As much as things are always changing in the music industry there is still a lot that remains the same. Beginning at the end of October every year, the music business as a whole quietly starts winding down operations in anticipation of the holiday season. Most major PR firms and labels offer employees anywhere from 1-3 weeks near the end of the year because there is little to no new business to be done. Everyone is typically too busy with family and celebrations – as they should be – to care about work, and so far 2016 appears to be no different.
While this is an awesome thing for those fortunate enough to have full-time employment in music it is often frustrating for those on the come up. Bloggers and music writers, for example, have to work harder and harder to keep their readership up as the industry begins to release less and less news. This, all while the number of singles and albums released week to week from notable artists takes a significant plunge.
Similar frustrations exist for independent professionals in management, publicity, production, and all other corners of the industry. Unless you are making enough money to live comfortably for a month without any new income, the end of the calendar year always seems to add a bit extra stress to daily life. Family and holidays help to ease the mind, of course, but such downtimes can start to feel like an attempt at financially treating water if one does not plan in advance.
Knowing the slowdown is coming is a good step toward not losing your mind when work essentially grinds to a halt here in four weeks time, but there are things you can do to prepare as well:
Starting today, make a calendar from now until the end of the year detailing all the work you hope to accomplish. If you’re an artist, outline you creative goals as well as your promotion ones. If you run a blog, outline your planned features and when you want them to run. Be specific.
Speak with any collaborators, parents, or bandmates you may have about holiday travel plans. Everyone deserves time to disconnect and be with family. Knowing when people plan to unplug can prevent any problems over responsibilities and activity from interrupting someone’s time with their loved ones.
Make a plan to disconnect yourself. Contrary to what that crazy voice inside your head may be telling you there are very few, if any, people expecting you to be steadily churning out new work throughout the final two weeks of 2016. All websites see a decline in traffic around Christmas and New Year. Many artists see a decline in attendance at shows as well. People are still enjoying music and engaging with it, but their focus is largely on other, far more important things. Don’t miss out on time with your family because you believe you are able to be the creative that changes this global trend. For once, accept that you, like everyone else, needs a break.
Set goals for the new year. Once you plan the remainder of 2016 and set aside time for relaxation you might as well get a head start on your plans for 2017. You’ll no doubt want to hit the ground running once the holidays have all passed, and having a plan of action in place is a good way to ensure that happens.
Take time to reflect on – and take pride in – what you have accomplished this year. All creative people that I know are hard on themselves far more often than they should be because they have an insatiable thirst to see what else can be done. While a drive to keep pushing forward is admirable it can also be problematic. There will always be another task to complete or achievement to unlock. The mountain never ends, so if you’re waiting to reach the top before celebrating your successes that time will never come. The end of the year slowdown creates a unique opportunity to disengage from the day to day struggle long enough to look at your body of work as a whole. Don’t miss out.
You know what’s harder than breaking into the music industry in 2017? Breaking into the music industry when you’re an artist based in any place outside of North America. You may be able to find success in your country, but most artists aspire to breakout stateside in order to cement their global appeal. This feat has never been easy, but in an age where every person with a laptop and internet connection can share recordings with anyone willing to listen the amount of noise one has to cut through to be heard is impossible for most to even imagine.
We all like to believe the best music rises to the top. This may be true on certain occasions, but that only happens if artists put in a lot of work beyond simply writing great material. Today’s artists – and labels – have to pour themselves into the business of marketing music. This is doubly true for international artists hoping to break into the stateside entertainment industry, and we believe it’s high time you heard about their experiences.
Today we are thrilled to share two sides of the same story. Rude Records and their recently signed band Stand Atlantic have each shared some insight with us about their experiences trying to gain stateside media attention from their home in Australia. You can find their stories below.
Rude Records
Every record label receives tons of music submissions every single day. It is important to give everyone a chance, taking the right amount of time to give each song a spin and consider if the art embroidered in it suits what we’re looking for. It can’t always be love at first sight for sure but sometimes it – still – happens. That’s exactly what happened between Stand Atlantic and us.
Being also Rude Records very first Aussie signing, the band is growing day-by-day on national and international basis exponentially. We’re particularly glad to have started deeper and stronger relationships within this key market; getting to know even better key people in key roles in different parts of the chain, from retail to media, it’s important to know and involve everyone from the very beginning in order to create and operate a successful campaign. A larger catalogue from the label has been available in Australia / New Zealand for a while, we thought it was the time to sign a local band and give it an international exposure through our Network. Counting on a solid team made of PRs, Label Managers, digital and marketing reps that have made Rude grow consistently during the past few years, we’re now channeling all the efforts and experience made through the years on a fresh and talented band from Sydney.
It takes time also to get things into motion, to create a solid rollout plan, pick the right singles, work on visuals, try to be the link from a band to a new and wider audience. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes the art we have in our hands is already perfectly crafted, it just needs the right push. There’s different types of approaches that could / would work but we decided – together with the band and management – to start with a bang!
After picking ‘Coffee At Midnight’ as the campaign lead single we’ve worked hard to secure it made an impact through different channels, starting with a radio premiere, a video premiere, all supported by a well-crafted social media campaign made of teasers, correlated visuals and high potential reach content.
Since social media are nowadays one of the most interesting tools that can be used to discover and deliver music to an existing silent audience that just needs to be woke up. Once you can find the right way to get noticed between over-saturated news feeds and see friends recommending friends a song / a band to listen to, you can start thinking about the next move, acknowledge when this growing and buzzing audience will drop their attention and be ready to feed them with another banger. Following this path ‘Mess I Made’ first and then title-track ‘Sidewinder’ were revealed, engaging the growing fan base even more and preparing the ground for a solid and successful release.
Also, the great push given by tour opportunities, support from key media and tracks being included into relevant playlists on both Spotify and Apple Music, helped a lot in giving a band the chance to be heard inside and outside Australia, quickly becoming one of the hottest bands in the scene.
Stand Atlantic
Being in a band and taking it seriously from the get-go can and will be tough, let alone being a band from Australia, holding its own separate challenges which can take a huge toll even emotionally on how far you want to take it. Being so far away from huge markets and industry hot spots (e.g. USA, UK, EU) can often make it difficult to properly network and it takes a fair bit of money to do pretty much anything or go anywhere.On top of that, trying to grow a decent fan base in a country where all the major cities are a minimum drive of 8 hours and throw in the fact you’re working with a much smaller population in comparison to the US/UK/EU – it’s daunting as hell, it’s hard, but it is 100% possible to overcome. Bands in AUS who really want to take this seriously work 10 times harder knowing all these obstacles are a huge reality, so at the end of the day, we have a really good amount of great bands and artists who work really hard.Being able to prove ourselves as a band and separate ourselves from the pack was something we strived to do with the Sidewinder EP. With a glinting light of hope that we’d catch the attention of a passionate label and team, thankfully, we got exactly that and then some.
It’s safe to say we feel very lucky to be working with Rude Records. Thanks to them and our amazing team of management / booking / PRs we’ve been able to reach people across the globe on a scale we would have not had the opportunity to achieve, had it not been for Rude. Working hard to focus on who you are as a group, individuals and sonically can take years, but it will always pay off if you’re doing it for the right reasons.
Make good choices, write the best songs you can, invest your time and money, realize your worth and do not give up. It can feel daunting to stick it out, but when you feel your lowest and like throwing in the towel is your best option, hustle harder than you ever have to make it work and stay positive. I can guarantee that on the other side, everything is waiting for you – sometimes the universe just needs proof you want something bad enough.
Here’s something you don’t want to read: Your dreams might not come true. In fact, it has famously been said that many live lives of quiet desperation, longing to be the things they never got the chance to be. I have tried and tried to understand why things don’t always work out, but the reasons many fall short of their goals are as varied as the people themselves. There is no one way to find success, just like there is no one way to fail.
If everyone got their way all the time the music industry would look nothing like it does today, and I mean that both for better and worse. Those who find success are able to shape the industry for future generations. Those who do not are left to attend shows, stream music, and remain lifelong fans. What separates those two groups is often their willingness to fight, and make no mistake – if you want a career in this industry you will have to fight for it.
People often ask me what it takes to make it. I often respond by saying it’s as simple and as difficult as being yourself. You never know for sure how others will react, but you have to believe in yourself before you can expect anyone else to do the same. After the person talking to me replies that such a vague response does not offer much help, I follow-up my thoughts with these words:
Everyone is fighting this battle in their own way.
Everyone hoping to do anything in this business wakes up with the prospects of going to war. It doesn’t matter whether it should or shouldn’t be like this because the fact of the matter is it is the way things are at this point in time. The boom of access through technology and the internet happened much faster than the music industry was able to adapt. Even if the industry were able to see the changes the internet would present in advance and had ample time to prepare it’s hard to imagine a world where there are anywhere near enough reliable full-time jobs in the creative area you want to work in to allow everyone a place of there own guaranteed. That’s not how life works and it’s not how music works.
The best you can do is to wake up every day and put action to your dreams. Start today. If you want to write the next song that is going to change the world, it’s probably time to take mastering your instrument and songwriting seriously. If you want to manage the next big band, find a band you give a damn about and do whatever it takes to make sure me and everyone else feels the same way this time next year. If you want to pitch Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, XXL, or anyone else, learn how to form a good pitch and start sending emails. If you want to be a publicist, find an artist you believe in and make the rest of us feel the same through any means necessary. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
You’re going to fail, but there’s another upside: Everyone Fails.
Everyone fails a lot, in fact. More bad songs are written every day than future classics, just like more bad press releases are sent than those that make people who receive hundreds of press releases a week actually read what they wrote. It’s not about a single try and it’s not about a single day, week, or month. Building a career of any kind in any field in the music business is an ongoing series of trial and error where you and everyone you know hopes to succeed in some way more often than not. We take our chances and we take our bruises. We complain about the way corporations have devalued music while making billions of the art that musicians create while hoping streaming payouts really do lead to the bright future we were told would come. We claim we found the next best band in the world when we really just heard a good song on the internet. We put our faith in people that turn out to be nothing like we expected and we in turn sometimes surprise ourselves.
Some failures hurt more than others, but that’s okay. You learn to take the good with the bad because you remember that hope only gets you as far as you’re willing to fight in this business and that everyone else has ups and downs too.
Be honest with yourself and others. You cannot do everything. In fact, some things you probably shouldn’t do, and that’s perfectly okay.
To attempt anything is to accept the fact you may fail. Everyone fails, as we mentioned above, but if you find yourself failing again and again without ever finding a sliver of success you may need to take a hard look at your goal and ask yourself whether or not they can be achieved. The hard truth of the matter is that only a very small amount of those who dream and strive to work in music every actually make a career for themselves in this business. If you are not one of them it does not mean you are a failure. You rose above being a failure the moment you decided to try and chase your dreams. You wouldn’t believe how many people never even take the first step towards getting what they want. If things are not working out after a long enough period of time you need to consider the possibility that there may be other fields and areas of expertise where your particular set of skills could be of value. The world needs motivated souls, and you are one. Find a way to make existence a bit better for others and do that thing. Music will always be here, and you will always have it in your life, even if it isn’t what pays the bills.
You are never alone, though it’s going to feel like that sometimes.
When you’re working with others in any capacity you begin to realize your individual performance really does influence their ability to pay their student loans and cover their share of rent in the apartments they more than likely share with anywhere from one to six, seven, or even eight people depending on the metropolis they were forced to move to in order to take their time in this business ‘seriously.’ (You don’t have to do that, by the way. Be the biggest thing you come out of your spot on the map, and don’t forget to thank the internet – and this author – for your success down the line.) You, like them, were once just a kid who really loved a particular band or sound and that somehow turned into a career where you’re now responsible for doing something (or more than likely, many things) in exchange for money. Compared to the way most people approach finding a career in something, that’s crazy! We’re all a little crazy and we many of us deal with the same stresses and bouts of self doubt that you may experience from time to time. We’re strongest when we work together, and that means being open and honest with one another. Recognize that we are all crazy fans deep down inside and we all know of the power music has to impact lives. We are all working toward the same thing, and that is to lift up the art that gives us the ability to wake up every day and fight.
There is power in numbers. Work together.
As much as my individual drive and talent has helped me make a way in this industry, all my greatest accomplishments were the direct result of projects I worked on with people I believed in. Surround yourself with like-minded people who fight for the things they want and understand that real work that lies ahead. This may be the friends you know now or it may be a group of strangers you meet only after you take it upon yourself to start chasing whatever it is you want to do. The bonds you form with these people will last a lifetime, and they will come to mean more than any paycheck possibly could.
Commit.
There is no denying that finding a career in music is often driven by networking, but even the best connections still require commitment. Music is considered one of the easiest industries to get your foot in, but no one ever stops to tell you everyone and their brother currently has a foot in the door of this business. It takes nothing to do the bare necessities required to claim to have a presence in music and that is a beautiful thing. It’s also a litmus test of sorts to separate the truly driven from those who will eventually turn to a more reliable and suitable (and arguably sane) career. If you want to do anything you have to make yourself known, and it’s both as easy and as hard as committing to working towards your goals every single day. To borrow from Nike, “just do it,” and soon things will begin to fall into place.
James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and a 10-year veteran of the entertainment business. James has spoken about careers in entertainment and how to achieve them at festivals, conferences, and college campuses across the United States, and he is currently working on his first book on that very topic at this moment. If you like what you have read here, please make it a point to follow him on Twitter. If you have questions about this or anything else related to working in the entertainment business, please email him: james@haulix.com.
Some people look to the first of January as a date made for pursuing new things, but here at Haulix we believe such thinking is born solely out of a desire to remain the same rather than it is to genuinely change. If you want things to be different you have to do different things. Repeating the same behavior over and over while expecting different results is madness, yet so many of us allow ourselves to continue living life that way because – put simply – change is hard. Sameness is always easier, and it’s hurting you as much as it is your audience.
Do you know why some people have thirty year careers in entertainment and other, perhaps far more talented people never get noticed? Part of it has to do with luck and another with the people you surround yourself with, but the third component is change. Those who find longterm success in this industry never stop changing. Their sound may always feel familiar, or they may work with the same type artists, but they are always trying to find new ways to evolve.
The changes we’re discussing here do not need to be completely life-altering unless that is what you feel you need to do. For most, the changes needed are more an act of constant refinement than one of reinvention. If you always write about punk music, try hip-hop for a month. If you always write try to write anthemic songs, try being a bit more personal. Change your habits just enough to be uncomfortable.
Being good is not the goal of this change, though proficiency over time is entirely achievable. Your primary goal should be making your brain think differently. You want to shake the cobwebs that have developed through repetitive actions so that you might see things in a new light as if they were new once more. You may discover a new hobby or passion, but you might not. What is important is that you rediscover the passion you had for your craft at the beginning. If you can tap into that and channel it through the knowledge and experienced gained over time you can do anything.
In case anyone out there is still believing their music blog will change the world allow me to temper your dreams just a bit. As much as we would all like to believe music influencers will always have a role to play – and they may – the hard truth is that the streaming age has quickly taken power away from the majority of music blogs. As services like Apple Music and Spotify continue to extend their editorial efforts and allow artists to share more than just music with fans (tour dates, videos) there are less and less people turning to blogs for insight. After all, why frequent a site that covers a small fraction of the things you enjoy when you can have access to everything you care about all the time – and then some – through a single platform?
Before you completely lose hope and cancel your domain, hear me out. Music blogs are never going to go away completely. There was a time over a decade ago when people thought music magazines would die out because of blogs, yet here we are in 2017 and Alternative Press Magazine is gearing up to take over the same venue that houses the Cleveland Cavalier for its fourth annual awards show. Has everyone publication survived? No, but that would be true even without the streaming age. The vast majority of everything in every field eventually fades away. This is simply a fact of life. You think the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith were the only rock bands of their time? Of course not. They’re simply the ones that outlasted everyone else.
So who will survive the latest evolution of music blogging, and how will those publications change to meet the demands of the future? I cannot tell you specific answers to either question, but over the last ten years there is one common trait I have found in almost every writer who continues to be successful: They seek opportunities to build communities rather than their own personal brand.
What I mean is that the writers and sites who succeed place an emphasis on quality, timely content instead of ego. Their ultimate goal is to provide music fans with the information they need to make the best choices with their time and money. They seek conversation over branding at all costs, and because of this they are able to adapt when the industry demands change.
If you are reading this now and are the proud owner of a music blog I have to assume you know of other music bloggers who run their own sites or who contribute to a site other than yours. What is stopping you from joining forces with your peers and, instead of a dozen people running a dozen blogs, combining your tastes/talents into a single online portal for all things music? The cost of a single site’s hosting fees versus a dozen is an easy decision, as is the idea of having twelve people market a single brand name rather than twelve people who each market a different brand. So, why not work together?
Speaking strictly from personal experience, the biggest factor preventing collaboration and community building amongst the online music writer community is ego. Everyone wants their site or their thing to be the one everyone turns to, not realizing that in five, ten, or twenty years no one will remember the person who launched the site. Think about it. Can you tell me who launched Pitchfork, Stereogum, AV Club, or MetalSucks off the top of your head? Does the fact you can or cannot do that change the quality of the site or the respect you have for those who contribute to it? My guess is no, which should tell you all you need to know about how important it is that your site be the one everyone turns to for information. All that matters is the quality of the content, which is the direct result of the talent behind it, and that remains true regardless of the URL.
Changes will come and go, but there will always be a place for quality music blogging. The path to sustainable success in modern music is built atop collaboration and networking. Writers who want to last need to drop whatever ego they may have left, push brands to the side, and find a path to work together. Combine your talents and resources in order to cover more corners of music better. Your work, your readers, and your career will thank you.
The truth about ‘making it’ in the music business today
If every idea or plan I ever heard in every conversation I ever had with an aspiring industry professional or musician the music business would be a vastly different place than it is today. I’m not sure that is for the better or worse – depends on the project – but what I do know of from my time working in the industry and my admittedly puddle-deep exploration through its many ranks has become the stuff of legends to myself and anyone who may have been there in that moment those words were shared. Big bands, small bands, PR professionals and startup masterminds. Name a thing in music you could aspire to become and there are at least 5000 people who tell people they also want to do that thing every day, and that’s likely just in North America alone.
I am certain there are a variety of reasons things didn’t work and a number of people who could be, should be, or would be held responsible if things had gone another route, but in many cases it comes down to your willingness to fight, but in many cases it comes down to your willingness to fight and your ability to evolve. Both sound easier than they really are, but they are absolutely essential traits for anyone hoping to make it in this business.
There is one upside: Everyone is fighting this battle in their own way.
Everyone hoping to do anything in this business wakes up with the prospects of going to war. It doesn’t matter whether it should or shouldn’t be like this because the fact of the matter is it is the way things are at this point in time. The boom of access through technology and the internet happened much faster than the music industry was able to adapt. Even if the industry were able to see the changes the internet would present in advance and had ample time to prepare it’s hard to imagine a world where there are anywhere near enough reliable full-time jobs in the creative area you want to work in to allow everyone a place of there own guaranteed. That’s not how life works and it’s not how music works.
The best you can do is to wake up every day and put action to your dreams. Start today. If you want to write the next song that is going to change the world, it’s probably time to take mastering your instrument and songwriting seriously. If you want to manage the next big band, find a band you give a damn about and do whatever it takes to make sure me and everyone else feels the same way this time next year. If you want to pitch Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, XXL, or anyone else, learn how to form a good pitch and start sending emails. If you want to be a publicist, find an artist you believe in and make the rest of us feel the same through any means necessary. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
You’re going to fail, but there’s another upside: Everyone Fails.
Everyone fails a lot, in fact. More bad songs are written every day than future classics, just like more bad press releases are sent than those that make people who receive hundreds of press releases a week actually read what they wrote. It’s not about a single try and it’s not about a single day, week, or month. Building a career of any kind in any field in the music business is an ongoing series of trial and error where you and everyone you know hopes to succeed in some way more often than not. We take our chances and we take our bruises. We complain about the way corporations have devalued music while making billions of the art that musicians create while hoping streaming payouts really do lead to the bright future we were told would come. We claim we found the next best band in the world when we really just heard a good song on the internet. We put our faith in people that turn out to be nothing like we expected and we in turn sometimes surprise ourselves.
Some failures hurt more than others, but that’s okay. You learn to take the good with the bad because you remember that hope only gets you as far as you’re willing to fight in this business and that everyone else has ups and downs too.
Be honest with yourself and others. You cannot do everything. In fact, some things you probably shouldn’t do, and that’s perfectly okay.
To attempt anything is to accept the fact you may fail. Everyone fails, as we mentioned above, but if you find yourself failing again and again without ever finding a sliver of success you may need to take a hard look at your goal and ask yourself whether or not they can be achieved. The hard truth of the matter is that only a very small amount of those who dream and strive to work in music every actually make a career for themselves in this business. If you are not one of them it does not mean you are a failure. You rose above being a failure the moment you decided to try and chase your dreams. You wouldn’t believe how many people never even take the first step towards getting what they want. If things are not working out after a long enough period of time you need to consider the possibility that there may be other fields and areas of expertise where your particular set of skills could be of value. The world needs motivated souls, and you are one. Find a way to make existence a bit better for others and do that thing. Music will always be here, and you will always have it in your life, even if it isn’t what pays the bills.
You are never alone, though it’s going to feel like that sometimes.
When you’re working with others in any capacity you begin to realize your individual performance really does influence their ability to pay their student loans and cover their share of rent in the apartments they more than likely share with anywhere from one to six, seven, or even eight people depending on the metropolis they were forced to move to in order to take their time in this business ‘seriously.’ (You don’t have to do that, by the way. Be the biggest thing you come out of your spot on the map, and don’t forget to thank the internet – and this author – for your success down the line.) You, like them, were once just a kid who really loved a particular band or sound and that somehow turned into a career where you’re now responsible for doing something (or more than likely, many things) in exchange for money. Compared to the way most people approach finding a career in something, that’s crazy! We’re all a little crazy and we many of us deal with the same stresses and bouts of self doubt that you may experience from time to time. We’re strongest when we work together, and that means being open and honest with one another. Recognize that we are all crazy fans deep down inside and we all know of the power music has to impact lives. We are all working toward the same thing, and that is to lift up the art that gives us the ability to wake up every day and fight.
There is power in numbers. Work together.
As much as my individual drive and talent has helped me make a way in this industry, all my greatest accomplishments were the direct result of projects I worked on with people I believed in. Surround yourself with like-minded people who fight for the things they want and understand that real work that lies ahead. This may be the friends you know now or it may be a group of strangers you meet only after you take it upon yourself to start chasing whatever it is you want to do. The bonds you form with these people will last a lifetime, and they will come to mean more than any paycheck possibly could.
Commit.
There is no denying that finding a career in music is often driven by networking, but even the best connections still require commitment. Music is considered one of the easiest industries to get your foot in, but no one ever stops to tell you everyone and their brother currently has a foot in the door of this business. It takes nothing to do the bare necessities required to claim to have a presence in music and that is a beautiful thing. It’s also a litmus test of sorts to separate the truly driven from those who will eventually turn to a more reliable and suitable (and arguably sane) career. If you want to do anything you have to make yourself known, and it’s both as easy and as hard as committing to working towards your goals every single day. To borrow from Nike, “just do it,” and soon things will begin to fall into place.
James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and a 10-year veteran of the entertainment business. James has spoken about careers in entertainment and how to achieve them at festivals, conferences, and college campuses across the United States, and he is currently working on his first book on that very topic at this moment. If you like what you have read here, please make it a point to follow him on Twitter. If you have questions about this or anything else related to working in the entertainment business, please email him: james@haulix.com.
Gregg Allman was a pure, unbridled rock and roll icon whose talent and contributions to music cannot be overstated. His work inspired and will continue to inspire generations of musicians to find their own sound in a world increasingly driven by trends.
I am sad to say I only realized how true all of this was in recent months. Back in February I participated in an annual month-long writing challenge that tasks music critics with listening to and reviewing a different album every day for a month that they have never previously heard. It’s something I’ve grown to look forward to as it gives me an excuse to step away from the constant stream of new material hitting my inbox to explore the corners of music history my ears have yet to discover. For reasons I still do not fully understand, the first artist that came to mind for this year’s event was The Allman Brothers, so that’s where I started:
Allman Brothers – Idlewild South (DAY 1)
Like most people born after the band had already peaked I learned about The Allman Brothers through infomercials for classic rock compilations. Songs like “Ramblin’ Man” and “Midnight Rider” were staples of those collections, and the short clips that would play during those extended advertisements were burned into my memory from an early age. Idlewild South (1970) features “Midnight Rider,” but it is far from the best song on the record. I think “Don’t Keep Me Wondering’” could and should have been just as big of a hit for the group. This album is good for car rides and relaxed jam sessions with you and your air guitar while no one is looking. The groove is deep and calming. Let go and ride the wave.
Idlewild South was the first album The Allman Brothers released. It’s a studio album where only one of the seven song lasted longer than five minutes (“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”). It’s a fantastic record whose groove has not been duplicated by any other artist, but I soon learned that the album did not showcase the group in their purest form. While the slick studio production went a long way to proving the band’s talent as musicians and budding songwriters it’s the raw, loose feel of their next release, The 1971 live album At Filmore East, that reveals the Allman Brothers Band’s true color. There are once again just seven tracks, but there is an electricity to ever moment that packs a punch to this day. It’s the kind of recording that lights a fire in your soul and makes you feel alive. I swear you may never know how good a guitar can make you feel until you hear this recording of “You Don’t Love Me.”
After I heard At Filmore East for the first time I knew my course in life had shifted. You know the sensation I’m speaking of, or at least I hope you do. It’s the kind of thing that happens once in a great while when a moment, encounter, interaction, or piece of art moves you in such a way that you feel like you see the world through fresh eyes. You at once have a slightly better understand of the universe and once again realize how much there is left to be explored. After all, you never knew you needed this thing that has just irreversibly changed you, yet here you are happy for the change. It’s the kind of thing you cannot predict or force, which is what makes it so magical.
Since that early February day I have slowly found myself consuming more and more of The Allman Brothers music. The band’s entire catalog is on Spotify, including every deluxe reissue, super deluxe reissue, and numerous live recordings. I don’t know exactly how much music there is to be heard in full, but killing a full day with strictly Allman Brothers material would not be difficult. You might be able to do it without hearing the same recording twice, but I’m not sure. My longest stretch was eight hours – a full work day – just three days before Gregg Allman passed.
The funny thing about these moments when our life shifts is that once they happen it can be hard to remember how you felt before they occurred. When I saw news of Allman’s passing my heart ached the way it had when Prince passed a year prior, or even Bowie before him. The difference being, Bowie and Prince made music I had known my entire life. Their careers provided the soundtrack to many childhood and teenage memories, but not Allman. At best Gregg Allman had been a part of my life for just three months. 90 days, maybe 91, yet that was all he needed to leave an impression on me that I know I will never be able to shake.
There is a lesson here for artists in every medium. Whether your work is discovered upon released or forty years down the line, quality art will still make an impact on the consumer. Quality art is one of the few thing time cannot fully ravage, or at least not for much longer than virtually everything else on Earth. Great Songs and paintings and films will always outlast their creators, and in turn will serve as something of a time capsule for future generations to experience. But you don’t have to worry about all that right now. All you have to do is making the best art you can, telling your story how you want it told. The rest is not entirely in your control, so don’t fret it. I can assure you Gregg Allman never did. He lived and created on his own terms, and I can only hope the rest of us find a way to follow his lead.
James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the host of the Inside Music podcast and a ten-year music business veteran. You should follow him on Twitter.
On PWR BTTM, controversy, and the incredible power rights holders wield in 2017
It took less than a week for the career of PWR BTTM, a two-piece punk band from New York, to unravel. After months of digital hype and an outpouring of support from some of the industry’s biggest influencers, accusations of sexual abuse and predatory behavior brought against PWR BTTM member Ben Hopkins spread like wildfire just two days before the group’s Polyvinyl Records debut was due to be released. As word continued to spread, people and brand associated with the act began to distance themselves, including Polyvinyl Records and any label that had worked with the group prior to the alleged incidents. By Friday, the damage was done. Polyvinyl pulled all promotion for the record, as well as any options to purchase the record online, and all upcoming tour dates were cancelled. The hype train was dead, and so was the career of PWR BTTM.
The fallout from the accusations made against Hopkins happened much faster than has typically been the case in similar instance where allegations were brought against a member of the alternative music community. There reasons for this have already been discussed at length, but the fallout itself is pretty typical. First fans revolt, then any associated acts (tour support) and professionals (management, booking, etc.). From there, labels typically issue a statement and announce their plans to sever ties with the talent. Venues may or may not follow suit as well, depending on the band’s level of success and the aforementioned outcry from fans.
The one new twist in the fallout from such allegations being made did not come to pass until the beginning of this week, several days after the allegations were first made. Polyvinyl, having already pulled all physical copies of PWR BTTM’s debut album as quickly as they could, also scrubbed any digital downloads and streams of the record from the internet. Unless you were someone who received a preorder of the album prior to the events of last week, which likely includes anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand people, you have virtually no way to experience PWR BTTM’s album. More importantly, Polyvinyl has no way to recoup any investment they made in PWR BTTM.
The reason Polyvinyl is able to do this, and as a result make PWR BTTM’s catalog virtually unavailable, is because they own the rights to the music. Most labels own all or at least some of the rights to the music the artists on their roster creates, which gives them final authority on how or if that music is available to the public.
And this is the game-changer. Historically speaking, while many labels would pull an artist’s releases from their store and/or cut ties with talent accused of wrongdoing, most label chose to keep the accused musician’s catalog available on streaming services. This means those labels were quietly making money from any streaming royalties connected to that artist’s music while publicly stating they were distancing themselves from that artist. These actions contradict themselves by placing importance on money and recouping costs rather than doing the right thing by consumers and victims. How can you claim to not be associated with a sexual predator if you are cashing checks that resulted from their art? Everyone knows controversy tends to lead to a bump, so if anything these labels are making more money (at least in the short term) because of these incidents.
By expressing their power as rights holders over the music PWR BTTM made Polyvinyl has taken a stand against abusers and sent a strong message to all other artists worldwide. In a time where the vast majority of musicians are creating everything in the digital space it’s important to understand how handing over control also empowers someone else to delete, erase, or pull your work at their discretion. The alleged actions of Hopkins were unquestionably the lynchpin to PWR BTTM’s undoing, but by erasing their work from the internet Polyvinyl has made what would typically be a short, yet forced hiatus into something that feels much more permanent. Will more labels follow suit? I hope so.
The following post was written by Rey Roldan, founder of Reybee Inc. and a longtime Haulix client.
“What do you call an ex-music industry person,” a friend asked me recently.
“I dunno, what,” I asked.
“A realtor,” he chuckled, and took a swig of his beer. But then, almost instantly, his expression changed, his laughter stopped, and he slunk away.
The funny thing is, this friend of mine was once a really successful music industry guy, handling flashy names and pop stars. One day, while doing his PR gig at a major label, he decided he just couldn’t hack it anymore. He walked into his boss’s office and gave two weeks’ notice. He was done… spent… over it. He suffered career burnout.
I ran into him at the bar a few more times that night, and each time he asked me about the music business. When I’d answer, I’d temper my responses so it didn’t feel like I was rubbing it in his face, but still, he looked more and more bummed out with each of my answers. I could tell he really missed it. I guess realty just wasn’t as sexy.
The older I get and the more years I log in as a publicist, the more I worry about ending up like him, getting burned out at this job… What on earth would I do if I had to start over? And really, I hated the thought of selling houses.
Needing some sound advice and words of wisdom from editor friends and publicist peers who were still in the industry, I asked a few if they fear getting burnt out and, more importantly, how they overcame it, because, God knows, I have no intention of talking about square footage and how many parking spaces come with each unit.
Whether you call it Writer’s Block, work fatigue, or career burnout, the ability to “keep on keeping on” is something that every each one of us encounters. Whether you’re an editor, staff writer, freelancer, blogger or publicist, getting unstuck when you’re hopelessly trapped in a mental headlock is a very real and sometimes difficult obstacle to maneuver. How each of us deal with it was what I was interested in learning.
For some, like Jason Pettigrew, Editor in Chief of Alternative Press, the nation’s leading publication in alternative music, mental fatigue is easily overcome by completely unplugging and getting back to the basics. “Given the 24/7/365 cycle of the internet, burnout is positively inevitable,” he explained to me. “The demands of various people in a journalist’s life—management, readers, loved ones—are hard to navigate and negotiate.”
When I asked him how he avoids hitting that brick wall, he replied, “The best way I’ve learned to cope with burnout is to take a vacation from devices. Don’t go on a conventional vacation: stay at home and don’t plug your phone or laptop in for a day. Try it. See what you’ll actually miss. Don’t take your phone to bed; take the love of your life.”
Even though I don’t have a “love of my life” (unless my dogs count and cozying up to them in bed just sounds wrong), Jason’s advice about shutting out technology and unplugging for some time sounded like really great advice, though the thought of being away from my iPhone even for an instant seems like it’s create mass chaos and emotional decay for me.
I turned to my buddy Robbie Daw, Editor-in-Chief of Idolator, the uber-trafficked site for pop music and gossip. Like Jason, Robbie logged years upon years of employment in the industry. “In my experience, burnout can happen with almost any field you enter into — and I’ve worked in film, television, print and online journalism,” he told me. “What I always remind myself is that at the heart of everything, I’m a writer, and when I’m feeling a bit creatively spent at any job, I try to create some kind of other outlet for me to get the juices flowing again, even if it’s in my spare time. For instance, during my six years working at a print publication, Instinct, I created Chart Rigger, a pop music blog, at home one Friday night in January 2005. I still bang out the occasional post on there and work on other types of writing in my spare time, and it alleviates a lot of day-to-day job stress and helps keep everything in perspective.”
Personally speaking, when I was a full-time journalist years ago, I kinda did what both of those guys did but in a slightly different manner. Since smartphones hadn’t been discovered yet, unplugging wasn’t a problem, so I’d walk away from my computer and ride my bike around Boston. Or, since I freelanced for a ton of different magazines, if I hit a mental block writing one article, I’d switch gears and redirect my creative energy and work on another article. Either of those usually did the trick.
But now as a full-time publicist, I was curious how my PR peers dealt with it. Unlike writers, publicists suffering from a mental block aren’t just affecting their own careers, but their clients’ careers as well. Our own paychecks aren’t the only things at stake… our artists’ livelihoods are too.
So I thought I’d ask a hot shit whippersnapper publicist like Tito Bellis who works for well-known and respected indie music publicity and marketing firm Big Hassle Media. Considering the level of artists they handle such high-pressure clients as Against Me!, Jimmy Eat World, and The Replacements, among many others, Tito for sure must come dangerously close to breaking point. “Due to the sheer pace and pressure surrounding the job of a publicist, burning out from time to time is bound to happen,” he explained. “For me, this tends to occur more in the summer time due to every single band and their mothers being on the road, festival season being in full swing, and the constant expectations and requests being flung at you from so many directions.” I wanted to make a crack about bands and their moms, but before I could interject, he continued, “Making time for yourself is important, but from within the job, I try to do my best to keep my plate manageable and work to include projects that are a little out of my wheelhouse just to keep things interesting, challenging and personally fulfilling.”
Tito does raise some great points… I mean, at the end of the day, we work in music. We make a living out of writing, talking, and plugging away about music. So looking within our own spheres and finding something in there to keep things interesting and challenging must be pretty easy. And unless you’re a glutton for punishment and only work with music you absolutely despise, finding interesting stuff in our own artists is a great way to liven things up. I mean, think about it: Instead of balancing spreadsheets and discussing mutual funds, we shoot the shit about music all day. Whether we’re talking about the Taylor Swift/Katy Perry feud, oogling Miley Cyrus’ Instagram feed, or pitching the new Electric Six album titled Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die (yes, that’s the REAL name of their new album that comes out in October… Hit me up if you want a copy… Shameless self-promo. Oops?), the fact that we write about, talk about, and listen to music all day is probably one of silliest ways to make a living… so why on earth would we want to jeopardize that career because of something as transient as burnout??
Sometimes though, burnout isn’t due to our doing, but something that happens as a result. When I asked my pal Maggie Poulos, founder of Mixtape Media, the awesome Brooklyn-based music boutique firm who handles The Fontaines, BETS and Bird Dog among others, about her experiences, she relayed a story that sounded pretty soul-crushing… though the silver lining is that she regrouped her energy in… wait for it… Fiji. “I have absolutely suffered from publicist burnout,” she told me. “In 2009, I was laid off from a very high-pressure situation and was able to take some real time off and went to Fiji for a few weeks. That was instrumental in helping me overcome my burnout that time, but I can’t always take off for the South Pacific.” If only… but if you can turn lemons into lemonade while decked out on a tropical beach with a toucan on your shoulder and a pack of hyenas dragging buckets of Coronas to you, why not? (CONFESSION: I don’t know where Fiji is but I know it’s tropical). “Lately though, when I’ve felt burnt out, I’ve sought out publicist friends and asked for advice on certain situations. It’s always helpful to have a fresh perspective and some new ideas heralded in by others in similar situations.” Seeking solace from publicist friends and venting is also good because you can bitch about clients and they’ll understand you without stopping you to ask, “So wait, what exactly is ‘lead time’?”
A lot of times, it’s not just the work load that causes a mental and emotional shutdown. Journalism and publicity alike is rife with pressure to deliver, often with a client at the ready to constantly remind you of the impending deadlines. Managing client and editor expectations while delivering our journalistic pièce de résistance or brandishing our PR magnum opus is a balance we strive for, but achieving it can be extensively draining and soul sucking.
Detaching from the job, as Jason previously mentioned, seems to be the best way to relieve that stress and tackle it with a renewed sense of energy.
Similarly, Maggie feels the same way. “I’ve also made a larger effort to compartmentalize my work things and not let them bleed over into the rest of my life as they have in the past,” she explained. “It’s hard, but I find it’s better for me to stick to designated work hours. While it’s not always possible with this job, I do try to keep work in check. It’s also important to maintain a healthy social life – it’s always beneficial to me to remember that my life is more than my job. That all being said, music is still my passion and I still enjoy doing what I do.”
So with this precarious game of weights and pulleys, how does one stay connected and effervescent in our chosen careers… and is it possible to maintain a lifelong career in these fields? “I remember someone once telling me when I was working in print that most editors switch jobs within five years — and usually it’s to become a publicist,” laughs Robbie. “Whether or not that’s the actual case, I don’t know. But I do see writing as a lifelong career for me. Whatever form that takes as far as actual nine-to-five jobs down the line, we shall see.”
Jason agrees. Once a writer, always a writer. “In the journalism world, I don’t think anyone in this line of work ever leaves writing full stop,” he says. “Robert Christgau [music journalist, essayist, and self-proclaimed “Dean of American Rock Critics”] is still very much offering his personal take on eras, be it his youth via his personal memoirs (His recent memoir, Going Into The City) and on things that are very much all about right now (his “Expert Witness” series for Vice). What’s good for music writers who are aligned to a particular era or movement, is the old adage of “history is what’s happening now.” Those who are entrenched in something are documenting history. Then decades later, when the inevitable revival or interest in a cultural adjunct is revived, consider who should be read – a well-constructed press release or someone who was there? I didn’t fully realize consider this until Alternative Press turned 30 and music fans and industry types reminded me of that scope.”
The publicists agree as well… It’s like a chosen field. You don’t chose to be a publicist… it chooses you.
“I don’t believe this job [as a publicist] has a shelf life,” explains Tito. “There is always a story needing to be told and this is a job entirely based on relationships. So the longer you commit to it, the more valuable you are. Keeping up with the constantly changing climate (e.g. lower press budgets/decreasing editorial real estate, etc.) can be frustrating and exhausting in general, but those who can continue to navigate it successfully will find it to be a career they can enjoy for the long haul.”
“I’ve seen many people do this work for decades and on the flip, but I’ve seen plenty of people get burnt out and move on to entirely different careers,” adds Maggie. “I love music and cannot imagine my involvement with it not being a part of my career, but I am not certain that it will always take the form of working in music publicity. We shall see!”
******
I ran into my friend again last weekend. I asked him how the real estate business was going.
“Dude, I’m thinking of starting an indie label with my friend… Real small, working with local bands here in North Jersey, who don’t know what they’re doing, but at least this gives them an outlet and a sense of accomplishment, and it’s one foot back in the door.” I could see some fresh life pumping behind his eyes. The color was coming back into his face.
“What about the real estate business,” I repeated.
“It’s meh… It’s a job. But the label, I’m working on big things…” His voice trailed off as he detailed excitedly all the plans he had.
I guess it’s true that one does not choose to be in the music industry. It chooses you.
The hashtag turns 10 years old this August. (#HappyBirthday)
Think about that. In just one decade a symbol that used to be thought of as little more than a largely unused button on a phone has become one of the most utilized marketing tools in the world. From humble beginnings on Twitter, where the symbol’s use as a way to track conversations first began, the hashtag has become the global go-to tool for consumer engagement. Where it goes from here is unknown, but for now it seems safe to say the hashtag is here to stay.
Hashtags are perhaps the most useful way you to generate and monitor visibility on social media platforms. By using hashtags you can not only promote new releases and events, but also create a cross-platform space for fans to connect with one another. Hashtags allow you to cultivate a niche community across the world’s biggest social networks at cost that cannot be beat (free), and because of that they are – in today’s world – priceless.
That said, not all hashtags are the same.
In order to make the most of your hashtag you need to incredibly specific. If you are promoting a tour, for example, consider #bandnamelive or #tourname. Plaster this hashtag across all marketing materials and live appearances. Encourage fans to upload photos with the hashtag by choosing one such image to share each day through your official channels. Make them feel like every tweet they share with your hashtag furthers the movement that is your music.
You can also use hashtags to create an open and ongoing dialogue with – and between – fans online. Here’s a great example:
New Kids on the Block have a massive global audience. For years, the most dedicated followers have called themselves Blockheads, and now in the age of social media they are able to connect with one another, as well as the members of NKOTB themselves, using #BHLove.
Donnie Wahlberg, perhaps the most famous member of NKOTB, uses this hashtag daily to reach fans. He also includes it in his bio.
You can click the hashtag #BHLove any time of day and find dozens of messages from fans around the world celebrating their ongoing love of the group’s music.
You might not yet have an audience like that of New Kids on the Block, but you have the access to the same tools they use to stay engaged with their fans. Use that to your advantage and work to create clever, original hashtags that can empower your fans to spread your news far and wide. If you can do that, there is no telling how far their love will take you.
James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the host of the Inside Music podcast and 10-year music writing veteran. You should follow him on Twitter.
