-
Part Two: Is Touring Really Necessary in 2008?
Posted by Justin Boland on Feb 13, 2008 | 0 Comments
I was reading over an excellent interview with a band I never heard of-Me Talk Pretty-about DIY music marketing and managing your own career, and I came across a line I spent the next 5 minutes re-reading and meditating on. It goes a little something like this:
Touring is too expensive to do on a consistent basis, but it’s necessary.
Is it, though? As the Martin Atkins bible Tour:Smart
makes painfully clear, touring is kind of a pain in the ass. So I don’t want to make any sweeping pronouncements, here. If I wanted more publicity, I’d frame this more provokatively, such as “TOURING IS DEAD”-but let’s just explore the question: is touring really necessary in 2008?
-
Part One: Is Touring Really Necessary in 2008?
Posted by Justin Boland on Feb 11, 2008 | 0 Comments
Audible Hype is all about questioning common sense and giving the Status Quo a good swift boot to the nuts. As many readers know, I’ve been on the road more or less constantly since last October, so live shows and touring have been at the forefront of my mind. I’ve got about 30 pages in my journal about how to tighten my operation-and yours-but before I get to that, I’d like to burn everything down first.
Is touring even nescessary? With the prices of fuel and food increasing every day, and the US dollar being constantly devalued, it’s going become increasingly expensive to get On The Road Again. So this week, I’d like to spark a discussion on the future of live music. Are there less expensive, more profitable alternatives to driving all over the country? Are there strategies for reaching new listeners that don’t involve calling up grumpy strangers for hours on end?
I think there’s quite a few, actually.
-
Tour:Smart by Martin Atkins
Posted by Justin Boland on Feb 03, 2008 | 0 Comments
A review of the best book on the music business I’ve ever found: Tour:Smart -
An Interview with Micah Solomon, President of Oasis CD Manufacturing
Posted by Justin Boland on Jan 29, 2008 | 0 Comments
In my previous article, I dropped the following:
Perhaps someday, someone will explain to me why anyone would order CDs through Oasis when all their packages are at least $100 more expensive than identical packages from Discmakers.
I didn’t realize that “someday” would actually be the next Monday, and “someone” would be the president of Oasis, Micah Solomon. Google Alerts is a beautiful thing, and Solomon responded to me immediately. He was friendly and professional and he got me curious. Nothing impresses me like real human beings, so I wanted to give Micah Solomon a platform, right here on Audible Hype, to correct me.
-
How to Book a World Tour While You're Buck Naked
Posted by Justin Boland on Jan 24, 2008 | 0 Comments
Of all the dinosaur occupations in the music biz, few are more endangered than the “Booking Agent.” Don’t get me wrong-a well-connected and professional booking agent can deliver the world at your fingertips. But don’t delude yourself-if you can afford a real booking agent, you don’t need to be reading Audible Hype-you’ve already got a successful music career.
This article, then, is for everyone else. When I book shows, I use freely available tools and common sense, and it’s been working out great in 2008. This is a step-by-step guide to exploiting new technology to get you good old GIGS, anywhere you want. It’s downright amazing how much power you have at your fingertips-here’s a guided tour.
-
How to Defeat and Kill The Devil MySpace
Posted by Justin Boland on Jan 11, 2008 | 0 Comments
Myspace is a wasteland of fake profiles, horrible coding, obnoxious ads and total brain death. Unfortunately, it’s also 100% nescessary for making money off music in 2008. It’s the largest built-in audience of any social networking site, and if you’re doing hip hop, metal or anything that involves lots of young fans, there’s nowhere else to be.
Online promotion through Facebook is a communist nightmare in comparison to the tools available on Myspace. Let your fans promote you on Facebook-your efforts are better spent shaping your image and reaching new audience on Myspace.
-
Witness Explains Why Life is Beautiful and Dope
Posted by Justin Boland on Jan 08, 2008 | 0 Comments
When I first met Witness, we had both showed up at a gig we’d planned 2 months in advance. We had arrived to find out there was still no sound system for venue. There had been no promotion, and the venue had submitted the wrong lineup and mispelled his name in both local papers. It was probably the worst-managed, most-pathetic Music Biz Moment I saw in 2007. Witness was completely unfazed and very kind about the whole thing. It turned out his attitude worked: we wound up finding a sound system, an audience, and an actual venue all during the next 2 hours. Witness and Unsung went on to deliver killer sets in front of a tough audience. The toughest, really: the “I’m just here for pizza why are you rapping at me” demographic, notoriously hard to please. Witness pleases everyone. He graciously answered some nosy questions from Audible Hype:
-
The Straight Dope on the Rawkus 50
Posted by Justin Boland on Jan 07, 2008 | 0 Comments
Rawkus Records, the independent hip hop label who collapsed in the ugliest possible way, are suddenly back on the scene with a new business model. They’ve gotten a lot of free publicity for it: a mix between a classic talent contest, a digital distribution scheme, and good old “major label” promotion. They’ve got a talented lineup, too-from total unknowns to longtime underground hustlers.
But it’s worth taking a closer look at their business model-how different is the Rawkus 50 from the Bad Old Days of record labels exploiting their artists for token peanuts? How do the artists on the Rawkus 50 feel about the benefits they’re recieving from the label? Can you really benefit from mass promotion when there’s 49 other acts nobody’s heard of on every advertisement?
