Dare You Bite the Forbidden Fruit of Promotion?

Desipite your relentless hustle, your last release was a flop. With no energy and limited funds left, you begin to accept that there may be nothing else you can do.

A siren song begins to pierce through the static hum of the internet.
Glaring, the offer dares you.

"For $75, This Guy Will Sell you 1,000 Facebook Likes"

Considering how hard we've worked for the Likes you have, this is a pretty fantastic deal. Previous ad campaigns have been measured in Likes and email list sign ups so this seems like a more direct method of getting the results you want.

"But wait, there's more!"

How about buying profiles in bulk?

BEN ZHAO: Right now on the black market, you can actually buy and sell bundles of Facebook account credentials, tens of dollars or hundreds of dollars for hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts.

So you could buy a legitimate Facebook ad for $240 and get 240 Likes, as Pizza Delicious did. Or you could drop the same amount of cash and get 10,000 "Likes" from fake profiles. Seems simples, but there's much more to this than meets the eye.

CHACE: For example, one company that sells likes showed me this Nashville country singer who was a client. She had a lot of likes. But then I check what city the fans are from, and they were primarily from Cairo.

What would you do if you found your your favorite band was buying Likes? How would this change you opinion of the band? Would you still listen to them?

How would this change your opinion of a local band you've never heard of?

...

With Facebook's initial stock offering coming tomorrow, the $100 billion dollar value of Facebook rests on the value of Likes and the profiles.

But the value of Likes is shaky at best. Pizza Delilcious got a $10 return on 240 likes, so in this case each Like is worth $.04. Not worth it. But if we were to pay the same $240 for the 10,000 fake facebook credentials would we earn $400?

No.

This is a smokescreen. Fake profiles don't buy tickets to your show, nor do they force their friends to listen to your new EP. Only true fans do.

You can't buy loyalty in bulk.

When the cash runs out, the only people left are your true fans. Even with a couple million dollars, the mercenaries will only be as loyal to you as you pay them.

But fans will always be loyal to Motorhead as long as Motorhead is loyal to them.

"Likes" and followers are are only as valuable as the fans behind the numbers.

Integrity, attention and quality are the currency of artists.

Are you investing or spending?

Are Contracts Good or Evil?

The media is full of juicy contract dispute stories. Cases such as Chuck D having his royalties syphoned off catch our eye because they're so emotionally charge. (Here's a running list of outstanding court cases artists have filed against their labels.) Being quite skepitcal of the value major labels offer for artists, I know I've contributed to this phenomenon as well.

But we shouldn't dismiss contracts altogether. In fact most of the time I'd say they're largely benficial for the simple fact that they set expectations.

When people aren't sure exactly what you want/offer, they fill in the gaps with their best guesses.

Say you offer to help a young band start their merch table by going through the ordering process and having it ready for their next show. You were smart and got paid up front, right?. Great. So you go to their show, drop the merch off and leave to scamper on your merry way. As you head for the door, the other guitarist grabs you by the shoulder, "Whoa dude, where are you going? You can't leave the table unattended!"

After a short bout of confusion, you realize the other band expects you to run their merch booth from now on. Apparently the phrase "help out with merch" had very different meanings between both parties and now everyone is pissed off.

Had there been a contract, everyone would be happy now.

Contracts are how you make sure everyone gets what they wanted. Or at least it makes sure no one is angry enough to stab you.

When money or (extensive) service changes hands, it's important that both parties understand exactly what they're getting. Sometimes it's ok to just take people at their word, especially for small things like offering to help pass out fliers. But for any substantial deal, it's wise to get at least some writing to add clarity to everyone's desires.

If you get a contract for a big deal like a signing or tour, and you don't understand even one phrase, get a lawyer. Paying a hundred bucks is a whole lot cheaper than losing a lifetime of revenue by giving up your masters. Remember, contracts are about clearly setting expectations. If you don't understand what's being expected of you, don't sign it.

How Meetings Kill Ideas

After reading the research showing that brainstorming doesn't work, I began to think about how meetings sometimes smothered good ideas.

Most meetings are uneventful, consisting mostly of routine decisions and loyalty signaling. Once in every great while, we'd have a meeting that felt like a real breakthrough. Time flew and everything was discusssed. Refrains of "Let's do that" set to a chorus of agreement.

We had the plan. But no motion.

Next week: agreement and excitement continued to swell about the plan. But no motion.

The following week: no motion.

Enthusiasm waned. Soon, the idea wasbe forgotten and relegated to life in an assisted living home. Visition hours would be from ten to noon on weekdays and during nightly bingo (except Wednesday, as that night belonged to arts & crafts).

Idea are alive. Like our bodies, ideas need lots of nutrition and activity to grow correctly. If we want our ideas to flourish, we need a parent to ensure the idea is raised right and/or isn't eaten by wolves.

Getting everyone to agree on an idea is often easy but anyone ever stuck writing a "group" paper knows, it's really easy to dodge responsbility like a ninja. Often, it's a game of chicken played according to who cares the most about their grade.

When responsability is assigned to a collective instead of an individual, it's easy to be a free rider since everyone can rationalize that someone else will do it.

There's a scary analogue in psychology called the Bystander effect, which attempts to describe why a huge crowd wouldn't help someone in the middle of an emergency. (See the tragic and controversial case of Kitty Genovese being murdered in public.) Saying "help me" to a group of bystanders is less effective than pointing at one individual and saying "You help me!" There's no dodging responsiblity or question of who should act. This simple action vastly clarifies how the bystanders should act instead of leaving it to a moral quandry.

The secret to getting ideas to grow, then, is to make sure there's a baby-momma / baby-daddy for every idea.

 We can do this by either taking responsability ourselves ("I love this idea. I'll take ownership of this") or assertively asking one person to take responsability ("Great. Since you're the best with people, will you make this happen?"). Make the commitment firm, but not agressive. Follow up by checking progress and ensure the idea's parent has really internalized the concept that they are the one responsible for the idea.

Make a record.

Feed that baby.

Is It Time To Trash "Support Local Music"?

A Fan Says Goodbye to "Local Music"

..

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I'm sorry "Support Local Music", but I've fallen out of love with you as a phrase.

It's not me, it's you.

I've seen you with every half-hearted facebook invite, pleading for me to come join you. 

Remember the last time I followed your advice?

I drove to an unfamilar club, paid for parking and cover, and gave up a night of my weekend to see you.

I wanted to feel like I had discovered a hidden treasure of the local scene.

I wanted to have a personal connection with you as an artist.

I wanted to feel special.

Instead you manipulated me into seeing crappy shows and asking for money.

I thought what we had was meaningful.

You've spent all of my good will and didn't give me any great local music in return.

All you've taught me is that I'm really not that interested in you. 

I'm through with you, "Support Local Music."

Goodbye.

-----

..

From personal experience, hearing someone promote a show using the phrase "Support Local Music" tends to be a good indicator that the show will be lame. It's a throwaway phrase used by people who didn't put any thought into promoting the show.

What's the value proposition with "Support Local Music"? Is proxemity reason enough to make people interested in a show? Not usually, especially after being burned by a few lame shows.

An effective value proposition talks directly to the desires of the fan. Unless someone centers their identity on being a "local music supporter", saying the reason for coming out is to "Support Local Music" is a weak value proposition.  Some people want to show off a new band they discovered to their friends Other times people come out simply because they know the band. The answers will vary greatly between different fans and bands so the exact answers you'll have to learn from experience or research.

So should we scrap using the phrase "Support Local Music?" What are some marketing concepts that you think would be more effective?

Negotiation Without Being a Jerk Vol. I

Whether it be predicting how much merch to purchase, choosing whether to book a larger or smaller venue for your release show, or what time you tell everyone to load-in, how you manage the expectations of everyone involved can be the difference between resounding sucess and abject failure.

I'm continually reminded of how all-encompassing this concept truely is.

Managing expectations is when you EXPLICITY outline the criteria to be used to evaluate an experience and the how everyone involved wants issues handled. This is why getting written contracts are so important. A contract serves as a visual aid outlining the expectations of all parties involved so everyone is crystal clear on what exactly to do.

Until you've worked with someone a couple times, you need to be painfully clear with how you want the deal to go. Not to the point of being patronizing ("and you'll play the guitar with your hands, correct?"), but the more work you put in up-front about your requirements, the easier your life will be when money starts to change hands.

Van Halen added a now famous clause hidden deep in their contracts that the band must be served M&Ms with all the brown ones removed. They added this clause not to be capricous rockstars, but to verify that the venue thorougly read through the contract. David Lee Roth explained that a venue not matching the expectations of the contract could lead to their road crew having to deal with life-threatening safety oversights.

Last year I was going over show details for my heavy-metal band Onward We March with a venue we booked a show at, only to find out that they "didn't want any of that screaming stuff" for the show.

No. Can. Do.

Not matching expectations can ruin your credibility, stall your marketing, or even cause your band to collapse.

When people aren't sure exactly what you want/offer, they fill in the gaps with their best guesses.

Your goal with managing expectations is to minimize hearing phrases like, "Oh you guys wanted a sound check? Sorry, we don't have time for it. Didn't think you'd want one because our last band didn't care."

Be clear.

Why Being Polite is Overrated

Negativity as a tactic is severely underrated.

We're taught to say something nice or not say something at all. After all, art is subjective so even if we don't like something, we don't have the right to critique, right?

But what do we do when the execution of the song is obviously flawed?

Sometimes, however, the best thing you give someone is a piping-hot plate of uncomfortable truth.

Steve Jobs was notorious for his outbursts of anger, but there's not a person in the world who wasn't affected by the inventions he shepherded into the market. He busted heads because he had to bust heads in order to release high quality products.

To make a masterpiece you must be willing to disagree.

Sometimes forcefully.

In fact, arguing and sarcasm make you more creative by forcing you to view concepts in a different light. Negativity improves group performance on idea-generation tasks. Competitive tasks improved creative output, (like Eric Clapton competing for the love of Layla). Moderate rule breaking is positively correlated with number of leadership roles. Anger at people who slacked off can make them up their effort (assuming they cared in the first place). Being angry also makes you process information more analytically. 

Being negative will also help you be more persuasive.

Negative reviewers were perceived as more intelligent, competent, and expert than positive reviewers, even when the content of the positive review was independently judged as being of higher quality and greater forcefulness.

However, don't storm into your next band practice, punch a hole in the wall, and go full-on Ghaddafi expecting magic to happen. A willingness to be negative when needed is different than oppressive pessimism. As anyone who has worked in a dictatorship of a job knows, pervasive criticism without positivity leads to learned helplessness. This is about the necessary balance between being emotionally sensitive to the needs of your band mates and being assertive enough to push through hard decisions to get serious work done.

Negativity is a tactic, to be used in some situations where strong analysis or action is needed. Breaking deadlocked negotiations, evaluating new opportunities, critiquing new songs: all of these are times where a little negativity might be needed to push through resistance. Trying to write new songs, improvising, networking or marketing: these activities would be much better served by positivity.

The next time you're stuck, step back and ask:

Should I be using a soft or firm touch to solve this problem?

--- 

*Shout out to Eric Barker at Barking Up The Wrong Tree, almost every link referenced was from research he found.

Will Too Much Growth Kill Your Band?

Growth consumes resources.
Whenever an opportunity arises, you have to make an honest assessment not just of the benefits, but of the costs to following through.

Although money is the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about affordability, that's not all we have to consider. Credibility, motivation, man-hours, and even sanity are all limiting factors to growing your band.

Even if you do have the funds and credibility to play a festival show on short notice, would your drummer have to cancel her first vacation in six years?

Burnout is a very real issue, especially for a DIY band that can't offload extra work to a management team. Pushing people beyond their burnout threshhold is dangerous. Push too much and you risk losing band members's effort or, even worse, band members. (Made this mistake.)

Remember how hard it was to find and audition new members of your band? There's a limited supply of musicians who would be a good fit for your band, so constantly churning through members is rarely in your best interest.

As you begin to grow your music career, more and more opportunites will begin to innundate you.

Not every opportunity is a good one; 50 fans in a 50 capacity room is better than 75 fans in a 150 capacity room.

Are you pursuing good growth or bad growth?