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By Randy Singer
PART 2
KICKING IT OFF
Be heard …
One of the best places to get started is to find an innocuous background music
gig at a quiet restaurant or noisy bar. Because you are not the main reason
that people are there, you can develop your act and get paid to do it in a
no-pressure environment.
FOR EXAMPLE- Before Victor Wooten (the world famous bass player) got his big
break, I used to listen to him playing background solo bass (with a small Boomerang
device) in a small vegetarian restaurant called the Slice of Life in Nashville
because he knew people in the music industry often eat there and inadvertently
hear him. He was subsequently discovered and he is now one of the most famous
bass players in the world.
Get your music out there where it can achieve the most
visibility and profit. Live music gigs can be quite scarce (depending on
where you live) and the supply of musicians willing to work on the cheap
is increasing thus depressing the market. That is why you can live in a music
Mecca like Nashville and find the world’s greatest and famous musicians
playing for tips!!
This means that the more ingenious, versatile, adaptable and equipped you
are, the better gigs you will get. I like to say that the worst day at a music
gig is better than the best day at a straight job.
All successful musicians must devote many hours to finding
work and advertising services just like any other business. You must devote
more time to finding work versus the time you spend on everything else. I
have been informed that McDonald’s spend 30 cents of every dollar on
advertising. How much time and money do you spend preparing and looking for
work? If a tree fell in the middle of the forest, (on your instrument), would
anyone hear it? You have to get the word and the music out there.
THEORY OF DIMINISHING RETURNS---
LET’S GET DOWN TO THE MUSIC BUSINESS
Too many musicians spend 95% of their time practicing music and only spend
5% of their time acting like a business. Excessive concentration on only one
or two areas can produce negative results that can cripple your life. What
is your ratio of music to business concentration?
How accurate are your bank and tax records? Make sure to hire
a great accountant and stay organized. You never want to miss a payment on
anything and sabotage your credit rating. Keep track of your payments to other
musicians so you do not pay the taxes of others. Keep your records scrupulously
honest and organized so that you will never fear an audit. There are wonderful
accountants that will, for a small fee, organize your desk area and file cabinets
so that you will always be able to find anything anytime. NEVER owe money to
anyone without paying them back. Your credit rating can be as fragile as your
reputation. One or two wrong moves can subtract years from your progress and
cost you thousands of dollars.
BE OBSERVANT …
Keep your eyes open for all sorts networking opportunities, like joining all
of the trade associations you can (Musicians Union, NARAS, Songwriters' Guild,
Spah, Chamber of Commerce, Breakfast club, etc.). If you do not have the money
to join, volunteer your services to meet the businessmen and then, market/pitch
yourself to them. Take out an ad in the company or trade newsletter where you
work or volunteer and keep yourself in the loop.
OTHER IDEAS- Hang out, volunteer, take tickets at the gala music events,
be presentable, network and learn, asking all the questions you can muster.
Be the guest musician for your local school or pops orchestra. Consider nursing
homes, condos, look at the big picture. Become a roadie or sound man and attend
the SPAH and Buckeye conventions, and other trade shows.
BE PROFESSIONAL …
Cultivate respect and your reliable reputation (always return calls and never
fail to keep your word). Being on time is essential both musically and in business.
Be helpful, even helping the leader pack up his PA system when you are a sideman.
Do not be prone to exaggeration, boasting or negativity. Do not come across
as self centered and merely focused on your own needs. Fulfill the needs of
those around you and you will get what you need as long as you do not let them
abuse you or take advantage of you. Do not let your emotions make you ever
regret your actions or words and hurt someone in the process- including yourself.
Focus on obtaining fishing poles and learning how to fish, not just how to
eat the fish.
BE KNOWLEDGEABLE …
Also, once you are able to hire musicians for gigs that you book, it gives
you a savvy that can't be beat. Plus, they are likely to hire you for their
gigs, especially if you can sing, entertain and provide the PA system and/or
light system. Let potential musicians know that when they hire you, they get
to use your PA system for a small fee, perhaps. No ball game without the bat,
they say!
CONNECTING
Agents
Once you have your performing unit(s) rehearsed, do the promo thing and let
the agents in town know you are ready for business. They may be skeptical at
first, but if you are persistent (not overbearing) and commercially viable,
you might persuade them to use you. Have different promo packages for different
ensembles. I have two bios, one accentuating my original Harmonica Dreams project
and another accentuating my cover band(s).
Remember that the reputation of a prospective employer depends on your professionalism
and musicality, so they are naturally protective and skeptical. Therefore do
not expect instant gratification from these agents. It can take years of hard
work and luck to cultivate a trusting relationship with them. They usually
need to hear you first because there is a lot on the line when they hire a
musician for a client.
Do a half-price gig for them if necessary. Find a small venue
or restaurant, pack the room with your friends and invite the agents. Set up
in their office. Agents are great and can help you find work. Make sure you
are in the Musicians Union and sign Union contracts - they will offer you free
legal advice should something go wrong. Plus, they can offer performance and
music equipment insurance, gig and legal advice, Trust Fund gigs, contacts
and contracts. Call your local musicians union today.
THE MUSICIAN LIFE
All of this can take years of training and preparation. In the meantime, learn
a trade that keeps you in the company of music professionals while you do your
day job. This way you can apprentice and absorb the intricacies and politics
of the music business. Learn to be a sound man and get the house or sub gig
doing sound in your local club. (I did this in New York City in the 1980s at
the Lonestar and other clubs). This way you get to learn thousands of new tunes
(and if you play harmonica, you can also practice quietly behind the board)
as well as getting to sit-in with your new musician friends.
Hang out in live-music venues and study stage etiquette.
If you feel you shouldn't sit at the bar without drinking, you can work around
this etiquette problem if you do not drink alcohol or if you are low on money.
Order coffee, soda, non- alcoholic beer or bottled water and leave the bartender
a nice tip. Explain you are checking out the band. Sit in the corner if you
cannot take up a place at the bar. One never knows, the bartender or your
neighbor might be your future musical collaborator. The art of social drinking
will show you how to nurse a glass of wine, cognac, virgin margarita cheap
beer or wine spritzer for a long time. Find a low alcoholic favorite drink
with lots of water. Stay away from the Long Island ice teas, martini’s
and anything that will make you drunk.
IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME
I worked for a number of years as a night manager of
the Power Station Recording Studios in NYC (the #1 studio in the 1980’s),
and wound up playing on Blondie's Eat to the Beat album, plus other sessions
for other artists. They even used me prominently in the video (I was the
first session musician ever featured in a music video according to the AFM).
Opportunity and talent is a great mixture. Work in a music store, a recording
studio (as a go-for), music association, sound company, repair shop, booking
agency, rehearsal or performance facility. You can volunteer (intern) for Billboard,
AFTRA, SAG, BMI, ASCAP, NARAS or other worthwhile organizations.
BETTER MUSIC THROUGH BETTER LIVING
Have something to say with your music. (Remember when
surfing meant riding on surfboard?). Tithe time and money. Go the library
and borrow some books or CD’s. Get out of the house and take your kids
to the park! Network for fun and "prophets"! Clean a dojo and learn
to martial arts and meditation or yoga. Take that self-help class or exercise
course that you have been promising yourself. Go hiking, swimming, mentoring –anything
that brings about positive change!! Smell the roses, get out of your cave,
learn a new skill, TURN OFF THE TV and get a life that is worth living. When
the learning stops, so do you.
John Williams wrote: "There is more music to be
found in poetry and in the quiet contemplation of nature, than in studying
music itself."
Get involved and cleanse your life of everything that makes you prematurely
older. Stop smoking and watch your diet, get that physical checkup you have
been postponing. Stop whining and take massive action to make massive change
inside yourself to see change around you take place. Houdini had a technique
that we all can use. If he only could move one small part of his body when
immobilized by restraints, he would use that as leverage to initiate his escape.
Therefore, if you feel that you are frozen, start with improving something
that you can control, like your health. Learn a new skill and value continued
education. Help someone other than yourself and you will reap tremendous benefits.
Give it all you can.
"We must become the change we wish to see"-
Gandhi
LEARNING OR LACK OF
If you are in a musical rut, go to music school. If you cannot find a good
teacher for your instrument, you are not looking hard enough. Find, for instance,
a sax player or pianist or any other instrumentalist to teach you. You might
learn much more this way. You will have to spend money to do this, but it is
an investment in yourself that no one can steal. I went through five teachers
to find one I liked, so keep trying until you find your match. If you have
no money for education, think again. Can you really afford not to study professionally,
unless you want to progress the slow way? Being broke is no excuse for a lack
of learning. If you have no money, try to be more creative -- barter, prioritize
or volunteer. Get the music degree.
While I was earning my music degree at New York University, I studied with
the great Robert Bonfiglio at the Turtle Bay Music School. I thought he was
completely insane when he told me I had to sight-read and learn my patterns
and scales in all 12 keys. Little did I know at the time how important this
would be to be to me. Thank you, Robert!! You are brilliant!
ROLE MODELS
Another example of role models (or lack of) became apparent
at a local jazz jam session a few months ago. Students from the voice department
of the most prominent university would come and sit in with the band. We
could not help but notice that these students, (1) often times did not know
their keys or tempo of the song (2) did not follow the form of the song (3)
would sometimes start singing in the middle of someone’s solo.
Since they were jazz vocal students, I decided to ask them if they knew who
were Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, IMO, the greatest jazz vocalist improvisers.
To my surprise, none of them knew them! Eric Clapton once said, “Don’t
study my playing—study the people that I learned from, the old guys”.
In other words, know all of the original masters of your instrument because
there is something there that is totally real, relevant and pure.
READY, SET, READ!
Read everything you can about music, business and life
in general. Have something to say with your life and find places to apply them.
Become a clip-aholic and pick up all the entertainment guides in your city
and scour the newspapers. Cut out all of the networking opportunities and potential
gigs and get organized.
The organized mind sets the stage for an organized and
healthy life. Here is a tip I learned from my brother Bruce about 20 years
ago. Take a notepad and write three columns. Column one is “PEOPLE
TO CALL”. Column
two is “THINGS TO DO”. Column three is ‘PLACES TO GO”.
Using this template (or variations of your own), write down everything you
want and need to do and prioritize them. You will be amazed how much you can
get done once you can see it all in front of you. There is great satisfaction
in watching the tasks melt away. Set goals for yourself and keep track of your
progress.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED
If you still are not making headway, perhaps you are making
the mistake of trying to do it alone and you are not sufficiently disciplined
for solo study. In that case, get a teacher. If you cannot afford a teacher,
look in the newspapers and find a church or place of worship where one can
find plenty of free classes, advice, inspiration and companionship. If you
keep doing the same methods without result, you must abandon or modify those
methods to get a different result.
Read Part Three
Best wishes.
Randy Singer
www.randysinger.com
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