Manfred-Klose
"the music industry is a long dark alley way" , dont remember whos quote is that was????
So where is our major bands in SA ?
i am not talking about parlotones and all the other bands wagons.
I mean bands that actually write music thats makes sense with a fresh sound? the bands that are copyieing each other is just destroying the music industry at the moment.
where is our next seether type status band?
I work with bands all the time, and got some tips if wanna make the big time.
1. get used living from bread and water, the coffee will eventually come, and then the milk.
2. dont get to focused on being t0 super good and professional, it comes with experience, having fun is the number 1 factor.
3. dont expect to get paid for a gig when no one came to watch your band, there is obviously something you're doing wrong.
4. the venue's are not you playmates, piss them off, and there is a line of 200 other bands that really want to play. build up contacts.
5. always be friendly to everyone, even if someone is being an ahole, show them you are more a mature musician.
6.dont quit your day job just yet.
7. start promoting yourself, be creative.
8. get an decent album out, if its your first, a 5 track album will do. note you are the producers now. set up a recording studio on someones PC. its not that difficult, use your imagination, program the drums.....guitar pro....use samples and put them one at a time in a recoridng program.....its easy. record all your tracks in a basic format, go give those recordings to people you trust with a honest opinion(in other words not your grandmonther), let them tell you what songs they like, these are normal that will listen to music. if you got your opinions from these people improve on the negative parts and improve even more on the positive points.
9. go and re-record those songs from scratch, the ones the people liked. with a new mind set now. this time try and get everything spot on.
now go and look for a studio to go and record at, that suits your bands needs and in the budget of the bands, think of it as a long term investment of over a period of a year, each of the members should save up and contribute.
Give the studio the cd of the songs you are going to record, so that they can get an idea of how you sound. would be alot easier to record something if you know what to exspect.
if the drummer is not tight enough, try and get a pro drummer to play on the recording, this would save alot of time and money. aldough the drummer would be very unhappy for not playing on the recording, this is the experience part i am talking about. the other option is for the drummer to start practicing with a metronomme. everyday.
10. ok so now you got a good CD? dont expect to make money out of it just yet, the main thing is to get it to everyone, because the hardest thing to do is to start a band no one has heard of........
now get your cd's to venues, give it to clubs, they might just play it.
always have cd's with you, that you can sell at gigs.
11. make your own music video with one of your best songs, one of your friends should have a camera, get him to help. be creative.
once its done, get it on the internet. if its really good send it MK or somewhere. if they dont like it, get their critisism and improve on it.
12.the worst thing a band can do is to rush into everything, be wise.
13. dont over play, people get bored reall easy.
14. keep your set short and with a impact, try to throw in the odd cover.
15.when someone with experience gives you advice, dont argue with them, just say thank you, and go and think about it. it might just help.
16.there is alot of good bands in SA, but has not yet made it to the big time. build an allience with other bands, try and organise gigs together.
by doing this you can be garunteed at least one more person to like your music.
17. play your heart out, even if it is for one person, that one person might go and tell someone else about the band........people like to watch bands that enjoy them self on stage, dont be to stiff, try and look like you belong on a stage, people enjoy seeing passion.
18. its not the end of the world if you make a mistake, everyone makes mistakes, even jazz people.
19. contacts. contacts. contacts. contacts. make friends with everyone you can.
20. annilize your favourite bands, and try and figure out why they made the big time, is it because their music good and fun to listen to?
i think i pretty much said the main things, there is alot more still to conisder. use common sense. and learn out of experience.
now do you still wanna make a living out of music?
its a tough world out there. dont be a copy. be yourself.
wow, thats super long.
FruitarGeek
Im glad I didnt hold my breath for that one ?
Thanks tho, very useful stuff
My band is actually trying to get there, but we not forcing it, we kinda letting the music speak for itself and see if the ppl like it or not, whilst maintaining a professional attitude.
