Why I Do This

In a previous post, I asked all of you why you are a musician. Here is my story. I come from a family where music was always around in some shape or form. Both of my parents played trumpet when they were in High School but neither was what you would consider prodigious. My Mother was into Motown so when I was very young I was listening to Smokey Robinson, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, and the list goes on. I could feel the music. The beat and the melody spoke to me. At age nine, my parents bought me a guitar for Christmas. I started lessons immediately but I didn't really like what they were teaching me. My teacher had me learning to read sheet music and playing songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and other songs I thought were "stupid" for me to learn. I quickly became frustrated and quit taking the lessons. I wanted to learn cords. Soon after I continued to play and started making sound on sound recordings with 2 small cassette tape decks that we had in the house. I wrote songs that fit the experience of a child and spent hours on end in my room going as far as producing radio shows that incorporated my own songs. At age 12, my parents bout me my first drums and at 14 had my first full drum kit. I played in bands all through High School and College. I simply knew it was "what I did." If you have spent time with any Gravity Kills music, the lyrics are dark. The music is aggressive. Well....I am complicated. A tortured artist if you will. Places like sorrow, despair, loneliness and sadness are places that are home to me. I don't know if I would ever be capable of writing a happy love song or a feel good summer party song. That is not who I am. I am not saying that I don't attempt to have balance in my life and those of you that know me, know me as someone more rounded and three dimensional than the voice on a Gravity Kills record. Those of you that have seen a show see there is more than that. I simply draw my most powerful inspiration from the dark places in my life. I feel compelled to work on music for many reasons but will tell you that making music at times is worse than being a drug addict. I compare it to that because at times in my life, music has cost me personal relationships, my marriage, money, stability and at times the ability to relate to others. When Gravity Kills broke up in 2003, I didn't pick up a guitar for close to a year. I had a guitar on a stand in my living room really for decoration. I would pass it daily and for the longest time could pass by the guitar without really thinking about it. Then the guitar started whispering to me. As time passed the guitar's voice gradually became louder and louder. One day, I finally picked it up. Not really to play it or to write a song but simply to hold it. Maybe in the same way you hug an old friend that you had lost touch with and had not connected to in a long time. Then I started playing again. Not writing music but simply enjoying the feel of the guitar in my hand and the sound of the cords I was playing. I never thought I would entertain the thought of even performing in public let alone write music again. Really, music gives me the medium to talk about things and say things I feel I need to say. Today things are the same yet different. I feel like I still have something to say but I have reasons beyond me. A few years ago, Tom Green who started DFEST in Tulsa told me that if I still have something to say then I owed it to those who loved the band and all the guys that never got a shot to be heard. I really didn't know how to take that. Did anyone give a shit at this point? Could what I have to say be at all relevant? I suppose that remains to be seen but in the end, I do have something to say and Gravity Kills has decided to move forward. Why? Because it is what I do and who I am. Thanks for reading this. Life is beyond interesting at this point and I hope to make it more interesting.

Your Live Show Is Not About You

A live show is to a band what a wedding reception is to a bride. The show is for your fans who are your family. Gravity is playing tonight and we are already getting requests ranging from fans who want to get  into soundcheck from those who want to have dinner. We will get them into soundcheck and I am pretty sure that having sushi with a few close fans for dinner will be awesome. For you bands out there. Show day is not about you and the band. Not a time to get extra security and hang backstage. You spend all this fucking time trying to contact people via social media and when the show day comes you are untouchable? The show day is about giving back to those that support you. We have fans that spend hundreds of dollars to come see us EVERY single time we play. Do you think any of those people would continue to be into the band if they had no access? I have already preached to you about the importance of your fan relationship. Show days are the time to put up or shut up. Gravity Kills fans are my family. Today, I will do my best to treat them like that. Uncle John, pass the wasabi please!

Nostalgia and The Future

I got into St. Louis today for our show tomorrow. Driving into St. Louis always floods me with so many different emotions. With Gravity, it was the best time and the worst time of my life. Personally as well as with the band, I made so many mistakes along the way as well as having the time of my life with 3 other guys that are beyond family. Where am I going with this you ask? Doug and I sat on the roof of his studio facility http://www.shockcitystudios.com/ and talked about a lot of things. In the old days of Gravity Kills, Doug and I had a very love/hate relationship. We shared some times that were both creatively and personally amazing as well as battling over things in the band. On the roof as we talked, I got more and more charged up with the fact that Gravity is compelled to be creative together again. You just know when something works. The fucked up thing about bands is that they all usually forget what brought them together in the first place. The magic that you felt in the studio working on the first recordings or playing the first live show as a band. Why must we all seemingly lose touch with the foundation of collaboration and shared experience the longer we work with someone? When Gravity plays live, Doug and I are the last two on stage. Doug and I will tell each other "let's achieve consciousness" right before we walk on stage. We do this to remind ourselves that every opportunity to walk on stage or work on music together is something special and we need to savor it. I tell you all this...If you feel your band or your project is special, embrace the process, the work, the rigor. Remember that a band is the sum of ALL of it's parts. I am more excited than ever to have new Gravity Kills material released into the world. I have been reminded today how special I feel about what we do. And, if I feel that way, maybe we can convince someone else to feel that way about new music. Rediscovering the past today has made me very excited about the future.

Heading to St. Louis

I am hitting the open road to meet up with the Gravity guys for our show Friday in St. Louis. I will see what inspires me as I drive. I may be blogging about corn nuts tomorrow. Who knows.

Tell me what you think about this?

I won't say a word but when you have a moment, check out the article and read the responses. I would love to get your opinions. http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/06/when-vevo-ad-supported-music-go-too-far.html

Do What You Do

I played in a bunch of bands before Gravity Kills. Strangely I played in bands ranging from metal to techno pop. If you throw the influences together I guess you get what I ended up doing with Gravity. That was the band that I found my creative home with. What is it that you do? The reason I ask is that I come across so many bands that seem to chase influential rainbows. They think they see a trend and attempt to jump on the bandwagon and cash in. When Gravity Kills was getting courted by record labels, ALL OF THEM told us that we would never get played on the radio and MTV would never touch a band doing industrial music unless you had a guy named Trent Reznor in the band. You know as well as I do that MTV doesn't really play videos anymore but the point is that with Gravity, we did what we did and let the chips fall. I was in a discussion panel at a music conference a few years ago and an A&R person from a record label actually told the bands to watch music and fashion trends and then move in that direction. I went fucking berserk! In today's music climate, there are litterally hundreds of popular music genres. Any of you out there working on the next Lady Gaga soundalike? I told the bands that you had to do what you do regardless of the current hoi polloi. Trends today happen in months and not years. If you don't believe in what you are doing, how in the world do you expect anyone else to believe. People can smell dishonest art, music or anything else now a mile away. What would you consider to be relevant musical genres to you? Every person reading this will give me a different answer I am betting. Be honest in what you write and how you perform it. If it is actually REALLY good, you might have a chance to penetrate the hearts and minds of others. Chase rainbows and well...get your track shoes on. You could be chasing it forever.

Community

I was asked to write further about pay for play and it made me think of something that I truly believe in and is really the reason that I started writing here to begin with. As a local act you feel alone and on an island with just you and your band mates. Movements, either social, musical, artistic or philosophical were created by more than one activist, band, artist or philosopher. There is strength in numbers. If you are the only great band in your city you can't do it alone. It takes mass quantity to create a scene. Have you heard of the British Invasion? Do you remember or have you heard of the punk movement from the late 70's and early 80's? Do you remember the techno pop movement in the early 80's? I could keep going but I think I have made my point. Everyone that writes about this business talks about having the ultimate relationship with your fans. Well, what about also seeking out the best bands in your area and having a relationship with them? To make this happen you have to stop talking shit about ANY good band that other bands are simply just jealous of. You can't think of other really good bands as your competition. They could be your ally. Do any of you that read this ONLY listen to one band? If you only listen to Gravity Kills I really thank you (really, I do) but there are so many amazing bands in various genre's out there. Are you getting this point? Don't think because you are a metal band that you can't network with a band that is less hard than you. If you are both really good at what you do then fans that like both styles could actually like both of your bands. What I am leading to here is talking about creating a band community. Just as we are collaborating together here, your band should be collaborating with other bands to create a movement. Don't feel as if you have to change the world here but in essence, that is what you will be doing. If multiple bands connect their islands, you now have a small nation of bands with the same common goal for the common good of the local scene.

How does that have anything to do with pay for play you ask? Think about this...If your band connects with 5 other really great bands, can you all pitch in on a pay for play in the right club? Now instead of you feeling as if you have to fill the room on your own, you have a couple of other bands in the boat with you. What if you could create a situation where the collective of good bands were putting on their own shows in alternate locations? At DFEST last year, a band talked about a situation in which they had gotten together with several other bands, rented a warehouse and put on their own show. It cost them money for sound and lights and they had to promote the show themselves but they described the event as a success. We have just scratched the surface here as well but hopefully we can keep putting our heads together.

Pay For Play

I received the following comment on a previous post and thought I would answer this the best I can for everyone.

Matt said...

"Hey Jeff,
I've got some friends in a band in LA (Prohibition Rose) that has really taken off of late. They had a long rough start, but they're gaining traction and a good local following. My question is - what's your opinion of the "Pay to Play" format. They told me when they first got there that most of the clubs where people went to see bands were doing this, and I don't mean the club gets a cut of the door, I mean the band litterally pays to play there. Is this the norm in cities like LA, and if not - in your opinin - should bands persue these opportunities or go the longer, more tried and true route of getting in on word of mouth alone ?"

Pay for play is prevalent in many places, not just LA. There are various forms of pay for play. The type I have encountered the most is a situation in which the band must purchase a specified number of tickets at a "discounted" price from the club or the person "promoting" that night in the club and then sell them directly to fans, friends and family, hopefully to make a profit. 

Another I have encountered is where the band pays a flat fee for the room (that includes house sound, house lighting, security etc.) and then essentially plays for the door. 

If I am understanding Matt correctly, he is describing a situation in which the band pays a fee directly just to play in the club with no back end recoup opportunity. If this situation is actually the case, I doesn't make much sense to me even if the room is the hot place to play. Why you ask? The purpose of "play to pay" is for the club owner to create a co-promote situation with the bands that play there. To actually make the band promote and work hard to get people in the room for their show.  What incentive does a band have to really work and get people in the room if there is is no reward for their hard work? Or might there be a hidden upside? If this club is THE place to play and you have the opportunity to play there then I say, play the room. If the band has the opportunity to gain fans that are into live music and they hang out there, you want those people to see you. You want those people to follow your band. Word of mouth is where it's at but you also need to play the right rooms to build your tribe. If this club can help you build, and you don't have to sell your car to play there, then once again I say do it. Especially if you can keep all of your merch and CD sales from the gig.

Believe me when I tell you that even at the national level, tour buy-ons happen all the time. When KISS had their first reunion tour in 1996, I had heard that many of the bands that opened on that tour bought on. Gravity Kills actually got paid when we did The Sex Pistols reunion tour the same year (I can actually say that I have seen The Sex Pistols over 20 time and I fucking hate KISS (imagine me saying KISS like Gene Simmons does in the Dr. Pepper commercials. KIIIIIIIS)


Bands signed to majors go out all the time running a huge deficit against their recoup accounts and many bands that you hear on the radio are barely breaking even if not losing money on the road. In essence, even national acts are paying to play. 


We are really only scratching the surface on this topic. Do you want to continue?

Why do you want to do this?

The eternal question seems to be "why are we here?" If you are a musician, you need to ask yourself why? If it is to be a rock star or if there is any celebrity attached to the answer, well then, you need to re-examine things. Fred Durst became a celebrity. Did that create a long lasting career for Limp Bizkit? Did celebrity help the band sell tickets to it's reunion tour? If you pay attention to the news, well then you know the answer to the last question. I am not saying that the band's huge success in the late 90's was not astounding, but what I am saying is that as the world discovers you as someone privileged, as someone above them, you will lose your hard core real fans. In today's musical climate, fans want to be part of something they believe in and feel connected to. Fans are not interested in the feeling of exclusion and disconnect in life experience from the bands they love. Paris Hilton did a record, so did Heidi Montag. Heidi's record sold under 1000 copies the first week and a whopping 658 digital downloads. She promoted her record anywhere and everywhere but at the end of the day, nobody gave a shit. I know you are saying that what you do is better than Heidi, and I believe most of you when you tell me that but... As extreme as the point may be in this case, I am trying to paint a picture for you. Be real. Be honest. When you have the night off from playing, connect with your fans by hanging out with them in the club you play in your home market or interact with them on-line. Get in the trenches with those who already believe and the ones you want to make believe in your band. How many of you reading this blog lose interest in a band when you start seeing them appear on red carpets or the real kiss of death, try their hand at acting. How do you treat every person that you come in contact with? Remember this...Bands don't own fans, fans own their bands. Get the picture?

Do You Have a Plan?

In talking with most newer bands out there, it seems that most of them really don't have any plan to follow in an attempt to become successful. I have been in these bands before. Look at it this way, you don't get in the car normally without having a destination for your trip in mind and without having any idea how you are going to get there. I am not saying that you may run into road blocks and your plan won't need to change, but you need to have an idea of what you are doing and how you want to get there. Here is a list of a few things that you need to think about.

1. If you are writing songs with others, how will you split any income if lightning strikes? When publishing a song,  the music is one half of the composition and the lyrics are the other half. Some bands split songwriting between all the members of the band equally (Gravity Kills did it this way.) The advantage to this is if there are multiple song writers in the band, you can eliminate ego and competition for people in the band trying to push their song to get recorded and released. Also, if you have a band lineup that you think is stellar and you want to make sure that everyone feels like they are a part of the reward of the band's labor. On the flip side of this, there are band's out there that have one or two primary song writers that don't split publishing with non-writers in the band. It is really up to each individual band to figure this out but I recommend having this discussion with your band as soon as possible. This will not be an easy conversation to have but everyone in the band needs to have this sorted out.

1a. Aside from publishing splits, your band needs to figure out how all the revenue in the band will be split. This includes merchandise, CD and download sales, live revenue etc.. Most bands split the profit from these revenue streams equally between all the members. There are some that split differently depending on who in the band is spending money on sound, buying the merchandise or CD's etc. out of their own pockets.

2. Are you and your music compositions (as a writer and publisher) affiliated with a performing rights organization such as ASCAP, BMI or SESAC? You need to do this if you ever want to get paid for having a song on the radio, TV or film. For streaming music you need to register the songs with Sound Exchange.

3.. How will you record music? Will you pay someone else for studio time or will you invest in gear where you can record at home/rehearsal studio/garage etc.. I am not saying the paying for studio time in a proper studio at times is not worth it but I would strongly urge a band to get into recording their own material. There are so many great DAW programs (Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase and even Garage Band) out now that if you really want to invest in your career and not someone else's studio, learn how to use a DAW program. I am not saying that you will be making pro sounding recordings the first go around, but think of the possibilities your band or you would have without the meter ticking in someone else's studio.

4. Do you have a Website/Social media strategy? Most bands these days simply put up a facebook and myspace page and move down the road. Do you have a youtube page? Did you know that youtube is the second largest search engine in the world? Here are the places you should be quickly (remember that your content needs to be updates as much as humanly possible.)
 a. Your own website (this needs to be the hub in which all your social media directs back to.)
 b. Facebook
 c. Myspace (yes, you still need to be here. The last article I read said that they are still getting about 24% of
    all social media traffic.)
 d. Twitter
 e. Flickr
 g. Tumblr
All of these places need to link back to your own website. Your website is where you will create a community of your own. I still think you need a message board on your own site.

5. Once your have recorded music to release, where and how are you going to release it? If you are a live act, you need to have a CD for sale at your shows but with that said...Consider releasing new material as you finish it. I would also strongly recommend that you GIVE your music away before it is released. Think of it this way. If you are playing shows and it is before you have a CD ready for sale, how will anyone know the material. If you are between CD's and playing shows, having new material that people will know will give them a reason to come out and see you again (this particular subject is a very deep and lengthy topic that we will examine more in depth later down the road.) For digital releases you should always offer your music for free and for sale from your website. There are also many digital aggregators like Tune Core and CD Baby that will get your music on itunes etc.. CD baby is also necessary if you want to get your music streaming on places like Pandora. Music streaming is not going to make you rich but it could certainly get your music heard by a much larger audience.

There are a multitude of questions a band needs to ask itself but these will give you a place to start in formulating your plan for success.

Getting The Gig

Think in simplicity. How do I get the attention of a club I want to play? I have dropped off promo, emailed the link on the website and made unreturned phone calls to the person that books the room. Do you hang out in the room? Do you network with bands that play the room? Do you talk to patrons that go see bands in the rooms and give them your music to listen to? Are there outside agents that book the room? Have you made them take a meeting with you? Are you good? Are you persistent? Do you make excuses for your lack of opportunity? Do you talk shit about the bands that do get the gig to others? 

You have to immerse yourself into the culture of a room. You must make yourself and your band part of the positive collective that makes up the fabric of the room. If your band is REALLY good, you will get your shot.

Wonder Lust

Why is it that most local bands I talk to want to take their show on the road from the very beginning? Bands dream of foreign ports and exotic cites where fans they don't know will line up to see them play. What makes you think that 200 people will show up in Kansas City when you are not worth 50 people paid in your home market? I am not saying that your band will never be worth 200 tickets in another market but lets look at facts. Your home market is where the first line of fans you will have are family and friends. Sadly, bands mistake early surges of success with the simple fact that your friends and family will all come to the first couple shows. Your friends will tell you how great you are and how much you rock. Your family will come because your Sister, Brother, Mother, Father, Stepbrother etc. had to put up with all the noise and havoc you created in the house for years. Don't get me wrong, you have to start somewhere and if you are really good, your friends will turn others on to your band and insist that others pay attention to you. Where effort comes in is developing your second and REAL line of fans. The ones who just happened into the club you were playing on happenstance. The ones that feel like they discovered you. At that point you must attempt to create personal relationships with those fans. Invest time in those people so they become invested in you enough to be your evangelist and spread your gospel. Be patient. Be calculated. Invest the time to build your following in your home market and your perceived value will grow to clubs and bars in other markets. If you can draw 200 in your home market, now you have the leverage to trade shows with a band tearing it up in another city. Until that day comes, focus on creating your launching pad at home.

Familiarity

I talk to band after band that complains about how they can't make money doing original music because nobody comes to their gigs and good cover bands bank. Let me break this down as simply as possible. When most people go to see live music, they want to hear what they know, what is familiar to them. Have you ever been to a Foo Fighters or Green Day show? You know every song they play. You stay engaged because you know the material. So the question is, if you are doing original music on the local level, how do I make my music familiar to people? First (and you have heard this over and over,) give your music away. As Martin Atkins says, "Free is the new black." Not just from your myspace, facebook, website (you better have your own but that is another topic,) etc., but burn a few copies at home and give them out at other band's shows. I am not talking about indiscriminately handing anyone and everyone a CD but, giving your music to someone you actually have a conversation with that will tell you "yes" when you ASK them if they would want to take a listen to your music. Make sure and write your contact info on the CD including your website (you better have your own but that is another topic,) myspace, facebook, etc. When attending music conferences, there are tons of bands just walking around and spraying their CD's into the hands of anyone that will put their hand out without actually talking to anyone. THAT IS A WASTE OF TIME AND YOUR CD'S.

If you are recording full length CD's, give tracks away before you release it. Then, when you have a CD release show, the audience might actually know the material which will engage the audience. Don't worry, if they dig you, they will still buy your CD at the show (and probably your t-shirt too!)

I am not saying that this alone will get you to the point of selling out 500 head rooms and actually making money, but you have to get your music heard to build your tribe.

Changing Behavior and Engaging Fans

I was sent a video of an experiment about making it fun or interesting to use the stairs versus taking the escalator. Watching the video made of think about the need for interesting engagement that bands need to have with their fans. Why should a person listen to your all? Is it even good? If so, what makes it stand apart from the others? What about your music will compel others to share it with their friends or compel them to simply mention your band to others? What about you as an artist makes you stand apart if not above others? Music to many is now nothing more than disposable and inherently worthless so how do you bring value to your music and your band? The music you make is the gateway if your music speaks and connects with people. Engage your fans constantly and they will listen. I know what you are saying right now. Gravity Kills has not always been accessible to fans and has not always had the best relationship with their fans. Well, ask those who have been to shows recently how that has changed. Technology for the music business has torn the barriers down but that has created a flood on the supply side. Music is everywhere, cheap and in most cases for free. What will you do to change the behavior of people and get their attention?

Change

I had a conversation with a very wise person this morning. We were discussing how life is in a constant cycle of change. Not that this concept was a revelation to me but it made me think about context and how as people, musicians, artists and all music professionals we sometimes long for a time when everything seemed to make sense. This wise person told me that without change, we would be complacent and not challenge ourselves to move to the next place, open the next chapter, walk through the next door, take risks or evolve as a person, a songwriter, a performer etc. In all the reading I do regarding the music business, it seems everyone is looking for where the business paradigm will finally land. My answer to this infinite question is that it will never land. Just when it all might seem to make sense again, change will rear it's beautiful head.

The First Saturday of the Blog

I have a million topics to write about but this is the first Saturday of the Blog so I though I would keep it short today. Many people have asked me through the years about what it was like touring and being on the road. Despite the feeling beat up, the chronic laryngitis, the truck stop showers, the bad food and so on and so on, my answer to that question is... Everyday was Saturday.

Preying on Musicians

After my post yesterday I read a tweet with the following link http://www.chartfixer.com/. In a nutshell this is a service that buys your music off of itunes in bulk so your song will show up on the itunes chart. At the moment, the service is only available in Australia. Curiously I checked out the site and for them to buy 1000 downloads, it will cost you the low low price of $6000.00. So if we do the math, if you go through Tunecore as an aggregator, the band would receive $700.00 from the itunes store after Apple takes their 30 cents per track so in reality we have a real bargain now. The cost would only be $5300.00. The site addresses why you should use the service and mainly their reason is so you can get radio airplay, a record deal, a better record deal and so more people will hear your band. I understand that all of that sounds really appealing to a struggling band. I have been there. You feel you will do whatever it takes to get your piece of the pie. THIS WILL NOT DO IT. Lighting can and does still strike occasionally but your band has to realize that there aren't really any shortcuts. People have heard the story of how Gravity Kills had a record deal and were on two major motion picture soundtracks in the first 12 months from the time the band stepped into the same room together and called themselves Gravity Kills. What people don't talk about is the fact that I had been playing professionally for 12 years prior to joining the band. 


I fucking detest other "services" like The Billboard Songwriting Contest and www.wearelistening.org. These services simply prey on the hopes and dreams of musicians and take blood money from artists. The guy that founded we are listening .org actually stated in a panel that I did with him at dfest in Tulsa last year that the reason he started the service was because he found that musicians were still predominately doing google searches for "How to get a record deal." He was an expert on analytics and data mining. I can't slight the guy for taking money from the fools that decided to give it to him but WAKE UP PEOPLE, Don't be the next fool and don't rely on anything other than creating outstanding music and performing outstanding live shows. The next snake oil salesman is standing backstage.

I need to get this off my chest. If you have a band that buys myspace plays, friends and profile views YOU ARE MISSING THE FUCKING POINT. Though happenstance I ended up on a myspace profile for a band out of Oklahoma City called Siva Addiction. As band people do, I looked at their plays (1,266,101,) their profile views (1,547,736,) and their friends (55,618.) Pretty impressive numbers for a regional act. Here is where it unravels for this band. We all have known for years that you can purchase plays etc. for quite some time and so this is the easy way to call "bullshit." Let's check out the band's facebook and ilike numbers since to my knowledge, you can't manipulate these numbers (please let me know if I am wrong on this.) The band's facebook fan base consist of 476 people, ilike fans 171 and last fm shows them with 29 listeners. Look, I understand why bands think they want to artificially inflate myspace numbers. We hear these stories of how bands got signed to record deals and how promoters looked at the numbers. The band wants to impress or tell others of their big myspace stats. EVERYONE IN THE FUCKING WORLD KNOWS THAT YOU ARE BUYING THESE NUMBERS.

Now, here is why they are missing the point. Social media for bands should be used as a tool to connect with fans... real fans. How do you know who your real fans are if you are buying them for your myspace? How do you know who to contact when you have a show, a contest, new music, etc.? Do you think that someone that is really a fan of the band cares that your myspace plays are over 1,000,000? Your real fan only cares about their personal connection with you. If your fan base is small, make it more personal. You can pay attention to your fans individually. Embrace the opportunity to personally connect to your fans. Your fans will be the ones that are your biggest marketing tool if you actually know who they are and you aren't a fucking liar.

The First Blog. What My Goal Is.

There are a million people who blog about the music business. There is yet another million that give lectures and presentations regarding how to "make it" in the music business. It seems that I hear the same things over and over... and I have come to the conclusion that most of the relevant information for bands overlooks everything that it takes to gain traction in your home market. I feel that everything a band can do to become successful will translate when that band decides to take the show on the road. My goal with this blog is to create open dialogue for anyone that cares about local music (regardless of geography) and to talk about topics that are germane to the topic.

The other goal I have for this blog is to aggregate information from other sources that I see as relevant to the local musician and the music business in a "post Napster" paradigm. These topics could include technology, legislation, or simply comments and responses to other published information that I simply feel the need to comment on. Let's see where this goes.