Next album

We've used the funding from our acoustic album to get the gear we need in our studio up to date. So that means we are now the prod owners of a mixing desk, a range of digital interfaces, mics, headphone amps and computer studio programmes. I have to be honest and say that it has taken us a few weeks to work out how to use it all, but we are now in the position of being to record high quality demos ourselves, tweak and refine the sound we are looking for and then, when we are ready to bring a producer in be as ready as we can be. From experience i would argue that this is important for any band as with producer time being very expensive being absolutely ready is essential. So here's to getting demo number one finished this afternoon and maybe even get the next one well underway.

Cheers

Zak

Learning about the music industry week nine plus

I'm a bit late with this blog due to lots of time going into the album at the moment. Plus I sat down tonight to write my thoughts on week nine of ariels course only to find I couldn't remember the password to enter my blog!!! So.... Writing a short blog on my iPhone and will write a long one once google send me a change password email!!!

Anyway the album is coming on great, we had intended to release it in october but on reflection we really weren't giving ourselves enough time. The bulk of what we recorded in a day is very good. What need to do between now and Christmas is get it all sounding good, get the art work finished, sort out the PR campaign and go for it. That's why doing thus course has been so helpful as it's helped us to re focus on some of the things we were already doing and help us to work out what else we needed to do. The last week of the official course (and like some of you other ariel bloggers imam going to carry on) is all about networking and my basic view on this is that you really can't do enough of it. It's all about networking in the industry, outside the industry and with fans people who might become your fans later on. One of the best things we did early on was to have business cards made. These can be used not only to give to business contacts but also to anyone you think might be interested in your music. Also don't assume you have to go to the big music conferences to make industry contacts. The best industry events we've been to are the small trade association events - that's where we've made some very good contacts and for the price of a beer why not:)

Blimey you can write quite a bit on an iPhone once you get going. I wonder if google have sent me that password change email yet :)

Zak
Isaac's Aircraft

Learning about the music industry - week eight

Yes I know it's a day late but I have a very good excuse. Last week was about recording our acoustic album. This involved turning our rehearsal studio into a recording studio and getting the bulk of the album recorded in a single day. Over the past few weeks we've been carefully taking each of our songs apart and turning them into familiar but different acoustic versions.

We started on Tuesday with producer Phil coming over to set everything up. That evening we recorded one song – my baby did me wrong. The following morning we started in earnest and worked from ten in the morning until late at night recording another nine songs. Once the songs were done we spent the Thursday evening over at Phil's house recording vocals and backing vocals. With a few tweaks and some additional vocals on one song from a friend of ours to go we hope to have the whole album ready for mixing in a couple of weeks time. Certainly it's sounding fresh, sharp and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as the fans who came to the pre-recording fan night on the Monday before we started recording on the Tuesday.

So to this weeks learning. Real live networking. I have to say that networking isn't necessary one of my strengths. However, it is our manager strengths and he really pushes us to network here there and everywhere. Whether its industry meetings, meeting our fans, or just getting out and about with people in general, networking is something you have to get used to but also something you have to do a sense of modesty. As Ariel points out it is definitely not about going up to people and saying 'hi this is how good I am' it's about saying 'hi hello what's interesting about you and this is what people other than me say about me.' Certainly, we've got some great quotes from other people that we can use as part of networking. We've been compared to 'High energy Coldplay mixed with the Beatles in the potting shed,' or 'better than Keane,' plus lots of other really good quotes from other people.

I find the best thing to do with networking is very definitely to take a deep breath before you start, to go in to any situation knowing what you do is good and that some people like it and some people won't and that's okay. That the real people you meet through networking will want to help you, will want to work with you on and will really know what they're talking about. After you've been networking for a while you'll soon be up to pick out the ones that don't.

Networking for me has to be based on a good product and a modest, honest way of doing business.

I will write more next week when i have recovered from recording!!

Cheers

Zak

about the music industry–week seven

It should have been easy for me to get the blog done this week as band wise the only thing we've done is to have the first of our monthly directors meetings (as we are just in the process of establishing ourselves as a company and one of the things you have to do is have regular minuted meetings. I can't say that our meetings conform at the moment to what you might think a board meeting looks like:) What came out of that business meeting was a long long long list of company actions that we need to sort out. They include ticket management, sponsorship, website development, business cards, campaign decisions on the album release, new gigs, branding and a lot more.

So although I should have had lots of time to get the blog done this is the first time I've had to sit down and write.

This week it's all about building your mailing list and as I've said before this is something we only really began to get to grips with in January this year.

It's very true that your mailing list is just as important as selling stuff at shows because every person that you collect an e-mail address from at a show is an opportunity to get them to come and see you again, buy something from you, or tell somebody else about you.

I can't say that we've added friends and family to our mailing list, I can't say that we are using our mailing list as well as we ought to. I can say it's growing through signing people up as we gig, but I can't say that we've put a lot of time into building that mailing list up online.

We do give away a track to people who sign up to the mailing list and funnily enough a lot of people have heard of that track and have shared it with friends (the downside of that being we don't get hold of peoples mailing addresses and if it's been shared friend to friend.

It had never occurred to me to trade a mailing list with a band and though I can see the sense in doing that it's really important to make sure that people really want to be on your mailing list. Certainly, in the UK with my business hat on you need to make sure that you stick to and stay within the law around the data protection act. I would also recommend that you get registered because it is only about £35 and what you end up doing is using the data that you have on your fans not only legal way but also an way that is safe for them and you.

To date we've never collected phone numbers although quite a few people have given us their phone numbers (our drummer is particularly popular) and I'd never thought about sending a text message out to those people - though properly people are more likely to read a text message than an e-mail.

I like the idea of sharing mailing lists where possible and going through our MySpace friends to see if people would like to join our mailing list.

Another thing that we've seen other bands do that seems to draw people in is the onstage photograph. What I mean by this is that you take a photo of the audience and tell the audience you will put that photo on Facebook/ MySpace and get people in the audience to come and find themselves in that picture and say hello.

The people that do come and find themselves in that picture will often join your Facebook page, send you an e-mail and join your mailing list. and, get your free tracks and slowly become a fan for a along long time.


Cheers

Zak

It's all about performance

Second mobile blog whilst at vfestival in Chelmsford. Watching other band is a real insight into what works and what doesn't work on different stages. The thing you have to remember at all times is you must respect and engage with your live audience as much as you would your Cyber audience. Whether it's the intimacy of a small stage or the wide expanse of the main stage treat everyone in the audience as a fan, entertain them, give a great show and some love and they will love you back.


Cheers


Zak
Isaac's Aircraft

Quick blog

I know that it's only yesterday evening since I last blogged, however since then I've just discovered an iPhone app for blogging that allows me to blog on the move. For a musician what could be better as I'm more likely to be near my iPhone than my lap top! So here's to mobile blogging:)

Cheers


Zak
Isaac's Aircraft

Learning about the music industry: Learning about the music industry - week six

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