The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

One of my favorite lyrics is a recent song from the band Downhere titled “The Problem” If everyone in the world listened to the lyrics of that song and decided to make a change, the world would be a much better place. As artist managers, the biggest turn off that we could hear an artist say is the word “Me”. Yes, artists should have confidence in their talent and believe in themselves but please check the word “Me” at the door. “Me” would be not anywhere without “We”. Unless you write, sing, play every instrument, record, produce, mix, master, create the packaging, market, manufacture, send out press releases and sell your music by your lone self, then you might consider substituting the word “We” for “Me”. Making and selling music is a team effort and everyone on the team is just as important to the process as the artist is. The artist is like the quarterback on a football team. Without the offensive line the quarterback would get creamed on every play.  Be sure to treat all of the people on your team with the same respect that you desire.

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One thing that I have noticed as an artist manager is that some artists don’t follow through on commitments. Why? I haven’t figured that one out yet. Clearly, someone failed to teach them along the way that your integrity is on the line every time you make a commitment. Maybe they feel they are more special than other human beings? When I see an artist who doesn’t follow through on a commitment, I see an artist that lacks integrity. Integrity is one of the most important measurements of character that a person can possess. When an artist verbally commits to something in business, so many things get put into motion on good faith. The person or organization that the artist commits to then puts their reputation on the line as they begin committing to others on behalf of the artist. If the artist pulls back their commitment, they not only make themselves look bad, it affects the others involved. Being an artist is a job just like any other job. If you honor commitments, you stand a better chance of succeeding.

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

One thing that I have always had a hard time understanding in business is why some people don’t return e-mails or phone calls.  When someone doesn’t return my phone call or e-mail it screams “I don’t respect you!”  If you find yourself saying I’m too busy to return calls and e-mails maybe you should find help developing your organizational skills? This past week I was having a live conversation with a friend who runs a marketing company about how business was slow for him and finances are tight. The crazy thing is I had e-mailed him a week ago with potential business for him and he didn’t bother to return my e-mail. Now more than I ever I would encourage you to return calls and emails. You never know what kind of great new business might be headed your way if you give it a chance.

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

I would like to welcome my good friend and radio promotion executive James Riley as our guest blogger this week. With over 16 years in the music business, James has worked with Randy Travis, Amy Grant, Sixpence None The Richer, Mary Mary,  and NeedToBreathe.

I love the opportunity to “guest blog” on   here and to talk a bit about Christian radio.  It isn’t just something I’ve been a part of professionally for the past 16 years by doing Chrisitan radio promotions for labels and now independently, it’s been a huge part of my life since I was about 8 years old.  That was in the early days of Contemporary Christian music and hearing radio singles from people like The Imperials, Don Francisco, Phil Keaggy and a really young new artist named Amy Grant.  I’m turning 40 really soon so I have seen a lot of changes at radio over the years.  I remember getting singles on vinyl while doing college radio.  Most stations that have been around for 25 years also remember when they got their first CD player installed.  Ah, the countless hours of doing mailings of CD singles to radio stations over the years.  Things have gotten easier delivering singles digitally.  I smile when I hear a younger promoter complain about spending 20 minutes uploading a song digitally for radio delivery.  I’m definitely “old school” enough to occasionally talk about “back in my day it would take all day long to do a mailing for 1,000 stations”.  There has been so much change in the way radio will add songs.  Anyone that has been around the music industry very much knows about testing.  Most stations do some sort of testing whether it’s call out research, online surveys, auditorium testing or just look at national testing and trends.  We all know the frustrations of tight playlists and trying to get a fairly new or unknown artist on the charts at the same time core artists are releasing singles in droves.  I like to often remind myself of something that has not changed about Christian radio.  This is something that was there in the late 70’s when I first heard it as a kid all the way to now.  It’s something rather unique to Christian radio and that is the power of changing lives with a song.  We get wrapped up in so many things that is often nice to read one of those listener emails that a station gets about hearing that right song at that right moment and how their lives are changed.  Yes, radio can be viewed as “old school” in a world of new technology.  But radio is that familiar friend I have enjoyed going to time and time again.  Call me “old school” too if you like…I will take that as a compliment.

- James Riley

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

As a music marketer, I have have put a great deal of effort into studying and practicing the art of Twittering. From both an artist manager perspective and as a music marketer I think it is extremely important for artist to be active on Twitter. Even though Twitter has become an adult playground for network marketing, there are real people on Twitter who are truly interested in music. The best advise I can give anyone is to “build a Twitter following who are genuinely interested in you” Forget about the rest of the marketing and porn stalkers. How do you go about building your following? Start with your fans who already follow you on Facebook, MySpace and your website. Then work on fans who attend your shows whether it’s 10 people or 10,000 people each night. Make those followers feel special. Artist who don’t follow back are annoying. That screams “look at me. I’m important and you aren’t.” I’m not saying you have to follow every single person that follows you but I am saying you should follow your true fans. Create a group of your true fans with Tweetdeck and actually communicate with them. You may say “I don’t have time” To that I say “It’s your job! Make time.” You are the one who chose to be an artist, and like it or not, Twittering is now part of your job description. If you communicate, they will buy. You need them to buy in order to survive!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Today’s post is simple. Kanye West is a complete jerk! What makes him think he has the right to pull such an antic as he did at the VMAs last night? If people would stop buying his records and buying tickets to his concerts then he wouldn’t have the platform that he currently has. I can honestly say that I have never bought one of his records as I hear and see absolutely no talent! It’s sad that the classy Taylor Swift and Beyonce had to be victims of his latest stupidity.

Join me and vote “No” for Kanye West. We can vote him out of the entertainment industry just as we can vote a politician out of office. We have a voice. Let’s Use it!

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

I am thrilled to post this guest blog from my great friend, Pete Orta. Pete owns the very successful branding company, Orta Universal.

I believe in having a good work ethic, but a few years back I ran out of steam.  For the first time in my life I was lost. I believe all of us reach this point at some time, it just depends on how long our resources last.  My self-discipline, self-confidence and the self-serving purpose of my life fed everything but my spirit; the real me inside was dying.  As I was at the bottom of my life and couldn’t collect any answers for myself, I remember finally thinking, this is not the end. There was nothing there for me and I didn’t want to go out like that, I wanted to do something, besides die a slow death.  My faith deepened as time went on while the soldier inside of me still desired a good fight to feel alive.  I started making calls to people I knew and apologizing for my self-serving motives in the past, most never recognized it in me but I recognized it in myself.  I would ask, “What I can I do for you?  What’s your dream?  What do you want to accomplish this year and why?”   Not having value left in what I had done, I was forced to see my own value apart from my accomplishments or lack there of.  That mind shift immediately began to help me peel away the layers to see the true identity of the people around me. My world started to transform, suddenly I was talking with someone’s son on the phone, having lunch with someone’s husband, having a meeting with some kids father, who was just trying to put food on his family’s table.  I grew a heart for them because I knew how it felt to be alone on my journey and I didn’t want anybody else to experience what I had felt.  I started digging into their lives and helping them break through the thick glass wall they once built through failure and disappointment.  I fell in love with humanity and started to serve it.  As they would reveal their need, I became committed to their dreams and their ideas.  I put everything I had into to helping them make it happen.  I pushed their ideas to the next level as well as provided the tools to be effective.  I really wanted people to win.  I started asking questions that would help define what they did and how they did it.  I was not only branding them, I was branding my fire within them. The power of giving is a force that has no mercy, it’s an aggressive current that absorbs peoples skepticism, doubts and fears.

Something happened to me, I was alive, and without any strength of my own. If I ever think about me, I still feel lost, but it’s just a reminder of what my life is like without the love for other people. What’s funny is that in my time of despair, I would always say. “Something’s gotta give” not knowing that the something was me.

- Pete Orta “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more.” - Paul the Apostle

Time. Everyone lives by it. We don’t have a choice as it is a given in life. However, we do have the option to choose what we do with time. Some people operate in a state of frenzy in order to squeeze everything possible into every second of the day. Others choose to ignore it and are in no hurry to accomplish anything in life. Somewhere in the middle is a balance and that is probably the best place to be.  One thing for sure is that time in the music business runs at an enormous speed and relevance can exit in a split second. Very few artist are fortunate enough to remain relevant their entire lives. The Rolling Stones, U2, and Madonna have all given it a good shot but relevance appears to be waning for them at the moment. One question that I would ask any artist is “Are you using the time you have wisely while you are relevant?”

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Diana Stancil

A few weeks ago, my husband asked me to do a guest blog for him.  It took me a while to decide what to blog about as I have never blogged before. After much thought, I decided to pass along some advice to creative people.  As an artist manager and with my personal experience in the fashion industry, I have been around artistic people most of my life. I have observed that actors, painters, make -up artists, stylists, models, photographers, hair stylists, and singers get a LOT of attention! I’ve also observed what these people do with all of this attention. While some seem unmoved (very few), others bask in it. Yes, artists are a different breed, however, they also need people with different gifts to surround them in order to help them organize and make sense of their careers.  People who will hopefully be honest with them. It’s kind of funny how God designed us to need each other.  So I would say to artists today, “just as it takes a village to raise a child”, “it takes a group of people to help get you to the stage”. Be kind to those people who are helping you, you see, they are just as important as you are.

Diana Stancil - The Music Gardener’s Wife
http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com