Most of the comments where overwhelmingly positive.

Del Kubena writes:

“I’m 81 years old and going strong. I play country but my passion is western music. I do a lot of yodeling even at my age. I have buried two wives and recently I have remarried and my wife who is 72 years old has learned to play the bass to back me up. So as soon as she gets real comfortable with the bass she will start singing and we’re gonna do a lot of harmonizeing together. Life has just begun again. GOD bless you all”

Harris Moore writes:

“I figure I sold over 250,000 cds on the street…all self-manufactured with NO middle men. Eventually, I hung it up and now own/run a prehistory museum on the Dingle Peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. I still play for visitors, sell my cds here (I busk in my own house,… how cool is that?!)and do the occasional concert. I never ever for one minute placed any stock in the conventional “music business”, but took it to the street and flapped my funky-ass flag in the breeze to see if anyone would salute.”

Anne Roos writes:

“I didn’t start playing the harp when I was a child–I started playing the harp after I graduated college. I started my own business as a professional musician after I got married. I’ve heard countless people tell me I couldn’t make it.

I make a living at it and I proved them wrong. You can, too. Find your niche and make it real. Age is just a number.”

Terry Walsh writes:

“Last month, our band opened for CHICAGO in front of 15,000 people. We got a standing ovation. The following week, I turned forty eight.”

Others had a different take:

“I must admit I was hoping for more, as at the age of 47 I am firmly of the opinion that I am too old. Right up until a year or two ago I never used to think so, but after having so many doors slammed in my face when those very same doors are open to largely talentless 20 year olds, I have to concede. Self belief can only take you so far. I have a modest but loyal fan base who believe in my music but even they have learned to live with my disappointments. I have invested much of my life – and my money – in my music career, and there has to come a time when you have to wonder if you’re flogging a dead horse… or at least a very old one.”

“For us older folk music was more of a collectable, but for the kids today it’s more a consumable – and usually a free one at that. It seem if they’re going to pay for good music it better LOOK good as well!”

“We’re good. But we’re older, and not nearly as appealing to this audience as the hot young eye-candy that also plays those evenings. The change in general vibe is substantial. When we’re up we’re mostly background noise, and only the few patrons around our age seemingly take an interest and offer encouraging feedback and applause. But as soon as the young boys get up… or more particularly the hot young blonde the place comes alive, regardless of the dross they may be churning out.”

“Like it or not, the mass media is a culture of youth, and in most towns folks loose interest in live music (except for stuff they are familiar with) by the time they reach their 30s.”

After reading all the comments I took some time to think about the difference between those who had positive feelings and those who had negative feelings regarding the issues that were discussed. I think it boils down to something critically important to our quality of life.

Some people seem to think that the world owes them something. That they’re somehow entitled to get certain gigs, make a certain amount of money or get a certain amount of adulation and praise. They feel that if they don’t earn those things then it’s the fault of some external force. They don’t turn their focus inward to look at the things they don’t want to face. They never seriously consider that they need to change themselves and get out of their comfort zones to grow and to get different results. It’s somebody else’s job to put them where they feel they’re entitled to be. It’s either the club owners or the fans, the record execs or the economy or someone or something else that’s responsible for the current state of their career- anyone but themselves.

Other people see life as a gift and are grateful for all of the small miracles that they’ve been given. They’re grateful for all of the support and love that they get. They’re grateful for their ability to make their music and share it with anyone else who wants to share the experience with them. They know that if they can touch one person with their music then they can touch many more – and it’s their responsibility to figure out how to do it.

Where you stand on this spectrum is the foundation on which everything else in your career and life will be built.  Where do you stand?  The choice is yours.

A man was getting a haircut prior to a trip to Rome. He mentioned the trip to the barber who responded, “Rome? Why would anyone want to go there?

It’s crowded and dirty and full of Italians. You’re crazy to go to Rome.

So, how are you getting there?”

“We’re taking TWA,” was the reply. “We got a great rate!”

“TWA?” exclaimed the barber. “That’s a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they’re always late.

So, where are you staying in Rome?”

“We’ll be at the downtown International Marriott.”

“That dump! That’s the worst hotel in the city. The rooms are small, the service is surly and they’re overpriced. So, whatcha doing when you get there?”

“We’re going to go to see the Vatican and we hope to see the Pope.”

“That’s rich,” laughed the barber. “You and a million other people trying to see him. He’ll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You’re going to need it.”

A month later, the man again came in for his regular haircut. The barber asked him about his trip to Rome.

“It was wonderful,” explained the man, “not only were we on time in one of TWA’s brand new planes, but it was overbooked and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a beautiful 28 year old stewardess who waited on me hand and foot.

And the hotel-it was great! They’d just finished a $25 million remodeling job and now it’s the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us the presidential suite at no extra charge!”

“Well,” muttered the barber, “I know you didn’t get to see the pope.”

“Actually, we were quite lucky, for as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder and explained that the pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I’d be so kind as to step into his private room and wait the pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later the pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down as he spoke a few words to me.”

“Really?” asked the Barber. “What’d he say?”

He said, “Where’d you get the lousy haircut?

I found this joke here:  @Joke_OTD

Have you ever encountered an artist who appeared completely delusional to you?

I’ve posted a few examples below from youtube that might strike that chord for you.  First let me make it clear that my intention is not to publicly humiliate these artists.  They deserve a lot of credit for having the guts to put themselves out there and doing the best that they know how.  That being said, I want you to really look at the lack of calibration and the incongruence:

Do you think those artists understand what’s between them and the success they’re after?  Do you think they really appreciate the distance they’d have to travel internally to be successful and respected as serious artists?

But you and I do right?  We don’t have any of that in us…

I remember the first song I ever wrote.  It was at least as bad as any unintentional comedy that you’ll find on YouTube.  At the time though I thought it was great!  I was sure it was a hit.  I was God’s gift to the world of songwriting.  I was sure of it.

I try never to forget that song.  I never want to forget how sure I was about it and how wrong I was.  There’s an important lesson there.

I believe that the real barrier to success isn’t in doing the work it takes to get there, but rather, it’s learning just how much work it will actually take.  The insidious problem that we need to be aware of is that we aren’t psychologically prepared or sufficiently motivated to do the work that we need to do because we tend to think we’re closer to our goals than we really are.

The fact that we tend to be pretty poor judges of our own work is further complicated by what’s know as the ‘confirmation bias‘.  Whether we think we’re awesome or terrible we find evidence to support this in the outside world.  We’re constantly looking to re-enforce what we already believe.

So how do you know when your perception meets reality and how do deal with this problem?  Those are important questions to ask.  After all, our delusions seem totally real to us when we’re in the middle of them.

I don’t think the answer comes easily.  Even the least skilled artist can find praise in the outside world that will re-enforce the most far-fetched delusions, so maybe the outside world isn’t the place to start.  I think the answer starts on the inside by being open to feedback and letting go of our beliefs about ourselves for long enough to see another perspective.

It’s counter-intuitive to open ourselves up to rejection and criticism.  We naturally want to seek validation.  We’re biased to see only the things that validate us and our views.  The more evolved, more effective and ultimately more powerful approach is to seek invalidation.  To look for the areas where we’re missing things with the intention of using that feedback to become stronger.  It’s a process of calibration.  Musicians who learn to love and value this process will have far more true confidence and be far more effective than those who are only seeking validation.

You need to learn to love finding out that you’re not as good as you though you were – because that’s the key to getting real results.  When you know you’ve got work to do then you can do it.  When you deceive yourself you can’t learn what you need to know to get better.  When you’re not dealing with reality your power is only in your mind.  When you’ve got the guts to open yourself up and the courage to allow yourself to be scared and disappointed and frustrated in the name of progress then you’re on the way to making things happen in the real world.

Behold! The first 5 Commandments of the Independent Rockstar:

1. 1) Thou shalt not polish turds
2. 2) Thou shalt not envy other bands
3. 3) Thou shalt not chase carrots at the end of sticks
4. 4) Thou shalt not get complacent
   
5. 5) Thou shalt be clear

Alright, so let’s get serious and dive in to what these all mean.

1) Thou Shalt Not Polish Turds

You’ve got to bring the goods.  No marketing advice will matter if your music isn’t great.  Sometimes you just need to turn off the computer and practice.  No joke.  Marketing bad music is like trying to conduct electricity through dirt.  It’s a very frustrating, inefficient and ultimately pointless exercise.  Start with the fundamentals.  Get your music right.

2) Thou Shalt Not Envy Other Bands

It’s very easy to get caught in the trap of judging yourself based on comparisons to other acts.  When you focus on the fact that others have what you do not then you’re putting yourself in a powerless position.

They key is to focus on what you do have and where you can go.  This concept really hit me when I heard a man named Sean Stephenson talk about it.  Sean is about three feet tall and confined to a wheel chair.  He has a rare bone disease that caused nearly every bone in his body to break upon birth.  It would be easy for him to spend his life being bitter about the things that he can’t do.  Instead he chooses to focus on the things that he can do.  He’s a board certified Psychotherapist, a motivational speaker and author who has worked for President Clinton, testified before congress more than once, dated beautiful women, appeared on tv many times and much more.

You may not play guitar like Eddie Van Halen or sing like Aretha Franklin, but neither does Bob Dylan and that didn’t stop him!  Music is an art, not a sport.  Develop your art and your own unique voice.

The point is to develop the strengths that you have, focus on them and expand from there.  As my man T Harv Eker likes to say ‘Where attention goes, energy flows and results show’.

3) Thou Shalt Not Chase Carrots at the End of Sticks

This one is very much related to the second commandment.  It’s important to focus on and be grateful for the good fortune that you already have.  Give the proper love and attention to the people who are already in front of you and build a stronger band, a more loyal fan base and a solid foundation for lasting success.

The opposite of this is to chase a false promise or illusion at the expense of the people who are already in front of you.  Success requires that you be present and that you maintain a commitment to deliver a great experience for your fans every time.

I’ve see a lot of bands make poor decisions because they think that if they play a certain club or get enough people to vote for them in some online popularity contest that someone out there is going to give them their big break.

The truth is, it’s about building something over the long term, not chasing something that will magically propel you to success and make all of your problems go away.  It doesn’t work like that.

In L.A. there are hordes of bands who take bad deals to play in well known venues that they’re not ready to play.  They end up performing to a half empty room at best, to people who paid too much and often they’ll end up going on late or having their set cut short.

Acts who do this are not thinking about how to deliver the best experience possible to their fans.  They’re likely thinking about the imaginary A&R guy who’s going to hear their music and sign them to a lucrative deal while forgetting about the very people who really have the power – the fans.

What can you do to make sure that your fans have the best experience possible at your next show?  If you consistently ask this question then you will be in the right mindset to grow your audience.

4) Thou Shalt Not Get Complacent

Though it is important to stay grounded and to give your best to the present moment, this does not mean that it’s a good idea to remain stuck in the status quo.  Growth doesn’t come from doing what’s comfortable over and over.  Growth comes from challenge and from getting out of your comfort zone.  You need to push towards the edge to expand what you’re capable of.

This means challenging yourself as a performer and a songwriter.  Don’t settle for your current limitations.  Seek criticism and new experiences in order to grow and improve.

Stagnation is unattractive to your audience.  Momentum, progress and excitement will make people want to come along for the ride.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be patient and persistent, it just meant that you need to have a plan and you need to make your move to the next level when the time is right.  A great example is a band here in L.A. called Steel Panther.  They started playing at one of the smaller venues on the Sunset Strip called the Viper Room.  They played there until they became well known for packing the house every Monday night.  In due time they moved on to play the Roxy every week, and then the Key Club which is a little bigger, and eventually on to the largest club on the strip, The House of Blues.

Your audience can feel when it’s time for you to move to the next level.  If you don’t make your move then they’ll start to look at you differently.  Don’t let them down.

5) Thou Shalt Be Clear

As they say in marketing, ‘The confused mind always says no’.  Get rid of conflicting messages in your marketing, or anywhere else that affects your band for that matter.  You need to be clear on who you are and what you want and then align all of your decisions accordingly.  You need to present yourself in a way that people can understand if you want to be memorable.  Look for ways to eliminate friction and confusion so that you can move forward more efficiently.

At every step, you need to be clear on what you want your fans to do and your fans need to get that message.  If you’d like to sell them your CD then don’t be vague or shy about asking them to.  Come right out and ask.  If you want people to download your new single then go ahead and put it right in the middle of the home page of your website.  Don’t make people dig for it.  Know what you want and make it easier for that to become a reality.

Another area where clarity is important is in the way that you describe your act.  What do you tell people when they ask what you sound like?  Is it clear and compelling or vague and confusing.  This may be more important than you realize.  Have a great answer!  Here are a couple videos from Derek Sivers and Ariel Hyatt that can help you come up with your quick pitch:

Click HERE for part 2

Have you ever known someone who always seemed to get in trouble and could never seem to get out of their own way? No matter how hard they seemed to try they seemed to be the victim of circumstances conspiring against them? Well...that’s generally what tends to happen as the long term result of poor habits and bad decisions. Stupid things done in combination with other stupid things will produce situations where things that were done some time ago, will come back and bite you. Each story, when you look at it as an isolated incident, may sound like really bad luck. When you look at the bigger picture though, you may have a different perspective.

Let’s say that person got their car impounded because they were driving on a suspended license on their way home from the corner store. They were just going down the street and they didn’t even know their license was suspended. Crappy luck, right?! Well, not if you rewind a little to find out that they got their license suspended because they didn’t pay several tickets, which they shouldn’t have gotten in the first place. They hang out with equally clueless people who give them sympathy and keep them trapped into thinking that the world is against them. Short term thinking, about long term issues.

On the other hand, when you do the right things and associate with the right people, then over time, the opposite will happen. If you consistently add value to the lives of the people around you, then you’ll get value back in return. If you have good habits, a powerful set of beliefs and you work hard then you’ll be “lucky” in the long run. People and circumstances will seem to conspire to bring you good things, seemingly out of nowhere. That’s the thing about luck. It’s more of a long-term thing. It’s not often obvious how we’ve created the circumstances that bring us our good or bad luck. We can’t see the long term cause and effect, so we call it “luck”. It’s largely an illusion.

So the guy who lives in Pocatello, Idaho, is kinda lazy, drinks a little too much and hangs out with other people with their own bad habits, might tell you that making it is all about luck. Ironically the person who thinks it’s all about luck, will almost by definition, live a life of bad “luck”. It doesn’t matter how talented he or she is, nor should it. He is going to have to do certain things that go beyond music if he wants to be happy and successful.

Likewise, the person with the same level of talent who decides to move to Nashville, who believes they control their own circumstances, who is always looking to be around successful people with good habits and who works hard, will have a very different perspective on what it takes to make it. It takes time and you have to trust that the things that you do right may not produce immediate results, but in the long run, they will pay off in ways that you can’t yet conceive of.

What I think some people fail to realize is that other people will come in to help you when you’re already on this path, doing a lot of things right on your own. If you move to a major hub of the music industry like Los Angeles, New York or Nashville, and you kill it every night, then rest assured, you will start to meet influential people.

Don’t sit in your bedroom in Peachtree City, Georgia and tell me that the reason you can’t make it in the music business is because you don’t know people. You do need to know people, but that’s not the reason you can’t make it. The reason you can’t make it in the music business is because you’re afraid of the things that it would really take and because you don’t really believe you can do the things that you’d have to do to get noticed by those people. So my challenge to you, is to shift your focus away from the illusion of luck and “knowing people” and hold the mirror up to yourself. What are your fears that are holding you back? What are your shortcomings that you need to put some hard work into? What are your strengths that you need to develop? What are the difficult decisions that you need to make? How important is it that you make the right decisions?

Do you think Bruce Springsteen was lucky? How about Bob Dylan? Metallica? Stevie Wonder? Madonna? All of these people worked incredibly hard, made difficult decisions and made sacrifices. None of them were born into this world “knowing people.” They did what it took to get noticed and to create their own “luck”.

Besides, anyone who’s made it out of luck will be forgotten anyway. Why aim for that?

Luck? I don’t think so.

What you make from your music is exactly what you should be making.  Your abilities and your actions have lead you to exactly where you are and based on what you’ve put in, you could not have gotten any other result.  You can’t become successful by wishing that club owners or promoters would see the true value of your art and stop seeking their own profit.  You can’t become successful by bashing your head against the wall in response to low turnout at your shows.  You can’t become successful by begging people to buy your CDs.

So how do you change the equation?  I think it helps to start by forgetting for a moment about how you ‘wish’ things were and how things ‘should’ be and taking a look at how things really are and why.  Reality is not a dirty word.  There is no virtue in holding idealistic thoughts in your mind if you don’t translate them into reality.  If you’re not dealing in reality in the first place then you cannot make progress in reality.

It’s easy for us to see when other people aren’t dealing in reality.  The difficult part is seeing that about ourselves.  Have you ever known someone who was in love, but couldn’t see that they were driving the other person away because they were too needy and overbearing?  You can see someone else doing that from a mile away, right?  Well, you just might be doing the equivalent to your fans and the club owners that you deal with.  Are you being too needy, wishing the other person/people/reality would change, and holding onto unrealistic idealistic beliefs in order to justify your results?

What the guy who’s in love should probably do is to forget about the immediate result that he’s after and change himself so that the kind of girl he wants will be attracted to him.  He could learn some new skills, improve his appearance, gain some new experiences and become a more interesting person.  The kind of person who draws people to him.

So what you or your band may want to do is to forget about trying to pull every last favor to try and get more people at your next show, forget about trying to convince the club owner of the value of your art and forget about trying to get all your friends on Facebook to vote for you in a popularity contest.  What you really should be doing is becoming a better band, with better songs, better promotion and a more interesting story.  The kind of band that naturally draws people to them.

By increasing your band’s value to your fans, to club owners, record labels, etc. you will start to make more money. If you don’t actually become more valuable to those people then you won’t get more money from those people. Don’t convince them that you’re a valuable part of their lives or business – become a valuable part of their lives and/or business.

[Check out this video from the late, great Jim Rohn on why you make the amount of money you make.  Yes, this does relate to your music career.  There is some extremely valuable insight here if you can connect the dots.  How valuable is your music in the marketplace?  How could it become more valuable?]

“Asking is the beginning of receiving. Make sure you don’t go to the ocean with a teaspoon. At least bring a bucket so the kids don’t laugh at you!”

- Jim Rohn

The first thing that you need to do is to scout out at least one good venue. What you want to look for are venues that are:

a) inexpensive
b) fun
c) willing to give you the freedom to set up your own shows

The other important factor is bringing in other bands to play with you. You’ll know you’re on the right track when you start putting together shows that you’re genuinely excited about. If you’re excited about the shows you put together then that excitement will translate to your fans. When you consistently put together fun and exciting shows you’ll see the beginnings of a new scene. Other bands will want to be a part of it and you won’t have to beg people to come to your shows. You’ll just need to tell them when they are.

When you put on shows with bands who know each other and who have fun together then people will actually stay for more than one band! They’ll leave happy without having spent too much and the bands can actually make some money too. It’s a win, win for everyone if you do it right.

If you’ve got total freedom over the shows you put on then you can do some things that are outside the box. You can have a comedian or a magician open for you. Be creative. I saw a band once who had made a big wheel that they would spin that would prompt them to do all kinds of entertaining stunts in between songs depending on where the wheel landed. It’s your show. Have fun with it!

Before I moved to Los Angeles I played in a band in Rhode Island where there wasn’t any kind of established scene. There were a couple of no-name venues where we regularly played. One was at a restaurant/bar at the beach and another was a tiny bar in the suburbs. Neither one had bands playing there until we proposed the idea. We brought in bands that we wanted to play with and we played what we wanted to play.

Both of these places that we played at gave us 100% of the door and 100% of merch. One of them even gave us the door plus $100 and free drinks! The bar was a tiny unknown hole in the wall, yet we made more money per show there than when I played in a band that sold out the Viper Room. Those shows were some of the best times of my life. We weren’t trying to reach for something beyond us, we were just putting on the shows we wanted to play and that we thought would be the most fun for everyone. We booked the bands we liked to watch and that we liked to hang out with, so naturally our fans would enjoy the show as well. People would come back to see us again and they would bring more friends and tell more people, to the point that many of them would be turned away at the door.

The idea is to bring people together in a way that’s a win win for everyone. If everybody wins then everybody will want to be a part of your shows in the future. If you want to create a scene, forget about the big expensive venues that don’t care about you, book 6 unrelated bands a night, don’t pay you and that your fans can only afford to go to on special occasions. Instead, find a fun place that’s receptive to the idea of letting you come in and put on your own inexpensive shows. It’s an opportunity for everyone – the venue owner wants more customers, you’ve got fans and you know other bands who have fans (you just need a willing venue), and the fans have a few hours and a reasonable amount of money to spend, and they want good entertainment.

Bring it all together and you’re the hero. So don’t be one of the countless complainers. Be a doer. Amazing things can happen when you’ve got the vision to bring people together.

The “death roll” is a term used in sailing to describe what happens when a boat becomes unstable, loses control and, in most cases, capsizes.  Once it starts it takes a skilled captain to maneuver out of it.

A similar experience occurs often in the world of music.  It usually happens with bands who start out trying to do too much too soon and don’t know how to read the instruments that should be used to steer their ship.  Everything looks great, they’re well on their way to fame and fortune and then all-of-a-sudden their boat quickly starts rocking out of control, they’re going too fast to do anything about it and their boat capsizes, leaving them to die a slow and painful death out on the open water.  : )

Here’s how it usually goes down:  Bands often have a few good shows right off the bat.  Their friends buy into the hype and are more than willing to come out and support.  The shows are a novelty at first and are often fun social events for the friends who attend.  Everyone has a great time and the band is convinced that not only will it always be like this, but that it will only get better.  If it starts that fast then it will grow just as fast.  They bank on that, start getting over confident, and base their decisions on that assumption.

There are a couple of problems with this.  When bands start to get too cocky they often make poor decisions.  They might book shows that they aren’t ready to play, they may drink too much before they go on, they may adopt an insufferable attitude, or a combination of all those and more.  Either way, when they’re banking on the continuation of their early success and they start to believe the hype then they unwittingly put themselves in a fragile position.  Inevitably things will go wrong.  When they do, then such bands will often over-react and get uptight, often in front of their audience, which could cause them to crash-and-burn on the spot .  When a person feels like they’ve given up more time and money than it was worth to go to your show then you’re going to have a hard time getting them to come back.

The bottom line is this – you’re at where you’re at.  The greater the disparity between where you’re actually at and where you think your at, the faster and harder you will fall.

This reminds me of when I was a kid and I used to collect baseball cards.  There was a lot of hype about baseball cards back then.  I remember Jose Canseco’s 1986 rookie card was worth about $175 at one point.  The problem was that it was all overblown.  In the end it wasn’t really worth very much.  Once the value started to decline, it never stopped.  The market collapsed.  You can buy that card now for $7.50.

This is why experience is so important.  You need to think in terms of real growth.  It’s about growing something worthwhile not about blowing up and becoming a rockstar in three months.  If you want to be great then you’ve got to put in the work and pay your dues.  If it comes too easily then you’d better be careful.  Easy come, easy go.

What a lot of bands fail to realize is that the amount of friends that come to your shows is a terrible indicator of your level of success.  Many artists see as many as 100 or 200 people come to their shows and they think they’ve made it.  The problem is that they already know most of these people.  They haven’t really accomplished anything special by getting them to a few shows.  If they don’t learn to grow an audience then the rest of their shows will also be attended by only their friends – just less and less of them.

Your audience has an internal sense of where your momentum is at.  If the perception is that your status is climbing then people will want to be a part of it.  If you don’t learn to grow an audience of people who aren’t already your friends then you will quickly be perceived as being stagnant.  As soon as people start to feel like you’re stagnating then you will start to lose your audience.  The death roll has been initiated.

When you start to lose your local audience then you’re pretty well screwed.  They’re probably not coming back.

In summary, what you need to do is to learn how to grow an audience (more on this in a later post), anticipate a drop off after early success, become calibrated to where you’re really at and consistently over-deliver.

If you do find yourself in the death roll then the only thing you can do is stop – IMMEDIATELY.  Stop what you’re doing.  Re-evaluate your strategy.  Play some shows out of town.  Go underground.  Give it some time.  You need to create some separation so that when you start playing local shows again, you can re-energize your fan base.  You have to convince them that you’ve grown and they you’re better than ever.  Then you have to deliver.

BTW – here’s the Crocodile’s version of the death roll.  Check out what happens when this guy makes a bad decision due to a false sense of confidence.  Don’t let this happen to you….

Most bands out there are looking for support.  They want you to help them out.  Vote for them in a contest.  Go to their show.  Buy their CD.

By you contributing to their cause you will get them far enough to get their big break.  When they get their big break then they will have made it and other people will be there to give them all the resources they need and they’ll live happily ever after.

There’s just one small problem with that model:  It’s an illusion that will keep you trapped until long after all of your dreams are gone.  It’s a fundamental misinterpretation of the way that money and value work.  This strategy will no sooner make you successful then it will a beggar.

Money is just a lubrication in the exchange of value.  Think about that for a minute.  It doesn’t have any intrinsic value.  It’s just a symbol.  It’s a more advanced way of trading sheep.  What the symbol stands for is value.  It’s not about “getting” money. It’s about value.  If you want to receive value, then you’re going to have to produce value for other people.  You can’t game the system.  It will all add up in the end one way or another.  If you don’t produce value then you won’t even have the capacity to hold on to value.  Whatever you get, you will lose.

You need to focus on the value that you can give to people.  Do you want to get people at your shows?  Do you really want to make some real money?  Then convince people that you’re going to give them something that they value.  Anything less will get you nowhere.  You can get people to come to a gig or two out of obligation, but if they aren’t getting more in return than they are spending then they’re going to stop showing up.  It’s just not sustainable.

Does your show cost $10 at the door, plus $5 to park and an hour or two of time on a Friday night?  Well then it needs to be a show that’s worth $20+ and be the best thing that someone could do on a Friday night.  YOU are the first person who needs to believe this.  THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS CANNOT BE OVERSTATED.

When you’re well calibrated to what your fans value and you’re 100% convinced that going to your show on Friday night is the best thing that anyone could do, and that it’s worth 5x the cost of admission, then something amazing will start to happen.   People will start to sense it.  This will come through in your communications.  People will see it in your eyes and read it in your body language.  The pictures you take will start to speak to people differently.  It’s like sprinkling magic dust on everything you do.

People are repelled by those who want to get something from them, but attracted to people who they believe will give something to them- and when you give them something that’s worth far more than the cost, then they will talk about it.

No one will ever come in and save the day by giving you your big break if you don’t first produce more value than what you ask in return.  This is the great illusion that runs rampant amongst the minds of starving musicians.  If you’re waiting for someone to show up and give you your success then you’re still going to be waiting when you’re old and grey.

So this is my challenge to you:

Eliminate the idea of charity or support as part of your strategy.  Make “support” a dirty word.  Don’t ask people to support your band.  Don’t ask for favors.  Instead, convince them that your band is the best thing that will ever happen to them.  They’re going to tell their grand kids about you.  Your band will be the soundtrack to the best memories that they’ll every have.  $10 for your CD is the best bargain that they’ll ever find.

If you’re going to convince them of this then you’re going to have to convince yourself first.

This comes BEFORE you get your big break.

Don’t be a beggar.

BE A ROCKSTAR.

Wow.

Depending on where you’re from, you may or may not encounter these pay-to-play scenarios. It’s pretty common here in L.A. at certain venues. The promoter basically requires a guarantee from the bands that they will make a certain amount of money. The promoter gives the band a number of tickets to sell and is usually held accountable to pay off most or all of the face value of the tickets that they’re required to sell. Personally I don’t have any moral objection to this arrangement. The club is in business to make money and the promoter has to pay the club and make a profit on top of that. That’s business. If you don’t like business then that’s fine – play in your garage and don’t ask anyone to buy anything from your band. The reality is that your band is a business too. The difference is that the club probably is a little more in touch with the fact that they are in business and a little better at it than most bands are. This is why you have bands who are willing to commit to selling 70(!) tickets to play at the Knitting Factory – even though they can’t sell 70 tickets.

So the question is…what is it worth to play the Knitting Factory, the Whisky or the Viper Room? That all depends. If it’s your life’s dream to play the Whisky then maybe selling 50 tickets is a good deal for you. If you’re committing to selling the tickets because you think someone might be there from Interscope Records and sign you to a recording contract then you are WRONG.

When you are ready to be signed then you won’t have to sell tickets. The promoter will already know who you are, or at the least, you will be able to prove to them that you draw a lot more than 50 people.

The problem is that a lot of bands put way too much importance on the “prestige” of certain venues. If you’re promoting the show as if the venue itself is the star of the show then you’ve got the wrong idea. Your band IS the show. The show is wherever your band chooses to play. You bring the party. You don’t pay to play because you don’t need to.

What I suggest is that you play the venues where you will draw the highest percent of capacity. If you draw 80 people, then find a venue in your hood that holds 50. Don’t play the Roxy where the room is going to look practically empty. Play to as full of a room as you can. The energy will be MUCH better. The perception will be MUCH better. Imagine these two scenarios:

a) You commit to selling 70 tickets to a venue on the Sunset Strip that holds 500. You’re having a hard time selling the tickets and you resort to begging so you don’t have to fork over the money out of your own pocket. You end up playing with 5 other bands and the show runs behind. You go on late and have to cut your set short. Your show is decent, but the room is at less than 20% of capacity. Your fans mostly enjoy the show, but not too many of them would want to do it again anytime soon after having paid $15 for the ticket, $15 to park, and $5.50 per Bud Light.

b) You play Joe Shmoe’s down the street. It costs $5 to get in, parking is free, bud lights are $3 and it’s close to a large chunk of your fan base. The owner of the place lets you put on your own show, so you recruit two other great bands that you vibe with really well and everyone gets to play their full set. The place is packed so the energy is electric. As a result, the performance is great. People get turned away at the door because there isn’t room for them. Everyone inside has a great time and tells all their friends – especially the ones who got there too late and got turned away. Everyone is looking forward to the next show. (oh yeah – and you actually got paid too!)

Same band, same number of fans. Which band do you think has the right idea? What is the difference in people’s perception of the band after each scenario?

This is HUGE. If you bring all of your fans to come see you at a venue that’s too big and too expensive for you to play at then you’re setting yourself up for failure. As soon as people perceive that you’re failing in any way then you’re basically screwed. Things will go downhill very fast. People will not spend time and money to come see your band unless they are CONVINCED that you will rock and that your shows are the place to be. Nobody said it would be easy. That’s why there are thousands and thousands and thousands of bands out there and you probably only spend time and money on a handful of them.

So when you’ve firmly established your rep in your neighborhood and everyone knows that they need to get to your shows early and that they are going to rock – then kick it up a notch at a slightly larger venue. Always be bigger than the venue. YOU are the show – not the venue. YOU bring people. YOU have the power. You don’t have to be over-the-top about this and you certainly shouldn’t be arrogant and unprofessional – just know it in your heart and negotiate and make your decisions with that frame in mind.

Pay to play? Not your band. Your band knows what’s important and knows how to leverage it’s power. Your band IS the show. Your band isn’t cool because of the venue you play at – the venue is cool because your band is playing there.

You’d better grab them fast. You’ve got a Hell of a lot of competition! People don’t have time to search through 17 youtube videos, they don’t have time to try to figure out how to find the content they want on your weird website and they don’t have time to listen to 5 songs on your Myspace page before they get to your best song.

Give them your best stuff on a silver platter. Lead them right to your best song, your best photo, your best video etc. Don’t know what your best stuff is? You need to find out. Ask people if you have to, but know what your strongest material is if you want to know how to grow your audience. Don’t randomize the experience of the people who are giving you a chance for the first time. If you’ve got 6 songs on your Myspace page, why randomize your playlist and take the chance that someone who goes to your page will hear your 6th best song?! Give them your best stuff on a silver platter.