The following article is based on several expert panels at the recent Industry Insider Music Summit in St. Petersburg, FL. (June 10-12, 2011).
Panelists mentioned:
Kevin Netters,Virdiko: @Virdiko
Erik Mendelson, Digiwaxx Digital: @digiwaxx
Kevin Shine, the F.I.R.M.: @kevin_AnR_shine
The journey of your music from concepts in a notebook to a buzz on the streets is a long one. I don’t care how good your music is – it’s long, hard work on the part of many players to get it out to the masses and across state lines. According to Kevin Netters (VirDiKO), it takes about 9 months to break a single. We see established artists like Jay-Z or Lil Wayne, who – as Erik Mendelson (Digiwaxx) says – can “shit in a paper bag, turn it in to the label, and the next day its on the air.” But upcoming artists – hell, even most well-established artists – aren’t in a situation anywhere near this luxury. If a record is in the streets – your area code, the next 2 over, and in the surrounding states, its there because its being pushed.
And guess what it takes to push it? Money. Along your music’s campaign trail, there are a lot of businesses willing to take your money: radio promoters, recording studios, graphic designers, CD duplicators, mixtape hosts, and on and on. Don’t get me wrong. These are services you need to have to be successful, but check this out:
You’re probably going to waste your money on them.
Here’s why.
1) You’re thinking about a mixtape (/album) instead of a single.
This was echoed by damn near everyone on the panel. A mixtape is a consumable, but a single is your flagship. No one is going to give your mixtape 15 seconds unless you have that one well-known track that represents the whole. Kevin Netters(VirDiKO) says “Don’t give me a mixtape. Give me a single…Ride your single until the wheels fall off. The industry wants a hot single.” Until you’ve shown your audience that one solid musical idea has enough power to muscle its way to the foreground, no one’s going to give your 15 other songs the time of day. So when you spend all your time and money on an entire mixtape – i.e. putting equal time and money on the 15 other non-singles, your draining your money in a big way. In a nutshell, the success of a single should fuel the production of the mixtape, not the other way around.
2) The professional services you employ aren’t part of a bigger strategy.
I’m talking about web designers, radio promoters, artist features, recording studios, graphic artists, duplicators, host DJs, etc. As long as clients are there with cash in hand, they’ll do their job to the best of their ability. And you know what? Good for them. That’s how businesses should be running. Unless its a management firm, it’s not their job to inquire into your content and strategy to make sure your optimizing your funds. If you were to ask any of these services, “do I need you? Are you worth it?”, 100% of them will say hell yeah. And it’s true: you need these experts. But does it make sense to use them now? This is where management comes in. Of all pro services you’ll see in your career as an artist, management is the jump-off point. A good manager helps you prioritize and put these things in the right sequence so your funds aren’t squandered. Finding and hiring good management may seem like a roadbump now, but will pay off in the long run.
3) You’re not testing your music.
This is the big one. Kevin Shine (the F.I.R.M) summed it up perfectly: “Save your money until you know what you got, until you know the song is important.” To be strictly an artist is one thing. To be an artist with financial intentions (i.e. making $$) is another. If its just about about getting stripes in your community, please stop reading. For the rest of you, know this: you can say “I ain’t commercial” all you want, but if you eventually want money to change hands because of your music (this process is called commerce), you are literally trying to go commercial. This means you are not just competing against artists in your area but the ones that are nationally recognized. And when you’re ready to compete against established artists, you absolutely need feedback from tastemakers. Tastemakers (Kevin Shine’s terminology here) are respected djs and other key players in the industry who have a highly developed ear for trends. You need this kind of person to help size up your music. They can tell you the most important information you need: whether your single is what the industry is ready for right now. Without this kind of help, you’re shooting in the dark. Remember, the first thing you should ask from a dj is brutal truth, not request for spins. You’ll always get mixed reviews, but if you’re consistently getting negative feedback, go back to the lab. You want nothing less than to get your dj network excited. Once you’ve got that buzz among this key group, it’s time: take out your wallet.
- David West, @fugitiveaudio
