Successful Band

The Importance of Experience

I have met many, many bands who don’t want to play – and don’t very often – live shows. Now, of course, everyone of them has a “logical” reasoning…

Some are just too nervous to play out in front of people or are scared of what people will think if they mess up. If this is you, I hate to break it to you, but it won’t get easier having a “record deal.” How do you expect to handle the pressure if it came down to it and you haven’t ever played a show?

Some say that they want to be super tight and it is just not time yet. This reason holds a little more water, but still is not a good reason. Yes, it is important that you play well together and be tight musically. No, practicing for 2 years to get super tight will not make you a good performer. And don’t 99% of people go to concerts to see a performance?

Some people don’t think its necessary because you cant get a “deal” without ever playing a show. This is a very hard point to argue for or against, but I think that you do need to get experience and perform shows. While it is true that there are many artist and bands who have gotten somewhere not playing out much, thanks to the internet, it makes it even more of a long shot. Word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing tool and people interaction is better then just putting something out there.

So, I have laid out three arguements I hear all the time for bands, or artist, not wanting to do a show, but there is one truth – NOTHING will polish a band like live performance does. If you are nervous about performing in front of people, start out by just doing performances for friends or family. Then you can move on to small clubs. This will help you get over the nervousness (which by the way, often goes away once the music starts) and help you develop new and creative ways of performing.

Performing live, cutting demos, and writing new songs are all things that are very important and help shape a band into a seasoned artist. It is very important that bands be confident (NOT COCKY) in themselves and their music. Practicing for years to yourself does not build confidence. Playing shows, getting feedback, and performing in front of people builds confidence.

But, do you want to know why experience is most necessary? Record labels love experience! If you (your band) have performed a lot, then labels will be more likely to take you on as an artist because that is one less thing they have to worry about training you on. If you can sell 3,000 albums by yourself and have marketed yourself, then labels will be more likely to take you on as an artist because that is one less thing they have to worry about training you on. If you can consistently sell out your shows, then they will be more likely to take you on as an artist because that is one less thing they have to worry about training you on.

Get the point?

Hopefully now you see the importance of getting experience. Yes, being nervous and not wanting to get out there and mess up in front of people is a hard thing to deal with. Yes, worried about being musically tight is a hard thing to deal with. But, waiting for the record label to just drive down your street and hear you practicing in your garage, run up to your doorstep, and offer you the record deal of a lifetime – that is just stupid.

Paying for Equipment as a Band Part 2

In Paying for Equipment as a Band (Part 1), we discussed, and for most – realized, that our band is a partnership. Your band operates as a partnership even if you haven’t signed anything as a band. That means that when stuff bought by the band it belongs to the band (unless it is otherwise decided). So, let’s continue on and discuss a few other things – like a method for paying for the equipment.

Now, if equipment needs to be bought on credit, there are plenty of liability issues that should be made known. If the money is borrowed by the partnership, or in the name of the band, then every member is liable for paying back the money. That’s right, all 3, 4, or 5 members of the band are now responsible for paying off the loan. (This will be brought up later, but the same thing goes for when you get signed to a record label and the FRONT you money… you don’t just get a bunch of money for nothing like most think.) Even if only one of the members signs for the loan, the entire band is responsible for repaying the loan.

Okay, that doesn’t sound too great, but sometimes you have to do these type of things. There is an alternative to this as well. If the band is incorporated and the loan is in the corporations name, then the corporation is liable for the debts and not the individual band members. You should get some kind of legal company set up – what we just talked about would be one good reason. There is a slight problem still, even after you have incorporated, if you have no corporate history, no one will give you a loan! Well, how do you get a loan, you do a personal guarantee in which one person signs for the loan saying that it will get paid off if something happens. At that point, only the person who signs is responsible and not other members of the band.

So, what does all of this mean? It means that if the corporation (the band) or partnership (the band) does not pay back the money, and each member is liable, your personal assets can be taken – including your house. Borrowing money is a big risk, but sometimes a necessity, and all members of the band should be aware of what they are liable for when the agree to getting money.

I hope that this has helped you go over some basics of paying for equipment as a band and realized that your band is a partnership. This will be all for this particular series, but I will go over some other ideas for paying for equipment in future post. If you have any ideas or things you have done from your own experiences, please share them. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Be sure to check out Part 1 of this series if you haven’t already!

Paying for Equipment as a Band

I wanted to talk about a subject that seems straight forward and simple, but it can really get complicated. You will need equipment to perform. Whether it is a musical instrument, amplifiers, or a vehicle to get to gigs, it is equipment that is owned by the band or members of the band. You should treat your band as a business because that is basically what it is. When you own a business, there can be, and will be, some issues with liability and when it it comes to being in a band, there is no exception.

If you are a solo artist, you will be paying for your own equipment and you will own it. (Assuming there is no investor behind you and your music – then it can get complicated.) So, it is pretty straight forward there. If you need a guitar, you buy it. If you need a microphone, you buy it. But, I said buying equipment was going to get tricky, so when does it do that? It gets tricky and complicated when your band as a group goes in to buy something.

If you aren’t aware, your band is a partnership – even without any type of writing. So, if the group buys something with money that is allocated to the band (money that the band makes and uses it for band stuff and not the money that will be divided up among the members) the equipment that they purchase belongs to the partnership, aka the band. This may seem obvious with things like a vehicle or banners bought by the band, but this can include instruments as well.

For Example, if Johnny needs a new guitar, but cannot afford one, it is perfectly normal and acceptable to use the band funds to get Johnny a guitar. After all, if he doesn’t have an operating guitar, it will be pretty hard to perform. The band decides to buy Johnny a nice PRS and Johnny is excited to have “his” new guitar. Well, two months later Johnny decides to quit the band. Who does the guitar belong too? Not Johnny, but the band. When Johnny leaves the group, the guitar stays with the band. After all, it is not Johnny’s guitar – it is the partnerships guitar. (Of course, the band can always agree otherwise – either up front or when the member of the group using the equipment leaves.)

There is more to the story and the next part of this series of blog post is where it gets really exciting and complicated. Be sure to keep checking back for more updated post on Paying for Equipment as a Band. You can subscribe to my feed to get updates as they happen.

Helpful Self-Building Strategies

Not to long ago, I gave questions and asked “Are You Marketable?” Hopefully, your answer to the general overview was “Yes.” If it wasn’t, I hope that you at least got into gear and tried to figure out ways to become marketable. Here I am going to give you a couple of strategies to help build yourself for a strong career in music. (Really these strategies could work for a professional career.)

I will break this up in to two post to keep it from getting to lengthy – like most of my other post. Anyway, here are some helpful self-building strategies:

1. A Good Self-Assessment Seriously look at what your strengths and weaknesses – write them down. (I love writing stuff down – always helps.) Take your strengths and think of ways that you can use the to your advantage. Now, look at your weaknesses and think of ways you can improve them. It is always important to realize your weakness, how to improve them, and how to lead others away from your weakness and have people focus on your strengths.

2. Be Professional No matter what – be professional. If something doesn’t go your way or you feel that you have been cheated, don’t throw a temper tantrum. Nothing will build your reputation (for the good) better than acting professional.

3. Give all that you can Always give everything you can. When you are in a band or recording for someone, always do your best to better the project as a whole – not just yourself. It will pay off in the long run.

4. Network Yes, I know, this has been run into the ground, but networking is very important. What does it have to with self building? Well, technically it has nothing to do with self building, but the more people you know – the more opportunities and chances to get better. Plus, it will help you make money at some point, some time (which in return – “betters yourself”).

5. Find A Mentor I had a post a while back that mentioned this. It is always helpful to find someone who can help you out. Now, you want to find a mentor who is where you want to be and is willing to share their knowledge about how they got there. It will take research, but you will be able to find someone. If you want be a huge “star,” I suggest starting a little smaller and finding a mentor who is local “star.” Then once they helped you all they can, find a regional “star” and so forth. And no, don’t ever use someone just to get something – remember who helped you get where.

Well, these are some basic strategies to get you started. I threw in the classic “networking” because it is very important even though it technically is not a “self-building” strategy. I will add to this list later – and to make sure you see the rest of the list subscribe to my feed.

Band Management

Whether you are looking for a manager for your band, wanting to manage a band, or even looking to manage your own band, there are four basic principles that you, or the manager, should have. Any career path or field that has to do with management involves four basic functions and music is no exception. The four basic functions are planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. I will go over a general overview of what each function is about, but you should research more on each topic and find the correct manager for yourself.

Planning is often directly related to success. Your band’s manager, whether it is you or someone else, should have a well thought out, written plan of action for the band. Noticed I stressed the fact that it should be a written plan. This is important because everyone involved will know where the band wants to go and what they have to do to get there. Don’t wait for luck to strike and then come up with a plan – you want to be ready to “Wow!” as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

Organizing is closely related to planning because you need to organize the steps that need to be taken to achieve your plan and overall goal. Organizing helps keep the band on track and helps everything run smoothly and efficiently.

Directing is very important. A manager should provide direction the their artist and lead them to whatever may suit them the best. Everyone needs to work efficiently towards the goal and a manager can help in doing this, and they should. In leadership, a manager should keep everyone involved with the band motivated towards their goal as a band.

Controlling involves elements that you can control. Now, you cannot control the weather and that may delay an outdoor photo shoot, but you can control the other aspects of the photo shoot. Do you have the right people? Are they on time? Is everything running the way it should? The manager should stay on top of the things that can be controlled and control them. Just take the questions and apply them to any situation.

So, should you try and manage yourself or get a manager? There are many advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios. I do believe that this is a question that involves an answer that is different for every band or individual. If you do find the right manager, one that has successfully helped other bands and artist, they can save you lots of time and heartache.

Are You Marketable?

I talk to lots of people who are in a band, or at least think they are a band, and they all know how to make it and have dead set paths they are going to travel to get there. However, they are still in the same position they were 10 years ago… and they think that the right person just hasn’t come by to see them yet. Well, the right person isn’t going to find you. Sorry, but you are going to have to do a little work. Here is a couple of topics that most “bands” seem to fail at.

1. Be marketable. Your music has to be good! Not only does your band have to play well together.. you need to have well written, cookie cutter songs. Seemingly more important today is the fact that you have to look good. You have to have an image (as a band – not just one cool looking guy or girl). Are you marketable?

2. Having a band is much like being an owner of a business. The worst ever was to invite a friend into a band. Especially when they aren’t good at what they do. If you are serious about what you are doing, you eventually will have to let them go – so save yourself the trouble and just never get them involved or cut them out early. It sucks, but it is important. And I am not just talking about playing – can they chip in money for recording? Do they help in having a stage presence or can they write music/lyrics? Do they listen or is it all about them? Do they even try to get better at… anything? Cut your dead weight before it ruins your chances.

3. Play any show you can! This is the most important for the first couple of years. Play all the shows you can – crappy or great, money or no money, zero or a thousand people. (Always play like your playing in front of a million people and this is your last chance ever, it will pay off!) Just because you have the greatest musicians in the world don’t expect to get paid $10,000’s at first (or ever). You have to prove your worth, you have to bring people to the show and make the club money. You have to work your way up the ladder – even if the ladder is nothing but crappy musicians who can not play anything – they have been working to get there, that is why they are there. Are you playing enough?

These are three of the most common things I hear people doing wrong. A lot of people still think it is all about the music. 99.9% of the time – it is not. Sorry. Welcome to the new age. It is just as important to look good and to have a great performance as it is to sound good. (One without the other usually won’t work.) I hope that you will take the time to at least evaluate these things in your own band. And if you think it is “selling out,” then it is – but if you want to make money, you have to sell something…

How to Improve Your Band Instantly

There are several things you can do and several steps you can take to improve your band. I mean, not only how well you play together, but how you write songs and how you can take care of “problems.” I will go over a couple of them really quick.

One of the most common things that work for pretty much every band I talk to about this is looking at your band from the outside end. I mean, you say your band is the greatest thing ever – but is it really? When you listen to your own songs, do they truly move you or are they just good enough? When you look at pictures, do you guys have a “cool” image (or at least one that fits your musical style)? Would you go see yourself play? If you were a big time executive with a million dollars to blow, would you be willing to invest in your band? Are you dependable? Do you care? This list can go on forever, but hopefully you get the idea. And just so you know, your fans and audience, they care about how you go about stuff, what you look like, and lastly, your music. Unfortunately, that is just the way it is 99.9% of the time (when you are in “make it” mode).

Another important thing, in my honest opinon, is to learn cover tunes as a band. Yeah, yeah, I know your are to good for it and all that, but you can learn a lot, they are already established tunes, and you will give your audience something to compare you to. That is the most important thing when picking covers – it is about giving your audience something to compare your music to and how good your band actually is. And please, don’t pick some obscure song by your favorite band! Pick something everyone has at least heard before!

The entertainment factor is one of the biggest problems with bands. I don’t want to stand there watching you stand there playing a song. I rather just listen to the song on the radio or on my iPod. If I am paying money to see you play, I want to see a show! I want to see some moving and some crowd involvement. I want you to pump me up and forget about all my troubles. I don’t want to just stand around and watch five dudes (or ladies) on a stage standing there. If you have to sacrifice being able to play 32nd notes at 150bpm to move around a little, so be it! Nothing is worse than watching a band that is just sitting around acting like they don’t care – it is like listening to a monotone speech. Boring.

1. What do you honestly think of your band?
2. Do give your audience something to compare you to?
3. Are you entertaining to watch?

Okay, I Am Ready For The Band

So, after last week’s post, Am I Ready For The Band, you have decided that you are ready to start or join a band. Great! This is where all the fun begins. (And the hardest work!) This is generally more for bands trying to make a name for themselves. If you just want to join a band for a hobby or to have fun, you don’t need to read this – get out there and have fun! But if you want to be in a serious band be prepared for lots and lots of let downs and empty promises, but if there wasn’t all that, the reward wouldn’t be so great! (More Risk = More Reward Potential) Being in a band – especially an original band trying to “make it” – can be a huge time and money investment. But if it something you really, really want, I will help you get there!

First things first, do you have the equipment to play in a serious, gigging band? A Sear’s drum kit or guitar probably isn’t going to cut it. Although you may have the chops, it really just won’t do. You don’t need a terribly expensive DW drum kit or a top of the line Gibson guitar either. Especially just starting a band together, since you don’t know if you are going to really, truly enjoy it or be willing to sacrifice what you have to sacrifice. From a guitarist stand point, I swear by Gibson guitars, but you can grab you a nice Epiphone (made by Gibson) at a much more economical price – and they are great guitars! If you are more of a “metal” kind of guy, grab you a Schecter, Ibanez, or a Jackson. Blues you say – Strats and Teles. Of course, I wouldn’t suggest buying a guitar based of this is a metal guitar or a blues guitar based on Steve Hatmaker’s opinion. What I would suggest is going to a local shop and playing every guitar they have, in your price range, and see which feels the best. Which one do you have to have!

So, you got your gear and you are serious – let us move on! What type of band – original or cover? I will get into specific details in a later post, but here is a general overview. Original bands are your greatest risk and you won’t make money for a very, very long time. They eat up most all of your time, but if you guys are successful – Bingo! Definitely where you can use the most creativity (I mean you do write your own songs and all) and there is a market (maybe big, maybe small) for every type of music. If you want to make money and don’t care about making it right now, there is always cover bands. Now, I would like to think that everyone would in a cover band at some point. I know, I know “Anyone can play other people’s songs!” and “I can write my own stuff – and better!” Probably not. Learning other people’s songs is a great way to improve your song writing skill, get better playing with other people, and to just be a better musician. And if you are writing a “hit” song, there is a formula… not some big secret or just utterly creative genius – usually. Now, a third option, my personal favorite, is the hybrid original-cover band. You start play covers and get local recognition with a pretty good fan base at the bars and clubs – then you drop some originals out and what do you know everyone loves them. I would strongly, strongly suggest this route if at all doable.

Now that you what type of band you want to play in it is time to decide whether you want to join a band or create a band. When applicable, I would seek to join a band if there is one that already fits my creative imagination and the direction I want to go with my music. For covers, a band that already has a good reputation and plays out a lot is a great choice – if they ever need anyone. What about originals? Well, basically the same as covers. The only difference is you need make sure you like the style of music (cover bands usually play a wider variety) and that you can get along with, and respect, all of the other members. But if you cannot find anything, or you just want to do your own thing – you are in for a very difficult task. I will cover it in detail in another post, but creating a band involves a lot of searching for the right members, establishing an image, picking the instrumentation, creating a network of people who will love you no matter what – and some who hate you, and the list goes on forever with an endless amount of nit-picking details. Of course, most all of this still might be needed when you join a band, but at least you will know what to do!

Let that sink in for a bit. Are you sure you want to be in a band? Is it worth it? I would say – Definitely. But you need to make your own decisions. So, figure out what type of band to play in and whether you want to join or create. I will be doing more detailed specific post in the near future, but let me know what you think! What kind of stuff do you want/need to know?

Am I Ready For The Band?

So, you are thinking about, or currently forming, your own band. The very first thing that you need to consider is whether or not you are ready. Of course, you are ready for all the fame, the money, and laying around all day with the honeys (or dudes… whatever.) If it was that easy, wouldn’t we already be doing it? Yes, but it is not that easy. It takes a lot (I mean A LOT) of time to perfect your own personal skills and abilities. Your greatest asset in music, and life, is – yourself!





Can you play your instrument well? Good. Do you know why the notes C, E, and G make up a C Major chord? Good. Do you know why the chord progession I IV V is the most common used progression in popular music? Great! Do you know your major scales? Good. Minor? Good. Lydian? Even Better. Prometheus Neopolitan? Yeah, me neither.

You get the point. It involves a lot of time and patience to learn music and why it works. Studies show that it takes around 10,000 hours of proper and perfect practice to become a virtuoso. So, is it necessary to become a virtuoso before you start your own band? Of course not. You should just keep this in consideration at all times. Okay, well, do I have to know everything about music? No, you never will. Music is a creative art and it goes well beyond all the set rules. In fact, there are no rules – Just guidelines and techniques that have been proven successful time and time again. But there is always an exception.

So, are you ready? Do you have the patience and energy to learn how to play an instrument properly? If not, don’t rush it. If you do, 99.9 percent of the time things will not work out.

“But I am ready to start a band now! I am ready for all the money and the fame! Think of how cool I will be with my very own band!”

Well, then here is my suggestion: If you’re doing it for those reasons alone (not because you love music so much that everyday you wake up you have all these beautiful melodies just playing through head) go ahead and find another occupation.

Not quite ready yet? Need some lessons, training, or equipment? Check out the following sites for all of your music needs!