The Adnostic

I was once watching a friend of mine and his brand new band open for a much bigger band, and afterwards we were talking.

Me: I like the new band. You sound really good. (I was lying. They were okay, but needed to practice more. A lot more.)

Music Man: Thanks. I want it to be just like this. I want to just focus on the music and not worry about the business side of things.

I simply stood there and nodded and decided it was best that I didn't beg him to never quit his bartending job, because when I used my internal Instant Musician Speak Translator, this is what I was really hearing:

"Trying to be a successful musician is too hard. I just want play my guitar, get lucky and score some gigs every once in a while because I know the owners of the club and not because I can actually draw an audience, and not put in the time and effort it would take to market myself, build a sizable fan base, tour, and land a record deal. I'm pretty sure I can still get laid this way."

It has always been a sneaking suspicion of mine that some people (not all, just some) become actors, artists, or musicians because it looks like easy work. Recite some lines, paint a picture, or sing a song and you're done for the day. You have "worked." It must be a real shock for these slackers to realize that the people who are actually successful at these vocations work very very hard.

Successful actors often jokingly refer to themselves as Professional Auditioners. They just run from audition to audition to audition and get rejected 90% on the time. They constantly market themselves to managers and casting agents through websites, videos, postcards, headshots, anything they can get their hands on.

Artists have to market themselves to gallery owners, collectors, and curators in much the same way.

I am always a little weary when a musician says he or she wants to stay independent. Not that I don't think that is great, but I sometimes wonder if they really understand what they are saying. When a band decides to go it alone they are undertaking all of the marketing, financing, and sales that would normally be handled by the label. They can no longer say that they are just about the music, because they're not. They are about the business too.

The Internet has made it a lot easier to do this. International exposure can be accomplished with nothing more than a web site, an email address, and a MySpace page. The bands that are really using these tools to their advantage realize that the Holy Grail for them is the same as it is for every interactive marketer: one-to-one communication.

For a baby band it is not enough that people just dig your music anymore, they have to feel like they know you too. You blog regularly and people read it. If a fan sends you an email you answer it personally and genuinely, not with a form letter and sooner rather than later. You give away free samples of your music and you give people a reason to buy the album and come to the show. Fans these days need more than just a good song, they need to like you as a person too. If they like you AND your music then they will be just that more likely to buy an album or see your show at that shitty bar in the middle of nowhere.

It may take more effort to gain a fan base these days, but the fans you do get through one-to-one marketing will follow you to your grave, or at least until the point you completely sell out and start selling your songs for toilet paper commercials.

My name is Lauren, and I do not work in the music industry. Take this for what it is worth.