I write some about music because I like it, but very little about the music industry because I don’t, and well, I don’t know all that much to begin with. Bob Lefsetz does though, and he has some wonderful things to say. Here’s some excepts from his latest missive:
If you want to be a relevant modern musician, do NOT do any of the following (the list is his, I’ve shortened his following comments for each entry in my own words):
1. Make A Video (unless the budget is under 5k)
2. Never Appear On VH1 (self explanatory)
3. Host Anything On MTV (again, self explanatory)
4. Do The Radio Station Show (obvious)
5. Have A Website With A Ton Of Flash (This ought to be obvious. Sadly, it’s apparently not based on the sites I’m currently checking out)
6. Only STREAM Music On Your Site (Give it away, he says, preferrably the entire album)
7. Play The Arena On Your First Album (Start small, stay around, start big, die young)
8. Pose In Fashion Shoots (re-iterate the “you’re a musician” point here)
9. Do Anything You Don’t Want To (good musicians are true to themselves)
10. Appear On Letterman Or Leno (good way to come across as irrelevant)
11. Be Afraid To Play Live (mistakes make it real)
12. Put Out A Dual Disc (I’d like to second this one)
13. Refuse To Put Your Music In A Podcast (and I’ve seen this happen with bands, sadly — this is like radio. They fight it at first, then pay money to get their crap played on it when they wake up.)
14. Wear Spandex
15. Release Music With No Melody (Bob’s comment: Unless you’re aware of this and the inherent limitations in your potential audience)
16. Make Anything Recoupable Other Than Recording Costs (because that keeps you out of the pockets of the majors)
17. Fail To Tour (the live show is the band. Live it, be it)
18. Be Afraid To Learn (interesting point I might not have ever thought about — he mentions specifically taking voice and instrument lessons, and learning more about the business itself).
19. Appear In A Movie (Duh)
20. Put Out Press Releases (your work is its own press release — incidentally, I think this is a sign of the new-media at work in more than just music. Look for press releases to be less and less relevant in the future)
21. Sell Your Publishing (I think this has something to do with specific music industry issues I don’t really understand. Bob said it. Bob knows his stuff. It’s probably true).
22. Forget To Put Out A Vinyl Version (Dump the compact disc if you want, but don’t neglect the vinyl — interesting point. Not sure I totally get it, but I can understand it. I still remember when I heard a Iron and Wine vinyl being played for me. Man — if they didn’t already exist, records would have to have been invented just for Iron and Wine.
23. Equate MySpace Hits With Quality (Obvious to anyone who’s actually used the site. Every band is on there. Yes, that means the crappy ones too. So who cares. I know good bands with a couple dozen “friends”, and those with thousands of friends. It’s often irrelevant to their actual music)
24. Tie In With Sporting Events (see above)
25. Accept Sponsorship (as before)
Anyway, there are 25 things that musicians should never do. I thought I’d go a little further afield than normal in my posting topics, so I’d like to thank Bob Lefsetz for the idea and the (borrowed) list.