Starting a music business – Ideas for musicians on how to find other like minded players.
Whether you are starting a music business, starting a band, a record label, a booking agency or any type of organization inside or outside of entertainment, it is common sense to find people that will work well with you and those that you will work well with. This sounds obvious and yet, many will start a band, a business or a partnership only to realize down the line, as well as many thousands of dollars in, that mistakes were made.
Being in a band, a business or any type of partnership is like being in a relationship and unlike a normal relationship, it is often times with more than just one other person. When you are putting together a band or looking for others, make sure you are searching with a detailed minder. Some good ideas for musicians when it comes to the search is to ask a number of questions such as influences, inspirations, goals, things they can bring to the table to help, issues that they might have that could hurt.
Again, this seems obvious, yet in many music consulting sessions with bands that are heading toward the studio or putting together a music business plan, I will be the one asking these questions and get dumbfound looks across the room when the bass player says something to me that the guitar player was completely unaware of.
Communication is crucial. When it comes down to how to make it in entertainment, the first steps that need to be addressed are how can this group, band, team or whatever work together first. When you make that statement, “I want to be a musician”, and the others you are talking to are saying the same thing, you need to make sure you definition of that is on a similar page. From the early stages of not jumping in to something too fast and making sure every one is working together to create the right fit to common and agreed upon work approaches, they all have to mesh. Just because he is a great guitar player on stage, doesn’t mean it will be the best fit when it comes to the other 22+ hours of the day when you have to deal with the business, the travel, the promotion, the money issues and everything else. (and yes, that was a dig on guitar players. Feel free to launch your drummer jokes back at me)
From more detailed classified ads that go much further that “looking for a guitar player that rocks like no other” or “forming the best band in the universe” (yes, saw both these as posts in recent months) to taking the time to see if it is a good fit across the board, will save you time, frustration, anger and a fortune in wasted money. The devil is in the details. So bring him to the initial meetings to make sure the broad strokes and the defined strokes either work well together with everyone or you understand what you will need to compromise on in certain areas to make other things flow.
L
Loren Weisman is an accomplished music producer, author and music consultant. He is the author of “The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business”, a book to help independent artists, musicians, bands, labels and managers achieve self sufficient and sustainable success. For more info on Loren and music consulting services, visit: http://www.lorenweisman.com
