Entertainment Industry Insider

My bands been playing a lot of clubs on the east coast. Ever since the Great White incident we have had to scale down our pyro at clubs. Is there any suggestions you have regarding doing special effects at clubs?

No. Don’t think about it. Don’t do it. If you do you’re a moron.

I looked at your website and wanted to see if Garth Brooks was available for a charity hospital benefit I’m helping to arrange. We really don’t have a lot of money but can probably pay some travel expenses and it would be great publicity for Garth. How can we get him?

-Vanessa. Kansas City, MO

As much as artists are sympathetic to charities we get calls upon calls everyday about similar situations. The reality being the artists already have their own charities they are invested in and work with on a regular basis. Many of them are created by the artists themselves. Plus it’s an expense for the artist to work for little or no fee. If the artist did all the charity events they were offered with the expenses such as staging, crew members, lights, busses, and so on they would be broke. My advice would be to look at some of the younger artists who have not committed themselves to any individual charity and get them onboard for your cause. Contact the artists’ management company and speak to them about what you’d like the artist to commit to. I hope your event raises a ridiculously high amount for the charity and let me know if we can help anyway.

Simple question for you Bill, how do I get a booking agent?

What does 10% of nothing equal? That is going to be the first hurdle you have to face if you aren’t an established act. The booking agency that books Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, or George Strait is not interested in booking your act. It makes no sense for them to do that financially when they can be spending their time with major artists. A good idea to point a young band such as youself is to a DIY approach. With the internet it’s possible to book your own gigs at smaller venues and trade shows with bands of the same genre. A major agency is not going to do this for you. Don’t call them or send them promotional packages. Don’t call them because your friend Ronnie has an uncle John whos wife Shannon may still work for them. It won’t help and will be a waste of money and time. Without a major management company, a major recording company, and an entertainment attorney, these things don’t happen to bands that fill bars and knights of Columbus. There are several agencies that work with smaller acts and are more into developmental situations. They are easily located once you get into the independent music network online. Our company despite the name does not handle tours for acts. We instead concentrate on corporate dates and one off events. Best of luck, contact me if you have any more questions.

So the band I’m in has been doing really, really good around here. We have an indy cd and we’ve been selling it online across the country. I think its time for us to go out on the road and tour my band isn’t so sure. What’s our next step?

  -Stephan. Gainesville, FL

Congratulations on your online success and your hometown victories. As far as going out on the road I recommend you go to a map of your town and make three concentric circles around your home town. One at 90 miles, 120 miles, and then 200 miles. At that time I would concentrate exploring each circle one at a time. Hitting all the live venues within and then conquering those markets. It will be a lot simpler to hit the first two circles before you have to give up your day jobs. Are you willing to be homeless and drive around with your friends in a van for weeks at a time and living in hotel rooms (if you’re lucky)? Eating where you play? Then selling enough cds to pay for gas to get you to the next gig. If so please see my blog on booking. If not there’s no shame in having a great band that plays Friday and Saturday. The members will have a real life in a 9 to 5 with a 401k and insurance plan. It’s a tough life on the road and not for someone who wants a long-term family life.

I want to send out a lot of emails to everyone in the business. I have a directory and I want them to know about my band. What type of email should I send and should I follow it up with a press kit?

-Chris. Ontario, Canada

Stop. What are you doing? One of the biggest mistakes you could make is what you have sent me. These will go immediately into the garbage. You will waste money you could spend on more effective advertising techniques. The directories are usually out of date anyway and no press kits addressed to me ever get past my assistant. At no time unless requested should you ever send anything unsolicited to anyone. I mean, unless you want to be ridiculed in the office as we do here on a regular basis to people who use the “directories”. Anyone interested in your act will know about your act from the buzz you’ve created and any type of press you’ve generated. They will contact you about any information they made need. Now if you see my name on any of those lists, warn me.

My band and I write songs and are putting out a cd. One of my fiends told me all I have to do to copyright these songs is to mail a copy of the songs to myself. Is that true?

-Rick. Reno, NV

This is one of the major long term fallacies that gets passed around and around again. It will help you in a court case but it’s not the way to proceed with a body of work. It’s very easy to copyright material through the Library of Congress. Check their website. No one has ever won a case in superior court proving they sent a song to themselves.

My band is pressing 1,000 CDs. We made a great deal with the company to give us a complete package. A lot of people around our scene think it’s a waste to put out CDs in 2008. What do ya think?

-Roger. Norfolk, VA 

Print a thousand and put them in your local stores (if there are any left) and have them in stock for heavy online sales. People still do like CDs. They like something in their hands they can look at and physically own, not something that can be deleted with an accidentally right click. The whole age of only mp3s is not a reality quite yet. For a lot of people, especially for those baby boomers who account for a great deal of music sales in the brick and mortar sales the CD is still preferred.. Look at Starbucks creating a record label and putting out product past the digital era. The CD is still not dead and still a viable product as long as you can pear it with other delivery services. Also don’t forget people at your shows are always going to walk out and want to buy something whether it’s a t-shirt or a CD. If you don’t have merch when you’re out playing how do you expect to pay for beer and gas after the shows over?

I’ve been approached by a company who wants to do a showcase with my band. There will be several bands playing that night and they told me a bunch of record labels will be there. They want me to pay $350 to play. Is this how showcases are normally done? They also want my act to be responsible for selling 200 tickets, none of which we get to keep. Are they trying to scam us or not?

-Joe. Elizabeth, NJ

If anyone asks you for any type of money upfront run as fast as you can from the offer. Anybody who wants to see your act in a showcase that is in fact serious about you or your band will have that set up for you and pay for it. Under no circumstances should your act ever have to sell tickets for a showcase. It’s a scam and happens more often then people realize. It’s a disreputable part of the business and prays upon young acts with no knowledge of how things should be done. Don’t send them a dime. You’re better off investing that $350 in gas money and playing shows in some new towns.

We have a guy in our band that is constantly showing up late, either on either drugs or booze, and generally just a mess. He’s been here since the beginning and we feel guilty about kicking him out but it’s a big problem. What do we do?

-Stacey. Orlando, FL 

Sit down with him and give him an ultimatum as a band member and partner in your project. If he cannot commit to the terms you should start looking for someone else immediately because it will happen eventually. There’s a time and place to have fun. Onstage, in the studio, and the expense of other people is not that time. One should have their addiction problems as a private matter at home, not involving anyone else who counts on you to be their livelihood. This isn’t the 70s or even the 80s. Trashing hotel rooms, drinking to an excess, and using hard drugs are virtually taboo in today’s touring culture. If your band is moving to the next level the first thing any management company will be doing is replacing your drug little fiend with a competent member. If all else fails leave him at a truck stop in a neighboring state and maybe he won’t find his way back to the practice space.

So I keep hearing from my friends that Myspace is really helpful with band stuff. Do I really need to use that if I have a Facebook?

-Amy. Brooklyn, NY

Here is the deal. The more people who know about your band and come pay admission at shows to see you the better. If you have the money, make a video and pay MTV, VH1, and Fuse to play it. If not, consider these social networking sites free advertising. It’s a way to get your music and band name out to the masses. People can easily access your tour dates, pictures, videos, and songs all conveniently on one web page. If you don’t have to money to create your own flashy website it’s a great start. If you do have a website consider it small branch. Being able to look at “friends” profiles you can gauge what other music a majority of them are interested in. This can be a tool used to promote your band at their shows. If you really want the band to strive I would use as many avenues available to get the name and music out there.