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Laziness and Greed: How to Make the Most of Them in the Music Biz
by Bob Baker

I recently read an online posting in which someone was venting about the apparent apathy of indie music people. He wrote "People tend to be lazy and greedy -- a sour combination. Many people aren't aware of these traits in themselves."

Here are some thoughts on this topic:

I totally agree with that statement. People naturally do take the easy road and think primarily of themselves. That not only includes indie musicians and small label people, it also includes music industry bigshots and media people of all kinds.

We can bitch about the sorry state of human beings or we can learn to work with it.

How?

By doing these two things:

1) Make it easy for people to help you.

I used to be a magazine editor/publisher. Like many indie media people, I was overworked and underpaid. Far too many bands sent out sloppy packages without focus and then expected me to do all the work to give them exposure. The bands who gave me what I needed, came up with interesting story angles and made it easy to cover them usually got press (as long as they had a story worth telling).

It's no different with your fans and people in other areas of the music biz. Make it simple and easy for people to get on your band wagon, order from you, etc... and make them look good in the process. Which leads to...

2) Let people know up front what's in it for them.

If all you're doing is asking for handouts and taking, it's no wonder you're coming up short. Use other people's self-interest to your advantage and let them know what you can do for them.

Most bands who try to book gigs talk about how great their music is and how many CDs they've sold. Does that matter to the agent or club owner? Hopefully it does, but usually all he/she cares about is the cash register ring at the end of the night.

I once booked several solo shows by sending out a simple post card with a large headline that read: "I want to help you sell more beer!" Many of the bar and cafe owners who received it were impressed that an artist actually kept their needs in mind. It hit their self-interest square on the head ... and profited as a result.

The bottom line is: Accept the fact that people are human and use their tendancies of laziness and greed to your advantage. Take control of the circumstances, don't be controlled by them.



Use the Calendar as a Marketing Tool

Whenever you book a show, find out if anything significant happened on that date (a well-known person's birthday or death day, a major event, debut, etc.). Then use that knowledge to build a theme night or an angle the media might like to cover. Here are some real examples from the month of September:
Sept. 5 - Be Late for Something Day

Sept. 9 - Anniversary of the first hot dog

Sept. 16 - National Thank-You Day, Wile E Coyote's birthday

Sept. 22 - Frodo's birthday, anniversary of the first ice cream cone

Sept. 24 - Bullwinkle's birthday

Sept. 27 - Whoopie Cushion Night

Sept. 30 - Ask a Stupid Question Day

To research dates, check out the following This Day in Music History sites:
- www1.excite.com/home/music/music_thisDay
- www.datadragon.com/day/select.shtml
- www.thisdayinmusic.com/cont/shared.html

Or these more general This Day in History sites:
- www.scopesys.com/anyday/
- www.historychannel.com/thisday/

You'll be surprised by how many interesting things are significant about any day of the year.