Many new bands record a song or two and add a lot of friends on MySpace then wait desperately for a record company to swoop in to handle all the marketing, publicity, new media and radio promotions that it takes to build a fan base and launch their career. The same misguided thought process regularly takes place when it comes to booking agents, attorneys and managers. New bands often spend a tremendous amount of time, energy and money to find a “team” only to be disappointed when they get no takers.

The reality is, this process almost always works in reverse. The most sought after artists and bands are the ones who have built their own fan base, booked their own tours and managed themselves for an extended period of time. Consider how the business opportunity of working with your band looks from the other side of the table. What is a safer bet for a record label in a really tough environment, investing a lot of time, money and effort to expand the success of proven band with a built in fan base or building a fan base from virtually scratch for a new band very few people have ever paid money to see or hear? Would a booking agent be able to cover their expenses on 10% of the shows you booked last month or a manager on 15% of the income your band earned last month?

Building and expanding a fan base yourself is the most important thing you can do to build a sustainable career and attract the attention of the music biz folks.

Beware – It is very hard to get noticed in the extremely crowded field of artists vying for attention of music fans today. It can be done, but understand this is a long-term process that requires a “build one fan at a time” approach, a lot of hard work, persistence and determination.

To build a fan base focus on these items first:

• Playing live shows is one of the best ways to showcase your talent and build a fan base. You might only play in front of a couple of people at first. Stick with it and there should be more people the next time and the next if what you are playing is of high quality and appeals to the fans at the venue where you are playing. A packed venue is the most powerful publicity a band can have.

• Increase your knowledge and use of the many tools now available for artists to reach fans through distribution, licensing, Internet radio, and more. MySpace is not enough. Check out our Resource Directory and set up a RSS feed from New Music Ideas for starters. Talk to successful bands in your area and find out what tools are and aren’t working for them. Keep up with the latest trends and tools but don’t try and do it all. Prioritize what is manageable and only stick with what actually produces results for you.

• Build and follow a marketing plan for developing and maintaining a personal relationship with your fans. Giving thought to how and what you communicate with fans through your website, blog, or newsletter will help with follow through and getting it done on a regular basis. Developing creative ways to provide fans with extra value out of a direct relationship can pay huge loyalty dividends.

You will know you’re on the right path when record labels, managers and booking agents start calling. Once you’ve done the hard work necessary to build a fan base and are presented with a couple of recording contracts you just might decide your career is better off without involving a record label involved after all.

Developing a loyal group of fans who support you is the best way to build and sustain a career in music. It also gives you a lot more career options, including the one to say “no thanks, I like making all my own decisions” when the music biz folks do come calling.

Tim Westergren founded Pandora in January 2000 and also now serves as its Chief Strategy Officer. Tim is an award-winning composer, an accomplished musician and a record producer with 20 years of experience in the music industry.

By all accounts, George Martin, the legendary producer/engineer/arranger for the Beatles played a pivotal role in shaping the Fab Four’s sound in the recording studio. Over the years, he has come to represent more broadly the potentially vital contribution that can be made by someone who’s not writing the music or playing an instrument in the band. In some cases, this individual can be more important than any one band member.  A great producer can single handedly change the fortunes of an artist.

I want to suggest that every band consider hiring their own Fifth Beatle – only this additional band member’s instrument is online marketing. Their role is to figure out ways to amplify the awareness of the band, leverage every possible tool at their disposal to build a fan base, and to position the band properly to take advantage of the digital market. With the amazing number of low cost tools now available, one person with the motivation and requisite skills can accomplish a ton. And this person could well be a 19-year old college sophomore who loves the band and happens to be an online promotion genius. Give him/her equal share, and treat them with the same respect and deference that you do your fellow bandmates. They get a vote on the set list, they’re at the band meetings… and they get royalty checks along with everyone else.  The band can continue to focus on what they do best – composing, performing, recording – while the marketer takes care of squeezing every ounce of opportunity out of the music product.

As a former working musician, I can say without a doubt that musicians have chronically undervalued ‘external’ contributors - sound guys, bookers, agents, attorneys, you name it.  It’s a natural propensity of artists who often lack an understanding of the workings of the ecosystem around them. I would say that a good percentage of bands fall apart because they fail to grasp this – they’re either sloppy in choosing people or ignore these roles altogether.

Never before has it been more important for artists to get this monkey off their back – because never before has there been more to gain by getting that part of a career right.

The digital age has brought with it unprecedented access and opportunity for working musicians, but it also comes with great complexity.  Self-producing, distributing and promoting a record is now a real option for anyone with a PC, but if you aren’t smart about marketing and promotions you’ll just be another tree falling the forest.  It’s kind of like having lousy sound at a show.  You can play your best set, but if nobody’s paying attention to what’s coming out of the speakers, it won’t matter. 

As the label/band model evolves, musicians are going to have to start thinking more expansively about who is ‘in’ the band. Advances and outsourcing are going to give way to equity and cooperatives as aspiring bands grow their teams.

Consider this simple example: Soundexchange, which administers the performance royalties coming in from online radio, already a multi-million dollar annual revenue stream, keeps 50% of the money it receives because it has no mailing address for the artists. That’s one phone call that the Fifth Beatle will make sure is made. 

Spencer Richardson co-founded FanBridge in 2006 to help musicians and labels of all sizes and backgrounds to unlock the true potential of their fans. Prior to starting FanBridge Spencer worked with a New York based management consulting firm, primarily working with Microsoft and IBM to develop corporate strategies.

We all know the experience, whether it’s the time you were sitting by the open window on that stormy Sunday and spent hours writing that song about your ex (who you just had a feeling was also watching the rain), or that other time when you finally quit (or got fired) from that part-time job with the jerk manager, and just spent the entire evening focused on finishing a song you started a couple months back, before work took over your life.

These are the moments that transform your life and add depth to your music. These are the moments that your fans can connect with, and are willing to give their time and money to hear. These are the moments that define your message to the world.

This said, your music alone is just one way that you can get your message to the world heard. It’s just one way to keep people interested in what you have to share. The problem for most musicians though is keeping their fans interested in their music outside of live shows and CD release events. This is when taking the time to manage and communicate with your fans proves to be just as valuable (if not sometimes more valuable) to building your music career then the time you spend writing and playing your music.

Communication Rule #1:

“If you take the time to communicate with your fans, they will take the time to listen.”

Are all your fans listening, or just some?

This question has two parts. The first part is to figure out what your fans actually care about knowing when it comes time to communicate with them. The better job you do in creating messages that include content fans really want to know about, the higher the chance they are going to want to open and read your messages. In the next section below we have included a mini-checklist that you should always keep in mind when communicating with your fans.

The second part to answering this question is to figure out if you messages are actually getting to all your fans in the first place. Your fans could be more dedicated to you than U2 fans are to Bono, but if your emails aren’t getting past SPAM filters and are not getting sent through reliable servers (the tech hardware that send out emails) then you might as well write your message on a piece of paper and throw it directly into the trash bin.

So, it becomes vital that when you send your messages you send them through a company that can ensure the highest levels of deliverability (which is something that many indie-bands forget, but none of the major labels overlook).  

Think about it like this, you can get 40% more fans to go to shows or buy your music just by switching to a company that can get you 40% higher deliverability. You don’t have to get a single new fan, and yet just by being smart about regularly communicating with your fans using the right email list management company you can make much more money!

Communication Rule #2:

“Success in the music biz is not about who you know, it’s about who you work with.”

What do fans want to know?

T    The answer to this is pretty much exactly what you might think. Fans already like your music, so there’s no need to try and sell them on it. Here’s a basic checklist that we have created for what all musicians should be communicating to their fans about once per month throughout the year:
 

• Tour schedule/info (even if you’re not on tour, info about future tours) 

• Any other event info related to your music (or other good bands) 

• Latest music release schedule/info/links 

• Places to buy your music 

•  Photos from the road, the studio etc. 

• Any stories from the road or studio (or anywhere else) 

• Any other topics that you are interested in (remember, just like friends, fans will typically have the same general interests as you)

Communication Rule #3:

“Aside from just knowing where to get your music, fans want to know where you got your music.”

To learn more about effectively using email and mobile marketing to communicate with your fans visit FanBridge.com.

John Doe is the founder of the seminal Los Angeles punk group X, a solo artist and actor. John answers questions from our community members in the WWJDD? blog. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.

A Question from Liv in Milwaukee

John, John, John,

(big fan here)....I have seen you countless times,and spoken to you a couple as well, and although I quit 'the hooch' years ago, I still somehow manage to turn into a blathering rambling puddle most of the time when faced w/speaking directly to people I admire,,,So,uh, I'll do my best*

 I am 37 now, and this year marks 20 years of playing in bars/nightclubs/and venues for me. I am embracing the word 'seasoned' now more than ever. I've had two record deals, successful in their lessons to me, unsuccessful in terms of exposure regarding my music. I keep going, keep going, keep playing, practicing, writing, dreaming. I think positively, I think negatively, I've gone through love /hate and back again w/what this means to me, and why I still am willing to occasionally play to nearly no-one, only for gas money.

So I guess I'll end this with a sort of question...Do you believe that if what you do is good enough,(for lack of a better term) that it will be noticed one day?

Or, Is the music industry so different and fucked up now, that it's more of a privilege to in fact not be noticed?
Or...Does god, or the powers that be, hear us and our songs, thus paving the way to a pretty kick ass afterlife?? (half kidding)

It would be great to hear what you say

Liv

www.myspace.com/thedarkhorseproject 

WWJDD?

Hey Liv,
   Unless you are lucky enough to find just the right balance of the music/career/life combination, everyone has similar questions.  Let's say you're Debby Harry (I see she's on yr "friends" list) & had a great artistic run, part of a seminal scene, changed peoples' lives, had bonafide hit songs & now still loves music & wants to keep making it. Does she want to sing, write songs, record, play live OR does she just want to be famous & re-capture the "salad days"? Probably some combination of both.  At this point in her life, it's her attitude that will determine how rewarding making music is or is not.  DISCLAIMER ! ! ! I have no idea how or what Debby Harry does w/ her music, life or mind.  I'm just using her as an example.
  There are times in everyone's career, artistic or not, where the question "What The Fuck?" is all you can think.  Sssooo . . .  I guess that's the question you have to answer.  There's no doubt that a lot of bullshit happens in music on all kinds of different levels.  Do you love making music and that whole process or is how it's received, by whom & what you get paid more important?  I'm not judging which is better.  People do things for all kinds of reasons & it really doesn't matter why.  Personally, I'm not all that anxious to walk into another ammonia-stinking bar @ 6 PM to do sound check, but I have to look at it from the perspective that if I'm lucky I'll have the opportunity to do this for another 15 + years.
   In the old days (like up 'til the 50's) people just sat around each others' houses & played songs w/ their friends.  That is a great thing that I wish I did more of & can be even more rewarding than having to be validated by an audience.        
Hope that's of some help, best of luck solving an ancient dilemma & as always
thanks for writing,

JD

If you have questions for John Doe about music, the music business or life feel free to email them to wwjdd@knowthemusicbiz.com.

For more information on John Doe check out theejohndoe.com or YepRoc.com .