The Joy of the Email Interview

Until perhaps recently, no young musician would practice their instrument while dreaming of the day they do an email interview. While it doesn’t carry the same prestige as magazine, radio, or television interviews, they can be your absolute best chance to promote your music. There won’t be a rhythm like you read or hear in other interviews, but taking it at your own pace allows you to think through your answers to show readers the best side of you and tell them everything you want them to know. Don’t be afraid to expand on questions if there is something tangential that you’d like people to know. Don’t be afraid to show your personality. If you’re no fun to be around or not great at thinking on the spot, this is your chance to give the impression that you are.

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Negotiating With Venues

For those who have played a lot of gigs, it is common knowledge that the venue owners and booking agents are the first two species who will try to rip you off on your way up. It is important for you to realize that when you aren’t getting a fair deal, it’s often within your power to demand a better one. Whether you get it or not depends on how well you negotiate. When haggling with a venue, you want to know (and be able to prove) what you bring to the table; understand what they want; know what’s up for negotiation; and convince them that giving you what you want will help them to get what they want.

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Over-Exposure

Many bands who experience trouble getting their careers off the ground will blame their lack of notoriety on a lack of exposure.  While this can often be true, or at least partially true, it is a mistake to think that this is your only basket short a few eggs and can lead you to frantically filling it with rotten ones. Despite what entertainment industry clichés might have you believe, any publicity IS NOT good publicity. I don’t mean to imply that playing the wrong gig will doom your career, but it may just be a waste of time. The goal of exposure is to build a fanbase. So any time an “opportunity” for exposure comes along, first ask yourself whether or not it is also an opportunity to build your fanbase. For example, just about any concert promoter who works for anyone willing to pay them does not care about helping you build a fanbase, they just want to fill out a bill. Many bands will spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars getting gigs like this that may even have good attendance, but don’t get them anywhere. They may get discouraged and assume it is just because they suck so much. While they may be correct, a more likely reason is that they are a punk band (for example), sharing a bill with a jam band, a pop band, and a rap metal band. While some bands have succeeded in establishing popularity across genres (i.e., the Beatles, Rolling Stones), chances are that you are not nearly as good.

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The Ongoing Relevance of a Band Website

Today’s music industry owes partial credit for all its success stories to social media. In fact, even a band with a draw of 10 probably owes at least 5 of those attendees to social media. The wonder of these easy to use platforms is that they are free (for now), but they also make it easy for a musician to think that four Tweets a week qualifies as an effective internet presence. While social media is great at being the figurative arms and legs of you marketing campaign, you need a solid and well maintained website to be the torso. Music writers, bookers, label reps, and potential fans who hear about you through social media or word of mouth (or any avenue other than seeing you play) will need more information before they can bridge the gaps from general awareness to fandom. This is where you should be offering an engaging biography, tour dates, and social media accounts they may not have stumbled across yet.

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Embracing the Plight of "Indie"

If the term ‘Indie’ still means anything, it describes artist whose sound operates outside of the main-est of mainstream. Maybe the singer doesn’t have a conventional voice, maybe they feature uncommon arrangements…they’re not quite fit to play stadiums but could probably sell out any given House of Blues. Ambiguity of the term notwithstanding, one thing that it does still mean is that artists on this path face unique challenges and need an approach that may be counterintuitive, or just a drag for some. The mega-superstar model is basically; Step 1, have rich parents; Step 2, get them to throw money and people who will tell them where to throw the rest of their money, Step 3; hope for the best because no amount of money buys you the guarantee of a music career. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for success as an Indie musician, but the best qualities you could have are a willingness to make things happen for yourself (DIY), to always be learning, and to be patient. Don’t expect anything to be handed to you. Don’t expect immediate (or anywhere near immediate) success, and put a serious degree of thought into every decision you make.

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Meet Your Mentor

No matter how many advice blogs you read, you may still be falling short on the guidance necessary to pushing your career forward. Chances are, you’ve already picked up a few tidbits from other musicians but you may have found them contradictory or get the impression that the source itself is unreliable (i.e., someone who has been at it for 30 years and experienced no success whatsoever). While you should continue to be open to any advice that anyone thinks you might need, it is a good idea to pick one carefully chosen musician and treat their ideas, and their perspective as objective truth. It can be someone you look up to who out ranks you in the local scene, or just a friend (who also out ranks you in the local scene). If you want to be more like them, they are the best person to tell you how.

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