5 mistakes independent artists make
- Mar 10, 2011
Virgin guest blogger Emiliano Canal is the owner of Eternal Sunday records, Argentina, the only Argentinian record label specialising in releasing local music with songs in English. In this two-part guest blog he shares more insider secrets to getting ahead in the music industry.
Part 1
The process of releasing an album, single or EP can be divided in two parts: The making of the music and its distribution and marketing. Most musicians know how to do the first bit but completely fail at the second (that is what labels used to take care of).
Since record labels are signing less and less artists most bands are forced to take the independent road, but since no one tells them what to do, they frequently make costly mistakes. Here are some common mistakes which can be avoided:
1. The music is derivative
As someone who runs a label and hears dozens of demos and new songs every week I can attest that this is the main mistake artists make. It’s one thing to have classic electropop as an influence (which is good) but another is to sound exactly like Depeche Mode's second album. You are supposed to be as good as your idols, not sound like them. Sounding like an established musician is a dead end. You'll do better starting a tribute band and playing Bar Mitzvahs (you'll make more money too).
02. Some members of the band are lousy at what they do
This always amazes me – many bands seem to have a decent indie career, playing gigs, having press and so on, and when you listen to what they do you realise that some (or all) of them can't decently play an instrument, write a song or, worst of all, sing in tune.
This is understandable because nobody tells these bands about this (probably because nobody cares about them). As someone who receives a lot of material to consider, it is hard to tell a guy "I'm sorry, the vocals are wrong, you're a terrible singer, I cannot work with someone who sings like this." Most of the time they will answer with something like: "I've played dozens of gigs and it's the first time someone has mentioned this." Well, get mad at your audience, not me, you're still a bad singer. Don't lie to yourself, this is not 1977 anymore; a band without proper musical abilities is destined to failure, and this is only good for the rest of us.
3. The name and/or the image of the band don't match the music
Music doesn't exist in a limbo, it is divided into styles and categories for a reason, and one of those reasons is that by using a little information (the name, how the band looks, the general design of posters and CDs) a music fan can tell what kind of music the band does and what kind of crowd they expect to attract. Four guys in the countryside wearing big hats and cowboy boots are expected to play country music. Guys in leather wearing chains, long hair and Satanic regalia are expected to play heavy metal music. The same happens with names; hippie psychedelic bands had names like Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Electric Prunes while 70's punk artists called themselves The Clash, The Plague or The Dead Kennedys. If the name or image in general of your band doesn’t give enough information of what you do, your natural fans won't find you.
4. The members of the band are average, mediocre and uninteresting (or plain stupid)
The music business is not only about music, your fans are interested in you, how cool you are, how you look and dress, how sexy you are. They expect you to be a positive role model in their lives, a lighthouse of wisdom that will guide them through the waters of life, love, sex and spirituality. If you are mediocre, uninteresting or can't express two ideas in a row without drooling don't expect to get far in the music industry. This is something that A&Rs won’t tell you; no one says: "The music is okay but I think you are dorks." Take an honest look at yourself and your partners. Would a 13-years-old want to be like you? Hint: if people at parties pretend not to see you when you say hi maybe you're not as cool as you think you are.
5. The songs have wrong structures
This is a very frequent mistake, probably because many musicians feel that song structure is not very important. It is. You may have the greatest idea for a song ever, but if you bury that idea behind a two-minute intro and then you add a long solo before the second verse, people will get bored and skip the track (or the whole album). Even if you're not into commercial pop, most of the biggest selling artists in every genre are aware of the three-minute pop structure (the chorus comes between 1:00 and 1:15) and use it more frequently than it may seem. Finish the album with a 12 minute three-part epic ode full of solos if you want to keep your artistic reputation, but keep the listener interested in the first tracks.
Emiliano Canal runs www.eternalsunday.com.ar
Photo by karmalaboulhosn on Flickr
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