The year is 2008, and times have changed a lot in the last 40 years. In 1899 Charles H. Duell, the U.S. Commissioner of Patents said “Everything that can be invented, has been invented”. Bar a few notable exceptions Charles wasn’t wrong, and the same holds true for the music industry. There is no more “it’s never been done before” factor in music, and your music alone won’t make you stand out any more.
You Need To Completely Rethink You Game Plan
Back in ‘the olden days’ the most common cause for someone breaking through the ranks and (often controversially) standing out from the crowd was down to three things.
- Sex (Elvis)
- Obscene Language/Behaviour (The Sex Pistols)
- Music with no apparent melody or rhythm (Slipknot)
I’m by no means suggesting that any of the above names were the first to do such things, but we could sit here debating who was all day so for now I’ve simply given well known examples.
The point here is that it’s far harder to shock people nowadays, there are very few people who are going to be impressed by musical ability, semi-naked performances, or downright offensive behaviour. It’s all been done before.
Like It Or Not, Your Band is a Business
Music has evolved tremendously over the last ten years alone and more than ever the music industry doesn’t care about music, it cares about making money. You’ve more than likely realised by now that you don’t need to be a good musician to make money, you need to be able to sell products.
When it comes to selling products you have two choices, you can either keep blindly “being loyal to yourself and your music and waiting for a legitimate record deal” which will give you a minute chance of getting anywhere, and if and when you do it will be because the record label dropped so much money into your promotion that it was impossible for you not to get famous, not because you were so extraordinarily good at what you do.
The other choice of course, is to face reality. Music is the industry, and your band is the business.
Let’s Make a Comparison
Have you ever watched Dragon’s Den? If you live in the UK I’m going to bet that you have, or at least that you’ve heard of it - and if you live in the US don’t worry, I hear they’re starting up a brand new series over there.
Week after week on Dragon’s Den you see half-hearted businesses being ripped to shreds by some of the wealthiest people on earth because they have no investment potential. Once in a while, someone comes in with an exceptional idea that makes sense, and these same people all claw to be the first to invest.
Now consider it like this:
The ‘Dragons’ are record labels, and you are the business - why should they invest in you, and what potential return on investment are you going to give them?
It doesn’t come down to your music, and it doesn’t come down to your haircut. It comes down to your track record.
Nearly all of the businesses who get offered investments from one (or more) of the Dragons have already sold hundreds of their products, and have already been offered contracts by major suppliers. They come seeking further investment because they need help to dramatically increase the size of their company.
Remember the Arctic Monkeys? You should do, for some reason they’re still around despite their questionable music, yet none of that matters. When they were unheard of they proved themselves by distributing their music for free. At every gig they gave away free demo CD’s to everyone who came to see them. They realised that they shouldn’t be charging people for music when all they wanted was for more people to hear them. By the time a record label noticed them they had already built up a huge fanbase across the country of people who already had their music, and had passed it on to their friends, who had passed it on to their friends, which in turn caused the many sold-out gigs.
As a record label, that looks like a pretty sound investment doesn’t it?
You Need to Stop Being Naive
Your amateur MySpace page and your gigs once a week just aren’t going to cut it. You need to stand out from the thousands of other unsigned bands, and not just with your music. You need to come up with a plan, and you need to prove that you are a worthy investment to the business-savvy record label.
And if you don’t want a record label, you want to do it all yourself - then you’ve got an even longer road ahead of you, because not only do you have to be a good investment, you have to be the business-savvy record label too.
How Are You Going To Stand Out?
Not just with your music, but with your career as a whole. Who have you come across who’s done something really remarkable? Do you think it’s a coincidence that you’ve heard of that person? Let me know your thoughts and leave me a message in the comments below.
No related posts.
