Hello and welcome to the beginning of a new week of music industry insight and conversation. We are beyond thrilled to have you joining us this afternoon, and we certainly hope you stick around for all the content we have planned in the days ahead. The piece you’re about to read is one that took ten years to create, but we’ve only been working on it for about a month. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
There was a time in 2001 when I thought the world would never be without the band known as CrazyTown. Having risen out of virtually nowhere, this California based rock outfit had taken top 40 radio by storm with a little song called “Butterfly,” and in doing so managed to sell more than six million copies of their debut album (The Gift Of Game). You could not be in public for more than twenty minutes without hearing frontman Shifty Shellshock’s voice crooning “Come my lady, come, come my lady” from every car stereo, bodega radio, and department store sound system in the country. If you somehow made it this far in your existence without experiencing it, now is the time to change you life:
In 2004, things took a wild turn when CrazyTown began butting heads with their label over the material being created for their Sophomore release. The execs wanted another “Butterfly,” but anyone familiar with the band’s catalog can tell you that song was an oddity from day one. It was never meant to define the sound of the band, and they were determined to stick to that plan with their latest record. They got their way, but for whatever reason the album was not given the kind of major promotional push their debut effort had received. Months later, the band was dropped.
Frustrated by their experience on a major label, not to mention the overall decline of the industry as a result of digital piracy, the members of CrazyTown decided to take a short break, allowing everyone the chance to pursue other projects. That short break quickly turned into a decade, but after years of demand the band is finally back together and quickly wrapping up production on a brand new release. Having seen the highs and lows of life in the industry, we knew we had to ask the guys about their experience coming together once again, and to our surprise founding member Bret “Epic” Mazur was more than happy to write an in-depth editorial about the behind-the-scenes things that have to happen in order for a band to reunite. It’s fun and informative, both for fans of the band and those thinking of restarting their own, long forgotten projects. You can find his thoughts below.
CrazyTown have only played a handful of shows since announcing their reunion, but we expect to see them playing many more cities in the months to come. Before we get to the interview, take a few moments to hear some of the band’s latest material:
So, you want to get the band back together? This isn’t for the faint of heart and I assure you that you must have passion for it to make sense at all. In my case, we are speaking about my band CrazyTown.
My name is Bret “Epic” Mazur and I am a founding member of the band. Just to catch you up a little bit, I had a very successful career as a record producer at a very early age during the late 90s. I was producing the Black Eyed Peas first record when Will I Am introduced me to Seth Binzer, thinking that we should start a band together. That is exactly what we did and we got a major record deal with Columbia records in 1998. We built a legion of dedicated fans touring extensively for over a year and a half. We sold over six million records and in 2001 we went number one round the world with our single “Butterfly.”
Fast forward to 2004. The music industry is in turmoil due to illegal downloading of music, overpaid record execs and a general shift in the way business was being done The Internet had rocked the music business. Many bands and record execs were let go at this time, and so were we. We decided to take a little break and everybody in the band started doing their own thing for little bit. I went back into writing and producing and Seth went on to pursue a solo career. What was supposed to be about a year-long break ended up becoming 10 years.
After various false starts and stops to reignite CrazyTown once again, we had accumulated roughly an albums full of unreleased material. I gave Seth a call and we decided to meet for coffee and discuss potentially releasing this music. It wasn’t so much that we wanted to try to make money with it, but more so to let our fans who had been patiently waiting for so long to hear it.
We wanted to work on a couple of brand-new songs to throw into the mix. The thing was that the vibe was so good in the studio that we decided to work on a whole brand-new record.
The decision was made. We were going to rise from the ashes. Rather then me just babbling on with my story, I’m going to go through the various aspects of what this entails. And it applies to any band, whether you are making a comeback or starting new. The only real difference is whether or not you will be engaging an existing fan-base. In both cases you are obviously looking to make new fans.
Every bands situation is a little bit different, but I found this to be a general order of things and the way they should go. Be prepared to wear many different proverbial hats. You will have a lot on your plate. This list doesn’t include everything but certainly the key points.
PASSION FOR THE MUSIC
Is this really what you want to do? Do you really enjoy still making music together? If the answer is yes and it feels good, then do it! Create the music you want to make and don’t think about what you think the fans want to hear. Have fun with it.
WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
Make sure you tell your story and don’t let anybody define who you are.
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you have existing social media accounts make sure you become active on them and start engaging your fan base. If not, set them up now! Content is king! Now more than ever you can get your message across unfiltered and unobstructed by record labels. Some call social media a necessary evil and some truly love it for the tool that it is. Either way, the truth is we can be in contact with our fan base directly. The obvious and necessary social media accounts to have are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. If you are not familiar with how to use any of these it is imperative that you get somebody on your team or in the band who does. Hootsuite is an amazing tool that brings the operation of all social media accounts into one convenient location. It is highly suggested. Rally your fans as street teams to help your online outreach and to help promote your shows. Set up a special email address to collect all their email addresses so you can supply them with artwork, posters etc. Promote contests and giveaways, upload pictures and videos live from the studio, talk to fans, possibly upload song snippets… the possibilities are endless. This is fan engagement!
MANAGEMENT
If you do not have current management that you are happy with, Then I highly suggest that you manage yourself. You can actively be looking for the right manager, but this way you are not dead in the water or handing the reins over to somebody who might not be the right fit. If your band has a brand value that you are re establishing, that is a serious asset that must be taken into consideration. The financial arrangement you have with any manager should be 100% supportive of your band and brand being revitalized. I am also a firm believer that no manager should ever make more money then any key member of the band.… especially on tour. It is my experience that there are some amazing managers out there, but many either do not know how to do their job or just don’t.
DISTRIBUTION
There are so many different ways to get your music out there these days. I am not going to go over all of them but you do not need to make a deal with a major distributor at all. Either way, the days of the major record deal are all but over. Record company advances are nothing but terrible loans anyway. In fact they are the worst loans you can ever get. They essentially turned recording artists into slaves. You really can be completely independent these days. You could also make a purely record services deal with either a strong indie or major distributor with no advance. These deals are usually in the 80%/20% range. 80% to the artist obviously. Just make sure you get a firm understanding and financial commitment as to what services the distributer can and will be responsible for. If you do make a deal with a distributer or label, market share and leverage are important here.
BARTER AND GET FAVORS
Hopefully you haven’t burned bridges and are able to get people to help you along the way. The truth is, at this point you’re going to have to get people to pitch in their time and expertise. If you are appreciative of peoples time and have been good to people in the past it’s amazing how much help you can get. Don’t be afraid to ask and make sure you are able to take care of them when you can.
CASH FLOW
This is usually the big conundrum. Until you are off and running and making money how are you going to pay for everything? Hopefully you have some money saved up or are earning money in other ways but typically at this point you could either get an online store selling Merch going and you can set up a pre sale campaign with a company like Pledge Music…this is always a difficult hurdle to get over.
BOOKING AGENT
If you still have a relationship with your old booking agent and they are ready to fight for you then do that by all means! If you go with a new agent then make sure they will “fight for you”. You have to stay on top of them either way. It is not necessary to be with CAA or William Morris, as great as they are. Just make sure that its an agency that is actually in the game. Better to be a big fish in a little pond but leverage is very important here too.
TOURING
Make sure you have an idea of the type of touring you want to do. That might mean being direct support for a band whose fans you want to steal. I suggest playing a mix of shows where you are direct support as well as headline. Festivals are also an amazing way to play for many potential new fans and make good money. Make sure you’re touring is routed in a way that is financially feasible. Be realistic as to where your guarantees are and arrange your tour accordingly so that you can make money. Share rooms, fly coach, eat at the venue…etc. Everybody’s situation is different but what I’m saying is make compromises to make money. We are doing this for the love but also to be successful. Also try to align yourself with a corporate sponsor. This can help offset any expenses that are incurred which reach beyond what you can afford.
All in all, these are really just the basics. I’m sure I am going to remember like twelve things I should have added, but I too am wearing many hats. I’m late for rehearsal! As I said everybody’s path is going to be unique. The important things to remember are to have fun and enjoy what you’re doing but treat it as the business it is, especially if you were like me and it was all just a party.
