If i were a musician

Today marks exactly 6 years from the date of registration of E-Legion LLC . Last year, on the fifth anniversary of the company, I wrote a holiday post . He was controversial as always, not everyone understood what I wanted to say, but that was not my goal. Today I decided to repeat this experience. Under the cut my thoughts about what I would do if I was a musician.

In fact, it is worth making a reservation that it would not be those who play the orchestra on notes, say, the second violin, but a musician with two classes of music school and an active desire to conquer the world with his “gang” of similarly talented and “educated” guys .

What does Habr have to do with it? I hope this question will disappear after reading.

So, we have a gang of, say, five people. Some kind of program, songs 10. Two "concerts" in the school, where all its members studied. Several records on the computer. There is little or no money.
')
Goals: to become famous, to earn money with your creativity.

Next, I will try to write what I would do to achieve these business goals. In the comments suggest your ideas. Can we help someone? ;) Well, congratulations, of course, are also welcome.

So, first, the product. It needs to be good enough. That is, at least, you need to play without mistakes and pretend that we ourselves really like what we are playing. Otherwise, people will not believe.

It would be good to think about the format. Since we are thinking about business, it’s worth understanding that swearing poems (in fact, there are examples when it rolls), twenty minutes, the propaganda of violence or drugs is not our option. It is best to choose some trend groupon style, which is already very popular TAM and still not very - among us. With other things being equal, it is best to make music simpler in order to make less mistakes at concerts and spend less time at rehearsals. Yes, it will have little relation to real art, but it is more likely that the gang will be taken to the radio.

Rehearsals should be perceived as a real job, that is, try to be focused on results. Otherwise, why waste time if everything ends in another quarrel, or worse yet, drunkenness?

It is necessary to come to the rehearsals on time, because the work of musicians is team-based, which means being late almost always leads to idle time in the work of the remaining members of the gang. It would be very good to write a plan for the week: what should be done, what songs to learn, for which ones to come up with an arrangement and so on. It would be nice to print out and hang up the schedule of performances on the wall, so that it will always be in front of your eyes and so that it will not be a surprise that we, it turns out, are playing somewhere, and the drummer (just for example) is going on vacation in Bali.

Should I leave work or leave school to devote to it all the time? It is good to. But life is life, not always possible. When you are 18, you live with your parents, it is much easier than in 30 with two children and a mortgage. But what exactly is worth doing is to make every effort to get a good enough product. Something will have to sacrifice. Personal time, quality of study or work time. It may be worthwhile to get another job, go half-time.

Show business, like the Internet business (by the way, I once wrote about it), is a type of business when we make money from popularity. The more well-known the group (the more you have targeted traffic on a startup), the easier it is for you to make money. So, the main focus should be on promotion. There is no money under the terms of the problem, and therefore there is no possibility to attract an agency for promotion. In this regard, I would recommend to all members of the gang to become a bit PR and sales people, read books on marketing and PR. Make all business cards with group contacts. Give promotional materials a little more attention than 99% of other groups do, and it will be easier for you to see the art directors of clubs. It is better to make a demo disk somehow in a special way so that it will be remembered.

I completely forgot about the good name for the group. Moreover, it doesn’t matter how you call yourself when you are popular (well, for example, it’s difficult to dial without any errors the first time). The name is just important in the first stage. You need to find a good designer (usually the musicians have friends). When I say: “good designer”, I do not mean “good friend”, but namely “good designer”. At worst, you can throw off and buy a logo from a normal office. It is important. Highly. Of course, you need a site, even just with contacts. It would be nice - Blozhek, but it must be kept And you need to think carefully over the style. All the same rules: not worth the mat, not worth the excess kitsch. It is best to write some of your feelings, announce plans, build a community around you.

Next you need to start a public activity. And do not immediately do a solo concert. There is no sense (except for having a good time). 30-50 of your friends will come to you, who would listen to you anyway. And asking friends to buy a ticket is also not very easy.

It is much better to perform with a small program (2-4 songs) at various festivals. Usually friends of other groups come to such events, which means you will have a chance to be heard by a large number of people. You can find festivals or contests that are held in large clubs, with good sound, where you would just have not taken. Having played a couple of songs in them, you can safely write in a press release that they played in these clubs.

Speech should be memorable. Even just bright identical t-shirts or caps can make you stand out from the crowd. Even better - to be remembered by music, but this is not always possible.

You also need to get on the car and drive around all the decent clubs of the city of your format, and not just pass on a demo for the art director. We need to get to know him personally. For example, check with the bartender when it is better to stop by in order to catch him in place. It is worth talking to the art director just about what format of music he prefers, what festivals will be in the near future, where you could perform. After learning about the format, you can recommend to listen to a particular song from your demo album. There is not much time to listen to demos at the art director, they usually “leave” at the expense of two or three dozen verified groups.

It is worth all to know, to be friends with other groups, art directors of clubs. It is very important to get acquainted with journalists writing about gangs like yours, they can periodically throw press releases about how cool you were at this or that event, or won the competition. At some point, you can try to start organizing your own festivals, calling other groups, journalists, etc.

Further, the most difficult moment: you need to make a qualitative leap. Obviously, this is difficult. It is clear that if at this moment an investor appears who can start paying you a salary, you will leave work, you will begin to rehearse more, he will help you with radio and all-Russian festivals, you will be in chocolate. But finding this investor is not easy.

I would recommend to start touring to other cities. Of course, it is very important that at least you pay for tickets. I would focus on several large cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Nizhny, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, etc. There will be a lot of driving, so it is at this point that the current work can suffer a lot. Probably it is worth finding something on a remote or trying to plan a tour for the weekend. For remote art directors, video from your performances will be very useful. Remove from a tripod one of your performances is not so expensive (if you find a friend with a good camera, then you can do with beer in general).

Then you should try to agree to play for the warming up at some of our or Western stars. Here, firstly, it is required to get acquainted with people who bring Western teams. Secondly, it is worth considering a program for heating. If you are extremely original and incendiary, you will not be taken to warm up. In no case can not be better than the stars themselves. The experience of playing on a large stage, with a large number of spectators, good sound and high-quality equipment is priceless.

Track your level clearly. Do not agree to play for free in places where you have already played a hundred times, there is no potential to move on. Either you earn money, or you see the PR potential, new connections, the big name of other teams, etc.

Money earned is not worth spending on beer. Business grows primarily due to money. It is worth finding a serious recording studio and recording at least one of the most characteristic and formatted songs with high quality. Around good studios always go investors and producers. There will be more chances to like, meet, start negotiations. If it didn’t work here either, you can try to send your recording to radio stations. Just as with the art directors, it is worth trying, first, to look for the most suitable radio format, and second, to look for direct exits to decision-makers. They usually organize festivals where you can try.

Now, perhaps the most important thing. You should not be just a gang, you should be a TEAM. Every musician must understand that all of you are doing the same thing. If someone interferes with your development, for example, brings you on tour or skips rehearsals, you need to look for a replacement. I would recommend that somehow fix your responsibilities in the form of a contract. You can contact the lawyers. It is possible, if the budget will allow, to create a legal entity to which all common assets will be transferred. But I highly recommend that one person take executive decisions. Maybe you should hire a group director.

It would be good to protect your copyright, brand, trademark. It's not cheap, but it can help a lot in the future. The ability to take a bank transfer will greatly help when working with remote counterparties. You can ask for prepayment and buy plane tickets and train, writing off costs.

In conclusion, I would like to encourage everyone who is going to do business to think more. Often, one good idea can greatly help in moving your company to a new level. Do not be afraid of mistakes, but be sure to draw conclusions from them. For this, be sure to remember why you made this or that decision.



All legionnaires happy birthday! Every second of my life I am proud to work with you!