Chris Jenkins's blog | Musicosity

Chris Jenkins's blog

Work Placements...

We've been interviewing for possible placement students recently, which took me back to when I did a placement at Glastonbury Festival, where I had the somewhat overwhelming task of booking artists for the theatre and circus fields for the festival in 1999.

I worked alongside Arabella Churchill, one of the most interesting, extraverted and talented people you would have had the pleasure to have met. The granddaughter of Sir Winston she taught me so much about the business by letting me make mistakes (not too many of course) and to build relationships, some of which came in handy whilst managing the BIC a few years later.

Back then I had the option of numerous placements all over the country and many offering a reasonable salary, but Glasto was unpaid. The decision was easy. To have the opportunity to work with such great characters and to have independence, the money didn't come into it (I just had to keep the part time job going)... and I'm very pleased that some of the students we're talking too, see the long term benefits, over the short term strain on the student overdraft.

Not A-muse-d

I was reminded recently about the time when I turned down Muse for a show. Of course, they weren't who they have become today, but that of course is why people like to remind me.

In 2000 I was booking a concert at Brixton Academy, part of the National Student Music Awards which I'd founded with a friend of mine. A CD arrived in our offices (a mobile office/shed) in Bournemouth. I put the CD on and thought it sounded like Queen, and as a Queen fan that should have been positive, but we decided to pass on the offer.

I wander if things would have turned out differently for them, if we had booked them. They probably owe me a favour.

Anyway, the obvious moral of the story is, if it sounds like Queen, book it.

Selling out

When producing an album, single, or your latest autobiography perhaps, remember that in the long run the cost of storage far outweighs the cost of producing more.

It's not just a financial thing. It's also better for the ego. There's few better feelings than selling out (in the product sense).

Next time you book a gig, whilst you consider the pros of that huge stage, the lighting rig and dressing rooms, think about looking out and seeing large spaces in front of the stage. Stage diving becomes dangerous too.

It's not just about being realistic in the short term, it's about laying the foundations for future. Fans like to have 'been there', got the t-shirt before everyone else.

So, focus on selling out.

Make the phone ring

It's tough being a new Artist, with limited resources, whether it be time, financial, contacts and networks or know-how. It's difficult to decide where to start.

It's very easy to spend all the resources they do have on trying to get the attention of a manager, a record label, a radio DJ, a venue boss, a promoter... someone... anyone who will pluck them from the obscurity. However, an "overnight success" tend to have been built over many years and with a lot of hard work.

As with any business, it's essential to know what business you're in and who you are selling to. Who are your customers?!

In the first instance it's friends, colleagues, your peers and anyone who you can reach with a leaflet, poke, tweet or even talk too. Remember, when you start out you are are artist, manager, agent, promoter.

Do this well and work hard and building your audience and you start to feel a warm vibrating sensation and strange noises. The phone starts ringing (or emails ping, facebooks poke back and twitters tweet in return).

Stop allocating resources on the wrong people, and put everything into your future fans.

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

If you think about all the biggest names in the world of live music, whether it be heritage acts like Bowie, McCartney or The Stones, or simply make a list of you're favorite bands. They all have one thing in common. They decided to do something. They chose to start.

The common misconception of 'the talent' is that they are lazy, and the media like nothing more than encouraging this, as 'rock n roll' sells more magazines or papers (although they would prefer you subscribed online these days). The fact is the only way to get written about by anyone is by getting out there and starting something. Of course, starting something is just the beginning.

You decide to make a recording. You've started. Now you have to get out there and make people listen to it. And you will have to 'make' people listen, because if it were simply up to them, they wouldn't, they would stick to what they know, or what is 'known'. At the moment, the vast majority are not known.

ITunes, EMusic and the hundreds of other online stores for music are wonderful, but just like their local council run library, walk-in not knowing what you're looking for and you'll get lost and gravitate to what you know, what you trust. You have to make it easy for people and start small... worldwide distribution is essential when you have a audience to match.

The same rules apply to live shows. You won't sell tickets by simply distributing allocations on every website. People have to know how to find it, why they should buy it... and not just spend their money on their current favourites (which hopefully you will become in time).

In the beginning you are the artist, manager, agent, promoter (and audience potentially), so each day do a bit towards each role. Experience and learn from the trials, tribulations and fun of marketing, With the target in your sight and can look forward to everything that comes with starting something.

Artists, venues and promoters working together...

Back in the day, artists, venues and promoters shared media, because it made perfect marketing sense to share.

No artist would publish their own Gig Guide because they are concerned about other bands (the competition) being promoted on the same page. Smart artists understand that Gig Guides work precisely because everyone elis in it. It makes life easier for the fans!

Radio and television is exactly the same. No venue or promoter would start it's own radio station or TV channel, because no one would listen or watch it. Sharing media is essential, especially when when it comes to local live music, where ever you are.

These days, Technology has provided the ability for artists to DIY. So every band, singer/songwriter and musician started building their own website, spending a lot of time and money creating their own online media channel.

Every artist wants their own website, even if they don't do much, if any sales online, and of course no one wants to send fans away from their own website, they want to keep them to themselves.

YouTube proves that strategy does not work, your options are, a) publish a video on your own website, or b) publish the video on THE website, where everyone goes to discover what video they want to watch. Which option will help your video be discovered more often?

Musicosity is YouTube for local live music. It’s the living breathing Gig Guide for the local live music industry where ever you may be.

Sharing a media channel is good, Musicosity is great, and telling people you're on it is even better.

technology killed the Rock Star

I spoke with a number of bands today about where they want to go with their music, what they get their kicks out of, why they started playing music and then something dawned on me. Not one of them mentioned technology, facebook, myspace... no one said I just love to send messages on social networks, updating my latest movements or spending hours in front of a computer updating 15 websites, subscribing to 30 distribution outlets.

I reckon a change is coming... about time too.

Year 1995
So, you and your friends start a rock band... you've got guitars and drums. You're wanna change the world. What's the first thing you do?

You jam. You play songs, jump around, all in preparation for when you hit the big time... which means actually playing in front of people, strangers, some friends, bar staff, meeting and playing with other bands.

You've got a gig. You spend hours with a pen and paper designing your poster artwork to ensure it truly reflects you band. Then you promote the show... you talk to people and gauge their reaction (you'll know if they are gonna buy a ticket)... you speak to girls, cos you know the guys will then come along... you talk about what a great party it'll be, just in case they don't like the music. But you are focusing on the show... the killer 45 minutes that will change your life, until the next set list.

You take control of your destiny. You know when you've done everything you can to make it a success. If you've been lazy, you only have yourself to blame. But because you know you've worked hard the gig is a success. Whether its 50 or 100 or 500 or 5000 people, it's all relative to what you've done up to that point. You know loyalty has to be earnt... and you give everything to get it, sweat, cds, t-shirts. Cos you love playing music and want to do it forever.

Year 2010
So, you and your friends start a rock band... you've got guitars and drums. You're wanna change the world. What's the first thing you do?

You create a website, groups on facebook, MySpace, you subscribe to the many distribution services available. You tell your friends and build up an impressive 1000 people on MySpace, 500 people on Facebook and your music is available on every download store in the world.

You've got a gig. So you turn on your computer and send everyone a message, maybe a few, and you wait for the magic to happen. Everyone clicks they 'like this' and 'attending'. You might not have seen Frank for 10 years, but he's said he likes it. Maybe you should have booked a bigger venue?

I wonder if Noel and Liam sat in front of their computers in the 90s planning out there marketing strategy... or they just played their hearts out, gigged everywhere and anywhere, rehearsed, wrote songs, told people to check them out. They've done great and thankfully technology makes supply and distribution easier and cheaper... of course, they also built up an audience.

Facebook vs Musicosity

"what is the difference between Musicosity and Facebook?". It's the most frequently asked question. This blog will hopefully answer it...

Before Facebook and Myspace existed, artists used to know who REAL FANS were. They were the people who bought tickets for gigs, merch at shows, albums in shops, and sent in their name and address on a postcard to to join the fan club... even then, some fans for more interested than others. Bands spent a lot of time and money looking after them. Technology meant they could contact them more easily and cheaply. This was brilliant for bands that already had an audience... it saved them time and money. Of course at the very same time technology killed their album sales thanks to downloads. You can't have everything!

However, those bands had already done the hard work. They had built up loyal fans.

But what if you don't have loyal fans? or know who they are? What if you're just starting out?

Well, Facebook and MySpace seemed to be the answer. You could get hundreds maybe thousands of people in one place and send them messages, lots and lots of messages. It looked as though Artists could cut out all the hard work of gigging, touring and the relentless promotion, not spend money and go straight to having a huge fan base! Wow. So then, how's that working out for you?

Facebook and MySpace (which make all their money out of selling advertising to 'your fans'... more the merrier for them) have made it easier for bands to send more and more messages... to publish more and more information and images. As technology killed album sales for those selling albums... technology has killed the the spirit of being in a band. It has made us lazy. Complacent. It's boring.

It gets worse for new bands. Other technology companies started developing 'services' to help them "Get Fans, Get Gigs, Track Stats, Earn Money". Who could say no? And it only costs a little bit. Another company says you can distribute your music globally, for only a little bit of money. Other services say how you can Acquire fans and sell more stuff, and it only costs you a little bit of money. Guess what, you've just spent a lot of money.... and been forced to become a marketing guru overnight. How's it going so far?

Technology helps us be more efficient and productive. But to get leverage and benefit, you still have to do all the things that artists used to do. Artists that choose to spend more time on Facebook than you do in the real world will never know who their real audience is and they will miss opportunities.

Why did you start a band in the first place? Musicosity is taking you back... back to the future.

Tube & Gel in Bournemouth

It's been a long time since we've managed to get the four of us in the same room, let alone on the same stage and it really was a lot of fun. We just wanted to thank everyone who bought tickets for the show and who knows what 2011 might bring.

Happy New Year everyone and keep any eye out online as we're uploading the show footage and some tracks in January.