Do you have any news? Tell us about upcoming shows, CD releases, new websites or anything else you have going on.

Dave Codr, a music industry pioneer and an indie promoter, answers more of your questions this week.

Dave responds to these questions:

• How do I find success in music at an older age?
• How do I find my niche audience?
• How do I book a mini-tour?
• What’s a low-cost promotional technique I can use?

A note from Dave:

“Thanks everyone for sending in your questions! Broadjam has arranged for me to answer questions from artists like you once a month. If you’re reading this and you have a question of your own, send it in for our next round.

If you’re thirsty for more industry knowledge, I invite you to visit the music industry insider section of our website. We have assembled a number of articles there specifically written for independent artists and musicians. No login or registration required. http://www.musicphonebook.com/theinsider”

Dave needs your questions! He’ll be answering more of your inquiries next month, so please leave a question below.

Posted by Eggy on 5/4/2007

Question for Dave: I’m an older gentleman just getting started in this end of the business. I’ve alway been a background musician and now think it’s time to try the waters.How do a person nearing 50 fast track his career and have some degree of success at this?


Dave’s Answer:

Eggy,

Well that’s the million doallar question. Every artist, regardless of age, wants to fast track their career. To be honest, I’ve really never gone that route. My philosophy is to build up a band or artist legitimately so that labels, music publishers etc are the ones coming to the band, not the other way around.

Many independent artists have what I call a “hat in hand” mentality, meaning they’re hoping to get something early that they haven’t really earned. For example, the biggest club in town has a 500 person capacity. The band contacts the club begging for a headlining slot even though they know they will only be able to draw 200 fans at most. While it’s great to play on a prestigious stage, if you don’t deliver the numbers the venue is expecting, the changes for a repeat booking are practically nil. On the other hand, if you’re an artist that plays a 150 capacity venue regularly to a full crowd, you have negotiating power when talking to the next larger club as they want you to bring your fans to them. The fact you are drawing more people than the current club can hold shows development & progress. Eventually other larger clubs will eventually start to come to you and try to talk you into playing their venue instead.

Because you have what they want (customers) they will try to entice you by offering you more money that you are currently getting at the hundred fifty capacity club. If you repeat this process until you’re playing and packing the biggest venue in town, you will really be earning what you get paid.

Not the answer you’re looking for, I know. Here are a few tips on things you can do to help accelerate your process

Posted by BOB NIERSTEDT on 5/1/2007

I write very Traditional Country songs. I know they sound like they were written in the 60’s and I can handle all the rejection i recieve. I will be doing another CD this summer and although I know there are thousands of folks that enjoy this type of music, I’m not clear on how to reach them. I have followed the advice of other pros who gave very good suggestions on how to change my music to conform to what is played on today’s country radio. I have listened to the New Country, and frankly I don’t like it, so the fact I will not hear my songs there is no problem. I think I have to write what my heart tells me, but so far my brain hasn’t told me where my audience is. Any suggestions? Bob


Dave’s Answer:

Bob,

Always listen to your gut. Never, ever, under any circumstances change your music based on what someone else tells you. Criticism is one thing, but telling an artist what genre to write is terribly inappropriate in my opinion. The best advice I can offer is to play the music that resonated with your soul. Once you start writing music for other people, you’ll find you’re on a path that can never reach its destination. By the time you get proficient enough to perform the material, that sound will have passed.

I looked through The Music Phone Book’s database for websites that specialize in traditional country, and we have several sites listed but they cover specific markets. Since I don’t know where you are located, Im just gong to post one that is national and covers country music:
Country Interviews Online www.countryinterviewsonline.net

I have noticed a trend of a lot of up and coming artists that have classic country influences. You may want to check out www.pandora.com. It’s a website that tells you the names of other artists that play a similar style of music. So find a new artist who’s playing music similar to what you lay down, search Pandora for artists that share the sound, then research the artist to see what they’re doing. Is there an internet radio station that’s spinning their music? Are there magazines that cover that slice of genre or music festivals that cater to it as well?

The internet is a great tool. Use it. Pandora should get you started but there are many other sites that can help you out, like counterinterviewsonline.net.

No matter what, just stick to your guns and keep doing what makes you happy. That’s really all any artist can ever hope for.

Hope that answers your question. If you have a question of your own, or a comment on this post, please feel free to drop a line to askapro@broadjam.com, or click the post your own comment link below.

Dave

Dave needs your questions! He’ll be answering more of your inquiries next month, so please leave a question below.

Posted by lovesinger on 4/25/2007

Way to go all indies out there! Thank you Dave for sharing your hard-earned expertise with us. How would you recommend an unknown act to book a mini-tour (same state) to get the ball rolling?

Is it a question of hooking up with a booking agent or just contacting the venues directly (how do you find the venues?)

Thanks again for your support! Best of luck, ya’ll….


Dave’s Answer:

Lovesinger,

Popular question. The ever elusive quest for gigs. First off, kudos to you for recognizing a limited tour would be a better option. I probably get a dozen calls or emails a week about the same thing, but they usually want to know if they should tour to New York or LA as if those are the only options available.

First thing you need to do is find the right club to play at. Just because they have live music doesnt mean they necessarily book your style of music. A good place to find venues would be my publication, the Music Phone Book. We list more live music clubs & venues than any other magazine / website on the planet. I think we have over 10,000 clubs & venues in the MPB including basic specs like formats booked, age limits, sound reinforcement, etc. We also include the really hard to find info like the name of the person who actually books the shows, his or her direct phone number, cell number, email address, the best day & time to reach that person etc.

Now once you know what clubs to target and who to ask for, you need to do something to separate yourself from the thousands of other bands all trying to get booked into that club. The secret to success in the music industry: It may sound a little sappy, but it all comes down to building and maintaining personal relationships. Fact of the matter is, people like doing business with people they know or like.

Back when I used to book clubs on the west coast, I would get an average of 100 phone calls a day from different bands looking for an open spot. If all I did was answer the phone and talk to these bands, I would get absolutely nothing else done. Every talent buyer and club on the planet has the same problem. On average, most clubs only have 40 open spots over the course of the entire year. The rest of their slots go to established or national artists. So essentially, you’re competing against hundreds of other artists for those same 40 spots.

Here’s an analogy that might make things easier to understand: Our hero Joe is hitting on a girl at a bar. He knows that she knows he’s trying to get into her pants. So when Joe talks to her, he’s talking to her about everything but getting into her pants. She already knows that’s his goal. Same thing applies to a club talent buyer. They know why you’re calling before they even get on the phone. So instead of drabbling on about how great your band is (same thing every other band does), you need to look for an angle or a way to separate yourself.

The key is to find an area or common interest that you share with the person who books the shows. Let’s say the talent buyer is interested in dwarf tossing. Now you’re not going to know about that unless you take the time to get to know this person or do some research. So let’s say you have researched the club talent buyer and find out he belongs to amaturedwarftossing.com. By talking to him about that subject, you’re going to spend more time on the phone with them and start developing a personal relationship with them.

So now that you know how to separate yourself from the masses, you need to decide where you want to tour to. The key to touring is getting back to that market as often as possible. My philosophy is to pick one market at a time (typically the next closest market to your hometown), play anywhere and everywhere you can until you get a regular draw that’s acceptable. At that point, you want to start scaling back the number of shows to make them events not to be missed. This typically takes anywhere from 2-6 months, depending on how much time the band puts into it. Once you are drawing to capacity in that market, that is the time to start looking at the next market to develop. That should be close to your home market as well - ideally the second closest market. Repeat the process. Then look for the third closest market, and so on and so on.

Most bands simply assume all that there is to touring is picking cities and going. Virtually every one of those artists come back form the tour poor and unhappy. You may be able to book 7 or 8 shows in 7 or 8 different markets, but chances are there are going to be very few people at those shows and you, most likely, won’t be able to come up with enough money to pay for the $3/gallon gas you’ll be buying.

Just like anything else that’s worthwhile, it’s not going to happy overnight. So take it one step at a time and be thorough.

Hope that answers your question. If you have a question of your own, or a comment on this post, please feel free to drop a line to askapro@broadjam.com, or click the post your own comment link below.

Dave

Dave needs your questions! He’ll be answering more of your inquiries next month, so please leave a question below.

Posted by WoundedEgoMusic on 4/26/2007
Hi, Dave. I’m taking the “guerilla promotion” concept a bit akin to your name sake David, the Giant Killer, using non-traditional warfare to accomplish what the traditional giant can’t, yes? Ok, so what are you five smooth giant killing stones? What five free or low cost promotional opportunities out there that we, shaking in awe of Goliath, can put into our slingshots?

Thanks,

Bill Ross aka WoundedEgo.com
“What I lack in youth, I make up for in immaturity”


Dave’s Answer:

Bill,

I really don’t want to answer this question. I have a million “stones”, but the reason they are so successful is because everyone doesn’t know about them. According to Broadjam, a couple thousand people viewed my last blog and I don’t want to ruin my tricks by giving away the store for free. I’m happy to answer specific questions, but you’re getting greedy there. So, write back next week with a specific question and I promise I’ll give you an answer.

Now that’s not to say that I don’t give away those nuggets in smaller, more intimate settings. I speak at a number of music conferences during the summer and give several examples of what you’re looking for at these workshops. So, if there’s a local music conference or one that’s you’re going to, drop them a line and ask if I’m going to be there. If I’m not, tell them they should get me in there so you can see my workshop. Because it’s not always feasible for people to travel the music conferences to hear me speak, I’ve actually come up with a way for you to attend my workshops without ever leaving your home!

I’m in the process of setting up a series of tele-workshops. These workshops will cover a variety of topics specifically geared towards independent musicians. I’ll spend 20 minutes discussing the topic, then open the line to callers so that they can present their own specific questions.

If you would like information about our Guerilla Promotion Tele-Workshops, send an e-mail to guerillapromotion@musicphonebook.com with your name and contact information. Once we get the schedule ironed out, we will e-mail you details.

I’m going to give you one of my little ideas as a teaser. This is a little trick that I came up with years ago, and as long as you don’t rig it, works very well. Building a relationship with your fans is crucially important, but how to accomplish that can be difficult at first. The best way to build a relationship with your fans is to have personal interactions with them: a casual conversation, a phone call, a personalized e-mail etc.

That’s where this technique came from. You only want to do this for a handful of people a night depending on how big the crowd is. I developed this at a club that had a 900 person capacity. Basically every hundredth person who came through the door was paid the cover instead of charging them the cover. This was done personally by one of the members of the band as a random thank you for coming to the show. So instead of paying the $5 cover charge, they get in for free and got a $5 bill put in their hand. But DO NOT rig it! I’ve talked to bands that use this technique and they just pick the hottest girls and let them in for free – and it always backfires. But if you keep it random based on a certain count, you will inevitably come across somebody who is having a terrible day

Do you have any news? Tell us about upcoming shows, CD releases, new websites or anything else you have going on.

He’s back! David Codr, the creator of the Independent Artist Registry and publisher of the Music Phone Book, has produced and promoted over 1,000 concerts, working with acts as diverse as Dave Matthews and Notorious BIG.

He has also managed a number of regional and nationally touring bands, logged countless hours as a producer and was the talent buyer for several premier live music venues on the West Coast.

Dave was one of the pioneers of “guerilla promotion” for independent artists and bands and most of his techniques are still widely used by industry insiders.

Now, Dave is back to answer more questions about the music business.

Leave a question on the Broadjam Blog for a chance to have it answered by Dave. Check back next week to see if he answers your question. We will post his replies to select questions on the Broadjam Blog next Monday (5/28).

Do you have any news? Tell us about upcoming shows, CD releases, new websites or anything else you have going on.

Today in Tips & Tricks, we’re going to show you how to create downloadable documents on your Broadjam hosted website. Every Primo MoB member can create a website. This feature allows you offer things such as resumes, screenplays, lyrics, etc. for download on your hosted website

For an example of this feature, check out www.djsportico.com. (Click on the “Free Downloads” menu item and download the “DJ::Y5 Equipment List”)

Here is the information you need to learn how to use this feature.

If you have any questions after reading through the material, please post them on the blog. Otherwise, feel free to call Broadjam Customer Service at 1-608-271-3633.