Following the hot topic, Ultimate Guitar’s Joe Matera interviewed Anthrax’ Scott Ian last month. The guitar player talked about the latest happenings in the Anthrax world (there are many), and his take on the music industry. An excerpt below, you will be able to read the full interview this week on UG read the full interview right here!

Image credit: revista_offline on Flickr

Did you ever think that some 30 years later along with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, you’d still be here doing what you love and influencing a generation of other metal bands?

It is fuckin’ amazing. I started this thing 29 years ago, I co-founded the band with Danny Lilker and its amazing to me. And I’m sure it is not only for Anthrax but for all four of the bands involved in the Big Four as well, they feel the same. It is like about 26 years since our first album came out and the fact that on a worldwide level, so many people still care about what we’re doing and that it means so much to so many people all around the world, that just makes me feel great.

And the fact that after all this time it is the first time that the four of us have ever played together, and that its happening after all this time on such a massive level, it is just incredible. These upcoming shows are probably going to be some of the biggest gigs any of us will ever play.

Aside from your musical endeavors, you have a passion for writing comic books?

Yeah last year I put out my first book for DC Comics. I wrote a two issue series for their character Lobo. A two issue Prestige Format and each book had 64 pages, so it was like 128 pages of Lobo and it was called Lobo: Highway To Hell. It was so much fun for me and was a dream come true. It was something I have always wanted to do. I spent a long time, about a year working on the book with Sam Kieth the artist and it turned out great and I loved the whole experience.

I’m currently working on my second thing for DC Comics right now for another character which I can’t mention at the moment as DC are going to announce it soon so I can’t really jump the gun on it. But it is coming along great and it is even more story intensive and more layered. And obviously the more I do the better I’ll get at it all. I’ve been reading comics my whole life and to be involved in that world is something I never thought I’d get to do.

Finally out of all your years spent in this tough music industry, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?

To just do things your own way, the business is a necessary evil obviously, but you just got to have your own vision as an artist. And you have to know what you want and you have to know who you are because if you don’t, somebody is going to mold you into something you’re not and then you are going to suck.

We’ve only ever done things our own way and that is the only way I know how to do it and whether it is right or wrong. That’s the best lesson I’ve ever learned. So you better show up with a good sense of who you are as an artist otherwise, you’re going to get fucked.

For part one of the series, go here.

Band 1

Image credit: Nirazilla on Flickr

The first band put together their own show and instead of teaming up with another band, they hired a small group of (very attractive) women dancers to perform on the stage as the opening act. It was announced (before and during) the show that these women and the band would be hanging out with the audience ‘after’ the show at a nearby hotel lobby. People enjoyed the show and the activities that followed later. The key piece of success for the band was that they heavily promoted the event as ‘special’ and promoted the dancers (including embedded dancer videos on the band’s and club’s website) in as many places as possible. They worked very hard to promote the uniqueness of this show and told people very clearly how ‘this show’ was better and more special than previous shows. It didn’t take long for the promotion to go viral in the area. The final result: The club was packed!

During the opening song and the band’s final song the dancers came out and danced on stage, then moved into the crowd for a while and danced there too. The dancers were smart when they had the idea to integrate their act with the bands act on and off stage. They made real connections with the crowd as they mingled with them at the show and also afterwards. Both the band and the dancers did something really good for themselves. Instead of just putting on a good show and making the audience have a good time, they put a strong desire in the minds of many people there to come see them again and again.

This band did similar shows with these (and other) dancers as well as comedians and other acts (both musical and non musical) to keep their shows different from each other so that people would not only get off their butts to come to see the band for the first time, but also for a second, third, fourth, fifth and more times.

Band 2

I recently saw a second band play in Chicago. Their show also had other ‘acts’ that were not bands, including a pair of very attractive fire eating women who the crowd went absolutely crazy for. The only problem was there were only about 100 people in the venue to see the show (the club can hold up to 1,300 people).

The band knew the audience would love the show, but they failed to promote it well and differently than how they promoted their past shows. So at the end of the night they had 100 people who might come back to see them again. Had they promoted the event as the first band did, they would have had several hundred people coming back to see them again.

Had the show been promoted and organized more similarly to the way the first band had done, they would have several hundred people coming back to see them again at their next shows which would then almost be a guaranteed success (at least on the local level)…

It’s very important that your shows are unique from each other and not necessarily unique from what other bands do. In addition, the most crucial lesson to be learned is all of your ‘promotion’ needs to highlight each of your shows as unique, different and special events. It’s not enough for your shows to actually be unique, you need to always communicate that uniqueness in all of your heavy promotion.

What about your band? Well, I’m not suggesting to simply copy what the other bands did above. I’m suggesting for you to think a lot about what your band can do to make your gigs more unique and special for your fans. So talk with your band mates and brainstorm new ideas that may work for you. To learn more ideas, you can download this free eBook about getting more people to come to your band’s future gigs.

Tom Hess is a professional musician, recording artist and mentors other musicians from around the world to expand or start a music career.

If your band plays 25 gigs this year, how many of your friends/fans will come to see more than 4 of these? A very small percentage. Why?

It’s (probably) not you, it’s them. Let’s find out why and what you can do about it.

When you ask your friends/fans to come to your next live show and see you play, what are you really asking them to do? Are you asking them to watch and listen to you perform your cool songs? No.

In reality, you are really asking people to travel all the way to some dirty club where they need to pay to get in the door. Then they will find themselves surrounded by intoxicated people who scream in one’s ears because the music is too loud to talk, pay for overpriced drinks (and bad food), stand (or sit if they can find a chair) through an opening band they likely have little or no interest in, then wait again an additional 15 minutes as the stage changes from one band to the next, then finally they get to stand through 90 minutes of your band’s cool songs in a room that is booming with muddy bass frequencies because the sound man does not know how to properly mix bands in a room that was never acoustically designed to have loud music played in. After the show is over they leave the club and drive home with their ears ringing and a headache.

So if that’s what you ask them to do the first time, they come out to see you play… What are you asking them to do the second time? … And the third time? The same thing of course.

Photo credit: zestrokes.tumblr.com

Compare that with going to see a movie. You go to the nearest theater, you buy a ticket, you ‘sit’ through 5 minutes of previews, then you watch the movie. Afterwards you are home in maybe 15 minutes.

Or compare going to see your band’s live show with staying at home and watching TV, listening to music, surfing the internet, or a long list of other pleasurable, easy and convenient things people can do.

The point is this: people have easier, and more convenient alternatives to have fun next weekend besides coming to see you (or any other band) play live.

As you can see, musicians fight an uphill battle to fill the venues we are performing at. We have a lot of work to do in order to get people off their butts to see your band’s next live show.

Your friends and fans really need to know if it’s going to be worth all the hassle described above before coming out again to see basically the same show a second, or third, or fourth time.

You first need to create a better and more unique experience for your fans from one show to the next. Some bands change the songs they play from show to show. Changing the set list does help a little bit, but you need to do more than that to really change what your fans will expect to experience.

Some bands try to be uniquely different from other bands. You don’t need to be different from other bands, you need to be a good band that puts on gigs which are often unique from each other! People need new reasons to come back to see you again and again. Download this free eBook about getting more people to come to your band’s future gigs.

Think about what your band can do to make your shows unique from each other. Then, once you have ideas in place that will make your next show more special for your audience, you need to clearly and strongly communicate this to people.

Read part two of “How To Get More People To Come To Your Live Shows” here tomorrow.

Tom Hess is a professional musician, recording artist and mentors other musicians from around the world to expand or start a music career.

Josh's mega, mega justification

Ohhhhhh Boy! I can’t wait for it to arrive! It matches my yellow and black Nike’s (courtesy of my mama)

“Doc, is it bad that I bought a guitar to match my shoes?”
“No, son, it’s called having an image.”

I can no longer justify guitars as tax breaks, even though they are. I am writing this one off in my mind as a necessary expense of visibility, which is what I’d like to discuss today.

I learned a lesson the easy way last year when I was playing my first stadium gig. OK, I was one of many local musicians playing at a sub-minor league stadium for a charity event, and only a smattering of people noticed me, but – there were close to three thousand people there, and I did get to say “What’s up, Waldorf? Are you ready to ro000ccck?”

One of my buddies said he showed up, and saw my rig set up from across the stadium. He wasn’t sure it was mine, but then saw the Plutonium orange Ibanez RG and said “oh yeah, that’s Josh’s setup.”

Visibility, be it literally, such as highway safety colored guitars, or from a multitude of positive interactions with people, is something worth boosting. Get out there and shake hands (and don’t give ‘em the dead fish grip), look people in the eye, and say “Hi, I’m here to rock your face off. Hope you enjoy!”

What can you start doing right now to boost your image in the industry and the scene?

Here’s what I’m doing – maybe you’ll get some ideas (remember, I have an over-the-top persona, blending close to a musical comedian). I know they’re specific, and may only work for me. Take it with a grain of NaCl2 (salt).

• Zany colored guitars. I’ve got the M-16 (photos coming soon; friend me on Facebook in the meantime to see it there), and the Tiger is on the way. I plan on spray painting a strat, and that’ll be my AK-47. Add that orange Ibanez, and I’m literally visible from space, bro!
• Shoes. Talk about a great conversation starter, and something for people to remember you by. My current favorites are a pair of Nike’s that match the Tiger guitar (yellow, with a black swoosh). I’ve gotten money playing street music because people liked my lime green wrestling shoes. Ironically, they walked away when I started playing, which was discouraging, but hey, I got the buck!
• Positive, professional interactions. Be polite, be on time, smell nice, thank people after the gig, and be that consummate pro that you’re striving to be.
• Talking to the crowd. It’s just fun! People seem to like it, too. Hey, it makes me feel like a million bucks. For all my cynical comments, I genuinely like people, and connecting with them from the stage, including them in the music, lifts the whole room to a better place. Are you ready to ROCK?!
• Stupid props. I’ve got a cordless drill a la Paul Gilbert (check it out on YouTube) that alternate picks really fast, and makes a cool sound with the pickups! Now that’s 9.6 volts of pure memories.
• Of course, playing good! I’m working so hard on writing, playing, and putting on the best show that I can. For me, time onstage has helped me a lot. Practice does indeed make perfect, or at least a good rock show. Well, I’m gettin’ there. I’ve come far enough to see how far I’d like to go!
• Free stuff. I’m working on my marketing strategy right now… OK, just pondering it. But it seems that an investment into free stuff like stickers, CDs, etc, is probably the best advertising budget. I’m not sure yet, and I’ll report back to you when I figure it out.

Hopefully these actions gave you a few ideas of your own. The point is – take action! All the World’s a stage… Own it!

Hey, maybe visibility can be my mega, mega justification of my new guitar on the way. Can you see me now? World, are you ready to ROCK?!

This is a guest blog post by Josh Urban. Josh is a musician with a unique perspective on music. Always a thinker, he gains insight wherever he can find it, be it in the clubs as a working musician, busking on the city streets, or teaching in the classroom. A naturally enthusiastic fellow, he is always fired up about bringing the lessons he’s learned to his readers. Maintaining a website, a blog, and a monthly newsletter, he aims to make musicians stop, think, and play with a little more intensity, integrity, and inspiration. You never know who’s listening.

Read few exclusive excerpts from Amy Kelly’s UG interview before it goes live in full next week:

Do you feel any pressure from your label at this point in your career?

The label doesn’t really pressure us per se verbally. With the industry as fickle as it is, you kind of put that pressure on yourself. Executives, bands, and record stores – everybody is dropping like flies. Here today, gone tomorrow. You’ve got to keep being viable and give enough reasons for your record label to keep invested with the band and keep invested in you as well.

In buying the record or buying the single from iTunes and buying concert tickets, that’s keeping your shit going. I used to get really caught up with where we were on Billboard and how many records we had sold and where the single was and how much MTV was playing us. Honestly, I don’t even look at that. I have no idea where the single is. I have no idea how much they are playing our video. As long as I wake up and play a show and people are there and they know the words to the song and they’re having a good time and we get to do this for a living, then I’m happy.

I’m extremely happy that we can do that. Success isn’t the charts anymore. As long as I can keep doing this for a living, I’m extremely happy.

Photo credit: Chad Martel

What would you suggest for the business side? Do you think that touring as much as possible is still a viable approach to marketing?

That may work for some people. I don’t know. I really think that’s a complete waste of time, going to all these cities where people don’t know who you are. You go to a bar and play for 10, 15 people that are there for the drink specials. Maybe if you’re really good, then there will be 30 people. I’ve heard that. It never worked for me! I was always like, “Why did I take off work and spend money to go play at some show.”

I think nowadays it’s completely different. There is so much you can do on your own now. That’s what you have to do now as a band because no label has money to spend on breaking in an artist. The more you can do on your own as far as your MySpace, your Facebook, and your YouTube or your merch, the more you can do on your own and the less of a risk you are to a label, the better chance you have of getting it. The chance of a major label picking you up and wanting to spend a gazillion dollars on you are slim to none. Unfortunately that’s the way it is. Buy a van. If you make enough money, buy a van and the label doesn’t have to worry about it. Anything you can do on your own is going to give you more bargaining power with the label.

I will post the link to a full interview when it’s up, great read.

Remember when you’re talking with music execs that your band is like a company. You have to convince them that you are worth investing in, and you do that by talking in business terms. Any executive is going to be impressed by someone who knows what the record label is looking for and possesses it in abundance.

1. Your music doesn’t mesh with this record company

Photo credit: tumblr.com/tumblelog/teemafia

The structure of a record company is actually a funny thing; even though we think of record labels as being huge, monolithic structures, they aren’t quite that. When people talk of getting signed to a major label record deal, they usually aren’t specifically referring to one of these labels (EMI, Sony, Warner, Universal). What they are usually referring to is a contract with one of the sub-labels that the major owns.

Major labels operate in such a way that that the chief label is usually more of a holding group than anything else. They have various kinds of labels underneath them, to specialize in certain types of music. Most major labels have smaller labels that specialize in rap, R&B, country, and rock. Your job is to find a label that focuses on your own musical direction. Do a little research. If you’re a death metal act, send your demo in to a label that specializes in metal. Match your strengths with theirs, and you become more attractive to the company. There’s also the added advantage of fewer levels of bureaucracy to wade through at a smaller label.

2. You don’t have a distinct identity

Photo credit: Emerson Merrick on Flickr

Who are you exactly? What do you play? What kind of people do you appeal to? These are the types of questions that you have to answer to appeal to record labels. If you’re torn between metal and acoustic folk music, you’re obviously going to alienate fans who would be drawn in by one or the other, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be this obvious. If you switch the type of music you play from one night to the next, you run the risk of driving away fans, even if it’s something as simple as focusing on crazy instrumental solos one night and focusing on simple, understated lyrics the next.

This isn’t to say that you can’t be an artist and combine your influences: going back to the example of folk and death metal, you can combine the two to form a cohesive whole, and attract fans to the music that that produces. You have to have your priorities straight: are you a pop band that has solos, or are you an instrumental improvisational band that has some pop melodies? Without a distinct identity you can’t sell yourself to your fans or the music company.

3. You don’t have a vision

Photo credit: weheartit.com

This is strongly linked with the last point. Where do you want to see yourself in four years? Give yourself an achievable goal, high, but within the realm of possibility. Do you want to hear yourself on the radio, or do you want to tour non-stop? Your vision of the band is going to decide what it grows into and where it grows to. If your focus is on touring, you need to focus your energy in that arena and partner with a record label whose emphasis is on high-touring groups and whose strengths match your desires. If, on the other hand, your desire is to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, you want to push your music and energy towards that goal. Think about what you want to do when you’re creating your music and looking for a label-your music should match where you want to go.

4. You don’t have any contacts with the music business

Photo credit: paperdolls.tumblr.com

This is a relatively easy thing to accomplish, compared to all the soul-searching that the previous points would take. When you know of the sublabel that you want to recruit, find out who the people are. Look them up on Facebook, LinkedIn, or any networking site. If you’re friends-of-a-friend, you’re in luck. Make friends with promoters in your area. Talk with the people who run the concert venues; they can connect you with touring bands, their managers, and perhaps even minor label workers. Make 50 e-mail addresses and write 50 different sets of e-mails to employees of the sublabel. Be creative. Woo your contacts.

5. Your stage show sucks

Photo credit: fuckyeahindieboys.tumblr.com

This point seems rather obvious, but some musicians simply don’t realize what their stage show fails to produce. Pantera labeled for years and were dismissed as crap because of faults in their live show. After they got together with Phil Anselmo they cleaned up their live show and signed to a major label, with tremendous success. Live shows are often the first point of direct contact for a major label interested in a band. Make your shows interesting: liven things up. There are already myriads of articles on this topic; there are so many things you can do to improve your performance from crowd interaction and style of playing to lights and special effects.

6. Your demos are crap

Photo credit: owlbookdreams on Flickr

Besides stage shows, this is the other point of first contact with labels. Sometimes bands will actually cut a few songs and send them in without objectively looking at the results (something that hurt Lynyrd Skynyrd in their career). A crappy demo tape will sink any chances you’ll have with a label. In the same vein, a demo can also lose a lot of what it is that makes your band unique. Whenever you’re cutting a demo, be sure that it captures your identity and vision from points 2 and 3. Even if your live show and your songs themselves capture you as a band, your demo may need some tweaking to show that to the label workers. It may even be something as simple as tweaking the levels—double-checking your work is worth your while.

7. You aren’t popular enough — you don’t have enough fans

Photo credit: no3rdw on Flickr

This may seem like a “duh” idea to most people, but it’s not quite as cut and dried as it may seem. Panic! at the Disco was able to sign with a label before they ever played a live show. You may also be in a town where there aren’t as many people as a city, so you can’t acquire the volume of fans that other bands can. In this case you have to show the label that you have the ability to draw in a high percentage of the people around you. A band from nowhere with 500 fans is more attractive to a label than a big city band with the same amount.

Make your case with the label executives: tell them about your drawing power. It’s a principle to start small before you expand on a much larger scale, and if you can make the case that you succeeded on at your own small local level, it can be very persuasive to the executives. But this doesn’t mean that you should content yourselves with the fans you already have. As a musician you should constantly be trying to reach out to fans in any way you can, through myspace, by posting videos on youtube, giving free concerts, playing at fans’ birthdays, writing thank you songs, etc. Again, there’s a wealth of material written on how to connect with fans.

8. Your music’s good, but I fell asleep when I was talking to you

Photo credit: Laurence 2 on Flickr

Somewhat linked to stage presence, this deals with the fact that some people can play guitar like gods but are incredibly boring to talk to. They lack any charm or charisma when they’re involved in a one-on-one conversation, and this is a kiss of death for any major aspirations for success. If you lack this skill, that puts a cap on the top end of your success, which decreases your value in the eyes of the music industry. Improve your personal skills. Act confidently. Reading up on how to handle interviews will help you out in this area.

9. It’s the Recession, sorry

Photo credit: andrewinpompey on Flickr

This is the dumbest excuse on the list. This is simply an excuse for something else. If you are attractive to a company, they will sign you. This just means that you’ve got to work more on the other items of this list than you would otherwise. Sell yourself to the company, use items 1-8 to prove to them that you’re well worth the investment. You’ve just got to be more persistent and make them see the incredible opportunity they have to invest in you as an artist.

10. You’re from the middle of nowhere

Photo credit: Simon Pais-Thomas on Flickr

This is a point that’s been made easier to overcome through the digital revolution, but is still one that can handicap your desirability to record companies. The obvious answers to this are to move somewhere else and to tour frequently in larger cities to put yourself in front of a large group of fans and record executives. You can also help to overcome the obscurity of your origins by pushing a lot of your music on the internet and promoting things that way, but this alone probably won’t cut it.

If you want to strike it big, you’re going to have to have a decent-sized fanbase in a city to prove yourself to a major label, but you can also go through the stepping stone model by signing to an indie, using that label to help you out touring and recording, and then once you’ve established a large enough base, signing with a major label.

Conclusion

These are ten of the most important reasons that record labels will reject you. If you can successfully work each of these factors to improve your position, you can make yourself very attractive to a record label. Good luck – remember to use knowledge about the labels to your own advantage.

Ben Histand is a fourth-year Business student with an interest in finding out how pop culture works, and has spent entirely too much time finding out how Marvin Gaye is the same as Led Zeppelin, and why Led Zeppelin sold a whole lot more albums.

When asked by Joe Matera, how important the musician thinks is touring these days with the way the whole internet and downloading issue has affected the industry in general, Nick said:

Photo credit: Rudy De Doncker

Selective touring is the name of the game now so it is not about how much touring but about when you do tours, to do more thorough tours.

Do every country and every big city and do them as well as you can so you don’t have to keep on going through them as often. The cost of touring has gone up immensely because of fuel costs and because everyone has increased their fees for everything from airlines to backline companies.

So it is much more expensive to tour today. And for us, because Tim has a family now and Phil is married, we don’t want to go out longer than we need to. On the flipside though, touring has been how we’ve been able to do this band since the early days, by touring as hard as we have in the past. It is what we have to do to make our living from this.

My point is that concerts are as important to musicinas as ever (even more than ever), but the approach is becoming different – especially for the relatevely smaller bands.

You can read the original interview at this location.

Chairman and CEO of Metal Blade Records, Brian Slagel comments:

We are very excited about the launch of our own TV channel, Metal Blade TV! We are going to bring you not only content from Metal Blade artists, but from the entire world of Heavy Metal. We want to take you behind the scenes and see all the bands in a different way. Also there will be a lot of rare live video clips too! We really hope you enjoy this new venture from Metal Blade Records!

We Are The Fallen video shoot

What I also love about this idea is how Metal Blade looks to showcase metal from all over the scene on Metal Blade TV. From being one of the leading independent metal record labels, this shows a love for the game, which if you think about it, we are all fans of the game at heart.

Another fine example that comes to mind is Trustkill Records, and their involvement in the music scene running the website KillerTours.com. Such an upbeat and stylish website where you can find all of the latest tours, embed widgets of your favorite band’s upcoming shows, and there are also in depth CD reviews and interviews. You can just tell that the Trustkill guys have a love for the music scene as a whole, and will do anything to help spread the word. Killer Tours also sponsors tours, run ticket giveaways, and they help increases awareness for all involved.

Simply put, Killer Tours is the go-to-place to find all of your metal, hardcore, and punk shows. You’ll never be lost in the dark wondering when your favorite show is coming around. I mean, man, I’m always looking around for shows in the area, and a lot of the time you never know they are even there! Killer Tours is the perfect place to find the shows that you want to see. It’s an easy site to navigate through, and you can adjust the search engine to your local area, or to all around the globe. Seriously, go there right now, make a profile, and join in on all of the action. In the end, there’s nothing like a killer tour!

Have you ever tried to offer a hamburger to a Vegan?

It didn’t go over very well did it? In fact, they were probably very offended. So why do so many bands constantly do this to their audience? Are you offering your fans something they don’t really want? Are you sure?

If you want to develop a bond with your newfound Vegan friend, you probably want to find out a lot more about them first. Then the embarrassing and sometimes bridge-burning moment of offering them a hamburger could be avoided. More so, in all likelihood you would be offering them something they really want instead, and putting a big smile on their face.

If you want to develop a bond with your newfound fans, you probably want to find out a lot more about them first. Then you can avoid the embarrassing and sometimes bridge-burning moment of offering them pink kitten buttons and give them the black, logo-driven t-shirt they really want, making them want to buy more from you.

Photo credit: derxdennis on Flickr

What is an “ideal fan”?

Let’s take a moment to examine your ideal fan, that person (however real or make-believe) that you wish all your fans were like. Top marketing experts agree that to focus your efforts towards this sort of “super fan,” you will immediately attract the attention of every person that fits 70% of the ideal fan’s description. Can you imagine how many fans you will have when you easily begin attracting everyone that fits 70% of your ideal fan’s description? That’s a LOT of people! Maybe you can’t imagine that yet. And that’s because you have yet to describe your ideal fan.

Often, our ideal fan is an extension of ourselves. Think about it… you are your #1 fan. Anyone else can claim to be your #1 fan, but when it comes down to it, no one is a fan of your band more than you are. So take a deep look at each of you in the band, and ask yourself what it would be like if you could combine all your likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, and habits into one single, super human.

Describe your audience

Take a few minutes to describe your ideal fan in writing. Don’t fret; it can take some time to get used to examining your fans in this way. Think about who you want to surround yourself with. What are the types of people that you love to have backstage hanging out with you? Get specific. Get very specific. The more detailed you can describe your ideal fan, the easier it will be to find them and turn them from fans into fanatics.

What does a day in the life of your ideal fan look like? What’s his or her name? How old is he? Does she go to school? High school, college, something else? What does he do during the day, from waking up to going to bed? Is she religious? An Atheist? What hobbies does he have? What about movies she likes? Books? TV shows? Video games? What type of work does he do? What other types of music does she listen to? What about specific bands? What are his friends like? Where does she like to hang out? What websites does he go to the most?

This person is your band’s life-blood. They are the person that will buy every piece of merchandise you put out, listen to all your music, tell everyone they can about you, and ultimately put food on your table and give you a long-lasting career in music. Know them.

Why it’s important

If you want to sell a hamburger to a Vegan, you better make sure that it’s a Vegetarian burger. If your fans are mostly high-school age, would you be getting college sponsorships for your shows? Why not make a good friend of a high-schooler, who will build your street team in the right place? Or how about a house party? What if ideal fans are college-age church-goers? And what avenues do you have for reaching them if they’re middle-aged businessmen?

What about the coffee shop they like to hang out at? Or was it tea? Would that be a good place to promote your shows, or possibly sell your CD? How about the place most of them buy their clothes?

Shows, promotions, sales, image, sound, performance, you name it; Your marketing and direction will become very clear once you know who exactly it is that you’re catering to, where to find them, and what they would like from you.

So now you have a bunch of Vegan high-schoolers having house parties that the police have to shut down because there are way too many people and way too much noise. Isn’t it great?!

If you know your fans well, you will be offering them things they want to buy from you. You will be giving them exactly the music and story they want and expect to hear from you. You will be making friends, and gaining a following, instead of the left-overs from the band that played before you. People will fall in love with you. You will be experiencing what many bands never get to experience… a clear, well-informed knowing of who your audience is and what you have to offer them. Most of all, you will have a whole lot of friends, who all want to reciprocate what you’ve done for them. That beats just having nameless fans, any day.

What can you do to reach your fans, now that you know who and where they are, and what they’re looking for?

On the tough and often dangerous path to “making it” in the music industry, Draven Grey has been described as a friend, guide, and schoolmaster. Draven is a professional musician, producer, and artist development specialist for Rockstar Mindset. To find out more, visit Rockstar Mindset, or sign up for our FREE 12-day mini-course on how to turn your rock band into a success.

There are a few things that will be different this year. First, there are no single-day passes; you must purchase the full 3-day pass, which costs a hefty $269 plus fees. Second, onsite camping is available by renting out 300-square feet areas where you can also park your car.

A few lesser-known acts that are worth mentioning

Jonsi

Jets Overhead: This Canadian indie rock band has yet to receive the commercial success it deserves. Their first album was released as a “by donation” download over a year before Radiohead applied a similar strategy to “In Rainbows”.

Portugal. The Man: The band has slowly been gaining popularity, all while continuing their experimental yet pleasant indie rock sound.

Jónsi: He is the lead singer of acclaimed Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, which has been on hiatus since earlier this year. His first solo album is to be released this April.

De La Soul: This hip-hop group sang in “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz, and are also featured in “Plastic Beach”, the latest upcoming Gorillaz album.

Sia: Lovely-voiced Australian pop singer Sia has sang for Zero 7 but has also released three solo albums, with a fourth to be released this April.

A few of several artists (and reunions) that we would have liked to see in the lineup

Lady Gaga: Let’s face it, she’s one of the hottest artists in pop culture today, and certainly would have been able to attract a myriad of concertgoers on her own.

System of a Down: Although it could be too soon for a collective return to the stage, Coachella would be the ideal event for a reunion of the Californian band.

Lady Gaga. Photo credit: »grahamblackall on Flickr

Dr. Dre: With an upcoming (and allegedly) final album due to be released this year or the next, Coachella could have been a natural event at which Dr. Dre to perform, also due to Coachella’s close proximity (100 miles or so) from his hometown of Compton.

Pretty Girls Make Graves: Also would require a reunion, this unique yet underrated post-punk revival band played at Coachella in 2004. They broke up in 2007.

Interpol: New York based indie rock band Interpol have reported working on a new album, and although they are set to tour with U2 this summer, Coachella 2010 could have been a good starting place beforehand.

Yes, it will be crowded. As one person worryingly wrote on the event’s message board about how having a large camping site with cars and alcohol could prove to be dangerous if someone were to decide (rather stupidly) to drive their car on the camp grounds after consuming too much alcohol.

But Coachella is bound to be an entertaining weekend to say the least. It certainly is a bit of a financial stretch for those who are on a tight budget and/or don’t live within a 60-mile or so radius (and thus cannot drive back home at the end of each night), but this festival has brought together a myriad of talented artists and is one of the few times and places that one will be able to see supergroups Them Crooked Vultures (John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, Dave Grohl from Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age), Atoms for Peace with Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Joey Waronker (R.E.M., Smashing Pumkpins); as well as The Dead Weather which includes Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs), Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age), all of those in the same weekend!

So think twice before dismissing attending this unique and promising musical activity.