Department of Touring

It’s possible to start from scratch and grow your audience, show by show. Here are some ideas that I have successfully used to increase a bands audience.

Remember that your potential audience doesn’t just see and hear you at your gig or when you get radio play. Your posters, merch and online photos of your last show – are all making an impression on the people who have and haven’t seen you play. Without selling your soul to any devil here are some ways that you can promote yourself and build an audience.

Really great band photos: I think this in one area that bands can be very, very boring. Photos are cheap to produce and in this day and age bands should have a lot of photos turning over so we don’t have to keep seeing the same photo all the time. This is where you can really win over a new audience as well – I have managed to get important gigs on the back of an excellent photo that was both creative and told something about the band. If you are all out of creative photo ideas I recommend a trip to the library or book store for a flick through some big coffee table photography or film stills books for inspiration.

Posters: You can see a bands poster around town and never go to the gig – but something about that poster tells you about the band – so get really creative with posters. From a purely information point of view – keep the gig details prominent but to a minimum. Never include the door price. Have people come to the venue before they know what they have to pay.

Merch: I have bought albums and t shirts of bands that I have never heard because the artwork was so good. I have also decided not to buy t shirts of bands that I love because it was so ugly. The annoying reality about merch is that the upfront costs of producing it can be very high – but if you can do short runs of good designs that 10 people you have showed them to love – then you should sell them out pretty fast. Cheaper merch options are stickers and buttons – stickers are awesome for their longevity. In the past I have made small ziplock bags combining stickers and buttons and substantially increased their sell-ability and also revenue. Merch is the one place you can make decent money so it’s worth investing and getting it right.

Your interviews: Some bands are really great at talking on air and on camera and some are rubbish. But for the rubbish ones I think you just have to get over yourself. At the very least go into an interview with something you want to say. Think of it in advance. It is likely going to be when your next gig is, or when your album is coming out – so get those things in your head before the interview. If you are doing rounds of interviews do not say the same thing in every interview. If you are answering the same question, answer it in a different way. But if you are really bad at interviews, nominate the best person in your band for the interview and keep away from doing bad interviews – you’d be better off.

The gig experience: Don’t forget that your gig is an audio and visual experience. As an audience member it’s great to walk into a venue and see something more than three colours of lighting and the regular gat, drums, bass set up. It’s quite easy and inexpensive to include props on stage to make the setting a bit more visually exciting, from old fifties lampstands, shagpile carpets, couches, artificial flowers, movie footage, fairly lights, slides and backdrops. These things not only look good on the night, but in the photos of your shows that will end up online. They also show that you are putting some thought and imagination into your show. The other side of the gig experience is your appearance, how you talk to the audience, and if you look at the audience or only manage to dart nervous looks to your fellow band mates. All of these things make an impression, and if you are playing to 20 or 200 people… you want all of these people to come to your next gig and to each bring a friend. So everything thing about your performance matters. I know as a musician you feel embarrassed if you make a mistake on stage or if you are having technical difficulties throughout the night. But I honestly can not say this enough…. the audience probably doesn’t notice. Honestly. Even if your bass drum skin rips through. When things go wrong on stage that can make you feel angry, disappointed or humiliated, you have to believe me when I say it is highly likely most people watching haven’t noticed so DO NOT APOLOGISE. If anything, laugh, joke or just carry on through the technical difficulties. Part of watching a band live is that things go wrong and you can win over an audience by the great way you handles these difficulties. O, and don’t forget to mention when you are next playing.

New venues: If you live in a small town where all bands play at the same place, then I recommend trying to find a new and interesting place to play once in a while. Be it a café, church, cinema or outdoors some where. Provide new experiences for your audience so they can start on their word of mouth promoting the great night you just provided them with. This also gives journalists an angle to mention when plugging your gig.

A well run show: There is nothing fun about waiting for a band to set up. Especially if you can’t get to the bar or can’t afford to buy drinks – you just have to stand there and wait. So two things I recommend. Have a great pre-planned playlist that you can play over the PA so your audience is listening to some great tunes while they are waiting. And… have a stage manager or friend, someone who can help you quickly set up, who can run back and forward to your sound engineer, who can pull your cases off stage and tidy them away. Getting on and off stage fast and not having the show run really late are all things that make it a positive experience for the audience.

Audience incentives: Think about how you can reward your audience for coming to the show. If you have anything free you can give them or at least the first 30 people that show up – from buttons to CD burns to drinks that you can organize a local brewery to provide in exchange for a mention on the radio ad… anything like this adds to the positive gig experience.

Contacting your audience: A super easy way to do this is to photocopy and cut up flyers and flyer the car park at the venue a week or two before you play, as well as making sure your posters are up in the venue a few weeks before your show. If there is a student radio station in your town, make a point of personally dropping in a poster so it gets hung in the DJ booth and in the station it self. In addition there are of course all the usual things you are most likely doing – including myspace mailouts, online flyering, facebook and tweets etc. But don’t over email or over contact your audience.

How often should you play: If you are going to play once a month, then it’s imperative that you play at different kinds of venues, otherwise you are not really providing anything new for your audience. I am a great believer in not over playing, but instead taking the time to make sure every show is really great. Well rehearsed and with all the things above in place. Keep your audience wanting more.

This article was published in the June/July 2009 issue of New Zealand Musician magazine.

Getting a band touring overseas has daunted bands and managers since we began exporting music. However when bands have managed to get overseas and tour it’s made it seem more do-able for the rest of us, and their achievements have opened doors we can all cash in on. Although in some societies funding is available in some capacity, for every band that gets funding to assist touring, there are dozens in the wings with their hopes dashed. I have set up tours with and without funding.

Bearing in mind the things I have said before: ‘don’t rely on anyone’ and ‘there is no formula’ here are a few tips to how you can get your band an international tour.

Costs: Until a bridge is built linking all major continents, stumping up with the flight costs is unavoidable. However if each band member is prepared to sacrifice their own time and money to cover a share of it, I recommend that you do it as soon as possible. There are a ton of opportunities if you can get overseas, and at the very least touring internationally is one of those unique life-experiences that is worth the investment.

Forget about your social life. If you are serious about getting your band overseas you need to spend a ton of time online contacting labels, venues, promoters and other bands in order to get contacts and interest. In your weekly band meetings (which of course you are having if you want to tour) figure out between you if you have ANY contacts overseas with other bands, friends working in the industry and start writing to them.

A tour plan. Brainstorm some options of how you would be able to afford to get your flight cost, van rental and some living costs. Once you figure out a time frame you can focus on which territory.

From New Zealand to Australia: If you haven’t toured Australia, this is relatively easy. With good flight deals, covering your costs is attainable even if you have no profile. Once you have toured a couple of times you can really start making money in this territory. The beauty of performing in Melbourne or Sydney is that unlike anywhere in NZ you can play more than a couple of shows in each town over the period of a week. So a week or two in Oz can be a fast tracked way of establishing an audience. Once you have an audience this can be a great cash injection when you stop off there on the way to the UK or US. It also provides an opportunity to get tight as a band. Playing night after night really hones your live show, and you want that to be hot when you arrive in the UK or US.

The USA is closer and bigger and you generally always get paid for doing a gig – if you can get on a support tour you will probably earn $250 US per show plus merch sales. The UK is really expensive, you can’t count on making any money at your shows except for your merch – but if you can base your selves in London cheaply for a few weeks there are a lot of places to play and a lot of great contacts to make. Continental Europe you can always get a percentage of the door take, plus meals, accom and breakfast.

Label and Booker: Two relationships you want to try and get simultaneously: a booking agent and a label. Eventually the word ‘label’ will apply to who ever is putting your music out, which in the coming years will probably be an alcohol brand or an electronics company but whoever they are a label helps you get a booking agent in the same way that having a booking agent helps you get a label. They both need each other as much as you need them to get your music out and grow an audience so that money can be made. Identify what labels or agents would be interested in your band. If you have no idea then start out with bands you think are similar to yours or bands you see are gaining a profile and go for the labels/agents they are signed to. Make a list and work your way through. Have a good google around and identify the right person in the organisation to write to so you can avoid writing to the info@ address if possible. Never post/email an album unless you are invited to. Drop them a succinct couple of lines about your band, where you are from, your sound and any relevant news: ‘we just supported * when they were in NZ’ don’t mention anything about local achievements as they are irrelevant, give them the link to your myspace and ask if they would like you to send any more material. If you have a tour plan you can tell them when you’ll be playing in their town. If they show any interest or not, you can write to them a few days before you play in their town and invite them to your show.

Other Bands. It is amazing how much I have been able to achieve by writing directly to a bands via their myspace or websites. Once I even wrote to the wrong band and got a national support tour through the UK! New Zealand bands are getting a good rep overseas (thanks to the bands that have toured before you) and more established bands like the kudos of taking a new/super foreign band out on the road. Again keep it short and tell them positive stuff. If you are writing to ask if you can support tell them “we are a three piece carrying all of our own gear in our own van” “we have a label who are plugging our song during the tour period so we will be getting a lot of press”. This last point is crucial, you really need to be able to bring something to the table and if you can produce evidence that you will be bringing an audience this is hugely to your advantage. However it is still possible to get supports by just being a great band! Supporting or befriending international bands performing in NZ, no matter how small they are is important; they can potentially provide you with a wealth of information if not actually being able to offer you a support with them in their home country.

Venues: It is possible to write to venues in the US and UK and book your own shows. Again check out where the bands you sound like play and contact the venues. In the US and the UK the venue booker puts the line-ups together, and if a band is coming through town with a support in tow, they still need an opening act and sometimes aren’t too fussy about who that is. If you have managed to get a few dates supporting a band, then I recommend booking shows on your nights off, or a string of shows right after or before the tour. It’s quite labour intensive but it is completely do-able. Remember you are only earning when you are playing, so to start out you can’t really afford a night off as you need to generate food and petrol money daily. Also if you are in a big city you can play three or four shows in three or four days.

DIY: It is possible to book your own tours, get your own support tour and tour without a label. If you manage to hook up a support tour you can potentially sell a ton of merch. Assuming you have a CD available to purchase, shipping great numbers of this internationally can be expensive, but you must sell merch at your shows. So depending on the length of your tour you might want to think about getting your CD pressed in the US/UK. There are companies that do this for about US$1 per CD if you order 1000. Certainly get your T shirts printed in that territory.

Publicist: If you have no label or agent or any infrastructure I would recommend that you find a publicist. Again you can write to your friends in bands for a contact or look for similar bands on publicist’s rosters. Not only do you want to get more people to your shows, but you want to be able to send clippings to potential labels and bookers, or create a buzz so that they can contact you. The advantage of a publicist is that they can also hook up unique appearances, clothes sponsorships, get you to play private parties or club nights etc. The cost and effort to tour is so high, that is has to pay off, and it could be that the press you generate is the one thing you can keep circulating months after the tour to get you a deal. I’ve learned this the hard way and would never tour without having this in place.

Music Publishers: It goes without saying that you want to develop a relationship with a music publisher or a company that will try and get your songs on TV/Film etc. This is the fastest way that you will produce proper cash and you should put as much time into attracting publishing interest as you are with getting a label/booking agent. If you can’t tour, because you have kids, or there is something that would make it impossible, I would recommend that you dedicate all your spare time into getting a music publisher.

As I have said in earlier blogs, no matter who you do get working for you, don’t rely on them. Keep chasing down contacts and opportunities yourself. Your manager if you have one, can get bogged down in the work of keeping up with a 1000 relationships, so where possible keep pursuing these relationships yourself as they are going to benefit you most of all in the end.

This article ran in the April/May 2009 issue of New Zealand Musician magazine.

I do refer to this motto a lot within myself, because it took me ages to figure out there is no formula to life – let alone to ‘breaking a band’ as they say. Doesn’t matter if you think you are getting too old for this business, or have changed bands five times, have had a hit and then nothing to follow, have lost momentum – there really is no formula. Of course if it was just talent that this whole business was based on –heaps of bands would be famous. But so much is based on being at the right place at the right time, luck, hype, looks, famous friends and sometimes a good song! So it doesn’t matter how long you have been trying to get somewhere – there is really no formula – some music supervisor in LA might just be listening to your song right now . So don’t get disheartened by things not going your way – if you think that you have the songs, commitment and determination to get your music out there then that is the most important thing.

There are countless examples of people being discovered when they themselves probably considered themselves past it, from Anvil, to Susan Boyle. I can’t help but think with the internet making music more accessible that you don’t have to be signed to a label or a publisher to get your music in front of the right people. I have really noticed the shift in the kinds of music that is used in films and on commercials. In the past famous voices were used to add credibility or ‘richness’ to a sound track – but these days originality is what is driving it. Motor vehicle brands, electronics companies and alcohol brands advertised on screen currently seem to be favouring unknown artists on their soundtracks. This can only be a good thing for those out of the way low profile and ‘foreign’ sounding bands!

This is something Neil Finn once said to me. I am not sure if this is one of his mottos but it became one of mine. So often when you are planning a tour, or an album, a show or business relationship etc – you can get attached to how you have planned things and you can’t see past how you want to do things – but, if you don’t get the funding, or if some of the plans aren’t coming together and you have already told everyone what your plans are (ref column #1 don’t tell anyone anything) then this motto is for you. Lots of things happen very last minute in this business so try not to get too attached to your plans until you have to pay for something – like the airfares, or the recording time or what ever it is! Also if in your gut you don’t feel entirely right about what your plan is – then table some other ideas, or approaches. It’s really stressful and scary paying out for big investments so at very least your heart has to be fully into it. I often find when I come to pay for something – I discover truly how I feel about it!

This is a truism I learned from Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop Records. This guy has been round the block a few times and is like a wise old druid. I remember he said this to me after I had a whole bunch of excellent booking agents interested in the band I was managing…. And probably because the word had got round about their interest – a very important booking agent said she would throw her hat into the ring. Until this time she had never shown particular interest in booking the band… but now I was torn – to go with one of these really great people who were emailing me, phoning and trying to fly across states to see me or go with this Big wig. Before I had even finished explaining it to Poneman – he said ‘O, go where the enthusiasm is – everytime.’ He was so right and I have since been involved with so many situations like that – the enthusiastic people versus the fat cats! The fat cats sometimes just want to sign everything that moves if they hear it’s hot – and after that you can never get them to return your call – but the enthusiastic people want to work for you.

This is also relevant if you have a friend who is really super keen to help your band out – or a well connected but perhaps a not-so-approachable manager or agent around town who shows the odd interest here and there – but never comes up with the goods – go with the enthusiastic friend. Same goes with the enthusiastic versus what is cool – and this of course happens a lot in our scene; a label might be going through its cool stage, or a publicist round town might be in with the cool crowd – but what is going to help you is the square who actually does the work! And with this I can segue into sharing a few of my own former insecurities. Although I have worked in the music business my whole career, I often felt quite out of place, being sober and not dressing alternatively etc. I was never going to be the cool looking band manager at a party and also I don’t know everything about every band that ever existed. I was pleasantly surprised once I got out of New Zealand and was on the road touring to discover many people like myself! I came to learn that all the successful agents, tour managers, promoters etc were square too and it dawned on me that I was in fact exactly the right kind of person for my job – no one wants to deal with a manager who is snorting drugs up their nose – integrity and reliability is what is going to help get your band to the next level!

This article ran as part of a larger article in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of New Zealand Musician magazine.

I can not tell you how many times I have learned this lesson!

In the early days of my career I learned this when I was asking around ‘people in the know’ for overseas industry contacts – I would be given the impression, that yes, indeed they had great contacts with labels and promoters and would shoot them through… and nothing would come my way. After much time wasting and some dashed hopes, I learned I might as well not rely on this info coming my way but just go ahead and figure another way about getting it. In the same way – make a tour plan, apply for a funding if you can– but don’t have your life, tour plan, bands business future dependent on these going your way. Don’t be reliant on a series of circumstances… make things work because you are finding another way.

More recently the ‘don’t rely on anyone’ motto took on a new meaning. If you have a bunch of booking agents vying for your band – you assume that once you sign the deal with your agent – they will work non stop at booking your tour. Not necessarily. Same goes for record labels – just because they sign you – doesn’t mean they are actually going to promote your album! And publishers… even if they pay you an advance and wine and dine you – doesn’t mean they have all the best contacts in Hollywood to get you on a film soundtrack. Don’t rely on ANYONE. Don’t assume that all of your band business is the top of everyone’s priority list. You still need to do the work; email some bands, get yourself a support slot, email some mags and get yourself some write ups, email music supervisors and make your own contacts – this will not only encourage your agent, label, publisher to do some work for you – it will also motivate them to. It’s so much nicer working with proactive people who help make things happen.

However – I know myself, that when you sign these deals you somehow expect that they will do this stuff, and in a perfect world they should – and if you are making them truckloads of money – there is not much they won’t do for you – but until then – do not rely on anyone. I know that bands can put their life in their managers hands, and managers can put a lot of stock into record labels, agents and publishers. In a way, everyone is hedging their bets. The label is hoping the band will blow critics away with their album or live show and become a top ranking pitchfork band. The band is hoping the label will be bending over backwards to get them in every magazine and played on major stations, with their video featured on youtube, everyone is hoping the publisher will get a track on a major movie. But the thing is all of these parties have to work together, and the force that is really going to drive this… is the band/manager. And lets face it, the label, publisher, booking agent have plenty of other bands that they have hedged their bets on, so you can’t rely on them. And try not to get bitter when things are not going your way, as that can be really de-motivating for those people in your life who are trying to help.

This article appeared within a column in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of New Zealand Musician Magazine

This was a phrase my former boss and one of New Zealand’s great rock n roll promoters Chris Cole used to bark at me – and although it sounds super cynical – it’s really not.

It works on a couple of levels. As a manager I think it’s wise not to pass on every piece of good or bad news to the band – you get so many great offers, or suggestions or opportunities – I think it’s best to wait until the deal is completely done – or permission from the band is required before bringing it up. It can be really depressing for the band when these things don’t happen – but in reality – a lot of things don’t happen all the time! So no need to tell the band that a certain reviewer or label or important person will be at their show – no point in telling them Arcade Fire have just offered them the support of their world tour, yadda yadda… basically wait until it happens.

As a band – the same applies I don’t think you should mention that you are off overseas on tour – basically wait until you have checked your guitar on and are walking towards passport control… in this business anything can happen – and you look really dumb if this stuff doesn’t eventuate.

Certainly, in New Zealand we live in such a small music community that for the most part everyone is getting the same deals at venues, the same ad rate for radio advertising etc- but every now and again you do learn things that not everyone knows – perhaps a certain bar thinks they can make money out of bands so offer some good guarantees for a while – or maybe you figure out that you should actually book you Labour day gig in February –I think it’s good to keep as much of this info to yourself. The only real advantage you end up having over all of your mates who are in bands – is tacit knowledge… and if you learned it for whatever reason – then it has a value…. And that value gives you a value. Obviously there is a whole lot of info that is good to share as well – like cheap van hire companies, good sound engineers, helpful radio people etc – but sharing international contacts to just any old one isn’t going to help you, also sharing successful funding grant application templates around is just going to have you competing against your own grant application one day with another band’s name on it.

I also don’t think a band ever has to issue a press release to explain why certain stuff has happened – I read recently about a band getting turned back from London because they didn’t have visas and their record label had offered up same lame excuse in a press release – in other words trumpeting bad organisation and making the band look silly. If bad / embarrassing stuff goes on – and if the media show an interest – you are under no obligation to talk about anything – just keep it to yourself so that you don’t keep feeding the fire or showing that dumb stuff is going on – be it internal fighting, sacking a band member, or what ever feels like big earth shattering news in your world.

Finally – I have personally benefited from a lot of great advice and shared contacts over my time, in particular Tom Dalton really helped me out when the Datsuns were doing well in the UK and the Brunettes were just about to go over. So when I say don’t tell anyone anything – I guess I am also saying – pick wisely the people who you are going to share information with. At the end of the day whether you like it or not – all bands are competing with each other whether its for show dates, deals with labels, poster space, good ads slots on the radio – so you have to keep mum about a few things if you are going to get ahead.

This article appeared within a column in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of New Zealand Musician Magazine