Category Archives: A to Z of Making It

A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

The Arc

No artist is immune from the career arc, where you’re hot and then you’re not. Its happened to a lot of artists before in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 00s and even more so in today’s internet world, where an artist can release something great and it can remain ignored in the marketplace.

Remember Motley Crue who sold out arenas in the 80s, then half filled theaters in the 90s and they came back in the early 2000s to sold out arenas again then went away and are now coming back again.

Remember Aerosmith.

A huge band in the 70s, disappeared towards the end of that era and it wasn’t until 1987 that they became relevant again. And that relevance kept on rising until the late 90s and suddenly they weren’t as hot as before.

Remember Iron Maiden. Sold out arenas in the 80s and then weren’t as hot after Bruce left, but took up the momentum again when he returned.

And there are many more who were hot, then not hot and then hot again, but bands normally break up when their career is not as hot as it was in the past like Twisted Sister or Skid Row. Twisted did reform and became hot again, while Skid Row refuse to kiss and make up.

And artists who have those royalties from all those old records can go on the road based on that music.

But some artists are even fucking this up with ticketing bundles and scalping their own tickets.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

What Game Are You Playing?

I just read a book called “The Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek.

It’s about businesses and how they need to think more in long term strategies than short term. And when I read these kind of books I think of how can I apply these ideas and mindsets to myself, to my children and eventually I start to think of other areas.

Like music.

So when we play or watch a sport, there are rules that everyone who is playing, know and agree with. If you take football (soccer), the players know that the objective is to win. In order to win, one team has to score more goals than the other. And they need to do it within a time limit and within the rules of the game, which a referee enforces. This is known as a finite game. It has a start and an end and rules to which both teams agree with before they start. At the end of the season there is a winner/champion.

But music or creating art is not a finite game. There are no time limits that all artists agree upon. There are no hard rules that all artists need to follow.

The “creating art” world is, an “Infinite Game”.

There’s no other way to explain it because there are no rules about how to win, no agreed way of keeping score and no time limit. So if you are an artist and you want to create art, you need to be able to stay in the art world for as long as possible.

Profits and sales are not the only targets or the markers of success which show an artists strength. A song which makes a little bit of money and saves a life is just as important as a song which makes a lot of money.

And what does making money really mean?

The sales and profits of the “Metal Health” and “Stay Hungry” album’s made Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister big names. Yet Quiet Riot couldn’t survive the challenges the following years brought upon them because in the end, their own original material didn’t really connect with listeners the way their Slade covers did.

But the mighty Twisted Sister broke through on original material, and even though they did break up they returned to the infinite game post Sept 11, because their original material was strong enough and still forming connections with people via movie placements and peer to peer downloading. And Twisted Sister stayed in the game, until they decided to check out. Like Motley Crue and Kiss and Ozzy. Or wait, those last three bands did retirement tours and came back into the game.

As an artist, create art that would last for generations to come, like how Slade did. They didn’t have the sales success of the artists who covered their songs, but they created art which has lasted almost 50 years. Black Sabbath are bigger now than they’ve ever been, even during their 70s heyday.

But MTV in the 80s and 90s made people think of short-term results.

You really want to know what killed the recording industry?

It wasn’t Napster, the way the labels and Lars Ulrich and Gene Simmons have tried to sell it.

It was no artist development from the labels because every label executive was focused on getting the best earnings for the next quarter. Profits over development.

Even the mp3 tech was offered to the labels, who rejected it, because they put profits ahead of innovation. They even put profits ahead of creating a product/service that people could sink their teeth into.

Create art and create it forever.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Metrics

When we think of how well a business is going, we all look to the share price. In Australia, we get all of the financial analysts on TV or in the press, telling us when to buy and when to sell. The whole Motley Fool organisation is built on this model. Everything is based on the commercial outlook.

But the share price is all about putting money back into the shareholders pocket. It doesn’t really state what the business is doing or what innovations it’s creating or how big or small the reach is or how loyal their base is.

And in music, an artists career is based on the money they have made selling albums (the share price) which is all about putting money back into the record label (the shareholder).

Are today’s top 10 artists better than the top 10 artists 40 years ago?

Remember that Black Sabbath or Deep Purple or Kiss didn’t have an album that went to number one in the 70s but they still sell more tickets than all the artists in the Spotify’s Top 50 Streaming list. Nor did any of these acts get classed in the top 10 of any Billboard chart.

When we measure success on just one metric, we are entering a territory of absolutes.

The first is that if it doesn’t sell, it is shit and that the artist is behind all of the other artists that do sell. It’s an unbalanced comparison but having the one metric is easy because it gives the artist a ranking like an EA game, a hierarchy, like it means something. And if the artist cares about status then they will strive to play the commercial metric game.

But if the artist gets the sales or streaming target, will that make them happy?

Meeting a sales target does not equal fan base retention. It will give you a boost but if the next song or album does not meet the sales target, does it mean that the song/s are shit.

Create your own metrics and remember that each listener forms their own emotional attachment to a song. It’s unique and no “one size fits all” business model is able to capture it.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Success And Sameness

Success leads to sameness and conformity. Success leads to less risk taking. Success leads to complacency and lack of innovation. Success also leads to wanting more success which also involves less risk taking again.

I’ve read countless stories of companies who have died a painful death because they refused to innovate.

Kodak told their digital camera creator to put his new toy away as they didn’t want a digital camera to affect their camera film sales, which in the end it killed the company completely.

Bands also follow a similar route but not all. Once they have public acceptance of their music they seek it again and again. Sometimes to their detriment and sometimes until their break up or an important band member leaving.

Bon Jovi basically tried to rewrite “Slippery When Wet” with “New Jersey”. You could interchange “Bad Medicine” with “You Give Love A Bad Name” and “Born To Be My Baby” with “Living On A Prayer”. While “Let It Rock” started off with a keyboard solo intro, “Lay Your Hands On Me” started off with a drum intro.

It didn’t surpass “Slippery When Wet” but it made Jovi think he needed to get out and relax for a bit, so he put the band on hold and rode his motorcycle across America and started writing. The main song to come out is a rewrite of “Wanted Dead Or Alive” called “Blaze Of Glory”. Some of the other songs like “Dry County” and “Bed Of Roses” appeared on the “Keep The Faith” album which was a little bit different, but this time Jovi was content with reduced sales until he struck it big again with “Its My Life”.

Metallica wrote the self titled “Black” album the same way they wrote all of their other albums up to that point, with James and Lars listening to all the tapes of riffs and compiling the songs.

But in the recording they conceded some of their viewpoints to Bob Rock which meant getting into a room and playing the song and even slowing down tempos. And when the album blew up, the trust in their producer was even stronger. Mainstream success was theirs. And success leads to wanting more success and less risk taking.

Suddenly, for the next album, the band is writing songs together in a single room along with the usual Hetfield/Ulrich combination. And the music was more stripped back and rooted in blues rock than Metal. But also the look they had, conformed to the Lollapollaza look of Janes Addiction and RHCP. Even a Megadeth started wearing flannelette shirts.

Create for creativity and not because of the riches which might come or for the look that’s successful at a certain point in time.

Success is a choice. Choose wisely.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

What Does A Number 1 Album Really Buy You?

Artists who really want a number 1 album play the bundle game, where the artists have to pay money from their concert ticket sales to get to number one.

This process just ends up putting more money in the label’s bank accounts, and these album bundle sales only count if the fan clicks for the digital album, and less than 50% do it because they either already have it or they don’t want it in a digital download, because they are still physical purchasers or have moved to streaming.

If your goal is to impress people in the media who matter less, then a number 1 album works because i see it every day, how the normal music news sites write about it and other websites repeat it.

And how many times an album debuts at number one and then drops off the chart within a month to two months. Goes to show how important those charts really are these days.

And then you have the streaming kerfuffle of artists asking kids to play certain tracks a million plus times so old records from artists who are one hit wonders start to re-enter the chart. Vanilla Ice did this recently.

This system has built careers in the past but a new act can’t even play that game and if you have aspirations to be in Spotify’s Top 50, don’t. It’s irrelevant and a manipulated niche with a young audience listening, who moves on as quickly as you can say the word “what the”.

But if you top the streaming chart, you can make real money.

But (x2), if you get there with the devil (major label) backing you, well that deal at the crossroads means you need to pay.

But (x3), if you go your own way the same way Fleetwood Mac told ya and own everything, well you can make all that money every musician is complaining they haven’t got.

But (x4), the barrier to enter the music market is low and anybody can make a record. There are over 20 million plus songs on Spotify that still haven’t even been heard.

And people will pay attention when they want to. You just need to be in the game to capitalize on it.

P.S. Remember that Black Sabbath never had their 70s albums or Dio led albums go to number 1.

P.S.S. And a lot of other bands fall into that category as well.

P.S.S.S. Like Whitesnake, who never had an album go to Number 1 in the large US market or Twisted Sister or RATT or KISS or RUSH or Iron Maiden.

P.S.S.S.S. But they all had massive careers.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Personality Era

Its the era of the personality, those who’ve been in the game for decades seem to have the perfect forum to broadcast.

To spread their viewpoints or criticisms.

So many play it safe and try hard to be liked by all. Others have handlers or social media teams to run their accounts.

But the ones who have control of their accounts, the ones who are true to themselves and their beliefs, and stand by what they say, will be the ones we talk about.

Because these personalities can enact change. Only if they are willing to be uncomfortable and put themselves out there.

“We are all just actors trying to control and manage our public image, we act based on how others might see us.”

Erving Goffman, a Canadian sociologist came up with the above quote from one of his studies, and he’s been dead since 1982. So the social conditioning of being liked in the pre-Internet era existed and got amplified with social media.

It’s not about likes, it’s about having a voice.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Surroundings

There is a billion dollar industry telling people that the only way to get better is to surround yourself with better people.

As author and motivational speaker Jim Roth once said, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” And in that small five person group, there will be family members and friends known as “Locusts” (great song from Machine Head by the way) who sap your strength and undermine your efforts to improve.

It’s why it’s important to take the midnight train out of your small town or small circle and arrive into a bigger town or bigger circle, and find people who share your values, and push you and inspire you to be your best self. You can even do it today without leaving your bedroom, but sometimes, behind the blue screen, you don’t know what kind of person is really there.

Even “Spotify for Artists” has a whole team devoted to surrounding writers and composers with some of the best talent, so they can either write a song from scratch, have people play on their song, have people mix and master their song or just give them feedback.

And we used to get upset when our favourite bands used to lose band members, for musical differences or some other bs line. But sometimes, members left our favorite bands to surround themselves with better musicians and sometimes those band members got booted so a more talented musician could be brought in.

But talent doesn’t make a great band. We all know that talent without effort and grit and resilience and a quest of self-development means nothing.

And the glue that binds it all is trust. So surround yourselves with talented people that you trust.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Shine

Michael Sweet is one of the hardest working musicians these days. The arena days of the 80’s are long gone, but if creating music was all about playing arenas, then Sweet would have packed it in a long time ago. From his work ethic, the need to create is more important than anything else.

And each album has a track which makes me pay attention.

“Shine” is the one on his newest solo album “Ten”.

The riffage, the chorus vocal melody and the music under the Chorus, are all very similar to the songs he writes for Stryper. In other words, Michael Sweet is Stryper and Stryper is Michael Sweet.

Times are tough
The waves get rough
And it’s hard to see the land

Man, times are tough, especially if we let our small lizard brain control everything. You need to remember, the human body is designed to fight or flight.

In other words, it’s designed to survive. It’s been that way from the sabre tooth days and it’s still wired that way, even when you lay down in the comfort of your bed. So when those times are tough and your mind is telling you to give up, remember that you are designed to survive.

You’ve seen it all
And taken falls
And you’ve stood the test of time
You’re a conqueror, a warrior
And your spirit is sublime

Living makes you experience failure and success.

How you deal with setbacks and success, is how you survive.

Hey – there’s only one of you
Hey – don’t let life run you through
Hey – you’re one of a kind
You don’t have to hide
All you have to do is shine

Damn right, you only have one life, so don’t throw it away focusing on past wrongs or allowing toxic people sap your energy and light.

And the Guitar solo by gunslinger Ethan Brosh, is worthy of attention. But will anyone care in our noisy society.

And straight after “Shine” comes “Let It Be Love”, a stellar ballad with one of Sweet’s best vocal performances, which goes into “Never Alone” and “When Love Is Hated” (with its “Immigrant Song” from Led Zeppelin groove merged with the “Lady Of The Lake” from Rainbow groove), basically the four best songs on the album, back to back.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Stupidity

Rehab

When artists get into a situation when their life feels like it is out of control, how much blame should be levied at management or band mates?

Sometimes a simple conversation over coffee can change things. Sometimes, a simple question, “are you okay?” could change things. But people need to ask those questions like the band mates.

But without good managers, it’s an uphill struggle to world domination. And you don’t get good management if you are not making money. So in order to keep the good managers, you need to be making money.

And Metallica is a worldwide cultural phenomenon. I was at a fundraiser last night for Beyond Blue, a Call centre which deals with mental health and a guitar signed by the Metallica members was the highest auctioned item.

And the people who in most cases start the downward spiral are the main people, like James Hetfield.

If Hetfield wants, he could really fire all of the other band members and it will still be Metallica. He is the riff meister, the singer and the lyric writer (well ignore that album called “St Anger” when others were made to contribute lyrics because a life coach said so and because the main writer wasn’t really interested).

So is it any wonder that James Hetfield is back in rehab. The reality is, without James Hetfield, Metallica cannot tour. And if they cannot tour, they don’t make money. And if they don’t make money, band members and management don’t get paid. So they tour, until something breaks.

But Metallica is a corporation, a business, with employees. It needs to roll on.

The band owns all of their masters, so they negotiated favourable license and royalty deals with streaming services.

A movie is released about S&M 2. They will eventually license that to streaming services and DVD/Blu-Ray replications.

They form partnerships.

Metallica with Billabong for a special run of surf clothing. Metallica with a football sporting team for a special run of jerseys with the Metallica logo. Metallica watches. Metallica whiskeys. Metallica with lipstick and nail polish companies. Metallica mugs, glasses to drink from and glasses to put on your eyes. There are other licensing deals with other companies to have their T shirts in various stores around the world.

But the main person is in rehab. And until they fix that, they are in trouble.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Great Marketing

Anyone been following the Seinfeld episode known as Nikki Sixx vs Steel Panther?

It’s another hilarious episode about nothing.

It started off with a simple interview question to the guys from Steel Panther about “which artist would they like to bring back from the dead?”

The singer Michael Starr (great stage name as well) responded that he would like to bring back Vince Neil; the earlier version.

Nikki Sixx then posted on Twitter that “The singer in Steel Panther can go and fuck himself… wanna be band, putting down Vince Neil.”

Blabbermouth was all over it, reporting a few tweets here and there for click bait.

Fans of Motley Crue kept responding about “who is Steel Panther”.

And Blabbermouth kept on finding tweets to report and kept the click bait coming everyday with headlines like, “NIKKI SIXX Slams ‘Wanna-Be Band’ STEEL PANTHER: ‘They Are A Holes” and my favourite one because it didn’t even include the person’s name (because I am pretty sure they don’t know it), “STEEL PANTHER Drummer Responds to NIKKI SIXX; “Sounds Like Someone Needs Some F Attention”.

Steel Panther are a parody band and they are having a lot of fun doing what they do. Singer Michael Starr whose real name is Ralph Saenz has a PhD. in English.

So he knows a thing or two about marketing, so it was no surprise that the band then posted a tweet that said BACKSTABBERS, and featured a video of Motley Crue Corabi era laughing hard, when they were asked what their thoughts are about how Vince Neil broke so many ribs in a boating accident.

They laughed so hard and Mick said something like “is the boat okay”.

Remember Vince Neil and Axl Rose feud. Even the VH guys said they would foot the bill for a Vegas showdown. Great marketing for both bands. Same deal here.

And the saga continues. A cool interlude and laugh for our crazy days.

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