There is No Silver Bullet to "Making it Big": The New ResistANTs Guest Blog
If you're reading this for some type of magical advice on how to make it big in the music industry, you are most certainly in the wrong place. We are no authority on the subject, far from it even. Chances are, if you're in a band and take your craft seriously enough to get out there and make it happen, you will lose more money than you make and at the end of a long journey (if your band stays together for that long) you will have nothing to show for it. Success is hard to come by, competition is tight, the odds are overwhelmingly against you. What we can say is that there is no set path; there is no great "answer," there is no silver bullet to "making it big". There are many ways to get to the Emerald City. Fuck the Yellow Brick Road, it's not the only way...
One of the most refreshing things about the industry today is that it's more dynamic than it's ever been. Major labels, through their gluttony and greed, have become more or less obsolete. Indie labels (numbering in the tens of thousands) have picked up a lot of the hustle in terms of new music discovery. Online radio stations, podcasts, and mix-tapes have as many listeners as FM. Independent and digital streaming release is the new norm. YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, and Bandcamp are now more relevant than Sony, Atlantic, and Universal. Do it yourselves, have a backbone.
The only real advice we can feel comfortable giving to bands and musicians is to focus to the point of obsession on your music production. Writing good songs, recording them to a high quality, and most difficultly, playing them well for live audiences should be your M.O.s. This is the entertainment industry; if you're not entertaining, you will sink. Great songs will work for you 24/7 once they're in the right streams and they will find their way to the right ears eventually. Great songs will never die and at the very least you will have something to show for your efforts, whenever the Fat Lady finally sings. If funds are tight, use crowd sourcing. Social media is a necessary evil; embrace it and make it work for you. Require every decision to be unanimous within the band (easier to say coming from a three-piece). Ask yourselves with every business decision: "What am I getting out of this?", "What is the other guy getting?"...always get more than the other guy, if not, RENEGOTIATE, or WALK AWAY! Surround yourselves with good honest people and avoid the schmucks who are everywhere. Never pay sight unseen or before the project is complete. Never give up the rights to your music. Never play drunk or high. Keep the stage sacred. Find a recording process that you are comfortable with - a good affordable studio, the right mixing engineers, the right sound. Stick with it and repeat methodologies. Constantly be writing new music and the next record.
Success in the music industry is whatever your idea of success is. For us, just making people dance is enough. Rock and Roll is in our DNA and we enjoy it when people have a good time with our music. That alone is enough to keep us going, for a little while longer at least. That being said, there's a perfect spot on our mantel for that first Grammy. If you're in the music biz to make money, you won't. Plain and simple. If you have no talent, you won't. If you're not prepared to work hard at improving your craft and your brand every day, you won't. Talent or hard work alone won't get you there. You need both. And a shit load of luck on top. Do it because you love it. Do it for the music.If you have the right stuff, you'll get noticed sooner or later.
Your Brothers in Arms,
The New ResistANTs
Johnny, Max, and Kops
Johnny, Max, and Kops
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