Artist Suggestion - AUGUST 29th

Italian artist Zucchero has never had a problem demonstrating his diversity. His music isn’t rock and it surely isn’t classical; but somehow he dials up fusion of zydeco, bluegrass, folk and gospel that remarkably stays true to his Reggio Emilia roots. As he constantly honors his musical influences, which he says derived out of the Cajun swamps of Louisiana and the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, the Italian legend combines Sheryl Crow on his track “Blue” and Sting on ‘Muioio Per Te” to craft two of his greatest songs. Listen, expand.

Off note: The musician’s style is unique to say the least, but I’m certain his album creativity is always spot on. When you can tastefully combine 12+ Italian models into your musical brand, nobody’s complaining.

Artist: Zucchero

Track: “Blue” (featuring Sheryl Crow) & “Muioio Per Te” (featuring Sting)

Why You Need a Record Label

The mind of musicians and music professionals today reflect a passionate anti-industry mentality. This “damn the man” mindset has rightfully been established after decades of major label extortion, the industries unwillingness to adapt to piracy, absurd lawsuits, power labels controlling the airwaves, and the perceived industry racketeering of musicians. The spill over has infecting musicians minds into thinking record labels are a joke and bands need to take careers into their own hands. “Record labels are dinosaurs” you hear time and time again, but is this really true? Labels represent getting screwed, lawyers equate to money takers, managers reflect worthless leeches, agents represent robbers, and any music professional looking to elevate an artist’s career is indeed “the man”. Don’t get me wrong, some of these are true, but one negative trend needs to be put to bed – musicians DO need a record label and here are 3 reasons why.

1. Making an album is different than selling an album – Sure recording studios are expensive and recent technology advances make recording an album on your own relatively free, but this also generates a negative trickle down effect. The accessible recording equipment allows for more musicians to put out albums, meaning more albums in the marketplace, equating to more competition, and ultimately meaning higher difficulties in successfully marketing an album. In 2008 Nielsen SoundScan estimated there was 105,000 new albums released. Despite the overwhelming number of releases, only 6,000 of those were able to sell 1,000 albums or more. That is 4% ladies and gentlemen so you can’t hide behind the numbers. In most cases 1000 album sales could NOT provide a 5 piece band a comfortable living. I can already hear the opposing argument, “but if I sign with a label we will receive only a percentage of the sales, therefore our cut is even smaller.” Good argument, but simple not true. Why? As a band you control your own fate, you control the terms of the contract, and the greater level of success you build on your own, the more negotiation ammunition you have with a label in order to establish favorable/fair terms. Labels ultimately specialize in marketing, you don’t. There is a tremendous gap between making an album and selling an album, and marketing fills that void.
2. Representing yourself rarely works – (Q) What is one of the first things musicians demand? (A) More gigs. (Q) How do musicians want to acquire more gigs? (A) A booking agent. There’s always a progression in a musician's career. For the typical musician, bands start locally and feel comfortable booking their own gigs- focusing on local bars, clubs, or lounges. Then the bug hits – “man we’ve got to grow”, and to do this you need a booking agent. Booking your own shows on a local level is fine, but when the need for expansion hits, regional clubs will rarely let you in the door if you’re booking yourself. My past included being a booking agent and a talent buyer for a music venue. As a buyer, when a band called wanting to play, I automatically pigeonholed them as a local talent that would not draw the audience for a regional show. As unfortunate as it may be, when bands represent themselves as a booking agent it reflects a minor league level in their career even though they are selling themselves as being in the majors. As an agent, I got past the gatekeepers with ease because bands with booking agents mirror professionalism. This same model applies for musicians who put an album out on their own. Releasing an album has many complicated levels such as: generating distribution, endorsement deals, touring, and marketing (which was talked about earlier). Distributors will rarely deal with bands directly, companies won’t secure sponsorship packages with groups, and developing successful widespread marketing strategies can’t be accomplished if you represent yourself. I understand that many bands can accomplish these things over the internet; but internet promotion isn’t the end all be all when releasing an album. At some point, musicians must surface from the computer screen to make worthwhile face to face contacts, and when that time comes if you don’t have representation your first impression will be amateur at best. I believe Bruce Iglauer said it best in a recent Billboard interview: “In this tough new music business, many smart artists continue to realize that their best opportunities won’t come from working on their own.”
3. Musicians are creative and businessmen are assholes - a musician's career is essentially a privately owned business. To run a successful business you can’t operate on fragile friendship feelings, rather you need to have a controlling iron grip on everything. Musicians grow a fan base by being larger than life figures, polite to their fans, and by networking. These principles clash with the qualities needed to be a successful business owner. Businessmen have to make the hard decision, they need to be the soldier on the front line taking the bullets, and they need to be the person who doesn’t care about individual feelings or giving away free music. Sure these parties clash, but musicians need a business partner, and a businessman needs musicians. The second bands attempt to fill this role in difficult business situations; they run the risk of alienating fans and jeopardizing their careers. Labels provide the resources to handle the hard situation, along with having a burning passion to sell as much as possible. Regardless of your stance, this is constantly the primary objective rather you're an artist or businessman - sell records.

5 Tips to Successfully Market Music Overseas

Releasing music or product in an international market requires planning. Simply releasing a CD doesn’t ensure economic benefit nor does it promise a beneficial and sustainable career in country X. If the object is to simply release music in a foreign market, this article will not help you. If the goal is to strategically boost a career plan and to sell albums over a long period of time, you’re in the right place. This isn’t the magic bullet of international expansion, but here are 5 tips that will put you light years ahead of other groups attempting to do the same thing.

1. Understand the Design Differences

Just as the methods used to promote shows aren’t universal in strategy, nor are the elements of album design. The common trap is to release an album design that reflex the bands artistic impression. This is fine, as a majority of bands take this approach. However, the more strategic approach is to generate an album design which appeals to a bands particular market. Say Band X from Tampa Florida wants to release an album in Italy. Without understanding the Italian trend, Band X designs an album using cool imagery, artistic fonts, and bright colors. Without knowing, Band X has just cut their throat in the Italian marketplace. A 2006 study, which analyzed the Italian Billboard charts over a 12 week period, revealed the Italian musical trend was greatly different then domestic releases in the U.S. Statistics reveals 90% of the albums used photography of the group/band/musician, the three most commonly used colors: black, blue, white, and only 10% used artistic graphics. So much time has gone into creating a project and printing an album, so don’t waste it. Study the album trends in a specific region of release before blindly putting out a product. See chart statistic below for commonly used colors on the Italian market:

2. Understand the Packaging Trend

Just as your CD releases should strategically implement creative design, it should also have a strategic plan behind packaging. Many countries focus on digital releases, other still focus on singles, plastic jewel casing may be trumped by paper folds, and so on…. The key is to understand the trend. Use the example of Band X again. The band really focuses on an album design, following the tendencies set by Italian musicians. They decide to print singles in order to sell for a low price at their Italian concert, and if the band receives a good response, they will sell their full length albums the following year. Guess what? Band X is going to bleed to death! What? Why? In Italy, when you release singles they must be in a digital format. Seriously. It is imperative to understand these trends going in so don’t waste effort and money.

3. Use Local Musicians or Popular Songs For a Quick Boost

If band has one specific country in mind where they intend to expand, it may prove best to sprinkle some local elements onto the album. Many groups think this takes away from their artistic freedom and the integrity of the album – simply not true. Italian singer Andre Bocelli is genius in using this strategy. When Bocelli releases albums in an attempt to cross over markets, he will designate one particular track to be manipulated in order to add local appeal. For example, an album being released in the U.S. may use a popular recording artist on that particular track. That same track/album being released in Sweden would use a Swedish artist, Spanish artist in Spain, Canadian in Canada and so on. With the overwhelming amount of indie level bands craving cross over and international exposure, partnering with other musicians should prove easy. If using unknown musicians makes you uncomfortable, select a song that may prove popular in the region and add it as a special cut to the album. I suggest researching tracks in PD so you don’t get caught in publishing and licensing red-tape.

4. Know the Distribution Outlets

Just because the big box stores control the market in America doesn’t mean indie stores don’t rein king Spain. Pay attention to the popular distribution outlets, whether it be large music stores, digital sales, or mom & pop stores. Another sensible approach is to set up non-traditional retailer relationships. Immigrant groups have a certain level of sex appeal, mysteriousness, and draw where non-traditional retail stores may be interested in a partnership. Locate stores that may compliment your style of music and then establish contact.

5. Couple Merchandise to the Market

An important component to selling music is by having appealing merchandise. Merchandise acts as a forever billboard that promotes even when the fans aren’t listening to your music. The key to benefiting from a successful merchandising component is to match the product to the fan. A bands pricing should change depending on urban regions or rural regions, middleclass fans or college goers, even female and male. It is also important to design the product around the fan. For example, messenger bags with a band logo may be cheesy for fans in Michigan but could sell like hotcakes in a European college town.

§(4) – UPCOMING POST

Clearly there has been a lot of discussion about promoting and marketing overseas but the obvious question is “why?” It is really that important to focus on expansion when domestic markets are cut throat as is? “Yes” it is essential and we’ll discuss why in the next post.

Need more? LEARN MORE HERE

Get daily updates at Frascognamusic on Twitter. Follow HERE

Artist Suggestion - AUGUST 13th

International readers don’t let this recommendation tarnish my reputation, as I swear I’m not pawing this suggestion off as a “new artist”. For the domestic readers in the United States, Irene Grandi will indeed be a “new artist” as pathetic as that may be. It escapes me how Irene Grandi didn’t have the crossover appeal, possibly because (1) she didn’t want to, and (2) she rarely sang in English. Regardless if you speak Italian or not, Sto Peggiorando is a well written song with a catchy hook and a creative instrumentals. The track could have omitted the rap portion, but I suspect that was a poor attempt by the label to capture an urban cross over market. Nice try. Sto Peggiorando (translation: I’m getting worse) is a nice expansion for non-Italian music listeners into the unique sounds of European musical influences and music globalization. Enjoy.

Artist: Irene Grandi

Track: Sto Peggiorando

Why You'll Fail in the Music Industry

The music industry is a monster filled with different motivations and ambitions ranging from a need of creative expression, delusions of money, or egotistical influence. The harsh reality of the business reveals you have a greater chance of winning the lottery as opposed to making it as a musician. So in a nutshell- you will fail.

I recently stumbled upon an excellent blog written by Loren Weisman, titled The Top Five Reasons You Will Fail In Music. This harsh article exposes many of the horrors that musicians shun away from; but as bitter as the writing may be, unfortunately it’s true. For whatever reason, artists reject this truth despite they fact it is offered as insight into the minds of industry executives and the dark shadows of reality. As the article uncovers Wesiman’s version of the five industry pitfalls, I agree with many and strongly oppose others. Elements such as (1) don’t listen to your families/friends opinion on how great you are, and (2) pay attention to what you’re signing- may prove to be obvious hazards, there are several blanket tips that can help musicians mentally prepare for the industry battle. As I commend Weisman for being unsympathetic, I want to provide more encouragement and industry tips in order to help musicians avoid the industry snags.

After viewing the industry from a variety of angles: indie record executive, consultant, studio manager, entertainment law, manager, booking agent, and a variety of others (non of which involve being a musician) there are several consistencies that allow musicians to avoid the failures.

1. Stop blaming others – As the referenced blog highlights this point, blaming others is the fastest ticket to failure. From a mental standpoint, musicians feel cheated, anxious for stardom, and anger towards the people who couldn’t break them. This isn’t healthy, but above all it is a creativity killer. Step back and embrace the reality of the business- more artists fail than make it. Knowing it’s a crapshoot going in allows for a creative out of the box thinking that encourages you do to things different. Not following the trend millions of other bands have set may allow you to increase chances of exposure. Creativity is the formula that allows this to happen. Touching on another angle, blaming others causes a piss poor attitude that provides a swift dismissal by anyone you’re trying to impress. If a band walks into my office who’s angry they haven’t made it big, regardless of their musical ability, they’re an immediate turn off. Anger is baggage, and baggage requires more effort and energy for managers, agents, and lawyers. Musicians forget, agents, managers, and lawyers benefit from a musicians success and fail when the musicians fails. If a working professional acknowledges you’ll be a headache on the front end, they know it makes their job that much harder. Just as the industry is a crapshoot for musicians, it’s a crapshoot for business professionals as well so any extra baggage only lessens your percentage of success.
2. Succeeding depends on your problem solving skills – This industry is constantly reinventing itself and so should you. When things aren’t going as planned, step back, put your ego in check, and evaluate why things are working for you. At its core, the industry requires simple problem solving skills. Really that’s it. As some problems are clearly harder to solve than others, successful problem solving skills insist on providing new techniques to resolving complicated issues. If you need more gigs, ask yourself what you’re currently doing and how you can mold the plan to acquire different things. Obviously this is more difficult depending on the level of success and individual responsibilities, but when everything is stripped away it still just boils down to problem solving.
3. You NEED managers, agents, lawyers, and most of all a record label. In the age of “damn the man”, musicians want to control all aspects of their career. Rightfully so, the major labels haven’t provided the most positive motivation in molding musicians minds. These elements prove necessity for a variety of reasons. As Weisman and I part ways on this topic, signing contracts doesn’t equate to signing away rights. A strong opposition to sign contracts that may elevate your career is the view of a creative control freak that will remain stuck a decade later. View contracts as delegating work rather than signing away your life. This doesn’t encourage musicians to sign absurd contracts with local untrained managers, lawyers, and copycat labels, rather make smart moves. Read about why musicians need a record label.

Artist Suggestion - AUGUST 11th

Any musician who can incorporate fiddle and steel guitar into a silky blend of folk, soul, country, and alternative goodness gets my endorsement. P.T. Walkley pieces together a full album of unique musical fusions but something about Daydreaming continues to pull me back in. Whether it’s the instrumental genius or the fact I can’t decide if he’s singing about drug addiction or a female crush, either way it’s awesome. Enjoy.

Artist: P.T. Walkley

Track: Daydreaming

Creativity For Your CD/Digital Booklet

With each passing day CD booklets become more obsolete. As the new trend focuses on digital booklets, musicians are still follow the same boring template of yesterdays print material for jewel casing into the new era. Thank you sections, producer credits, lyric, and contact information- what the hell is interesting about that? Purchasers for the most part, already have an idea about the band and don’t care to know about all this worthless information. Special sections on the bands website, fan blogs, or Wikipedia articles can reveal the lyric, producer, or thank you credits so if it’s used inside the CD booklet it’s nothing more than a boring waste of space that followed a mindless non-creative trend. Don’t waste space because wasted space means wasted print cost, which equates to wasted money. Creativity is the key to generating fresh CD or Digital booklet ideas that separate your band from the millions of others following a boring trend.

I recently worked with a band who stole a page straight out of the creativity playbook. The musicians all had deep respect for their individual heritage and family roots, which believe me was pretty eclectic. Instead of simply thanking their families in the CD booklet’s ‘Special Thanks’ section, the band contacted a genealogy expert. The group turned the standard: “thanks to Mom and Dad, Aunt June, and my brother Mark” portion into the most creative feature of the entire album. Genealogy company, Family Jewels, worked with the group to generate historical data for each band members ancestral roots. Because the company focuses on the story telling behind each ancestor, as opposed to a list of names and birthdays, the result was a really cool looking family tree that personally thanked each family member and their contribution to the groups historical influence. This crumb of creativity turned the bands booklet into a talked about marketing tool which generated blog write ups, indie radio interviews, and ultimately an increase in album sales.

Had I been a musician like my ancestors Biase, Salvatore, and Cosimo I’m certain they would have enjoyed me paying homage to their musical immigration. Unfortunately for me I don’t play an instrument and my voice always sounds scratchy; but at least I can encourage musicians to use this creative paradigm. As for me, the bands CD booklet inspired me to buy one of their albums and generated an obsession to find the actual ship my family traveled to Ellis Island on – The Hamburg


.

Artist Suggestion - AUGUST 10th

So if you haven’t cut your teeth on international pop, it can be a major leap for American pop lovers. To minimize the transitional shock, start with a little Danish Pop 101 and check out Simon Mathew. The Danish star represented Denmark in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, which is a feat that calls for a recommendation at a bare minimum. For me, it wasn’t the catchy hook that kept me listening, rather it was the obscure vocal resemblance to Neil Finn of Crowded House (another international pop recommendation however old school they may be). So if you want a beguiling international pop suggestion, start with Danish singer Simon Mathew and his cut All Night Long. Sure it may be a bit cheesy but it’s happy go lucky music that represents the foundation of pop music in general. If my Crowded House acknowledgement strikes an explosion of Don’t Dream It’s Over downloads on iTunes, I hope Capitol Records gives me a publishing cut.

Artist: Simon Mathew

Track: All Night Long