famous in the local region, wouldn’t you be willing to pay a lot for that (if that’s what you want)? Don’t be afraid to hire and pay professionals. This is what you have to do. There is no other way to make it in the music business. Don’t listen to people that don’t know what they’re doing. And remember, you always get what you pay for.
Based on my experience, I would like to lay out this example of a good strategy for recording and releasing an independent album. First, record your album. You should be able to find a studio that will charge between $25 and $75 per hour (that’s if you don’t need help producing and writing songs. That is a subject for a separate blog). Maybe you’re looking at 100 hours to record a full-length album, so let’s just say that’s $5K. Of course, you can do it cheaper if you have your own gear and you know what you’re doing, but $5000 is a very frugal budget for a full-length. You want to master the record, so that’s another $500-$1000. You’ll have to manufacture it, so let’s say another $1000. So now, we’re up to $7K. Maybe, you have gotten to this point before and thought that the spending was over. Phew! That was expensive, now I’m going to watch those CDs sit on my shelf for 5 years. C’mon, even I can admit that!
You need some help promoting and selling your CDs. This is where a publicist can really help you. A publicist is going to design a promotional campaign and give you a price. The price will most likely be based on an hourly rate for her time ($30-$100/hour). She can help you design a press release and get the word out about your band. If you have a show, she can help you get an article written about you in local papers. She can solicit reviews in magazines and blogs. She can help you post on your Facebook and Twitter. She can help you with your timing. The music business is all about timing. Your press release has to be on the editor’s desk at a certain date before the publishing deadline or it has no chance of even being read. You have to know whom to talk to, and when to call. Publicists, critics and writers have their own little community. They are always scratching each other’s backs. Ever notice, that the City Pages’ (or any other city rag) “best bands” are always friends of the writers? Hmmm…
So at the same time, you hire a publicist, you hire a booking agent. This is a little tricky because a lot of booking agent’s rosters are filled with bands that can already draw crowds and make money. They don’t have time to “break” a new band. So, you can go a couple different ways. You can pay them to “break” you or you can hire an unestablished booking agent (or you can do it yourself). Some established booking agents will book you for an up front fee. Pay them $1000 against future percentages. An agent will take between 10 and 20 percent, sometimes more. Don’t be afraid to pay them more. We live in an age where you’re lucky to walk out of a club with $50. Give it to your sound man and your booking agent. Of course, the goal is to increase your revenue over time. and with a publicist and a booking agent working for you, there is no reason, if you’re good, why you can’t do it.
So record albums, book shows, publicize the CD and the shows, sell your CDs at the shows and repeat. This is the formula. You will see your fan base increase. As soon as you have a fan base, it will all make sense because you will be paying professionals out of a revenue stream, not out of your pocket. At that point, you will truly appreciate their value.
There are many other positions that support musicians. There is manager, agent, tour manager, promoter, lawyer, road crew and radio promoter (All topics for other blogs). All of these positions will be filled as the need arises. A booking agent and a publicist is a streamlined, modern way to run a band or artist. It is really the bare minimum, but, it may also be all you ever need.
