Category Archives: A to Z of Making It

A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories

Back in 1989, Derek Oliver said the following; Dream Theater: one of the most innovative bands in town.

I am re-reading a Kerrang interview that Derek Oliver conducted with Dream Theater back in 1989. It has the title; PROG ROCK LIVES… RUN TO THE HILLS.

Yes, that is the same Derek Oliver that negotiated Dream Theater’s deal with Atco and the same Derek Oliver, that had a song written in his name.

Pull Me Under originally had the working title of “Oliver’s Twist”. It was a last minute song written at the request of Derek Oliver. The original version also had the unbelievable solo section from Erotomania in it. Pull Me Under was so good, that John Petrucci used the 1st verse riff of Pull Me Under in The Count Of Tuscany 1st Verse from the album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings released in 2009. He also used the songs structure for the song On The Backs Of Angels from the album A Dramatic Turn Of Events released in 2011.

“They stand alone. Unique in their quest for musical perfection. Dream Theater have no boundaries. Their frontier terminates at the edge of infinity. Not surprisingly, yours truly has taken to this band like a fish to water.”

He is a fan, and in two years’ time this fan would play a major part in breaking Dream Theater to the masses. See what fans can do for a band. Throughout the article, Oliver is full of praise of the band. He introduces the band’s new album, When Dream and Day Unite and covers the Dream Theater backstory from 1985. Oliver also touches on the name change from Majesty to Dream Theater and the reasons behind it. Most importantly the article finishes with the following comment; “Dream Theater: one of the most innovative bands in town.”

There it is. The magic word. Innovative. To be successful, you’ve got to change something that is not working. To remain successful, you need to keep on changing something that is not working.

Why did Apple become a giant in the first place?. Innovation. Why did Apple fade from view after 1985? Lack of innovation. Why did Apple become a giant again from 1999? Innovation. Why is Apple fading again since 2011? Lack of innovation.

On the day that I purchased When Dream and Day Unite, I also purchased the Watchtower album Control and Resistance. Watchtower had guitarist Ron Jarzombek and to be honest, he was one technically wired maestro. I listened to Watchtower’s album and was blown away by the technicality of it. Then I put on Dream Theater’s album and was blown away by the technicality and the songs.

This is in 1989. At that time, hard rock was ruling the charts and the sales. Every band more or less sounded the same. The ones that innovated, ending up breaking through and remaining.

So the album comes out, the label Mechanix does nothing with it, the band doesn’t tour behind it and compared to the numbers that other bands achieved in 1989, the album was classed a failure. Remember to be successful, you’ve got to change something that is not working.

Vocalist, Charlie Domicini was let go. At first the band focused on trying to find a new singer. During this time, they also focused on writing better songs. Most bands normally have 3 months to come out with album number 2. Dream Theater in this case had 2 years. Furthermore, their sound evolved from the technical derivative metal sound on When Dream and Day Unite, to a more warmer sound, rooted in classic progressive rock.

Remember to be successful you need to change something that is not working. In this case Dream Theater changed vocalists, their sound, their song structures and in the end they change labels as well.

Mike Portnoy also said in the interview that most styles of music tend to go around in cycles and he thought it was about the right time for Dream Theater’s sound to make an impact.

There it is. The second magic word. The Right Time.

Let’s look at the competition in 1989. Dream Theater needed to compete against bands that released albums in 1987 and in 1988, as well as bands that released albums in 1989. That is a lot of music there to compete against. Was 1989 the right time for Dream Theater? Of course not. Look at the list below.

1987 – Guns N Roses – Appetite For Destruction
1987 – Ozzy Osbourne – Tribute
1987 – Whitesnake – Whitesnake
1987 – Def Leppard – Hysteria
1987 – Motley Crue – Girls, Girls, Girls
1987 – Kiss – Crazy Nights
1987 – White Lion – Pride
1988 – Poison – Open Up and Say Ahh,
1988 – Bon Jovi – New Jersey
1988 – David Lee Roth – Skyscraper
1988 – Megadeth – So Far, So Good… So What
1988 – AC/DC – Blow Up Your Video
1988 – Kingdom Come – Kingdom Come
1988 – Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1988 – Scorpions – Savage Amusement
1988 – Queensryche – Operation Mindcrime
1988 – Van Halen – OU812
1988 – Stryper – In God We Trust
1988 – Slayer – South Of Heaven
1988 – Cinderella – Long Cold Winter
1988 – Britny Fox – Britny Fox
1988 – Danzig – Danzig
1988 – Europe – Out Of This World
1988 – Winger – Winger
1988 – Metallica …And Justice For All
1988 – Anthrax – State Of Euphoria
1988 -Ozzy Osbourne – No Rest For The Wicked
1988 – BulletBoys – BulletBoys
1988 – U2 – Rattle and Hum
1988 – Guns N Roses – Lies
1989 – Skid Row – Skid Row
1989 – After the War – Gary Moore
1989 – The Great Radio Controversy – Tesla
1989 – Extreme – Extreme
1989 – ..Twice Shy – Great White
1989 – The Headless Children – W.A.S.P.
1989 – Headless Cross – Black Sabbath
1989 – Blue Murder – Blue Murder
1989 – Dangerous Toys – Dangerous Toys
1989 – Badlands – Badlands
1989 – Repeat Offender – Richard Marx
1989 – Big Game – White Lion
1989 – Bad English – Bad English
1989 – Danger Danger – Danger Danger
1989 – The End of the Innocence – Don Henley
1989 – Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich – Warrant
1989 – Trash – Alice Cooper
1989 – Practice What You Preach – Testament
1989 – Trouble in Angel City – Lion
1989 – Perfect Symmetry – Fates Warning
1989 – Mother’s Milk – Red Hot Chili Peppers
1989 – Conspiracy – King Diamond
1989 – Enuff Z’nuff – Enuff Z’nuff
1989 – Cocked & Loaded – L.A. Guns
1989 – Dr. Feelgood – Mötley Crüe
1989 – Alice in Hell – Annihilator
1989 – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska – King’s X
1989 – The Real Thing – Faith No More
1989 – Mr. Big – Mr. Big
1989 – Slowly We Rot – Obituary
1989 – Bleach – Nirvana
1989 – The Offspring – The Offspring
1989 – Alice in Hell – Annihilator
1989 – Louder Than Love – Soundgarden
1989 – Wake Me When It’s Over – Faster Pussycat
1989 – Pump – Aerosmith
1989 – Let Love Rule – Lenny Kravitz
1989 – Seasons End – Marillion
1989 – The Seeds of Love – Tears for Fears
1989 – Trouble Walkin’ – Ace Frehley
1989 – The Years of Decay – Overkill
1989 – Nothingface – Voivod
1989 – Long Hard Look – Lou Gramm
1989 – Storm Front – Billy Joel
1989 – Hot in the Shade – Kiss
1989 – Pretty Hate Machine – Nine Inch Nails
1989 – Flying in a Blue Dream – Joe Satriani
1989 – Slip of the Tongue – Whitesnake
1989 -…But Seriously – Phil Collins
1989 – Presto – Rush
1989 – Gutter Ballet – Savatage

So fast forward to 1992. Based on the competition, fate would have that 1992 was the right time for Dream Theater to explode. I have always said that the bands that remain successful are the ones that outlast the competition. Let’s see the competition that Dream Theater had for listeners attention.
1991 – Metallica – Metallica
1991 – Skid Row – Slave To The Grind
1991 – Guns N Roses – Use Your Illusion I and II
1991 – Nirvana – Nevermind
1991 – Pearl Jam – Ten
1991 – Van Halen – For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
1991 – Alice Cooper – Hey Stoopid
1991 – Rush – Roll The Bones
1991 – Tesla – Psychotic Supper
1991 – Ozzy Osbourne – No More Tears
1991 – Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1991 – Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
1992 – Alice In Chains – Sap
1992 – Pantera – Vulgar Display Of Power
1992 – Kings X – Kings X
1992 – Tool – Opiate
1992 – White Zombie – La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol 1
1992 – Def Leppard – Adrenalize
1992 – Yngwie Malmsteen – Fire and Ice
1992 – Slaughter – The Wild Life
1992 – Iron Maiden – Fear Of The Dark
1992 – Testament – The Ritual
1992 – Kiss – Revenge
1992 – WASP – The Crimson Idol
1992 – Firehouse – Hold Your Fire
1992 – Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer
1992 – Helmet – Meantime
1992 – Megadeth – Countdown To Extinction
1992 – Danzig – Danzig III: How The Gods Kill
1992 – Warrant – Dog Eat Dog
1992 – Ugly Kid Joe – America’s Least Wanted
1992 – Extreme – III Sides To Every Story
1992 – Alice In Chains – Dirt
1992 – Soul Asylum – Grave Dancers Union
1992 – REM – Automatic For The People
1992 – Prince – Love Symbol Album
1992 – Rage Against The Machine – Rage Against The Machine

Notice the diminished presence of hard rock music in the above list. Hard Rock music is a big reason why 1989 didn’t work out for Dream Theater. Fans of rock music got sledgehammered with substandard hard rock releases in 1989, as the record labels tried their best to cash in on a movement that was starting its own self implosion. Dream Theater was just lost in the mix.

So what do the hard rock fans in 1992 do? At this point in time they are starved of quality hard rock releases. Some of them jump onto the Seattle movement. Some go back and re-discover the past. The rest go in search of something that is similar to what they have known.

Enter Dream Theater with Images and Words. The album was unique and innovative to remain rooted to the prog rock niche that Derek Oliver spoke about in 1989 and it was familiar enough to cross over to the hard rock audience, looking for something new and exciting.

So to remain successful, you need to keep on changing something that is not working. The Kevin Moore situation was unexpected to the rest of the band and because of that, they had to make a decision on the fly. That is when Derek Sherinian was hired.

Fame also produced record label expectations and all of that came to a head with the Falling Into Infinity project and tour of 1997/98. Something had to change.

Jordan Rudess was in, Derek Sherinian was out. The role of Producer shifted from hired outsiders to Portnoy and Petrucci. Finally, an ultimatum was given to the label, do not get involved in the songs that we create.

What came next? Metropolis II: Scenes Of A Memory. A truly innovative album. It had the hard rock vibe that Dream Theater is renowned for, it had the progressive rock vibe and more importantly, it had that connection with the current musical climate, referencing bands like Tool and Alice In Chains.

How can you top it? Easy, do a double album that is even more innovative. Say hello to Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence.

By the time 2003 came around, the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal was in full swing. So what do Dream Theater do? Create a metal masterpiece in Train Of Thought. Another album that was rooted in so many different styles and an album that still remained unique to the progressive rock movement.

Then came another unexpected change with the departure of Mike Portnoy in 2010 and again Dream Theater had to make a decision on the fly.

It’s 2013. Dream Theater are about to release their first self-titled album. In this current environment, music is getting released left, right and centre. Independent DIY bands are competing against label funded bands. Is Dream Theater still one of the most innovative bands in town?

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Spotify – Will Rock and Metal bands reach a 100 million downloads in such a short time frame?

Daft Punk’s track Get Lucky has been streamed 104,233,480 times so far. Spotify generally pays 0.004 a stream to the rights holder. So by doing the math that comes to $416,933.92 in payments from Spotify to the rights holder. How much of this money is distributed is given down to Daft Punk from Columbia Records is unknown. For a song that was released in April, this has proven to be a pretty good earner.

YouTube also shows Get Lucky getting close to 112 million plays. What YouTube will end up paying for that is unknown, as the payout figure is calculated on the type of advertisements shown.

To me, the Spotify and YouTube stats prove that if a song makes a connection with people, people will be going back to the song over and over and over again. As an artist, this is the statistic you want reported to you as you know that people are playing your song or songs.

In relation to sales they come a distant last, however just to make this post complete, Get Lucky has been downloaded over 2.4 million times in the US and over 1 million times in the UK. This means that the song in combined sales (US + UK) has earned roughly $2.4 million (that is based on using the iTunes 0.7 formula).

So if your view of the recording business is that “I WANT TO BE PAID RIGHT NOW” then the sales figure is your brass ring. However, in time the sales figure will die down.

If your view of the recording business is that “I WANT PEOPLE TO PLAY MY SONGS FOREVER and BE PAID FOREVER” then the streaming figure is your brass ring. Streaming has taken the concept of listening to a song a million times at home on your stereo into the digital world.

For all the complaints about streaming payments, an important note to make is that there is NO RELIABLE data from the PRE-NAPSTER era, that suggests that musicians received more money from recorded sales. The good old ADVANCE from the Record Labels always clouded the creative accounting employed by them.

Sound recordings these days are purely for promotion purposes. If you can make money from it, like Daft Punk has, great. In the end, once artists start looking for sales of their recorded music they start to become entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur is an individual who organizes and operates a business, taking on the financial risk to do so. As an entrepreneur you have to offer something which somebody else wants to buy. If you want to make money you need to provide something of value that somebody else wants to pay for.

In relation to radio plays, yes terrestrial radio does pay more, however with the rise of internet connections in all new automobile’s, terrestrial radio is dead. They just don’t know it yet. The world has shifted online and with all things online there is always one winner that comes out on top. Google, Facebook, Amazon, iTunes and Twitter are just some names that come to mind.

So what are the rock/metal numbers like for new music that came out in April 2013.

Bring Me The Horizon is sitting at 3.2 million for the song Shadow Moses.

Paramore is sitting at 7.6 million for the song Still Into You.

Fall Out Boy is sitting at 20.1 million for the song My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark.

Killswitch Engage is sitting at 1.2 million for the song In Due Time.

Volbeat is sitting at 2.63 million for the song Lola Montez.

Device is sitting at 525,000 for the song Vilify.

Rob Zombie is sitting at 347,000 for the song Dead City Radio And The New Gods Of Supertown.

If it is a numbers game, metal and rock has a long way to go to get to the 100 million streams of Get Lucky. One thing is clear, online streaming will not slow down. If you are a DIY artist, you need to play in this field. Streaming is just one cog in the complex machine that the music business has become.

If one of the bands above had that crossover songs, then….

 

For some artists it works really well, for others not so well. In relation to sales, Killswitch Engage, Rob Zombie, Volbeat and Device are still selling physical and digital units as they tour around the U.S. All of the bands have moved over 100,000 units each for their albums released in April.

If you are comparing sales numbers to streaming numbers, the streaming numbers are way more spectacular. In the end, all artists want to be heard. So what are are the artists doing, to give the people a reason to listen to them.  

The live business, the merchandise business and the recorded music sales business are other cogs in the complex machine that the musical business has become. 

One last note, Black Sabbath’s Paranoid has earned close to $44,000 from Spotify. Not bad for a song that was released forty odd years ago. Now who gets that money and how it is distributed amongst the band members is a different story entirely.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Musicians can’t be immune to reality – Say Hello To The Entrepreneur

Piracy can never be handled with a one size fits all business model. Each product that is released needs to have its own strategy to combat piracy.

Sending a million takedown requests to Google will not solve the problem. It is a waste of money and resources. Even a recent study by the Computer and Communications Industry Association challenges the long-held perception that search engines actively promote unlicensed content. According to the paper, even if all capability to search for pirate sites is removed, sites like Isohunt and The Pirate Bay would still survive.

So how will artists get paid?

If the artists’ works are copied, does it mean they need to be paid and if artists are not paid, is going after the people who shared their content going to get them paid?

The answer is NO. The only ones who get paid are the lawyers.

So if artists are not paid for the songs they write and record because, hey, they spent money doing these songs, so they should be paid. If they are not getting paid then the industry needs to get powerful people to write up laws that give those same powerful people even more power and we will say it is for the poor old artist who will still not paid.

In the end, once artists start looking for sales of their recorded music they start to become entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur is an individual who organizes and operates a business, taking on the financial risk to do so. As an entrepreneur you have to offer something which somebody else wants to buy. If you want to make money you need to provide something of value that somebody else wants to pay for. I want to show the difference between the mentality of the majority of artists and a software developer.

John Saddington is a software developer from the U.S. He loves to snap photos of his life. As a WordPress blogger, Saddington grew restless with the services available for uploading images to his blog and the lack of ownership he had over them. So what did Saddington do? He decided to build his own iOS app. Read the full story here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/toyota/2013/08/19/entrepreneur-develops-new-way-to-share-images-online/

Saddington started doing it part time, then went on a Kickstarter campaign, got backers/funding and has now spent all his time working on the app. By July 2013 it was in testing. He wants to monetize the app, however he wants to avoid advertising and purchases inside the application. Saddington is also looking for venture backers, however many are waiting to see whether the app gains traction after its August launch in 2014.

The last part of the story is a great piece of advice for any artist starting out:

“In the end I may be called a simple-minded fool, a perennial idealist that believes in a simple rule that seems to work quite well: If you reward and treat your users with respect and create exceptional value for them that they will return that in spades,” Saddington said. “The challenge is finding a way to extract that tangible value without offense. That’s the entrepreneur’s challenge, that’s their mission, that’s the goal. It’s a noble one, at the very least.”

The reason why I am highlighting the above example is to show artists the amount of work that has gone into this iOS application and there is no guarantee that it will make any money apart from the $56K it got from KickStarter. However a lot of misguided musicians and record label executives believe that just because they spent their time and money writing and creating a song they need to be paid, over and over and over again for it.

Musicians can’t be immune to reality. If they want to stay in the game, they need to innovate on the rules that came before. NOT FOLLOW THEM. Innovate on them. Great artists innovate. Entrepreneurs innovate. Entrepreneurs take what has come before them and create something new. Hell, that is the Steve Jobs model.

Singing generic songs about relationships and heartbreak over and over again is death. How many times is David Coverdale from Whitesnake going to search for love or ask for love to be given or to be in love? Is there any motivation to create something different.

Knowing how to play and writing a song is not enough these days. The public needs a point of view, something of substance. Musicians need something to say. This is getting harder in an era where people are concerned more about stardom. Just because music saves your soul and rocks your world it doesn’t mean that the rest of the population is interested.

Dream Theater recently had a listening party in New York. In the show bags given out, the attendees got a CD. Those CD’s had the attendees name on it. It also had a certain form of DRM. The only way to play the CD was via a good old fashioned stereo. If the disc was put into a computer CD tray it wouldn’t play. You can say that this is a way to control any leaks of the album.

So let’s just say that if I put the CD through the stereo and plugged the stereo output into the computer. I think I would be able to record the music on my hard drive. I also believe that it would be decent quality.

Or let’s just say that if I put the CD through the stereo, cranked it, had the microphone out and recorded the album into the computer. I think I would have a pretty decent recording on my hard drive as well.

So what Roadrunner Records would have done is given some company a lot of money for this form of DRM and charged it back to the band. To be honest it can be easily circumvented if people WANTED to do it.

Piracy is hard to be stopped however it can be competed against. Piracy is a service issue. Pure and simple.

Read this story from the Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21583688-internet-really-so-different-phonograph-pennies-streaming-heaven

The internet is just another disruptive service to the entertainment industries; you know like the time that the VCR was going to destroy Hollywood. Instead the VCR opened up a whole new ownership and rental income stream for Hollywood. Or when Cassette tapes came out and home taping was said to be killing the music industry. With all new technologies, the entertainment power brokers try to destroy it at first. When they release that they are going to fail, it then becomes part of the new market. In 2012, recorded music had its first year of small growth.

Music-streaming services will reduce piracy. The free option is already there for Desktop users. It is ad supported. The next step is to move this free option to smart phones as that is where the market and subscriber base resides. Otherwise, you will lose the customers to YouTube, which is unlicensed.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Rock N Roll Lessons from a Clothing Billionaire and a D.I.Y band like Digital Summer

Article on Zara Billionaire

All of our Rock N Roll heroes should read the above article. For those that don’t want to click on the link I will sum up the lessons that all rock n roll and heavy metal super stars or wannabe superstars can take from it.

First the backstory, Rosalia Mera is the co-founder of fashion giant Zara. At the time of her death at 69, she was estimated to be worth around US$6.1 billion thanks to her stake in the Zara chain. 

Focus On The Core

The article has the heading “Embrace what you know best.” Back in the 1960s, Mera and her former husband, Armancio Ortega, started a small clothing business producing lingerie and dressing gowns from their home. Mera focused on her core skill of being a seamstress.

Bands start getting traction by focusing on an audience that is similar to their core influences. This becomes the bands core audience. These are the people that will spread the word every chance they get. This is what bands should focus on. Songs that cross genres are songs that exceed the hopes and desires of the hard core audience.

Finding A Niche

By focusing on the core skill to create music which is a sum of their influences, in time this will lead to a niche. For the Zara founders, this didn’t happen overnight. It took about 15 years before it exploded.

The L.A Glam Scene was a sum of its influences. On one hand you had the American Classic Rock influences of Kiss, Journey, Styx, Aerosmith, REO Speedwagon, Boston, Alice Cooper and The New York Dolls. On the other hand you had the British influence in the form of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Sweet, Mott The Hoople, David Bowie, Rolling Stones and Judas Priest. These two worlds collide, with the addition of The Sex Pistols punk attitude and the LA Glam Scene is born.

You need to be prepared to live in your niche until you get lucky. Lucky comes to those who keep at it. The more art you create the  more opportunity to succeed. It’s always something that you didn’t want to do that ends up breaking through. Nothing is a waste of time.

Everyone says Metallica’s breakthrough happened with the Black album. I say it happened with Metallica creating a video clip for the song One. Suddenly, you had them on MTV. This was something they didn’t want to participate in originally.

The reason why music exploded in the Seventies and the early Eighties is that record companies didn’t ask the band for a hit single. The bands got the money and the Record Labels hoped that the band delivered. That is why the gatekeeper model was born. The Record Labels needed to select people that they believed in. One thing is clear, the Record Labels steered clear of the creative process.

Get the name right

Zara was going to be called Zorba originally. Can you imagine that, a fashion label with a very masculine name. Can you imagine Queensryche as The Mob or Def Leppard spelt as Deaf Leopard?

What about Van Halen as Mammoth or Night Ranger as Stereo or just Ranger?

What about Bon Jovi as Johnny Electric or Aerosmith as The Hookers or Spike Jones or Led Zeppelin as The New Yardbirds or Lead Balloon?

If Dream Theater came out with the name Majesty on their first release, I would have been dismissive, as that name alone puts a preconceived notion of a Lord Of The Rings style band in the style of Blind Guardian or a Rainbow and Dragons band like Dio and to me, you can’t top Blind Guardian or Dio. However Dream Theater is perfect.

What about The Facebook vs. Facebook?

Getting the name right is crucial. Do your research? Get the spelling correct. Get it unique.

Lars Ulrich took the Metallica name from a friend of his who wanted to start up a metal fanzine. His friend provided Ulrich a list of names he was considering. Metallica is a combination of the words Metal and Britannica. The name stuck out so Ulrich recommended Metal Maniacs as the name of the fanzine and kept Metallica for himself. Motley Crue was going to be spelt to Motley Crew originally and then Motley Cru.

You need to be willing to adapt if the name is already taken. I am sure there are many of other bands out there that have had different names.

Art can last forever, so you need to have the name to last with it. To put it into prospective, does anybody remember who was the richest person in the Seventies. Of course not. Everybody with money has been forgotten after they die. However, ask anyone on the street if they remember John Lennon, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Bolan, The Who, Keith Moon, The Eagles and so on.

Does anyone remember Al Coury? He was a record executive back in the seventies. He recently passed away, almost unknown by the masses. If I ask the question if anyone remembers the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” I am sure everyone will be saying YES. He was the person behind it, the mastermind. Those songs are forever, the artists are forever, however Al Coury is unknown.

In the current era, it will be the tech heads that will be remembered. They are the new artists like Steve Jobs with the iPod, iPhone, iMac and iPad.

Mixing friendship and business can be trouble.

The actual title was mixing love and business can be fraught. In the Zara example, Mera and Ortega created an empire, and had two kids during it. However by 1986, they separated. One stayed on in charge while the other became a board member.

In a band context, transpose the love part for friendships. All bands are a bunch of friends jamming with each other in the beginning. Then they start to get traction. Then they start to make money. Then they get outside influences. Then the arguments start. One person does more than the other, so why should the other person get the same amount of money and so forth. One person is the main songwriter however the other people in the band want to be credited as well.

Then there is still the mindset of the Seventies and Eighties were successful musicians are portrayed as rich, however that is so far from the truth. The musicians were in debt to their label, so they had to work and create to pay it all off, which meant getting even more into debt. So that leads to the current situation were musicians are not satisfied with their incomes. Everyone is always comparing themselves to others that are earning more.

Don’t Give Up Your Rights

Copyright was designed to protect the artist. However, as soon as the Recording Industry started to grow, business people came out from their corporate offices and stuck their claws into Copyright and now you have these same business people defending the copyright monopoly, while they are robbing artists and their fans dry. These same defenders of the copyright monopoly are laughing all the way to the bank while exploiting the system in a legal way.

Artists create not because they can make money off it as individuals, but because of who we are. We have been creative creatures from the start of civilisation. 

Be A Voice

The article had the title of “Use your power for good.” The Zara founder was a voice for topics close to her heart. In this case, it was questioning Government policies and trying to raise awareness on the loss of education services. Of course, the more money you have, the better the platform from which you can speak from. However, even a small artist can make a difference.

Piracy is a term that is screamed out by the rich corporations. However where is the voice of the artist on this subject.

The Live Business is overpriced and it needs a reset, however artists are blaming everyone else except themselves. The problem is, no wants to upset anyone.

The frequently heard notion that you don’t create culture if you’re not paid for it comes from those who exploit artists, and never from artists themselves. Artists need to speak up.

Enjoy what you have

Enjoy your life. Socialise, be seen. Life is too short, so enjoy your family. It’s not about the number of digits in the bank account.

Digital Summer to me is a band that enjoys what they have. They are professional musicians who also manage to maintain additional professional careers. Digital Summer is building a career without the support of a record label. When they began back in 2006 (before the explosion of social media), it was all about burning CD’s, passing them out and getting their name out. So when social media became the new marketing platform, the band took the same grassroots self-promotion into the digital realm. They know have established their name and they are still working hard to keep that name afloat.

http://hardrockdaddy.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/independent-artist-spotlight-digital-summer/

Read the above interview, it is essential reading for any DIY artist.

I really like the part when the band is talking about being on the road with signed bands. It was an eye opener to see bands with number 1 singles struggling financially. It squashed any perception they had of the rock star lifestyles and it made them realise that they can do all of that and still have the freedom and full control of the band.

The other part of interest is that the band is 100% fan funded. The professional careers the members have outside the band fund their home lives and the band career funds the band. Their latest album Breaking Point was funded via Kickstarter. They had a project goal of $25,000 and by the time the campaign was over, they had raised over $51,000. I have all of their albums, so you can say that I am a fan. The band is basically a machine running itself. Whatever money the band makes goes back into the band.

Another interesting part is the balance between their professional careers and touring. As the band answers, “it’s tough, but we make it work”. That is how it always has been for a musician. It’s a tough gig, how hard do you want to work at it.

One thing that I took out of the interview is the honesty of the band. This alone speaks of the integrity.

They formed a company called Victim Entertainment, that they use to publish anything that is Digital Summer. They have a business model that sets out what the individual roles are of each member. They even had feelers from other signed bands and Grammy winning artists asking if they could sign with Victim Entertainment. They answered NO, because it will take away from Digital Summer. Remember point one in this post, Focus on the CORE. I am sure other artists would have said YES, as the prospect of riches could be too much to ignore.

They have a substantial social media following. They even mentioned that the word of mouth from fans alone has brought them tons of new fans. Their social media presence brings in an income which they use to advertise and promote the band. That’s right kiddies, they are not spending their money on drugs, football team franchises or million dollar penthouses. They are spending it on the band.

Their focus was always the live show. That is why they have been on big tours. The final part of the interview is about what advice would Digital Summer give to other hard rock artists who want to remain independent. This is their answer;

Be ready to work your ass off!  The more you put in, the more you will get out. Never settle for promoting your shows on Facebook or text messages only. A lot of people don’t check that shit anyway (especially with Facebook constantly changing). Spend a little bit of cash, get some decent flyers printed, record a decent quality demo, and get your ass out there on the street and physically hand stuff out! You meet a lot of cool and interesting people doing this too.  Just remember, not everyone is going to like it, and some may put it down, but at least you’re getting your name out there one step at a time.

Know The Truth

Don’t get caught up in the saga of how artists will be paid. You are an artist so keep on creating. We live in a market economy. Everybody is responsible for finding a way to make money by providing value that somebody else wants to pay for.

Once artists start making some money from their art they will eventually become entrepreneurs. That means that you have to offer something which somebody else wants to buy. Writing a song and releasing it, doesn’t mean that people have to buy it to hear it.

Know the truth that business is business, and there is nothing that entitles an entrepreneur to sales. You need to work hard at it.

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A to Z of Making It, Copyright, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Piracy

Beyond The Horizon – The Future Of Music

Beyond the horizon lies a very different musical and entertainment landscape, one that has been completely reshaped by technology. Back in the Eighties, the goal was to work in the music business for a record label while you dreamed of being a rock star. Fast forward thirty years and the goal is to work in technology. The new rock stars are the tech heads.

The control that the entertainment industries had on entertainment has diminished with the rise of the Internet as a distribution and marketing platform.

Barriers of entry have been lowered. Artists don’t need a middle man to distribute their music. However, artists are in love with the story of fame and wealth. Artists today seek to have what the megastars of the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties had. The reason why we had megastars in the music business is that those acts took risks. Today the majority of acts play it safe. The ones that sit on the fringes are the ones that end up building a career.

The aim of the game is to outlast the competition.

So what will the new landscape look like?

Ownership and Premium Content – Once upon a time we paid money just to hear the music. I just looked at my Amazon purchases for 2013 and I have purchased $750 worth of music so far. I am sure by years ends I will have done close to $1000 of music purchases. There is still a sense of ownership. However the ownership aspect has shifted more to premium products.

Sound – Once upon a time we paid large sums of money for hi-definition sound systems, just so that we can listen to our music in aural bliss in the comfort of our homes. Now we listen to compressed mp3’s on headphones in the car, at work, in the gym or on the running track. The focus is now on expensive hi-def. headphones. I believe it is an expensive fad. The majority of music consumers will still remain on the cheap alternative headphones however the push is on for better alternatives.

Performing Live – Once upon a time we used to wake up early to queue in massive lines so that we can buy an affordable ticket to the rock n roll show. Back then, we could afford to go to a show every month. Now, tickets are so overpriced that we can go to a show maybe twice or three times a year.

Actually this year, I have gone to a few concerts. I have seen Coheed and Cambria ($70 ticket), Bullet For My Valentine ($70 ticket), Periphery ($60 ticket), Black Sabbath ($160 ticket), Motley Crue and Kiss ($200 ticket, in total $800 for the family) so far. In December, I am taking the family to see Bon Jovi ($250 a ticket, in total $1000 for the family). That is $2,160 spent on concert tickets so far.Add to that figure merchandise purchases of $500 and you have a $2560 bill for live entertainment.

The Pirate Bay – While the Entertainment lobby groups are high fiving each other about getting court orders for ISP’s to block access to The Pirate Bay, they are failing to see the New Pirate Bay slowly coming over the horizon. Remember that the initial plan of The Pirate Bay was to create a small BitTorrent tracker for an extended circle of friends. No one predicted what was to come. The Pirate Bay’s aim was always to be copied. It never wanted to be the biggest or the most visited. It wanted to spawn a billion offspring’s.

So if you are an artist starting off today, there is a very good chance that you have downloaded a lot of music via The Pirate Bay. Don’t fight it, use what if offers and exploit it.

What needs to be done now to sustain the system?

Artists hold the key. They are the ones that the system thrives on. They are the ones that can set the rules. We are in the midst of a creative renaissance. It is the Labels, Studios and Networks worst nightmare. They used to be in control. They had the money for production and they had the control on distribution. If artists wanted to play in the game before, the needed to sell out, they needed to kiss butt. Those days are over. The means of production is in the hands of the artist.

Distribution is free. The world television is YouTube.

So what happens when everyone can participate? Only great will win. If an artist is great and they are willing to be in the business for a long time, then they will become an icon. Success and the audience will catch up with their greatness in due time.

Today it’s all about being the king of the individual and creativity. Money comes last.

How do artists transform their businesses to succeed in this new environment?

Repeatability – Music isn’t for the once anymore. iTunes is dead. I have spent over $700 on purchasing music this year so far. I am moving to the streaming option. It is for the many. The fan needs to immediately click on replay once they hear the song. If they don’t, the artist has done it wrong.

The era of taking a year off to make an album is over. The hard-core will buy the album and then it is over. We can listen to everything for free online. We only have time for great. The concept of buying an album and finding out it sucks is over.

Delayed Acknowledgement – An artist needs to keep at it, even though there is no obvious chance of success in sight. It is the lifers who last. This goes against the message of the era, which is that we need to be paid and we need to be paid right now. Volbeat is a perfect example of delayed recognition. The success they had in the USin 2012, is based on a song that was released on their 2008 album. Eventually the audience will catch up with the artist and when it happens the artist needs to be around to capitalise on it. Volbeat released a new album in 2013, and they still had their 2010 album selling decent numbers.

Mindshare – There is just too much content out there looking for attention. That is the nature of the new music business. Piracy hasn’t dented the recording business. The statistics from the record labels are all bogus. The flow of constant new content is the killer of the recorded business model. When there is so much competition, only great will rise to the top. So if the record labels and other misguided artists whine about piracy, they should know that what they released was just not great. The money is now spread across thousands of bands instead of hundreds of bands.

The “rock star myth” was a deliberate creation of the major labels. Wannabe musicians bought it hook, line and sinker. The Record Labels licked their lips at all the talent waiting to be exploited. Generally speaking, every artist puts in over 40+ hours per week just to make it. Once they get some traction, those 40 hours a week goes up to 60 hours a week. Artist need to be prepared to put in the hard work on a consistent basis as music doesn’t last these days because it’s too accessible.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Offering Premium Value To A Fan vs. Making Money For The Artist – Case study on Dream Theater and Coheed and Cambria

Are deluxe editions just basically overpriced boxes, offering the same thing over and over again for a higher price or are deluxe premium editions offering something of value to a super fan that no one can get anywhere else.

I am going to use Dream Theater for this case study. Dream Theater is in the business of making music. They have a fan base that will purchase the music. They also have a fan base that will go and purchase concert tickets and merchandise. At the moment, they have a new album coming out in September. They also have a Limited Deluxe Edition priced at $100. It is common knowledge that the labels will manufacture between 1000 to 1500 of these limited deluxe editions. So if all of the Limited Editions sell out, which is common for a band like Dream Theater, the label stands to gross $150,000.

If they sell 1,500 album downloads on iTunes at $10, they stand to gross $15,000 (of course then 30% goes over to Apple). If they sell 1,500 Standard Edition CD’s at $10, they still stand to make the same amount of money. So it is a no brainer that PREMIUM products is what artists should be focusing on.

However is the fan getting a premium edition of the album that no one else can get for that price? The answer is NO.

What the fans are getting is the same album in different formats. A CD version, a VINYL LP version and a FLAC version. $100 for format shifting. I am sure the VINLY will never be played, the CD will hardly be played as most of the fans that will purchase the album will also have downloaded the album illegally to have it on MP3 because for some reason the fan will still need to format shift what they spent $100 on to get an MP3.

What the fans are also getting from Dream Theater are some extra’s that to be honest are not really worth it and do not really make it a limited edition. The whole remix angle of a song has been used to death by other artists especially in the hip hop and EDM genres . There is nothing creative here and to be honest, I find it hard how the marketing team from Roadrunner saw this as a great initiative. They did it on the Black Clouds and Silver Linings release as well. That is the label business for you, so stuck in the old that they fail to see the new.

Is the music in itself a premium product? Are digital downloads a premium product? The answers are both NO.

So what is a premium product? A premium product is something that is scarce. It is something that is rare and unique. It is something that is off high quality and something that it cannot be found again.

A premium product is not something that is created via an automated machine and then packaged into a nice box. It is something that has a personal touch to it. A premium product is difficult to create again exactly the same. It is in our human nature to pay for something more if it is personalized. That is why we pay more for a signed CD. That is why we pay more for a meet and greet.

So I am about to purchase the Limited Edition Collectors Box Set from Dream Theater. I see that it is priced at $100. So I am thinking now, what do I get for the $100 plus postage of about $25 to be shipped from Sydney to Wollongong (which is about 70 minutes away). All up I am giving over $125. This is what I will get:

* Custom 2GB USB stick in the shape of the Majesty Symbol containing Isolated stems of “Behind The Veil.” Fans are encouraged to post their remixes; prizing to be awarded; details forthcoming.

* “Take This For The Pain (Mike Mangini Audition Improv Jam)”- 30 minute documentary of previously unreleased Mangini audition footage and jam.

* Exclusive 7” of “The Bigger Picture” on clear vinyl, wrapped and sealed with a custom wax seal

* Gel-skin iDots of Majesty symbol for the iPhone

* 2-Disc embossed Deluxe Edition digi which includes bonus disc of 5.1 audio mix and expanded packaging

* 180-gram 2-LP embossed gatefold vinyl that includes a download of the album as high quality FLAC files

So now I am thinking of what I am getting above that I cannot get anywhere else that makes me feel special. The answer is NOTHING. However, this is a very common premium limited edition release from Record Label funded bands.

So I am now comparing this to my purchase of Coheed and Cambria’s “The Afterman Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set Amory Award Edition.”

I purchased that for $59.99 with shipping costs of $22.95 (which is coming from the US to Australia) with a total price of $82.94.

So what did I get with the Coheed and Cambria purchase;

* 64 page Coffee Table Book that covers each song, they real life story that influenced the song, the lyrics to the song, plus how that song has been made to fit The Armory Wars storyline. (This was the best part of the purchase)

* DVD of Coheed and Cambria on the Road

* Digital Downloads of both albums plus the Big Beige demos on actual release date

* CD of The Afterman: Ascension

* CD of The Afterman: Ascension – Big Beige Demos – that includes bonus tracks

* Blank CD to burn The Afterman: Descension – (which I still haven’t burned as I already have the Digital Downloads)

* Blank CD to burn The Afterman: Descension – Big Beige Demos – that includes bonus tracks and remixes – (which I still haven’t burned as I already have the Digital Downloads)

* Sirius Armory Medallion and Certificate

* VIP Pass (which I used with my concert ticket purchase when Coheed and Cambria toured Australia)

At the time of my purchase I believed it was a brilliant price for the content I am getting. Fast forward 12 months and I am thinking what did I get above that I cannot get anywhere else. The answer is the 64 page Coffee Table book that goes in depth into each song story.

It looks like Coheed and Cambria have realised that the book is the reason why the deluxe edition proved so popular, so now they have done it death. The released the book in a VINYL edition, and they have released it again with the two Afterman CD’s plus a LIVE release.

The game is changing all the time. Artists need to think with a different mindset.

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

The Master Manipulator

Lady GaGa is the master at manipulating the mainstream media and the public. She is that good at what she does that everyone is blind to it. I am not a fan of Lady GaGa nor do I have any interest in her music or what she will be releasing. The reason why I am even commenting on her is that she is so good at self-marketing, her recent anti-piracy dummy spit went viral and entered the topic circles that I am interested in.

Let’s recap. Lady Gaga will release her new album ‘ARTPOP’ in November.

Just last week she was in the news for appearing nude in a bizarre video to fund a campaign for Marina Abramovic and some weird art meditation retreat. Of course, all those news articles mentioned the release of her new album ARTPOP. How convenient that this video happened so close to her single release date?

This is Perfect Marketing 1.0 and she didn’t even spend a cent. Her appearance in her birthday suit went viral. The story of the ARTPOP album also went viral along with the news that a new single called ‘Applause’ will be released towards the end of August.

So over the weekend (August 10 and 11), several snippets of the songs are leaked onto the Internet. At first no one really cared. Leaks of songs these days is not even news. So what does Lady GaGa do? She goes to her Twitter account that has almost 40 million followers. She tells her fans she is not impressed at the leak of the snippets. So what do some of her fans do; they launch their very own anti-piracy campaign. Gaga then re-tweeted the campaign on Twitter and then it really gained traction. The snippets went viral. How convenient for Lady GaGa?

Fast forward to today (August 12) and Lady Gaga has released “Applause,” in its entirety a week earlier than planned. Her Twitter account said the following; “DUE TO HACKERS AN ABUNDANCE OF LOW/HIGH QUALITY LEAKS…WE ISSUE THIS POP MUSIC EMERGENCY…MONSTERS SPREAD THE WORD,”

Kudos to Lady Gaga. She played her part in this mainstream media exercise to a tee. Her manipulation of the situation is one that all artists can learn from. This was the plan from the beginning. Watch the track go straight to number one and get ready for further media manipulation marketing strategies as the album date approaches. Lady GaGa is the master.

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories, Piracy, Stupidity, Treating Fans Like Shit

What can artists learn from The Pirate Bay?

As most tech savvy people are aware, The Pirate Bay turned 10 years old a few days ago. In all of this, the Pirate Bay has stood strong against the pressure put on it by the MPAA and the RIAA and their sister organisations throughout the world. Much larger organisations have tried to stand up against these bodies and have failed. The fact that the Pirate Bay is still alive is something to respect.

So what can artists learn from The Pirate Bay?

The Pirate Bay spread via word of mouth. It didn’t embark on a scorched earth marketing policy. For an artist there is no better marketing strategy than word of mouth. That is how virality works.

Metallica – built their fan base via word of mouth on the strength of their album releases and live shows. It wasn’t until 1992 that Metallica decided to form a fan club.

Heartist – built their fan base all on line via fan to fan connections. This was all done without even playing a show. It was a total online strategy.

Volbeat – built their fan base via the strength of their material. A song that they released back in 2008 got traction in 2012, which in turn started to bring attention to their 2011 album release. Success comes later in today’s world. In some cases much later.

Galactic Cowboys – Back in the late eighties, Geffen Records signed a band called Galactic Cowboys. I have three of their albums that I picked up in the bargain basement bin. Geffen just kept on pushing the band onto the public with a pretty high profile marketing campaign, however the public just didn’t take to them.

Mutiny Within – I remember the Roadrunner marketing campaign for the band Mutiny Within. The campaign had the band linked to Killswitch Engage and Dream Theater. Instantly this is putting a pre-conceived ideal into the mind of the listener and in my opinion, didn’t do the band any favours. One of the flyers that I saw, had phrasing like “Mutiny Within is the twisted child of Killswitch Engage and Dream Theater.” The public decided that the band was not worthy of that title and the band was dropped from their label deal.

Artists (especially major artists) should seriously consider using The Pirate Bay to market the release of their next batch of songs. There is still a demand for free mp3’s. At the moment iTunes cannot service that demand as the iTunes platform needs to be paid. So what options do the artists have to provide their fan base with free mp3’s.
1. Use their own website and collect geographical information and email addresses. Get to know their fans and survey their fans.

2. Team up with Bit Torrent

3. Team up with The Pirate Bay

4. Team up with a crowd funding platform, where the perks involve t-shirts and so forth, with a free Digital Download of said music.
The Game Of Thrones creators have recently said that the piracy of the show has contributed to the cultural buzz of the show and that it is better than winning an Emmy. The creators have also said that they have seen a high increase in DVD sales. I always bring people’s attention back to the Southern and Central Americas’. Sales of recorded music is not high in countries that fall in the Southern and Central America zones, however bands have had great success in touring these areas.

The recent IFPI report shows Brazil as a market set to surge. Go to http://www.ifpi.org/content One of the comments on the report is a WTF moment. It’s on page 24 and it states the following;
“The launch of iTunes showed that Brazilians are prepared to pay for music. We thought consumers were so used to piracy that they would never buy music again. But this has been proved wrong. Moreover, a new generation of consumers can now have their first music experiences in the legal environment.”

To put the above comment into perspective, iTunes was launched in Brazil at the end of 2011. Seriously this is a terrible business model from the record labels. While they screamed piracy in Brazil and then had a real draconian Copyright law passed that can take down sites on the say so of the entertainment groups, the actual consumers, the music fans, could not download a legal mp3 in the country. Instead of trying to get licensing arrangements in place to launch iTunes earlier in Brazil, the Record Labels spent millions fighting piracy in the courts. Instead of trying to get licensing arrangements in place to launch iTunes earlier in Brazil, the Record Labels spent millions lobbying politicians to vote for SOPA and PIPA.

The Pirate Bay is easy to use. It has an ecosystem built around Trusted and VIP uploaders to Helpers and Moderators that delete hundreds of ‘spam’ accounts and fake uploads every day which in turn keeps the site running smoothly and its users happy. This ensures that the content is exactly what it is described to be. The ranking system of uploaders (which is a skull in different colours like the Karate belt system) allows any novice downloader to form a bond with a certain uploader.

As an artist, you need to have a unique reference point, something that is easy to find. Having a generic band name is not a unique reference point. If you Google names like Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Motley Crue or Metallica you know you get back searches that are related to the band name you Google’d. Google a band name like Today I Caught The Plague or Burnside. Then Google the same names with the term band attached to it. Any artist starting off needs to make it is easy as possible for people to find them online.

There is always room for improvement. The Pirate Bay keeps on evolving as technology evolves. Now it is simply an indexing site, that services the needs of its users, the same way Google service the needs of its users. It is always re-creating itself with the rise of new technologies.

All artists need to be doing the same thing. The web presence of any artist needs to be maintained, updated and recreated. It needs to adopt to changing technologies, to offer as many features as it can to its fans.

Why do so many Dream Theater, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Motley Crue or Five Finger Death Punch fans spend so much time on Forums that have no connection to the main web site of the band. Bands should be fostering these kinds of interactions on their main website. They should even be contributing to it, the same way they contribute to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. At least you know on the band forums, the real fans are there to interact and respond.

The Pirate Bay’s user base is growing because the users are prepared to share and people are prepared to download. This alone should inform the legacy gatekeepers that the fans of music are no longer sheep. The Pirate Bay showed the RIAA and the MPAA that their rules and prices suck and that service is a problem (remember iTunes launched in Brazil in 2011). The old model of basing success on record sales is gone. The old model of going to the record store and planning what albums you were going to buy in the months to come is over.

Artists need to service their fans. Make it hard for a fan to get your music, and they will go elsewhere. Trivium is a great example. They recently had a very complex (also brilliant) smart phone strategy that once you completed all the steps needed, the fan got to hear a sample of a new song. I can tell you that as a fan engagement tool, this attempt failed miserably. It was too hard for fans. So what do Trivium do next. They offer the full song for streaming via their website and as a free download. Now it is easy as hell. To paraphrase the Eagles, keep it easy…

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A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Dream Theater has a listening party and invites the fans this time around – That’s what I’m talking about.

The Dream Theater post on the band having a listening party and forgetting to invite their fans was the most viewed post on the Destroyer of Harmony blog. It even started The Great Debate on a Dream Theater forum. Knee jerk reactions from forum members Misunderstood the intentions of the post.

As a fan, it is with a sense of renewed optimism to see Dream Theater rewarding London fans with a chance to listen to the album with John Petrucci and James LaBrie. Did the post on this blog cause this change of heart? Maybe it did. I will own it.

So what does this new listening party mean?

Dream Theater will give ten fans a chance to hear the new album. Casual fans will not be queuing up for this. It will be their super fans that will Take The Time to email. These same fans will have walked the Rite Of Passage and purchased the Lifting Shadows book each time it has been released.

They will have seen the band live every time they have visited and they will have purchased all of the Official album releases, DVD releases, Official Bootleg releases and merchandise. This is a chance for Dream Theater to form an everlasting connection with these super fans. Studies released have shown that super fans are worth about $700 to a band on a yearly basis. These same studies have shown that these super fans once enabled are better than any marketing PR firm. Just Google, “Hypebot Superfans”.

When Dream Theater started off back in the late 1980’s, the marketing was the actual narrative that would sell the product. Fast forward to 2013 and Dream Theater started off their marketing campaign in the same way as 1988. It’s good to see that the marketing plan has switched to the actual product, as the current day marketing is the actual product itself. Otherwise, the product will end up like Megadeth’s Supercollider, outsold by the Metallica Black album that is 22 years old regardless of the narrative that Dave Mustaine puts on it about being his best work as it is an album that has come from his heart, not his mind.

Perception is all that matters these days. If people start to believe that a band doesn’t care about their fans or if they have lost control of their career, then they are done, regardless of what the numbers say in relation to sales, tour and merchandise grosses.

Kudo’s to Petrucci and Co.

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A to Z of Making It, Music

Social Media is Not Just About The Broadcast – What Dream Theater can be doing better compared to other bands?

Dream Theater is all about the advertisement/broadcast. Look at their Facebook account and it is all about the sell. This is expected as they have a new product and they are trying to push it. However, have they spent any time reading, listening or understanding what their fans are saying? The fans are the best advocates and for some reason bands are not realising it.

Compare what Dream Theater is doing to what Robb Flynn is doing for Machine Head with The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman… And Other Ramblings. He is engaging with his fan base through personal stories. Of course they still have the sell aspect going on for their Mayhem shows and no one is expecting the artist to stop the sell. The difference is those personal touches and stories.

Compare what Dream Theater is doing to what Randy Blythe from Lamb Of God is doing on Instagram. He takes unbelievable photos and the stories he shares with those photos via Instagram is all about engagement with people. There is no sell here. It is authentic and heartfelt. This is pure gold.

Compare to what Dream Theater is doing to what Trivium is doing on Facebook. Both bands have the same label and both have albums coming out within a month apart. Trivium had the official download of the song Brave This Storm (it was just one post and the post was called Transmission #2) and then it has all been fan and band pictures posted from various shows. Dream Theater have plugged the new song post after post after post. We get it, you have a new song.

Also when Dream Theater had the corporate deal with USA Today to stream the song, a lot of their fans from other parts of the world couldn’t listen to it. Of course that problem was fixed within a couple of days and then Dream Theater started re-posting links for the song.

I recently posted that the years of when artists took a year to make an album and went on a two to three year victory lap are over. The artists that still take a year to make an album in this current climate are doing themselves a great disservice as they will have an album that is basically dead on arrival. The faithful will buy the album and then the victory lap is over.

It looks like the bigger the network around a band, the less they focus on fan engagement. Bands or artists cannot expect to use their social media accounts only when it suits them, just because they have a product to push or a song to push and expect that the fans will remain engaged.

A perfect example is Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden or Bon Jovi. Dream Theater is trying to play in this field, however they don’t have the runs on the board to play against Metallica or Bon Jovi.

Bands with better runs on the board than Dream Theater like Five Finger Death Punch, Shinedown, Halestorm, Lamb Of God, Sixx A.M, Kid Rock and Stone Sour are still looking at ways to engage with their audience on different levels. Don’t focus on how many followers or likes you have. It’s all about connections and trying to make those connections bring value to the relationship.

Bands like Metallica and Bon Jovi use PR agencies to run their social media accounts. Of course the whole business model of the PR company is the less is more model and to have total control over the message. This is in contrast with the social principles of giving out as much information and seeing what connects and what misses.

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