“People pay money to see others believe in themselves.” —Kim Gordon
The advice I offer below is from a place of empirical wisdom, because many of these things I learned the hard way, from making the wrong decisions on the very things I am now offering advice on. That’s what wisdom is—it’s learning through experience, failure, and occasionally, disaster.
We’ll assume from the outset that you have already found the courage to start a band with some kindred spirits, and now you’re at the point of writing your own songs and inventing your own unique sound. That’s the best part in my opinion, the honeymoon period of a band, because that’s what this is—it’s a marriage, and marriages have all sorts of ups and downs. Well, maybe it’s more like a relationship, but if it goes big time and long term, it definitely becomes a marriage. Therefore the success of your band/relationship/marriage really depends on your ability to weather the storms and squalls that eventually come with these kinds of partnerships. Thus, I have itemized my top 10 most important things in such a way that, depending on the level of success your band has, you will know exactly what to do at each stage of the game. But then I’m writing books now, so what the hell would I know about being in a band in 2019? As with everything, proceed with caution….
1. Always make your first album on your own, with your own money, with a producer who understands your vision. You must always own this album outright, forever, and never sell it to anyone. This is the first piece of intellectual property you will have created, so do not sell the master copyright to another other person or label. It’s a far better thing if you can start your own label and do it yourself, because distribution is now pretty easy to get, and then you’re making 100% of the money. Plus you’ll need that business experience once you start selling your other albums, merchandise, etc., so start the business now and watch it grow as your band grows.
You’ll always be able to sell that first album at your shows, on your website, and anywhere else you decide, and it will always be a source of income—but only if you hang on to it. If you find a cool indie label that has a similar ethos and offers you at least a 50% royalty rate, then partner with them and let them license your album. But again, never sign with any label that wants to own that master copyright, even if they seem “cool”—they’re not, especially if they’re trying to own your creation.
I know a few famous bands and solo artists who were smart enough to keep that first album, and when their career started to lag, or they got dropped from their label, or the money dried up, it was that first album that kept them afloat when everything else fell apart. I’m telling you, your first album is golden.
2. Write as much as you can in the early years of your band, because new bands are generally very creative and they often have a literal fountain of ideas flowing from the members. Harness all of that, in jam sessions and rehearsals, and keep a digital recorder ready at all times, because the best ideas always come when you are least expecting it.
Develop your sound over the course of your first couple records, and discover what your band could really become. Which takes us back to point #1—never sell those first albums, as they will be your bread and butter, long after you’ve had your moment in the spotlight.
Also, and this is extremely important: if the band is a real band with equal partners, then you should split your song writing publishing equally too. If it’s a singer-songwriter or a solo artist, where there is only one person writing the music, then it’s a different animal. I’ve heard it said directly by some huge bands that the one thing that kept the band together, spiritually and financially, was the fact that they shared their intellectual property—their publishing, equally with each other. Because when the time comes when there is very little income (and that always happens in every band’s career), at least you know that with shared publishing, everyone in the band is making about the same, which takes us to #3, publishing deals.
3. Never sell any percentage of your publishing, and I mean none of it. Always keep it safe and own 100% of it, because that is your intellectual property and it is perhaps even more valuable than those original master recordings. If you are successful, you will eventually need a reputable publishing company to administer your songs—an “admin deal” as they call it. These publishing companies can help you find soundtrack licenses and other opportunities beyond just selling or streaming your album. I have never sold a single percentage of the few hundred songs I have written or co-written over the years, and that financial security has saved me many times. As a result, I have a great admin deal with my publisher, and that income has allowed me to finance other projects that I might not have been able to do otherwise. Most of those projects never even had a record deal, I just produced them on my own, usually with publishing income.
4. They say that only 1% of all bands get signed to a major label, and only 1% of that 1% have any real success. Going by that axiom I have been in the 1% of the 1% twice in my life—once with Screaming Trees and once with Mad Season. Having recorded for almost every major label at some point in my career, including Epic, Columbia, Warner Bros, Interscope, and Universal, I can officially say that you should never, ever sign a major label deal in the 21st century. It was terribly exploitive back in the 1990s, they paid no real royalties, yet we made tens of millions of dollars for these corporations. It has only gotten worse, where these labels want 360 deals and they take a percentage of absolutely every revenue stream you have—touring, merchandise, licensing, film and TV soundtracks—they have their greedy little fingers into everything. This is because, unless you become an absolutely gigantic band and you can name your own contractual terms (the 1% of the 1%), then 99.9% of the time you’ll be owing the label money, and never making any for yourself. Which is why you should always revert to point #1—never sell those first couple records you make, that’s your gold, that’s your treasure.
5. Tour as much as you can in the beginning, especially when you’re young and have the energy to do so. I mean really, you sort of have to do that, you can’t just sit at home and expect the world to come to you. You have to go out and take it to the masses, and in turn, that experience will give you a certain kind of edge that you can only learn from the road.
Rehearse diligently so that your show is absolutely killer and then play shows that are strategic and wise. Don’t play in clubs that use the old gangster model of “pay to play” where the club makes more off their “room fee” than you do for your show. Boycott those kinds of clubs wherever you find them because it screws the next band, and it also encourages scummy behavior from the club owners. Instead, think creatively and put together cool shows with other bands you like and then start headlining at the first opportunity, establishing yourself as an act that can carry the room, even if the room is small. And when the rooms get bigger (or smaller, as they sometimes do), you should still follow that timeless truth—always play to the size of the room.
When you do finally go on tour, live within your means and don’t take tour support from a record label. When I toured in the early 1990s, we often had 5 guys to a hotel room, and sometimes we drove through the night in a van so we could save on the hotel cost. Remember that tour support, or any debt to a record label, means you’ll have to repay it out of your own royalties, which are always smaller than you think. Almost 100% of the time, bands that take tour support from a label never end up making any money and they go broke trying to “make it” on the road. It’s sort of like borrowing money from the company store, living a lifestyle you can’t afford. If you’re on a beer income, don’t reach for the champagne—stay with the beer.
If you’re lucky and you work hard, you might even make it over to Europe, Latin America, or some other incredible places around the world. It’s a great honor to play music for people in a foreign country, and you’ll feel it the moment you step onto their stages. True, you might be relatively broke for a few years, maybe even a decade, but what else are you going to do in your 20s, work for a corporation? Be in a band and love the fact that you are in band, with awesome people who carry a shared vision. See as much of the world as you can during this time, because it will change who you are and how you perceive the world. The road will make you more compassionate and considerate of other people, and all biases and prejudices will fall away when you have real, human interactions. More importantly, you will learn the way of the world far quicker than almost any other profession. A touring band is like being in a rocket ship/time machine all in one—there’s nothing more exciting.
6. I should add that #5 will eventually require that you find a good booking agent, because in the beginning, you’ll be booking all of your shows on your own. If you’re having success with it, you will eventually get to a point where the agents come to you and then things can really take off. Most young bands tour by booking their own shows for quite some time, and then they sign with an agent after they’ve grown to the point where they are selling out club-sized venues. For contrast, it is well known that the genius artist known as Prince would often book his own shows at certain points in his career, even when he was a megastar. I’m sure it’s because he wanted to do this, and not because he couldn’t find an agent. Maybe he wanted to save the 10% agent commission on a $500,000 guarantee, but for whatever reason, Prince was known to pick up the phone and make the call himself. So, be like Prince, be a bad ass, and take the job into your own hands. I’ve been in this exact situation several times, when my current agent simply wasn’t appropriate for a new band I was working on, so I picked up the phone (or increasingly, an email) and booked the shows on my own. It does, however, assume that you have a good reputation and your live show is awesome.
7. Which brings me to what is perhaps the single most important piece of advice I can impart to you—your reputation. This advice really comes from the legendary poet-singer Patti Smith, who I once briefly shared the stage with. Patti said: “Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work. Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.”
I think that’s just about the wisest thing I’ve ever heard in the music business, or any other business for that matter. Just be a good person, be polite, do good work, remember the people who helped you along the way, (and remember those that tried to hold you back) and always be kind to the bartenders, because they hear mediocre bands every night. Be the band they remember and love. Always be smart with your wits on high alert, and don’t be taken for a fool in this business—there are enough fools in it already. Basically though, just follow Patti’s famous creed because she’s the legend she is for this very reason.
8. Some people think that in order to be successful you have to have a manager, a booking agent, a lawyer, a business manager, and a team of roadies at your beck and call. True, the bigger the band, the more they have all of these people, but the smartest bands only add them as needed, one at a time. They also come at different stages of the game, so let’s break this into the 3 most important roles: booking agents, lawyers, and business managers.
I’ve found that most bands can do their own managerial duties far better than most so-called managers, and then you also save the 15- 20% commission that a manager would charge. You really only need a manager when you’re at a pretty high level of business, and even then some bands do it themselves. I seem to remember hearing that Prince managed most of his affairs through his office, as do many other very big artists. They get to the point where they can hire people to run their affairs, which is essentially what management is. What is far more important than a manager is a good booking agent, because they can make you the real money, whereas a manager would just commission that income. So defer to #6—a booking agent yes, a manager probably not, at least not for a long time, if ever.
A good lawyer with an impeccable reputation is extremely important for obvious reasons, especially when contracts are involved, and mostly because the music business is full of sleazy lawyers (look up Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” for the all time best description of lawyers). The good ones are rare and hard to find, but when you find a good one, respect them and they will protect you for as long as you hold that relationship special. I’ve only had two lawyers in my entire career, a woman and a man, and both were of the highest caliber human being. But lawyers are expensive, so read up on some music law and learn the basics on your own, so that when you do finally need a lawyer, you’ll know exactly what you are paying for.
The same is true when you get to the point where you need an accountant or business manager, which are often part of the same financial company. Again, you’ll need someone with an impeccable reputation who you can trust to give you the best advice on your income streams, tour budgets, living expenses, and tax planning. The business manager might be the single most important person in this whole team, because their expertise and management of your revenue will largely determine how long you can play the game—or not.
9. Always, always, always watch over the health and mental welfare of your band mates. I cannot stress this enough, especially as someone who has lost band members in most of the groups I was in. You must stay vigilant about each other’s health, especially when you’re on the road and people can get very sick, and a flu virus can end a string of shows and cost you a lot of revenue. And it’s probably an obvious thing to say, but let me say it anyway: Drinking is one thing, unless you become an alcoholic and start self-destructing yourself and your band. But doing the hard stuff like heroin and cocaine is the fastest way to screw yourself, and worse, your band. It’s just about the stupidest thing you can do, and I’ve watched it kill people, slowly and terribly. So be smart, put your money back into your band, or your education, or your house. Don’t give it to a drug dealer—make sobriety and a whip smart intellect your calling card.
10. I’m going to end with a repeat of #7 and the cardinal rule of being nice to people. By being nice I don’t mean being a pushover or kowtowing to anyone, but I do believe that politeness and true kindness are the key to opening all doors. If someone you are polite to doesn’t respond in kind, that’s a door you don’t need to walk through—the Universe has other plans for you. Politeness and kindness should never be confused as a weakness, because indeed, the kind are the strongest and wisest people in the world. So when you encounter the rude, the arrogant, and the dismissive, realize that these folks are living with the fear that you’re going to discover that they really don’t know very much about anything and they’re just hoping that you won’t find out. Show them, by words and example, that you walk a much higher ground, as Stevie Wonder would advise.
And when you do that, when you take yourself and your band up on that higher path, you will, in about 30 years from now, be giving your own advice to the next generation of musicians, and you’ll probably have some addendums to these top 10.
Now, go forth and rock mightily, as the great Jack Endino would say.