31/52: No excuses, just do it! How we got to "Work"

Today is a special day for the ABTS crew! Today is release day for Ron, so we've been crazy this week getting ready for the big launch. Since we started this album about 18 months ago and have been planning out our marketing and promo timeline for about a year, this is a very welcome day! 

When Ron first mentioned that he was already in writing mode for a new record approximately ONE month after we had released "Ron Pope & The Nighthawks" I was pretty reluctant to move forward. I thought maybe we should pump the brakes and ride out the new record for a while. Collect our thoughts. Then he played me the first song he wrote and it was perfect. It was better than anything he had ever written to date. It hit me: no excuses, let's f*cking do this. There might not be a perfect time for creativity to strike. Maybe it's not ideal timing to be promoting an album AND constructing a new album's timeline, but who cares. If it feels right and isn't forced, then DO IT. We have one shot and one career, so we put the wheels in motion. The resulting record is "Work" and I could not be more proud of it. 

This isn't a place where we'll be doing much music promotion, but considering Ron writes the blog with me, I thought it might make sense to let you guys listen to what we've been working on on the music side of things:  http://smarturl.it/workronpope

Thanks for sticking with us!

- Blair & Ron

27/52: Doing Radio as an Independent Artist

Whenever an independent artist asks me about going to radio, my typical response is “DON’T DO IT” while wildly shaking my head and cringing.

Them: But my album is so radio friendly!

Me: stares blankly

Them: My song is a hit! DJs just need to hear it and then they’ll play it! I’m like if Beyonce and Jay-Z had a baby!

Me: They did have a baby. 3 of them. None of whom have made hits (yet).

Them: I literally hate you.

Me: Show me where your vault of money is that you don’t care about and then we’ll talk radio

Do I have your attention? Great.

Radio is certainly still the king maker for big artists with all of the resources (and right genre). Plenty of people still listen to terrestrial radio in their cars and are happily fed the same songs over and over.

So why am I warning against it? There are a few reasons:

1. The statistics are changing. The 18-34 market has been on a downward trend with radio and those are the people that matter. Why? They buy merch, music, and show tickets.

2. IT’S FREAKING EXPENSIVE. A “cheap” campaign hitting a niche format (like, Americana or Rock) can be $5,000-$8,000+ without mailing costs (that you will likely have to do yourself). Trying to go at pop radio?? Good luck. You’ll need at least $150,000. Yeah, I’m serious.

3. It’s INCREDIBLY competitive. Without getting into the whole debate over this, you need to know that only a few companies own the majority of the radio stations in this country. Guess who they are best friends with? Yep, major labels. There is virtually NO room on playlists for new acts -- especially new acts without major backing.

4. Radio doesn’t like to take risks anymore. There was a really beautiful time for radio when it facilitated amazing music discovery. That doesn’t happen anymore. With stations shutting down every day, they can’t afford to risk playing songs that won’t hold their audience.

5. Scams. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it 1,000 times until you believe me. There are SO many shady people in this business that take advantage of independent artists. Just watch out for anyone who seems a little salesy and initiates contact with you out of the blue.

6. Limited tangible results. So, a good scenario is that a couple of stations play you once a week for 5 weeks. What does that do for you? Very likely it won’t sell more tickets and it’ll gain you very few fans. While every fan counts, I don’t think every fan is worth $500+ (remember our talk about ROI??)

All that said - if you do have the money in your promo budget, there are a handful of indie promoters who can do a good job. However, they are in high demand and if you don’t have all of your ducks in a row, there is absolutely zero reason to contact them. Your row of ducks should look like this: tour planned, album release date set, distribution set up, promo plans laid out, publicist on board.

In some situations, if you have a runaway hit on Spotify, it might be worth looking into radio. However, in that situation, you need to ask -- do I even need radio at this point? And the aforementioned ducks... are they in a row? 

So you still want to do it? Ok, here we go.

If you don’t have the money to spend, but still feel like you need to give it a shot, then here are a few things you can do on your own:

1. Start local and think indie. While it’s still incredibly competitive to get added to an independently owned station (each state only has a few), most have a locals only specialty show that could be a fit. You need to be making some noise on your own in the community before asking though -- make sure you’ve been playing gigs and have great support from actual people that live there. It’ll make it world’s easier to get them on your side (FYI - this is what we’ve been doing with TRUETT and now he has great local radio support that we can try to build off of)

2. Give college radio a shot. College is tough - it’s run by busy students and they aren’t always at the station (or in school). Plus, the contacts change every year. However, if you have a summer release it’s not a bad idea to send it to them (in snail mail because... I have no idea, it’s really dumb, but that’s how radio works). Aim for the end of summer so they get it right when they get back to school. Fall gets rather busy if you wait much longer! Then as I’ve said before, FOLLOW UP! Do not assume that just because you mailed them a CD that they got it or played it. Call or email. Don’t worry, they are used to it.

3. Target very specifically. Have a tour coming up? Target the local indie station in each market a few months before you head out. Get them the CD, email them, etc. Same as with the local suggestion, you should really have some good buzz going on before you do this. It’s hard for anyone to get on board if nothing else is happening. Indie on the Move already did a lot of the research for you! Look through their massive list here.

This takes a TON of leg work and will eat up a bunch of your day(s). But it’s much, much cheaper and you will know that the work is being done. Plus, when a station gets back to you and says they will spin your tune you will feel like the champion of the world.

REASON TO IGNORE THIS ADVICE: You have a buttload of money

24/52: Play Shows Regionally

When I began playing shows in New York with The District, the size of our crowds escalated pretty quickly. There were six guys in the band, and we were all in college so we had a strong network of friends and family that we were able to drag out to gig number one. Some of those friends and relatives brought their friends along for our debut. We rehearsed obsessively for hours and hours on countless days before we ever took the stage. The first show had maybe fifty people at it and by my own humble estimation, we kicked ass and took names. Most of the people at the show seemed to have a blast, so they told more friends. The next show had around 100 paid audience members (our tickets were $5 each in the beginning). We kicked ass that night, too. This became something of a tradition; we’d play a great show and the people who saw us would spread the word so attendance at our next show would be even better. A few months after our first gig, we were regularly selling out small clubs in The Village.  (Of course, some nights we sold more tickets than others; there’s going to be something of a fluctuation in ticket sales for almost all artists.) We didn’t perform so often that our newfound fans got sick of us, but we didn’t space out our gigs so far that people had a chance to forget about us. In time, the project grew and grew and we were eventually traveling to play shows around the region (and then, the country).

When you’re starting out, you need to get your show on point before you roll it out in front of people. Your friends and family will come see your band’s first show, and if it’s good, maybe some of them will keep coming back and God willing, bring along more friends. Most people (even ones who really love you) won’t come see your fourteenth show in town if the previous thirteen weren’t entertaining.  I have four points here: 

1.     Don’t play shows until you’re ready. Rehearse your show until you’re blue in the face and can play it backwards, forwards and sideways. Remember that when you get on stage, you’re going to need to entertain as well as play. (That’s why they call it the “Entertainment Business;” you need to entertain the people who pay to see you. If your show isn’t entertaining, they’ll spend their money elsewhere.)

2.     Make your ticketed shows cheap at first. You want to show that you can sell tickets (so you should charge something), but very few people want to pay $20 to see a show if the band is brand new. Good rule of thumb: If your early shows cost more than a beer at the venue where you’re paying, you’re probably charging too much.

3.     Once you’re ready, play shows close to home. If you live in New York, play there. There’s also a bunch of markets within driving distance, so play there, too. (This is true for most places. If you don’t live close to Boston/Chicago/Philly/New York, maybe there’s a college town within a five hour drive of where you’re at and another one that’s three hours in the other direction. You don’t have to focus exclusively on huge markets if there aren’t any within a day’s drive of where you live.) Build an audience in all of the markets that you can reach but make sure they’re different markets. (You probably don’t need to play in D.C. and Baltimore on the same tour, unless you have sizable fanbases in each town. Most D.C. fans will go to a Baltimore show and vice versa. Be mindful of that when booking shows; don’t put them within too few miles of each other.) Being able to sell tickets in one city is cool, but being able to sell tickets in a bunch of markets starts to look like a career. You’ll need to promote these shows so that people come out to see you, but that’s a blog post for another day.

4.     How often you should play in a given market is not an exact science. You’ll need to figure out how many shows your fanbase will support in the market within a certain amount of time. Odds are, very few people will want to see you every week. What should you do to keep the band playing? See answer #3.

Reason To Ignore This Advice: You’re James Brown. He was probably great from day one and didn’t need to consider any how/when/why; if there’s any semblance of order in this universe, I hope he just got on stage that first night and the world said, “Yes sir!” Godfather of Soul. Good God, just jumped back and kissed myself! Huuuuuhhhhhhh!