Seventh and final day: marketing, marketing, website design, tv/radio marketing, and setting up an indie label & publishing.
There's lots of talk about knowing your demographic. This can be extremely important when just figuring out good venues to play, and not just in bars and restaurants. There's been lots of talk about all ages shows and how valuable these events can be for your band.
With the website course the adage "content is king" apparently applies. That's why blogging is so huge on websites: every time you add a new blog post you're adding more content to your websites potentially raising your "google" ranking, or any other search engine. Making sure that you own your domain name, and that you're not going through a middle-man of sorts that could one day go AWOL and stop updating your website leaving it to the "URL sharks" that exist to purchase newly lost domains only to sell it back to you for thousands of dollars. Apparently this happens! The teacher also endorses wordpress as a good means of developing a website, although he offers really good web development and education on how to add content in a timely manner.
The natural wonders abounded today! There was more lightning, thunder and torrential rain AND there was a double rainbow right on the lake. Everyone went berserk for the rainbows, ran outside and took pictures. My camera was in the lodge but I did get a surreal night time picture of the main hall last night that will hopefully get posted here.
The buildings here are pristine and there are numerable activities to take part in. I think you'll get a good idea of what it's like here by the videos posted on the Peak Performance Project website. Aaaaand for the third time the thunderstorm is back.
Oh boy! Last night of showcases, packing shit up, cleaning the bathroom?, sleep, cleaning the bedroom, brunch, send-off message from Bob D'eith and then about a 7 hour trip back home. This place feels like another planet to me, the whole commercial side of the music industry, etc. It's going to take a while to absorb all of the information. The industry is changing at a rapid fire pace. Should one choose to dive into the industry they are only limited by their imagination. I am soooo unbelievably honoured to have been a part of this.
It's also going to be surreal going home again, even if only for 2 days, after which will be an even more surreal place: a cruise ship... for eight.... and..... a .... half... months.... Pray for me.
Evening:
Go to http://www.peakperformanceproject.com/ to read up on what's been happening here.
This is some history making stuff that I am soooo honoured to be a part of. The Vancouver Sun also has been posting the blogs that the musicians have been posting, doing a bit of a highlight on different artists each time.
Today's Theme: Marketing, Branding, and then More Marketing
Today was my most lethargic day so I didn't really absorb the information as such that I could recount without my binder full of notes.
We were given templates of marketing plans. You should have a marketing plan before you think you'll even need a marketing plan, because you need a marketing plan now. They talked about social networking. They talked about image consulting and how a band should have a somewhat similar look, style-wise, which is a pretty open-ended thing to say. That's because it's a band/artists specific thing. Basically, a band should be able to walk into a room and everyone should know that that is a band, even if they're not performing. They also talked about how to work towards commercial radio.
Today, Alex, Al, Melissa and I recorded Alex's "In a Minute Tune" (it was a songwriting challenge for all bands and artists, of which provided a ton of amazing ideas from everyone. There was also a monetary ante provided by MusicBC).
There's still some lightning hanging around from the thunderstorm. Not good. Not for a lightningphobe anyways.
Al mentioned aptly that this conference has gone astoundingly smooth. He says this from years of going to hundreds of conferences in his lifetime. It's been a fantastic experience thus far.
Onward to the showcase!
Later that evening:
Another great night. Adrian Glynn was arresting YET engaging. He's got this intense, Bob Dylan-ish folk thing going on. It's going to be interesting to see how much the judges take into account originality versus commerciality in their final decision.
It's been said a lot, especially now that we're about to hit the last day, but this conference has turned into this huge, talented, temporary music community (although everlasting, depending on how many contacts are maintained, and how many collaborations come out of this) that has been supporting each other from day one! I'm just an accompanist, and have been more of an observer, as in not jamming much or socializing much (surprise, surprise!), but in the courses I have absorbed probably as much information as a more experienced musician who has been touring and in the music business for 10 years or more.
I've noticed a pattern in the judges' comments to the showcase bands. Don't let all of the songs be too similar. Cut the fat: the fat usually being too many unneeded sections, extended jam sections (and by extended, I think they mean no more than 8 bars, or so it says in the songwriter's check list). Really accentuate the hooks. Really utilize vocal harmonies to the fullest extent if possible. Bring out the hooks as much as possible - double that melodic vocal line on guitar, harmonize that melodic guitar line. SPACE! - The Final Frontier. I mean... Use space. Take away instruments. Leave huge holes and then hit beat two, etc etc etc. I'd have to say that We Are the City used space amazingly well! Like a full bar of silence followed by unaccompanied voice, followed by full ensemble at fortississimo, and so on. Good use of contrast. Good use of probably every single musical effect available to a composer and musician. Amazing. I will be really disappointed if WAtC don't make the top 3. The judges did say that despite their awesomeness, they didn't have a hit single on their hands. So it depends if WAtC will write a song or two with the goal of making it more "chart worthy" and, like I said, how the judges will balance originality vs. commerciality.
Commerciality is important, otherwise they wouldn't be giving so many marketing classes. Just like music, marketing is as limited as your imagination. There are also some extremely important rules to follow. One of the presenters described the music industry as a sort of "Wild West", a "new frontier" of sorts, what with the development of the internet and the current evolution into a "singles" market, as opposed to an "album" market. Not many people want to buy an album anymore! I digress. But, pretty much without a web presence you'll be going more and more nowhere a whole lot faster. Example - with 2000 people reading your blog versus 200,000 people reading that newspaper, both advertising your upcoming gig, you've got a 99% readership of that blog of yours advertising upcoming gigs and such, compared to a fraction of that percentile reading the newspaper music section, depending on how many of that newspaper's readership gives a damn about indie music (What U2, AC DC AND Nickelback are in town tonight? Oh shit...)
As much as I am loving getting these super, duperly invaluable insights into the music industry I can't wait to go home. I've basically got 2 days at home with the fam fam, including time spent on organizing my shit, until I head out to the ships for 8 1/2 months (with a 2 week break in the middle, mind you, but... damn!)
Today's theme: Making Friends with the Media
The media industry feeds on good stories. Have a good website, construct a solid bio (with your story) that you constantly update with new pertinent information, a one sheet (for the album) and send to all media outlets. Take control of the interview and manipulate it to your advantage - as in find any opportunity to smoothly introduce your upcoming album release, or tour, pertinent event that you'll be a part of, etc.
An interesting note was how not to get blacklisted from media outlets. Don't be an a**hole (seems to be a theme), don't go AWOL, be punctual, don't cancel at the last minute (if this happens come up with a solution like calling in from the tow truck that's towing your broken down tour van, spin it to your advantage), answer all of the questions (as opposed to pulling a Billy Bob), don't drop F-bombs or related expletives (apparently CBC is a little more liberal that way).
I am terrible with a microphone and in interview situations in general. Today's seminars have been further food for thought. My cup runneth over with information.
Tonight we are back to the band showcases. Tomorrow the courses will be Marketing Plans, Marketing (in general? Tons of seminar time spent on marketing), Image Consulting, and Publicity/Radio.
Evening:
Wow, I can't explain in words how awesome tonight's showcase of bands was. The awesomeness transcends words. All I have to say is check out The Left, Kuba Oms (VI Represent!) and last, but fucking certainly not least, the band of unassuming 19 year old modern prog-rockers, WE ARE THE CITY!!!! I have nothing else to say because I'm speechless, just like the panel of industry judges...
Woo! Someone's cranking the Bob Marley at the poolside. I'm just outside the dining/performance hall, but the sound system there is sweet.
So far today's main theme is touring. Before any of that though, I have to mention that Shaun Verreault was wearing a Blue Train album t-shirt. Props to him.
Last night people were working diligently on the song writing challenge. At any given time I could hear people playing outside our window, in the room next to us, in the upstairs and downstairs hallways. Al said that there were 4 people jamming in their bathroom.
Keynote summary: Have a good attitude, and don't be a douche. Because if you're a douche it will bite you in the ass one day regardless of how successful you are. If you have a good attitude and make an effort to connect with your fans (of course), but also the techs as well as the employees of the venues you will establish a good track record and report, make a lot of friends, and probably get more gigs. Maybe nice guys don't finish last! The antithesis of that popular addage. Also, be prepared for adversity. Shit is going to happen, but with a good attitude adversity builds character. Barney and Shaun gave some sound business advice in the touring class.
This little squirrel has been keeping me company for the last couple minutes. I'm having a Snow White moment here. Oh dear, it looks like it's taking a chance on the contents of the garbage. Many a good kodak moments have been missed due to a lack of camera (it's back in the room). Shoot!
Again with the whole relativity in profit margins: Rob Pattee and Kevin Zaruk were applying words like "only" and "maybe make (such-and-such amount" accompanied by a shrug to figures like $20,000, $30,000. The source of my misunderstanding stems from my lack of ever incurring major expenses for the sake of my music career, other than the $400 - $500 I've spent on pre-employment medicals for Carnival Cruise Lines, as well has a couple hundred per flight itinerary on airline oversize baggage fees for the gear. All of the musicians here have likely spent thousands upon thousands on studio time, travel costs, merch, management, gear insurance and repair, etc.
A huge thank you to the staff of Rock Ridge Canyon resort for feeding and taking care of us! This place is so well cared for!
Also, a huge thank you to Alex and Barb Maillot, Al Medcalf, and Doug Dodd for allowing me to be a part of this! I know I'm just the accompanist, but the things we're all learning here are invaluable.
Onward to the songwriting class and more touring info.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Afternoon:
Everything is relative. During the keynote discussion on Revenue & Funding, Bob D'eith was saying things like, "You might only get $5,000..." or "This band got awarded $15,000, which isn't very much..." etc. Really? If someone gave me $1,000 for a project they wouldn't hear the end of the thank you's. That's cause I'm 'po.
Everyone's wondering what happened to Jackson, the 15 year old whiz kid. Him and his accompanist and chaperone seem to have left last night. You sounded great dude! Hope you're okay. During his set Jackson introduced a song saying, "This next song is for all of you pretty ladies out there. You know who you are." To which a guy sitting behind us replied, "Yeah, all seven of you." The ratio of men to women has been duly noted, by many. Supposedly that's a somewhat accurate gender ratio of the whole business, so it's been said. (The ratio for Alex's last set will be 3:1, with Al on the losing side.)
We just got back from our soundcheck and did a couple tunes with Melissa, from Wassabi Collective, who had some really good points and suggestions. She's going to play djembe. THANK YOU MELISSA! More excited than nervous now. Listening to the bands last night though, I was tempted to tell Alexandria "Why not just get the whole Wassabi Collective to accompany you! They would certainly do more justice to her songs than me." Don't know if my eardrums have ever been that close to such an intense source of feedback. It seems to be a challenging room. Kudos to all of the musicians, and of course the sound guys!
Man, this whole thing is like going to school. Instead of music theory, it's applied business. It seems like most of the people here have paid a sh*t load of dues on the road, spent time developing their sound, and worked in the studio a lot so this whole boot camp thing is like an addendum to their current knowledge, whereas it's almost all news to me.
I'm not known for being very observant or insightful, or apt, or even cognizant of what's going on at any given time, but there seems to be a good energy here. That may just be because I think that musicians are cool.
Evening:
Admittedly, when Alex told us she was writing a new song and changing the set the night before the performance I had a pang of concern. But you know, we rolled with it, collaborated with the lovely and groovy Melissa on djembe, and the end result garnered a very positive response. Lesson: never question Alex's creative decisions. Lesson learned!
Alex's set went great. She's super talented. She writes good songs. Yada yada yada. Actually, it's interesting I had no idea how the set went. But the judges had a tonne of praise for this girl. Ironically, the tune that one of the judges said he'd "Put money on becoming a top-ten hit" with the shifting of a few important lyrics (can't remember all of the specifics) was the tune that I shat on the most. Luckily, Alex is a stong enough of a musician and the judges obviously are listening to the most important aspects of the song, ie. - her songwriting ideas and performance. Now it's time to chill and try to really absorb everything that has been and will be taught, hopefully get to know a lot of the musicians, which may involve social skills - skills that Marisha Devoin does not possess.
There was a fair bit of discussion about the layering of instruments, adding and taking away. The power of simplicity ("Purple rain, purple rain. Purple rain, purple rain...) and dropping instruments at certain parts of songs in order to make the dynamic shifts that much more dramatic and effective. Apparently there's a tendency for writers to keep adding more and more instruments and maintaining a static upward climb in dynamics and density. If I remember correctly the Sweethearts and the Painted Birds really stood out in that regard. But, everyone's got some sweet composition and arrangement ideas.
The whole universality of music thing has become apparent. Everything that (studio guy) was talking about in terms of arranging music, the ideas that really work in the artist's songs, as well as the suggestions that the judges are offering, those are all things that I've learned in jazz school. In fact, those are all things that a good teacher of any music style should be teaching.
Again, the energy thing. I'm amazed that no one has been bludgeoned and no gear has gone flying or gotten knocked over by flying guitars and guitarists. It must take a lot of focus and concentration to wail like that AND not hit anyone or anything.
Someone actually got a plate full of whipped cream in the face today at dinner time. That was.. intruiging!
It's been suggested that musicians protest and call Bullshit on the 50% cuts that artists in BC will be receiving as outlined in the BC government budget coming this September 1. Musicians are asked, I think particularly on their Saturday gigs, although I'm sure it could work anytime, to play half a song, stop, and then explain to the audience why you've only played 50% of a song. That obviously is because it corresponds to the provincial figures on arts funding. DO IT. Everyone else is doing it, and it matters, to you, and to everyone. Barnie Bentall (SP?) might be doing it at his PNE gig, and (studio guy) said he'd try to convince ACDC to do it as well, even though they're not, BC-ers, nor Canadians. But if AC DC played half a hit song in solidarity with BC artists that would be pretty powerful, I think.
