Self Sufficient Musician

This blog will be consolidated with my main site, AriKoinuma.com, in the near future.  I am writing about music career, songwriting and guitar playing over on that site already — so come and join me there!

Just a quick note to say I will be starting my own experiment with Jango.com’s Airplay program — a pay-to-play program with decent targeting and analysis features.

I am starting out with $30 for 1,000 airplay level — nice and small for micro-testing.  And I’m going to start out with some basic artist-association targeting.  They offer more specific targeting based on age, gender and location, for two Airplay credits per play instead of one (meaning, I’ll only get 500 plays instead of 1,000) and I’ll experiment with that after trying more general targeting.  I listed about 20 artists to associate my music with — broader than what I consider effective, but I’ll see if there are any surprises among which acts’ fans tend to like my music.

More later!

People focus too much on effectiveness, and while that’s not wrong, effectiveness can be tweaked, improved and sharpened over time.

The true secret to a successful strategy is to make it sustainable.

This applies to everyone but particularly true for musicians.  We get into this because we like music — playing it, making it, recording it, etc.  But with it comes the rest of “business” — promoting, schmoozing, booking, tweeting, and so on.

There are many how-to info out there that claim to make you successful.  But the problem is, they don’t take who you are into account.

Back when I released my first album, I promoted it heavily on MySpace, because Your Favorite Enemies was very successful with that approach.

9 months later, I got so burned out that I just couldn’t go on.  I did many things right as far as I could tell, and my fan base was growing — if slowly (YFE has 7 members, I was by myself) — but getting burned out and not logging in for a long time just burned down most of what I built during that time.

Definitely not a successful strategy.

Derek Sivers says it well when he says “Do what excites/scares you.  Don’t do what drains you.”

I’m still trying to figure out what a successful strategy for me is.  But one lesson I learned: it better be sustainable.   If it’s even half way effective, if I can sustain it, it’ll build.

So, don’t blindly accept other people’s success methods without taking compatibility with yourself into account.  If you hate parties, don’t attend them.  If you hate going online, stay offline.  If you like drawing, incorporate that.  If you like biking, incorporate that.

Make up a career strategy stuff full of activities that excite you, and boldly ignore the rest of good advices.

So that you can sustain it.

Most artists go and record an album because they thing it’s “the thing to do.” While I don’t disagree that it’s a thing to do in your pursuit of a career as an original artist, but it’s a good idea to pause for a moment and ask yourself “why.”

There are many good reasons why you should record an album, but off the top of my head, I can think of three big ones:

1. You want to sell it to make a profit.
2. You want to use it as a promotional tool to get as many people as possible to know your act or come to your gig.
3. You want to showcase your talent/songs.

Now, they are not exactly mutually exclusive, let’s just say that it’s extremely hard to do all of them extremely well at the same time.

Consider for a moment.  If your goal is to make a maximum profit, you may want to reserve some money to promote the album instead of spending it all on production.  In fact, you may want to spend as little as possible on the production as you can get away with, so that it’ll increase your profitability.

On the other hand, if your goal is #2, you may want to forget about profits — and give away your recordings for free.  That way it’ll make the maximum impact on your promotions, and your visibility may help you move forward.

Or if you want to make an album as a showcase, then you’ll want to put everything you got into your production, and never mind what happens afterward.  Having a great showcase of your talents can be your greatest asset — it may woo and impress the important people, if not that many of them, that you’ll want to attract.

I’m sure for most of us, our goals are varying mixes of three.  When I made my first album, my goal was to see if I can do it by myself.  I did everything on my own, and I never let anyone else listen to my work in progress until the very final stages of mixing.  My experiment was to see if I made a record that appealed to nothing but my own taste, if people would like it.   Judging by the responses I got from my listeners, I think my experiment was a success.

But beyond that, I didn’t have very clear idea how I was going to use my album to further my career.  I spent about 9 months on a diligent MySpace campaign, then got burned out doing that, and took a break from my own music.  As I am pondering resuming and thinking about my next album, I realize how my lack of vision/strategy really made me spend my time and resources in an inefficient way.  Lesson learned, I hope to make a bigger impact when I release my next one.

What about you?  What are you setting out to accomplish with your album?  Ponder for a moment and write them down — it’ll help you make decisions throughout your recording, releasing and promoting process.

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Perhaps it doesn’t have quite the significance it had once, but musicians still like to put out an album — a collection of songs — rather than just releasing singles.  And when you have a collection, the order in which the songs appear obviously makes a difference to how the overall collection is perceived and received.

It’s just like the days of making mix tapes — you carefully choose your songs, order them so that they flow well from one to the next.  This is definitely more of an art than sceience, but that being said, there are certain thought schemes that going into sequencing an album.

Let’s say, we’re putting together a 12-song rock album.  The following will be my chains of thoughts in putting it together.

1. The opener, obviously is very important — definitely one of the stronger songs, if not the strongest.  This song should be a good representative of what the rest of the album sounds like.  However, some albums choose to open with little nuggets or prelude, something unexpected and catches audience off-guard by being the complete opposite of what the rest of the album is.  That can work, too, as long as it’s short enough.  I personally like albums where the first song isn’t the most obvious single — because then the rest of the album feels like a let down.  (And many albums are!)
2. The #2 spot, after the warm-up of the opener, may perhaps be the greatest spot for the biggest single.  Assuming you didn’t put in a little prelude in the #1 spot, the #2 is a place where you’ll want to reinforce what you delivered with #1 — not a place for a change of pace, experiment or contrast.
3. In a rock album, the first two songs should be the one-two punch of uptempo songs to get listeners grooving.  The #3 spot, then, is a good place for a mid-tempo anthem.  Something a little different from the first two, perhaps slower and steadier — but just as strong.
4. After setting the tone with the first three songs, #4 spot is a great place for a change of pace.  Perhaps something a bit more experimental, or if the first three were up-tempo, this may be a good place for a hit ballad.
5. If #4 was a ballad, here’s a place for experiments.  If #4 was more of an experimental song, then #5 is a good place for a ballad.
6. Maybe because I grew up listening to cassettes, I’d like this spot to be something that feels like a closer to the 1st half, before hitting hard again with the next song.
7. The first song of the second half should really pick things back up and hit hard again.  If this is a 14-song album, then the same would be said about the song #8.  So, whichever ends up falling as the first song of the second half.
8. And here’s a follow-up to song #7, recreating the one-two punch of the beginning.
9. #8 or #9 is a great spot for another single.  Usually most albums line up singles between 1-4 and then run out of steam — if an album has a single in the #8 or #9 spot, that gives the impression of an album having a great depth — and very worthy of buying the whole thing.
10. If #7 and #8 were up tempo, here’s another good place to slow down a bit.
11. #10 and #11 are probably places for experiments or not single-worthy songs.  Ideally, no song on your album will be weak, but these are spots for ones that are less “obvious.”
12. Albums seldom have enough good songs to really finish strong, so that’s what I’d like to see in an album.  Closers should aim to leave a great “aftertaste” from listening to the whole thing.  Many rock acts finish with a ballad, which is a move I’m not a fan of, though it makes sense.  While “save the best for last” doesn’t make a lot of sense from a marketing point of view, I’d say pick the last song carefully — let it be a song you don’t mind people remembering you by.  Because the last thing they hear is what’ll stay in their head.

Obviously, sequencing a very subjective thing.  What may feel like a smooth flow may feel jarring to another listener.  That being said, it’s definitely possible to screw up the overall impression of the album as a lager work when you are careless with sequencing.  Every element of putting an album together makes a difference — thus, every piece is worth considering carefully.

Just for kicks, here is a quintessential 12-song rock album that sold gazillion copies.  And they did sequence them well.

Guns n Roses: Appetite for Destruction

1. Welcome to the Jungle
2. It’s So Easy
3. Nightrain
4. Out ta Get Me
5. Mr. Brownstone
6. Paradise City
7. My Michelle
8. Think About You
9. Sweet Child O’Mine
10. You’re Crazy
11. Anything Goes
12. Rocket Queen

The biggest single is sitting at #9 there, but I don’t think the millions of people who bought it minded listening through all the 8 songs getting to the most known songs.  A collection of great songs, sequenced to perfection, is a pleasure to listen to.

Definitely something to aspire to.

I’m stating the obvious here, but since you’re paying your hard-earned money to a recording studio for their time, it’s in your best interest to go in prepared and maximize your use of their expertise/facility.

So, here’s a quick check list of what to do before you head to the studio.  Don’t skimp on this — it can really affect how your recording will come out.

• Figure out which songs to record.
• Know the keys to all the songs.  Experiment with tuning/capo before going to the studio to figure out the key that sounds the best and/or is the easiest for the singer (the most important consideration)
• Know the tempo to all the songs.  You don’t have to use clicks if your rhythm section is solid, but still, figure out the precise BPM (beats per minute) of every song before you go in.  Recording, like playing live, can affect your mood and make tempos feel fast or slow — you don’t want to rush or drag just because you aren’t in the right frame of mind.
• Record your songs.  Wait, you said before going to studio… yes.  Tape your rehearsal, and listen to it before heading to a recording studio. It will reveal issues with songwriting, arrangements and performance.  By all means, address those issues before going into studio.
• Put new strings on your guitars.  New heads on your drums.
• Write out settings for your effects/amps.  They may change during sessions, but you’ll know where to start.
• Make sure all your everyone knows when and where to show up.
• Type out lyric sheets.  You think you remember words to your songs, right?  But actually, in studio you’ll be thinking of a lot of other things besides the words — and it sure helps to read off lyric sheets, so you have one less thing to compute with your brain.  Make sure the font is big enough for you to see.
• Get good sleep.  Not just the night before, but 2-3 nights before.  Think you perform your best when you’re sleep deprived?
• Eat a solid meal.  The same as above.  Empty stomach = grumpier mood = think negatively.
• Show up before your schedule time.

Did I miss anything?

If I had a band it’s another story, but I am a Self Sufficient Musician — a one-man band. I program the drums (which is time consuming, though not without its own merits) and play and sing everything else.

If I worked full-time for a month, how many songs should I be able to write and record?

That’s the challenge I’m setting up for myself for March. I’m taking my new recording studio for a test drive. I just switched from Sonar to Logic as well (I was running Sonar on Windows via BootCamp) so I am afraid I’m not going to be as fast as I was on Sonar — hopefully the switch will pay off in the long run, as Mac OS is more stable than Windows.

I know I just started this site but because of the above, I’m going to be more sporadic with updates for March. There’ll be loads of goodies to share after that, though, so stay tuned!

Here’s one of the fundamental concepts of promotion.

Communicate your success.

As musicians, we want to be honest, authentic and (perhaps) personal — but that doesn’t mean you should flag your dirty laundry in public.  There’s a fine line between honesty and tellig what’s not being asked.  Some people mistakenly try to attract people by inviting pity and sympathy.  It’s one thing if you just lost your family in an accident — but your CD selling only 5 copies is not a tragedy. It simply means you have a lot of work to do to build up your fan base.  So that’s not something you want to communicate in your promotions — don’t lie if people do ask, but otherwise, keep that information to yourself.

Now that being said, success is in the eye of the beholder.  You can find positive sides in just about any situation.  Here are some ways to change your point of view and display a positive, uplifting side to the public:

• Just lost a band member -> It’s an opportunity for somebody to join your bandwagon
• Only sold 5 copies of your CD -> Focus on the positive feedback from those 5 people
• Don’t have gigs coming up -> It’s time to write some new tunes, or record!

And so on.  I’m not saying you have to be dishonest, but glass has to be half full when you’re promoting yourself.  People are attracted to confidence, momentum, and positive attitude.  Even when you’re a death metal act, this is true.  Keep that in mind at all times when you’re out representing your music — which is all the time!

How do you start a song?

My answer: anywhere I can.

Songwriters are creatures of habits just like everybody else, and they tend to develop a single method of writing that they stick to. Then they fall into a rut or hit a writer’s block, and wonder why they’re stuck. 

In reality, songs don’t have to be born any certain way.  While it’s not wrong for a songwriter to have a primary/favorite method of writing songs, being aware of other entry points can greatly enhance your writing and reduce the chances of you getting stuck.  Below, let’s list up all the places where a song begins to hatch out of its egg: (continue reading…)

I’m sure we’ve all done it: playing to an empty house. And my story is probably a familiar one, if not mirroring your own.

Back when I was performing as a solo singer/songwriter, this is what happened all the time.  I was getting whatever gigs that I could get, thinking that a little exposure is better than no exposure.  And I was counting on the club or the coffeehouse to have a “house crowd” that I could play to, because while I always had friends, the kind of people I associated with were seldom bar patrons or live music enthusiasts.  But the venue was counting on the acts to bring in the crowd — thus, both parties looking to the other to produce the audience.

On another level, I knew that playing with an acoustic guitar by myself, I was never that good.  While I could write songs that sounded good with just an acoustic guitar, it sounded so incomplete and boring to my mind.  And my singing isn’t my strongest suit — I would never impress anybody with my vocal= prowess alone.  I knew that my strength was in songwriting and arranging and without a band to bring out the intricacies of my songs, my performance was flat.  (continue reading…)