Managing Your Merch

Expanding or supporting your bands brand is a fun and exciting step in a bands career.  It opens doors to new revenue streams, marketing, and a way to get great feedback from customers.  Having a merch table at a show allows you to collect contact information from fans, hear what they liked and didn't like about your show, and learn about other shows and venues in the area.

What Should a Band Have on the Merch Table?

Music! The worst thing a band can do is show up to a show without music. People are still buying physical copies of music, its just made a turn from big department stores to small tables in dark venues. Even if its a homemade three song demo, as long as it has decent recordings of your full songs, the band name on it and a link to some online presence, it will do. I can't count the number of shows I've gone to where I liked the bands music, but instead of putting money and time into CDs, they had home made junky tshirts instead or nothing at all. You are not a clothing line you are musicians, not everyone wants a tshirt, but if they are at your show, they probably have an interest in music.  Give your customers what they want.

Fall Out Boy T-Shirt

Tshirts are a great item to have in your product line but you really have to analyze your fans wants, think about how some one would perceive a tshirt with your bands name on it, and if you have a large enough following to sell them.  In a previous blog I suggested using a site like Zazzle.com to make some initial tshirts. You can purchase one or two at a higher price per item, but avoid buying in bulk which will be a very big investment. For solo artists it can be hard to sell a shirt, if you are going by your own name it can be hard to make that appealing to even the biggest fan without being conceited. Some tricks around this are to create a fan club name, one example Blake Whitworth, a solo acoustic artist went on tour as a college project organized by groups his professor called 'love pods'.  Although the end tshirt was poorly implemented they ended up saying "B.W. Love Pod".  With an appealing graphic this shirt could attract questions that leads to word of mouth marketing for the artist. It also has a sense of an inside joke that the fans get to take part in.  Fall Out Boy did a similar thing for die hard fans that paid attention to their online communications. They sold 50 tshirts at each show by request only that said something on the order of "Secret order of FOB" on the front and some long paragraph about the secret order on the back, never once saying the bands name in full.

What Other Products Work?


Look at your fan base, analyze what they are wearing, using, and do. If you are a punk or pop punk band, you may look into patches and buttons.  Possibly even moving up to high end products like skateboard decks, hoodies, and bags.  If you play a lot of bars and reach out to an older rugged audience, lighters, coasters, and matchbooks, are great items that move easily. Alternative rock and mainstream bands can generally do just about any item, keychains, bracelets, necklaces, buttons, hats and just about anything you can put your name on. Just make sure you are analyzing your fans first, don't make school folders if you normally play to a 21+ crowd, same goes for the opposite of that, no matches for a preteen audience.

Make sure to keep your product line cohesive, for instance if your band name can be written a few ways for example: Seventh Grade Underdog.  The band started as 7th Grade Underdog, then transitioned to the spelled out version but always kept up the abbreviated version of 7GU.  Just like in a paper, use the abbreviated version as long as you spell it out once.   You personally may of never heard of 7GU so we will translate this to Blink182.  What if they wrote it out, Blink One eighty two. If you are a fan you might not even recognize that as one of their products. Stick with a name, and stick with a theme, if you hate it after a while, it's just motivation to get another album out so you can change it.

There are a lot of studies on pricing, people instinctively like reach even numbers when checking out. If your CD is $7 have something on the table for $3.  80% of your customers are more than likely going to pay with a ten dollar bill, if you throw in a keychain it will leave them feeling like they got a deal.  And leaves you with less counting of change, and pushing more products.  In short stay away from even numbers if possible so you can bundle products.

Another essential thing at your merch table, is a great merch guy. Someone out going, a fan of the music, and great sales skills.  If no one in the band is up for it, find someone, even if you have to 'hire' someone it will pay off.

Other things to consider that will help at your merch table:

• Take Credit Cards (Square Up, attaches to just about any Smartphone)
• Unique items (buy your own button machine so you can make unique buttons for each show)
• Band has to plug the table during the show
• Make it an attraction (I've seen neon lights, pretzel machines, and tv's at merch tables)
• Lock box (add a sense of professionalism, get a box and play it safe)
• Mailing list

(Note to The Secret Order Kids or those wanting to be in it, if you found this, it's not a clue or any classified information)

Does my band need a manager?

Many bands question if they need a manager and the answer is, it varies.  Many factors go into deciding if you need one, if you are ready to have one actually want to represent you, and if you can afford to pay one. Even if you you have six members in your band, spent fifty bucks to get to a show and you are only being paid $300 for playing, a good 20% of that $300 (gross income) is going directly to your manager. Can you afford to share the profit? What if that gig only paid you $75 bucks? Your manager gets $15 of that, minus the cost of gas and you are left with $10 for an hour of work by six people...thats $1.67 a member per hour.  You better hope you sell a lot of CDs and tshirts and even that depending on the deal with your manager, would be shared.

Can you afford not to have a manager though?  If there is no one in your band who is good at booking gigs, marketing, contacting the press or figuring out all the details then maybe its crucial to get a business savvy person on your team. Many music industry hopefuls are eager to manage a band with talent, for pennies on the dollar that a professional manager would charge. In fact even a professional manager sometimes likes to do a trial period where he manages you but nothing is official and generally he covers any expenses just to get an understanding of how the band can do.  See how the members relate, who is the key man of the band, who is the weak link, essential he is putting you on a probation period till he decides if your band is a profitable endeavor for him.

More than likely though you are going to have a friend as your first manager, or a friend of a friend, who will do it for free just to feel like part of the band.

This is not the best idea, more than likely the new manager is better friends with one member of the band, automatically making him bias in any decision making.  He will probably have no actual knowledge of the music industry and no real contacts to propel you further.  Some people have a knack for band management though, and just need to be given that opportunity.  Analyze who you want to put in that position, this person could be the voice of the band and make decisions for you without consulting you.  If they are not on the same page as you then its going to strain the relationship.  You want someone you can be friends with because more than likely you will be spending a lot of time together. Trust is crucial, many times the band manager is the first one to touch the money coming in, and managing online accounts, if you don't trust this person, you are at risk of losing thousands of dollars without even knowing it.

Now that we have covered if you need a manager and what to avoid, lets talk about what you can expect out of a manager. Individual managers and management firms are you two basic options. For instance Thirty Tigers in Nashville is a management firm with an in house PR department, marketing, distribution, and a few others with artist managers.  Essentially most departments have their own projects but occasionally work together to further an individual artist through each departments specialties. Individual managers come in many shapes and sizes, some work out of their homes, others have offices and some even work at big record labels.  Generally the smaller the office, the more they do for a band.  A fresh new manager may specialize and do several things for a band, such as booking, marketing, advising, social media, merch sales, and public relations.  Where as some one with a little more experience might opt to pay someone else to do those services for them or obtain some interns to do the grunt work.  It is important to understand what exactly the manager will being doing for you, if he is going to bill you for a booking agent, marketing specialist, and an accountant, then maybe you should think about if you could get someone cheaper who does all this themselves and will truly work for the payout just as hard as  you do.  Connections are worth paying for but they have their limits when thats all you are getting.

It is important to have a well rounded team supporting your band once it reaches a point of making money. Adding someone to fill in the gaps the members  can't will make things less of a burden for the band and offer more time to do what the band does best, create music and perform.  Be smart about your choices, stay within your means, don't get suckered into gimmicky production companies or studio deals that will distribute your album and 'market' it for a few grand and large portion recoupable through sales. Most of these will pay you very little for a lot of work, or will be sending you a bill when the album doesn't sell.  Instead, invest in a manager or business partner who can guide you through the intricacies of the industry and get you legitimate deals that benefit you. Just remember to keep your goals obtainable, select a manager when necessary that is compatible with the members and understands your goals. Just as a manager will analyze your criteria, you need to do the same on his. Ask questions about their experience, what genres they have experience in, who their other clients are, what they plan to do for you, and most importantly ask if they love your bands music.  Passion is a huge element that leads to success, if they don't have passion for your music, they will only get you so far before the drive to make the world know who you are starts to diminish.

A final thought, do you know a successful band without a manager? Look up your favorite band online and find out who their manager is, and when in their career they obtained him. Did they have a team before that? A publisher or booking agent? You'll find that many had some specialist on their team well before their first record deal or big break. Even if it was just a friend, most bands reach out for help, just avoid the bad deals and read the small print.  I leave you with a video from a past professor and member of the band the Turtles, Mark Volman, who explains the downfalls of choosing the wrong manager several times.

Interview with Tammi Thurow: Successfully Negotiating With the Right Band

Tammi Thurow is a local volunteer for Relay For Life, who assists with the booking of entertainment for the day long event.They choose one band to play from 9pm til midnight to entertain the roughly 500 supporters.  Tammi's committee has to determine which local band would be appropriate for the event, which genre to strive for and then look at small drivers, Tammi explains "like is this band going to bring potentially new supporters to the event.  Although we don't pay the band, we want to find a band that is mutually beneficial to the cause, we offer them a huge audience, potentially larger than any crowd they have played for in the past.  In return we like to see them promoting the event to their fans and getting them involved."

Tammi went on to explain how when initially sitting down with a band to negotiate, these mutual benefits are laid out on the table.  When you are not paying for your entertainment the perks the band is receiving needs to be spelled out to them to make them see why they should play. "We've offered the gig to bands in the past and they've demanded a payment, negotiating with a band that is so set on a paycheck is nearly impossible.  We let bands sell their CD's at the show but require them to donate the proceeds to Relay for Life.  This sounds horrible at first however, they keep the costs of the item and can say they donated 'x' number of dollars to the charity."

Costs of a CD are not just the cost of manufacturing, a band can include the cost of studio time. So although the CD itself costs a band $1.50 they can add in the amount of producing the album in the studio. For instance a band spends $1000 at the studio, and make a 1000 copies, that's $1 per CD.  A band can truthfully claim costs as $2.50 per CD.  Understand that the element of having to donate a bands proceeds to a charity might sound bad at first but examine the size of the audience these bands are playing to, and then look at the sales hook, all proceeds go to the charity.  People who are at charity events are there to support the cause, generally financially, they are looking for 'mutually beneficial' ways of doing that. Given the option to buy a CD knowing most of that money is going to the cause and they are getting something out of it, is a no brainer for charity goers.


I asked Tammi if they search for bands who are affiliated with the charity. "Generally we ask volunteers if they have any family members in bands or know anyone who is passionate about the cause.  Relay is full of people who have first hand experience with the battle with cancer.  These people go out and spread the word, raise money for their Relay teams and truly make a difference.  Finding a band with that same emotional connection would be a dream come true." Tammi explains.

Me: "So you haven't found a band yet with that affiliation?"

Tammi: "Every smaller band we talk to claims to have that passion, but when it comes to 'show time' they fail to really convey that affiliation.  One thing about booking or negotiating in this case, is being honest about what you bring to the table. We may have another offer on the table who honestly is affiliated with the cause but brings in a smaller crowd, if you lie and say you bring in more and are also emotionally connected, then we just lost a band who could of been a better fit, and you just ruined your reputation locally with several people who could of sought you out for other events."

Tammi went on to tell a story about how one year they had difficulties finding a band and went with a younger band that came with a few good reviews.  By the end of the night they had people leaving the event because of the band.  Little negotiation was needed to make the band say yes, in hindsight Tammi understands why that yes was so easy.  The band couldn't recover after some sound issues and they had no true affiliation with the event.  They just played and went home, didn't even announce the event on their Facebook page. Negotiating is a skill to master but for an event coordinator it is crucial to negotiate with the right entertainers or you are just wasting your breathe.  It can be hard to validate qualifying measurements for local talent, a coordinator may only  be able to take the talents word for that.

Embellishments can hurt a band, when booking try to give accurate information. It may be good leverage to say the band can bring in 'x' number of people but if it is a lie it will hurt the band down the road. Don't be afraid to ask how something is going to benefit the band, especially if the band is playing for free. Just remember every show is potentially an open door to the next level, don't close that door before even seeing it.

Tammi negotiates as a volunteer on a daily basis with a range of people, bands and businesses.  She is an active leader in the Girl Scouts, Relay for Life, Habitat for Humanity, and several other local branches of organizations. Nearly five times a year she dedicates herself to negotiating with bands to perform for free at various events. 

Schools Are Ruining the Music Scene!

Chase stands at the top of the staircase at New Trier High School.  His arms full of fliers promoting his bands last show at the local KOC.  As the 3 o'clock bell rings and the staircase becomes filled with eager kids, the confetti starts to fall.

This is a scene of a decade long ago, where kids learned of local all age events from posters and fliers distributed at school.  Now they are restricted to event invites from friends on Facebook.  But if their friends are not into music like them, how are they getting into the network that has all the cool kids that send out the events?  They don't.

According to Eleesa Steiner, an 8th grader at Bessie Allen Middle School, "We aren't allowed to put up posters on the walls, only school stuff can go there. I've never received a flier from any kids, probably cause we'd have to carry them with us, we can't stick them in backpacks, cause that isn't allowed either." When asked if she even knew about the local concert a band she "likes" on Facebook had recently, she couldn't recall getting the event invitation.  Obviously Facebook doesn't work to get the news out there about a show as well as we'd all like to think it does.  Maybe it is safe to say the old school way works, no pun intended.

Before graduating from my high school the ban on non school related posters was enacted, and I saw the decline in attendance at the local shows.  We couldn't hand out fliers during school hours, we couldn't put up posters on the community bulletin board, and in our city we sure couldn't put them on a telephone pole by school or risk a littering charge per flier if put on car windshields.  There was no way to promote shows.  As this decline in marketing occurred we were now doing other things rather than supporting our favorite local bands.  The number of bands performing went down, and the scene moved into an underground punk scene that is still in that stance today, ten years later.

Schools are pushing their music programs but are stifling the local young music scene by taking away their marketing streams.  Would grocery stores be so successful if they couldn't advertise in the local newspaper?  If your target market is at a school, you have to find a way to get to them and let them know about your product.  I've seen bands resorting to setting up their instruments at near by houses to hand out fliers to students, or show up at football games to hand out fliers.  What have you seen done by students to avoid the school ban on fliers?  Have you seen a shift in age brackets at local shows since schools started being more restrictive in your area?  Please share you experiences, thoughts, and concerns.

Touring 101

Working for venues and booking tours for several artists I have an all around view of the process of a tour. Venues want bands to play, bands want to play, however money is a priority in both parties so choose your venues wisely, and learn how to pitch and promote yourself.   Here are 5 steps to follow when booking a tour.

Step 1: Finding Suitable Venues and Locations

If this is your first tour, you need to evaluate where you want to go, where your audience is, and what markets will be beneficial to you.  If you haven't ventured far from your home city, it might be a good idea to stick to surrounding states.  Why?  Because you're budget is limited, your fan base is limited and might not expand outside of that region, and you'll be more likely to know people to hook you up with a place to stay, venue contacts, and several other helpful perks.  Create a rough route of where you want to to and what areas on what days.  Be flexible but efficient in your planning.

As for venues, don't waste a venues time with your press kit if you are not a good fit for their establishment.  In short don't ask to play an arena when your draw is 50, or ask to play a blues bar when you play metal.  Do some research, impress them with your knowledge of them, and know the bands they book.  A helpful tool to booking is a site called Indie on the Move.  It has an almost complete list of venues, gig swapping options and so much more, for free.

Step 2:  Getting the Gig

If you don't have a CD, Biography, Band Photo and a Facebook Page, don't bother trying to tour.  You need music to impress the venue, a biography to tell them who you are and a band photo for them to promote you with.  A Facebook page is just standard, it tells a venue how many fans you have, a good idea of how attracted they are to your music and shows.  Prepare these items and make them available online in the form of a press kit.  This can be thru a site like Sonicbids.com or on your own webpage or in a downloadable zip file you can mail out or link booking agents too.

Many venues have a booking email address or phone in hours.  Read their booking directions carefully and follow their preferred methods.  Most now days prefer an email sent to them.  Make sure to have a well written cover letter that includes who you are, what genre of band you are, your location, your target market, the size your draw in that area, and what qualities you bring to the table to be an asset to them.  Is your band really good a getting the crowd to buy alcohol?  If you're pitching yourself to a bar, then include that detail.  Are you great motivational speakers? Then pitch that to the youth group you want to play for.

If you have played in the area before, make sure to tell them when and and where and the draw.  Also include that you plan to market and promote your show with your marketing team. If you say you will, follow thru otherwise you wont get a show again if the turn out is bad.

Step 3: Make Friends in the Area

You should have 3 months to figure out how you are going to get people at your show now that it is booked.  Step one is finding your new fans; best way to do that is by finding a similar band and making friends with them.  Offer cross marketing with each other, they tell all their fans about you and your show on their Facebook page or at shows and you do the same in return.  Create an event listing on Facebook and encourage their fans to RSVP and share it with their friends. Utilize all social media sites to find people in the area, get creative just stay ethical.

Step 4: Use the Press

Submit your show details to local events calendars, radio stations, and night life magazines.  People may not know your name but knowing live music entertainment is happening somewhere, can attract a small audience itself.  Ask the venue if they have a local press list, this will give you all the local radio stations, tv stations, record stores, and newspapers in the area.  You can send posters and CD samplers to the stores, a press release to the newspapers and a one sheet and cd to the radio stations, to try and get press about the show.  If your band has a unique hook write a press release and use that hook to try and peak some interest to get the press talking about you.  If nothing else it might drive people to your websites and increase your online fan base.

Step 5: Organize Your Information

Now that everything is planned, make sure to organize it all in day sheet.  Put load in times and show start times along with load out times all in a neat easy to read layout.  List contact information for the venue, where you'll be staying, and local press. Make a list of equipment necessary for the show, do you need to haul in your PA, is there a place for those funky lights you use?  Have it all figured out ahead of time to make things go on without a hitch. Attach printed maps to the location just incase "Tom Tom" decides to not work.

Step 6: Be Nice

Treat this opportunity as a chance to say thank you for everything to everyone. Thank the crowd for coming out, thank the staff for helping out, and most importantly find the booking agent or venue manager and thank you and leave them a hardcopy of your CD and contact information.  If you already know when you want to come back, let them know, if they really liked you, they will want to have you back and invite you.  If they don't invite you right away, then ask in the form of a follow up email that says thanks again and mention something about their staff being great, or sound being the best on tour, etc. Be genuine with your compliments, the more detail, like names or specifics makes it more effective and builds the report'. Just remember to not put a venue manager on the spot in person asking for a follow up show.  Its hard for them to say no if they didn't like the turn out and generally will just result in false hope responses to get off the subject.

These are just the basics, follow these however and you should have a very successful tour experience.

Steve Jobs and What He Can Still Do for You

Recently Steve Jobs, the CEO and creator of Apple passed away after a long battle with cancer.  As a musician you have probably used some software, hardware or at least secretly wept over a Pixar film that Steve Jobs had a hand in making.  He has changed the face of technology, his company has opened so many doors for the indie musician that it has completely changed the music industry. What few realize is his life story and how out of sheer coincidences and being in the right place at the right time can change your life.  How being turned down, told no, or talked bad about can actually be a a good thing.

Before going on please take time to watch this video of Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005 giving a speech to inspire graduates to do what they love in life.

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

In the music industry passion and inspiration are essential to success.  You can use all the great technological tools created by Steve, but the most important thing you can take from Steve is inspiration. In his speech he talks about his life, and his visions of what his life priorities were.  He inspired his audience by talking about how he over came adversity and learned new things he was passionate about and then paid it forward by creating some kick butt technology! But being serious pay attention to how he spoke to the audience, he brought them in with a story about connecting the dots.  A story that brought him down to their level, possibly even below them and then discussed a chain of events that got him to where he is today.  Although specific to his life, each viewer can relate to this and as he finishes you yourself probably started thinking back to the events that got you where you are today.

While you connect the dots, think about how your music career got from dot to dot.  How did you get your first show?  Did your Aunt Ella know the guy at the cafe or was it your cousin Bobs birthday party? The second show, was it booked because of someone at that first show?  How about how you found your second guitarist? Was he originally in another band you had a show with? Each opportunity you have opens you up to several more.  Think about that when you play your next show and want to leave right after you perform.  Although Steve Jobs says you can't look to the future to connect the dots, you can be conscious of the potential dots you are erasing before they even appear.  In short, each time you communicate with people or make yourself present at a gathering, you are walking down a proverbeal hallway of doors.  You really don't know which one will open up to you and put you on the road to success, so treat each of them as if they were a winning lottery ticket.

Steve continued on with his speech to talk about his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer and how you should live each life as if you were dying in a sense.  This attitude towards life makes you give your all in everything you do.  The simple words of wisdom Steve gave to this graduating class will stay with them their whole lives.  Not because it was delivered by Steve Jobs but because he was able to  relate to them by bringing himself down to their level, sharing his knowledge and life experiences that they could relate to.  He threw in some comedy and a quote to keep them thinking but it was that connection that got them hooked.

I'm sure we all learned some information from this speech, be it a life lesson or facts about Steve's life.  More important is the delivery, because each speech a person gives is essentially a branch of their self branding and branding of the company they represent.  Steve was able to take Apple off of its pedestal of a corporate God, and personalize it, make it relatable to the audience.  He was able to connect with them personally be disclosing personal stories, and then made it memorable by instilling life lessons throughout and encouragement.  Sure as a musician you may not be looked at for giving great life advice but you can offer stories that make you more approachable and memorable.  So next time your guitar string breaks on stage instead of telling a cheesy joke, try telling a story about how when you went to a show the other week the guitarist broke his string and decided to sing "this is the song that never ends" until he replaced it and how you couldn't get it out of your head for a week.  What you just did was related to your audience (by telling them you go to shows too) you overcome adversity in a positive manner (misfortunate guitar string blunder) and then provide them with a deeper understanding of you.

Take every opportunity to brand yourself, open up a few windows to let the market see whats inside but always be conscious of what window is open.  Learn from what Steve Jobs has just delivered, use his words in your personal life and in your career.  Being a successful musician is more than just marketing your music, its about branding yourself, and knowing how to make yourself memorable and connecting with your audience.

Networking With The Indie World via A2IM

A2IM is the American Association of Independent Music, it serves as a coalition to represent the Indie market with one voice.  Its objectives are to put the indie music market on the same level as the major labels.  Developing distribution outlets and providing access to technology that evens out the playing field.

With members spanning from Indie Labels, to websites designed specifically for bands, the members are truly diverse and extremely important in the low budget do it yourself world of music.  Working as one also gives its members a say in legislations that impact them, where as before only the big labels had enough power to have a say. This is very important with the changing digital world impacting existing intellectual property laws.

But why is this useful to an independent artist or venue?  Even as a nonmember of this association you have access to daily news updates of the successes in the indie market, whats hot, who is on what label, awards and events going on.  These are all things Indie artists need to know in order to try and get themselves in those positions.  Also for venues, booking artists can be a challenge, you don't have access to Pollstar telling you the numbers the artist pulls in in each market, you have to figure it out yourself and make that gamble if you don't know.  keeping up to date with indie artists who are winning awards, making headlines, etc. will help you to not pass up an opportunity to book Mumford and Sons and go with the local band instead cause you know them and not this irish sounding band who sent you an email.  Knowledge is power and any website that provides content directly associated with what you do is worth reading.

Further more A2IM provides a list of its members, or as I like to think of them, resources.  Reading through the descriptions of all their associates is like reading that companies overview of what they do and how they can help you.  For instance if your band has some awesome songs that everyone keeps telling you should be in TV commercials, well go out and do it with Pump Audio.  They specialize in getting indie music on television. They are one of the hundreds of associates of A2IM, who many of us in the scene including myself did not know about until seeing it on the A2IM site.

Although the "Local Chapter" portion of the association is a little weak to say the least, this could develop into a great opportunity for local  musicians and venues to stay connected and discuss local issues they see in the scene.  Right now the association really caters to services and labels in the independent market, but as more bands get hands on in their careers, I could see he American Association of Independent Music opening its doors to true indie music.  Until that day comes, bookmark the site, read the news, analyze the members and get to know the people and businesses that can help you get further in exposing your music to more people.

Always remember it is easier to work as a team and A2IM embraces that concept, pulling together all the I's and Me's and making it one big We.

References 

      n.d. A2IM Home. A2IM: American Association of Independent Music. Retrieved October 13, 2011 from http://www.a2im.org.