Why I FAILED

Art Brut - Franchising Music

If there’s one thing I passionately believe about the music business it’s that it’s radically changing every day. The old business model is simply unsustainable in our interconnected, global world, and new models are coming and going at lightning speed.

Art Brut is a new model.

I can’t do the subject justice in a quick post, so when you have the time, read the article that caught my eye. However, here’s the jist of what’s going on. Art Brut is a British rock band started by Eddie Argos who had the brilliant idea of franchishing the band and it’s music. Yes, I said franchising.

Eddie has invited the world to use the name and the music and he suspects there are about 100 Art Brut franchises worldwide at the moment. Some Art Bruts are no more than a person, some are bands that have other names too, but have attached themselves to something bigger. How big? Google Art Brut and approximately 6.5 million hits turn up.

For the bands, this is something fun and interesting to be a part of. Any participant is instantly linked 6.5 million times. It’s helped Art Brut number one too. They’ve had two hits in Brittain and a CD is hitting stateside too. Eddie has managed to actively engage a growing group of music minded folks all over the globe. He’s said “wanna play?”, and the response has been yes. That has led to more publicity than he could have ever generated conventionally (if there’s even a conventional way anymore).

Because the traditional music business model is done, the current market is extremely fragmented and chaotic. This presents both challenges and opportunities. Art Brut has cut through. Will you?

Better

Once again, Seth has another great point for you musicians.

Succeeding in the music business is not about being the best. I know that sounds like heresy because of the hours and hours you’ve spent honing your craft. However, as I wrote on the subject of talent, there will always be someone better.
There are many ways around this problem and the following quote is one of them: “When you make something that works a little better, you’re playing the same game, just keeping up with the status quo. When you make something different, on the other hand, you’re trying to change the game.”

Two points about being “different”

1. It is not that difficult. Often, it is as simply as showing up on time, being prepared and having a great attitude. You’d be amazed at the number of talented people who blow it by NOT doing this.
2. Different is not the same as weird. There’s a trend in the arts to shock. While this does work, and it is most certainly different, I wouldn’t count on it to be enough to sustain a career. Can it work? Yes. But I would suggest that it only works for people who aren’t trying to shock. It only works for people who are passionately being what they are.

The last point is key. True success comes when you are passionately being you. I promise you that you are different than anyone else. The challenge in the music industry (all industries) is that it does reward copying so it’s easy to fall into being like everyone else. I would argue, however, that the success found in copying is short lived.

If you want to succeed, don’t be the best at something. Be the best you at something.

On Fire

“Success is not a result of spontaneous combustion; you have to set yourself on fire” Neil Peart, drummer-”Rush”

It’s a new world

From pfsk.com:

“A global microbrand is simply a business, which would be small or unsustainable in a local community or even nationwide, but can be big business when it can reach customers world wide through the internet and serve them efficiently.”

Think about your music career.

It used to be that a music career progressed from unknown, to local/regional success, to major record label promotion/support/sales.

Today, local/regional is the internet - the world - and you can do it yourself.

Now this is creative!

Came across this site the other day. It’s a school called Powercord Academy and it’s cool for several reasons:

• One, it’s totally focused on today’s music. While there are faults with that, it also makes a lot of sense. As a drum teacher it always bugged me that every beginning drum book was about concert snare drumming. Kids do NOT START drumming because they want to play snare drum. They want to play drum set. NOW!!!
• Two, because it’s totally focused, kids can learn what their interest is really all about and whether they have what it takes to do that.
• Three, it proves that there are many, many ways to make a living in the music business. Here’s a group of players who started their own school so they could play, make money and teach others to do the same.

Rock On!!!

Want a recording contract?

Read this in an article the other day:

Two rock bands, the Allman Brothers Band and Cheap Trick, have filed a lawsuit
against Sony BMG alleging that they are shortchanged when Sony divvies up
royalties from digital downloads.
Filed Thursday in U.S. District Court
in
New York, the suit claims Sony should pay its musicians more as part of a
contract the company has allegedly failed to live up to, according to
reports
published on the Web sites of Forbes and Billboard magazines.
The bands,
which were at the height of their popularity more than 20
years ago, claim in
their suit that they’re entitled to half of the profits from online sales at sites such as iTunes and Napster,
Forbes reported.
Right now the bands receive only 4.5 cents on every 99
cent
sale of one of their songs, the suit claims.
Neither Sony
representatives
nor managers for the bands could be reached for comment
Friday evening.

Reality is that 4.5% is actually pretty good for a percentage of sales going to the artist. I think the deal I was involved with was somewhere around 1 or 2%. Now, we weren’t The Allman Brothers, and we would’ve renegotiated up as our career progressed, but this story still points out something important for you in today’s changing music business.

Namely, is a recording contract something worth pursueing these days? My feeling (and it’s just an opinion) is that the industry has been, and is, completely mishandling the internet. To me, that leaves tremendous opportunities for you. Someone, or a group of someones, will figure this thing out and make a HUGE amount of money.

Even if you don’t want to revolutionize the entire industry, you can still carve out a very profitable spot for yourself in the online world. I liken it to working as a local/regional band. There are thousands of musicians making a great living from local followings. On the internet, you can do the same thing - but globally - and you can keep all of the money yourself.

Good luck!