The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

This past weekend, I attended some of the CIA Summit http://www.ciasummit.com . IndieHeaven puts this summit on every year but this was my first year to attend. I was very surprised at the professional presentation of the overall show. Not that I would expect anything less from IndieHeaven, but some of major music industry organizations could take serious notes from Keith Mohr’s CIA Summit. They offered great panels including A&R/Production, Digital Marketing and Future of the Music Industry. A big highlight for me was watching Tom Jackson’s session dealing with how artist should present themselves on stage. One thing that was very impressive was how attentive and engaged the audience was throughout all of the panels. It wasn’t the typical jaded audience that I encounter at many of the major music industry conventions. These artist were there to learn. If you are an indie artist, I would encourage you to check out and get involved with http://www.indieheaven.com They offer some great insight to their members including this great summit! http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

We have been living in a world full of contracts for the last few weeks around the Artist Garden Entertainment office. You can love them or hate them but contracts are such a necessity in the music business. They serve as the backbone and foundation for every deal. Whether it’s an artist/label contract, an artist/management contract, a booking agent/artist contract or a label/distribution contract, they all serve the same purpose. The contract lays the ground rules for play. It’s main purpose is to establish what is expected from both parties involved, in a formal legal document. The beginning of business relationships are normally very nice with a honeymoon like feel. Once dollars begin to generate, the doors are opened for greed, dishonesty and distrust. With a contract in place, there is no guess work in who gets paid for what services. Some people think their relationship will be different and no contract is needed. Those people are not good business people and will find themselves  in a world of hurt down the road. A new artist could potentially lock themselves in a deal that prevents any chance of success.

NEW ARTIST PLEASE TAKE HEED! Many new artist are hesitant to hire a great entertainment attorney. Trust me, I can relate. They are expensive and as a new artist, you are probably working with limited funds. However, the money you spend on a great attorney is just as important as the money you spend in the studio or the money you spend buying instruments. Notice, I said great attorney. There are plenty of bad attorney’s who have one purpose in life and that purpose is to drain your bank account. Do your research. Shop rates and interview some of the attorney’s current and previous clients. Try to negotiate flat rates for certain services as opposed to getting sucked into the hourly rate. You can also find attorney’s who don’t require an upfront retainer fee. Whatever you do, don’t enter into a business agreement without a great attorney. A good manager should be able to help you interpret contracts and could save you thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. Use your manager to negotiate the main points on contracts with record companies, production companies and booking agents and then pay a great attorney to do the final preparation.  www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Artist Garden Entertainment attended a fashion show last night at the Posh Boutique in Nashville, TN.  Designer, Jeff Garner was premiering his new summer line of sustainable clothing from Prophetik. http://prophetik.com As I watched, I was reminded how music and fashion fit so nicely together. Imagine watching a band playing naked? Well maybe not, but you get the idea. Whatever the band is wearing will be remembered, imitated and revered by their fans. Now imagine a fashion show with no music? It would have the same feel as a silent movie. Very boring!  Fashion brings music alive and Music brings fashion alive. During the show, there were several songs being used that many had never heard. Jeff likes to expose people at his fashion shows to new music. He had a DJ spinning tunes and a live band from Austria playing songs. The two alternated throughout the show giving it an interesting feel. As I was mingling with the crowd at the after show reception, I noticed a common thread among most of the people I spoke with. Everyone was buzzing about two songs that were used in the show. Some had even used the their iPhone app to tag the songs to purchase later. Wow! What an amazing impact the music had on the attendees. I must admit, I woke up this morning wishing a few of the songs that were used last night, were on my iPod. And they will be by days end!  www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Artist Garden Entertainment has been doing a great deal of marketing brainstorming over the last couple of weeks and the idea of “free music” seems to be a re-occurring theme. Many examples over the last year point to successful marketing campaigns having some element of free. One of the best campaigns that I’ve seen was the launch of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” I signed up for the free download and immediately bought the entire record when it was available. Coldplay is on a much bigger platform than most of the artist we are currently working with so using a similar campaign would most likely net disappointing results. Our plan is to use “free music” with a different twist. We look to partner with established brands outside of the music industry to create a “free music” campaign. It is important to find a brand that is compatible with the artist. Gummi Bears and Metallica probably wouldn’t work well as a partnership? Although it would be nice, the brand doesn’t have to be national. Regional brands or developing brands often prove to be great partners. Doing a little research might even result in finding a brand that you aren’t personally familiar with. The key is to align the artist with a brand that has a parallel audience and projects a similar message as the artist.  Whatever the campaign, I am definitely not in favor of giving away the entire cd. I know many people would argue with me and throw examples of successful campaigns but you will never convince me to give away the entire cd as I eventually need to generate money for the artist. My idea of “free music” is to leave the listener wanting more. Give them a taste and if they like it, they should be willing purchase the rest of the cd. If they aren’t willing to purchase, then did the artist really connect with the consumer anyway?  www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Today Artist Garden Entertainment met with the Universal Music Group. We were representing a new label looking for a distribution deal. I have spent time in all of the major record company headquarters over the years with the exception of Universal, until today. Let me say, I was extremely impressed. There is no question in my mind why they hold the top market share and just reported an 11% profit when everyone else in the music industry is crying the blues. From the time I stepped into the building, I felt a positive spirit. Most other companies in the music business seem to be putting off a negative and depressing vibe but  I really felt a heartbeat in the Universal building. Isn’t it funny how you can tell so much about the leadership of a company by the atmosphere?  I would recommend that every person in the music business find a reason to visit Universal soon. Maybe we could bottle up the positive attitude and take it back to our respective companies and change the outlook of the music industry.  www.artistgardenentertainment.com