Music artist promotion can be trickey and difficult at the best of times, however one of the biggest reasons why some bands will never make it anywhere is because they are scared of making mistakes.
Check out this clip by Derek Sivers - This clip outlines very clearly what I believe to be as the number one music artist promotion mistake around.
Whatever it is, bands either want to get it right all the time from the very beginning or they are just to scared to do anything and therefore mess everything else up in the meantime. Derek talks about this very well in this clip.
The only way to learn anything in life especially in this business is to make mistakes. So many bands don’t end up making any decisions because they are afraid of making the wrong one.
Don’t worry
It’s expected
Better you make mistakes now while your profile and value isn’t so great than when you’re selling millions of records.
A Mistake of All Mistake!
The following story is a prime example of a band that never made it because they were worried about making mistakes. It’s not related to music artist promotion directly however it will help drive the point home.
About 5 years ago my then partner and I were courting a band to manage. We took them out for dinner, wined and dinned them, we went to their shows and overall were very hot on their feet. I honestly thought that the lead singer had star written all over his face.
At the time of us trying to do the deal with these guys, my partner was about to go over to LA to meet with quite a few prominent people at labels and agencies for other business. We didn’t tell them specifics however they were very influential people.
We pitched these guys the idea that even though there was no formal agreement between us and them, my partner still wanted to be able to play their demo’s in the meetings he had.
The official response from the band was that did not want us to do that. They got overly paranoid and cautious and ended up asking my partner not to take the demos.
BIG MISTAKE!!
What an amazing music artist promotion opportunity….. and they turned it down!
Without them even realizing, the demos were taken anyway, they were played around and it turned out that the head of A/R at the time of Capitol Records was very excited and that a producer who had produced a handful of very successful selling albums wanted to produce their album.
Can you imagine, most other people I know out there would jump at the offer that we made them.
Two months later the band decided to work with another manager and to this very day they still have no idea of what could of happened to them. We never told them about the potential deal we could of gotten them with Capitol either.
Idiots!!
The story however doesn’t end there. About two years later, they were courted by universal records and an offer was put down on the table. At the end of the day, the band turned the offer down.
Why?
Because they were to scared to make a mistake. There were certain clauses that made them nervous so they pulled out and thought they would get a better offer down the road.
What fools. Major idiots!!
Today this band are still playing the local pubs that they were playing five years ago and the main reason being, because they were too scared to make a mistake.
No other record label has touched them since. Their window of opportunity died very quickly after turning down that offer.
What a serious music artist promotion mistake!
The moral of the story, it’s ok to make mistakes. It’s ok to sign a record deal that does not fit 100% with what you originally desired. It’s ok to take a gamble and end up paying a price later.
Mistakes are inevitable. I guess all you can really do is make sure they are calculated as possible.
Next time you are working on your music artist promotion, whether it’s inside the industry or for the public, don’t be scared to make mistakes. Remember that the only way to learn how to ski is to fall over a bunch of times and get back up straight away until you get the hang of it.
Tags: Music Promotion, The Music Industry
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