Hello, everyone! Welcome to the world premiere of our latest advice for bands column, How To Kill Your Band. This series, which runs once or twice every month, features tips on avoiding artistic self-destruction written by people with years of experience making music professionally. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and if you pay close enough attention you might just learn something.
An Introduction:
I’ve been in the music industry as an artist for nearly10 years now. In that decade I’ve achieved nearly all of my childhood music dreams, but I’ve also made just as many mistakes that run over my mind before I fall asleep each night. A wonderment of how a few different decisions, rerunning in hindsight, would work out in some alternate universe. This ever creeping determinism is a fallacy I’m quite aware of but one that I will never completely shake, though it’s these experiences I’ve learned the most valuable lessons. These are the things I’d like to share in a series of mini-blogs I call How to kill your band.
#1 The Waiting Game.
Today’s music industry is more transparent than ever and bands quickly note who the power players are. Whether it’s certain agents, prestigious management companies, or even bigger artists, their influence is real and it’s plastered all over tour posters. This leads to what I most often experience with younger bands, the unnerving desperation for somebody else to help them. Repeatedly I hear bands claim that their one missing ingredient is another person and it perpetuates into a constant struggle to get anyone higher in the food chain to give you your big break. Not that going after influencers is a bad thing, but it can become blinding and distract from what your goal should be: making your band valuable.
It sounds simple, but it’s easy to forget WHY someone would pick up your band. There’s the fantasy that “if [blank] just hears my song, they’ll love it and want to sign me”, but 95% a signing has nothing to do with the sound, it’s all about business. The people in power are just like the rest of us, they are super busy and generally don’t have time to focus on helping other people get their shit together – especially for free. The acts they want to sign are the ones that are already showing growth, bringing in revenue, and creating their own buzz. Sure, music plays a part in there too but, to quote a high level booking agent – “I will book anyone that draws”. It really is that simple.
This is an issue that plagued me at various points in my career. When you see peers get the breaks you’ve been waiting for it’s easy to get caught up in that mentality where you just become obsessed with everyone else getting what you think you deserve. However, the moment you start worrying about other people and other bands, you begin taking attention away from your own music. As hard as it may be, you can’t compare anyone else’s progress to your own. You’ll never be able to control by who or when your break comes, all you can do is put yourself in position for the opportunity.
This column was contributed by Eric Morgan. Eric spent a number of years touring the world as part of the Victory Records band A Hero A Fake. He’s currently developing a new project, Bornstellar, which plans to release its first EP later this year. Click here to learn more about Eric’s time in music.
