Business and Life How-To: Builders and Wrecking Balls

This will serve you well in life, as well as in the music business:

Some people focus on building their own things up. 

Others, who are inept at building, focus on tearing the builders’ things down.

The ability to recognize the builders from the wrecking balls will save you a lot of headaches.

Wrecking balls are bitter people.

Builders are too busy building to be bitter.

Karma (or law enforcement) always gets the wrecking ball in the end.

In other words, wrecking balls only end up destroying themselves. 

:-)

RR

©2014 Randi Reed and MusicBizAdvice.com.

 

 

So, Your Kid Wants to Be a Rock Star...Plus Waylon and Willie and Distraction By Critics

As promised in my previous entry, I've finished the piece I wrote in the wake of Justin Bieber's arrest. You can read it here, or access it from the Features page of MusicBizAdvice.com.

It's an article I've had in mind for years, but it never came together until Bieber's arrest pushed me into finishing it. Its original title was "Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Rock Stars," a takeoff on the song recorded by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (written by Ed and Patsy Bruce). Corny title for an article, I know--that's why I killed it. It referred to an old industry joke that pops into my head whenever a rock star does something stupid.

Readers, I have to tell you...This whole Justin Bieber thing enrages me. To say I'm so tired of seeing this happen to young celebrities doesn't even begin to cover it. That's why it took a few days for me to post the article: I needed to calm the f*ck down. (Some rewriting was in order, too: the line, "My, what a great big ego you have" probably wouldn't have gone over too well with the party it was directed toward.)

Even if you don't have kids who want to be in the industry, I hope you'll read it. There are things in it that have needed to be said for a long time, that no one is saying. It will probably piss some people off, and I'm fine with that.

By the way...When I point you to an article, I'm directing you toward the content of it--not saying it's my best writing. This blog and the writing style of my articles on MusicBizAdvice.com are slightly cleaned-up versions of the way I actually speak when I'm talking with friends. As most people do when they speak, I use fragments and and begin sentences with "And" or "But". In writing for this blog and MusicBizAdvice.com, I come up with wild punctuation combinations to convey the rhythm of my speech. I also use the words "a lot" a lot because unfortunately, I say it a lot. ;-) (Hey, It takes a lot of work to write this "badly"!)

I mention this to get ahead of the critics who may try to shut off a discussion that needs to be had. Whenever I write something that pisses someone off, the response is something like "poorly-written." It's a petty way of creating a distraction--often orchestrated by someone's publicist--to change the subject and focus the attention on themselves.

You're too savvy to fall for that, however, so when you see something like that, just consider it an inside joke amongst ourselves and have a good laugh. My friends and I do. Years ago I used to have dreams about hitting them over the head with my well-worn copy of A Grammar Book for You and I...Oops Me while shouting "Page 258!" so that's progress.

Meanwhile, here's Waylon and Willie singing "Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys."

I hope your year is going fab so far,
RR


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Justin Beieber's At It Again: Another Michael Jackson? Plus, When to Worry About Pissing People Off

I wrote this the other day while watching coverage of Bieber's latest antics.--RR
So, Justin Bieber got arrested yesterday.

Justin's been making a lot of bad-boy news lately. Am I surprised? No. One day he sped through my neighborhood before actually getting caught at it. I recognized his very recognizable car on the news a few days later, when he did get caught.

How innocent that all seems now...Except that I knew then that we'd be here now.

I have much to say about all this...I wrote it, but as always when I write quickly, it needs to breathe first before being posted. Stay tuned...

It will probably piss some people off.

"OMG!!! You're pissing people off! Are you sure you want to...???" 

Yes.
People. It's the music industry. Pissing people off comes with the territory. If you can't handle people getting pissed off at you when you say something, you probably shouldn't be in the business. (Or any business, really. Or perhaps you might want to consider life in a solitary cave, because at some point, someone will be angry with you.)

As a business strategy, trying to avoid having people pissed off at you is one thing. (Particularly when stockholders are involved.) But on a personal level, there are far more important things in life to worry about than random people getting angry at you. (Should you go out of your way to behave in a way that's likely to piss people off? No. That would make you an obnoxious a**hole.) But I digress...

Someone just texted to tell me Justin posted photos of a side by side comparison of himself waving on top of a car, with a picture of Michael Jackson waving on top of a car. This confirms my first thought the other day when I awoke to hear Justin had been arrested for DUI:

Michael Jackson all over again. Except, Michael was much older when he really started to unravel. Michael made it to 50.

If things continue at this pace, Justin won't have that luxury. And he's nowhere close to having Michael's legacy.



Follow me on Twitter @MusicBizAdvice .

New On MusicBizAdvice.com: Marketing and Promotion Blunders, and Tips to Help You Get it Right

Over on MusicBizAdvice.com, we've posted two new articles containing dos and don'ts of Marketing and Promotion:

Marketing and Promotion Blunders Part One: Don't Let This Happen to You

and 

Marketing and Promotion Blunders Part Two: Four Crucial Tips to Remember .

I wrote these articles using real-life examples from promo pieces sent to my email box.  When I write How-Tos, I prefer to focus on how you can get it right, as opposed to what others do wrong, but the blunders in these were so unbelievably bad, I had to share them with you. (One was from a company that teaches marketing webinars and charges thousands of dollars for their marketing software.)

Here's hoping these tips will help you, and that you'll have more success with your marketing and promotion efforts than the senders of the original emails!

RR


Follow me on Twitter @MusicBizAdvice .

© 2013 Randi Reed and MusicBizAdvice.com .

Billboard Touring Awards 2013: The Hardest-Won Award

On November 14, 2013 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, live music industry behind-the-scenesers gathered for the Billboard Touring Awards, as part of the 10^th Annual Billboard Touring Conference.

Most of the awards were based on Billboard’s Boxscore numbers, with awards in a few categories determined with input from touring industry personnel. As its name implied, the Eventful Fan Choice Award was determined by fan votes on the Eventful event locator website. Country artist George Strait was awarded the 2013 Billboard Legend of Live statue. P!nk was named Billboard Woman of the Year, in addition to winning the Top Boxscore award, which is awarded for the year's top-grossing engagement at a particular venue.
 

Bon Jovi won four out of five of the awards they were nominated for. In addition to the Eventful Fan Choice Award, they won Top Tour (awarded to the top grossing tour), Top Draw (awarded to the top ticket seller), and Top Manager.  

Given that 2013 was Bon Jovi’s 30^th year in the business, and considering all they’ve been through during this touring cycle--guitarist RichieSambora’s no-show status for the second and subsequent legs of the tour, plus drummer Tico Torres’s two emergency surgeries during the South American leg and Tico's subsequent triumphant return--I was especially happy to hear the band won.

There will, no doubt, be some blowhard who writes a nasty remark or two about the “touring industry elite engaging in a self-congratulatory exercise.” (They’re so predictable, I have them memorized.)

I say, you’re Goddamn right they are. They should congratulate themselves.

Touring can be, and often is, physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. On the performers’ part, to carry off a successful tour takes an incredible amount of focus and discipline. From behind-the-scenes, the planning and execution of a tour might be best described to someone outside of the industry as a lot like planning a huge wedding every night, as it's the only "real life" event most people can even begin to relate to in terms of scale and stress level. The difference is, on tour the “wedding” takes place in a different town every night, and you have to keep getting everyone and all the components of the reception to the church on time. Then you pack ‘em all up and do it all over again. And again. And again.

That’s why I’ve always considered the Billboard Touring Awards (and their sister awards the Pollstar Awards) harder-won, and maybe a little more special than some of the other music awards. During my career I’ve worked for and with some Billboard Touring Award and Pollstar Award winning promoters and agents, so that’s admittedly part of, but not all of it.

The thing that makes a touring award special is—and this is no disrespect to the Grammys or AMA’s, or anyone who’s won or been nominated for them—a Grammy-award winning song or album is made once, by perhaps a hundred or so people. An award-winning tour is made every night, by thousands.

Congratulations to all my colleagues and friends in the touring industry who were nominated, won awards, or even just came really, really close. You earned it.

A complete list of winners is here .

You can see who was nominated here .


©2013 Randi Reed and MusicBizAdvice.com . All rights reserved.

Music Business Survival: Three Important Questions Every Artist Should Ask When Making Career Decisions

On MusicBizAdvice.com I've posted a new article, Music Business Survival: How to Balance Practicality with "Being Yourself," and Three Important Questions.

The articfle was originally meant to be a blog post for this space (hence the blog-style writing of it), but during the editing process I realized it contained the three questions that are crucial for artists to ask themselves if they want to maintain their mental stability while pursuing a career in the music business. So, I reworked it as a post for MusicBizAdvice.com's Body and Soul section.

In this business, or any high-stakes business, people will constantly ask you to do things you do not want to do. Some will ask you to do things that are illegal, unhealthy, against your set of personal ethics, or what many people may consider to be morally reprehensible. Some will even push your boundaries just to see how far they can take you out of them.

That doesn't mean everyone does any of these things, but at some point, you will be asked.

A music industry career can be fun. The "business" part of the "music business" is also deadly serious.

You must learn how to handle this.

Hopefully, my post will give you some ideas of where to begin.

RR


Follow me on Twitter @MusicBizAdvice .


© 2013 Randi Reed and MusicBizAdvice.com . All rights reserved.
 
  

On Lou Reed, From a Non-Fan

"My God is rock’n’roll. It’s an obscure power that can change your life.”--Lou Reed, March 02,1942 – October 27, 2013

It’s an interesting challenge, writing about someone for whom so much has been said and written about over the past couple of days. Suddenly, it seems, everyone is talking about Lou Reed…even people you’d never imagine knew anything about his material. (Hollywood being what it sometimes is, I suspect many of them actually don’t.)

Here’s something you won’t likely read or hear among the accolades today: I wasn’t a fan.

It’s true...Despite his legendary status (and our shared last name), I just couldn’t get into his music, no matter how hard I tried…

…And tried I did, because almost every artist or songwriter I’ve ever liked, respected, or worked with is a huge fan of Lou Reed’s music. (The famous Brian Eno quote that the Velvet Underground's debut album only sold 30,000 copies but "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band” is infinitely accurate.) I’m a believer in listening to your influences’ influences, because listening to the music that inspired your favorite artists brings new understanding and dimension to the music you already love. It can also open new doors to your own creativity by making you see things in a different way.

In the case of Lou Reed’s music, his music just wasn’t my thing. His vocal style put me to sleep, and I habitually switched stations whenever the intro to “Walk on the Wild Side” began playing on the radio.

I even—and this is truly a sin—turned down free tickets to a Lou Reed show my former boss produced at an intimate venue. (I know, I know…)

I do get it, though. Lou Reed’s vocal style and subdued delivery truly did fit his lyrics perfectly. He was a brilliant storyteller and lyricist who respected the power of the perfect word. Reading Lou Reed’s lyrics on paper, I always find something—a storyline twist, a turn of phrase, a lyrical smirk—that makes me think, “God, what an incredible writer.”

I just couldn’t stand to listen to the guy!

But I deeply respected him. And the honesty in his lyrics. And the fearlessness he often seemed to have in his interviews, when he chose to give them. (His reluctance to give interviews? I respected that, too.)

Most of all, I respected Lou Reed’s ability to be himself in a business that sometimes tries desperately to have you be anything but. From being an integral part of Andy Warhol’s Factory, to a heroin user who wrote about life in the Bowery, to a sober and devoted practitioner of T'ai Chi, Lou Reed led many lives--yet he seemed to inhabit each of their accompanying skins equally true to himself.

And he was damn cool.

Hey, maybe I’m a Lou Reed fan after all.   



 © 2013 Randi Reed and MusicBizAdvice.com. All rights reserved.