15 Truths About the
Music Business
By Ed Shane
1. Fame is fleeting.
It used to be
difficult to get through the music funnel. Now
fame is available to everybody. It’s easier to
break through but more difficult to sustain.
2. Talent is no
guarantee
Even if you’re a
prodigy, you have to do the work. If you’re not
a prodigy, you have to work harder. The “10,000
hours” concept is valid. It may not be
literally 10,000, but it’s got to be enough to
make you ready when the big break comes.
3. Fans should be
empowered.
Fans are forever,
media exposure is for today. Encourage fan
sites. Give your fans exclusives. Fan are the
key to your success. They’ll be with you when
the industry gives up on you.
4. Your music should
be everywhere.
Start with
SoundCloud, then go to iTunes, Spotify, and any
platform you can get on. Yes, physical CDs,
too. Be where your fans might look for you.
Marketing people call it being “platform
agnostic.”
5. CDs are
souvenirs.
Physical CDs are
made to sell at live gigs. Sign them and
they’re more personal, even if they’re ripped to
an iPod. Same for all your merch. It’s a
talisman for the experience of being at the gig
with you.
6. YouTube is your
best friend.
Live performance
video. Lyric video. Back stage video. Video
from the van. Change it regularly and update
posts often. YouTube is the #1 place for music
discovery.
7. Mailing lists are
gold.
Hold on to contact
information of anybody who likes your music.
Collect email addresses from everybody who buys
at the merch table. Use it to inform, but don’t
spam.
8. Mystery is
history.
The more you reveal
abut yourself, the people will bond to you. Let
people know who you are and what you like. Use
Twitter to create dialog. Commit to a life on
social media to engage with fans.
9. You, you DO need
a lawyer.
More specifically, a
music business lawyer. Whatever you spend to
create a good deal at the beginning will seem
like a pittance against what you’d spend to get
out of the same deal, badly written (or not
documented at all).
10. Trends don’t
matter.
What’s here today is
likely to be gone tomorrow. Do what you do, not
what the market wants.
11. Haters can be
ignored.
Easier said than
done, of course. If you don’t have enough
confidence in your work to ignore the critics,
you’ll always second-guess yourself.
Breakthrough work most always gets rejected at
first. Haters just want to distract you.
12. The news cycle
is 24/7.
Spending a fortune
on publicity gives you one shot. Then what?
Work on bubbling up from the bottom instead of
playing from the top down. Bring your fans with
you. They’re worth more in the long run than
today’s press coverage.
13. The big break
takes time.
It’ll happen slower
than you ever thought. When it doesn’t happen
immediately, it’s not failure.
14. You’ve got to be
ready.
Your “one big break”
is never the one you think it is. The key to
being ready is planning and execution. You can
always change plans, but only if you have a
plan.
15. Money comes
later than you expect.
There’s plenty of
money to be made in the long run if you don’t
make money your number one priority. Serve your
art and serve your fans.
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Ed Shane is publisher of
Best In Texas Magazine and the Texas Music Chart |
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