Tag: diy

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Advice: Learning The Fine Art Of Patience

Hello and welcome to the final ‘Advice’ column of the week. We have been extremely fortunate to have received several article contributions from bands over the last month, and today we are continuing to share the advice sent our way with all of you thanks to a guest blog from Daniel Lancaster of rising pop rock outfit Stages & Stereos. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Up to this point, the majority of talent we have asked about contributing ‘Advice’ pieces have given us lists and focused editorials about specific aspects of quote/unquote ‘making it.’ These pieces have been great, and a lot of the content included in them has offered insight we could never have written ourselves, but that does not mean that the only way to be informative is through educational writing. Sometimes, all you need to do in order help someone else is share something about yourself.

When we asked Daniel Lancaster of Stages & Stereos for his advice for other artists on the rise, he decided to switch things up a bit and share with readers a story much more personal than anything we have posted through this column in the past. He’s chosen to look at his own career for this article, and in doing has shed light on what it really takes to build a brand in the current music industry. You can read about how he and his fellow bandmates learned to persevere the highs and lows of life in this music industry below.

If you would like to learn more about Daniel Lancaster and everything going on in the Stages & Stereos camp, we highly recommend taking a few moments to follow the group on Twitter. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.

I’m writing you today to share the struggles I’ve faced as a career musician. The high’s and extreme low’s. Victory and defeat. 500 words couldn’t possibly be enough, but I will do my best to summarize.

I remember the first time I ever picked up a microphone with the true intention to sing. Honestly I didn’t want to be a singer in the first place. I would have rather been on a skateboard. I was 15 years old making music with a group of guys who didn’t care about the future or even who played what instrument. No thoughts of finding management, a label, or booking agent. It truly was a beautiful thing even if the music was awful. We were completely ignorant to the idea of “the industry.” What I’ve learned in the past 10 years of making music is that the more success you find as an artist the more complicated things become. It never gets easier. Everything is trial and error. Every decision that you make is important if you want to make a career out of being a musician. I can’t say that I have always made the best decisions, but what I can say is that I wouldn’t change anything. Every bad decision is a learning experience. I am lucky enough to share the same goals and passion with every member of Stages and Stereos. The biggest struggle many bands face is getting along when you’re in a van for months at a time surviving on PB&J’s and the dollar menu. Things can get pretty intense in those situations haha. On top of that you have the political side which can get very intense as well. I find comfort in knowing that when times are tough and all of the doors seem to be closed our team will do whatever we can and have to do to open one.

The industry is a beast of a mountain that sometimes seems impossible to climb. I’ve come to grips with the fact that every star has to align in order to beat the odds. I do believe if you create a brand that you believe in. Make music you love (that translates well to people that buy records and come to shows). Find a way to make that music marketable, and have tons of luck. You can make a dream reality. I’m not even close to the top, but it’s not a struggle if you truly are in love with what you are doing. Overnight success its 10 years of hard work. In my case I’m looking at 15……possibly more.

Daniel Lancaster is a member of Stages & Stereos. When not working on new material in the studio he can be found touring the country.

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5 New Tips For DIY Artists

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first of a few new ‘Advice’ column we have planned for the day ahead. This one in particular is quite special because it was contributed by one of the hottest up and coming alternative acts in the world, and the advice they have to offer could very well aide another developing act in reaching a new level of success. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

For the better part of the last three years, Stars In Stereo have been working their way up the underground rock ladder of success. From their from their first practice in the city of Los Angeles until now they have been focused on proving once and for all that rock and roll is not dead. In fact, it is very much alive, and anyone with doubts need only witness Stars In Stereo’s critically acclaimed live show for proof. This four piece is the real deal, and slowly the rock world has begun to give them the attention they deserve.

Recently, a publicist friend of ours brought Stars In Stereo’s latest release to our attention. After learning of their journey through the various levels of rock recognition it dawned on us that the band may be able to offer some insight into life as a touring artist that otherwise may never be shared. We made a request, and late last week the following submission arrived in our inbox:

5 Tips for DIY Bands

My name is Jordan McGraw, I play guitar in Stars In Stereo and I own a record label called Hundred Handed.  When we started this band, we decided that we wanted to do things our way and have control over every step of our career.  We signed ourselves to our own label and went for it!  So far, it is working out better than we could have imagined.  Here are a few tips about what I’ve learned from being in a “do it yourself” band.

1.  My first piece of advice for a do it yourself band is to keep in mind that doing it yourself does NOT mean doing it without help.  The first key step to putting your DIY band out there is to surround yourself with people that know everything that you don’t about what you are doing or hoping to do.  This person could be one mentor at the beginning or a whole team of people.  Either way, you NEED someone watching your back and looking for the things you might have missed or might not have learned about yet.  For us, the first person to help was our friend and producer/engineer Eddie Jackson.  He roped us in when we were going on too far of a creative tangent but was such a close part of the team that he could tell when and what seemed like a tangent was more of a development and would challenge us to go after it.  We wouldn’t have found our sound as quickly as we did without him.  Once we had our sound and a first batch of songs, we were lucky enough to catch the ear of Craig Aaronson (he signed The Used, My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold… the list goes on). For the next year, he acted as an A&R type voice, manager, agent… everything.  From there we went on to grow into a need for more team members.  Best of all, because we are a DIY band, we were able to pick who we brought in based on what we wanted and what they were willing to do rather than just being handed a team and dealing with it.

2. My second piece of advice is to STAND YOUR GROUND.  Now you have your team, listen to them but don’t let them push you away from what you want. It’s no secret that the music industry is full of “know it alls” but there is no right answer… There never has been.  Hell, tell me I’m full of shit if you don’t like this article… but DO keep in mind that the formula for the music industry is broken.  Not in every way… but it is broken.  With social media, easier access to studios, the ease with which you can steal music, and plenty of things I probably haven’t even heard of, there is no one way to do things.  So, if something doesn’t feel right, challenge your team to come up with a new way to get it done.  If that new way fails, try another one.

3. Thirdly, now that you are your own boss, you now have all the time in the world to get through every step of your career.  That’s not necessarily a good thing…  Taking too much time and being too picky about little details when it comes to EVERY decision will, 9/10 times, be detrimental to your end goal of success (whatever your measure of success may be).  BOSS YOURSELF AROUND.  Set realistic deadlines for every step of your process and do everything you can to get there.

4. This is a big one to me… One thing that I see time and time again on tours with other DIY bands is the blurring of the line between business and creative on the way up.  When you are on tour with a band, make friends with them, hang out with them, party with them, whatever… but don’t turn every hang into a networking meeting.  From what I’ve seen, it never works as well as a band thinks it will.  A lot of times they don’t make a lot of the decisions anyway (because they aren’t a DIY like you… They have higher ups to answer to).  If their manager is around, THEN put on your business hat.  If you’re hanging out, grabbing a beer with the headliner after a show, just hang… Don’t start selling yourself for other tours or collaborations.  All that fun stuff happens with time and with a good relationship. 

5. Finally, this is a full time job.  If you’re going to “do it yourself,” expect to do A LOT more work than if you were just going to be on some label where they do the work for you.  Lots of emails, late nights, early mornings, hiring, firing, failing, problem solving, budgeting… PLUS the creating, writing, performing, practicing, interviews, photo shoots, video shoots… EVERYTHING.  If you aren’t ready for that, then do it another way.  Again, there’s no one right answer.

Stars In Stereo have big plans for 2014. Be sure to ‘Like’ their Facebook page and follow the band on Twitter.

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How To Kill Your Band #2 – The $200 Hump

Hey there, everyone. Thank you for stopping by the official blog of Haulix! We are thrilled to be sharing the second installment of our recently launched How To Kill Your Band column this afternoon, and hope you’ll continue stopping by as this series continues in the weeks ahead. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

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.

#2 – The $200 Hump

Deciding to go out and make a living as a musician is less a career decision and more a statement on your mental health. It’s never been more apparent how arduous it is for modern musicians to earn decent money from their craft. Album sales have been nosediving since 2000 (even digital sales decreased in 2013, the first time ever) and though paid streaming services are growing, they provide even less in terms of revenue to the actual composers. “Make your money touring”, has been the go-to answer over the past couple decades but as Oh, Sleeper’s Shane Blay so eloquently broke it down a couple years ago, even that has become a breakeven prospect, at best, for mid-level bands.

Is it still possible to make money touring? Definitely, but it’s harder and more competitive than ever. Never have there been more bands on the road battling for a relatively fixed amount of fan dollars and so to be successful you have to surpass this little thing I like to call “The $200 Hump”. If you can make it over this hump, there’s money making promise. But if not, you often end up in eternal band poordom where ending tours means less money to your name then when you started.

Why $200? This seems to be the per show guarantee a lower level signed touring act needs to pass in order to keep growing and I have a few good theories as to why. First, for local talent buyers there is an inherent value in booking even a smaller signed band. In most cases, these bands won’t even draw enough on their own to justify a $100 guarantee but it does give promoters a band to build a show around. Locals are smart and know who is signed to what label and sharing the stage is enough incentive to open a show and basically donate their friend’s ticket revenue to the touring act. Pretty much no matter what, even the freshest of signed acts can get $100-200 any night of tour and that is the just the value of investing in yourself enough to get a label deal.

Now that’s not going to come close to paying bills. That might cover gas (and tolls, I’m looking at you Long Island…) but that’s pretty much it. Everything else: breakfast, lunch, hygiene, etc are all coming out of your savings. At this level you cycle from saving money working while home and then quickly blasting through those reserves on tour. It’s not a sustainable way to live, but it does offer you the opportunity to do what you love and is a step towards more rewarding pastures.

To break this $200 barrier you have to do one thing – draw. No shit right? But in such a saturated market it’s a tremendously difficult thing to do – bringing 50+ people to your show on a nightly basis across the country is pretty damn impressive. The instant promoters see you can reliably deliver even just a few dozen in ticket sales, it becomes exponentially safer to offer you more money. Bands that can break this barrier usually have buzz gained from past touring, online celebrity, or just raw talent – these are things that tend to keep growing. Passing the $200 mark usually takes this level of significant draw which is based on more than just your associated label and so once you break the barrier, it’s much easier to keep it going.

That’s basically the difference, at some point you prove you can draw and it’s what makes or breaks your band. Further, as a mid-level band earning $300-700 per night, that increase can actually start becoming tangible profit for each member as long as you are smart on the road – something that’s not easy in itself. What I think my $200 theory ultimately suggest is the gap between a low-level and mid-level band is much bigger in reality than it may seem in dollar amount even if that difference is felt in your pocket. It marks clear the separation between the bands struggling to stay alive and the ones that have found their niche and can see the promise of perhaps, one day, maybe pay rent.

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.

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Advice: What It Really Means To Practice

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the first ‘Advice’ column of the week. We spoke in January about the meaning of being a professional in the music industry, and today we’re returning to that topic for an attempt at defining the term ‘practice.’ If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Every aspiring professional knows they need to practice in order to improve their skills, but those destined for a lasting career recognize early on that the journey towards perfection with your art is one that never truly comes to an end. There is always room for improvement, whether you’re trying to be the best artist or publicist, and practicing your art on a regular basis is key to further developing your skills.

But what does that mean exactly?

The dictionary will tell you that ‘practice’ is defined as ‘(the) repeated exercise in or performance of an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it.’ That’s a perfectly generic way to explain the term, but if you approach your work on your art with similarly vague intentions you will stunt your development. To truly practice something means to be fiercely focused and driven toward specific goals, taking every opportunity to improve and further refine your abilities. You don’t just play guitar for an hour a day, you work on specific songs and/or song creation. You don’t just write to read your own wordplay, but to get something off your chest that feels like it might suffocate you if kept within. To practice is to work towards something with purpose, whether or not you actually achieve your goal.

Practice familiarizes you with your art.

As creative people, it can sometimes be hard to revisit things we make once they have been shared with the world. Our basic instincts tell us to move forward and continue creating, but it’s supremely important we do not give in to these urges and instead spend time reflecting on just what it is we are doing with our time and minds. Is your latest work better, or at least on par with everything you have done before? How can it be improved? Do you need to scrap the majority of your current project and start over with the handful of honestly good lines you have been able to create? Practice forces us to look at our art and question whether or not we are representing ourselves to the best of our own abilities.

Practice allows you to create the future without committing to it.

Your next book, album, or press release may change the world, but you will never complete that project if you do not first practice and refine your current skill set. When we practice we are not only preparing for the future, but we are also taking steps to create it. We are reaching into the ether of creativity and forging something into existence that never would have been seen, heard, or otherwise experienced without our mind and body bring it to life. That is a beautiful thing, and all too often we forget that it is in the regimen of a strong daily routine that the best ideas are born. By practicing we can dabble in the possibilities of tomorrow without commitment, giving us the ability to make mistakes free from judgment and then grow from them before taking steps to further expose our art to the world.

Practice makes us stronger.

Whether you use your time to work on new projects, spitball future possibilities, or refine already developed works, practice allows creative people the ability to strengthen their skills. To what degree this occurs is directly related to how focused the effort is on the part of the individual. Those who have specific goals and work towards them are more likely to find happiness with the result of their efforts. Those who do not choose a goal or specific task to work towards lack focus, and their practice sessions will ultimately suffer as a result. Practice is meant to be fun, but purposeful fun is far more rewarding than simply messing around.

Practice reminds us that there is still room to grow.

Have you ever created something you loved only to look back on it days or weeks later in disgust (if at all)? Sometimes we avoid practice because we know it will force us to confront our downfalls, and those are things we as people prefer to leave unexposed. To be a true professional requires us to be honest with ourselves, which includes admitting that we are nowhere near as perfect as we sometimes like to think ourselves. We are flawed, but if we practice our skills and focus on becoming better we will, in time, develop both as people and artists.

Practice keeps you humble.

You know who never practiced? Me either. You know why? Because they never accomplished anything worth remembering. Everyone who goes on to do anything of value with themselves does so through dedication and practice at refining a skill or craft to the best of their abilities. When we practice we force ourselves to realize that we are not where we ideally want to be. That’s okay though, because so is everyone else walking the planet today. We are all going through our own individual struggles with becoming who it is we feel we are meant to be. If we ever hope to get there we must come to terms with the fact we are going to have to work – probably quite hard – to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.

Practice reminds us that humility is worth much more than ego.

Your practice space should be considered a sacred location. It’s the place you shed all the armor and disguises you wear to otherwise avoid the harsh realities of the world and allow yourself to be truly free. Those who gain the most from practice sessions do so because they allow themselves to be honest with where they are as an artist. They must face the fact that the entertainment world will go on with or without them, then find it within themselves to forge ahead and continuing creating in spite of what the rest of the world may think of the final result. They create for the sake of creating because they know to do anything else would be to stunt their own development as a person and nothing else. If fame and fortune follow, that’s good, but true professionals realize during their time in practice that neither reward is ever lasting. True success comes with a feeling of completion. That you finally overcame whatever mental hurdles stood between you and what you were attempting to create without giving up your artistic vision. It doesn’t matter if everyone in the world loves it if you know deep down you could do better. Purposeful practice will make you better, but it requires the abandonment of ego.

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Haulix Advice: Overcoming The Urge To Procrastinate

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the second week of our ongoing ‘Advice’ series on professionalism in the music business. We have been crafting this run of columns for a while and are very much looking forward to sharing the result of those efforts with all of you in the weeks ahead. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Though we are all on our own unique journeys in this life, there is not a soul among us who finds their way into their dream career without first overcoming that little voice in their head that tells them they are not good enough or are otherwise undeserving of the achievements they seek. Steven Pressfield, author of The War On Art, describes this voice as ‘resistance,’ which by definition is anything that holds you back from doing what you are compelled to do. It’s a creativity assassin and it can take the form of many things, including procrastination, lack of motivation, insecurities, self doubt, fear, unhealthy relationships, addictions, and the like. Whatever prevents you from becoming the truest version of yourself and expressing that person to the world is your own form of resistance, and learning to overcome that force is the first step to becoming a professional in the music business.

Make no mistake: The war against resistance is a daily battle. In fact, it may even be hourly at times. Resistance strikes when you are least expecting it and cripples the part of your brain that allows your imagination to flourish. It weighs you down with stress and unnecessary distractions until you are unable to step outside your comfort zone, then drowns you in the ever-increasing mediocrity of repetition. It can be overcome however, and those who eventually become professionals in this business will find a way to conquer whatever holds them back. To quote Pressfield, “Turning pro is free, but it is not easy. You don’t need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind.”

We cannot prepare you to battle every form of resistance you will encounter, but we are determined to do whatever we can to aide you in furthering your creative endeavors. For the purposes of today’s post we are going to tackle one of the obstacles most often encountered whenever anyone attempts something creative: Procrastination.

Everyone battles procrastination on a daily basis. From the moment your alarm goes off in the morning procrastination is waiting, just inches from your pillow, to greet you with a million reasons you should put off doing whatever it is you want to do with your life. It can take the form of meetings, Law And Order marathons, drinks with friends, even exercise. Professionals recognize this, and they take steps in their daily lives to limit the temptations resistance can present. Here are some ways you too can actively fight procrastination:

1. Wake up every day ready to work.

This first step to overcoming procrastination is often the hardest, but it can dramatically impact the amount of resistance you will encounter over the course of any given day. The most important thing you can do for your craft is work at it, and to do that to the best of your abilities requires a daily commitment. Set time aside each day for working on your dream,whether it’s being a manager or playing lead guitar, and focus on nothing else during that time other than your goal. All things start with a first step, and for those working towards becoming a music industry professional this is the ideal place to begin. Sit down, take a deep breath, and dig in.

2. Keep at it, and realize achieving your goals may take longer than you think.

Showing up to work is one thing, but putting in the work is another conversation altogether. Nothing is more important to the continued development of your craft than sitting down each day and trying. Write something, anything at all, just sit down and put the pen to paper. Strum the guitar until your fingers are sore, pound the drums until your wrists hurt, or whatever it may be.

If you are going to become a professional you need to fully commit to the pursuit of your passion. Close all social networks and put away any piece of technology you do not need so you can allow yourself to become immersed in your passion. The more frequently you do this the easier it will become to tap into your creativity and avoid resistance. Repetition is key.

3. Be patient. Nothing happens overnight.

Professionals realize their goals require great dedication and sacrifice. They know not to expect results right away, but rather to allow themselves time to properly develop. This is not the same as being lazy however, and the two can often get confused. Professionals show up every day and do the work needed because they believe the longterm benefits of their actions will ultimately outweigh whatever hardships they have had to make. They hold tight to the hope that hard work pays off and they see their efforts through to fruition, however long that may take.

4. Learn to act in the face of fear.

Fear is the cousin of procrastination, and together these two forces of resistance can deplete any desire you may have to create. That may worry some, but it should not worry you. Fear, like self-loathing, can be a good thing. Fear tells us that what we are attempting to do matters, and by facing the unknown we are proving to ourselves we are ready to accept the challenges of being a full-time professional.

Remember the lesson we teach children: Being brave does not mean you are without fear, but rather that you are able to forge ahead in spite of it. If you can put that idea into action in your own life the distance between you and where you want to be will begin to shrink in no time.

5. Accept no excuses, especially your own.

You may think you no longer have any excuse to avoid work now that you have conquered fears, but you may want to think again.

Excuses, like resistance, comes in a variety of forms. You may think you’re not good enough, that your geographic location prevents you from doing whatever it is you desire, or that your financial limitations will somehow stunt your potential. These are all excuses and they are all a form of resistance. You must learn to resist the temptation to entertain the ideas these thoughts present. You are good enough. Location and wealth may increase the obstacles you’re presented with, yes, but they in no way prevent you from chasing after your dreams.

6. Don’t take failure or success personally.

When you’re working towards becoming a professional, every success and failure that comes your way feels like it could change the entire world. Professionals know this is not true. They recognize that success most often results from hard work. Failure, on the other hand, stems from a lack of effort.

Professionals show up every day and do the work that needs to be done whether or not they succeed or fail. They have accepted the possibility of being wrong and understand that temporary setbacks will prevent them from reaching their longterm goals. Instead, they learn from mistakes and use success to fuel their continued determination.

7. Don’t be afraid to self-validate.

You are human, and as a result you are from perfect. The journey to reaching your goals is going to be littered with setbacks and failures that make it seem like you’re not good enough, but under absolutely no circumstances should you ever allow yourself to stop believing in your own potential for greatness. Thousands of people have faced far greater opposition and found success. You can too, but it requires belief in yourself.

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Haulix Advice: Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Hello and welcome to the final Advice column of the week. We have been overwhelmed by your response to this feature’s return and are very much looking forward to sharing what we have in store next. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

One of the hardest things to overcome as an artist in any medium is working outside of your comfort zone. The term comfort zone is just what it sounds like – the place where you are most comfortable – and as an artist remaining in that place can be a hazard to your career.

The idea of a comfort zone is that it allows a person to exist in an anxiety-neutral state. You’re still engaged with the world around you, but you do so in a way that creates and maintains mental boundaries, which in turn lead to a false sense of security. You’re unable to grow and develop because to do so would be to take on new challenges, each with their own inherent risks and stressors, and as a result you become stuck in a creative rut that will ultimately drive away fans.

There is no on/off switch for comfort zones, and like any other challenge related to continued creativity there is a battle to be fought nearly every day. Comfort zones offer us short term happiness at the expense of longterm development, and for many deciding to chase the latter option is far harder than it may appear. Whether you are forcing yourself to write material for a certain genre/audience because it helped you get your start, or make it a point to play the same cities every time you tour because you know people will come to your shows, every artist faces numerous challenges to their comfort zone if they want to take their career to the next level. 

You want to write the next hit song? You want to play arenas instead of basements? You want to be sponsored by Gibson and Orange? The biggest obstacle you have to overcome to reach these goals is stepping outside your own comfort zone. Money, geography, and everything else is just another excuse for not taking it upon yourself to make something from nothing. It will not be easy, and there is no promise things will work out for the best in the end, but if you do not take chances in life you are holding yourself back from realizing your true potential.

If you really want to take your career further you must step outside your comfort zone and the best way to start doing that is by setting an attainable short-term goal. It can be anything you want – writing five new songs a month, booking two shows a day, attending a music business conference, reading some books on better marketing techniques – just set a goal, a deadline, and stick to it.

This post is part of a new series on what it means to be a professional. Those who make a career in music do so because they abandon their comfort zones to expand their horizons. Click here to read the previous entry in this series.

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Haulix Advice: Defining the roles of a manager, tour manager, publicist, & lawyer

Hello and welcome to return of our Haulix Advice series. This column is dedicated to helping developing artists and industry professionals navigate the waters of a DIY career in music. If you have an idea for a future installment of this series, or if you have a question you’d like us to tackle in the coming weeks, do not hesitate to email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts.

As your career in music begins to develop, you will eventually reach a point where you will want to at least consider hiring other people, such as publicists and managers, to work with and for your music. This can be a very exciting and fast-paced time if you surround yourself with the right team, and in this post we aim to help you understand the roles those individuals will fill so that you can determine what you need when the time comes.

In order to clarify their roles, I asked Jen Appel, founder of The Catalyst Publicity Group, What artist’s expectations should be in regards to the work performed by managers, tour managers, publicists, and lawyers. This is what Jen had to say:

Manager: When a band can no longer scout for new opportunities at the level they are at or handle their current work load a manager would be the next best step. A manager can be as in depth as arranging the day to day duties of each member to shopping for labels and networking the band around the industry professionals. A band should only actively seek management assistance when necessary. Having the band well organized and in place before reaching out for management will only make the working relationship a lot easier.

Tour Manager: A tour manager represents the band while on the road. The tour manager is the right hand man for the manager, merch person, crew and publicist. They are in charge of many items while on tour such as making sure the band arrives at the venue on time, they get paid at the end of night, and set up any press while on the road.

Publicist: A publicist is necessary to bring on to a bands team once all assets are solidified (music, branding). A band shouldn’t approach a PR team if they have no content ready to release. Once a band has a nice marketing package ready to go and they feel they’ve hit a wall with setting up their own interviews a PR team can help package a marketing plan together and focus on securing press. The goal of a publicist is to properly present the band to the public/press/fans.

Lawyer: A lawyer is a great person to have on a team when it is necessary. A lawyer is able to negotiate contract deals on behalf of a band and make sure that a band isn’t get screwed over in a deal. The lawyer looks after the bands best interest and is there to lend advice along the way.

It’s important to note that every business relationship is different and the deals you develop with the individuals you choose to surround yourself with may not match these guidelines exactly. Before adding anyone to your team take time to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish and research who would be be suited to assist you in accomplishing that task.

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