A question for those in the music industry or others with helpful suggestions

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

At the end of 2006 I was laid off, so for the past few weeks I have been examining various positions in the area of marketing. Music and band promotion was one of the main reasons I became interested in marketing in the first place, so I thought now that I have some experience under my belt, it might be an appropriate time to start looking into and exploring job opportunities in the music industry.

I graduated from college in 2005 with a BA in English, a concentration in creative writing and a minor in communication arts. I also have previous experience working with bands doing promotional work on a local level and for the past two years I have worked for a marketing company based in Baltimore.

There are a lot of folks on here who run or work for festivals/shows, bands, venues, labels, distribution outfits, etc., so I’m hoping at the very least I’ll be able to walk away with some good advice and maybe a few potential job opportunities. I’m sure a lot of work, especially in the genre of metal, is done on a volunteer basis, but I’m still interested if any one has any advice for how I might be able to get my foot in the door or get some more experience … and if I can make money at the same time – great!

Thanks for your help in advance.
Metal Forever!

 

[_Wes]

BlackRose - have you considered starting your own firm?

If you have the experience and know some bands - maybe start off with one or two on a trial basis, and charge a lower rate. . . look at IntroMental - http://intromental.com/ - all metal. It can be done.

There are ways to go about it - and the better you get, the more you charge, etc.

Keep us posted!

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

Thanks, Wes. I have considered starting my own firm, but wasn't really sure how to go about it. I really appriciate the advice. Thanks for the link too. I know IntroMental since they've been a sponsor/vendor at the all the ProgPower's I've been too, but I had no idea that they worked in so many areas of the music biz.

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed by the overall lack of response to this thread. I mean, I posted it on three different areas of the Ultimate Metal forum and out of those threads, 99 people read it and one responded ... so much for a metal "community" I guess. Well, it's only been up for about a day, so maybe I'll see some more folks willing to share their advice and stories before the weekend. Hope so...

Thanks again.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Hmmm - best advices would be:
*be cautious (it's a dog-eat-dog business!)
*be realistic (success doesn't come overnight!)

I've been working 10 years on making Intromental what it is, and it's only now I make a living out of it. With such a selected genre as power/prog metal, there's not much money to be made, so if you go into it, do it because of your love for the music, not for the $$$.

Anyway, you're welcome to email me for more input (claus at intromental dot com).

c.

 

[mloanna]

Unfortunately, I cannot give you any advice because I chose a different route for employment even though I had thought of the entertainment field at one time. Most friends I have that do work in the industry pretty much are always fearing what has happend to you, so it seems the industry works the same way on both coast but what people I have known do when this situation comes up is to just go to contacts that they have made or like Wes suggested started their own company (but still look for other jobs).

Don't get discouraged.

 

[Petethedrummer]

Yeah it's not that most people don't want to help- i'm sure most people just don't really know how to...it's really tough to break in the business, and most people are probably working outside of it.
And also, a lot of people here are also kind of young/still going to school, so that can account for some of the lack of responses.

good luck though

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

Hmmm - best advices would be:
*be cautious (it's a dog-eat-dog business!)
*be realistic (success doesn't come overnight!)

I've been working 10 years on making Intromental what it is, and it's only now I make a living out of it. With such a selected genre as power/prog metal, there's not much money to be made, so if you go into it, do it because of your love for the music, not for the $$$.

Anyway, you're welcome to email me for more input (claus at intromental dot com).

c.

Thanks, Claus! I completely understand what you mean about success doesn't come over night, and that's part of the reason I posed this question to the forum. I wanted to get an idea about a few good first steps to take. I have to admit, I'm inspired by IntroMental, and eveything that you guys offer and have accomplished. Two friends and I have been talking about doing something similar (a production, management and promotion company for local music) for about a year now, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing it and I wasn't sure if it could be done. But when I saw your Web site, it really gave me a lot of the inspiration that I needed. It made me realize that this company/project that I was dreaming of was possible.

I'm also with you on doing it for the love of the music. That's the whole reason I'm even interested in something like this, because I love this kind of music and want to help bands that I love get some exposure. I think I need to talk to my friends and see if working with bands this way is something that they are as serious about as I am, but hopefully we'll be able to work out a plan and start working with a few bands at first and hopefully it will grow to something bigger and we'll have some fun along the way. I'll e-mail you once I've talked to my friends. It'll be good to have someone else to bounce ideas off of and ask questions about some of the business aspects of this type of work.

Thanks again to everyone for their responses and advice. I'm sorry if I sounded kindda negative before. I know not everyone on the forum works in the music biz, but I know there's a lot of useful knowledge and experience floating around here and I'm glad I found a few folks who are willing to share. Please continue to share your ideas and advice if you have anything that might help.

[edit]By the way, I did find another job to pay the bills. It's a PR company and I start there on Monday. I'm still going to persue the idea of working promoting bands, so please continue to share your advice if you can.[edit]

 

[Cheiron]

Find a paying job, and do music on the side. Even if the paying job is part time. Get a steady source of income so you know your bills are paid, and hopefully some form of insurance. Also will help you to focus on your love for the music, instead of necessarily how marketable it is.

If you want to start a company search the Federal web pages about small businesses. Read up as much as you can about laws. File the papers if you need to. It just depends on what exactly you are going to do.

If you make a dime, hire an accountant. Sure you can do most of it on your own, if you want, but don't do your own taxes. Very difficult. And your time to learn it and do it right, or hire a tax lawyer to cover your ass when you do it wrong... yeah you'll save some hiring one from the start.

Lawyers. You will probably want to have one that you go to regularly. I don't know enough about this part, but since you'll be dealing with contracts, you'll probably want to find one you can trust (lawyer wouldn't work solely for you). Maybe Glenn can help you find a good one in the states. Since I'm pretty sure he hires one for what he does (or at least did to help him draft up an initial contract form). You might be able to find some free sources on the net though if you really need to save cash.

Build up a nest pile of cash. Depending on which route you take you might lose more than you gain at first.

If you want to go the label route, just start sending resumes to all the various labels out there. They'll probably want samples if its a promotion route. Same with magazines. Just remember. There are no good guys at major labels. Everything is about the $$$.

If you go management route, probably start small with local or semi local bands. You can always check their site to see if they have management already (even for some 'larger' bands... such as small label bands), and send them information to see if they are interested.

Networking. Network as much as you can. Go to shows, talk to bands, let them know you exist. Let others know you exist.

Web presence. Get out on the net. Much easier to get respect if you can show some identity to who you are. Such as an organization e-mail, Web site, etc. Must look fairly professional. If you can't make a good Web site on your own, hire somebody who can. Its not overly expensive. And should pay off in the long run. As for site hosting, if you start hosting music, you might need a lot of bandwidth, so it can really raise the costs for your site. Or you can just link to Myspace, like some are doing (or the bands site).

 

[MetalRose]

Web helps, but also don't ONLY use Myspace. While MYSPACE is a good TOOL, it's not the end all to be all.

You have a PM there too gorgeous!

-Metal

 

[MetalNations]

Hmmm - best advices would be:
*be cautious (it's a dog-eat-dog business!)
*be realistic (success doesn't come overnight!)

I've been working 10 years on making Intromental what it is, and it's only now I make a living out of it. With such a selected genre as power/prog metal, there's not much money to be made, so if you go into it, do it because of your love for the music, not for the $$$.

Anyway, you're welcome to email me for more input (claus at intromental dot com).

c.

Correct.

Also what someone else said... get a paying also. I pay my mortgage via - Web Developer/Software Engineer.