An Unconventional Guide // Art and Money

This weekend I looked into buying The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau. Unfortunately, I hesitated to do so until I found out more about the guy. (If you know me personally, this is REALLY how I am.)

Luckily, I stumbled upon his various other ‘Unconventional’ Guides .

Art + Money stuck out to me, as it’s a guide to artists make a living yet not sell out. Naturally, I had to check it out!

Chris muses that it’s not an artistic ability that inhibits an artist, but simply that they’re not taught how to represent themselves. Interesting!

The best part of this guide is that Chris and his collaborator Zoe Westhoff, interviewed many artists (you get the mp3′s of these interviews if you download the guide) on what HAS and HASN’T worked for them. This in it of it’s self should be worth the price tag!

Has anyone bought this guide? How has it benefited you?

If you haven’t bought it, would you?

Brand Band

Music is not the only way to make money in the music business.

This is the premise of the newest Huffington Post article by Joe Satran.

Although trends already point to this (sometimes in obnoxious ways), I wanted to make sure you knew as well.

Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard about Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Aside from being the biggest acts in music today, they’ve successfully used their brands to parlay lucrative sponsorships that subsidize their earnings.

“Ten years ago, if you had a hit song on the radio, and you had a great tour, then you’d sell a million records, two million records. But today, if you have a hit song and you have a sold-out tour, then other ancillary opportunities are available to you: sponsorships, endorsements, TV, movie, animated features … all different types of things. Recording an album really has become like a promotional tool.” – Dina LaPolt, entertainment lawyer

Interesting.

Dina (and other entertainment professionals) have been claiming for years that making music is only a side effect to being a musician.

But is it true? Is the primary goal of musicians to get attention first and then write music? (Ahem, Lady Gaga + jagged, sparkly sunglasses)

While I don’t advise you to make music as a side project, but I think it’s important to point out that musicians don’t just make music to make money anymore.

I recently made the comparison of musicians to small businesses to a couple friends, and I don’t think it’s far off. Perhaps adopting this set of thinking will solidify serious thoughts of being ‘legit’. Because let’s face it, you are!

Think about it!

Be bold when thinking about other income streams! Most people hurt by the crappy economy have had to, why shouldn’t a musician as well?

The Rise and Fall of Wu-Tang

I ran across this very detailed ‘infodiscography‘ about the Wu-Tang Clan by Jess Bachman.

Who knew that Amy Winehouse collaborated with them?

The Tsaritsa Sez

The Tsaritsa Sez

Two weeks ago I sat down with The Tsaritsa aka, Alexandra Naughton. We chatted for a couple hours over some magnificent drinks. (I actually got quite tipsy which made most of my notes of the night slightly illegible.)

Without further adieu: Miss Tsaritsa!

Middle Class Musician: What kind of background do you have in music?

The Tsaritsa: I watched Pop Up Videos on VH1!

That and when I was younger I took piano lessons and was in choir. Other than that, I’ve had no formal musical training.

Could Someone Please Refill the Coffee?

A Spin scribe describes his experience ‘breaking into’ the Grammy’s and then being sentenced to a dungeon full of print press geeks.

Only three artists made it out to the dungeon to talk to the print press. They were all of: Bonnie Raitt, ‘The ghosts of the Beach Boys’, and Lady Antebellum. Yikes!

He claims the show sucked. I say it was better than years before it. (OK, so that means it sucked because it’s not growing exponentially. I get it.)

‘The Grammys are only capable of doing one thing inordinately well: pissing off every last music lover in America. Our displeasure with them may well be the last lingering remnant of the monoculture.’

This is true! The Grammys’s are not an accurate representation of what’s going on music today. It’s getting there, but not quite there yet. The monoculture is breaking down.

Sects are forming like there were at the beginning of time. Wandering nomads of musicians will be the future. Just you wait and see.

Mission Control

Writing: it helps me gather my thoughts when I can’t seem to grasp them. I’m sure many of you do this too. Aside from writing down feelings or lyrics, I want you to write a Mission Statement.

This may seem like a daunting task, but think about the consequences of not doing so. It would be comparable to wandering aimlessly around a city you don’t know, with no map in sight. Scary, right?

I’m stressing this because it’s important. I want your professional lives to be proactive, not reactive. So I don’t want to hear any of that ‘I just want to make music that feeds the soul’ crap. That’s all good and dandy, but that kind of mentality just isn’t going to feed you or your family. You need to be able to focus, like Death Star laser focus. And in order to do so, you have to write it all out.

Here are some key questions that a Mission Statement needs to answer:

• What genre of music do you want to make?
• What kind of audience do you want to reach?
• What can you deliver to fans that no other musician can?

Make sure to post your mission statement in a place where all members of the band can EASILY SEE IT EVERYDAY. Make several copies of it if you have to. I’d go as far as taping it to the mirror in your bathroom. What’s the worst that can happen? Someone says your dreams aren’t possible?

Well, to quote Dr. Seuss:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

Trust Your Tribe

Keller Williams is following in the steps of The Grateful Dead in that all his music, all his concerts are online for free. It’s about his tribe following him as he travels the world.

Stick around for the last half of the video. He mentions being EXCELLENT (not mediocre) with only a couple tools.

What did you BUILD that will be here two months from now, or two years from now?

PICK SOMETHING!

LOUIS CK WANTS YOU TO PICK SOMETHING!

I think you shouldn’t just do everything that’s available to do. It isn’t a good idea.

Timeliness

Just wanted give you some serviceable suggestions to not only help you, but your fans as well.

Weekly

Do something small for your fans. Keeping in touch is the point. I know you tweet dozens of times a day, but a weekly blog post can really pack a bigger punch.

It can turn into something expected by fans. Try it for a couple weeks and see how your traffic jumps on the blog post day. (I need to mention that the blog post day should really be the same day every week, to make it predictable and easy to keep track of.)

Monthly

Do something big. Anything really. A contest (with a prize). A private ‘Meet & Greet’ after a show. A personalized song that will appear on the next EP/LP. The sky is the limit!

The point is to exponentially interact with fans. I know you publicly respond to tweets and posts, but what if you could get your fans to interact with each other? They could talk about how awesome you are, and how many times they’ve seen you, etc. And what if from there it grew and grew? Wouldn’t that be more powerful than having to continue doing all the legwork yourself?

Create Moments For Your Fans

I rarely find people who say to me ‘You know I go to too many live events’. – Seth Godin

Are you creating instances for your fans to meet? You should. It’s how your identity spreads in this day and age.