Music Marketing Cheat Sheet Blog

Street Teams (Part 2)

First off, I've got to say that I've never really been fond of the idea of street teams.  To me, it just seems like one of those marketing things that SOUNDS like a good idea, and, under optimal conditions and with the right people, would work, but for the most part doesn't. 

Here are my problems with it...

First, a lot music fans, especially fans of the niched, more obscure genres and artists aren't joiners.  I know I'm not.  For years I've been huge a huge fan of guys like Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver and others.  I play their music all the time.  I tell people about them.  I've worn their T-shirts.  I rarely miss a concert and never once have I been a part of their street teams.  Nor would I join.  I really can't see myself going around passing out posters. 

I think it's much safer to assume that EVERYONE on your list is on your street team.  I may be completely wrong on this one, and maybe that it's just that I haven't figured out how to apply this to my music, but those are my thoughts.  I'd really be interested to see any TRACKABLE proof that people with street teams are increasing concert/record sales.

All that being said, one of the things in my book is the concept of using affiliates to sell your music.  Still, I don't think this is the exact same thing as a street team since these people are in it for the money and may have a site that promotes several artists.

BUT... what I've encountered so far with this school group that I'm partnering with on the Woodstock show is the closest thing I've seen to a street team that works.

When we sat down at the table at our first meeting, the posturing was completely different from anything else I've encountered in music.  Remember, they are anxious to raise the necessary cash for their group and to do that they've got to promote the hell out of the concert!

I gave them all the information that I had from the opera house, and I also gave them my price for playing and helping them raise the money.  The price was over 4 times the highest amount that I've ever gotten paid, BUT it's the amount, quite frankly, that I and my band NEED to get paid in order to be successful.  (By the way, when I finally realized that this price was NOT out of line, but actually quite reasonable--and necessary--it was quite an eye opener.) 

PLUS, they're going to cover the expenses that I'm incurring to play at the Opera House.  (More on that in a future post.)

Immediately, they were taking notes, making plans, and coordinating who they could talk to in the community to get sponsorships and get tickets sold.  PLUS, I have a built in audience of just them!  As you may know, when you're doing EVERYTHING yourself, it can be a lonely and overwhelming feeling, but when you've got someone else to play off of, someone else who's chiming in with new thoughts and ideas, it's like an instant a JOLT of energy!

So, I guess that I do have to admit that street teams can help.  They can duplicate your efforts, and they can create excitement and energy that sometimes wanes when you're left on your own.  The irony is, however, that these are people who are NOT the biggest fans of my music, BUT they're people who definitely want to see me succeed... for their own sakes!

How to Get An Instant Street Team for Your Band

Continuing the saga of our big Opera House Show...

Well, after the first community organization pulled out, about a week went by in which I  (a) tried my best to ignore it while out of town (which really wasn't that hard to do since we were so busy),  (b) got the stomach flu (the absolute sickest I've ever been in my life), (c) drove 1000 miles back to Illinois and (d) got caught up on work.

Finally, by Friday of the next week I was back to normal and, quite frankly, desperate.  I needed a group to partner with me for this show.

Fortunately, my 11 year old son is on an Odyssey of the Mind team from his school.  Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem solving program sponsored by NASA, Microsoft, and some other corporations and educational institutions.  Teams compete against each other to come up with the most creative solution to various problems.  Well, his team and 4 others from the area won in the State competition and now they get to go to the World Competition at Iowa State, University in Ames, Iowa.

Yes, I said Ames, Iowa.

Anyway, their trip out there is coming up in May and they need to raise around $19,000 dollars to cover the costs.  I called one of the local Odyssey of the Mind organizers, told him about my plan and my 90 Day Challenge and asked him if they'd be interested in partnering with me for the show.

The answer was immediate.

You see, he at that very moment was filling out a form from a business in the area that donates Chicago Cubs tickets to local charities who need to raise money.  The charities can raffle off the tickets and keep all of the profits for themselves.  The only problem was that this business requested that you have an event to tie it to, and all they were having was a garage sale. 

At the same time, the other area organizer was writing a letter to local businesses to ask for sponsorship.  Her problem was that she didn't have anything to offer them to sponsor.  She was toying around with the idea of putting their names on the T-shirts that the kids would wear to the competition, but, honestly, how much will people be willing to give to have their business advertised in Iowa, four hundred and something miles away?

That afternoon we all got together and planned things out.  It was like some sort of convergence.  Really weird. 

All of the sudden they had an event to present to local businesses to sponsor, something to fill in the blank on the Cubs tickets donation form, and the chance to make more money with one event than with all of their other fundraising drives combined.

And I... I had an instant street team!

(In Part 2, I'll tell you what happened at that first meeting and how we plan to be profitting before the concert even takes place.)

How a Couple of Bonehead Mistakes Almost Ruined the Opera House Show

I can't believe a week has gone by since my last post, but it's been incredibly busy.

Here's what's gone on...

Once I had the idea for the show in mind, I contacted a local community group and pitched the idea to one of its members.  She LOVED it and even came out to say us play that night.  We talked for a little bit and she said that she just had to present the idea to the membership at their next meeting, but that she would probably chair the project and help co-ordinate everything.

I kind of knew how their organization worked so I was encouraged and thought it was pretty much a done deal. 

BIG mistake.

The real problem came when I mis-read their meeting calendar.  I thought their monthly meeting would take place a couple of days after my initial meeting with this lady.  Wrong.  It actually took place during spring break when I was scheduled to be out of town.

Still, I wasn't that worried.  After all, this lady had been president of the organization last year and had really helped it to explode its membership.  So, I left town confident that our show idea would get approved, and I could come back in town and get to work right away.

Well, I guess you know what happened next.

Since the idea was a little out of the ordinary (not a Poker-run or raffle or bake sale or something), and since I wasn't there to make my pitch, the idea was not approved.

I got an email notification of this while I was out of town.  Talk about a vacation killer. 

Honestly, though, I should have seen it coming, because I made two classic "sales" mistakes...

1st, there's an old sales rule-of-thumb that says "Beware the positive prospect."  Beware of them because they make you relax and think that you've achieved something that you really haven't.

2nd, I wasn't dealing with the decision maker.  I wasn't dealing with the person or persons who could actually say "Yes" or "No."  Talking with anyone else is a waste of time.

It might be weird to hear me talking about "sales" during this blog, but in recent years I've come to the conclusion that ALL life is sales, that everyday at least half of your conversations could be viewed in the light of "salesperson/prospect."

That's why every Tuesday for the last 5 weeks, I've attended sales classes via live teleseminar.  There's no worse feeling than being in a situation where you need to "sell" someone on your idea, your band, or yourself and feeling absolutely powerless to do so.

The guy who teaches these classes does so in a very laid back manner.  It's not the high pressure sale, it's letting the prospect sell themselves.  It can be used online and off, and I've got to tell you that based on the few times that I've been able to use it... it works like a charm and it's very powerful.

The sales class is full, or I'd send you the link, BUT the gentleman who teaches it will (hopefully) be a guest on one of our teleseminars which will be starting soon.

I'll keep you posted.

Next time... the group that agreed to partner with me for the show.

A System for Selling Out Your Shows

As I told you in the previous post, I've booked the 400+ seat Woodstock Opera House for my big "A- Level Venue" show, and I believe I can sell it out.  Make no mistake, this is definitely the biggest venue I'll have ever played, and on a good night I draw about a 10th of that number.  So, how come I'm so optimistic?

Well, I think the secret to doing something like this lies in the following quote...

"You can get everything that you want in life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want." 

Zig Ziglar's the one who said that, and I'm betting that he's right.   The only problem is, how do you do that as an independent musician that nobody's ever heard of?  It's not like you can just announce that you're going to show up someplace and then tell the cops to get their riot gear ready.  Your name doesn't carry that kind of weight... at least not yet.

This bugged me until a few years ago when I came across a guy who has a system for putting on shows to help raise money for community groups and charities.  After I studied it for a while, I realized that, with some modifications, it could also work for independent musicians.  I contacted him, ordered his system and am putting it in place with this gig.  You'll get to see if it works or not.

I'm also going to be throwing in a few "internet twists" such as an online blog to build some anticipation for the show, and finally I'm going to create some buzz with press releases to get the show noticed.  I didn't mention press releases in the Music Marketing Cheat Sheet, but I should have.  I'm now beginning to see that they're essential for really launching your band up to the next level.

I'm also going to be lining up sponsorship for this show.  I see local bands all the time that have their name printed on a giant stage banner that Miller Beer or Lone Star paid for, and I've never pursued it myself.  Now is the perfect opportunity to do that.

One of my kid's favorite lines from the movie The Incredibles is... "It's not all about you," and his timing with the use of that line is quite good.  He breaks it out at the best times.

Anyway, for independent musicians, I think I'm learning that that line should read... "It's not all about your music!" 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the music isn't the most important thing... it is, and I, as much as the next guy, LOVE what my band and our songs sound like, and am supremely confident that in front of a crowd of country music fans, we'll win them over.  But that doesn't get me any gigs, it doesn't get me any press, and it doesn't get us paid.  To get all of those things, I've got to make it about someone else.

Be back next time with my adventures in finding a community group to partner with.

Back Among the Living

As you may have noticed by the Buck Owens post, I was out of town last week in Texas and in a place where the only internet access that I had was from 7:30 to 9:30 each morning at an internet cafe.  To top things off, I got food poisoning or a virus at the end of the week down there and am just now getting caught up on the internet stuff.

So, if you sent me and email and haven't heard back yet, I promise, I'll get to it by tomorrow.

Ok... I realize that I've really been staying away from this blog too much.  Up until now I've been trying to do stuff, and then go back and show you how and what I've done.  That hasn't worked.

So let me take a different approach on what exactly I've been working on. 

First, regarding my CD goal...

You kind of know about the woes I had finding a drummer last week for recording, but now that we've done that we just need to add the lead guitar, my rhythm tracks, vocals, and some steel guitar. 

I think we're still on pace to have a CD in the can by the end of the month.

The next big thing is the show at the A-Level Venue in the Chicago area.  I kind of teased this earlier but here's the story on that...

I don't have the time to mess around with bookers and gatekeepers at the big clubs, so I decided to become both Colonel Tom and Elvis, and book everything myself.  And I'm not going for "just a club," either.  The place that's going to be the site of the big "End of the 90 Days" concert is the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois.

Here's the link so you can check it out yourself...

http://www.woodstockoperahouse.com/navigation/home.html

It's a beautiful venue that suits 400+ people and is located on the square in downtown Woodstock, Illinois. 

Just to give you a little background on Woodstock, it was the home of Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy (There's still a museum there that you can go through), it's the place where Eugene V Debs spent six months in prison (Not sure if there's a museum for that, but there should be), and where they filmed the movie "Groundhog Day." 

They get a lot of Bluegrass, Folk, and Country acts through the Opera House including Ralph Stanley, the Osbourne Brothers, Tony Rice, Leo Kottke, and this month Arlo Guthrie will play there as part of his Alice's Restaurant Massacree Anniversary Tour.

Tune in tomorrow to find out the date for the show and to get an overview of exactly how I plan to sell out 400+ seats.  It's going to be fun!

Farewell to Buck Owens (Part 2)

I wrote in an earlier post about Robert Ringer's "To Be or Not to Be Intimidated" that I'd arrived at the conclusion that either you or someone on your team has to view your gigs as nothing more than an opportunity to get paid--and then you've got to collect.

That's tough for musicians to do.  I know because I have trouble with it as much as anyone.  I'll write off a gig as good if we just get to practice the set or get a name or two on our mailing list, but eventually those kind of bands run out of steam.

Either you run out of money because you can't afford to pay for all of the expenses yourself, or you lose your band members to other, more established bands that can pay its musicians for all the time, money, and effort that they put into practicing and performing at gigs.

The problem is that it's hard to find a role model.  It's hard to find someone who has remained true to their music, who played it the way they wanted to despite what everyone else was doing, who worked outside of the system and refused conform or sell out, and still managed to get paid and get paid well.

Fortunately for us, Buck Owens was one of those musicians.

Buck had a sign in his office in Bakersfield, California that read, "Poverty Sucks," and he wasn't ashamed about telling you that it was true.  To him poverty wasn't a parlor game or some sort of posture that he assumed among fans and musicians, it was a very real place that he came from and didn't want to return to again.

And thank God he took that attitude.  It changed country music... for the better.

By the time he died, Buck, a man without a college education--heck, I don't even know if he had much of a high school one--owned several radio and TV stations, gas stations, and his prize jewel, the Crystal Palace, a restaurant and music venue in Bakersfield, California.  And oh yeah, musically he had something like 20 #1 hits and helped create an entire genre of country... the Bakersfield sound.

He had respect for his music.
At a time when Nashville was mellowing out and adding string sections of violins and violas to country music, he added electric guitars and cranked up the volume to help create the Bakersfield sound.

He had respect for himself.
He surrounded himself with great musicians such as guitarist Don Rich and songwriter Harlan Howard and played the music he loved, even recording and recording his trademark tune--an instrumental called Buckaroo.   He gave people a great product, a great show, and he got paid to do it.

He had respect for his fans.
Eventhough he wasn't feeling well last Friday night, he got back up on stage and did a full set just for the folks who had driven in all the way from Oregon to see him play.  And in 1992 he said this...

"I'd like to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and showed up on time, clean and ready to do the job, wrote a few songs and had a hell of a time."

Narrowing the whole successful indie musician thing down to three points, like this makes it seem easy, but if it is, why aren't more people doing it?

Farewell to Buck Owens (Part 1)

Yesterday, I had lunch in Sherman, Texas, the place where Buck Owens started life in 1929 as the son of a sharecropper.  I don't know if there's ever been an especially great time to be born the son of a sharecropper, but if you had your choice, I think 1929, at the beginning of the Depression, would be one of the last years you'd choose. 

Eventually his family moved from Texas to Arizona, and from there he made his way to Bakersfield, California.

That's the way he started his life; here's the way he ended it...

He wasn't feeling well last Friday night, so he cancelled his show at the Crystal Palace, his honky tonk/restaurant in Bakersfield, California, and headed home to call it a night.  But on the way to his car, he met a couple from Oregon who had driven all the way to Bakersfield to see him play, and, after talking to them for a few minutes, Buck knew that he couldn't let them down.  So he walked back inside, ordered and ate his favorite meal (chicken fried steak), and made his way back out on stage that night to perform.

Later he went home, went to bed and never woke up.

I heard this story while traveling on the Buck Owens Freeway that runs between Sherman and Dallas as the half hour tribute to Buck was winding down on KHYI.  That station had been playing Buck's music all day, and they'd even thrown in CCR's "Looking Out My Back Door" just because it mentioned Buck in the song

It all made me glad I wasn't in Chicago to hear the tribute from this country's biggest "country" radio station, US-99.  Of course, they probably didn't do much of a tribute since you usually have to know that a man's been alive before you can pay homage to him. 

It was bad enough trying to watch the Chicago news on Saturday night, the night of Buck's death, when the anchor described him as the "banjo picking singer from Hee Haw, who actually was a very good musician."  He, of course, was describing Roy Clark.  Buck played guitar on the show, not banjo.

Buck was a genius for many reasons, and whether or not you're a country music fan, and even if you couldn't pick Roy Clark or Buck Owens out of a police line up or name any of his 20 #1 hits, as an indie musician you should know about Buck for THIS reason...

He made great music, and he made it his way.

I'll have more on this tomorrow.

A Great Day in the Studio

Yesterday, we got closer to our goal of having a finished CD when we were able to record rhythm tracks to 11 of our songs in just over 8 hours.

I don't know if you read the post from a couple of days ago, but up until Wednesday I didn't even have a rhythm section as I hadn't been able to line up a drummer for the session. 

Then, after several days of working the phones I finally made contact with a guy named Dave Wiesnewski.  I emailed him the songs, and he showed up on Saturday and performed them like he'd been playing them for 2 years instead of 2 days.  He was amazing, as were bandmates Buddy and John who showed up and played like the professionals that they are.

When it was all done...  Buddy just shook his head and said, "Well, it turns out that the only drummer available was the best one for the job."

I love it when a plan comes together.

It really shouldn't be this hard... (another update)

First... I thought I'd be able to make a definite announcement on the venue I'm booking for the concert by today, but there's a meeting that was supposed to take place this week that now isn't going to happen until next week, so.... who knows, I might be able to fill you in tomorrow otherwise it will have to wait a week.

Anyway, the good news is that we'll definitely be recording this weekend.  The bad news is I've had a helluva week trying to keep this thing together.

Basically we've been having drummer issues to rival those of Spinal Tap.  Our primary drummer is out of commission for a while, and the replacement drummer that I had lined up had to leave town on a family emergency.  So I've spent the last week working the phones talking to every available drummer in the Chicago area. 

Finally, last night I heard back from a guy who not only plays our style of music, and is not only free this weekend, but can actually show up and play.  Hallelujah.

The rest of the week's been spent doing "day job" stuff.  Again, time consuming, but necessary.

Anyhow, now that the venue and recording goals are finally coming together, I can turn my attention toward my list.  Yeah, I know... time's getting short here, but I still have faith in the power of the internet. 

Primarily, my next two "offensives" are going to involve lining up joint ventures--big ones, and generating publicity.  I didn't really cover publicity and press releases in the Cheat Sheet, but I think they're indispensable for generating buzz.

The way I see it, PR and press releases can help you do 3 things...

• They get you out in front of massive amounts of people.
• They help you build relationships with people (the press, etc) who can make it easier for you the next time you need to get your name or your band's name out there.
• They--and this is the BIG one- force you to be different enough to separate yourself from the rest of the crowd. 

I'll keep you posted.

Very close to a Venue

Just a quick update...

I'm very close to lining up a venue for the big end of the 90 Days show.  I met with the folks at the venue today, and there are a few other parties involved that need to weigh in, but I should be able to announce the show later on this week.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm taking a completely different approach to this than most musicians do, and than even I have in the past.  Once I announce the venue at the end of the week, I'll walk you through everything step by step, but here's a teaser...

• I know exactly how much I'll be making from the gig--so I don't have to worry about the count being right at the door.
• I know exactly how many bands will be on the bill and what time I'll go on.
• I didn't have to submit a single CD to any "gatekeeper" who, even if he has time to hear it, there's no guarantee that he can tell good music from bad music.
• There will be an army of eager people helping to sell tickets for the show, so I won't have to worry about filling the place myself.

I'll have all the details in a few days. 

Now if I could only find a drummer for the recording session this Saturday....