Artist Empowerment

I met with an A & R consultant at one of the major labels a week ago and was very inspired by his passion, energy and spirit.

One thing that is important for us to remember as artists is that there are still great people who work for the major labels even though the major label system is failing.

One insight he shared was that it is time for the major labels to go back to developing career artists - which is what made them successful in the first place.

I have heard several other reasons for the collapse of the major label system including:

• Their failure to keep pace with technological improvements
• Their failure to stay in touch with the changing preferences of customers
• Their over-reliance on the “hit”
• Too much overhead

All of these have truth to them and I’m sure there are several more reasons that we could add to the list as well.

No matter what, any kind of success in the music industry will always start with:

• A great song
• Performed by a great artist with a great story to tell
• Produced by a great producer

Then comes:

• Developing the “brand” (live show, look/feel, story, logo, etc.)
• Figuring out how to connect target fans to the “brand”
• Growing your base by cultivating a direct relationship with your fans
• Building an online presence (website, social networking sites, blogs)

If you have all of these elements in place, you have a real shot at success in the music industry because you will have the beginnings of a viable business that promotes your art - that will attract outside investors, labels, managers, etc.

There are so many passionate people who are in the music industry because of their love of music and the A & R consultant I met a week ago proves that point.

As artists, it is our job to do as much as we can on our own so that we can attract the right people, in the right places, at the right time.

Last winter when I was a Teacher’s Assistant for the UCLA course “The Music Industry: Where is it Headed?” the head of XM Satellite Radio spoke to our class.

At the time, he talked about the possibility of a merger between XM and Sirius, but it was clear that there would be many hurdles to the union of the companies.

The main objection was the fact that the resulting company would have a monopoly on the satellite radio market since XM and Sirius are the only two companies in that market.

Those in favor of the merger argue that satellite radio is just one among many audio entertainment choices (iPod, traditional radio, etc.) and that the resulting merger wouldn’t be a monopoly because it is really competing against all forms of audio entertainment.

A few days ago, the LA Times ran an article stating that it is likely that the merger is going to happen.

As a consumer, I am very excited about the merger because I will have more channels and access to talent that I wouldn’t have access to had they not merged. Plus, I won’t have to pay more given that the companies agreed to a price freeze that will lock the current prices in for several years.

Satellite radio is a great avenue of exposure for unsigned artists. One of my songs, “Goodbye Beautiful Day” was on rotation on XM Radio’s XMU station. Hopefully the merger will give unsigned artists even more opportunities for exposure.

One of my previous bands was offered a record deal from a major label a few years back.

As the representative of the band, I went to New York to discuss the terms of the deal with our lawyer and to meet with the head of A & R at the label.

The A & R Executive had signed some of the biggest rock bands at the time. He had come to our rehearsal studio several weeks prior and seemed genuinely excited about our band.

I met with our lawyer for about 2 hours and it became clear to me that the terms of the deal weren’t in our best interest. Knowing this, I set out to find the Manhattan high rise where I was to meet the executive.

After going through security and getting a badge, I took an elevator up to one of the top floors. I waited for about 30 minutes in the waiting room until he was ready to see me.

His assistant escorted me in and I walked into his office which was embellished with multiple platinum albums on the wall.

We said our hellos and exchanged some pleasantries. Not wanting to waste his or my time, I asked him “So how committed are you guys to making this deal happen with my band?”

His answer was very vague and what he said immediately after answered my question:

“Barrett, we really like your band and hope that all works out for the best. Let’s set that aside for a second. You are an incredible drummer. Are you interested in playing the drums for one of our signed bands?”

Shocked by the turn of events, I thanked him for his kind words and his time. I told him that I was committed to my band but appreciated his offer and enthusiasm.

As expected, the record deal fell through and even though I ended up walking away from my band a year after that event, I will never regret my decision not to dignify his offer.

Loyalty to your friends, family, clients, business partners and band members is one of the most important character traits that will set you apart from the pack.

As artists, one of the greatest aspects of what we do is to embody a message and communicate that message to others.

That is why the question, “What do you have to say?” is so critical.

Another variation of this question is: “What do you stand for?”

Finding an answer requires self-reflection and deep thought…and this takes a lot of effort.

Most artists are multi-faceted which makes committing to a core message that much more difficult when one has many messages to communicate.

But believe me, finding one main focus will set you apart because that will become what your “brand” becomes associated with and identified by.

You can then think of the groups of people who agree with or relate to what you have to say and build your base by reaching out to them.

At its core, branding is that simple!

In the coming weeks, we will be exploring the deeper aspects of a core message, the heart of a real, vibrant and enduring brand.

Every great artist needs a great website even if they have a myspace page because:

1) You have complete control over all of your content and layout on your website.

On myspace, even though you have a certain amount of flexibility in this regard, you will always be limited to their constraints. These constraints become bigger issues when you start thinking of your band as a “brand” with its own look and feel.

2) All things being equal, a band with a great website is considered more professional, more developed and more attractive than a band that doesn’t have a website.

Naturally, a great website elevates your status and shows that you are serious about your career.

3) Myspace is a social networking site meant to connect people so that the owners can make a profit on advertising revenue. As such, you have no control over what they advertise on your page.

Your band might be a hippie jam band from Portland called “Peace, Love and Harmony” and the graphic banner ad on top of your myspace page is of the newest Rob Zombie horror movie called “Kill, Kill Vampire Zombie - Die.” On your website, you won’t have any such issues.

4) Given that your purpose is to build your “brand” to the point where other third parties have an incentive to get involved in your career, you have to do everything in your power to minimize their risk.

When you minimize others’ risk, you become more attractive. The better produced your songs, the better your live show, the better your website and the more defined/developed your “brand” is, the more likely you are to attract others who can help take your career to your next level.

Think of myspace as a great marketing tool, not your home base. You want to pique people’s interest in your music and drive them to your website, where you have complete control of the look, feel, navigation, branding elements, etc.

Your website is “Your Space.”

Myspace is “Rupert Murdoch’s Space.”

The empowered artists of tomorrow are those who work hard to cultivate all of their faculties, not just their creative side.

I have known many talented artists who have defined themselves as “Right-Brained” - by the visual, creative, non-linear, emotion-centered part of the brain.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this, especially since those characteristics are those that inspire our art in the first place and are celebrated by fans, media, and almost everyone around us.

What is equally interesting is that most artists who I have worked with are also highly intelligent - they have the “Left-Brain” qualities as well (linear processing of information, drawing conclusions from facts based on logic, etc.)

As artists, we need to develop both sides of our brain and not be defined by either one.

Even if the “Right-Brain” faculties come easier to us or we’ve spent more time developing them, a “Whole-Brain” approach is integral to our success.

The “mysterious artist” persona is great for the stage and for interviews but what will really set you apart is what you do in your day-to-day life to advance your career.

We need to learn about what it takes to start and run a successful business, basic leadership, legal, management and marketing principles as well as how to effectively assemble a team.

Many sit around and hope for a manager or record label to come in and handle all of the “Left-Brain” aspects of their career…and they wait…and they wait…

The more we accomplish without a manager or a label, the more attractive we become to third parties who can take our careers to the next level.

The “Whole-Brained” artist is the empowered artist of the future.

Today I met two really cool people: Jason Alexander (George from Seinfeld) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo from the Cosby Show.) They were both very nice, approachable and kind.

Pretty random, right?

It was actually during a meet-and-greet for a really cool show that I am so thrilled to be a part of called “Free Style” which will take place on Friday, July 11, 2008 at the Ford Amphitheater. Jason Alexander is the Artistic Director Reprise and Malcolm - Jamal Warner will be hosting the night.

Produced by ASCAP and Reprise, the project pairs poems/lyrics written by 15 inner city high school students with established songwriters. I was lucky enough to have been chosen and am honored to be in the company of some incredible songwriters including:

• Desmond Child (Grammy Award winner, over 70 Top 40 hits, his songs have sold over 300 million albums worldwide, worked with Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, KISS, Ricky Martin, Kelly Clarkson, Cher, and the list goes on)

• Stephen Brey (Grammy-nominated songwriter, co-wrote Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Get Into the Groove” and “Express Yourself,” also worked with Gladys Knight and Kylie Monogue)

• Jay Gruska (Emmy-nominated composer/songwriter, written for Michael Jackson, Chicago, Patti Labelle, Amy Grant, and Robert Palmer)

I wrote a symphonic/rap piece called “Momma Listen” to a very powerful poem by a cool girl named Angeleena and the song will be performed on Friday.

I was also interviewed about the event in UCLA’s Daily Bruin and Backstage Magazine (will be published later this week.)

I can’t wait for these kids’ stories to be shared with the audience!

I just read an interesting article on www.hitsdailydouble.com about how Nickelback signed a 360 Deal with Live Nation as opposed to signing a deal with a traditional record company.

This is yet another highly successful recording artist who opted out of the major label system in favor of Live Nation.

A 360 Deal is a deal where a record company, or other third party, has a stake in all of an artist’s revenue streams. In this case, Live Nation will have a share in Nickelback’s publishing, touring, merchandise, CD sales, sponsorships, etc.

Traditionally, record companies:

• Financed the making of the albums because it was so expensive to make albums
• Controlled all of the distribution outlets because they had all of the relationships with retail stores
• They oversaw the marketing and promotion of the albums

This model worked in the past and has nothing to do with the realities of the current marketplace.

It no longer costs a million dollars to make a great album, people don’t buy CD’s at retail stores anymore and there are many other outlets/options for marketing and promotion.

This means that record companies can’t provide value in the ways in which they traditionally added value and until they figure out how to offer more value than a company like Live Nation, they will be seeing more and more of their A-level artists opting out of the major label system.

So as artists, we have to be aware of these changes and understand what it means for us and our careers.

The future is in our hands now.

It is up to us to find ways to independently build our brands to the point where other parties have an incentive to come in and help take us to the next level…and there is a pretty good chance that a major record label will not be a part of the equation.

This is very empowering…

This past winter, I was a Teacher’s Assistant for a great class offered by UCLA Extension called “The Music Industry: Where is it Headed?”

The teachers were:

• Jeff Jampol (manages the Doors and the Janis Joplin estate)
• Lenny Beer (co-owner of HITS, manages The Bravery)
• Tom Sturges (V.P. of Universal Publishing)

Each week, we had several high-profile guests share their insights about the music industry. We were lucky enough to have the heads of MTV, XM, Epic, Live Nation, Linkin Park’s manager, and so many others.

The one recurring insight that almost every guest shared was that the music industry is a relationship business.

While our industry does have its fair share of vultures, at the highest level, it is not a business of fleeting “connections” or opportunists trying to use one another for their own personal gain.

Rather, it is a business built on strong, real, mutually beneficial relationships that are cultivated over time.

As artists, we have to develop real relationships with real people and patience is a virtue.

If you are an empowered artist and you treat people with respect, act with integrity, and truly care about their well being, the sky is the limit, especially in our industry.

Aristotle said that true happiness is a state of being, not an emotion. Many people think that the opposite is true, but in this case, he was onto something.

Think of happiness as a healthy, balanced way of seeing the world, not a fleeting emotion that comes and goes. Truly happy people feel sadness, frustration, and other unpleasant emotions like everyone else, but it is all in proper perspective, never too much, never too little.

Similarly, Artist Empowerment is a state of being, a life-long journey.

We often forget that a goal is merely a milestone, a passage to the next level, to a higher level.

Sometimes we will hit our goals and sometimes we won’t. The question is, how quickly do we learn and how quickly do we improve?

There is no such thing as a failure - there are missed targets that turn out to be invaluable learning lessons.

We just have to learn to see them that way.

I often meet young artists who say, “My ultimate goal is to get signed to a major label and become a famous recording artist.”

While there is nothing wrong with setting such a goal, it would be wiser to say:

“My goal is to become an empowered artist so that I can share my music with as many people as possible, to function at my fullest creative capacity and to live the life I want to live.”

This subtle shift in thinking makes all of the difference because you become the master of your destiny, not a major record label.

Though a major label might play a role in your career at some point in the future, it is up to you to start with the right mindset and to take your career in your hands.

Artist Empowerment isn’t a destination, it is a journey.

You don’t wake up one day and think, “Wow, I am an empowered artist!”

You commit yourself to a process, you set goals along the way and if you do it right, you accomplish your goals and continue to set higher and higher goals and the cycle repeats as long as you are committed to the journey.

Pretty soon, the process becomes integrated into your life to such a degree that it becomes a part of you.

You become Artist Empowerment.

Artist Empowerment becomes you.