Happy Thanksgiving From The Ei Family to You

Via Pete Bush and the Hoi Polloi

The Everything Independent mascot "Georgiah" was spotted again this year in the 2011 CMJ Marketing info PDF with a lovely photo of her eating last years badge she so appropriately held. This doc has been sitting on our computer for sometime so you can imagine our surprise when we popped it open this afternoon! Good job repping the Company G! 

*for those of you who do not know G is owners Kirby and Marks baby girl

Gangstagrass

We're excited to welcome the band Gangstagrass to our roster this month. When Rench the mastermind behind the group was asked what advice he would give people  who want to form their own band he said:

"Don’t drink Yoo-Hoo, and for gods sake take off the hammer pants."

 Check the great Bluegrass/Rap band at www.gangstagrass.com 

Pete Bush and the Hoi Polloi Video

Pittsburgh scene is having their 1 year birthday party this Friday and invited Pete Bush out ot play check out this great video. 

How do you make a living off your music?

When I speak to struggling artists who are seeking the "way to make it" in the music industry, I am always shocked by the still present misconseption that someone or something is going to come along to "break" them. In a day and age when all the information an artist needs to succeed is readily available on the internet, there is no conceivable excuse to sit around and wait for the "magic wand of fame" to wave in their direction. The days of labels pumping bands full of money to support and nurture them as they grow are long gone, and many of todays artists who are talented and lucky enough to receive a large advance from a record label often fail to realize that the money is and always will be a loan that must be repaid. A label will try to make the money back by successfully marketing and selling the music, but if that doesn't work, the artist still ends up owing a lot of money to the company.  Even with high profile networking opportunities, connections with big-name publishers and merchandisers, the cold hard fact remains that even if a band has a assload of top down support (as in big money, big business, lots of industry exposure) there is no guarantee that the band will succeed. 

I've seen this happen to an act I worked with on booking a few years ago. This act had a 7 page spread in a Rolling Stone ad with a major guitar company sponsorship, held a cover of CMJ mag and had their major label working behind the scenes. That was all well and good, but the one thing the band was missing while having this great exposure was a national following.  Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a situation where a major was putting crap music into the world, this was a quality band that with a little work could have spent years touring with their live show. The fact remains, no matter who is behind your band, no matter how much industry BS you've had pumped into your project, at the end of the day it's ALWAYS the fans purchasing the music no matter if you work from the ground up or land a $100,000 deal. 

The world is becoming saturated with more music than ever before, what with the advent of novice-level multitrack recording programs and the mysteries of the business of music being easily accessible on the internet.  The consumers have become even more zealous in their search for music that speaks to them and revel in the glory of finding the actual ARTIST they can make a connection with, and in turn support through ticket sales, merchandise purchases, and fun marketing campaigns (notice I didn't say music sales). 

Bands need to stop thinking that the industry holds that aforementioned magic wand and realize that the power actually lies in their own hands. They just need to start exercising every possible opportunity to gain exposure and dedicated fans.  The biggest opportunities lie in making a lasting impression on a person through music or one's own personality. Now, I'm not saying the business side of the industry doesn't have it's place in this awesome new model of direct to consumer music. We still play a role in the branding, management, and presentation of this but at the end of the day it's you the artist who hold the power more so than any of us. 

This leads me into the biggest point I wanted to make. While the internet has opened so many doors for artists it's also an alternate reality that can sometimes be manipulated. I have artists come to me saying, "I want to up my Facebook likes" or "twitter followers". This is the wrong way to look at it, your frame of mind should not be about those numbers but about the "relationships" you're cultivating. I will kiss the first artist that comes to me and says "I want to gain new relationships with new fans so then I can connect to them on my social networks".  A fan who has actually had a chance to communicate with the artist that created their favorite song will be more likely to remember a show date and bring their friends, whereas a "fan" who simply "likes" a facebook page, is less likely to feel any sort of obligation, let alone desire, to go to a show or buy merchandise.  

The number of likes and followers are just that: numbers. If those fans are not interacting and reading and laughing about your witty tweets, they probably aren't true fans, rather, they're basically gunk in your social networking analytics. Switching your attention from the numbers back onto the actual fans will not only give you a much truer idea of who your fans are but also a direct path to making money.

Here's a simple example:

Casual Fans (who will maybe just buy a single on itunes)

 1,000 casual fans pay $0.88 for one song (99 cents on sale, 11 cents taken by itunes, this is if you're also not getting charged per song by your distribution company, keep this in mind) = approximately $880

Involved Fans (who spend money on merchandise AND music)  

1,000 involved fans spends $10 for merch and music = $10,000 

Now my question to the artists reading this is what have YOU done in the last day, week, even month to make your fanbase feel special? How many people have you DIRECTLY and PERSONALLY connected with in the past week about your music? What genuine sentiment are you sending out into the public with your music through your social networks? I guarantee the artist who can confidently and thoroughly answer these three questions are the ones who are quickly growing a fanbase that exists outside of their peers.