3 posts tagged “new music”
When unsigned, every gig you do should serve a purpose.
Now initially that may sound stupidly obvious. However, if it is why as a band would you aimless play toilet venues in London to f**k all people for no money and at a cost to yourself? Plus it looks terrible.
This is what thousands of bands do every week. I've spoken to lotsa A&R types, both at Sony BMG and further affield and it's a very rare occasion that an act just happens to be discovered because an A&R guy happens to be at a venue. The whole Frankie Sharp scenario doesn't happen very much. I rarely see an act I haven't planned to see, I don't have much time usually. :-(
Also, gigging a lot in London and not increasing a buzz around you is actually detrimental to your career. As an act can get stale, or seen as old news if on the radar of the various labels too soon. I'm guilty of it myself, with the hundreds of acts I come accross if I hear something that's ok, then see them still gigging the same circuit 6 months later with no increase in profile I'm less likely to see them again. Simply because I'm trying to find what's breaking. That is unfair to a degree as said band could have come along leaps and bounds since the first time. Though if they're amazing then they should create a buzz anyway.
So, why gig in London? Showcases are the first obvious reason. If a label, publisher, PR co. etc etc want to see you, then doing a gig near their office is a wise move. Stick to smaller venues off the beaten track, somewhere with a decent PA (it's amazing how many people don't think about that). If they're really eager only play your hometown with loads of support. (People singing along always impresses me)
Building a following? In London? You must be kidding. It's possible, but gig-to-%-fanbase ratio is pathetic when compared to playing other parts of the country. Simply because there is so much music, and other things to do in London there is no novelty, little passing trade and promoters are shite when ,well, promoting. To to acheive the Fanbase increase of an 8 date tour around the country at the right venues would probably take 3 or 4 times as many gigs in London to achieve the same effect. Don't get me wrong, the truly exceptional will win people over everywhere but some acts are born great, others achieve greatishness and others have greatishness thrust upon them. Plus any of those of you who've done both know how hard the crowd is in London to get to do anything other than talk over you.
You should only do a flurry of London gigs when you are at the crescendo of a promo campaign, when all your hard work as culminated in a co-ordinated campaign that has achieved some radio play, bits of press and interest here and there. Before I start getting the PM's whinging that that's impossible without loads of cash, record deal, pluggers etc IT'S NOT! Don't be such a whinging have-not and pull your finger out. It just takes a bit of thinking and knowing what bits and pieces to capitalise on as they come your way. When you're not in the sights of any of the labels, you've got breathing space to get everything the way you want it, think about it that way. Rather than feeling under pressure to 'get out there'.
So you've got good activity on your myspace, you've just got into the top 8 friends of some big pages, your name (& blog!! ;-)) appears everywhere in google, then you should start gigging London as you've got about 6 months to make a serious impression that would warrant investment. Of course there are exceptions to the rule as I know a band that was looked at for a year before anything was done.
However, I've seen that the bands that create the most excitement are the acts that seem to come from obscurity to everywhere in a short period of time, this is often luck or good placement. But if you get your house in order, build up a good head of steam as regards your promo material, fan building, online stuff and make sure your 'demo' could be something you'd release yourself you're in good shape to really pop out amongst all the good music being looked at.
Also consider when you're going to shop yourself to radio, the labels and such. For example, during the period of the summer festivals mainstream radio is saturated with all sorts of new things that were planned earlier in the year, a lot of new acts are being broken by the labels and trying to get shelf-space in the minds of those who provide opportunities for new music is really lacking. Plus I'm all over the place trying to keep up with stuff I've picked up earlier in the year. Try and get a feel for a bit of a lul in the sort of stuff your doing and then launch your little PR offensive.
So, if you've simply been rehearsing, gigging, rehearsing, gigging, recording, rinse, repeat... maybe stop and think why you're doing it? Ultimately these are the considerations of a manager (a good one) but if you're without management you should really think about when and how you're going to be perceived.
Anyhow, quick rant. Saw a really good band that had literally no clue, about anything.
Hope all is well co-ordinated with you
Howdy,
All in all not a bad evening last night but I have important things to talk about. Namely getting you wonderful people playing. I'm all excited again at the prospect of putting on a gig using Vox people. There have been loads of suggestions regarding this on mine and the most recent Columbia post (thanks to those that have contributed so far).
So, KEEP SATURDAY 1st DECEMBER FREE!!!! Yes that's right. I GOT THE DATE WRONG AGAIN! It's actually the 1st of December. I fancy a big night out and getting some great film of the bands. It's going to be a free night with 4 bands. How often does that happen eh? Those who contributed to the flyers a month or so ago, I NEED YOU AGAIN. To that photographer bloke who contacted me, please contact again. I get so many emails it's been lost in the deluge of recent emails (I've still got about 90 to get through)
So who's playing that night? Well so far I've asked the below. But as I've just found out the date is different I've had to ask them again. Nob.
I really like the above bands and have a list of loads of others I want to see. So it's going to be good fun.
I haven't thought of a format for the evening other than loud music and filming. I might try and get a compare. Any takers? Either pretty or funny and can engage a crowd for a couple of minutes at a time. :-)
We Got Radio!
I was speaking to a chap called Phil that Marc introduced me to today who has a regional new music radio show and wants me to contribute talent from here for broadcast. Possibly recording my own slot/introductions. It's an community FM station. There's about 150 similar community radio stations around the country. So if I can get something going there I'm going to try punting the same thing to other reigons. I've been thinking about doing a new music podcast for a while (hence the night in Camden). I've got a mate who I think I could do it with so we'll see how it goes.
I'm also starting discussions with other unsigned sites that have great online tools to move towards sorting out the models for the Artist Services concept that came up in the discussions
I realised with all this talk of development and such I haven't been talking enough about music. Take a look at Vote Show Pony. Something that tickled my fancy as it was quite different to submissions I've received recently. Reminds me in places of Goldfrapp but a bit pop-ier.
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Gigs - 30/10/2007
NOTHING APPARENTLY. Loads on this week though.
Hope all is good with you.
There are a number of reasons my being cloned would be of benefit.
I could take turns (with myself) to go to work or stay at home blogging, playing games and watching youtube.
&
I COULD ANSWER ALL MY PM's!!!!
If there are people out their who think I'm am a rude hypocrite in talking about transparency and conversation in the music industry, and then not getting back to you, I'm really sorry. I've just got lotsa messages recently. I do evetually answer every message I get and try to reply to every comment also. If I'm not quick enough, just let me know and I'll get back to you. :-)
I found the radio show I was on, had a listen and was quite relieved. I only flapped a little towards the end and missed the mic at one point, apart from that all good. It's 15 mins in if you want a listen but if you're here and already blogging I doubt it will be of much use to you.
Got good feedback from our youtube vids aswell. If you're curious as to who the guy is who does all the artwork that has been mentioned recently, that's Mike, you can see his video aswell.
One thing that has really made me happy is the fact that a lot of you are championing this community and making it your own already. There's loads of good messages and idea floating about, keep em going, put's me in a great mood when I start worrying if this is going to work or not. In fact leave some comments on the youtube site if you can as it looks really bare and I'd like to know what you're thinking about it, good or bad (infact the only comment there at the moment is a bad one :-/ )
I've got to get back into the columbia & rca label blogs today, I'm going to sink back into the unsigned community and listen to music all day. It's a hard job but someone has to do it I guess :-). I'll post some of my personal favourites up here later on today.
Ok now, this is important. I'm totally blown away by how quickly this is taking off and how much good stuff we're getting so we're pretty much on stage 2 (I have a plan in my head) already.
We need to start connecting to each other and talking about each other's music. Aswell as this being a community for people like me to find new talent, I want this to be considered the place to find great new music. To do that we need a tight-knit community of artists, passionate about what they do and passionate about good music. This means finding each other and creating your own communities. For example, I already notice there are some Jazz musicians appearing, straight away they need to form a sub community and maybe between them start a group page or blog where they can pool their stuff and link to individual blogs. That way they could end up being a true tastemaker in the world of Jazz.
Some of you are already mingling a great deal and as a result listening to a lot of new music. I will evetually start recruiting people like you to help me do my job. I'm not sure what I can offer in return yet, even if it's just getting us on the guestlist at a particular artist's gig or something. I will talk more about that when I think about it.
In the meantime, keep linking me and other, send messages and I'll listen to as much stuff as I can.
