The Animal Farm

I made an important discovery today. Readers of this blog may know about my unrelenting passion for the racket sport of squash. So great is my enthusiasm that a few years back I took the official course to become a qualified squash coach. One of the guys I coach said to me today that as a result of the things I’ve told him he’s now beating people he used to lose to. He’s taken what I’ve said on board and worked on it over many games, practice sessions and lessons. The results are, if not career making, very rewarding on a personal amateur level nonetheless.

In my day job of running an artist management company I often speak with artists looking for management. If I like the band, I end up offering advice, guidance and suggestions as to what to do next. A lot of it centres around writing better songs, making better records and playing more small gigs. Granted, the message is decidedly unglamorous and positively work ethic oriented.

Incidentally, so is squash. At a tournament in which I played last year there were also proper athletes in the main draw competing for professional ranking points. They slept on the floor of the squash court over the three day tournament, because they couldn’t afford a hotel. It’s a little bit like a band touring on the toilet circuit.

Anyway, I digress. Giving management advice is a little bit like giving coaching advice. A coach or a manager can only say what the other fellow should do, he can advise on the process of how to affect change. In order for progress to take place, it’s up to the other the fellow to actually do it. He has to do things differently to how he’s done things before, so that he starts getting what he hasn’t been getting.

It makes sense, doesn’t it?

How surprised would you be if I told you that many artists who approach us don’t actually want to do anything like write better songs, make better records and play lots of small shows? They will say: “We understand what you’re saying and we basically agree, but we’re not looking for that. What we’re really looking for is management. Could we just have a bit of that, please. Without the other stuff.”

I would understand it if it was coming from a successful artist with a career to manage. But when it comes from a struggling band who approached us to get a career happening, I wonder what they think management is. Magic? Sorcery? The ability to make people like music by sheer force of will?

It’s no good pointing out that nothing is happening in their career because the songs are average, the recordings are poor and they’ve not done enough gigs to make them a great live act. The management advice of encouraging them to change these defects is ignored. Instead, they want… management.

It’s as if I went to squash coach saying that I want to become a better player, but I refused to work on my basic drives, drop shots and volleys. I suppose I could really really really wish hard to become a better player.

Incidentally, I spent a few days last summer training with one of the best coaches in the world. While I was practicing 101 stuff, he said one thing that changed the way think about how I play. He said not to hit the ball so violently. The word ‘ violently ‘ made me re-evaluate my game.

I wonder if there are any words that would make a young band re-evaluate their game. Got any?

Ah, but then again..

“I am not young enough to know everything.”
- Oscar Wilde

Happy New Year! My personal new year’s resolution is to continue my quest for squash semi-greatness…. after a festive week of heavy training (and the drinking and eating that goes with the season) I’m really feeling it in my bones. Generally speaking, for an amateur club hack I’m quite fit, but I sure don’t have the conditioning to be able to train twice a day, properly like the pros do.

As ever, the connection between squash and music is lost to everyone but me.

The tenuous link is about preparation and planning. Most musicians who approach us and people like us for guidance and advice could do with more of both.

A young band have a set of songs “gig ready”. They want bigger gigs supporting bigger artists. The songs they’ve released on iTunes aren’t getting enough exposure because they haven’t got the right contacts. They realise they can’t do it all on their own and that’s why they need the help of people like us, who can get them airplay and connections to the right people and so on.

That’s what they think. What we think is that of the nine songs in their set, which are the only songs they have, three show promise. The recordings of the songs are average at best. The band gig regularly in their home town, mainly in front of their mates. They’ve done a dozen gigs or so – one a month for a year. Even if it was one a week, it would still be too little.

Even if we were able to gain exposure for what they do, we/they wouldn’t be able to capitalise on it. The band would get killed at bigger gigs. Big stages eat amateurs alive. Their three shoddily recorded nascent attempts at songs won’t blow anyone away no matter what PR stunts are pulled. If only your mates are interested, it’s very difficult to see how the wider world will react with all possible gusto. It’s just too early.

Decent advise to the band should be to work the problem, which is NOT the lack of exposure. It’s the lack of anything to expose. Exposing potential is like asking people to judge a meal based on the recipe. Having just been through loads of very excellent meals at Xmas, we all know the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I read about the Native American chief Sitting Bull whose reputation as a fierce fighter and a great commander is well known. Turns out he was best at avoiding battles. If you read Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu’s Art Of War the ability to avoid battle is a winning trait in any good general.

The battle the band wants to do is not the battle they’re ready for. It’s wise to look at the situation in the long term, in which the next year and a half is most definitely the short term. A manager cannot give you a slice of the music business pie. However, he can help you develop your thing so that you become a slice of the pie that will be worth managing.

Indeed, the art of becoming is the battle they’re ready for. Having done some road work, they have trained enough to be able train professionally. Dig?

Some musicians prefer to hear fairy tales about how managers can make things happen by sheer force of will and a thick address book. It’s depressing.

Some say that they’ll come back in a couple of months, having worked out the snags. Their optimism is to be saluted, for sure, but… what’s a couple of months?

It is very very rare to find musicians who have completed the early road work, who have the talent, commitment and perseverance to make it, but who at the same time are excited when challenged by professional people whose goals and desires mirror theirs.

We’re working with a few. It feels great. Fills one up with hope, enthusiasm and determination.

Squash, Injuns, ancient Chinese philosophers and rock bands. We all have a lot to learn from everyone and everything.

I hope 2013 is be the year during which we, creators of art, start working the problem. You know, blaming X-Factor and One Direction and soundalike pop singles is just so… 2012. Honestly.

The art of becoming. Who’s in?

The crew from the ‘Farm descended upon Reeperbahn Festival and Conference in Hamburg from three directions. From Cambridge, Violet Bones in their trusted road machine, from Winchester, iremembertapes. in their home away from home tour van and from London, the Fabulous Leppanen Brothers who completed the assault from air. We were armed with credit cards, business cards, guitars and love guns.

Surprisingly few Brits on the trip. They warned me not to mention the war. I think I got away with it.

Judith from AIM was on our flight. Always nice to see the indie label community represented if not en masse, then in lieu.

We Open The Door Into The Building, The Artist Does The Rest

iremembertapes. and Violet Bones were performing. And boy did they. They blew the fucking roof off. It was supremely gratifying to see months of work on toilet tours in front of five men and a dog pay off. If ever there was a living advert for putting in the hours and paying your dues, it was at Sommarsalon on Friday night. Nobody could, indeed nobody did doubt it.

When bands deliver, the guys in suits can do their biz. We did. It’s onwards and upwards for the bands with new team members on board. Well done Benjamin, Denise, Erdem, Tom, Ben, Thorsten, Arne, and a host of others.

Talking About Music v Making Music

Music conferences are long plastic hallways (see quote on the top of this page) where everything that is right and wrong about the business of music is concentrated in one very small place. This time the place was the lobby of the Onyx Hotel in Hamburg where a lot of the meeting and greeting took place. It’s a wonderful hotel. The Dancing Towers, they call it locally.

Groups of people who get together on panels to talk endlessly about YouTube monetisation, fan engagement, direct to fan marketing and blah blah blah…. “publishers” who are, in real life, school teachers on a field trip wasting everyone’s time… “managers” who’ve been paid by god awful artists to “represent” them to labels…. “artists” who skipped class on the day talent, drive and commitment were given out…. “labels” larging it abroad with cash provided by government export initiatives that would have been better spent on providing decent music lessons in schools…. it’s all business in the widest sense of the word, I agree, but it’s not the business we’re in.

The Lifers

On the other hand there are also interesting, cool, motivated people who are and have been in the music business because they are, in their love for the artform, lifers in music. I like meeting them. I’m very interested in what they think. I’m eager to put what we do up against what they do. It’s great to meet likeminded people who share your passion for music. You bond quickly with guys and gals like that.

We made lots of new connections of that calibre. Which was nice. I’m telling you this for nothing. There is an army of well meaning people like us out there. People who deeply, passionately and sincerely love the idea of helping your band out of obscurity into a career. We all have our opinions. Experiences. Judgement. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Having been there and done it, more importantly, having been there and NOT done it, and having got up to do it again differently, people like that have an edge over those who haven’t been there, aren’t doing it and probably never will.

The Coalition Of The Unwilling and Unprepared

So, a band made up of music school graduates who think they know it all because they paid attention in music biz 101 class sends an email to a music company not entirely unlike the ‘Farm, asking for “more better bigger gigs, more exposure, some management with contacts… blah blah blah…”

Look, if you can’t pack a small gig, you have no business looking for bigger ones. If you have 3000 “fans” on Facebook of whom 3 are engaged with what you do… it’s because you can’t buy fans, no matter what the social media pr guy promised you. They were exposed to your music on Facebook and they didn’t opt in. Why on earth do you think that spending more effort/time/money on gaining more exposure will change things?

Forgive me for suggesting that you should make changes, improve, pay your dues, rethink, regroup etc. Do it slowly over time. With patience. Develop the music. The art.

If you’re unwilling to do so you will turn up at the races completely unprepared. The Coalition Of The Unwilling and Unprepared… playing at a venue near you tonight.

The most important thing is to be different.

Then you must to put yourself on the line completely. All in.

On top of that you have to persevere. For as long as it takes.

Out of the above emerges quality, which, in turn, leads to a career.

It Was The Red Light District After All…

Whenever I travel out of town or abroad I look for a sneaky game of squash, the greatest sport known to man, at a local club. Walking down Reeperbahn I couldn’t believe my luck that there was a sports club right next to hotel… perhaps with some squash courts as well.

On closer examination of the signage the activities on offer were of a different kind of sweat inducing nature. Doggy style squash…. I’ll try anything once. No, make that twice, because I might not like the first time….

Take a minute to find out if The Manic Shine are your cuppa. Sure is ours! As is MyLyricalMind, a very gifted young singer/songwriter whose debut single Drop Me A Line is out now.

On my summer break I spent a few days training at Pontefract Squash Club, one of the most well regarded squash clubs in the country and thereby the world.

Professional players the world over go there to train with coach Malcolm Willstrop (pictured) who has produced two world number ones and a legion of junior, county and club players.

I have got to know some of the Pontefract crew socially and, knowing how much of a squash nut I am, they very kindly invited me to their world.

A Fish Out Of Water

Having never experienced such a setting, I didn’t know what to expect. In retrospect, what they do is not unlike what professional musicians do when making a record. They don’t do anything that different to what a hapless amateur does in the studio. They set up, the engineer presses record and then they play. The difference is, of course, in how well they do it and the focus with which they do it.

Being an old fart of an amateur club player I was nervous about getting in the way, naturally. True enough, I had severe trouble following all the instructions to do with the different drills and condition games they played. Also, it was demanding to keep up with it physically.

But, I loved it. It was so cool to be part of such a unique setting, even if I felt like an impostor in a strange world. A well meaning, hugely motivated and grateful participant, but an alien nonetheless. With my background as a graduate of the university of rock’n'roll, my points of reference are not those of normal people, let alone those of sports people.

More Than One Way To Skin A Cat

In music, we thrive on chaos, anarchy and irreverence. Seems to me the sports world with its regimented structures, hierarchies and programmes is in many ways the polar opposite of ours.

As an example, in sport they have have the saying “never change a winning game”. In music we are always looking for something different. Successful artists with long careers never make the same record twice. AC/DC are the notable exception to the rule, of course.

So, we were playing a game of doubles. My partner and I won the first game. Going into game two, we decided to change sides. (In squash doubles partners usually agree to play on either the forehand or backhand side) The coach shouted “never change a winning game!”

Yeah, but it’s more fun if we do… just because.

You Go Back Jack Do It Again

This stuff touches on why some people in music speak ill of music schools. You can’t teach someone to rock or be creative. I agree. That said, I’m a firm believer in the importance of having good technique. You can learn it in your bedroom, in small pubs and bars, in college or wherever – just as long as you learn it.

The truth is that the process of becoming great at something depends on endless repetition. The more songs you write, the better you become. The more scales you do, the faster you get. The more gigs, the better your performance. And so it goes.

About dedication: after a long session, most of us were hanging by the watering hole (some of us hanging on to dear life….) while the imposing figure of James Willstrop (pictured), the world number one, was still on court practicing drop shots on his own. He’s been playing since the age of 5. He’s written a good book, Shot And A Ghost, about what it’s like on the pro squash tour.

Spot the real athlete.

Then we broke for lunch.

Who You Know v What You Know

James’ manager Mick visited our studio a while back. He said with a well meaning smile that “nobody seemed to be doing anything, they were just laying about on the sofas looking cool and nodding along to music”. That’s the music biz for ya. The seemingly lazy, itinerant and narcissistic nature of creativity makes people not associated with the process think it isn’t hard work.

This thought occurred to me: now that I know one of the best coaches in the squash business and the manager of several top pros does it make it more likely for me to find success in that field? Most people wanting to enter the business of music firmly believe that it’s about who you know rather than what you know. Hello…? Friends…. that smell is the smell of coffee. Wake up.

Meanwhile Back At The Day Gig

A final comment on sport versus music. They interviewed the coach of some young athlete who won a medal in the Olympics. He said that his job as a coach is to leave no stone unturned in trying to help his athlete compete victoriously.

It’s not entirely dissimilar in music. When emerging artists approach us, we look at where they are and ask them where they want to get to. Then we suggest a course of action to connect the two. We explain to them what they need to do and why to achieve their stated aims.

Of course, in both worlds it’s up to the artist/athlete to actually do it. A manager can only help the artist who is ready and willing to do the work. Most say they are, but far too many are just looking for the lottery ticket, the secret key to the magic garden.

Old myths die hard, I guess.

Looking Ahead

The year so far has been successful at the ‘Farm. We’ve done European deals, our artists have been touring extensively, we had our first number one in the US, we hired more staff and bought lots of cool new toys for the studio.

Interesting fact: in Scandinavia streaming on Spotify accounts for over half of labels’ income these days. That’s where the business is. They’re not that bothered about a la carte download sites like iTunes and such.

Our next pit stop is in Hamburg at Reeperbahn Festival, arguably the most important music biz conference in Germany these days. Two of our bands, iremembertapes. and Violet Bones, are playing.

Click below to get iremembertapes.’ brilliant debut album Human Architecture.

Here’s a cool video by Violet Bones.

Final words: remember Sunset Strip Club. You read it here first. Very cool band. More news on that soon.

V.

Regular visitors and those who know me well will know that I’m an avid fan and participant in the game of squash. A sudden flashback to a squash coaching seminar (I’m also a qualified squash coach) brought back an insight worth sharing. At this seminar one of the top UK coaches was talking about “affecting change”, i.e. doing stuff that will make other stuff change, so that you can hit the little black ball more accurately and better.

In the coaching business affecting change is serious biz. Indeed, the only way to change the fact that you’re losing matches is to stop sucking as a player. So, you train better and differently to change what you do and how you do it. The fact you’ve affected change results in better performance.

Musicians, real ones, do it instinctively, by practicing for hours to get something just right. Songwriters, real ones, do it by rewriting and redrafting a song until it’s a beauty. Producers, real ones, give it one more go, just when everyone else has buggered off to the pub.

The problem with a lot of people who call themselves writers, producers and musicians is that they really don’t give a shit about what goes down. Any light relief in the form of YouTube videos or Facebook chat is preferred to actually doing what affects change. It’s as if the thought of being a writer/producer/musician is much more fun than the process of becoming one.

Of course, in sport you get a career if you beat the other guy. It’s different to music, where we get a career if we do what others like.

However, if they aren’t liking what you do, why don’t you take a leaf from the squash coaching book and affect change. Do things differently and better next time. You would agree, would you not, that doing it the same as you did before is not affecting change, it’s not affecting your bank balance (except for the worse) and it’s not getting you anywhere you haven’t already been, which was the reason you came to this website, and others like it, in the first place.

I won’t get any better as a squash player if I just attend seminars and meetings where people who’ve been there and done it talk about how they were there and did it.

At some point I have to start being there and doing it by myself.

So do you. The sooner you start, the sooner things will change.

Finally… sorry I can’t resist sharing my brief moment of glory as the winner of a local tournament…

With an evil red stare, change was affected… squash is the greatest sport known to man.

An emerging singer/songwriter we recently wrote some songs with said that his manager doesn’t want him to gig. “Why?”, we asked. He said it was because he wasn’t a very good performer yet. We said: “How are you going to learn?”

He had no response.

A mate of mine just won 2 of the biggest squash tournaments on the pro circuit. In the process he became the world number 2 squash player. In the post match interview he said that he’s still learning, every day. That’s pretty cool for someone who’s made a living in the sport for a decade already.

The chasm between Wannabe-ism and knowing your shit is huge. You don’t bridge it by praying for a bit of luck. You’ve got to put your back into it. Like these guys are doing.

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We write a fair few songs for other artists. Artists who look for songs are usually pop idol types who can’t write on their own. You may argue that they’re not real artists and in most cases you’d be right. However, Frank Sinatra didn’t write, but he sure was an artist.

The pop writing scene is hugely competitive. People need big hits. B-sides and album tracks don’t get a look in. Consequently, one is constantly searching for the big hook.

Listening to the radio sucks. The pop music they play is a fucking joke. There is zero artistic endeavour going on. Everything is so dumbed down. Consider it: The Beatles > Abba > Duran Duran > Britney Spears > Black Eyed Peas > Jason Derullo.

These are popular pop acts picked at random from throughout the last six decades. Do the same with rock bands or whatever else and the trend is the same. You can talk to me all night about the impact that downloads, illegal or otherwise, or any other excuse that might take your fancy, but the truth of it is that compared to decades ago, there is zero musical ambition in music today.

That is the real reason why music isn’t selling.

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Here are some ambitious new artists. One of them is iremembertapes. whose single All I Know has been remixed by some cool people. Check them out.
Latest tracks by irt-alliknow-remixes

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Don’t be content with “doing a so and so”, which is jargon for modelling one’s project on something that exists already.

Push the boundaries. Make fellas like me go: WHAT? What IS that?

Put your back into it.

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There is a world where guys like me look for ambitious new talent. I wonder what’s happening to the world where ambitious new talent hone their skills. Notice that I didn’t say “what’s happening to the world where ambitious new talent can hone their skills”.

You can hone your skills anywhere, anytime. It’s up to you. You don’t need permission, you don’t need to beg for your chance to fly. Just put your back into it and everything you want will happen as a natural consequence of your actions.

V.

From Enormodome To Enormodome

Watching the BBC footage from Glastonbury brought home the enormity of U2. Some people enjoy hating success. Some dismiss anyone who didn’t break this week as an irrelevant dinosaur. I confess to having periodic bouts of U2 hate. It’s so easy, I guess.

But on the basis of their Glasto show no one of sound mind could ignore that U2 are very very amazing.

The Edge has a style of playing the guitar all his own. You can spot Bono’s voice within a nanosecond. The rhythm section have a signature sound and a unique groove. The songwriting is fantastic. The repertoire is household stuff. The cavalcade of hits and great album tracks just keep coming at you.

And the sound. It’s just like off the record. Except a little better.

History Happens In Small Doses

Their first stuff wasn’t hugely successful, but they made a statement with songs like I Will Follow and Gloria. They started scoring with New Year’s Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday. Four albums in they hit the big time with Pride (In The Name Of Love). After that on the fifth they got huge with Joshua Tree. They maintained it for a while until 1991 and Achtung Baby, their finest artistic effort in my eyes. It also catapulted them into off the Richter commercial success.

That’s over ten years into their career. There aren’t many bands who do that. There used to be many. Van Halen became a household name over 10 years into their career. So did Metallica. The Chillis. R.E.M.

Incidentally, R.E.M released their big album Out Of Time in 1991. Other big ones that year included BloodSugarSexMagic by the Chillis, Nevermind by Nirvana, Ten by Pearl Jam, Use Your Illusion by Guns’n’Roses, Black Album by Metallica and Screamadelica by Primal Scream to name but a few.

It is arguably the year to beat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_in_music

It was also when I got my start in the business of music. I was so inspired by these guys.

They looked cool, the played cool, they wrote cool and they were cool. They were also supremely good.

Old Farts v Young Guns

To a forward looking fellow like me it’s a sad state of affairs when a band as old as U2 are the best of the bunch at the world’s premier music festival. Or maybe it’s a good thing when guys who’ve put in the hours turn up to show the rest of us how it should be done. Do that indie boy.

What did you bring to the party? Mumford and Sons? Could anything be any more derivative?

Yeah But…. Yeah But….

People are quick to find scapegoats for our troubles. Whether it’s the internet or C-cassettes, there’s always something to blame. People say with a serious face that you couldn’t have an artist as big as Michael Jackson anymore. Why the hell not? Well, because of the social media thing and, you know… er… the new paradigm and stuff.

How about we look in the mirror and accept that most current artists just aren’t anywhere near his league? By the time he got to Thriller, he was killer! He’d been making a living from music for more than a decade.

He was armed with great skill. He worked with great songwriters. A great producer. A great engineer. And he let Ed Van Halen play a solo on Beat It, which, as we all know, is what really made him big.

Contrast that approach to the one that prevails today, the one that proclaims that anyone can make a record at home and sell it on iTunes just like that. Well, yes, you can. But the unavoidable, inescapable consequence of this line of thought is that most of what passes for music just isn’t very good. What else could it be when skill levels are so low? The level of artistic endeavour is piss poor. The playing is dismal. The production unoriginal. The performances are more about Melodyne than about blowing it out.

World Sinfonia

I went to see Al Di Meola the other night. He is one of the all time greatest guitar players, for those who don’t know him. We guitar players used to idolise him when we were in music college.

I had never seen him play, so I was glad that I noticed he was in town. He was spectacular. He is in his late 50s and has been playing professionally since the early 70s. He is in total command of his instrument and the art he creates with it. It was such a pleasure to see him play. Such an inspiration. That’s me whooping on the video.

It was quite a come down to go back to the studio to wade through demos from wannabes who can’t play for shit. And these talentless gobshites all think they deserve to get paid, too. Unreal.

Oh, Yes, The Promised 12 Steps.

Get off the computer and take a few purposeful strides toward your guitar. If you make it in less than 12, you’re not taking baby steps. You have to learn to take baby steps. That’s the route to success.

One of our alumni, a band called Brave Yesterday, played at Glastonbury. They called in at the ‘Farm to record some tracks for their debut album. Since their last visit they had taken lots of baby steps. It was so rewarding to see their progress. Hell, you could feel it in the room.

That’s when the business we’re in is a very nice to business to be in. You see, it’s all about the Artist making Art with Artistic aspirations. That’s what people like me get excited by.

Got There Without Mentioning Squash Once

Almost. A fitting coda to all this ranting is the recent phone call I got from a friend who is at the top of the squash game. Well, a few rankings below the world number one. It’s off season and serious training time. It was so cool to talk to someone who after almost a decade in the top ten is still focused laser like on getting better.

I’m getting better, too. Check out my little trophy!