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    Band Advisor: Organize: Band Advisor, #1
    Band Advisor: Organize: Band Advisor, #1
    Band Advisor: Organize: Band Advisor, #1
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    Band Advisor: Organize: Band Advisor, #1

    By Malcolm Mansfield

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    About this ebook

    We are musicians. We love to perform and strive to keep music a part of every day. We also juggle careers, family, and other competing obligations, but at the end of the day, we are guided by an inner compass that rarely strays from true north.  When it works well, creating moments on stage with like-minded artists can be a transcendent experience. But as we can probably all attest to, getting to this point takes planning, intent, hard work, and consistent follow-through, and yes, equal parts luck.  
    We created Band Advisor for players like you that believe music is not an either-or proposition. Through a series of short-form chapters, get access to great advice and best practices from other working musicians to take your group or solo act from good to great. Whether you are just starting or have worked the local music scene for years, our goal is to deliver actionable information that you can use.

    We have organized this information into a five-volumes series beginning with 'Organize.' This collection tackles the myriad of questions surrounding best practices in bringing together the essential parts of the puzzle involved in starting a live act. Other volumes in the series include 'Create,' where you will whiteboard your plan and set the wheels in motion. Then, use the advice from 'Share' and 'Grow' to get your music in front of your fans. Finally, keep it going with tips from the final stage 'Sustain' and diffuse the common challenges that lead most bands to break up.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPerformers Almanac Publishing
    Release dateNov 23, 2019
    ISBN9781393021629
    Band Advisor: Organize: Band Advisor, #1
    Author

    Malcolm Mansfield

    During my time as a local gigging musician, I met so many creative, inspired people out there also working the live music scene. Back in 2009, when my first bar band was on track to begin playing out, I thought I had it all figured out. However, once we started racking up gigs, I soon realized how little I knew about how to launch, grow, and sustain a live act. And, probably like you, with a day job, I didn't have a lot of time to troubleshoot. Searching the web for fixes was a bit like wading through miles of swamp to divine the clear spring waters. So, my intent in creating Band Advisor was to aggregate and present the expertise from like-minded individuals, and to be the catalyst for learning and productive conversation.  Band Advisor is undoubtedly a passion project. And I suspect that other home-town musicians share my goal to build a cash-flow positive side-line music gig. However, after spending weeks on the web, it soon became clear to me that creating another text-heavy blog post wasn't the answer. As I considered the common pressure points that musicians face, the need for practical but straightforward tools that we could all use became apparent. I hope that you will find these chapters, associated tools, and recommended links useful and that these components in aggregate will both save you time and allow you to focus your artistic energy into a beam of pure joy.

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      Book preview

      Band Advisor - Malcolm Mansfield

      FOREWORD

      ––––––––

      For some, launching a live music project evolves organically over time, and the path to success and satisfaction is lined with gold. For the rest of us, it is a slog. It begins with a vague concept of a plan and is centered on what is immediately available and convenient. Inspiration on what to play, where to play, and how to market your music is fueled by conversations with others and haphazard research on the web. Then we rush around to pull together resources, and before we know it, the project has taken on a life of its own. Before too long, days have turned into weeks and months, and you look back wondering why you’ve not made it out the basement, or why you are stuck taking the no-pay gigs.

      Performers Almanac has built the Band Advisor series of books for musicians who are looking to make order out of the chaos that is moving from the basement to the stage. The writing team at Performers Almanac shows how a dose of planning can keep the engine on your live musical act running for years to come.  Using our publications and suite of associated tools, we expect you will be pleased with the outcome. We draw on real-life anecdotes and research tempered by years of our own experience gigging around the Rochester, NY region.

      While most bands are struggling to get by, the advice from Performers Almanac Press will have you scoring victories left and right as you improve your live show, relationships with your band members, and put your sideline passion into motion. Band Advisor is a practical guide that will inspire you to rethink how to set up and run a live music group and keep you enjoying your craft for years to come.

      SECTION 1  |  PLANNING

      ––––––––

      1.0  Building Your Dream Team

      1.1  All Aboard

      1.2  Developmental Stages

      1.3  Goal Setting

      1.4  Amateurs & Pros

      1.5  Eleven Commandments

      1.0  BUILDING YOUR DREAM TEAM

      Create the Vision and the Sound. Consider the range of genres you are going to play. Selecting a core genre will play hand in hand with defining your target audience as well as your target venues. For example, are you mainly looking to play at bars and pubs, or are you eventually working on getting hired for weddings and other private events? Included in this consideration is your group size, instrumental composition, and the image you are looking to project.

      Your USP. It is important to define and share your unique selling proposition (USP). Rather than launch the 24th classic rock gig in town this year, survey the landscape and consider covering an underrepresented genre. Let this concept drive your creative vision and play out on flyers and posters. The USP will help frame how your group will be perceived outside of your familiar venue.

      The Name. The name you select brings together issues learned in the concepts above. In some cases, using a band name generator or a few stabs at the open dictionary is good enough, but keep in mind that the band name can enhance or inhibit your ability to get various gig types.

      Recruit Members. Aside from patience, this task involves crafting a classified ad that accurately reflects the vision for your group and getting this description in front of the right audience. The ad should establish details like availability for practice, genre preference, goals regarding gig types, the look (age/sex) of band members, willingness to travel out of town, and whether any specialized gear is required. These considerations drive the substance of your ad. While Craigslist may be a good option, don't neglect posting positions on job boards at music shops, colleges, and in local papers. You should also consider attending local open mic nights and network with musicians whose work you admire.

      Open Call. While you probably wanted your team assembled yesterday, don't jump at the first player you find. Be patient. Interview multiple people in each position through tryouts and callbacks. You are likely to meet some great players, but keep in mind, while they may be excellent fill-in players, they may not have the right temperament for a long-term working relationship. Before you invite new players to practice, do your research and ask for links to any digital assets, including sound cloud recordings, YouTube videos, and Facebook pages where you can learn about their past activities. Unlike stocks, using these resources will predict their future performance. You should also ask them to send their setlist. Are they responding to your classified because your tastes overlap, or are they just saying it's a match to tell you what you want to hear? Take a pass on the guy who says his tastes are eclectic. In addition to sounding pretentious, it probably means that they haven't done their homework or understand what they are really trying to accomplish.

      Find the Fit. Now that you have communicated by email, reviewed the player's setlists, and listened to online digital content, it is time to get up close and personal. Start with an introductory phone call and reiterate what you are looking for, as presented in the classified. It is also a good time to flesh out details like whether they have a day job, what their work hours are like, whether they have family obligations, and the like. For

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