BUILDING A FANBASE
Lawyer Manager Music-in-film Agent AUTHOR S TEAM Accountant Publisher Film Score Agent Webmaster Internet Marketing Director
Manager Booking Agent Phonogram Producer Tour Manager Lawyer Webmaster Accountant Plugger Internet Marketing Director Make-up artist Roadies Choreographer PERFORMER S TEAM Merchandiser Travel Agent Wardrobe Assistant Studio Producer Aggregator Freight Agent Visa/Work Permit Agent Publicist Sound/Lighting Engineer Photographer Graphic Designer
Create database of E-Mail Addresses Paper forms at gigs or ipad Website with Sign-Up FaceBook page Twitter Account Youtube Channel Instagram & Snapchat Give stuff away Unreleased tracks Priority tickets Uber fans 1000 fans Placebo 50,000 e-mail addresses in one day
Website Good simple design descriptive Wordpress Landing page e-mail data capture No Flash & No Music on Landing Page 8 seconds Webmaster Update every day Good User Experience
SEO Choose a unique name The Forks v The Forcs Domain Name:.com?.org?.ph? fatcow.com justhost.com ipage.com www.top10bestwebsitehosting.com $3 per month? Descriptive short www. martinblackreggae.com Webmaster Uber fan smarturl PO.ST shortner Artist should own website and database. itunes links don't work on Android phones e-commerce link CD Baby, Reverbnation etc Aggregators
Imogen Heap 2.03 million twitter followers Social media & Blockchain pioneer
Buy my music! NO Can I send you a couple of free tracks? YES
LIVE WORK and TOURING
With or Without You 3:41 Giovanni Bassano
Busking in Florence 10 CDs at 10 sold in 15 minutes (40 every hour) (+ cash given) Cost of CDs 1 (or probably less) Income per CD 9 ( 360 per hour) 4 hours per day 6 days per week X 48 weeks = 414,720 per annum (US$443,124) (UK Prime Minister 250,000) (US$267,122)
The live music industry is thriving You can t pirate a live experience Each live performance is unique 10,000 hours of practice Continue to take lessons and voice coaching Be great live. Its becoming more important. Excitement, spectacle, musical brilliance, emotion or dance - audience participation.
In the beginning get as many live shows as possible even if there is no money. Bars Clubs Parties Malls Local festivals U2 played over 250 shows in their first year perfecting their songs and stagecraft.
FINDING LIVE WORK Create a short biography. Keep it brief and lively Include any achievements Genre of music Humour Create interesting and high quality photographs Create an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) streamable/downloadable from website Sonicbids EPK to promoters and brands
Get confirmation of a booking in writing and signed by the promoter. Create a rider to the agreement. Try to get a deposit of 50% of the fee in advance. Help the promoter to promote the date. Local radio/tv. Social media. You don t want the promoter to lose money. If fee is large get cancellation insurance. (About 3% of the fee). Also: Equipment insurance, Travel insurance Public liability insurance
If a an Artist or band have one or two hits, have a good fan following and are great live they can make a living by playing live for the rest of their lives. 1000 fans The audience grows old with the band e.g. The Searchers still play 100 gigs per year. Had hits in the sixties They are now 70+ and so are their fans
THE ROLLING STONES Legendary band No hits since 1970 s Steady but low record sales Amazing live World tours gross for than $500 million
Never underestimate: Live audio mix Adequate PA system Good sound engineer Good monitors Proper sound-check Great lighting Good lighting engineer Hair and Make-up Clothes Dance moves Spare instruments tuned
If using radio headsets or radio in-ear monitoring systems make sure the radio frequencies are cleared a week before the date.
LIGHTS PROJECTION
When finances allow consider creating bespoke videos for some or all of the songs. Projector and screen or LED screen will be required. We are in an audio-visual world.
REHEARSALS Work hard at playing live Rehearse with mirror in the rehearsal room Spend time on clothes & the look you want Work out your movement on stage Segway songs (The Ramones 20 songs in 50 minutes)
Visas, carnets and work permits Road permits Freight Agents Flights (Skyscanner/Kayak etc) Hotels (Trivago/Skyscanner) Security Per Diums Conferences: ILMC London Midem France SXSW Austin New Music Seminar New York World festivals: WOMAD WOMEX
Financing Crowd Funding (Crowd Sourcing) External Investment
MARILLION First band to use crowd sourcing model. In 1997 Fans in US wanted the band to tour they raised $12,000 between them. Band became involved and worked out that they would need $65,000 to do the tour. All fans who donated more than $10 received a special live CD. Marillion realised just how important building a large Fanbase would be and how it could finance all future Projects.
In 2000 Marillion had accumulated 6000 fans on their database. They were disillusioned with the major label they had signed to earlier in their career and wanted to raise funding to make and release a new album on their own label. They wrote to them all asking if they would be prepared To fund the album by purchasing the album in advance. 5800 said YES and 200 said NO. Turning point.
First 7000 had fans names printed in the album packaging Special deluxe edition only for fans that bought the album in advance. Fans who purchased the album in advance were automatically entered in to a competition to win: Backstage passes Tickets to watch the sound-check Tickets to stand at side of stage during the show. Demand was so high that Marillion sold 12,500 albums on advance order. 12,500 @ $35 = $437,500.
2004 album Marbles 15,000 @ $35= $525,000 Marillion could now invest heavily in: Expanding fanbase still further (by offering a free CD titled Crashcourse in exchange for an e-mail address) Public Relations Marketing Touring 2007 album Somewhere Else they went the conventional route fans were upset!
Fans wanted to be part of the Marillion community. It made them feel partners with the band. Buying directly from the band let them know that the product was authentic. It made them feel part of the creative process.
In parallel Marillion released the album in Standard packaging through a conventional distributor for sales in stores and an aggregator for digital sales. They made it clear that fans could have no creative control. High value, high price unique packaging and product for core fans.
Create a price list & set a goal Download of album Signed CD (with fan s name in it?) Signed vinyl version of album Launch party tickets Concert tickets Signed poster Signed T-Shirt A day in recording studio with Artist Dinner with Artist 30 minutes playing instrument with artist Artist to write a song with the fan s name in it Weekend skiing with Artist Bundle of some/all of above
CROWD SOURCING SERVICES Kickstarter 5% + transaction costs Pledge Music 15% (But music only) Sellaband Ulele Tunefund Artistshare Oocto MyMajorCompany + more
Kickstarter All creative and business projects Take 5% + Credit Card fees Amanda Palmer asked for $100,000 24,883 fans responded paying/investing $1.2 million. Each person receives something such as physical album, download, T-shirt, concert tickets, personal experience with artist or a bundle of several of these.
Pledge Screen
Kickstarter Screen Shot Steve