Goldenplec

It’s always handy to have a quick general guide for the people who are “wetting their ears” so to speak. As everyones experiences are different in the music industry this piece is only intended as a “crash course”.

The one thing that will open doors for you time and time again is professionalism acting like a professional

you automatically elevate the status of your bands among full-time professionals in the music industry. You have to remember that nearly all the people you will be dealing with will be full time industry professionals whether they be bookers , managers , labels , producers or promoters, these are all industry professionals and as such most will expect a decent if not excellent level of professionalism so their time and effort is not wasted. All these types of professionals will have more than likely been around the block more times than they will care to remember therefore they can identify professionalism quite quickly.

So whoever you are going to deal with it can pay to at least have an idea of what they do , what you do and what you want to do , in otherwords have a plan put simply the easier it is for people to work with your band the more people will want to work with you again and again and thus potentially opens the doors of opportunity to you.

The above point leads nicely into my next one which is to network. Now thats not to say that you need to know everyone and anyone in the music industry. A good working relationship with a few choice contacts (who themselves are well connected) can be just as beneficial as knowing all and sundry in the music industry and can be a bit easier to keep in touch with as well. Rather than approach someone with the “hard sell” approach for your band it usually works better to be a bit more personable in your approach so that you can keep in touch easier and use your contact at the right time when you need to.

Of course another good way of networking is through simple word of mouth which is not something that you can directly control but can obviously influence greatly.

As an example contrary to some people’s belief promoters of competing nights do actually talk to each other and will give each other tips on what artists can pull a decent crowd , turned up on time , weren’t prima-donnas , worked to promote the night and were generally professional in every way an act can be, it’s simply a matter of them helping each other out so that they both have more success and less hassles to boot. Obviously the above is a very simple example but it clearly exemplifies how being a professional can help you network by word of mouth without you ever having a direct dealing with somebody before and open up good gig opportunitys and other doors of opportunity as well.

Naturally, the opposite applies and probably even more so. It will do you good to bear in mind that mud can stick for a very long time and as a result people will be much more likely to hear about a bad run-in with someone for a much longer amount of time than a positive one.

Also it pay’s dividends ten times over for you to try and understand the music industry as best you can

( more articles will be coming over the next few weeks on this topic ). Music is an industry and business is always booming so take some time out to learn how contracts work , what copyrighting is , how to merchandise or even how to help promote your band. To bring the topic back to networking try and learn who is who in your immediate area (or area’s you want to target) and get in touch with them and start from there. At the end of the day being educated (even a basic understanding) about the different aspects of the music industry means your chances of getting shafted by someone is reduced ( bottom feeders always tend to prey on the unknowledgeable rather than the experienced ) and your chances for success in multiplied tenfold at the same time. It’s worth bearing in mind that the further along the road to success you are (such as have professional website , making money from merchandising at gigs and having some decent music sales figures) the much more attractive your band will appear to any prospective label , manager , promoter or publisher as well as putting you in a slightly stronger bargaining position.

Damien Gill for Goldenplec.com

DISCLAIMER: While the author (Damien Gill) has written this article from professional experiences as well has taking all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of this article, such information is not guaranteed. Therefore the author and goldenplec.com will not be held responsible for any individual decisions taken as a direct / in-direct result of this article or any information contained within this article which is intended for general information purposes only.