Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart. Be sure to catch Martin’s presentation at this year’s SXSW Music Festival on Thursday, March 18th at 12:30 pm at the Austin Convention Center.

I’d be happy to describe this as cutting edge Music Business 2.0 philosophy.... except for my quote (and inspiration for this blog) is from Flaubert written in the 18 fucking hundreds or so....   Incrementalism is so easy.  You have no excuse. 

INSTEAD of following the old model - constipating your creative self trying to create that classic album - STOP!  Make a few good songs, record them, release then in whatever format you want (I’d suggest physical as well as digital) then, use your audience and their reactions to guide you towards the next three songs. Even if you don't consciously do this, you will have a natural aversion to playing songs for people in the same style as ones that have previously caused a mass walk out, things being thrown at you, booing, lack of blowjobs, etc. I watched an interview with Groucho Marx recently.  He said that at the height of their Vaudeville careers they were performing four times a day and the audience was basically writing their material.  Anything that was funny stayed in the set and was polished, anything that wasn't, didn't.

Using this shampoo method (wash, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat) you'll quickly have a second EP, more t-shirts and you will be monetizing your efforts whilst conducting market research and increasing your fan base. WOW.  After a year of this (or so) you'll be able to choose the best songs (or let your fans) from all of the releases, tweak them a little or even re-work and re-tool them if your focus or your line-up has changed, and then, release a much better album. Then it’s not really an album. It’s an easier to carry, “best of” from your first four EPs.  You're not releasing AN ALBUM, you are simply providing a service to all of your fans who are tired of keeping track of all of your releases.

You slowly, incrementally, build your Great Wall of China, you aim low but get high (kick in reverb FX and xylophone) you continue, you struggle, you move ever onwards and upwards and achieve whatever level of success that you want to. Unless of course, you don't listen, are an asshole, smell bad, have shitty songs, poor stage presence, overly loud equipment and not enough juice for the fog machine.

“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.” – Gustave Flaubert

In this age of instant communications, global everything and constant change, who are we to argue with some nut using a quill pen and covered in body lice?? (That’s Flaubert not me)

I'll be at SXSW for a week, come and get some free advice from me. 

Tuesday, March 16 - 5:00 - 8:00 pm:

Momo's (West 6th St & Rio Grande) FREE and open to the public. 

RSVP: www.austinmusicfoundation.org

Thursday, March 18: Welcome to the Music Business -You're Fucked!

12.30 PM - 1.30 PM @ Austin Convention Center

Been fucked by the music business?  Share your stories with us and win a free shirt!  Click to enter .

Thursday, March 18: Book Signing 3.15 PM - 3.45 PM @ Austin Convention Center

All week long:  Tour:Smart SXSW Headquarters Dandyland Tattoo (513 E. 6th St., Austin, TX  78701),

That’s a lot to digest...but no fear.  We’ve come up with a package that does it all.  Breaking the Band - $1399 for four songs, 120 CDs, 40 T-shirts, and brainstorming session with me.  More info: www.mattressfactorychicago.com

More tour dates 

 

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

 

Martin Atkins' experience from a recent Tour:Smart event:

A guy came up to me after my Tour:Smart event in Traverse City.  He plays on his own, without a band, has a CD, etc.  He's trying to expand his base outside of Traverse City which is, literally, the end of the line in upper Michigan. He had a GREAT idea to tell the local bars, "I'll play for free!" That’s always going to get a good response; but then, even as he told me the next part of his 'pitch' he realized (maybe he could see my face contorting) that the last part screwed it all up "then next time you can pay me $100." I'm sure all the club owners heard was "$100, $100, $100."  Even just spoken aloud to me it sounded like a contract.

Part of his 'getting the hell out of Dodge' strategy had to do with finding a place, any place, to play.  He told me that when he does play people like him and that bars during the tourist season up there are PACKED. I gave him the following strategy (which is a variation of the car park strategy where you flyer the car park of a larger similar genre event and manage to hit everyone within a 50 mile radius, rather than YOU driving all over the 50 mile radius - your target audience has been magnetized to you!) - use it!

Because Traverse City IS a vacation destination, punters (your audience) are traveling there from various parts of the country.  I suggested that he play for FREE everywhere he could, including busking at any busy location (or close to one) BUT to make sure that he collects e-mail information in exchange for a free CD, download code, t-shirt WHATEVER.  The important thing is for him to get as many  legitimate contacts as possible, THEN, wait for the tipping point when a cluster of fans that have seen him in Traverse City appear in, Florida, Detroit, or, shit, a town 50 miles south .......wait to see the data then strategize how you are going to make use of it.  The good news is that because he is only one person he will be able to travel cost effectively to pour some gasoline on those sparks. Also, he knows one more thing about the people from out of town who have picked up his music - they have money to travel out of town and entertain themselves!

A similar strategy could work very well if you live in the Austin TX area. USE SXSW as a built in free world wide trawling for fans and contacts party!   Strategize a cool way to get e-mail addresses, provide a service, and take it from there.  IF all of your connections weirdly end up to be in Norway or Brazil - go there!

For more strategies like this one, attend Martin’s Tour:Smart PLUS 3 day seminar Jan 29 – 31 in Chicago.  Enter code “2for1” for a FREE pass for a friend. 

Also, check out Martin’s talk on the road .  He’s hitting the west coast, UK, and Norway in February. 

 Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - Los Angeles, CA     

    8:00am: New Music Seminar- Henry Fonda Theatre 6126 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA

    RSVP: http://lanewmusicseminar.eventbrite.com

Thursday, February 4, 2010 - Portland, OR

    7:00pm: Tour:Smart seminar at The Cleaners at the Ace Hotel 1022 Southwest Stark Street Portland, OR 97205

    RSVP: http://tstourthecleaners.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, February 6, 2010 - Sacramento, CA   

   3:00pm: Tour:Smart seminar at Marilyn's - 1107 9th Street, Suite T-100 Sacramento, CA 95811

   RSVP: http://toursmartsacramento.eventbrite.com/

Sunday, February 7, 2010 - San Francisco, CA

 

   6:30PM: Tour:Smart seminar at The Union Room at Biscuits and Blues - 401 Mason St. 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94102

   RSVP: http://tssanfran.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 - USC La Crescenta, CA 

    2:00pm: Guest Lecture at USC 2820 Manhattan Ave La Crescenta, CA 91214 United States

Thursday, February 11, 2010 - Pomona, CA

    12:00pm: Guest Lecture at Cal Poly (3801 W. Temple Ave. Pomona, CA 91768)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - Saturday, March 13, 2010 - Toronto, Canada

Canadian Music Week - Conference, Panel, Speaker. Times to TBD

  Thursday, March 18, 2010 - Austin, TX

12:30pm: Welcome to the Music Business-You're Fucked Speaking at SXSW (Austin Convention Center Austin, TX)

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

Yesterday I was at The Baltimore Music Conference and met Keith Center from a DC based folk-core band called The Dreamscape Project ....Sometimes bands that aren't obviously, rabidly perusing POP success really fail at the merchandising side of things. These guys don’t so I wanted to blog about them and remember their great ideas......

1. Three weeks before a show they send out a handful of postcards to their fans as a reminder and as a call to arms to hand out a few (more about this in a minute.)
2. Instead of a merch booth each member of the band is equipped with a shoulder bag packed with a few of each item they have for sale and is charged with the responsibility of mingling and selling (more about this in a minute too).
3. There is no 3.

A couple of tweaks from me....

I'd try one time to send out VIP passes or a free live cd to the fans three weeks before a show. I was concerned that a handful of postcards sent to a fan is like sending them a work order, “please distribute these to people at the mall.” But, shit, it’s still GOOD!

My only other tweak (and now I have tweaked both of these great ideas) would be IN ADDITION to having the roaming band-member-merchandise-assault-squad – set up a merch booth. People like me need to know where the table with the merch is because that’s where the merch is. I might not get to wandering around to find the merchandis-ettes. I might grab someone and go, “hold on Betty! There’s no fucking merch at all - we're leaving!” Plus, not everyone wants to deal face to face with a sweaty band member.......people are shy, people are timid.

I hope that I haven't now turned this around into a 'here’s my twenty problems with The Dreamscape Project" because I really liked their out of the box, different thinking. I’m just a hole poker ain't I? Send me your ideas so that I can blog about them. Then, everyone can use them and you'll have to come up with more good ones - that’s the fuel that burns the fire and keeps us all warm.

PLR

MarteeeeeeeeeN

On the road, loading video and typing in the passenger seat

Come to a T:S event. Full schedule here

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

Before we delve into the wonderful world of touring logistics, strategies, great ideas that can help, bad ideas that won’t, and a few stories along the way; perhaps we should ponder if, with all of the technological advancements every day AND (for f’s sake) the price of gas!, If it’s even necessary to tour anymore?

Yes it is, you know it is, stop smoke-screening you lazy bastard and get with it!!

You don’t need to look far for an example of how important it is to get out there. Do you think for one second that, if it wasn’t essential, that politicians ever leave home? Most of those guys can’t even bring themselves to think about other people, let alone touch them—(unless it’s on the ass). So the only reason they are out there is: 1. More ass, or 2. Their advisors told them that they had to, showed them the evidence, and pushed them out the door. Think about this the next time you see one of them getting on the ‘truth bus’ or whatever crap they are selling this week.

Every single element affecting your career and your ability to continue is helped by touring:

• Anyone anywhere is more likely to check out your MySpace page if they see you are coming to town.

• Any promoter in any other city is more likely to give you a gig if they see you are performing in other parts of the country.

• People on the web write about things that happened at shows they went to, not shows that didn’t happen, that they couldn’t go to…

• Your manager, if you have one, will prioritize you over another (maybe better?) band because you are working harder (unless the other band is Radiohead).

• You can be the eyes and ears for your label, if you have one... or for other bands too lazy or frightened to leave their home base. You can tell them where responses, crowds, sound-systems are good or where ‘promoters’ are baaaaaad.

• Your agent, if you have one, will pay more attention if you show him you are prepared to perform seven shows a week. That means if he can get you to a point where you are earning $1,000 a night, then he could earn $1,000 a week.in commissions. (good job agents don’t care about money huh!)

• The record store (if you can find one) is more likely to stock your music and put up a poster.

• Everyone from the local blogger to the local paper is more likely to review your CD or mention your show.

• You can leave behind promotional beacons… t-shirts etc, put up stickers in bathrooms, graffiti in the dressing room and generally ‘leave your mark’

• Your album (or collection of songs) will be better because you’ll have direct and immediate feedback from a real, live audience; either smiling and jumping up and down because the songs you thought were great really are, or throwing things because you are delusional and your songs are shit. Either way, this is way more valuable than a bunch of people on your MySpace page plugging their own albums.

• It is a great opportunity to triumph over your shyness (eventually without the aid of alcohol) and polish your people meeting skills.

• This is stuff YOU can do – (while you are waiting for all of the people who said they were going to do something to come through for you.)

• You are creating more of your own content, audio, video and mythical…. you can’t release a Live in Paris (Texas) album if you don’t go and play there!

And, very importantly:

• The more you play, the better you get!

• You can meet GREAT, enthusiastic people who can help you next time around

• You can discover wonderful things in other town’s thrift stores

In addition to all of this – many other things will just become blindingly obvious to you as you begin this journey. You will realize when the guitarist pukes on you for the fourth time that maybe his drinking is becoming a problem – you can reflect further on this as you pull out pieces of sweetcorn and carrots from the pockets of your jeans at the laundromat.

What does all of this mean? How will it really help you? Well, all of these bits of information are little bricks in your wall (I use that analogy a LOT) but, here’s an example of what you’ll be getting from this column to leave you with:

A simple decision for a band in the mid-west – between heading out to the west coast or staying closer to home but still hitting major markets – the difference in gas costs alone - $1200. That’s the tour support that the label that wouldn’t sign you, wouldn’t give you!

Ok, now, do I have your attention???

GREAT – if you want to start reading up on this, taking control of as much of your career as you can – then there is a great deal on my e book here or you can go to Amazon and get it here.

P L R

Martin Atkins

 

 

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart and a founder of Revolution Number Three - a school where students learn IN the business, not ABOUT the business.

It turns out that Nike is right.  You can JUST DO IT.  If, when faced with a less-than-ideal situation, you find yourself immediately getting defensive or rolodex-ing the million reasons (and people) who are responsible for your lack of action, movement forward, success, or blowjob - then STOP.  Stop everything. 

 

If you’re on this path the next thing that is going to happen is that I am going to start telling you motivating stories of triumphs without budgets, greatness without cash, groovyness in the face of everything.  You’ll start retreating and reinforcing your position that all you need is a manager, an agent, a producer, and several budgets (because now you have the hang of Microsoft Excel and can make a silly wish list pie in the sky budget why not make a few more!)  We’ll go back and forth.  Me, trying to convince you that the solution to everything lies within you, and you blaming everyone but yourself.

 

Well...., I'm not doing that any more.  No, I'm not giving up on you but I’ve come to realize that my time is better spent helping the few that get it (or at least a bit of it) rather than smashing myself in the face with a recently stolen parking meter. 

 

The glorious part of that is the amazing flower that blossoms and brightens the half dug up, oil slicked concrete pock marked car park (not the orchid that blooms in the temperature controlled hydroponic environment).  The other way of saying that (literally in a less flowery style) is:  triumph in the face of adversity!  Sounds like something you'd print on a coffee mug and recite over the cappuccino machine on a bright sunny morning, doesn’t it?  Like, “Triumph in the face of adversity - who wants the last blueberry bagel?" 

 

Actually, it’s a phrase that’s going to be much more useful in the very pits of a lonely, stark, harsh reality-check bio-hazard hot tub, bubbling with despair, defeat, and hopeless sadness.  Any fuckhead can survive an on-stage “catastrophe” of a broken string and waffle into the bar afterwards and recap in horrifying microscope detail: "...And that’s how I managed to clip on the strap right before the middle G on Dave’s bass solo!” 

 

No one really tells the story of, “....and that’s how I avoided killing myself in the middle of a really bad period of my life.”  It’s easier to share the epic tale of “How I Survived a Broken Guitar String” than it is talk about the “deep stuff.”  That is, I suppose, a weird part of all this too.  Music is a very powerful force in each of us.   People commit themselves to sounds, bands, and entire movements.  Sometimes (more often than we might think) the people making that music are awash in a sea of emotions and problems of their own unknowingly helping others whilst sometimes not emerging from the tunnel themselves. 

 

We are equipped with instructions, advice, and guidance that is at best flawed, but more often non-existent, misguided, deliberately obtuse or cloudy.  It sometimes feels like giving a soldier about to land in Afghanistan instructions for Pac-Man or a DVD episode of Dr. Phil to play to the enemy.  Maybe it’s like giving a shuttle pilot the ignition key, the location of the GO! button and nothing else......a fucking blender comes with more meaningful instructions than the desire to create a career in music or art.

 

So, yes, clearly, I “get-it.”  I’ve lived it.  I’m still living it.  I'm fond of saying, “it’s not rocket science” and much of it isn't.  It is a lot lot lot of hard hard work that you can do - easy peasy.  Then, of course there’s the other stuff.

 

The good news is that if you start doing the hundreds of easy tasks ahead of you, you might grab the tenacity, ingenuity, sense of humor, and resilience you are going to need for so many of the other not-as-easy things.  The bad news is...   Actually, there isn't any bad news right now - unless you want to make some up for yourself.

 

Coming to these conclusions on my own in the last few weeks has really helped me.  I met some amazing folks at Unconvention in Manchester a few weeks ago.  I’m still doing consulting, but I’ve put together a few other packages to make myself accessible to those of you who are ready to work.  Contact me if you want more info on that.

 

And for those of you who need a little bit more structure, maybe revolution number three is the place for you.  It’s a school that I’m starting. 

 

And, lastly, a new Pigface album just dropped.  Along with it comes some CD release parties, gallery shows, and all kinds of wonderful-ness. 

 

So, not the usual “ten ways to play drums faster!’ tips this week, more of an introspective, philosophical thing – but that’s the way it goes…….

 

See you on the road.

 

Upcoming dates:

 

Saturday, June 27 - Chicago IL

Time TBD Martin Atkins DJ set / Pigface CD Relase Party at Vampire Night at Lucky Number Grill 1931 N. Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60647

FREE ADMISSION if dressed like a vampire or $5 at the door.  more info: http://www.myspace.com/vampirenightchicago

 

Friday, July 10th - Baltimore, MD.
The Metro Gallery, Baltimore.  Martin Atkins Gallery showcase.  Showcase/sale of his artwork.  1700 N. Charles St.; Baltimore, MD 21201 sarah@themetrogallery.net
8pm to 11pm, Doors open at 7pm.  Free wine from 7pm to 8pm.

Saturday, July 11th - Baltimore, MD.
Orpheus, Baltimore.  Pigface CD Release Party.  Martin DJ Set from 11pm to 12am.  More details to come.  1003 E. Pratt St.; Baltimore, MD 21202.

 

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart. Be sure to catch Martin's presentation at this year's SXSW Music Festival on Wednesday, March 18th at 4:30 pm in Room 18 of the Austin Convention Center.

Going to SXSW? Watch this video:

I nibbled around the edges of it but it comes down to this: FREE IS THE NEW BLACK!

Strangely enough, I've seen a few articles recently in USA Today about sponsors of theatre and opera not following through with promised support and avoiding what amounts to collection calls from struggling organizations. It's tough when the real world comes knocking at your door like a landlord determined to collect the three-week late rent. Maybe a little bit of the real world is good in an arena partially unplugged from the harsh realities of ticket sales and making the most out nothing where ingenuity and imagination are key.

The reaction of a particular children's theatre group was astounding to me. They decided to save money by hiring sub-par actors. Additionally, they started charging $8/person for a performance that had originally been free. Is anyone actually wondering how this might end? It's the same as giving away apple pie, but when you run short of money, you decide to replace the apples with old truck tires you found in the scrap yard. Then on top of that, you decide to start charging for them. If something was free and now you're asking your customer to pay for it, it should be better, right? (Or at least as good).

The idea that someone has to live through the next two months to be able to fill in the blanks in their budget to actually see the sales line plummet through the x-axis on the graph would be hilarious if it wasn't so frightening. It supports the idea of the beginning of this post – that a dose of reality might be helpful in guiding direction and policy.

A t-shirt that says “free is the new black” might be required. The problem is, how do I make money selling a shirt that says “free is the new black?” I still need to think that one through, but it's not going to be by making one, giving it away, running short of money, then making a crappy one where the sleeves fall off and the label is cut (because it is a second) and it's itchy (because it's a cheap blend of fibers) and then try to charge money for it.

So, when you're confused - not by the easy decision you need to make – but by all the external pressures surrounding it that will push you off course, just remember: free is the new black.

This isn't just talk, because talk is cheap. Here's some examples of our recent triumphs with this strategy (keep reading, they benefit you!)

Here are some difficult suggestions

1. Give away a chance to win a guitar to anyone who purchases your book (not that you have to offer an inducement, but how about a free Dean guitar?) www.myspace.com/officialdeanguitars.com
2. How about three months' free subscription to Musician's Atlas?
3. How about $4,000 of musical equipment – a Pearl drums, PreSonus audio interfaces, another Dean guitar, and a free book?
4. How about free advice when you call me on the Tour:Smart hotline (you can only get the number the Tour:Smart SXSW Survival Guide. But, I'm sure by Wednesday afternoon some asshole will have posted it anyway)

For those of you thinking, "well that's alright for you Martin. You can give gear away, but we're a struggling band." We're all struggling. It doesn't make things any better to charge more money for something because people don't have any money anyway. What can you do as a struggling band? Do what bands have always done – make people feel better!

• Play for free. Give your friends an opportunity to let their hair down (if they haven't already ripped it all out) and spend what little money they do have on a pitcher of cheap beer. At a time when people are so emotionally raw and so mentally stressed, it's an entertainer's job to take their minds off of their problems.
• Don't complain. Tune up your guitar. Cut people some slack. Make a difference. That's what we're supposed to do.
• Make it special because it is.

One of our favorite bands Marrow also shared their favorite Tour:Smart tips.

Rent a new vehicle. Old ones will break down. Always. Never have down time. Use free days to flier, network, and give free stuff to locals. You never know where you'll find our newest and biggest fans. Don't assume they'll find you.

See Martin at SXSW:

Wednesday, March 18 - SXSW Austin, TX
* 4:30pm Martin Atkins Tour:Smart Seminar at SXSW! This is a can't miss talk. (Austin Convention Center, Room 18ABC)

Thursday, March 19 - SXSW Austin, TX
* 1:00pm Martin Atkins / Tour:Smart special book signing at Barnes & Noble in the Austin Convention Center – FREE Tour:Smart DVD with book purchase

Friday, March 20, - Waterloo Records, Austin TX - NO BADGE REQUIRED!!
* 12pm Martin Atkins / Tour:Smart mini-lecture and book signing at Waterloo Records (600 North Lamar) – FREE SHIRTS!! www.toursmartwaterloo.eventbrite.com

Saturday, March 21 - Houston, TX
* 6:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY Summit at the Meridian (1503 Chartres St). Reserve your spot at the seminar here http://toursmarthouston.eventbrite.com/Seminar is followed by show featuring The Queers, Los Skarnales, The Cute Lepers, Simpleton, SiNDADDY, Poison Arrows, Bozo Porno Circus, Whorehound, and Chant Martin Atkins will be DJing after the first band. Tickets for the show are $12 in advance http://www.meridianhouston.com/ConcertsEvents/tabid/57/Default.aspx#20090430dredge, $14 at the door.

Tuesday, March 24 - Los Angeles, CA
* 2:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY Summit co-promoted by Grammy U at University of Southern California's Ground Zero's Coffee House (615 Child's Way - Los Angeles, CA). Limited space! Reserve your space here here – We're giving away Tour:Smart DVDs with purchase of a book and a chance to win a PreSonus Faderport

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart. Be sure to catch Martin’s presentation at this year’s SXSW Music Festival on Wednesday, March 18th at 4:30 pm in Room 18 of the Austin Convention Center.

If you’re going to SXSW to get signed, you should know from reading my last blog post that it’s not going to happen. If you’re going to SXSW to get crazy ass drunk every night instead working your crazy ass off networking for five sleepless nights, stay home and sit on your crazy ass.

SXSW is your chance to meet people in person, make an impression, and show everyone how hardworking, nice, charismatic, and wholesome you and your band really are. Are you playing a showcase? Ask yourself why aren’t you playing two, or three, or four? It’s quadruple the work, but also quadruple the chances that you’ll meet someone like Josh Maloney of Dean Guitars who works in Artist Relations or impress someone that knows someone that knows someone that…..well, you know.

Dean Guitars hosted a Tour:Smart event last week at their headquarters in Tampa. My friends Curse Mackey and Josh Maloney began the afternoon with a reality check on sponsorships. Josh had some seemingly obvious tips for anyone looking for a sponsorship relationship with a company. Check out this video of Josh:



Nothing is obvious and anything that is, bears repeating – so watch and listen!

After my talk about how to make money on the road, Josh and Curse gave everyone an amazing tour of the factory.  It was like something off the Discovery Channel!

If one message resonated at Dean, it was that getting endorsements and sponsorships isn’t easy. SXSW is not a bad place to start. BUT before you run up to every rep from an equipment manufacturing company to present your press kit SXSW Networking Tips by Martin Atkins, follow some basic rules!

Aim Low – Get High

Why not look for a guitar string endorsement before you shoot for something larger? Consider what you can do for a smaller boutique company first. Ask not what a larger company can do for you!

Discounts can be just as good as free

You might find that an artist price deal on the small stuff like drumheads, sticks, or strings will save you WAY more money than getting a guitar or a drum kit from a large company. And, really, honestly - this probably isn’t going to happen. You have to be doing hundreds of dates each year to hundreds and hundreds of people to make that level of sponsorship a possibility.

Sponsors are your peers!

One thing I have seen consistently from Josh, the guys at Jagermeister, Pearl, Presonus Audio, and Trueline drumsticks is that they all care A LOT about music and the people making it. If they are in a position to help an artist either in good times or in bad (as long as you are passionate and work your nuts off) they will do as much as they can.

Adam Grayer, who runs the Jager band program also offers some great tips:

• Know a little about the company and know exactly how their sponsorships work before contacting them
• Have a list of accomplishments when speaking to the representative
• Have your website completely up to date
• Accept rejection respectfully
• If accepted for sponsorship, do everything to include this company in all band promotions
• Show the company you are promoting their product
• Understand that as a sponsor of any company, when at a show or out in public, you are acting as a de facto employee of that company
• And, most important….. Love and use the product/company you have sponsorship from

The great thing about relationships that work – is that they are reciprocal – all of the people that we partner with are friends first – people that, these days, I’ll call on for an opinion or some advice – it turns out that the most important thing about any artist/sponsor relationship – is the relationship.

See you at SXSW! Be sure to pick up a copy of Tour:Smart’s SXSW Survival Guide. It has thousand of dollars of coupons, discounts, tips ,and contests inside from our friends at: Marrow, Ourstage, Po-Po, Dandyland Tattoo on 6th street in Austin (our home away from at SXSW), Musician’s Atlas, Oasis Disc Manufacturing, Presonus Audio, Dean Guitars, Pearl Drums, Trick Drums, and of course Jagermeister!

Tour:Smart on the road:

Wednesday, March 18 - SXSW Austin, TX

* 4:30pm Martin Atkins Tour:Smart Seminar at SXSW!  This is a can't miss talk.  (Austin Convention Center, Room 18)

Thursday, March 19 - SXSW Austin, TX

* 1:00pm Martin Atkins / Tour:Smart special book signing at Barnes & Noble in the Austin Convention Center

Saturday, March 21 - Houston, TX

* 6:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY Summit at the Meridian (1503 Chartres St). Reserve your spot at the seminar here The DIY Summit is followed by a show featuring The Queers, Los Skarnales, The Cute Lepers, Simpleton, SiNDADDY, Poison Arrows, Bozo Porno Circus, Whorehound, and Chant  Martin Atkins will be DJing between each band. Tickets for the show are $12 in advance, $14 at the door. Click here for tickets

Tuesday, March 24 - Los Angeles, CA

* 2:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY Summit co-promoted by Grammy U at University of Southern California's Ground Zero's Coffee House (615 Child's Way - Los Angeles, CA). Limited space! Reserve your space here

Tuesday, March 24 - Los Angeles, CA

* 7:00pm Book signing and Tour:Smart talk at Book Soup (8818 Sunset Blvd). RSVP here

 

 

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart. Be sure to catch Martin’s presentation at this year’s SXSW Music Festival on Wednesday, March 18th at 4:30 pm in Room 18 of the Austin Convention Center.

I’ve spoken and blogged a lot about what events like the South by Southwest Music Festival are and what opportunities really exist there. It basically comes down to one thing: NETWORKING your ass off and connecting with people that otherwise would cost you a fortune to hook up with. If you are in Florida and have aspirations to succeed on the west coast, then how valuable is each single contact you can make with anyone from that part of the country? It’s MASSIVE. It might mean a place to stay, a connection to someone who can really help, or maybe just an email from someone you met that says, “Watch out! I saw you are playing at XXXXXXXXXX club. They have been having some problems with their PA.” Forearmed is forewarned. So, if you are in a band that’s trying to expand, you had better be looking at 18+ hour days, RABID networking, and anything you can do to increase your mailing list from 27 people in Tampa to 27 people in Tampa, 14 people in Jacksonville, 31 in Orlando, etc.

Divide and conquer

Get a band mindset on this. You know how it works when you all start drinking – it spirals right? Well, get all of that (or some of it) out of your systems in the next few weeks then spend some time planning and reinforcing what each of you will do at SXSW. If there are four of you, then what happens if you split up? Twice the networking!

How to distribute your message

Right now is a great time to be thinking about how to get your message out there. Which media best carries your message and communicates your vibe? Drop cards? Discs? Flash drives? Now that I come to think about it how about first thinking about something that communicates more effectively than, “Hang on… Do you have a pen? Excuse me, do you have a piece of paper I can write illegibly on then give to this guy who could be instrumental in my career but I’m blowing it right now? So, I should really be asking you for a card pre-printed with the words ‘Lame- ass Loser’ across the top. Hello, hello…?”

Think about what it is you are going to say to someone when you are handing them your media, flyer for your show, or your business card. If, when you hand over a disc, you preface it by saying, “we just hired a new bass player so this is crap.” – STOP. Get in the studio and get real. Wait until next year to go SXSW! Time is what I don’t have so I certainly don’t have time to listen to your CD, then listen to it again with the new bass player.

Mastering!

If you’ve gone through the process of writing and recording songs, and having a hard think about which media to put them on for SXSW, for fuck’s sake at least have them mastered. If someone has actually decided to listen to your music, don’t make it horrible for them. Here’s a deal from Mattress Factory on quick mastering for ya; not hi-fi audio junkie stuff. They make it louder rather than too quiet. Quick and easy, down and dirty. The only charge $400 to master your album, but if you enter code: SXSW you’ll get 50% off!

Business cards

You must, must, must have business cards with you at all times! Pay attention to quantity. Think about who you are and what you are doing.

At some of my events there are 150 – 200 people in a lecture hall. I put out a pile of cards on the table and encourage everyone to take one (along with a warning not to call me on my cell phone!) Ordering 10,000 or more at a time works for me. You might only need 100.

The guys over at Minuteman Press Chicago understand how important this is for bands and also understand band budgets. They only charge $24 for a minimum order of 100 basic, no hassle, no “reinvent the wheel” cards! They’ll give you a quote for all the bells and whistles, but the best part is, they’ll give you 15% off your entire order if you mention Tour:Smart! (type Tour:Smart in the “additional details” box).

Do something!Be noticed!

A Tour:Smart seminar attendee at Drum Tech in the UK heard my diatribe about time (the lack of it) and offered to pay for a massage for me while I listened to her classical CD. It was a great offer and demonstrated outside of the box thinking for sure. I had a long drive and didn’t have the time to take her up on the offer but I was so impressed I listened to the disc on my drive and made notes. Then, when I got back to the studio, I actually did a few edits on a couple of tracks to show her what I was thinking! Think about what everyone else at SXSW is trying to do. Everyone there is networking their asses off. What makes your band different from any of the other 2,500 other bands (and the answer better not be “the bass line on track three is killer” because, first if it is killer it should be track one, and second no one is going to listen to your music at SXSW). Do something that will make you stand out in the moment. Offer massages, shoe shines, anything!! Just do something different. If you can’t change yourself, change the background.

And, by all means, come to a Tour:Smart seminar – we’ll be in your town soon:

Thursday, February 19 – Tampa, FL

2:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY Summit and Dean Factory tour at Dean Guitar Headquarters with Martin Atkins and special guests Josh Malony and Curse Mackey (4924 W.Waters Ave.)

Registration is extremely limited. Secure your seat now! Register!

Thursday, February 19 – Tampa, FL

10:30pm Martin Atkins / Curse Mackey Pigface DJ set at Czar Vodka bar

Friday, February 20 – Tampa, FL

3:00pm FREE Lecture on the Beijing Underground punk scene with Martin Atkins (University of South Florida, Marshall Student Center) Reserve your space!

Friday, February 20 – Tampa, FL

7:00pm Tour:Smart / Martin Atkins book signing and free mini-consultation at Vinyl Fever (4110 Henderson Blvd).

Saturday, February 21 – Gainesville, FL
Keynote Speaker at the University of Florida Entertainment Law Conference 12:00pm - 1pm keynote, Q&A 3pm - 4pm

Saturday, February 21 – Jacksonville, FL

7:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY seminar at 331 Café (W. 331 Forsyth Street) Limited Seating – RSVP Now!

Sunday, February 22 – Orlando, FL

7:00pm FREE Tour:Smart DIY seminar + FREE appetizers courtesy of Marks Street Music at the Dandelion Café (618 N. Thornton Ave) RSVP to reserve your space!

Monday, February 23 – Atlanta, GA

7:00pm Tour:Smart Seminar presented by Darkside Entertainment and Local Love Loud ($5 admission with proceeds donated to Atlanta Pet Rescue and Adoption) at Brewster’s (3595 Canton Road #C17, Marietta, GA) Limited seating – get your spot now!

With upcoming events in McComb, IL, Normal, IL, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, Traverse City, MI, and more on the way!

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20thanniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

With all the advances in technology, does anyone have to leave their basement or their bedroom anymore?  We can play interactive games with people all over the world, have Peapod or Amazon deliver our food, our diapers, or our intellectual nourishment in the form of books (if we’re “old school”) or via Kindle if we’re not.  We can have phone sex, cyber sex, and stimulate the senses downloading movies sitting in an aroma therapy massage chair separated from the life of a space station astronaut by only the absence an aluminum pouch of freeze-dried strawberries.  We can plug in Rock Band 2 and tour the world without the mysteries of two day old crusty vomit in only our left ear (suggestions on a postcard please!), gig lag, jet lag, five days of not showering, ten days of not eating anything healthy, losing money, or fear.  We can do all of this without the problems, smells, or tastes of reality getting in the way. 

You don’t need to form a band to have drums, violin, sitar, gamelan gong, the church of St. Martin’s in the Fields all male choir, mellotron, guitar, bass, or harpsichord on your album.  And whilst the sound, the tonal quality, the broad range of the digital spectrum, and the timbre might be better than the lame recording of violin or drums you can manage to do at home (more about that later), the thing that is missing from the recordings is the bass player needling you about the lyrics and the push and pull of a joint mindset that gets you thinking outside of your little box and gets brain cells working.  When you don’t disturb the neighbors recording drums it robs you of the knock on the door one year later when your neighbor says, “You’re getting a lot better.  Here’s a bacon sandwich.  Let me know when your band is playing somewhere, I feel like I know the songs already.” 

Some of that, more than a scientific disassembly of the recording, is the essence of what being in a band is about.  Of course, you don’t have to do this, but some people do.  It’s all the journeys, adventures, and interactions with people, machines, and inner-strength that create the band, massively affect the music, and give it an appealing reality.  People in the physical world are more likely to support bands over a longer term, through ups and down.  This isn’t scientifically based, it’s just conjecture that the nature of the internet is driven by A.D.D. skipping which makes a blimp of success quite possible but makes Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes seem like a Rolling Stones’ epic career eternity.  People decide to support bands for so many reasons.  It’s a relationship that will have its ups and downs, difficult periods of experimentation, but enough moments of fulfillment and release to keep the relationship alive and to keep the push and the pull pushing and pulling. 

Remember the fat kid in Greece who was dancing to some disco hit on Youtube?  He was really, really famous around the world for a minute and a half.  There is a backlash to this new direction.  Ever heard of Norman Greenbaum? 

So how do you use all this to help your band?  I pulled some of my favorite parts from Tour:Smart to share with you below – Shoot the dolphin, baby!

The web is the ultimate cool tool enabling instant and direct communication between artist and audience without the filters of label, radio station, or record store. But... the easier the communication, the shorter the shelf life. It’s easy to be the flavor of the day or the minute, but much harder to be the flavor of the year. For that, you need to use the web as one of many tools at your disposal. In addition to staying on top of and enhancing traffic to your own web site using key words, cost-per-click advertising, banner exchanges, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, blogs, and message boards, etc., there are many other things that you can do to maximize your presence on the web in an innovative way to solidify your transient base. Make no mistake, the web alone is very powerful, but it is in conjunction with physical world strategies that it is the most potent.

It’s all about content, content, content. Type, blog, video yourself blogging, blog yourself filming, write about the experience of filming yourself while you blog, make a sculpture celebrating the event, and then film it’s destruction on the first anniversary of its creation and write about how that makes you feel. You have to move between the web world and the real world. Gracefully, effortlessly, you have to shoot the (pretend, inflatable) dolphin! With the ocean as the web, the air representing the physical world, and the dolphin as the delivery method, the object of the game is to shoot as many information darts into the dolphin before he disappears below the surface. The more darts, the more people with high-powered rifles you can add to your team. So the next time he surfaces, you can pepper his shiny body with hundreds more message darts, until the dolphin is an unrecognizable message porcupine and the ocean runs red with your marketing genius… OK? 

 

A quick update on what I’m involved in right now.  I’m finishing up Band:Smart– the more band-centric sequel to Tour:Smart.  You can go to my SuicideGirls column where I’m conducting "market research" for my new book, Band:Smart.  Fill out the survey HERE . I want to know: What is the ONE THING you wish you could tell a band, a singer, a radio station, etc.? We'll pick some of our favorite responses to include in Band:Smart and we'll send you a free Tour:Smart e-Book if your survey is chosen.  I’m teaching more at Columbia College Chicago.  I’m beta testing a wonderful piece of equipment from PreSonus right now that puts professional recording and a better sound at your live show within reach.  I’m producing great music from China and finishing up the sixth studio album from Pigface which, because I’m a contrary, difficult F***head, is going to be made available on 8 track cartridge .

 

 

I’m on the road in 2009 for Tour:Smart .  I’ll be at NAMM in Anaheim January 15 – 18, Florida in February, SXSW in March, and everywhere in between.  Leave a comment if you want me to come to your neck of the woods!

Peace, Love, Respect

Martin Atkins

Martin Atkins has a 30 year career in the music business that includes touring with the bands Public Image Limited, Killing Joke, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, owning an independent record label celebrating its 20th anniversary with over 350 releases, and is an instructor at Columbia College Chicago teaching The Business of Touring, Applied Marketing, and Indie Label Management. He is also the author of the book Tour:Smart.

 

No, not shellfish philanthropy - SELFISH - what I mean is this - GIVE of yourself - open up and HELP someone other than yourself - it will PROBABLY help you way more than spending the same amount of time doing the same old stuff you have been doing and not getting the amazing results you read about on the side of the cereal box.

Lets look at a tiny example - putting up posters........you could put up another 50 of the same posters that no-one has really been taking any notice of for the show that you haven't sold many tickets for - OR, offer to help another band (maybe an out of town band you've connected with through the internet) don't try and hash out some quid pro quo deal before you do it - I LIKE the idea that I'm allowing someone the option of totally ripping me off - that's the best way you can see very quickly what they are really made of - and, when its only a few posters and a few staples (and a parking ticket and a trip to the emergency room because you stapled your hand to a telegraph pole) - then its a pretty cheap litmus test of personality - ok?

So, what might happen - well, the out of town band might also ask if you know of a place to stay - do you?, they might also ask if you know where they can get their mellotron fixed, or they might think that here is a guy that's DOING SOMETHING in a city they need help in - and what would happen if you were actually on the bill???
Maybe, after doing this for ten bands you meet the promoter(s) in town. Believe me the ones that are really doing this will NOTICE someone who is running around putting up posters - instead of talking the talk and then binning them! They will see you here and there and register this activity - so that, when they have a problem with a show that needs some extra work and all of their street teamers are off touring with their band or sick or sick of touring or whatever - you will get the call. Maybe you'll just get to know the people at Kinkos and get a discount or meet your new guitar player (been there, done that). 

I'm not saying, hang on tight cos next week you're joining the fucking BEATLES!!!!!!!! I'm just offering up some different ideas.

 I'll be in New Orleans on Monday sept 15th at Loyola - a free Tour:Smart lecture open to the public at Nunemaker Hall from 5 til 6pm - come and get a flyer that gets you in to my dj spot later that night for free! Then I'll be at the Baltimore Music Conference, New York City (Film Screening and Art Show), Philadelphia and Virginia - come and say hi!

Peace Love Respect

Martin Atkins