Featured LWMB Video
Follow Us
July 9th, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Trent Reznor’s Letter to a Young Musician
Despite recently quitting the Internet or whatever, Trent Reznor seems still to be posting on the Nine Inch Nails fan forum. And this time, he has some advice for musicians just starting out. First, says the major-label alum:
Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) – your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.
Or, say, Nine Inch Nails in the ’90s? Uh, anyway — thanks for the vote of confidence, Trent. Then, he advises that those who aren’t interested in major-label success give their music away for free: “As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.” The next step, says Trent, is to do exactly what he’s been doing: “Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods.” Good plan, I guess, unless you’re so obscure that no one will buy such “scarce goods” should you even have the cash to manufacture them.
This, according to Trent, is the take-home: “The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT‘S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So… have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).”
Filed under Featured Posts, News
Comments
-
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 PM { # }
I think everything he said there was really smart and well thought out. Between this post, things he’s written in the past, and seeing experiments he’s done with his own recent albums (and Saul Williams), the man obviously gives this stuff a LOT of thought.
Having played in a band for over 10 years back in the day myself to no success… and seeing many friends’ bands live in obscurity… and considering the music industry today — I think he is pretty much dead on with an ideal approach to achieve minor success. Can’t help but wonder where my band could’ve gone if we had thought outside the box more to get our music out to the right people. Fans can make things happen if you acquire enough of them.
And hey, obscure or not, if you don’t have the cash to record albums and put music out into the world, you really don’t have the cash to even be in a band unfortunately. Being in a band is one of the most expensive “hobbies” there is between equipment, practice location rentals, travel costs, “paying the sound guy” to play shows, recording, etc. You really gotta love what you do and sacrifice a lot of money and time to make things happen beyond just writing a good tune. And, you gotta get your stuff into the world somehow so that you aren’t an obscurity… which is exactly what he’s saying. Make music. Give it away to potential fans. Grow your fan base so that you have customers to buy your goods. Make more goods. Rinse, wash, repeat…
-
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 PM { # }
ditto all around. it is sound advice that’s been on my mind since before the post, and echos a lot of my own feelings about being a musician and the life it entails.
-
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 PM { # }
Personally, what I think is left out here is the actually connecting with your audience part. It would have been helpful to encourage people to play a lot of shows and build up a fan base that way. Not all of a band’s development can happen online.
-
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 PM { # }
it helps, though! i’ve gotten further with the internet than i have with playing countless gigs.
-
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 PM { # }
Sure, in an ideal world you could get further along with just gigging. But, in this world, you can only get so far playing shows where three people show up — and it’s like, your best friend, the girlfriend of the drummer, and your mom. And only so many venues will actually book you if you’re only pulling in an audience that size. People need to hear your music before they feel it’s worthwhile to spend their precious time going to see you live. You can’t judge a band by their name and logo on some crappy flyer! But, if they hear your music and dig it, it’s more likely they’ll come see you. Of course, even then it’s a challenge. But that is when you can start to build a relationship. I think the whole “getting your music out there” part is still the most important factor. And then you can start connecting with your audience through blogs, emails, and yes, in person at shows because by then, folks will hopefully be coming out in droves!
-
July 9th, 2009 at 12:38 PM { # }
The whole online-only process just seems sterile to me. Seems to be more about selling a product that forming a community.
Anyway, to continue playing the devil’s advocate, I think most musicians who are getting anywhere online are doing so because they’re aggressively courting bloggers. Nothing gets you tons of fans quickly like that kind of coverage.
Comments