I wonder why so few truly "get it?"
If you want to make it in today's marketplace you must focus on quality. Promotion will get you momentary notice, but only quality sustains. Sure, it might be harder than ever to get your message out, to truly gain traction. But when someone finds something good today, they tell everybody they know. That's how you build an act, that's how you build a brand. Not by calling the usual media suspects and spewing shit about how your vapid new artist is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Reply
Here's a little excerpt, totally true though. Bands, managers, agents, so-called promoters ALL trying to make too much money off of the backs of concert-goers. It's changing, music sales continue to tank, and now tours are too...hmmm...not rocket science is it???
"As music became commoditized, in the eighties, that's when greed started triumphing in society? Bankers could make more money than musicians. So the musicians started imitating bankers, making it all about the cash.
There's no soul on Wall Street. Financiers die and are forgotten. Like record executives.
But a great record lives forever.
And if you made that great record, and you continue to make it about the music, you can work to an adoring audience until your body calls it quits.
The media wants to quantify everything. How much money did you make... But the music game isn't about numbers, it's about emotions. Never forget this."
Reply
Rod Smallwood, IRON MAIDEN's longtime manager, told The New York Times that more than 800,000 copies of the band's latest album, "The Final Frontier", had been shipped to retailers around the world by the end of last week, with the group having sold about 85 million records in its 30-year career.
"A lot of bands could learn a lot from MAIDEN," Smallwood said. "MAIDEN is essentially about the relationship with the fans, and nothing comes between that. They don't want to be rock stars. They just enjoy playing for the fans."
According to David Kassler, chief operating officer of EMI for Europe, digital tracking services showed only small levels of illegal downloading of "The Final Frontier", whcih is attributable in part to the fact that IRON MAIDEN's songs do not fit the mold of a radio single — three of them, on the newest release, are more than nine minutes long.
"You'd expect some people to be pirating, but they don't," Kassler told The New York Times. "They want the physical album. They love the artwork, the lyrics. It's something they want to show their friends and family."
According to Joel McIver, a London-based writer who is the author of "Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica", and other books about heavy metal, there are plenty of lessons for the music industry in IRON MAIDEN's continued success: "Invest in the long term. Apply an image. Give the fans what they want. Tour and keep touring. Play the festival circuit. Embrace new technology. Be innovative. Be honest. Be original. Write good songs."
Read the entire report from The New York Times.
Reply
Subject: NPR: Best and Worst Concerts You've Ever Seen
A local NPR station had this call-in subject yesterday. In-studio
music reviewer Greg Kot told two revealing tales you'll appreciate.
BEST: Neil Young at a HORDE show outside Chicago, 1997. A storm blew into the pavilion with horizontal rain, lightning, etc. As the horrific weather intensified, Neil steered the band into playing "Like
a Hurricane". Eventually, some of the mains power failed, killing the
lights and PA. The crowd began to surge toward the exits, but Neil and the band still had sub-mixes feeding their monitors, so they played on. And they really got into it. When the crowd saw that Neil was still mesmerized by his music, they surged back toward the stage, cheering on the determined conqueror. That's what a great act does. They soldier on because the music is more important than comfort or cold cash.
WORST: The Eagles 1990-something reunion tour. This was Greg Kot's first introduction to $100 plus concert tickets. He was disgusted by this blatant gouging of the fans, but since he gets in for free, he went to the show and left unimpressed. He felt the band had phoned it in and wrote a review saying so. $100 for a phoned-in performance? Screw that. To his surprise, Glenn Frey actually called him to complain about the negative review. Frey felt the band had given their all that night. But Greg Kot stuck by his guns: he hadn't seen a single band member smile even once or make even a token gesture to acknowledge the audience. A subsequent band biography confirmed Kot's suspicions: the band wasn't getting on well at the time. Apparently, this showed through in their live shows.
There you have it, Bob. "In the Long Run", those that give, receive,
and those that take, don't.
Ted Rosen
Reply
Had a great rehearsal. Worked on a re-vamped version of Demons from our 2005 release, started working on the song Fallen with a slightly different chorus, Military Man is pretty much staying the same as is Rain and a song called Will of Man. Getting closer on the re-arranged version of Carnivale too...Made some nice progress on a brand new song, not sure what we'll call it yet though, maybe All Comes Down to Nothing? Overall just fun, we're all enjoying the camaraderie! Peace...
Reply
Looking forward to this week's rehearsal. We'll continue to tighten up a few songs, work on a few additional older songs that we'll tweak a bit, and more work on a brand new song. See ya!
Reply
Check out a bunch of new(old) pics and two more songs from the Odeon uploaded! Spread the word, Thanks!
Reply
Ted Nugent's new album title! Gotta love Ted, or hate him. ;-) Looks like we have a potential show at the Iron Saddle in Akron, not confirmed as of yet but we'll see. Also working on a Cleveland area show, we'd love to open for Starz at the Beachland or the just announced Accept show with King's X at the Agora, hopefully we'll land one of those...Peace! Hydra
Reply
Here's the link, check it out!
http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/everything_corporate_how_selling_out_has_turned_into_survivalism_part_/
Reply
Great line from Lefsetz today; Suddenly, it's all about music. Make good stuff and people will find you. How many? Interesting question. But you got into it for the music, right? You like playing music, right? Because if you got into it for the money, notoriety and fame, you're fucked.
Reply
hPr / Blog
Yet more from Lefsetz...
I wonder why so few truly "get it?"
If you want to make it in today's marketplace you must focus on quality. Promotion will get you momentary notice, but only quality sustains. Sure, it might be harder than ever to get your message out, to truly gain traction. But when someone finds something good today, they tell everybody they know. That's how you build an act, that's how you build a brand. Not by calling the usual media suspects and spewing shit about how your vapid new artist is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Reply
More advice from Lefsetz
Here's a little excerpt, totally true though. Bands, managers, agents, so-called promoters ALL trying to make too much money off of the backs of concert-goers. It's changing, music sales continue to tank, and now tours are too...hmmm...not rocket science is it???
"As music became commoditized, in the eighties, that's when greed started triumphing in society? Bankers could make more money than musicians. So the musicians started imitating bankers, making it all about the cash.
There's no soul on Wall Street. Financiers die and are forgotten. Like record executives.
But a great record lives forever.
And if you made that great record, and you continue to make it about the music, you can work to an adoring audience until your body calls it quits.
The media wants to quantify everything. How much money did you make... But the music game isn't about numbers, it's about emotions. Never forget this."
Reply
Good advice from Iron Maiden's Manager!
Rod Smallwood, IRON MAIDEN's longtime manager, told The New York Times that more than 800,000 copies of the band's latest album, "The Final Frontier", had been shipped to retailers around the world by the end of last week, with the group having sold about 85 million records in its 30-year career.
"A lot of bands could learn a lot from MAIDEN," Smallwood said. "MAIDEN is essentially about the relationship with the fans, and nothing comes between that. They don't want to be rock stars. They just enjoy playing for the fans."
According to David Kassler, chief operating officer of EMI for Europe, digital tracking services showed only small levels of illegal downloading of "The Final Frontier", whcih is attributable in part to the fact that IRON MAIDEN's songs do not fit the mold of a radio single — three of them, on the newest release, are more than nine minutes long.
"You'd expect some people to be pirating, but they don't," Kassler told The New York Times. "They want the physical album. They love the artwork, the lyrics. It's something they want to show their friends and family."
According to Joel McIver, a London-based writer who is the author of "Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica", and other books about heavy metal, there are plenty of lessons for the music industry in IRON MAIDEN's continued success: "Invest in the long term. Apply an image. Give the fans what they want. Tour and keep touring. Play the festival circuit. Embrace new technology. Be innovative. Be honest. Be original. Write good songs."
Read the entire report from The New York Times.
Reply
From Lefsetz, check it out, again he's right on...$100 tix, thx EAGLES!!
Subject: NPR: Best and Worst Concerts You've Ever Seen
A local NPR station had this call-in subject yesterday. In-studio music reviewer Greg Kot told two revealing tales you'll appreciate.
BEST: Neil Young at a HORDE show outside Chicago, 1997. A storm blew into the pavilion with horizontal rain, lightning, etc. As the horrific weather intensified, Neil steered the band into playing "Like a Hurricane". Eventually, some of the mains power failed, killing the lights and PA. The crowd began to surge toward the exits, but Neil and the band still had sub-mixes feeding their monitors, so they played on. And they really got into it. When the crowd saw that Neil was still mesmerized by his music, they surged back toward the stage, cheering on the determined conqueror. That's what a great act does. They soldier on because the music is more important than comfort or cold cash.
WORST: The Eagles 1990-something reunion tour. This was Greg Kot's first introduction to $100 plus concert tickets. He was disgusted by this blatant gouging of the fans, but since he gets in for free, he went to the show and left unimpressed. He felt the band had phoned it in and wrote a review saying so. $100 for a phoned-in performance? Screw that. To his surprise, Glenn Frey actually called him to complain about the negative review. Frey felt the band had given their all that night. But Greg Kot stuck by his guns: he hadn't seen a single band member smile even once or make even a token gesture to acknowledge the audience. A subsequent band biography confirmed Kot's suspicions: the band wasn't getting on well at the time. Apparently, this showed through in their live shows.
There you have it, Bob. "In the Long Run", those that give, receive, and those that take, don't.
Ted Rosen
Reply
Last night's rehearsal!
Had a great rehearsal. Worked on a re-vamped version of Demons from our 2005 release, started working on the song Fallen with a slightly different chorus, Military Man is pretty much staying the same as is Rain and a song called Will of Man. Getting closer on the re-arranged version of Carnivale too...Made some nice progress on a brand new song, not sure what we'll call it yet though, maybe All Comes Down to Nothing? Overall just fun, we're all enjoying the camaraderie! Peace...
Reply
Rehearsal this week!
Looking forward to this week's rehearsal. We'll continue to tighten up a few songs, work on a few additional older songs that we'll tweak a bit, and more work on a brand new song. See ya!
Reply
Updates!
Check out a bunch of new(old) pics and two more songs from the Odeon uploaded! Spread the word, Thanks!
Reply
Trample The Weak, Hurdle The Dead!
Ted Nugent's new album title! Gotta love Ted, or hate him. ;-) Looks like we have a potential show at the Iron Saddle in Akron, not confirmed as of yet but we'll see. Also working on a Cleveland area show, we'd love to open for Starz at the Beachland or the just announced Accept show with King's X at the Agora, hopefully we'll land one of those...Peace! Hydra
Reply
Interesting Read from Alternative Press Magazine
Here's the link, check it out! http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/everything_corporate_how_selling_out_has_turned_into_survivalism_part_/
Reply
You Play Because You Like To Right???
Great line from Lefsetz today; Suddenly, it's all about music. Make good stuff and people will find you. How many? Interesting question. But you got into it for the music, right? You like playing music, right? Because if you got into it for the money, notoriety and fame, you're fucked.
Reply