Music Business 101

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The Music Business: How to Sell Music, Book Shows & Get Noticed ...........................

Chapter 1 - You can make money making music.......................5 Why more musicians are taking the "do-it-yourself" (DYI) option ...6 How to go from being unemployed to being the President of a Record Company.............................................................................9 Going independent even if you don't want to stay independent ...10 But I want to make money now! .................................................... 11 Is going independent the right choice for you? .............................14 Chapter 2 - First Make Music......................................................16 Become the best musician you can be and then get better..........16 Take lessons ..................................................................................19 Play anywhere you can .................................................................20 Be flexible, versatile and easy to work with...................................20 Don't take "no" for an answer. .......................................................21 Believe in yourself and your music................................................21 Listen – a lot! .................................................................................22 Keep up with what's going on........................................................22 Play well with others ......................................................................22 Learn to write songs that sell.........................................................23 Learn to mix sound ........................................................................25 Chapter 3 - Vision Isn't Just for Videos.....................................27 Set SMART Goals .........................................................................27 Your vision gives you direction ......................................................32 What your vision is telling you .......................................................35 Chapter 4 - Reality Check ...........................................................39 Reality: Don't expect to support yourself as a musician until after at least four years. .........................................................................40 Reality: People who manage don't care about showcasing your talent ..............................................................................................41 Chapter 5 - What Club Managers Like.......................................44 Club managers like bands that make them money. ......................44 Club managers like bands that pack their clubs............................45

Clubs like to hire artists that make them look good.......................47 Chapter 6 - The Forgotten Gigs .................................................48 Places to play that you may not have considered.........................49 Goodwill Gigs.................................................................................53 Sponsored Gigs .............................................................................54 Things to know before you go .......................................................54 Chapter 7 - Blatant self-promotion ............................................56 The music business is no place for shy people who don't like to talk about themselves...........................................................................56 Becoming your own publicist .........................................................58 To catch an editor, think like an editor ...........................................60 Press Releases..............................................................................61 Chapter 8 - Promotional Tools ...................................................67 When they notice, be ready!..........................................................67 Your band's business card.............................................................68 Your CD .........................................................................................69 The Press Kit .................................................................................70 The envelope .................................................................................74 The jacket ......................................................................................74 Photos............................................................................................75 The One-sheet...............................................................................76 Newsletters ....................................................................................79 Chapter 9 - Going from local to regional ..................................81 Chapter 10 - Recording your first album ..................................88 Your album's budget ......................................................................90 Show up ready to play! ..................................................................92 Take control of the session ............................................................93 Chapter 11 - Selling Your CD ......................................................95 Don't give it away for free! .............................................................95 Selling from the stage ....................................................................96

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You can make money making music Imagine getting paid to do something that you would do even if you weren't getting paid to do it. If you're a musician, you're probably used to working hard. Wouldn't life be better if you worked that hard and didn't have to have a day job to support your music habit? It can be done.

There are thousands of musicians just like you who are making a living making music. They may or may not have more talent than you, and they may or may not sound as good as you sound. But they have figured out a way to get paid for doing something that they would do for free.

Why more musicians are taking the "do-it-yourself" (DYI) option Back in the day, record companies were in the business of finding and developing musical talent. The record companies would take these acts under their wings and gradually bring them along, which usually meant dictating what songs they would play, how they would look, and even how the band would sound. Record companies were able to get away with exerting this much control because the cost of recording an album and promoting it were too high for the average garage band. If you wanted people to hear your music, then you had to play by the record company's rules.

The saving grace of this system was that musicians or people who loved and understood music ran most of the record companies. Yes, the system was controlling and manipulative and there were undoubtedly 6

some great bands that fell through the cracks. But there were also some good things. Companies like Epic, Atlantic and other labels took risks on things like "Rock and Roll" and "The Motown Sound" and allowed music that was original and creative to be heard. Best of all, the music sounded great! If you listen to that music today, you can still hear something in it that makes you want to hear more.

But the music business has always been an uneasy mixture of two things that don't always get along – music and business. Musicians are creative and like to try new things. They (we!) tend to be risk takers. Risk can sometimes lead to innovation and other incredible things. It can also sometimes lead to loss. Business people tend to be just the opposite.

They like to find what works and repeat it, which is why when a new band shows up there are suddenly 10,000 clones of that same sound on the shelves. Business people avoid things that seem too risky, which is why they missed out on rap and hip-hop until after everybody had already heard of it.

You can hear what "playing it safe" has done to the music business.

Music suffered as the business end took over. That's what happens when accountants and lawyers run the show instead musicians. Sales go up, which is good, but creativity and the quality of music goes down, which is very, very bad. Eventually, sales start dropping because everything sounds the same. As a result, music companies like Sony and Columbia are now reporting record losses and drops in sales.

Rather than accepting the responsibility for this, the record companies are blaming their losses on the Internet and pirated music. It never 7

occurred to them that the a lot of the music they're trying to sell really sucks.

Ask yourself, "Does the world really need another Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake?"

Thankfully, the major labels are no longer the only options.

The Industry Yellow Pages (www.theindustryyellowpages.com) lists over 5500 record companies. These are smaller record companies who want to sign musicians like you. Or, if you'd like, you could start your own record company that is dedicated to creating and selling your own music. Independent record companies run by people who put music first are making more money than ever before! No Limit Records started out as an independent record store in Richmond, California. The store became No Limit, the record company, when Master P decided to release his music on his label. Now, there is literally no limit to No Limit. Another Indie label, Bad Boy Records, started doing business in 1993. In its first year, Bad Boy Records sold over 12 million units. (Recording companies refer to individual CD's as "units.") At last count, P. Diddy's little independent label was worth about $100 million.

Russell Simmons and Def Jam records paved the way for hiphop way back in 1985, when none of the mainstream studios would touch it. Today Def Jam has an estimated worth of $250 million. Independent hip hop labels that are now worth millions of dollars started out just like you – as one person who wanted to make money making music.

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How to go from being unemployed to being the President of a Record Company The truth is it's hard to get a record contract, but it's easy to start a record company. If you can afford a good guitar or a keyboard (or whatever instrument that you like to play), a decent microphone and a personal computer, then you can afford to start your own music company – a company that is completely committed to producing, marketing and selling your music. Your little record company may not be making any money – yet – but no one has to know that but you – and the IRS. 1. Choose a name for your record company that is unique and is not trademarked or copyrighted. Save yourself hassles later by staying away from "borrowed" names, even if the name has nothing to do with music.

2.

Have business card printed with the name of your company and your name and title.

Joe Jam Music Terry Smith – President 123 Any Where St. Any City, Any State 11111 ”We do Music Right”

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3.

Go to the local bank and establish a business checking account that

is separate from your personal checking account. There are several reasons for doing this, not the least of which is it keeps you out of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service. It also helps you keep track of how much money you're making as a musician.

Congratulations! You are now the owner of your own record company!

Going independent even if you don't want to stay independent The people who run the major labels are not stupid. They realize that independent bands are creating better music and building strong fan support even without the help of the usual star-making machinery.

That's why so many major labels have started looking at what independent musicians are doing. Dave Matthews was a bartender who started playing with some friends on open mic nights where he was working in South Carolina before he was snatched up by BMG and signed to a major contract. Pink was singing in clubs in Philadelphia when somebody noticed her. The stories go on and on, even as far back as the days of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Nobody had ever heard of Elvis when he paid to have one song recorded and then convinced a DJ to play it on WHBQ. One year later, it was an unknown local kid named Buddy Holly who opened for Elvis at a concert in Texas. Rapper / Actor Ludacris was an unknown DJ desperately trying to get a major label deal before deciding to venture out on his own. After independently selling a

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decent amount of his CDs out the trunk of his car, he created a buzz and was picked up by Def Jam records.

My point is that if you want to get noticed, you've got to get going.

Even if your ultimate goal is to have a huge contract with a major label, you need to first show that you can generate the kind of fan support that it takes to sell CD's. You need to create your own success as an independent musician. It gets you noticed, it may get you signed, and it gives you more leverage to work with.

But I want to make money now!

Wouldn't we all? Successful independent artists actually make more money than do the majority of those who have signed to a major label. In fact, the majority of these bands never make much money at all.

Some even end up owing the record company money. Fewer than 1% of signed artists sell more than 1,000 copies of their CD. Most of these artists won't get a second chance. Even if they're a great band, the record company can't afford to take the risk that their second CD might not do any better than their first.

Signed artists who only sell one or two thousand copies of a CD will never see any of that money. The record company pays itself first, which means covering what it cost to record and distribute the CD's, the accountants, lawyers and other suits who are involved and concert or touring expenses. The artist gets what is left – if there is anything left.

Usually, it's long gone by then.

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Imagine recording your own CD and selling it when you do a gig. It cost me $2,000 to record my first album. I sold it for $10 at gigs. Later on, some local stores picked it up. I still made $10 per sale and they tacked on enough extra for them. At the time, I only had enough money to make 500 copies – but I sold every one of them.

On my first album, I made $5,000. Over half of that - $3,000 – was profit for me. By the time I had sold $1,000 copies, which is more than 99% of signed artists will ever sell, I had made over $8,000 on that one CD! There are other advantages, too. Most labels will pull a CD after so many months on the shelves. It may still be available, but they're not going to push it. I have been pushing this same album, along with others, for five years now and have made over $25,000 from this one CD. Not bad for an original investment of about $2,000.

An average of $5,000 per year isn't enough to live on, but when you combine that with money from gigs, additional CD's, and other income, it has made for a nice way of living. Better yet – I have been able to keep control of my music. No argument about creative control or what goes on the album cover or how the CD will be promoted. As an independent artist, those decisions are left up to you.

Live bands who aren't in the business of selling CD's experience the same thing. When a "signed" band goes on tour, they have to cover their expenses. Management fees are between 15% to 20% off the top, so there's one-fifth of your income gone right away. Booking fees are an 12

additional 10%-15%. Lawyer's fees – which the music company will insist you have whether you want them or not (and which you will want) run between $200 - $300 per hour or about 5% of gross. (If you doubt that, take a look at 101 Music Biz Contracts at http://www.musiccontracts101.com/ to see how much law is involved in running a band!)

When KISS went on their first tour, selling out concerts while living on peanut butter sandwiches, somebody asked Paul Stanley what it was like to be rich and famous. He said, "I can tell you what it's like to be famous. I haven't found out what it's like to be rich yet." And that was KISS – one of the biggest acts of all time. They hung in there and are all millionaires by now, but in the beginning, they were starving just like you. They just happened to be one of the 1% that made a profit with a major label. You can be very famous and still be broke. Even worse – and even more likely – you can be a total unknown and be totally broke.

You don't have to be a music superstar to make a living making music. The majority of musicians are local artists who are working local or regional clubs and other venues and selling the CD's that they produced. This is especially true now that more artists are beginning to use the power of the Internet to market their music. Some bands may make $20,000 a year working on weekends and keeping their day jobs.

Others may make so much that they can afford to quit their day job altogether. Without having the entire overhead of a major label, these musicians are able to funnel more of the income from their music back to themselves.

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Is going independent the right choice for you?

If you're willing to put in the work making, promoting, marketing and selling your music, then the DYI route may be the right way for you to go. Books like my other one, which is titled How to MAKE A $ FURTUNE $ In The MUSIC INDUSTRY By Doing It YOURSELF

and Others similar to it are available at http://www.musiccontracts101.com/ – can help, but they can't do it for you. If you want to be rich and famous, then you have to be willing to do the work. Talent is important, and so is desire. But if talent and desire were all that it took, then every kid who ever banged on his mom's set of pots and pans would be making a living as a professional drummer. To make music into a career requires work.

It's called the music business, which means that before there can be any business, there has to be some music. You have to be able to play more than just three chords on a guitar. You have to develop the showmanship and craftsmanship necessary to draw an audience in and keep them interested. In music, it's either put up or shut up. The competition is just too great.

Again, it's the music business, which means that while you are making music, you also have to be thinking about the business side of things. How much is it going to cost us to make this CD? How can we get that money back? How can we market ourselves to we get the most 14

bang for the buck there? These things are handled for you when a major label signs you. When you decide to go it alone, you are the one who has to make sure that the bills get paid.

A career in music is just like a career in science or engineering or teaching or banking or anything else: it takes dedication and a whole lot of work. But it is incredibly rewarding! Nobody cheers when banker shows up at the office in the morning. Nobody is lining up to buy the latest release from the guy bagging groceries. And nobody stops a teacher on the street to say, "I heard you! You were awesome!"

If those things sound appealing to you, then you should take control of your career and your music and get busy.

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First make music Like I said, being in the music business means that you are first a musician. Some people overlook that minor point. They may even get a few gigs, until people figure out that they can't play or that they only know about four songs. Then the gigs begin to dry up. Music is a broad field. There will be people who like the music you create, and there will be people who hate it, regardless of how well you play. That doesn't matter – you can deal with it. Your job is to be a good musician. The rest will take care of itself.

Become the best you can be and then get better Before you can make music that's unique, you have to know how to make music. Period. The music industry is a ruthlessly competitive business. If you're going to play with the big kids, you have to learn to play with the big kids.

Good musicians, lyricist, rappers, etc make people stop whatever they're doing and listen. About a month ago, I was at a conference that concluded with an open mic night. Audiences at these things are notorious for talking to their friends all the way through somebody's performance, which is exactly what I was doing when this woman came to the stage and started playing her guitar. I stopped talking as soon as she started to sing. Everybody stopped talking. All over the room, you could see people turning their heads towards the stage, sitting up on the 16

edge of their seats. At that moment, that singer owned that room. You could tell that this was someone who had worked to develop not just a voice, but a sound that was powerful and unique. She did things that you didn't expect, like putting in unexpected but deadly accurate jumps of an octave or more in the middle of a line. You don't sing that kind of stuff without a lot of work on your voice and your ear. The fact that she made it sound as if anybody could do it only made it that much more impressive.

Needless to say, the room went nuts when she finished. She graciously acknowledged the applause and exited the stage. She left us wanting more, which is exactly how you want to leave a crowd. The more they want, the more likely they are to buy your CD. I turned to my friend. "How would you like to have to follow that?" she said. I would have loved to have to follow that! The crowd wanted to hear more good music. It would have been fun to build on the enthusiasm this amazing singer had planted. It would have been even more fun to have been on the stage with her. Playing with talent like that is pure joy.

Unfortunately, the next vocalist wasn't prepared to ride in on her coattails. He stumbled through some chords on his guitar (which was really out of tune), and then started to do something that almost resembled the sound of a human singing, but not quite. The lyrics of this original composition sounded as if they were being made up as he went along. People turned their heads, but this time they were turning them 17

away. Before long, everyone had returned to his or her conversations.

The sad thing is that this guy really thought he was good enough to get on stage. He didn't look like he was high or anything. He was just clueless.

Musicians who complain about rude audiences are either playing in the wrong place or they're not playing well enough to win the audience over. How good is your music? Here's a quick check-up. Check the answer that describes you and your band: 1) My music is so good, people talk a little softer so they can hear 2) My music is so good, people almost always stop what they are doing and listen 3) My music is so good, people would stop in the middle of having sex and pay attention if I started to play.

Strong musicianship has a way of floating to the top regardless of what style of music you like to make. If you're into acoustic rock, then learn to play acoustic rock incredibly well and you'll have gigs year round. Not only will you have gigs, you will also have more opportunities to play with better bands and to do more playing. Good players attract other good players. If you're working on your technique and showing promise, you have a much better chance of being picked up by someone that needs what you can do. If you're going it alone, then it becomes even more important to have the best possible chops you can.

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Take lessons How many times have you heard somebody say they taught themselves to play, and then the start to play and you wish you were deaf? These are clearly people who need some serious help.

There are four levels of competence. First are the people who can't do something and know they can't do it. These people are not a problem. The next level up are those who can't do something but don't realize it. These people are an incredible problem. A lot of self-taught musicians fall into this category. They think they're great because they've never heard anyone any better. The third group are people who actually can do something but don't have the confidence to realize how good they are. These people are easier to work with, although you really have to pump up their self-esteem. Finally, there are the people who are good and know it. They're not conceited, (those people are usually in another group), they're just aware.

Eddie Van Halen is like this fourth group. He plays like a god, and he knows it. The kid down your street who can only play one lick on his guitar and plays it at full volume approximately 14 hours every weekend is probably in the self-taught group. He sucks and he doesn't know it.

I love self-taught musicians because I started out as one. Most of us did. But you can only take yourself so far. After that, you need to find someone who can help you go beyond that.

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Play anywhere you can Especially when you are first starting out, you need to be playing as often as possible and in as many different places as possible. Eventually you will need to become more selective, but that comes later. In the beginning, the best thing to remember is that beggars can't be choosers. You're not begging for a gig, but you're can't afford to pass up an opportunity to play. If nothing else, think of it as an opportunity to practice performing in front of an audience.

You get to the point where you don't have to worry about playing for exposure. So don't. I've been playing a long time.

If I want to expose myself, I'll go to the park and flash some kids. (Note to R. Kell y: That was a joke! ) I still play for free, though. It's nice to be able to play a gig just because it's a place to play. Earning my living as a musician has given me the luxury of being able to afford to do what I love without having to worry about the money.

Be flexible, versatile and easy to work with Nobody likes to work with a jerk. Things happen. Learn to deal with them. I used to play lead guitar in a band with a singer who had this bad habit of forgetting the words to a song. He would usually make it through the first verse and chorus without too much trouble, but he would sometimes slip up on the following verses. W e developed a signal to help.

W hen he knew he was in trouble, he would look to me and smile. I knew it was time to do a solo. Guitar solos in rock music are a given, so it wasn't that big of a deal. The audience just thought we were being creative.

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I could have thrown a fit on stage. Or, I could have just smiled bag and left the guy hanging. But neither of those actions would have helped at the time. After it became apparent that this was going to be an ongoing problem, we eventuall y got another singer, but the time to tak e care of that was in rehearsal, not in front of an audience.

Don't take "no" for an answer.

Good players can find a place to play. You may have to ask several different club owners before you get a gig, but if you ask enough times, you will eventually get booked. Not taking "no" for an answer doesn't mean that you harass the people at your local venue until they either book you or get a restraining order. It means that you don't let a "no" answer from one person destroy your chances of getting a "yes" from someone else. People are going to tell you "no." You just have to find clubs that say, "yes."

Believe in yourself and your music Music is incredibly competitive, and it's easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to other players or performers. Don't!

Instead of comparing, try to learn what it is that a particular artist is doing that appeals to you and learn how to do it. It takes courage to get up on a stage, whether you're performing for one or two people or for a crowd of 50,000 screaming fans.

You need all the positive energy you can get to do something like that. Don't make your job any harder by telling yourself that you don't really deserve to be there, or that you can't do this, or anything else. W ork until you can do it.

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Listen – a lot!

Learn all there is to know about the music that you play.

Before you write something off as begin "old school" and useless, listen to it and learn from it. W hat are the roots of the music you make? If you're playing rock, jazz, hip-hop, country or just slapping spoons on your knee and calling it good, then you should know the artists that came before you and what they contributed to the genre. Chances are, you're either building on what they did or you're stealing from them anyway!

Keep up with what's going on Don't get so wrapped up in your little corner of the music world that you forget about the other 48,000,000 million corners that are out there. Read magazines like "Guitar Player" or "Keyboard" or anything else that is written about the music you play. Buy books lik e The Industry Yellow Pages (www.theindustryyellowpages.com) that let you know who is booking artists and where you can get some airplay for your CD. Most cities have a paper or magazine of some kind that advertises music and has articles about up and coming bands.

Read them regularly.

Play well with others They've probably been telling you that since you were in kindergarten. Be nice to others. Take turns. Share. It worked when you were a little kid and it will still work for you now. Get to know the musicians in your area. Show up at their gigs, and invite them to yours. Promote their performances and ask them to do the same for you. If someone asks you to sit in for a bass player in a country band and you're not really into that, try to know somebody that you can recommend for the gig.

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That helps you in several ways: First, it builds your credibility as someone who is useful to know. The person will ask you for help the next time they need something and it might be something you want to do. It also helps you by building a relationship with the person that you recommend for the gig. If this guy plays bass in a country band and he's asked to sit in on with a rock group, he is more likely to send the band who asked him to you.

Play well with others, but expect them to play well with you in return. For networking like this to work, it has to be mutuall y beneficial.

Learn to write songs that sell Writing songs for yourself is easy. Writing songs that other people will like is not. Learn how to write songs that mean something to you and that other people will want to buy.

Songwriting is an extremely personal activity, which is why it hurts when someone doesn't immediately fall in love with your latest greatest hit. It's also a very disciplined craft, with rules that you don't break without having a very good reason for doing so. Why are there rules?

Because they work. Even groundbreaking avant-garde performance art pieces follow basic rules of form and structure. These laws are like the law of gravity. They exist because that's the way the world works.

The biggest mistake that beginning songwriters make is to write deeply personal songs that nobody else can appreciate. Explaining what a song is about before you sing it might work in your living room. You might even manage to pull it off with a crowd at a club – if it's a familiar

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crowd and if they really care. On a CD, your song has to stand on it's own. That doesn't mean that you can't include personal stuff or even hidden meanings and metaphors. If that were true, then nobody would have ever bought anything Bob Dylan ever recorded, whose music is full of inside jokes, some of which only Bob Dylan probably gets. You just have to work those thoughts into a larger piece of music that has broad enough appeal that somebody will buy it even if they don't know that it's a tribute to your favorite dog that you had when you were seven years old.

Love songs work because most people can relate to those feelings. A love song that goes into specific detail about a particular relationship won't work because only the two people in that relationship would be able to understand it. Eminem can rap about wanting to kill his mother because, unfortunately, on some level, there are a lot of people who share that same anger and frustration. He makes it even more marketable by surrounding those words with music that works. People might not consciously think about killing their mom, but they like the way the music sounds and they can identify with something he is saying.

Along with having good music, your songs need to appeal to those same kinds of shared emotions and experiences. The more people can identify with your music, the more likely they are to buy the CD. "But the words don't matter. People will buy my CD because the music is good!" Right. The flood of instrumental tracks on the radio clearly demonstrates that lyrics don't matter. Go to your favorite place to buy CD's and compare how many CD's have lyrics with how many don't.

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People may say they don't listen to the lyrics, but they do. Even if they don't realize they're doing it.

Speaking of instrumentals, try to write songs that are original and not just a re-packaged version of what's already out there. Lyric writers are usually pretty good about not stealing lyrics, at least not blatantly.

Chord progressions and other instrumental parts are not nearly as original. There are only so many chords you can use, but you don't have to use them the exact same way that someone else did.

Learn to mix sound The mixing board is like a big musical instrument. Unfortunately, it's an instrument that most of us don't give much thought to learning how to play. When you perform or record, you can hire a sound tech that knows how to make you sound good. The mix you have when you practice is also important. You don't want your "practice mix" to be radically different than what you'll be hearing when you perform. Most artists don't have the luxury of having a sound tech around every time they practice. Unless you're playing all acoustic music with no microphones, you're going to have to know how to make a mix that works.

Sound preferences vary from band to band and sometimes even from song to song. It's hard to say exactly what's right for your band without hearing you play. A lot of mixing is trial and error and then trying to remember what you did that made it sound like that. The first rule of a 25

good mix is to get rid of all ego. Everybody in the band is going to think their part needs to be louder. The audience, however, hears the band as a group and hopefully not as a bunch of individual players competing for the spotlight. The mix that makes the group sound the best is the best mix for the group. If somebody needs to hear their part above the mix, which is often the case, then they can use a headset or adjust a monitor, as long as the sound of the monitor doesn't affect the house mix.

Mixing is a fine art, and musicians often underestimate the musicianship of the people who run the soundboards. Don't. These guys can hear grass grow. There are entire books written about finding the perfect EQ, mixing techniques for various instruments and other technical information. Even listening to a soundman talk can be intimidating until you begin to understand what they're saying. ("Let's add 1db to the guitar at 900hz.") You don't have to get that involved unless you're planning on mixing your own CD without any help, which is not a wise idea. For now, experiment and see what sounds good, then compare it to a CD of a band you like that has a sound that is similar to yours. If you like the comparison, then make a note of the settings before you change anything. Make any adjustments, then listen again.

You can quickly run into the point of diminishing returns. Get close, but don't get obsessive about finding the perfect mix. Even if you found it tonight, you would come back tomorrow and think you could do better.

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Vision Isn't Just for Videos

Set SMART Goals You wouldn't get on a plane without knowing where it was going, would you? Your music is the same way. Before your career can take off, you have to have a destination. Otherwise, you just end up circling around somewhere, doing the same old stuff, until you run out of fuel and crash to the ground.

Call me cynical, but I'm really not into this "If you can dream it, you can do it!" stuff. Dreams have a way of disappearing when you turn on the lights. I do, however, very much believe in goals. You might say that a goal is a dream that has been written down. Once you commit it to paper, it's a lot easier to see it as reality. Even then, simply saying that something is going to happen is not enough to make it happen. You have to plan what steps to take and not be afraid to take them.

There are several different models for goal setting and which one you use really doesn't matter, as long as it defines what you are trying to accomplish and maps out a plan to get it done. SMART Goals are goals that can help you choose a destination and find a way to get there.

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SMART Goals are: Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Tangible

Specific – I am convinced that if you asked ten unsigned artists what they hoped to accomplish in their music career, 9.5 of them would not be able to tell you. That remaining one-half of one artist might be able to tell you, depending on whether it was the half that had a brain or the other half. Let's look at some common "goals" of most artists and see how specific they are.

"I want to be good." Great. What is "good?" Does good mean that you get all the way through a song without making any mistakes? If that's the case, then stick to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and you'll be a success. "Good" is really too vague to be of much help. To be an effective goal, you need to clearly and specifically define what you mean when you say "good." A more specific definition of "good" might be, "I will know I am good when I have released a CD of high quality music that people want to hear."

To get even more specific, pretend you are a music journalist and answer the six "W" questions:

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♦ Who: Who is involved? ♦ What: What do I want to accomplish? ♦ Where: Identify a location. ♦ When: How long do I want to give myself to do this? ♦ Which: Which things do I need to get, change or drop to reach this goal? ♦ Why: Why is this important to me?

Your specific goal might say something like, "(who) Our band, Lung Capacity (what) will perform at (where) Small Town Big Club (when) one year from today. To do this, (which things will you need) we need to have enough material for a 90 minute show. (Why is this important?) This will be the step that takes us from the small clubs to regional venues."

Just fill in the blanks: (Who – you, your band, your group of trained Chihuahuas, whatever… ) ______________________________________ (will – write what you plan to do ) will ____________________________________________________ at (where will this life-changing event take place?) ________________________________________________ . To do this, I or we need to (Which things will you need to get, drop or change?)______________________________. (Why is this important?) ________________________________________________________.

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Measurable – A goal that you can't measure isn't really much of a goal.

You need to have some way of knowing that you have accomplished what you wanted to do. Measurements are also very encouraging because they let you see how far you've come from where you started.

Think of these as "mini-goals" that help keep you on track of the bigger goal you have already specified.

Goals can be measured in any number of ways and some goals are easier to measure than others. For example, if your goal is to release five albums over the next three years, then it's pretty obvious how you can measure that. "This is our first album. W e have four more to go." "This is our second album.

W e have three more to go." And so on, until you reach your goal. Businesses like to attach dollar signs to their goals, so if you really want to run your band like a business, you could set a goal like "W e will have $5,000 in CD sales." At $10 each, that's 500 CD's, a ambitious but realistic goal for most working bands. You may also want to attach your goals to a timeline.

Again, using the goal of playing at Small Town Big Club, my measurements might look like this: ♦ Jan 20, 2005 (today): Have a band meeting and agree on goal of performing at The Biggest Venue In The State. Began rehearsals. ♦ April 20: Have written and rehearsed six new songs by this date. Still working on existing material to keep it in shape. W ill have enough music for a one-hour show. W ill be playing one gig a week anywhere we can for practice and promotion.

Getting ready for The Biggest Venue In The State. ♦ July 20: W ill have created a demo and put together some promotional materials by this date. W ill have introduced ourselves to the manager at The Biggest Venue In The State and started working on getting the gig. W ill have enough music for 90 minutes, and at least half of the music needs to be ready for the stage. The other half can still be rough, but should be getting close.

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♌ October 20: Get booked at The Biggest Venue In The State by this date for the January gig. Music is ready to go.

Continuing to play at least one gig per week, hopefull y more.

Preparing fans to see us at The Biggest Venue In The State in January! ♌ Jan 20, 2006: Showtime! W e will play at The Biggest Venue In The State.

That may seem like a lot of details, but look what was accomplished. W ithin one year, this group went from a noname band to playing in a major regional venue.

One year may be too far in the future for you, and making the jump from local to regional may be something that you're not ready to do. If so, then you can adjust your timeline to meet your goals. The important thing is that you know what you want to accomplish, what it will take to get there, and how you can track your progress. Other gigs will come up along the way, but keep working towards this ultimate goal that you set out to accomplish. But - if you get a better opportunity before that comes up, take it! Don't get so attached to your goals that you miss the opportunity. You may also have to adjust some of the dates, depending on the availability of the club and other factors that are beyond your control. That's OK. Keep your goal in sight and keep heading in that direction.

Take a moment to decide on ways to monitor your progress towards your ultimate goal.

Attainable - It's important to give yourself reasons to believe you can reach your goal, especially if those reasons on past accomplishments.

"We can play in The Biggest Venue In The State because we've been playing in smaller venues for six months now. By next year, we'll have 18 months of practice and playing experience." "We can get this gig because we've learned how to handle club managers and we've developed some effective promotional materials in the past." A history of success helps you be a success in the future. Think about your past accomplishments and how they apply towards reaching or improving your chances of reaching the goals you have now.

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Realistic - There is nothing more frustrating than setting a goal that you won't realistically be able to reach. Saying that you're going to play at The Biggest Venue In The State in six months when you just got your first guitar last week is not very attainable. There is a fine line between dreams and delusions. People are committed to their dreams.

People who have delusions are usually committed too, but it's not the kind of commitment one usually envisions. To be realistic, you must be both willing and able to work towards reaching your goal.

Tangible - Rewards work best when you can see, touch, or hear them. (There are other rewards that you may be able to smell and taste, but those probably aren't related to your music career.) A CD with your music on it. A paycheck with your name on it. A gig on the calendar.

These are tangible rewards that can motivate you towards your goal.

There's a story about how when Jim Carry decided he wanted to be an actor, he wrote out a check for $1 million to himself as a reminder of his goal to earn $1 million dollars as an actor. It obviously worked.

Your vision gives you direction John Lennon's classic line, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans," is true for everything except your career in music.

In the music business, you don't have a life unless you've made specific plans. The artists who survive are those artists who knew where they wanted and figured out how to get it. Making plans doesn't eliminate

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every bump along the way, but it makes the bumps easier to handle when you hit them. There will still be plenty of unexpected twists and turns to add to the excitement. Having a plan gives you a direction to head for and a way to get back on course when you head towards a dead end.

How can you start making plans, beyond just thinking where you're going to play next week? Picture yourself winning your first Grammy for Best New Artist. If you're like most "Best New Artists, you will have probably been in the business for at least a few years already by that time. So much for being a new artist. "Best New Artist" just sounds better than "Best Act to Have Survived Long Enough To Get To The Top." The engraving plate on a Grammy Award isn't big enough to handle that many words. If you're the kind of an artist who would be insulted by the very idea of being accepted by the mainstream so much that you would win a Grammy, then think of something else. The Grammy isn't the point in this exercise, it's only there to give you a point of reference. You could think about your first album, your first stadium gig, or some other big milestone event in your career. This is actually a variation of an exercise that originally appeared in Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People." In Covey's version he suggested that you imagine you are attending your own funeral. Unless you're really into Goth, that's kind of a depressing thought. It's much more pleasant to think about winning an award or thinking of the names that would appear on the "Thank You" list of your CD.

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Who would you thank – besides the usual bit about thanking God and your mom? You don't necessarily have to list these other people by name, because you probably haven't met some of them yet and it would be hard to make up a list of fake names, but what would their job titles be? How would they have helped you?

Remember, this is a fantasy. Answer the questions as if they have already happened in a perfect world. Don't worry about being realistic just yet. In this fantasy past that you have created, who was your first manager and what was he or she like? How about the club where you first performed? Can you describe the clubs where you played during those early years, as you clawed your way up the charts? You would probably want to thank your label. Who would your recording label be, if you could choose any recording label you wanted? Why would you select that label?

You would definitely want to thank your fans. Can you describe your typical fan? If you don't have that many fans yet, then can you describe the type of person that your music would appeal to? Urban?

Suburban? Males aged 15-23? Females 14-19? Overweight guys who wear wife beaters? Who are the fans who are watching at home while you accept this token of the Academy's appreciation? Take a moment or several to think about your answers. Seriously. You may be tempted to blow this exercise off, but stay with me on this.

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What your vision is telling you If you were able to seriously answer and think about those questions, then congratulate yourself for being a visionary. You are part of a very small, very elite group of people. Most people can't see past next week. Then they wonder why they can't ever seem to get anywhere.

Your answer to the first question, "Who would you thank?" tells you who can help you reach your goal. Look over the list of people who helped you get there. Some of them might have helped you professionally, while others might have provided moral or even financial support. The names of other people in your band should be on that list, unless you really can't see them hanging with you for that long. If you can't see them at the awards ceremony, then maybe you need to think about working with people that you can picture there with you. These are important relationships. Nurture them, and they will support you. Ignore them, and you'll be sitting alone at your table at the awards ceremony.

Success isn't any fun unless you have people who care about you to share it with.

You might have not yet run into some of these people. In some cases, this exercise is even more effective if you haven't met these people. If you don't yet have a manger, then list the qualities you would need to see in a manager who could have helped you reach this magic moment? Someone who pushes you and works hard to promote your

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music, or someone who takes a more laid back approach and allows you to decide how far and how fast you want your career to move? Do you need someone who can help you with your music, or do you want a manager who is strictly into contracts and negotiations? Describe what your ideal manager would be like and write it down. Honest? Ruthless?

Total sellout, stubbornly principled individualist, or somewhere in between? The more details you have in your picture, the better.

If you do have a manager, then how does he or she measure up to your ideal image of what a manager should be? Can the manager you have now help you reach your goal? If you don't think so, then you either need to have a talk or consider changing management. If you can't yet afford a manager or if you're managing your career by yourself, then keep this image in mind and try to become that kind of manager for yourself. For now. Once you have a picture of your manager, start looking for one that looks like the manager you have envisioned.

Just a quick note about self-management: As your career takes off, the business part of what you are doing will require more of your time. Eventually, you will have to choose if you are going to be a hands on manager or a performing artist. You can't do a rehearsal with a telephone earring. Self-management works to a point. Beyond that, it begins to have diminishing returns.

There are some other names on your list. Are there people who helped mold your sound or helped you improve the way you play? How did you meet them? What did they do that made a difference? How did it 36

help? This is a fantasy sequence, but keep your answers as realistic as possible. Don't create some imaginary hero that could never exist, like some Guitar god who blessed you with magic fingers and an incredible ear. How would a real person have helped you become a better musician? Go out and find the person or persons who can help you in those same ways.

Your answer about the clubs tells you in what kinds of places you should be trying to get a gig. Even if you've already played in a few clubs, those answers might not be so obvious. If you haven't played in a club, or if the clubs where you've played haven't been a good fit for your band, then where should you play? What kind of clubs should you be playing if you're going to reach your goal? What kinds of people go there? How is the room? What does it sound like?

You're still in a fantasy flashback type of sequence, so think about these things as if they have already happened. Forget what might have already happened and focus on what would need to do to help you reach your goal as you think about the type of places that you need to be playing. Don't forget to describe how you got that gig. How did you promote yourself for that first show? How was the performance? Did you stay in those kinds of clubs, or did you eventually branch out to other types of venues, playing in different situations for different audiences?

What kind of path do you need to take if you are going to reach your eventual goal? Where can you find places like that? Opportunities abound if you happen to be a local artist living in LA or New York. If you're like most of the country and don't live in a city that is known for its 37

music, then books like The Industry Yellow Pages (http://www.TheIndustryYellowPages.com/) can help you find something a little closer to home.

Finally, you have to thank the fans. These are the most important people on your list, because without a strong fan base, you don't have a career. The way you describe your fans helps you to define your target market. Where would they live? Where would they go to hear music?

What would make them pick up your CD instead of one of the other thousand or so CD's that are out there trying to get their attention?

As you think about your perfect fans (remember, this is a fantasy), think of how you could reach this group of people. Radio? The Internet?

Door to door cookie sales? How can you connect your music to these fans?

All of this information is part of your band's vision statement.

Businesses create vision statements to help them stay focused on their goals. These statements may be long dissertations of the company's philosophy of life, or they may be a shorter, catchy phrase used to rally the troops.. Often, a company will have two vision statements, one that is short, to the point, and easy to remember, and another that goes into more detail. Every decision that the business makes is based on how well it contributes to accomplishing the mission described in the vision statement. For example, and I swear I am not making this up, the original short corporate mission statement for Nike was "Crush Reebok."

Everything Nike did in the early days of the company was evaluated on 38

whether or not it helped them to crush Reebok. And you have to love the original vision statement that Honda Motorcycles hung on the walls of their break rooms: "We will crush, squash, and slaughter Yamaha."

It takes more than crushing, squashing and slaughtering other artists to make it in the music business, although that method was tried with varying degrees of success by some of the early gangsta rap artists. You have to win the allegiance of the fans who will buy your CD's and shell out the cash to see you perform.

Reality Check You wouldn't go onstage without doing a sound check. You shouldn't start trying to promote your band or yourself without an equally thorough reality check. Are you ready to play this gig? Are your songs tight and your stage presence impressive? That's good, but that's not all.

It helps to know what club managers are looking for, what they like and what they don't like, before you start trying to pencil in gigs on your calendar.

It's time for a reality check. You've got to be a great player and performer on stage and have an aggressive, assertive, and charming off-stage personality all at the same time. Chances are good that club managers don't yet realize that your band is destined to change the future of music when you're just getting started. In the beginning, club managers and other people who hold the fate of your performing future in their hands are going to judge your marketing ability and your "people skills" before they even consider listening to your music.

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Reality: Don't expect to support yourself as a musician until after at least four years.

Might as well get this one out of the way first. Don't quit your day job because you're going to need it for a while. This is the music business. Like any business, it takes time to put together a product (your music), develop a market (your fans), and break even (reach the point where you're making more money for a gig than it costs you to pay for your equipment, travel and other expenses.) This effect is known as the "J" curve. You start out and immediately dip down towards the bottom of the "J" as you spend money on gear, promotion, gas, and other incidental expenses that it takes to get your show on the road.

Eventually, you hit the bottom of the "J" when you can stop buying new gear, or at least slow down on buying new gear. A lot of artists either quit or decide that amateur status doesn't look so bad before they even get to the bottom of the "J." You start climbing up the other side when your music starts paying you instead of you paying for your music.

Eventually you break even when your income has equaled your expenses. Then your career starts going up the backside of the "J." That's the theory. In reality, a career sometimes looks more like a "W", with ups and downs that everybody has to learn to live through.

Solution: Learn to love the "J." Recognize where you are in your career and how badly you need to hang on to some kind of steady

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income until you can support yourself as a musician. How quickly that happens depends on how well you can make and market your music and what standard of living you would like to maintain while doing so. If you're willing to work your tail off and live on Ramen noodles, you can get there much faster. Only you can decide if it's worth it.

Disclaimer: There is an exception for every rule, and some bands just seem to go straight to the top, as the saying goes. Be safe. Assume that this will not happen to you. Usually, if something like that happens, it's because somebody in the band already had some connections before they started booking tours. Better to overestimate how long it will take you to rise out of obscurity and be pleasantly surprised than to be naĂŻve and get crushed. For every band that starts at the bottom and works their way up, there are a hundred other bands that start at the bottom and seem to work their way across.

Reality: People who manage don't care about showcasing your talent Despite what their ads may say about showcasing new talent, club owners went into business to make money. They like music, and they probably hope to actually be able to say that so-and-so played in their little club way back when, but this isn't a public service. They went into business to make money, and they want to do so with as little hassle as possible. A show that doesn't make them any money is a problem. A good show, on the other hand, makes their life easier and more profitable. It also means that they can add your name to their list of 41

reliable acts they can book without having to worry about whether you're going to draw a crowd. You may think that your girlfriend of boyfriend is unforgiving. You don't know unforgiving until you've upset a club manager.

Solution: Learn to handle rejection and don't get angry when you get turned down. Ask what you could do to get the gig. Don't make promises you can't keep (see below), but if you can guarantee a certain number of people, say so. If the answer is still no, then leave a business card and maybe a CD and move on to the next potential venue. Getting angry drains your energy, and makes you less effective at the next place you visit. It may also burn a valuable bridge that you might need later on.

Bands with an attitude – and I don't mean that in a positive way – have a way of being very annoying to work with, especially when it's the "You owe me," or "You let them play here. You should let us play here, too" attitude. It's their club. If they want to feature the Lizard Gizzards even though you know they're a lousy band, it's their business. You don't like people telling you what music to play, so don't expect them to feel any different. Arguments are a problem for the owner, and owners avoid problems. Don't be a problem.

Reality: Club managers don't care how great you sound.

See above. They appreciate good music and they would prefer to hear somebody that they like, but they're not in the business so they can hear the music that they like. Once again, club managers are in business to make money. Unfortunately, the band that plays the best will almost always lose out to the band that brings in the most cash. The 42

phrase "starving artist" applies to those who are incredible artists but a lousy draw. Work to be a successful artist, one that sounds great and pulls in a crowd. They want a band that matches the style of the club – nobody would book a hip-hop act at a redneck bar – but beyond that, they really don't care.

Solution: Don't talk about how great you are. Send or bring a CD of your best stuff, or better yet, bring in a professionally produced album if you want to make an impression. Focus your conversation on your fan base and how you can fill the club. Do that, and anything you play will be music to their ears.

Reality: Club managers don't care about artistic integrity, They also don't care about musical innovation or your noble refusal to bow to the demands of commercialism. A club manager will respect your principles as long as they don't stand in the way of making him a profit. If you can be innovative and maintain your integrity while draw a large crowd, the place will love your principles and may even plaster them on the marquee. The club manager will be less thrilled about a small crowd of Indie aficionados who appreciate innovation and respect your integrity but don't bring along very many friends. Besides, they probably don't tip very well either.

Solution: Club managers aren't the only ones who feel this way.

Most of your audience will too. Be innovative but maintain a broad based-appeal. The word here is "incrementalism," and it means moving 43

forward one small step at a time. Unless you're an established band with a strong fan base, play something that mixes a current trend or an established feel with a touch of something new. The more familiar sounds will contrast your innovation and actually make it more noticeable than if the entire set sounds like something from a sci-fi movie vision of the future.

What Club Managers Like

Club managers like bands that make them money.

Are you willing to promote the venue along with promoting your gig? It's in your best interest to let people know where you're playing, but can you play up the club with a few words in your ads about what a great place it is to party? It might pay you to fork over the cash to pay for a ticket for free drinks for the first 100 people in the door. It's an expensive promotion, but it can make for a memorable opening night. If you want to run that kind of a promotion, don't expect the club manager to pay for it. Simply say that you want to buy the a drink for the first how ever many people you want to pay for and ask how much it would cost to do it. Good crowd reaction makes for a better performance, and a better performance makes for more repeat gigs.

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Club managers like bands that pack their clubs.

Don't depend on the club for promotion. Take the initiative and bring your audience with you, right along with the drum kit and the rest of the gear. OK, maybe you don't want them to come in when you're setting up, but find a way to get people there. If you have an established fan base and can promise a minimum number of people, do it. Just don't exaggerate your numbers. It's always better to underestimate than to make a promise that you can't deliver. The marketing concept that is at work here is "under promise and over deliver." People are happy when they expect less and get more. They – and you – are unhappy when they expect more and get less. We'll talk about how you can pack the club in the chapter about promotion and marketing. In the meantime, start making a list of all your cover-paying, drink-buying friends.

Club managers like to work with professionals.

It's the same story: managers don't like problems. They want to know that you're going to show up on time, treat their staff well, and tear down quickly when the gig is over. You can act like a superstar on stage, but when you're dealing with the manager, put your ego aside and take care of business. Be sure that everybody agrees on the price and other contractual issues before you show up to play. You can find out more about that at "Music Contracts 101" (http://www.musiccontracts101.com/).

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Club managers like to hire artists they know or have at least heard of.

Nothing succeeds like success. When you're promoting your next gig to your fans, you're also promoting your band to other clubs. They read the papers and listen to the radio just like everybody else. If they hear and see your name enough times, they're more likely to remember who you are when you ask them for a gig. Networking sounds like a business buzzword, but the concept is valid. The idea is that you talk to someone, they tell someone else about you, that person tells another person, and so on, until word gets back to someone who might be beneficial to your career. Networking works two ways, so be willing to share your contacts with other artists, club managers who have shared information with you.

For instance, you might talk to another artist about which clubs are good to play and which places are best avoided. They could share that same information with you. You could also ask them to put in a good word for you with the manager at the club where they're playing. You, of course, would promise to do the same for them. Networking works as long as everybody shares. It stops working when somebody takes all your information and doesn't give you any leads that you can use in return.

Club managers like to deal with only one person.

If you're trying to buy a car, you don't want to deal with five different salespeople with five different ideas about what works best, five different 46

attitudes and five totally different personalities. You want to work with the same salesperson from the time you walk on the lot until you drive happily away. Club managers are the same way. They only want to deal with one person, not your entire band. Every band needs one person who is in charge of booking gigs and handling business duties. This is preferably someone outside the band that you can trust to look after the bands' best interests, but when you're just starting out, it may end up being somebody in the band. Whoever it is needs to have excellent people skills. This is the point man or woman for the band, the one who will work the phones and make any personal visits to managers and other people in charge of booking clubs. At the gig, this person should be able to handle any potential problems with the club's management should they arise.

Clubs like to hire artists that make them look good.

A club has to develop a fan base too, and the best way they can do that is by booking good bands. Your fans will follow you wherever you go. To them, it doesn't matter where you're playing. Clubs have fans too; fans that show up regardless of who is performing. The best way for a club to develop that kind of customer loyalty is to consistently present quality performers. A club manager will want to book you if you can show them how booking you will increase the visibility of their club.

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The Forgotten Gigs Everybody wants the big gig. But, as any princess knows, sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the one that pays off. You have to be as creative about finding a place to play your music as you are about making the music you play. The biggest reason artists don't get gigs is because they don't know where to look for them.

If you ask people on the street where musicians perform, most of them will give you the name of some local club. A few will say at some party or something. But most will overlook an entire list of other places that could become opportunities for you to play, make money, sell CD's and otherwise behave like a working musician.

When you're trying to get a gig – also known as "booking shows" – expand your focus to include lucrative and/or enjoyable shows and don't limit yourself to the usual venues or to trying to get into the best club in town. Those days will come. In fact, if you work hard enough, the day will come when those club owners will be trying to contact you. For now, or when you are beginning, it pays to be more flexible and less picky about where you play.

I've played at frat parties, county fairs, company picnics, family reunions, and almost everywhere else a musician can work – including the traditional "weddings, parties, bar mitzvahs and funerals." I've played gigs in bars on Saturday nights, loaded out, drove home, changed clothes, and then took that same gear (usually keyboards or maybe a guitar) to a church and played a concert there. (The people 48

who saw me in both places didn't say anything because they didn't want to admit that they had been to the same places!) I've also played in clubs and other venues that are more like what you would expect. The point is that when you love to play and you need the work, you do whatever it takes wherever it happens to be, especially when you're first getting started and you have to make a payment on your gear.

Something funny happens when you play these no-name places: You sell a LOT of albums! You develop loyal fans that will follow you to more traditional and more prestigious venues. You also make connections with people that can help you in the future. These gigs may not pay as much as a $5,000 club date, but they often have long-term benefits that go way beyond the obvious.

Take a piece of paper and make a list of ALL the places in your area that could be potential places for you to play. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Places to play that you may not have considered Bars: This one is obvious. Live music and adult beverages have a long and mutually beneficial relationship. If the usual music venues are full or hard to break into, then try going to somewhere that may be looking to start having a band.

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What does it pay? Anywhere from free to about $300. You can usually expect to sell a few albums during the night, if you promote the album from the stage.

Restaurants: If your local eatery already has live music, then contact the owner and drop off a press kit (we'll talk more about press kits later.) If not, then offer to provide some. Most restaurant owners will do anything to boost business, and live music has always been a popular draw. Make sure that your music fits the atmosphere of the place – you probably wouldn't want top play hard rock at a truck stop in Texas – but don't be too restrictive. Be flexible enough that you can offer something of value to the restaurant owner. Restaurants are great for solo performers who may be a little shy because nobody is staring at you.

What does it pay? Anywhere from free to about $300 a night.

You're not as likely to sell albums at a restaurant as you are in a bar.

You can boost sales by asking the owner to have a stack of CD's beside the cash register (if the restaurant uses a cash register) or by having servers give customers a card advertising that your CD is available when they give the customer their check.

Hotels: Hotels offer several venues. You can play in the bar or lounge. Most hotels have live music, especially on weekends. The hotel restaurant is another option. Some hotels may have more than one restaurant, which means more than one venue with music potential. And don't forget the hotel lobby, especially if the lobby is one that is designed as a place where people meet and gather. Again, your choice of music 50

needs to fit the atmosphere of the hotel, but with so many venues available under one roof, you have a very good chance of finding at least one that will fit. Pay is similar to other bars and restaurants. Piano lounge type of artists (which could include acoustic guitarists or other solo instruments) often will have a tip jar.

Private Parties: Getting a gig at a private party often involves some kind of networking. Somebody knows somebody who knows somebody who is having a party and wants a live band. You can't go door to door asking people if they're planning on having a party this weekend, but you can make it known that you are available to play at a party. A small yellow pages ad or an ad in the classified section of your local newspaper can work wonders. Another effective way of spreading your name on the party circuit is to leave business cards at music stores, wine shops, liquor stores or any other place that might be frequented by people who like to entertain at home. Private parties provide excellent networking opportunities that can lead to much better gigs later on.

What does it pay? Usually between $50 to $150, depending on the type of party and how long you play. Album sales can be very high here and may even exceed sales in bars.

Pep rallies, political rallies: The local Jr. College Football team is having pep rally? Why not tempt them with the idea of turning it into an event with live music? Rallies can quickly become concerts if you know how to work it. Again, the close, intimate nature of these activities leads

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to increased CD sales and a stronger fan base. "Oh, I heard you guys!

Where are you playing now?"

What does it pay? Politicians are cheap and will try to convince you to do it for free. If you support the candidate and you're not too broke, you can agree to do that. Folk singers tend to do that. If you're a totally mercenary anarchist, like most of the rockers I know, then you'll want to try to get between $50 to $500 for your trouble, depending on the type of gig, etc. School pep rallies are usually about the same. You have more of a chance to sell album at a pep rally because the age group tends to be younger.

Colleges, High Schools: DJ's have severally limited the field for performing at college and high school dances. But, there is still something magical about having a live band at a dance. You'll have to do a good job of selling the idea, but it is an idea worth pursuing. You may even want to team up with a DJ and trade sets during the dance.

What does it pay? Pay varies from free to $500, depending on the group. You won't get many referrals for other gigs here, but you can develop a strong fan base by playing at student parties. There are also other "social advantages" that may also make the gig worthwhile for a lonely, sensitive artists like yourself.

Libraries, bookstores, coffee houses: Excellent for acoustic artists or for rockers who want to do their own version of MTV unplugged.

What does it pay? Usually free or for tips only. BUT – these gigs are excellent places to sell albums because people are already in a shopping mood. You can boost sales by having an "album signing"

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event. Depending on the store, you may also make some connections that could lead to other gigs later on.

Community Groups: Don't laugh. The Lion's Club, the Rotary Club, the Garden Club and any other civic organizations that may be in your community can all become your own personal performance arena.

These groups tend to put on regularly scheduled events, they tend to like live music (assuming that you play music that is appropriate for their event) and they tend to well pay for it.

What does it pay? Between free and $500, depending.

Goodwill Gigs Goodwill can be more than your drummer's favorite place to buy clothes. Goodwill gigs are those gigs that you do for free without expecting to get paid. Fundraisers, charitable events, anything that does not involve somebody sitting down and writing you a paycheck.

Other than the general altruistic rush of good feelings that you get from being helpful, these types of performances may or may not help your career. That's not to say you shouldn't do them, but just don't expect to use it as a career move. Goodwill gigs help your image, but they're not designed to help your pocketbook.

Unless – If you are into Folk Music, Christian music (contemporary or Gospel), or some types of Country music, then goodwill gigs are not only useful, they're almost part of the job. It's all about building an image and making connections. Choose your goodwill gigs carefully. You don't want to become known as someone who will play anywhere for nothing.

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But, at the same time, it never hurts to develop a certain "nice guy" image.

Sponsored Gigs Check out your local music stores (the ones that sell instruments, not CD's) to see if they would be interested in having you play there in exchange for some gear or gear rental. Live music is always a draw.

The store owner gets lots of people who may want to buy the same guitar that your guitar player uses, or drum sticks, or whatever. You get an audience, make some CD sales, and possibly some gear. You may also make a good friend. Music store owners often have connections with the local music community that can help open some doors for you.

The traditional idea of a sponsored gig is also an option. Would it hurt to have the name of the local drum shop plastered on the head of your bass drum? Does your keyboard player use gear that is sold by a local store? Try to find angles to tie in with these businesses for a winwin situation.

Things to know before you go There are some things that you need to know before you play anywhere, but especially before you play in a place that might not be accustomed to live music. Avoid hassles by asking questions before the show.

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1. Know the 3-W's: What, Where and When What type of gig is it?

Where is it being held?

When do you play?

When you book the gig, make sure that you write down the details about where it is to be held and at what time. Ask when you can get in to set up and be sure to allow yourself enough time so you're not still warming up with people start to arrive. Make sure that you know the location and how to get there. If necessary, ask for a map.

2. Is there a PA or will you need to bring your own? If you have a PA, then find out if you need a power strip, extension cords or any special equipment to use it. (You would be surprised how many places still use only two-prong electrical outlets!) It's a good idea to carry all that stuff with you anyway. If you have to rent a PA, be sure to include that in the price that you quote. Telling them that you are including the price of renting PA in your quote will also make the host or booking agent more sympathetic towards paying the price.

3. Make sure that both you and the person who is booking the event are clear on when you are to start, when you will finish, and how many breaks you will need during the event. Some people are rather unrealistic and will expect a live band to play for four hours straight without a break. Make sure that everyone has the same expectations before you begin setting up.

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4.

What is the dress? You don't have to wear a uniform or anything, but you wouldn't want to show up in your usual beat up road clothes to play for a party where everyone is wearing black tie and tails. For most small, intimate gigs, the band should either dress the same as the audience or one level higher.

Blatant self-promotion

The music business is no place for shy people who don't like to talk about themselves It's an old question: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it really make any sound? The same question applies to musicians: If the greatest band in the world is practicing in your garage and no one knows they exist, does it really make any difference? There are 501 media contacts and 2000 radio stations listed in The Industry Yellow Pages (http://www.theindustryyellowpages.com/) .

How many of them have heard of you?

No matter how well you sing, play, rap, write or twist balloons into interesting and slightly obscene shapes, chances are that no one is going to stop by to hear you do it unless they know you are there. Major labels spend millions of dollars promoting new groups or new albums from older groups. How much money have you spent promoting your band? For that matter, you have probably put in a lot of time learning to

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play and developing a sound you can call your own. How much time have you spent telling people about that sound?

You can make it as a shy and modest person in the music business, but only if you are willing to pay someone else who is not shy to go out there and talk for you. It's just like everything else in music – you can either do it yourself or you can pay someone to do it for you, but one way or another, it has to be done.

Marketing is the process of getting your message across to your potential audience. There are two parts of an effective marketing campaign. Advertising is the one that most people know best. A band will be playing at such a place at such and such a time. Ya'll come now, ya' hear?

There are ads for albums in magazines, newspapers, and in record stores themselves. Anytime an artist or a music company pays someone to promote their album, it's advertising. You pay money, you get a service. Hopefully you get a good return on the money you have invested. The problem with advertising is that you can't really do it until you have a product to sell. It's an "after the fact" type of thing. Once you have a product, you have to advertise it. But until then, there's not much sense in spending money on an ad.

The other part of marketing is publicity. It's the part that most people over look. Think of it like this: If you pay for it, it's advertising. If

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you don't have to pay for it, then it's publicity. Both are important and one will not substitute for the other.

Maybe your bass player has some hometown connection to a place where you want to play. The local newspaper might be interested in knowing that this now successful professional musician is a product of the local high school. That's news – and that's publicity.

Becoming your own publicist As a musician, you are in the business of creating a sound. As a publicist, you will be in the business of creating and promoting an image.

There are some distinct similarities and differences between the two jobs. You can't create a sound for your band until you know what you want the band to sound like. As a publicist, you can't create an image for yourself or your band until you have decided what that image should be.

It isn't enough to say, "Here I am." You have to say, "Here I am AND THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD CARE." You wouldn't go to a gig without a set list, a list of all the songs that you will be playing that evening. Or at least you shouldn't. There are some bands that do, but they usually end up losing their audience while they're arguing about which song they should play next. Ever been in a band like that? I have. It sucks.

Likewise, you wouldn't set out to build an image without a list of the steps you are going to take to do the job. You can try, just like you 58

can play a gig without a set list, but you will end up losing whatever attention you had managed to attract. When you do it right, the results of an effective publicity campaign can be like putting your drummer on steroids. People will begin to notice your band.

Few people who aren't in media realize how many news stories are created by public relation departments that write, distribute and encourage media outlets to run stories about their clients. If Big Joe Bob's Burproprion Review releases a new album, then it's the job of the publicist to bring it to the attention of these media outlets and to treat is as a newsworthy event. That may be done through a story about the band, a news story about some charitable event where the band performed, through an album review or by any number of means. But it needs to be done.

As a rule, publicity is more credible than advertising. If I tell you that I am the world's greatest kazoo player, you probably won't believe me. But, if the National Organization of Kazoo Players hands me an award, then you will be more likely to believe and even more likely to cover it as a news story. If I buy an ad that says that my band is coming to town, then it's just another band playing just another gig. But, if a music critic or a community events editor or somebody else prints that same information in the form of a news story, it takes on new life. More people will see it, more people will be interested in it, and more people are likely to attend.

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You cannot substitute publicity for advertising. The two work together, one to get out the message and the other to repeat and reinforce it. Your job is to make sure that the both arms of your marketing campaign are reaching in the same direction.

You can get even more ideas about how to create and reinforce your image in books like "How To MAKE A $ FURTUNE $ In The MUSIC INDUSTRY By Doing It YOURSELF�

(available at http://www.amazon.com.com/)

To catch an editor, think like an editor Editors rule the world of media news. They decide which stories will be run, how much time or space those stories will get, and how they will be presented. If you're going to be a publicist, you're going to have to deal with editors. You may not work with them directly. It could be that a reporter will take an interest in you or your band and pursue the story.

But that reporter will have to deal with his or her editor. You can stay one step ahead by knowing what that editor is going to say and shaping your message so it will be well received.

This isn't as restrictive as it may sound. Once you begin to think like an editor, you will begin to see hundreds of opportunities to publicize your band. Guitar Player magazine probably isn't going to be very 60

interested in your tour schedule. But, they may be interested in a story about your guitar player, especially if that story is coming from an interesting or unusual angle. A drummer for a small band I know was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Instead of trying to hide that fact, the band presented the story to several publications about mental health, special education and related magazines. Those editors loved the story because it related directly to their audience. The same magazines that probably wouldn't have even sold these guys advertising were running a two-page story about this drummer and his band – complete with a list of play dates and available albums. Is your drummer a vegetarian? Your singer an animal activist? Maybe the band met in kindergarten and have playing together ever since. Anything interesting and anything different means another potential for more publicity.

But what publicity builds it can also destroy. The entire band will suffer if your keyboard player gets caught setting puppies on fire, unless that's the image that you want to project.

Press Releases A press release is a story written by a publicist for general distribution. Press releases typically do not have an author's name, although they need to have contact information about your band so the editor or journalist can reach you if they need/want more information.

The idea of a press release is to give the appearance that the story was written by someone who is not connected with you or your band. Once it

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has been released, your press release may be "picked up" by any media outlet that chooses to use it. They may or may not notify you that they have decided to print the story, although most will, especially if there is a local angle or something else that makes it of particular interest to a specific audience.

Speaking as someone who has spent some time working at the news desk of a Web site and has been in the position to decide what was and was not news, a well-written press release is a gift. It made my job easier because I didn't have to work up the story from scratch. If it was a slow news day, a press release might be just the think I needed to fill space. A poorly written press release has just the opposite effect. You ignore it and get mad at the person who sent it to you for wasting your time.

If you can afford it, it's a good idea to have a professional writer or someone with some media experience to write the press release for you.

Regardless of who writes it, don't expect it to appear exactly as you have written. Editors have to make changes based on content and available space. It's important to remember a few simple rules that can make your press release as effective as possible.

The Inverted Pyramid Put your important information first, then expand from there.

This is exactl y the opposite way that most writing is done, and it can take some getting used to. W hen you write a song, a story or even the Great American Novel, you usually hold something back to reveal at the end. Not so with a press release. The form looks like a pyramid turned upside down, 62

with specific information on top and more general, less important information towards the end.

There are reasons why you use the inverted pyramid. First, readers usually decide within the first few words of a story whether then want to read it all. You have to get your information across before they decide not to read any further.

Another reason is because editors tend to cut stories from the bottom when they need to make room. If a story is too long, they just lop off the last two or three paragraphs to make it fit.

If you have saved your important information like where and when you have your next gig for the bottom of the page, then that's just too bad. It's going to get cut. Be safe and put it at the top.

There's an interesting historic reason for the inverted pyramid style that still has some relevance today. Journalists in the late 1800's had to use a telegraph to send their stories back to the home office. (Ever wonder why its' called a News W ire?

That's why.) They never knew when the telegraph was going to go out or when the connection might be lost, so it was important that they transmitted the heart of the story – W ho, W hat, W here, W hen – first to make sure at least that much got through. W e don’t' transmit news like that today, but we still face problems of being interrupted by things that are beyond our control. Again, you can minimize the danger by putting the important information first.

It's also important for the editor to know when a story is complete. At the bottom of your press release, t ype # # # with no spaces between the number signs as a signal that the press release is complete. It is also interesting to note that most press releases begin with the line "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE." Press releases usually are no more than on page in length.

W hat goes in between is up to you. Mak e it interesting, make it newsworthy, and make sure that it is written well enough that the editor will want to put it in the paper or read it on the air. Action verbs are better than sentences written in the 63

passive voice. Most word processors will tell you what percentage of your sentences are in passive voice when you run a grammar check.

SPELL CHECK EVERYTHIING BEFORE YOU SEND IT!

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SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Student's CD is Number Two on the Charts with a Bullet Contact: Joe Smith, director of media relations, 555-555-4833 September 12, 2004 GRINNELL, Iowa – Black Hat sings about the other Iowa, the Iowa that doesn't live on a farm. They have "a small but deeply disturbed following," as one band member put it, but the band isn't expecting to get much airplay on MTV. Still, 10,000 copies sold of their first CD is something to cheer about.

The title track, titled "Shishu" --about love affair from the eyes of a teenage mother --has been rated number two on the television show "Gainers", a popular all-request music program on television station ZTV. "We have received quite a few emails from fans," said Yajir Mehboob, a Weston College student who sings and plays keyboards. "It's nice to know that people listen to our songs and spend so much time with our music. We have some people telling us that they can relate the songs to their own lives."

Selling their music wasn't a primary goal for the band members. At least, not at first.

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"We initially didn't care about producing our music commercially," Mehboob said. "We thought we would do our best, given the time frame of about three months (summer break) and, if all else fails, we would just listen to our own songs at home."

But things took off, fast. Both Yasir and Tehsion Rathid, on guitars and vocals, are students in the U.S. Mehboob is a senior at Grinnell College and Rastid is a law student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

The other member of the group, 22 year old Javed Ahmed fills out the trio on guitars and vocals.

"As we were getting done with our recording, we managed to have an advertising firm -- Madonna Advertising -- do the marketing for us and a company called Gitanjali to do the distribution," Mehboob said. "We also launched three music videos."

The videos are what got Black Hat noticed. Viewers of the program "Gainer Hat," got to vote on the top three songs of the current week. The first week the song reached number three. The next week it moved up one notch to number two.

Sales of the CD, which have been on the market for only three weeks, have been brisk, according to the distributor. But band members have yet to receive any solid numbers. Still, number two on the charts in your home town a music video or two, and fans who send fan email half a world away is still pretty good for most college seniors.

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Promotional Tools

When they notice, be ready!

True story, and it happened just last week: I'm sitting in a bar in Miami listening to the house band. Not a bad group, mostly covers with a few original tunes, but they sounded good enough that I came back the next night to hear them again. The conference that I was attending in Miami lasted three days. The last day I was there, I stopped by the bar and the band was just setting up. I walk up to the singer, told him that I liked to keep bands in mind for gigs, and asked if they had a One-sheet (discussed in the next chapter.) If you don't know what a One-sheet is, don't feel bad. They didn't either.

"Do you have any CD's?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I don't have any with me." I'm beginning to lose interest in this band.

"Do you have a business card so I can call you?" I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I thought if I contacted them when they weren't setting up, then maybe I could get somewhere.

They didn't have any business cards either. They had nothing that I could take with me so I could contact them later. I hope they like playing in that hotel lounge, because that's about as far as they're going to get without some preparation. This band came to the club ready to play a show. They had all their gear, they had obviously rehearsed, and they knew what they were going to do. Unfortunately, they weren't

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prepared to take advantage of an opportunity. This was especially bad because they were playing in a hotel that hosts several conventions a year. That's a lot of people coming from a variety of different places.

They could have easily used this as a springboard to go from local to regional or on to even national status.

You can't take advantage of an opportunity that you are unprepared to face.

Your Band's Business Card Business cards are probably the most overlooked item in the advertising arsenal. Carry them with you and put one or two in your press kit. They're cheap, easy to carry, easy to distribute and they work.

As part of your press kit, the business card is an easy way for the club manager to keep track of your contact information without keeping the entire kit. As a stand alone marketing vehicle, a business card is a highimpact tool that is almost impossible to beat. Think of your business card as a mini-billboard for your band.

Business cards are the great equalizer. Advertising is a business, and bands that can afford to spend the most usually have the most effective advertising. Business cards level the playing field. Your business card will be the same size and be more or less the same layout as the business cards used by Puff Daddy or anyone else. That's what's so great about business cards. They're all the same, unless you really try to cut corners and use cheap paper or ink that smears all over

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somebody's hands, in which case you shouldn't be handing out business cards.

At the very least, your business card should include the band's name, phone number, mailing address, email address, Web site address. Use the back of the card! Most people leave the back of their business cards blank. You can double the cards effectiveness by simply printing something on both sides of the card. I would recommend printing the same lines you used on your envelopes on the back of your card, along with the band's name and a phone number.

Your CD You can't be everywhere at once. That's why they invented the compact disc and video tape.

If you have already released an album, then carry a copy of it with you at all times. If you haven't released an album, then put some songs together and make enough copies that you can pass them around to people in the media or who could otherwise help to promote you and your band. Get the most out of your CD by including contact information like phone numbers, email addresses, and a post office box where letters can be sent.

CD's aren't as expensive as you might think. Still, you might not want to shell out the money to give a disc to every person you see.

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Make a list of the people who are in the positions that can help you most and reserve the free CD's for them. Send videos more sparingly and not without asking.

The Press Kit Your press kit is often the first impression that someone who hasn't heard your band has of your band. It may also be called a promo kit or a media kit. Whatever you call it, the goal is to make people want to know more about you and how they can book you to play in their club.

It should not provoke laughter, unless you're a comedian and that's the reaction you want. Just be sure they're laughing at the joke and not at the quality of the stuff you threw together, wrapped with a rubber band, and called your press kit.

Press kits can be given or sent to club managers as a way of showing them why they should book you for their venue. As the name implies, press kits are also used to encourage newspapers, radio and TV people to cover your band as either a feature article or in a review of your performance or your CD. Think of it as a way to get some very effective advertising for your band without having to pay for it. A review column in a newspaper is typically around 600-750 words. Reviews and articles that appear in a magazine will vary from 100 to 1600 words, depending on how interested the editor is in your band. Being featured in a 1600 word magazine story would be like buying four full page ads.

In most magazines, that's about $10,000 worth of advertising (or more)

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for free. A 50-100 word mention in the entertainment section of your local newspaper is still worth a lot more than the price of an ad of the same size. Plus you do not have to pay for it! That's the difference between publicity and advertising. If you pay, it's advertising. If you can get it for free, it's publicity. Publicity also has the advantage of appearing more credible than advertising. You might be less inclined to believe me when I tell you how great I am. Those same words coming from a more objective source, like a reviewer or a news column, carry more weight – even if the reviewer or news story is running a verbatim version of my latest press release! Good publicity is more effective than most advertising you will ever buy. Bad publicity, as in "these guys really suck,� can kill your career. The absolute best band bashing I ever read said, "Flying Weasel Farts' (not their real name) live show is not worth the price of admission. Wait for their CD, and then don't buy it either.)

An effective press kit can work wonders for you. A bad press kit works against you and usually ends up in the trash, often without even being opened or read through. Unsolicited press kits that you send out in the mail without first preparing the club manager have an even lower rate of survival. A well-done press kit stays behind to promote your band long after you have shaken the club manager's money-grubbing hand and gone home. Perception is greater than reality. Press kits are one of the tools of a club-packing, money-making, no-longer-up-and-comingbecause-we're-already-there independent band. You have a press kit; ergo, in the mind of the club manager who is deciding whether or not to book you, you must be a club-packing, money-making, etc., etc., band – or at least on your way to becoming one.

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Looking successful is sometimes more important than being successful. At one time, I was doing some writing for a rather wellknown dot-com which shall remain nameless to avoid any potentially nasty breach of non-disclosure litigation. We were all over the Internet.

We ran radio and TV ads. We were respected, liked and literally read by millions of people every month. The company went public, and we all made a fortune in the stock market. Or at least on paper we did. The company never made a profit. The CEO bailed out, er, sold the company for $250 million when he saw what was coming and left the rest of us to take the hit. Like I said, perception is greater than reality.

A press kit is more than a piece of paper that says your band is great. Your press kit should include: ♦ Effective packaging that screams, "Open me!" ♦ One 8x10 BW glossy photo of the band or artist, preferably suitable for use in a newspaper or on a poster ♦ A One-sheet – about you and your CD with the UPC code of your CD ♦ A band bio, including a brief history of the band and anything especially interesting about the band members. ♦ A set list – be sure to note which tunes appear on your CD. ♦ Your band's business card ♦ A sample press release ♦ Copies of any reviews, tapes of Interviews, or any other media exposure ♦ A copy of a recent newsletter

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♦ Any postcards, tri-fold brochures, or other promotional material that you use on a regular basis ♦ A calendar showing where you've been recently and where you're booked in the near future ♦ A CD ♦ A sample contract (blank) ♦ At least one of any stickers, buttons, or other stuff you have with your band's name and/or logo on it.

In short, your press kit is a collection of every promotional item you ever made, or at least the best ones, conveniently packaged into one easy to distribute set. Each of the items in the kit, with the exception of the cover letter, should be able to stand on its own and still be effective.

Together, they create a dynamic force so powerful that it is capable of world domination, or at least getting you a decent gig. Take your pick.

It's important that each item in your press kit can stand on it's own.

Things get separated, envelopes can get things spilled on them. You never know which piece of paper the booking agent or club manager is going to pick up. Be sure that everything has your complete contact information on it. Remember, these people don't like problems. Don't let getting in touch with you be a problem.

NEVER send out a media kit, a press release or CD without first contacting the person first. You'll want to be assured that the contact wants to receive you’re your kit and/or your CD. Meet them in a club or

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talk to them on the phone, but pique their interest in your band before you send the kit.

The Envelope You could just throw all this stuff in a plain manila envelope, scrawl the name of the luck y recipient on the front and drop it in the mail. Or you could just save yourself the postage and simply drop it in the trashcan yourself, since that is what happens to about 99% of unmarked, unappealing, unsolicited press packages. You've probably spent some money putting these materials together. Don't make it go to waste because the packaging is so lame that it gets tossed in the trash.

Invest in some nice mailers that are large enough that you don't have to fold anything and have your band's name and contact information printed in the return address spot. Print the phone number somewhere else on the envelope but not around the address information. Have some eye-catching text across the bottom, preferably aligned to the right so it will be more noticeable. A short, one or two line quote from a good review and the name of the reviewer works well for this.

"Latchkey Brats packed the house. An incredible performance! – Joe Blow, Detroit News."

The Jacket Inside the envelope, which will probably get trashed, put a folder with the same color scheme, images and tag lines. This folder is called a jacket. After the envelope, it is the first impression that the editor or club manger will have of your band. If you're delivering your media kits in person – always a good idea – then it is the first impression. As always, make it a good one.

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Logos, photos or other artwork is often printed on the jacket. If you have a CD, it's a good idea to design the jacket around the same colors, fonts and images that are used on the CD packaging. The idea is to get your message across. The simpler the message, the more likely it is to be remembered.

Printing that same message – "W e are an incredible band� or whatever – on everything that has to do with your band reinforces it even more. If the agent picks up one, five of fifty promotional materials about your band, he should still come away with the same message. The onl y exception to that rule is if you have specific media packages for each album you have released. Most artists don't have that problem until much later in their career after they have built a more extensive catalogue of material. Even then, there needs to be a consistent look and feel to everything that you do.

Everything in your media kit should fit in the jacket. Depending on how much material you want to send and how much money you want to invest, your folder may be anything from a simple pocket notebook to an elaborate tri-fold with pockets that has been professionall y printed on glossy paper.

Here's a tip: You already have business cards in the media kit.

W hen you put the kit in an envelope, drop in extra one or two cards inside the envelope but not inside the jacket. These cards will fall out when the agent opens the envelope, just like those subscriber cards fall out of your favorite magazines.

Photos Your photo puts a face to the press kit and makes a significant psychological impact on those who see it. The standard for press kit photo is a professionally done, 8"x10" black and white gloss y. Newspapers don't like to print color, so a black and white shot is still the best. The newspaper probably won't run a full size 8x10, so be sure to select a photo that will look good when has been shrunk down to 2"x2.5" or so. Take some color photos for magazine or other material where color is appropriate and cost-effective. The photo may be a picture of 75

your band in action or it could be a posed picture. Regardless of what you use, be sure that the photo is clear, high quality, and projects an image that is consistent with what you want to portray. Like everything else, a photo makes an impression. A picture taken by a disposable camera will make you look like a disposable band.

The One-Sheet The One-sheet is also known as a "Fact Sheet," and for good reason.

Your band's One-sheet is the ultimate example of the "everything must be able to stand on its own" rule. If you do it right, you should be able to send out your one-sheet and a CD. This saves you time and allows you to save the more elaborate media kit for larger venues or other names on your A-List of people to impress.

A one-sheet is the one sheet that summarizes everything your band is about. It includes a photo of your band (you can use a smaller version of the "official" photo that you sent or you may use a different photo), a brief bio, and other material. A one-sheet condenses everything in the press kit into one sheet, along with any reviews or quotes that might give it more credibility. Don't create something that you love so much that you're not going to want to change it. You should update your One-sheet as often as necessary, and tailor each one-sheet to address a particular audience. Use a variety of one-sheets designed for a specific purpose to send your message to booking agents, club managers, record labels, radio stations, DJ's and anyone else who

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might be interested in your music. Each one-sheet should be emphasize what the target reader would think is most important. If you've sold enough CD's to impress somebody, then include your UPC code so the agent can verify your sales. Your one-sheet should provide the reader with the answers to these questions: ♦ What am I looking at? ♦ Why should I care? ♦ What's on this CD? ♦ Which tracks are best for my market? ♦ What type of music is it? ♦ Is it your first, fourth or fifth album? ♦ Who do you sound like that I would have heard? ♦ Where have you played? ♦ Where do I get more info? ♦ How can I contact this band or artist?

The idea of a one-sheet is that everything is readable at a glance.

The layout needs to be tight and visually appealing. Save the long band bios for the bio sheet and press release copy. Focus on what you have to offer and why you're right for this club, station, label or whatever.

However, one-sheets that are too cryptic or confusing are likely to get tossed – right along with your chances of getting the gig. Here is a sample one-sheet for a new album released by a fictitious artist, Alicia Mitchell:

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ALICIA MITCHELL

ALICIA MITCHELL

"This is Crazy" A My Song Records release

Alicia Mitchell has got it all – stunning lyric writing that combines Tracy Chapman with Alanis Morissette, hauntingly airy piano textures and an understated vocal style that’s been described as “a disarming mixture of soft-spoken fragility and raw, throaty seductiveness.”

"This is Crazy," Mitchell's second CD, reflects on her thoughts of life on the road as a female Indie musician in a market full of testosterone driven egos. With eight tracks of original songs, Alicia crosses jazz, folk, pop idioms with the fluency of a native speaker of each. Opening with a throaty a capella verse that demands attention, Mitchell's voice sweeps through a somewhat cynical yet hopeful view of relationships, a get-over-it-and-move-on anthem, a memorably hooky ballad about a new love affair, and other casualties of life on the road.

Mitchell's lyrics and vocals touch on powerful human emotions with the same careful sensitivity that her hands have for her piano.

Tracks: 1. This is Crazy 2. No More 3. Everything I Believe 4. Into The Flame 5. Songbird 6. Missing the Point 7. Ballad for a Rich Kid 8. No One Said It's For Free RELEASE DATE .………………10/14/2002 FORMAT .................……………… CD WHOLESALE PRICE……………. $8.99 CATALOG # ...............…………….XX001 SUGGESTED LIST ...……………. $14.99 FILE UNDER………..ROCK/POP or JAZZ UPC ...................…… …… 6344----122

With the help of fellow Denver musicians Paul Roberts (bass) and Bill Gurnot (drums), and popular club singer Jennie Diaz on background vocals, Alicia Mitchell has produced a soul searching album that will only get better with age.

"This is Crazy" may go deep, but it goes down smooth.

Contact: My Song Records 32206 Pine Tree Rd. Denver, CO 555-555-5555

♦ ♦ ♦

Featured articles and reviews in Denver Music Review, Music Quarterly Female Songwriter

♦

Tracks selected for compilation CDs from Denver Music Review and Jazz Quarterly.

♦

College and community radio air play in over 20 markets nationwide

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Newsletters Newsletters are periodic updates about your band that help you keep your fan base informed and promoters happy. Your newsletter can be a hard copy, single sheet mail out which is a hassle to make, expensive to copy, expensive to mail and will probably be thrown away with the rest of the junk mail. Or, if you prefer, it can be an electronic newsletter which is free to produce, free or very cheap to distribute and is more likely to be read. If they want a hard copy, they can print it out.

Expensive newsletters on paper vs. Free electronic newsletters: take your pick. I'm guessing you chose the electronic newsletter. Good choice.

Your newsletter doesn't have to be fancy, but it should be useful. Nobody likes to get blatant promotional material in the mail unless it has something they can use. You can format your newsletter in HTML for a more impressive layout that looks like a web page, but that's not necessary. Some people prefer text-onl y newsletters because of fears of viruses and other Internet problems. Keep it brief, and put your important information at the top of the newsletter so people will be more likely to read it. Include upcoming tour dates, new albums and any links or other content that you think your fans would appreciate or find useful.

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Using your newsletter to give your fans benefits that others can't get makes your fans feel like they are more than just a name on a mail list. It's all about building a fan base and fan loyalty. ♦ The most recent band news and developments ♦ Upcoming show listings with complete details ♦ Related web site links that subscribers might want to visit ♦ A plea that encourages people to visit the band's web site ♦ A note thanking everyone for their support ♦ All of the band's contact information ♦ A note explaining how to unsubscribe from the e-zine You can get more mileage out of your newsletter by promoting other bands in exchange for some promotion in their newsletters. The same goes for clubs and other venues. It's a "you plug me and I'll plug you," kind of world. Just be sure that you're getting plugged in return.

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Going from local to regional At some point, you're going to be ready to make the jump from being a good band in your town to a good band in your area. Depending on where you may live, "your area" may include several counties, neighboring states or even an entire section of the country. This means building a larger fan base, playing in front of bigger crowds and selling more CD's. It also means longer drives, more phone calls and other logistical problems that you may not encounter when you were playing in places that were only a few blocks away from where you live.

How do you know when you're ready? You won't. No one does. To be honest, if you wait until you're ready, you'll probably never make it happen. But you can determine whether you have a chance to make it by asking yourself a few questions.

1. Are you playing bigger and better venues than you were before?

If you're still playing free gigs in dives, then you don't need to drive across the state to do that. Save yourself the trouble and just stay home.

2. Are your ticket sales increasing?

You should be keeping a list of everywhere you have played. (If you're not, then start making one now and do the best you can to write down the places you have played in the past.) Note the capacity of the venue, the number of seats or tickets that you sold, and how much money you actually received from the gig. If these numbers are on the

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rise, then you may be ready to take it to the next level. If your numbers are dropping, then you should probably shore up your home fan base before trying to expand.

Sometimes a band will plateau, meaning that you've been drawing consistently good numbers for several months but you don't seem to be showing any increase. This is a sure sign that it's time to expand. There are only so many people in a given area, and you are only going to get so many of those people to listen to your music. Once you've done that, you have no place left to go. Bands will sometimes stall musically and in their careers when their audience numbers begin to plateau. They keep drawing crowds, but they never make the extra effort to go to bigger venues. The problem with that is that in the music business, you are either growing or you're dying. There isn't a whole lot of sitting still or in between.

The first thing to suffer will be your CD sales. You may be packing them in at the club, but they're only going to buy one copy of your CD. If your CD sales are going to continue to grow, then you either have made a second CD or expand your market area – or do both. Sometimes, a new CD is exactly what it takes to push a band in a new direction.

The second thing that begins to go will be your audience. You may have a loyal fan base, but there are probably people in your audience that have heard your name but never heard you perform. These people are looking for "the next big thing," and if you've been around for a while and haven't done something at least moderately interesting – i.e., 82

released a new CD, gone on a tour, opened for another band at a local venue – then you are no longer "the next big thing." Taking it to the next level keeps you fresh and encourages the curious but chicken crowd to check you out.

Simple question: Are your ticket sales increasing, dropping or staying the same? If you're climbing, then you might want to wait until you have a larger fan base before going for the bigger areas. If you're staying the same, then it's time to move up! If you're dropping, then it's time to figure out why and fix it.

3. Where are you on your career path?

W e talked about the importance of having a vision and setting SMART goals earlier in this book. If you missed that section, it might be a good idea to go back and review. If you don't know where you're going, then you'll probably never get there.

You have to be flexible, but you also need to have some idea of where you want to be at certain checkpoints. You might want to sit down with the rest of your band and ask the where they hope to be in one year, five years or whatever. If you can't picture yourself doing music five years from now, then you need to thing about what you will be doing instead. Sometimes you and your mates need to have these little heart to heart talks: "Look guys, we've been at this for three years now and we still haven't played any gigs except Jerry's family reunion."

Set definite goals and do your best to meet them. The periodically sit down and see how well you're doing at meeting those goals. Are you closer now than you were when you started? Have you passed the miles

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markers that you have established? Do you need to redefine your goals?

Despite what the Rolling Stones may have said, time is not always on your side. Timelines are important, but they can also be frustrating and can sometimes create unnecessary stress. There are things that are not going to happen until you are ready for them to happen, regardless of what the calendar says. It would be nice if you could say, "Six months from now I will have accomplished this." Life doesn't always work that way. Instead, try laying out a plan without a timeline. ♦ First gig ♦ Playing regularly ♦ First CD ♦ Sole 1,000 copies of our first CD ♦ First gig in (name the nearest major city) This kind of step-by-step approach will help keep you on track even without tying you down to dates. But be careful. Without dates, it's easy to procrastinate. Learn to make your schedules work for you instead of always working for your schedule.

4. Is your band ready for the next level – musically, financially, and mentally?

A band is just like any other living thing. It needs to be nurtured and given time to grow. If you try to rush that process, you may end up killing the band. That's a shame, because a lot of bands that could be really good or that may have actuall y been really good when they were playing in local 84

clubs end up falling apart under the pressures of longer trips, tours and the added stresses of life on the road.

Playing several gigs a week is going to get pretty old if you only know three songs. You have to repeat some material, and in the beginning you will probably have to repeat a lot of your material, but you need to be able to pick and choose a few things on a given night. If you can play ten songs really well but your typical gig only requires seven, then you have the luxury of being able to say, "I don't feel like playing that one tonight. Let's do this one instead."

Obviously there are some songs that you will have to play every time you step on stage. You should always promote anything that you have on CD, for example. But, again, you may have ten songs on a CD and only have time to play five songs at your gig. It's good to keep all your songs worked up and ready to go so you can switch set lists if you so choose. It also works well for encores, or for those nights when you're about ready to pull the plug and somebody comes up and says, "I'll throw in an extra $250 if you guys will stick around another hour." It's good to have a little left instead of being totally spent.

Beyond being musically ready, you have to be financially ready as well. Little things add up, like bus rental, gas, food, hotel. You may have been charging $500 a night for a local gig and doing just fine. If you're charging $500 for a gig that is an overnight stay away, then you've cut your profit margin by a lot.

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There are times when it's worth taking the financial hit if the gig has potential for exposure or some kind of return in the future. Only you can make that call. And it would be nice if money were not a factor.

Unfortunately, money is very much a factor, especially when you don't have any. Charging the same rates for tour gigs that you try to get for a local booking is not going to help you balance the books.

There are different ways to handle this problem. Some bands set up an bank account for the band. After each gig, the band gets paid right along with the band members. This prevents any arguments about whose turn it is to pay for the gas. You just take it out of the band's checkbook. After a short time, you may have saved enough to buy a mixer or some other more expensive gear that everybody will be using and nobody can afford to pay for.

This kind of communal band spirit works well as long as everybody is getting along. It becomes a problem when the band starts breaking up. That's when it's important to have some kind of written agreements in place before you need them.

The book 101 Music Business Contracts (available at http://www.order-yours-now.com/) becomes more important as you begin to save money and buy new equipment.

Remember: The time to make a contract is before you think you need it.

Most bands start out as a group of friends who just got together to play music and things happened to click. You may feel awkward asking your friends to sign a written agreement, but it's the only way that you will stay friends. The History of Rock Music is full of stories of bands that 86

disintegrated into flames over arguments about who actually owned the sound system, the drum set or even the band name. Spell it out before you start getting into an argument. __

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Recording your first album There are two schools of thought as to when you should record your first CD. Some artists prefer to spend some time playing together before they venture into the studio to record. Performing songs live brings the music together and gives everybody a chance to work the kinks out without having to pay for studio time to do it. Other artists like to record their CD first so they have something to use to help them get gigs. Leaving a CD with a club owner or booking agent is much more persuasive and professional than simply telling the guy that you're the best singer in the world and expecting him to take your word for it. A good argument could be made for both approaches. You have to decide what works best for you.

Once you make the decision to record, the next choice is to decide where you're going to do it. You can make a CD in a basement home studio, if you're willing to spend the money to buy the gear and tune the room. This is the true Do-It-Yourself way to go, and it can be a lot of fun – if you already own the necessary equipment and are able to spend the time to do everything. You can make a surprisingly good album with on a four-track recorder, a couple of microphones and a decent mixer (don't laugh – The Beatles did Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band using only four tracks!) Throw in some MIDI sequencing and you can have a virtual 100-track studio in your basement.

While the idea of making an album in your basement may sound like a lot of fun, unless you really know what you're doing, it probably

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won't sound as good as what you could have if you went to a professional studio to record. A studio can make an average band sound good, a good band sound great, and a great band sound incredible.

They cannot, however, make a bad band or a bad singer sound good.

Finding a studio is a lot easier now than it used to be.

The Industry Yellow Pages (http://www.theindustryyellowpages.com/) lists almost 2000 recording studios in the 2003 edition. Many more open up each year. Don't let outside appearances fool you. I played piano on a friend's album that we recorded last year. The studio was up in the mountains of Colorado, northwest of Boulder. We pulled up to the farmhouse – there were literally horses grazing in a field on the property – and went inside a barn. Once we were inside, you would have thought we had been transported to LA or Nashville. All digital recording using the latest equipment and software. The guy even had vintage guitars on the wall that you could use – for a small fee, of course – if you wanted to use one on your album. The explosion in technology and the drop in the price of recording equipment has made it possible to have quality studios literally anywhere.

If you are lucky enough to live in an area where there are several studios to choose from, then contact each of them and ask for a tour of the facility. Price is a consideration, but it isn't the only consideration.

How do they mic their baby grand? What is the drum room like? What kind of board and software are they using to capture and mix your sound? Ask for names of people who have recorded there and ask to hear any samples of projects that came from the studio. Approach 89

making your CD just as you would approach any other major financial decision. You wouldn't buy a car unless you liked it. You shouldn't choose a studio unless you like what it can do for you and your music.

Your Album's Budget People make albums for a variety of reasons, and how much you want to spend will depend on your motivation for recording your album.

Some people will go into the studio simply because they enjoy playing together and want to have a good recording before they split up. I call these the "family photograph" CD's because that's what they remind me of. Nobody has any intention of selling it. They want copies to give away to family and friends and to keep for their own enjoyment. And that is a beautiful thing, if they can afford that.

The title of this book reflects the idea that you should go into the studio with the purpose of making more money than you had before you went in. It may take you some time to make that money, but that is the eventual goal. For that to happen, you have to produce a quality album for as little money as possible. The keyword is quality. Don't sell yourself short and sacrifice quality for cost. The CD will still be around long after you've managed to balance your checkbook. That said, there is a range of prices even for quality CD’s. Some of the costs of making an album are more flexible than others. You may want to save money in one area so you can spend more in another.

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Expenses for an album project breakdown into three categories: Recording costs Studio time (does not include engineering fees. This is just what you pay to reserve the room.)

Engineer (You may also want to hire a Producer, or the Engineer may double as an Engineer/Producer) Musicians (Working bands may or may not want to bring in extra musicians to help. If you are a solo singer, you will need musicians. You can't use pre-recorded tracks in the studio unless you get permission to do so from the publisher.)

Post-production (Often done along with the engineer or producer but at a different rate than the rate for an actual recording session. Postproduction can and usually does take more time than the recording sessions.)

Duplication The cost of putting your finished master on CD's and tapes that can be packaged and sold.

Cover costs Album cover, design and photography Any additional promotional material that may be included with the CD Printing costs

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Show up ready to play!

Unless you're looking to spend a small fortune, the studio is not the place to learn new songs or to practice old material until you get it right. By the time you get to the studio, you should be able to play these songs in your sleep. The modern studio is an amazing place. Wrong notes are easily edited out and even an out of tune voice can be fixed to a certain degree, but all of that takes time and time is money. It's better to have your songs ready to go and be able to have more ten songs on the CD than it is to spend the same amount of time and money and only end up with three or four songs when you're finished.

Of course, there are some who would say, "I'd rather have four songs that are awesome than ten songs that sound halfway." So would I. I would also rather have ten songs that are awesome than four songs that are awesome, especially if I can get my ten in the same amount of time it takes someone else to do their four.

If you are prepared to go to the studio and don't waste a lot of time, you can get a 10-song CD complete with 500 copies ready to be sold for around $5,000. You may be able to save some money in some non-critical areas to save some money, like opting for a black and white cover instead of a full color photo, or going with fewer songs. The most important thing is to be ready before you go so you don't spend a lot of time using the studio as an expensive place to practice. If you aren't ready and you waste a lot of time, then it may cost you as much as twice

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that amount or more. Whoever said, "Time is money" must have spent a lot of time in a studio, where time starts at about $100 per hour and goes up from there, depending on what you are trying to do.

Again, there are some differences of opinion. Some musicians want to wait until they're ready to go before they begin to even look for a studio. However, most of us have found that we won't get ready to go unless we already know that we're going somewhere. The solution is somewhere in the middle. Work towards that goal of making an album.

Once you get reasonably close to being ready, book the studio. Then work extra hard to get everything polished before you go in. Some studios require a deposit, which is non-refundable in most cases.

Nothing like putting $1,000 on the line to motivate you to get your act together!

Take control of the session Most recording engineers are pretty laid back. Some may even appear to be bored, even as you're laying down some incredible vocals or hearing the playback on the best song you ever wrote. Remember that these guys hear more new music in a month than most people will hear in a lifetime. After a while, they become pretty jaded. It takes a lot to impress a recording engineer or a record producer.

Even though they may look board, they are usually listening and can offer some valuable insights and suggestions about how to improve your sound. This is more the producer's job than the engineers, but engineers get into helping too – especially when they're playing the dual

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role of engineer/producer. A good engineer knows how to punch up a drum sound or how to smooth out a rough vocal. But engineers are people, too. Sometimes you may find yourself working with someone who is having a bad day or is trying to turn your sound into something that you don't like or want. Even worse are those engineers who insist that they can "fix it in the mix" even when they know they can't.

Thankfully, there aren't many people out there who are like this. But they are out there, and you may find them. When you do, stand your ground.

It's easy to get intimidated when you find yourself in a studio with a person who has so much knowledge and is surrounded by so much technology. Don't be. The most important person in the room is the person or persons paying the money. If you are paying for the session, then you are the boss. You don't have to be a jerk about it, but the final decisions are up to you. If something doesn't sound right, insist that it be fixed then instead of allowing an engineer to talk you into going with it.

Some things – a lot of things – can be fixed in post production, but a misplaced microphone isn't one of them. Neither is a bad drum sample.

Make sure you like the sound before anything is recorded. It may take time, but this is time well spent.

Above all, have fun! Bands who have played together for years still say that there is an excitement about going into the studio to record. It's totally different than live performance. The work is very detail oriented and perfectionist driven. But even with all that, recording your CD should be a labor of love. If you're uptight and unhappy, it will show up in the music like a big frown on a family portrait.

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Selling Your CD There is nothing like the sight of 500 to 1,000 CD's sitting in middle of your living room to motivate you to figure out a way to sell them, unless, of course, it's the motivation to recover the expense of making those 500 to 1,000 CD's as quickly as possible.

Don't give it away for free!

OK, give a CD to your mom and dad. You'd better give one to your girlfriend or your boyfriend unless you don't plan on keeping those relationships. You might want to give copies to a few of your friends‌ but at some point, you have to draw the line, preferably before you start calling up your classmates from fourth grade and asking them if they would like you to send a free copy to them. Your mission, whether you choose to accept it or not, is to sell the CD's that you have recorded.

There are several ways to accomplish this, and you should have a plan for each.

I've heard numerous artists (and I experienced this myself) who have said that they felt guilty taking someone's money when they wanted to buy their CD. If you're like most musicians, you probably already have plenty of things to feel guilty about – that hotel room in Portland that you trashed, the fan in Idaho that.. never mind. Taking money for a CD that you spent literally years preparing to make and thousands of dollars to produce should not be on your list of things that make you ashamed.

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Money has a strange way of giving value to something. When you give away your CD, you are essentially saying, "This is worth nothing."

And that's exactly how the people who take one for free will treat it.

America On Line distributed millions of CD's. They weren't music, but they were for free. Those AOL CD's have been used as coasters, frisbees, target practice – you name it. You don't want people to view your labor of love with that kind of cynical disrespect.

Selling from the stage From now on, don't even think about going to play without taking along a case of CD's with you. Make them as much a part of your equipment list as your guitar and amplifier. Rehearse mentioning that you have a CD for sale just like you rehearse everything else that you do on stage.

Every time you do a song, you are selling that song. You are presenting something to the listener that they are either going to listen to or not. Every time you do a song that appears on your CD, you are selling your CD, whether you mention it or not. When you remind the audience to stop off at the table and buy a copy, you're not so much selling the CD as you are informing them where they can get the CD that you've been selling all night.

Saying something like, "You like the music you've been hearing!?

Then stop by the table and take it home with you!" in front of a crowd of 96

people who obviously do like the music they've been hearing is a much more effective approach than saying, "We have a CD for sale in the back. You don't have to buy one, but our drummer would appreciate it if you would." Keep in mind that most people have to hear something at least three times before it sinks in, which is why you want to repeat the message that you have a CD for sale and that they can pick it up at the table near the door.

Selling at the table Make sure that you have someone you can trust working the table. "Trust" is an important factor here. You're not only trusting this person to handle your money, you're also rel ying on their abilit y to close the sale and make sure that those little CD's of yours don't start walking away on their own. Ideally, you need someone who can handle money, answer questions about the band, and do a great job of representing you to your fans.

After the show, you're going to be tired. Unless everyone dies during the final song, at least one member of the band needs to go to the table to help sell CD's. The crowd piles in after the show is over, so the extra person working the table is important to keep things going well.

But more important is the audience's desire to meet someone in the band. This is the average person's chance to have a brush with greatness. You might not think of yourself as a celebrity, but step back and take a look at your life from the eyes of the person in Row Three.

You're up there on the stage having the time of your life. You've been on tour, even if it was only a tour of local bars, and you have heard more 97

applause than this poor guy is every going to get. What's more, you have a CD of your music! And you're still nice enough to take the time to talk to fans like the person in Row Three. Compared to them, you are a celebrity.

Order Blanks Some people put order blanks on their sales tables. Order blanks are easier to carry around. You also don't run the risk of having people walk away without paying for the CD. Those benefits aside, I would recommend avoiding order blanks, and here's why: buying a CD at a concert is an impulse purchase.

They've just heard you play, they're pumped, excited, and – let's be honest – maybe little less inhibited because they're in a bar. All of these factors make it much more likely that somebody is going to buy a CD. If they take home an order blank instead of a CD, then you are less likely to make the sale. Order blanks get lost. The excitement wears off, and the person who was eager to lay down $15 the night before may not be so eager once they have had a chance to reconsider the purchase.

Learn to "live in the moment" by making it as easy as possible for anyone who is interested in your music to buy a CD.

Copyright 2003 by Platinum Millennium, LLC. All Rights Reserved. www.TheIndustryYellowPages.com, The Industry Yellow Pages, www.order-yours-now.com, 101 Music Business Contracts, www.Music-Business-Millions.com and Music Business Millions are registered trademarks of Platinum Millennium, LLC. Al l ot her t radem arks are t he prop ert y of t hei r resp ect ed o wner s.

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