Curious about the music industry? Find out stuff.

[Tipsy Giant]

Why should I care "who the hell is going to know about it besides you" shouldn't art be made for the pure expression, if Van Gogh had been told by an art seller to alter his style to sell to the mainstream art scene, he may have been rich, but at what cost?
Surely if you create from the heart, the production isn't really gonna matter, i'm making records for the future and if just one person hears my record and feels what I felt, i've done my duty as an artist

I completely agree with you on all levels. However your original question was about the music industry, and my answer is that no, the industry will not die, because people still require promotion. Some people have your attitude and are happy to do things solely for art's sake. That's wonderful and I wish more people had your attitude, if nothing else it would save me a lot of pointless busywork. However, not everybody shares your worldview, some are quite happy to dance with the devil... because as bad as it can be, being paid to make the music you love (or at least don't despise) sure beats working in a factory somewhere, putting spindles in boxes (cookie for reference)...

Why do you need packaging/distributing?

You could put it up on torrents for free and start a grass roots campaign to get people to dl it, then when you tour people know who you are and are more likely to come see you live (where the money is made) cos if you sign to a major and don't go platinum you are making the same money as giving it away

Gosh, I suppose you could. But where's this magical touring money going to come from? Touring can make money, if you can fill venues, but it also costs money. Is a free torrent campaign enough to get enough people to fill a venue to make touring profitable, so you can do things like eat and pay transport costs? And what is this "grass roots campaign" going to look like? How are you going to get enough people to do your bidding, unless you pay them or bribe them? Chances are that anyone pursuing this route either has to heavily raid daddy's nest egg or needs to get themselves a real job in the real world in order to kick it into gear. Which means that you're still selling your soul somewhere.

Also some people like packaging. I certainly do, I think good packaging is nice, I think it actually forms part of the artistic statement of the group.

As for Boris, I thought Smile was awful compared to Amplifier Worship, but hey whatevs.

Maybe you should check out the american version of Smile, it is mixed by the drummer and is so much better than the japanese version

I'd rather work a horrible job to keep my art from being altered than to work for a company whos sole interest is profit as that would probably lead to altering my music at some point to appease the mainstream and then you end up being the kings of leon (a great first record followed by a swift decline into pop)

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Which artists that you have encountered/worked with showed the most love for their fans?

I could name just about any heavy metal band I've met. Metal bands and their fans have a special relationship and camaraderie that other genres don't quite match. It helps that often the bands come from dirt-poor backgrounds and thus appreciate their own fame and the plight of other struggling musos.

this is another reason people should appreciate metal more often... we're totally nice and inclusive people, but everyone else just wants to be a dick about it and say we're a bunch of emo slackers who listen to noise :/

anyways, i want to ask if an extremely popular artist who focuses on the tween-girl demographic (a la Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift) would be shut down if they wanted to go in the opposite direction with their music (say... Bieber turned himself into a Blackened Death Metal artist like Behemoth)

would the record company cancel their contract or anything?

 

[BonsaiK]

Why should I care "who the hell is going to know about it besides you" shouldn't art be made for the pure expression, if Van Gogh had been told by an art seller to alter his style to sell to the mainstream art scene, he may have been rich, but at what cost?
Surely if you create from the heart, the production isn't really gonna matter, i'm making records for the future and if just one person hears my record and feels what I felt, i've done my duty as an artist

I completely agree with you on all levels. However your original question was about the music industry, and my answer is that no, the industry will not die, because people still require promotion. Some people have your attitude and are happy to do things solely for art's sake. That's wonderful and I wish more people had your attitude, if nothing else it would save me a lot of pointless busywork. However, not everybody shares your worldview, some are quite happy to dance with the devil... because as bad as it can be, being paid to make the music you love (or at least don't despise) sure beats working in a factory somewhere, putting spindles in boxes (cookie for reference)...

Why do you need packaging/distributing?

You could put it up on torrents for free and start a grass roots campaign to get people to dl it, then when you tour people know who you are and are more likely to come see you live (where the money is made) cos if you sign to a major and don't go platinum you are making the same money as giving it away

Gosh, I suppose you could. But where's this magical touring money going to come from? Touring can make money, if you can fill venues, but it also costs money. Is a free torrent campaign enough to get enough people to fill a venue to make touring profitable, so you can do things like eat and pay transport costs? And what is this "grass roots campaign" going to look like? How are you going to get enough people to do your bidding, unless you pay them or bribe them? Chances are that anyone pursuing this route either has to heavily raid daddy's nest egg or needs to get themselves a real job in the real world in order to kick it into gear. Which means that you're still selling your soul somewhere.

Also some people like packaging. I certainly do, I think good packaging is nice, I think it actually forms part of the artistic statement of the group.

As for Boris, I thought Smile was awful compared to Amplifier Worship, but hey whatevs.

Maybe you should check out the american version of Smile, it is mixed by the drummer and is so much better than the japanese version

I'd rather work a horrible job to keep my art from being altered than to work for a company whos sole interest is profit as that would probably lead to altering my music at some point to appease the mainstream and then you end up being the kings of leon (a great first record followed by a swift decline into pop)

I've heard both versions, suffice to say that the mix isn't the issue I have with it.

So you'd rather work for a company whose sole interest is profit doing a job you'd probably hate, in order to avoid working for another company whose sole interest is also profit, but doing a job that you may potentially enjoy (to some degree)? Think about that question carefully and you may start to realise the mindset of someone who might try to pursue a recording contract.

Kings Of Leon didn't alter their music to fit into the mainstream. They had the mainstream in the palm of their hand right from the word go. They altered their music because they felt like it.

 

[BonsaiK]

Which artists that you have encountered/worked with showed the most love for their fans?

I could name just about any heavy metal band I've met. Metal bands and their fans have a special relationship and camaraderie that other genres don't quite match. It helps that often the bands come from dirt-poor backgrounds and thus appreciate their own fame and the plight of other struggling musos.

this is another reason people should appreciate metal more often... we're totally nice and inclusive people, but everyone else just wants to be a dick about it and say we're a bunch of emo slackers who listen to noise :/

anyways, i want to ask if an extremely popular artist who focuses on the tween-girl demographic (a la Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift) would be shut down if they wanted to go in the opposite direction with their music (say... Bieber turned himself into a Blackened Death Metal artist like Behemoth)

would the record company cancel their contract or anything?

With exceedingly few exceptions, I find metal musicians generally very nice, and fans also quite pleasant. Maybe it's because they're getting all their aggro out of their system in the music so they don't feel the need to be belligernt cunts in real life. Metal fans are far, far less violent, than say, sports fans.

As for your question - yes, they probably would. I mean, if you were a business (of any kind) and signed someone up to do job A and they started doing job B - let's face it, you'd be shitty. The pop label wouldn't even know what to do with you if you did that. What an artist in that position would typically do is change record labels, and sign a new contract with someone who was experienced in promoting and marketing blackened death metal or whatever. It would be in the best interests of everyone involved - the artist, the old label and the new label.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

I've heard both versions, suffice to say that the mix isn't the issue I have with it.

So you'd rather work for a company whose sole interest is profit doing a job you'd probably hate, in order to avoid working for another company whose sole interest is also profit, but doing a job that you may potentially enjoy (to some degree)? Think about that question carefully and you may start to realise the mindset of someone who might try to pursue a recording contract.

Kings Of Leon didn't alter their music to fit into the mainstream. They had the mainstream in the palm of their hand right from the word go. They altered their music because they felt like it.

Fair enough, each to their own, I only defend it so as it is my favourite record of all time, which is a hard to say as I love so many albums.

The REASON I want to keep my capitalism separate from my music is because it removes the mindset of "Selling Records" leaving just "Making Records" which I believe to be a much better way to address recording songs.

I'm sorry to disagree but Kings of Leon had hard guitar, funky bass, fast drums and screechy passionate vocals. Then when they had a solid fan base they released an album with one or two softer pop tracks and this gave them an opportunity to tap the mainstream and they released a Full Album of soft, vocal and drum heavy tracks designed specifically for the mainstream, if that isn't appeasing pop and selling out, I don't know what is!

 

[BonsaiK]

I've heard both versions, suffice to say that the mix isn't the issue I have with it.

So you'd rather work for a company whose sole interest is profit doing a job you'd probably hate, in order to avoid working for another company whose sole interest is also profit, but doing a job that you may potentially enjoy (to some degree)? Think about that question carefully and you may start to realise the mindset of someone who might try to pursue a recording contract.

Kings Of Leon didn't alter their music to fit into the mainstream. They had the mainstream in the palm of their hand right from the word go. They altered their music because they felt like it.

Fair enough, each to their own, I only defend it so as it is my favourite record of all time, which is a hard to say as I love so many albums.

The REASON I want to keep my capitalism separate from my music is because it removes the mindset of "Selling Records" leaving just "Making Records" which I believe to be a much better way to address recording songs.

I'm sorry to disagree but Kings of Leon had hard guitar, funky bass, fast drums and screechy passionate vocals. Then when they had a solid fan base they released an album with one or two softer pop tracks and this gave them an opportunity to tap the mainstream and they released a Full Album of soft, vocal and drum heavy tracks designed specifically for the mainstream, if that isn't appeasing pop and selling out, I don't know what is!

Yeah Smile just doesn't do anything for me. I don't think it's one of the better Boris albums. But hey some people like it so that's cool.

Your point of view on keeping things separate is very smart and in fact I do this too in some cases. I'm not saying your approach is wrong - it's obviously right for you. However, it's not the only way to create something worthwhile, it's just one option.

You said it yourself - Kings Of Leon only changed once they had a solid fanbase. So they didn't change to get a fanbase, they were already doing just fine. They could have just kept churning out variations of the same old record and slowly kept building that fanbase (like AC/DC since Back In Black, for instance), but instead they've transitioned to something else. No-one would have told them to do that - on the contrary, if someone has built a solid fanbase on the back of a certain type of music, if there's any pressure from a label it's usually along the lines of "do what you did last time - that worked". Record labels don't like to take risks with established artists so if you're established doing thing A they sure as hell don't want you to change to thing B. I wouldn't be surprised at all actually if Kings Of Leon wanted to go to pop sooner but the record label said "no - introduce the fans to it gradually, or they'll revolt and desert you".

In other words, just because a band goes "pop" doesn't mean they're doing it for the bucks. Maybe they just really like pop music. That might seem strange (especially to someone whose favourite album is Boris' "Smile" heh) but you'd be amazed how many people genuinely like pop music for the music, regardless of promotion, advertising, image, etc. "Pop" is just short for "popular", after all.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

I've heard both versions, suffice to say that the mix isn't the issue I have with it.

So you'd rather work for a company whose sole interest is profit doing a job you'd probably hate, in order to avoid working for another company whose sole interest is also profit, but doing a job that you may potentially enjoy (to some degree)? Think about that question carefully and you may start to realise the mindset of someone who might try to pursue a recording contract.

Kings Of Leon didn't alter their music to fit into the mainstream. They had the mainstream in the palm of their hand right from the word go. They altered their music because they felt like it.

Fair enough, each to their own, I only defend it so as it is my favourite record of all time, which is a hard to say as I love so many albums.

The REASON I want to keep my capitalism separate from my music is because it removes the mindset of "Selling Records" leaving just "Making Records" which I believe to be a much better way to address recording songs.

I'm sorry to disagree but Kings of Leon had hard guitar, funky bass, fast drums and screechy passionate vocals. Then when they had a solid fan base they released an album with one or two softer pop tracks and this gave them an opportunity to tap the mainstream and they released a Full Album of soft, vocal and drum heavy tracks designed specifically for the mainstream, if that isn't appeasing pop and selling out, I don't know what is!

Yeah Smile just doesn't do anything for me. I don't think it's one of the better Boris albums. But hey some people like it so that's cool.

Your point of view on keeping things separate is very smart and in fact I do this too in some cases. I'm not saying your approach is wrong - it's obviously right for you. However, it's not the only way to create something worthwhile, it's just one option.

You said it yourself - Kings Of Leon only changed once they had a solid fanbase. So they didn't change to get a fanbase, they were already doing just fine. They could have just kept churning out variations of the same old record and slowly kept building that fanbase (like AC/DC since Back In Black, for instance), but instead they've transitioned to something else. No-one would have told them to do that - on the contrary, if someone has built a solid fanbase on the back of a certain type of music, if there's any pressure from a label it's usually along the lines of "do what you did last time - that worked". Record labels don't like to take risks with established artists so if you're established doing thing A they sure as hell don't want you to change to thing B. I wouldn't be surprised at all actually if Kings Of Leon wanted to go to pop sooner but the record label said "no - introduce the fans to it gradually, or they'll revolt and desert you".

In other words, just because a band goes "pop" doesn't mean they're doing it for the bucks. Maybe they just really like pop music. That might seem strange (especially to someone whose favourite album is Boris' "Smile" heh) but you'd be amazed how many people genuinely like pop music for the music, regardless of promotion, advertising, image, etc. "Pop" is just short for "popular", after all.

like I said before each to their own, but I shall never understand how anyone can prefer pop to the original music that pop waters down and laces in sex to sell

 

[Arsen]

Why does the magazine Rolling Stone care so much about the teenage angst shit over genuine musicians? The fact that Britney Spears was even on the cover in the year 2000 was a travesty in itself, not including the simple fact that many others aren't even remotely worthy to grace the cover of a magazine bearing a Bob Dylan song as it's namesake.

 

[BonsaiK]

I shall never understand how anyone can prefer pop to the original music that pop waters down and laces in sex to sell

What "original music" is that? Could you be referring to rock music? The term "rock and roll" from where rock music gets its name, is a reference to "rocking and rolling" between the sheets, in other words, sex. Or maybe you're thinking of Jazz, which was also a word for sex. The lyrics of early jazz songs reflect this, often in great detail. Then there's the old blues-based "swing" music, gosh, I wonder what "swing" could be referring to... my point here is that using sex to sell music has been going on for a hundred years at least, and pre-dates current popular music, so to say pop music is using sex to sell itself and this somehow sets pop music apart as somehow a watered-down version of some other type of music is a joke... and pop is hardly the onyl culprit, just look at the way sexuality is used to sell heavy metal for instance. I don't think there's anything wrong with it - sex and music have been synonymous ever since some teenager in Spain learned flamenco guitar because he thought it might impress the ladies, so it's a natural kind of correlation...

Of course, if you don't like it, you don't like it, that's cool. But a lot of the criticisms aimed at pop music aren't particularly valid or well-informed.

 

[Lullabye]

What do you think of the other affect the internet is having on music? In that it is globalizing it faster than ever before?
Personally, I think I'm now able to appreciate the actual "music" more than before, because of all the lyrics I hear that I can't possibly understand(or just barely do).
Also, what do you think of foreign music industries, like Japan, India, etc? Do you like the way they are set up? Do you think that we should adopt some things they do?

 

[Ham_authority95]

What "original music" is that? Could you be referring to rock music? The term "rock and roll" from where rock music gets its name, is a reference to "rocking and rolling" between the sheets, in other words, sex. Or maybe you're thinking of Jazz, which was also a word for sex. The lyrics of early jazz songs reflect this, often in great detail. Then there's the old blues-based "swing" music, gosh, I wonder what "swing" could be referring to... my point here is that using sex to sell music has been going on for a hundred years at least, and pre-dates current popular music, so to say pop music is using sex to sell itself and this somehow sets pop music apart as somehow a watered-down version of some other type of music is a joke... and pop is hardly the onyl culprit, just look at the way sexuality is used to sell heavy metal for instance. I don't think there's anything wrong with it - sex and music have been synonymous ever since some teenager in Spain learned flamenco guitar because he thought it might impress the ladies, so it's a natural kind of correlation...

Of course, if you don't like it, you don't like it, that's cool. But a lot of the criticisms aimed at pop music aren't particularly valid or well-informed.

You should fix that quote so he'll see your reply.

 

[BonsaiK]

I don't seem to be able to for some strange reason. Oh well. He'll work it out that I replied eventually.

EDIT: okay I worked it out.

 

[BonsaiK]

Why does the magazine Rolling Stone care so much about the teenage angst shit over genuine musicians? The fact that Britney Spears was even on the cover in the year 2000 was a travesty in itself, not including the simple fact that many others aren't even remotely worthy to grace the cover of a magazine bearing a Bob Dylan song as it's namesake.

Wait... you care what some magazine puts on its front cover?

 

[BonsaiK]

What do you think of the other affect the internet is having on music? In that it is globalizing it faster than ever before?
Personally, I think I'm now able to appreciate the actual "music" more than before, because of all the lyrics I hear that I can't possibly understand(or just barely do).
Also, what do you think of foreign music industries, like Japan, India, etc? Do you like the way they are set up? Do you think that we should adopt some things they do?

I don't know what country you're from, so when you say "we should adopt", well, who is "we"? And what should we adopt (or not), that these countries are doing?

I think that the globalisation of music is a good thing. I don't think the internet has sped this process up much though, it was already pretty fully globalised shortly after cheap air travel made fast global commuting possible.

 

[Shivarage]

hey, I was wondering cause you mentioned a band should never enter a "battle of the bands" contest

why and cheers in advance ^_^

 

[BonsaiK]

hey, I was wondering cause you mentioned a band should never enter a "battle of the bands" contest

why and cheers in advance ^_^

There's tons of reasons for this, but most of them essentially boil down to just one reason: competitions of any sort pit bands against each other, competing for a prize of some kind, or maybe just recognition and a chance to be seen. This is incredibly bad for everybody involved. When you're in a band, the most valuable tool that you have to get you further in the industry besides your actual music is your friends network. Band competitions pit band against band, inspire feelings of jealousy and bitchiness, and make enemies of other bands, especially when you add to the mix the fact that the judging for such events is often suspect. Instead, you should be befriending other bands, pooling resources and using each other's goodwill to take yourselves further, by organising shows together, lining up tours, sleeping on each other's couches, sharing equipment, sharing connections to people who can make product, print merchandise, distribute promotional material etc etc... the way you'll advance in the rock/punk/metal/whatever world is by working with other bands, not against them.

Oh and local homegrown band competitions for charities or whatever are bad enough, but never, ever, ever enter any of those big national/international competitions that promise cool prizes and adventures like playing in a festival in Europe or LA or going on a tour or some bullshit. Those things are basically just a pyramid scheme where the bands on the bottom fund the bands on the top (by the bands being forced to pay the competition organisers for rolls of tickets that they then have to sell to punters), they're terribly promoted and I can't think of a single band that ever launched an even semi-successful career through a scam like that in the entire history of such scams - probably because such a band doesn't exist. These competitions are set up to exploit the naivety of young bands with stars in their eyes that haven't cottoned on to the fact that the industry just doesn't work like that. Participating in such an event marks you/your band out as a born-yesterday sucker, and when I get sent demo material by a band that proudly claims that they were involved in such a competition I don't even look at it further, it goes straight in the bin. Especially if they won or got to finals, because it means that they got fleeced not once but multiple times, and still didn't catch on. I cannot stress enough that you should not participate in such events, ever, under any circumstances, it not only won't help your career but it will potentially do it significant damage. Also, talk to anybody you know who is thinking of entering such shit and try to get them to see reason. If they're naive and have stars in their eyes they probably won't listen anyway but you can only try. As a general rule any show where you have to pay money to play is bullshit. It's okay to pay a sound guy or pay to hire a hall if you're the organiser, but it's not okay to pay an "entrance fee" or to pay for "tickets" to your own gig. You're the hired entertainment, if there is money changing hands other people should be paying you and that's the bottom line. Anything else is a scam.

 

[Shivarage]

hey, I was wondering cause you mentioned a band should never enter a "battle of the bands" contest

why and cheers in advance ^_^

There's tons of reasons for this, but most of them essentially boil down to just one reason: competitions of any sort pit bands against each other, competing for a prize of some kind, or maybe just recognition and a chance to be seen. This is incredibly bad for everybody involved. When you're in a band, the most valuable tool that you have to get you further in the industry besides your actual music is your friends network. Band competitions pit band against band, inspire feelings of jealousy and bitchiness, and make enemies of other bands, especially when you add to the mix the fact that the judging for such events is often suspect. Instead, you should be befriending other bands, pooling resources and using each other's goodwill to take yourselves further, by organising shows together, lining up tours, sleeping on each other's couches, sharing equipment, sharing connections to people who can make product, print merchandise, distribute promotional material etc etc... the way you'll advance in the rock/punk/metal/whatever world is by working with other bands, not against them.

Oh and local homegrown band competitions for charities or whatever are bad enough, but never, ever, ever enter any of those big national/international competitions that promise cool prizes and adventures like playing in a festival in Europe or LA or going on a tour or some bullshit. Those things are basically just a pyramid scheme where the bands on the bottom fund the bands on the top (by the bands being forced to pay the competition organisers for rolls of tickets that they then have to sell to punters), they're terribly promoted and I can't think of a single band that ever launched an even semi-successful career through a scam like that in the entire history of such scams - probably because such a band doesn't exist. These competitions are set up to exploit the naivety of young bands with stars in their eyes that haven't cottoned on to the fact that the industry just doesn't work like that. Participating in such an event marks you/your band out as a born-yesterday sucker, and when I get sent demo material by a band that proudly claims that they were involved in such a competition I don't even look at it further, it goes straight in the bin. Especially if they won or got to finals, because it means that they got fleeced not once but multiple times, and still didn't catch on. I cannot stress enough that you should not participate in such events, ever, under any circumstances, it not only won't help your career but it will potentially do it significant damage. Also, talk to anybody you know who is thinking of entering such shit and try to get them to see reason. If they're naive and have stars in their eyes they probably won't listen anyway but you can only try. As a general rule any show where you have to pay money to play is bullshit. It's okay to pay a sound guy or pay to hire a hall if you're the organiser, but it's not okay to pay an "entrance fee" or to pay for "tickets" to your own gig. You're the hired entertainment, if there is money changing hands other people should be paying you and that's the bottom line. Anything else is a scam.

Invaluable information ^_^ ty

Edit: I am currently songwriting atm and would love to start a band, being in Northern Ireland doesnt give much chance of finding bandmembers who aren't A) posers or B)timewasters

What is the best way to get started? I know I have some original, effective ideas but none of the means to get my music "out there", uploading them onto myspace doesnt seem like a great idea due to it already being cluttered with amateurs

any other advice would be very much appreciated

 

[Macemaster]

Hi

I'm Currently a UK (derbyshire) based Guitarist for a Speed metal Band, But I don't really want to be Playing speed metal for 20 years, I prefer Virtuoso/thrash/progressive metal, so would it be a wise decision to stop with the band for a while, and move shores, so to speak.

So what tips would you have for a Guitarist like myself for Breaking into the music industry (I've been working on vocals too, not to much success yet)

 

[BonsaiK]

hey, I was wondering cause you mentioned a band should never enter a "battle of the bands" contest

why and cheers in advance ^_^

There's tons of reasons for this, but most of them essentially boil down to just one reason: competitions of any sort pit bands against each other, competing for a prize of some kind, or maybe just recognition and a chance to be seen. This is incredibly bad for everybody involved. When you're in a band, the most valuable tool that you have to get you further in the industry besides your actual music is your friends network. Band competitions pit band against band, inspire feelings of jealousy and bitchiness, and make enemies of other bands, especially when you add to the mix the fact that the judging for such events is often suspect. Instead, you should be befriending other bands, pooling resources and using each other's goodwill to take yourselves further, by organising shows together, lining up tours, sleeping on each other's couches, sharing equipment, sharing connections to people who can make product, print merchandise, distribute promotional material etc etc... the way you'll advance in the rock/punk/metal/whatever world is by working with other bands, not against them.

Oh and local homegrown band competitions for charities or whatever are bad enough, but never, ever, ever enter any of those big national/international competitions that promise cool prizes and adventures like playing in a festival in Europe or LA or going on a tour or some bullshit. Those things are basically just a pyramid scheme where the bands on the bottom fund the bands on the top (by the bands being forced to pay the competition organisers for rolls of tickets that they then have to sell to punters), they're terribly promoted and I can't think of a single band that ever launched an even semi-successful career through a scam like that in the entire history of such scams - probably because such a band doesn't exist. These competitions are set up to exploit the naivety of young bands with stars in their eyes that haven't cottoned on to the fact that the industry just doesn't work like that. Participating in such an event marks you/your band out as a born-yesterday sucker, and when I get sent demo material by a band that proudly claims that they were involved in such a competition I don't even look at it further, it goes straight in the bin. Especially if they won or got to finals, because it means that they got fleeced not once but multiple times, and still didn't catch on. I cannot stress enough that you should not participate in such events, ever, under any circumstances, it not only won't help your career but it will potentially do it significant damage. Also, talk to anybody you know who is thinking of entering such shit and try to get them to see reason. If they're naive and have stars in their eyes they probably won't listen anyway but you can only try. As a general rule any show where you have to pay money to play is bullshit. It's okay to pay a sound guy or pay to hire a hall if you're the organiser, but it's not okay to pay an "entrance fee" or to pay for "tickets" to your own gig. You're the hired entertainment, if there is money changing hands other people should be paying you and that's the bottom line. Anything else is a scam.

Invaluable information ^_^ ty

Edit: I am currently songwriting atm and would love to start a band, being in Northern Ireland doesnt give much chance of finding bandmembers who aren't A) posers or B)timewasters

What is the best way to get started? I know I have some original, effective ideas but none of the means to get my music "out there", uploading them onto myspace doesnt seem like a great idea due to it already being cluttered with amateurs

any other advice would be very much appreciated

Northern Ireland isn't any more or less clogged with posers and timewasters than anywhere else... it's just that the music business tends to attract these types of people. It doesn't matter where you live, there will always be plenty of douchebags in the music scene.

Using MySpace is a great idea. It doesn't matter if it's "cluttered" because nobody randomly searches MySpace anyway. That's not what it's for. People search there for a specific band or artist that they might have heard about somewhere else. For example if someone says to me at work or down at the pub "hey have you heard of band x" and the answer is "no" and I haven't got any of their CDs accessible, the first thing I will do is hit up MySpace. It not only allows me to hear their music, but it gives me a good idea of their visual presentation, age, marketability, any statement or ideology, any career history I should know, what kind of success levels they might be experiencing, demographic information about their fanbase, etc etc. MySpace has pretty much replaced the CD demo where booking live gigs is concerned, venue owners will prefer to get a business card or a piece of paper with a MySpace link rather than a physical CD-R. As far as being a "social network" the thing is fucking useless (Facebook eclipsed it for good reason) but as a "demo placeholder" it has real value.

If you want to get started, the best way is to try and do some gigs around town. If you can't do gigs because you're not a solo artist yet you can't find band members, then try to see local bands around town instead. Get to know your local music scene. The more friends you make there, the more chance you'll run into people who might share your creative vision...

 

[BonsaiK]

Hi

I'm Currently a UK (derbyshire) based Guitarist for a Speed metal Band, But I don't really want to be Playing speed metal for 20 years, I prefer Virtuoso/thrash/progressive metal, so would it be a wise decision to stop with the band for a while, and move shores, so to speak.

So what tips would you have for a Guitarist like myself for Breaking into the music industry (I've been working on vocals too, not to much success yet)

There's a difference between "speed" and "virtuoso" metal?

My main tip is be as versatile as possible. If you're going to make a career out of the guitar, you're competing with many other people who want tot do the same, so you have to take good opportunities where you can get them. This may mean that you don't get to play the music that you want to play, all the time. You may not even get to play the instrument that you want to play all the time. I'm a very good lead/rhythm guitarist (I teach) but I was able to go on national tours with a band simply because I was willing to eat humble pie and play bass guitar. They didn't need another solo guy, they needed bass so I said "okay, sign me up" and off we went galavanting around the country. I'm still reaping the rewards of that one, my current girlfriend used "I've seen you on stage before" as part of a pickup line...

Also, you don't know how your music taste will change in upcoming years, so learn everything. Learn how to play jazz, country, pop, etc. Learn how to read and play classical music properly, without tablature. It's the all-rounders who get way more work than the specialists. If you're the best in any one style that's great, but if you're pretty damn good at all of them, you'll be a lot more employable.