Tales From the Manager Part 3 (Patreon)

For most bands there is a dichotomy between art and business. That is because the vast majority of musical acts approach their craft as a calling, not a career. Yes, there are dreams of big shows and the attention of thousands of fans, but for the most part, they remain dreams. They do so for several reasons. The main one is that it is just a hobby to them. But if they have any type of ambition, there are plenty of hoops to jump through.

All it takes is  one fatal flaw to stop a band becoming successful,  but usually it is a combination of shortcomings.

a.  Bad musicians. Not that everyone has to be a genius player, but most amateur bands

are peopled with some good, some bad and maybe one great players. You might say that there is no need to be that good, and you might be right, but if you are not good players then you sure as hell have to have something else going on for the band.

b.  Poor material. More than one mediocre band has been lifted from the ranks of the unknown to stardom by the creation of one great song.  I am not going to name names here, but if you just peruse youtube, you can find a lot of them. And many of them had other musicians actually play on the sessions because the band was not good enough.

c.  No discipline. It takes hundreds of hours to reach the beginners level and thousands to be great. If you saw the rehearsal schedule for most amateur bands it looks like swiss cheese… with mostly holes! Those who really want to make it are doing it all the time. From writing to rehearsals, they are driven!

d.  Attitude. You have to be open to do what needs to be done…. And with a good attitude. Whiners and complainers do not last long on the road to success. They either dial themselves out or those who might work with them take a pass.

e.  One True Believer. The band might believe, the family might believe and even your local fans might believe. But, what every band needs is one true believer who either knows the business or is a quick study and makes the right decisions.

So, TBM had a. b. c. and d. covered. I was the One True Believer. I didn’t take them from obscurity, their website, records and touring did that. But they were at the place where you make money but don’t get to keep it. A lot of bands wonder “How did we make $50,000 on tour but we came home in debt. I had the knowledge, contacts, belief and the expertise  to help them change their trajectory. The Artist is the rocket ship supplying the power and the manager is the gyroscope making sure all that energy moves in the right direction.

I believed in them, but they had to believe in me as well. When bands find themselves working with the business side of the industry, a lot of times and Us and Them attitude can show up. I think that TBM had been through enough unfortunate business dealings by the time we met to be open minded about what I would and could do for them. We made a good team.

My job always was and is to help them monetize their art. Make a living. I will make some comments about presentation or career choices regarding material etc. but I always defer to their opinion in those matters. ( A running joke among us are the many Album Titles that I have come up for them to use…. .that they never have and never would!) I do that monetization within their personal values and artistic limits. And, I think it has worked out for us and for all of those involved with the band’s art and business.  And all of this effort ultimately goes to working with another important part of this band, you the fans. TBM doesn’t write songs that they think you will like, they write songs that they want to hear and they feel lucky to be able to share those songs with so many people who like them too.

This band was born in a fine art course and has never strayed from that path. Ironically, across the hall from their Fine Art Program, I was teaching others how to succeed in the music business. Several years later we got together and it has been smooth sailing, (so to speak), with one exception.

I will write about that next time!

Cheers

Terry the Manager