Getting Started in the Music Business with Kevin Lyman

If you are looking to get started in the Music Business and you want to be involved with concerts and touring, you should bend your ears to Kevin Lyman, Founder of the Van's Warped Tour. Kevin talks his path of going to college in Pomona and throwing concerts and events in school. Kevin addresses how he found creative ways to network with the right people to throw these events and also how he creatively made money off the events. It's easy to see where the drive to develop that tour came from based off of Kevin's beginnings in the business. Kevin also talks about his mentors he looked up to in his early days. If you want to know how the Concert Business works, pay attention to Kevin Lyman!

Building a Touring Strategy with Tom Windish

Tom Windish heads up the The Windish Agency, representing one of the most diverse and eclectic rosters in the Music Business. Operating on gut and killer instinct, Tom moves fast and snatches up his talent early. That can be both wonderful and intimidating all at the same time because The Windish Agency gets the chance to develop their touring plan and add value to the band before they take that leap to the next level. But, what is their strategy to develop and build that band on the live side? Sometimes, their acts haven't even played a live show yet! So, how do they get the band the necessary reps to build up and deliver a mind-blowing concert? Find out right here with Mr. Windish!

Exclusive Interview with Panos Panay (CEO and Founder of Sonicbids.com)

Tech N9NE on how to be a Millionaire with NO Major Label

He talks about where his style came from, selling millions of records, going on tour, Jay-z, being featured in XXL Magazine & much more!

An Overview of Music Business Management

by David Rose

I’m a firm believer that the longer an artist can manage themselves the better off they will be in the long run. I wrote a blog post last year titled “Build It and The Music Biz Will Come ” I encourage artists to read before rushing out to find a music management “team” early in their career. Once an artist has done all the hard work required to build a dedicated fan base they may want to consider hiring management to help grow and manage their business. Below is an overview of some of the traditional management roles in the music business.

Manager

Traditionally, managers have spent much of their time getting their clients signed to a record label deal then working with their client’s record labels to coordinate publicity, radio promotions and retail marketing budgets and programs. Today, the desirable skills for a manager in the music industry have changed fairly significantly. Managers need to be specialist in direct to fan relationships, social media, online marketing, licensing and sponsorships. They should be generally knowledgeable in ways artists can be successful with and without a record label.

Managers should handle all the artist’s personnel issues with the band and crew members and work with the rest of their management team including the attorney, booking agent, business manager and tour manager as needed.

Managers are typically paid 15% to 20% of the artist’s gross earnings. That means they get paid their percentage on all the artist’s earnings including, royalties, publishing, touring, merchandise, or sponsorships before the artist gets paid. Some managers have multi-year contracts (that can be quite complicated) with the artists they represent and some just work on a handshake.

Attorney

Given the uniqueness and complexities of recording contracts, management agreements, publishing deals, sponsorship or licensing agreements and the various other music business related agreements attorneys can play a critical role in protecting the interests of the artists they represent. The most important thing to look for in an attorney is experience in the music business. Just because someone has a law degree (even from a top school) does not qualify them to adequately represent artists in the music business.

A good attorney with experience in the music business can keep you from making contractual mistakes they have seen that have happen to other artists. Attorneys usually charge by the hour or by retainer (a set monthly fee) and in the music business it’s fairly common for them to charge well established artists a percentage of gross earnings, 5% is typical.

Business Manager

A business manager is the person or firm that collects monies owned to the artist from royalties, publishing, touring and merchandise sales, pays the bills, band and crew, invests the profits and files the tax returns. They handle the artist’s general accounting related needs, royalty collection & auditing and tour budgeting & reporting. Many good business managers are either CPA’s or employ CPA’s on their staff due to the complexities of the music business accounting and the challenges of dealing with multiple state and international tax jurisdictions that come into play when an artist is on tour. They also handle all financial aspects of the artist’s personal life including insurance, loans, mortgages, investments and estate planning.

Business managers typically charge 5% of the artists gross earnings in the music business but some an hourly rate or flat monthly fee.

Booking Agent

Booking Agents play an important role in the success of the artists they represent by planning and booking their tours with promoters and venues. They will make sure you are playing in venues that are known for your genre of music or booked as an opening act for bigger band. Booking agents negotiate the fee structure (guarantee, % of the door, meals, etc.), determine ticket prices and ticket availability in the market. Thoughtful route planning is critical to the financial success of a tour and a good booking agent should make sure you are not playing in Atlanta one night, Chicago the following night and Jacksonville the next. Route planning can be a challenge for even a seasoned booking agent due to the large number of competing tours and the limited availability of quality venues in highly desirable markets.

Booking agents typically collect a 50% deposit on the show guarantee from the promoter once the show is booked. They usually charge 10% of the money the band gets paid for the show for their services. For example if the booking agent negotiates a $2000 guarantee for a show, they would collect a $1000 deposit, keep $200 (10% of $2000) then send the band $800. The band or their manager / road manager would collect the balance ($1000 in this example) from the promoter or venue after the show.

Tour Manager

The Tour Manager handles all the details of life on the road for the artist during a tour. They will arrange transportation, hotels and meals for each stop, make sure the equipment is accounted for and maintained plus manage the crew. The tour manager makes sure the venue has the stage, sound and lighting set up as requested and that the band is paid per the terms arranged with the booking agent. They manage and safeguard the cash collected while on the road. The Tour Manager will work with the tour publicist to make sure the artist shows up on time for scheduled interviews, appearances and promotions in each market. It’s the tour manager who puts out all the inevitable fires that come up at each stop during the tour.

The tour manager is also responsible for maintaining the tour plan and budget set up by the manager, business manager and booking agent. They are typically paid a salary, per diem or a set amount per tour.

via knowthemusicbiz.com

Opening Act Etiquette Tips for Musicians by Glenn Boothe

Glenn Boothe is the owner of Local 506, a 250 capacity music venue in Chapel Hill, NC. Prior to owning Local 506, Glenn worked for Island Records, Epic Records, Caroline Records and Sony Music Distribution.

Local 506 is a 250 capacity in the non-major market of Chapel Hill, NC; however, we easily get ten emails a day from bands looking to get shows here and many of those emails are from acts who have never played the club and are just looking for a spot on an existing bill. Since our average show has three acts that means seven of those ten acts get told ‘no’ by default – there just isn’t room to book everyone who contacts us.

As an opening act at a venue of this size, your role goes beyond just providing entertainment to early arrivals. Another expectation from both the venue and the headliner is for the opening act to help get a few extra bodies in the room, whether that is your own fans OR people you might have turned on to the headliner via your own promotional tactics

With that said, opening bands sometimes ask questions on the day of the show that often make me wonder to myself that if you haven’t taken the time to figure this stuff out before the night you are playing, then did you really tell anybody they should come to this show? But if there is one thing that makes me cringe more than any other pre-show conversation, it’s this one line: My band has a short set, can we move the start-time back?

First and foremost, I always wonder why is this coming up 30 minutes before your show instead of the 30 days since the show was set up? Every detail about a show is pretty much known the day the show is booked – if you think the show should start later, then that would be the time to have that discussion, not the day of the show when all the advertising has been set (some of which can be costly for a venue.) Think about this: Would customers like it if restaurants or banks just changed their opening time each day instead of the time posted on their door?

Secondly, changing the advertised show time on the night of the show displays little respect for the most important people of all, the patrons. Without paying customers, both bands and venues would suffer greatly. Basically, the suggestion is to penalize the people who arrive on time for the benefit of those who are arriving late. Think about this: Should we really encourage a behavior that, in a work environment, would likely get you fired.

Thirdly, those folks are likely intentionally coming late, as they aren’t that interested in seeing the entire set of your band. You are the opener for a reason - you are less popular than the headliner. However, in my opinion there is a benefit to someone only seeing a portion of your set – if they only get a taste but like what they hear, they are more likely to either buy your CD or come to your next show to experience more. Think about this: There is a reason grocery stores give out samples of the food they are selling, and not the entire product.

With all that in mind, most opening acts would still argue that anyone who is coming on that given night has already made up their mind to come, so there is little harm if the show is pushed back. However, as a venue, the goal is for those patrons to come back again and since people do put value on their time, waiting around for the band they want to see leads to a less desirable experience. In turn, patrons might think twice about attending a show here in the future, as it’s much easier for someone to NOT go to a concert than to try and guess what time makes sense for them to arrive. Think about this: most other forms of entertainment, from movies to television shows to sporting events all start on time, they don’t wait for the audience to show up first.

So, if you wanted to go see the latest Hollywood Blockbuster, would you choose the theatre that starts the movie on time, or the one that waits for more people to show up before starting? I don’t think that type of movie theatre would last very long and in this age where we collectively have shorter attention spans, I’m not sure a music venue that operates this way can survive either. And fewer venues mean fewer opportunities for you to play. Now, think about that!

Source:

http://www.knowthemusicbiz.com/index.php/myblog/Open-Act-Etiquette-Tips-for-Musicians-by-Glenn-Boothe.html

Nick Light On The Responsibilities of a Tour Manager and Advice

Nick Light is SVP of artists development with Sony Music and former VP of Artist Development and Touring at Warner Brothers Records. He talks about what it takes to be a good tour manager. Nick states that the main objective of a tour manager is to be organized and keep the band on track by completing everything on time. He also goes over different styles of being a tour manager and makes the point that a tour manager doesn't necessarily have to have a musical background.

Brad Wavra - Vice President of Live Nation, Touring

Artistshousemusic.com interviews

Brad Wavra is Vice President of Touring at Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promotion company with booking rights to more than 160 major venues worldwide, including all House of Blues locations, Wembley Stadium, and New York’s Jones Beach.

http://www.livenation.com/