Nothing will be perfect! This is just the reality and if the reality doesn’t really is for you, don’t even enter the show business. It’s much easier to take a 9-5 job at a normal office and just work there. You going to get the same things every day and you will be safe.
Recently, I have been meeting too many people in the position to try to make everything perfect in a situation where you really can’t provide those situations. I was traveling and next to me was a couple with a child. Somehow, they had ordered a meal on the flight but were complaining that the meal wasn’t delivered fast enough. The whole flight was delayed because of another delayed flight and some trouble with the passport systems but that didn’t matter to the couple. The staff was working really hard to just get this flight going. And to be honest I was just happy to avoid being stuck for several hours in a boring airport. I would gladly just skip the meal just to get back. Instead, they were harassing the flight crew with stupid questions when the meal would arrive like that would make it faster.
Nothing will even be totally perfect like this couple thought it would be. Things change and sometimes you just must deal with it on the spot. Like the sayings, if life gives you lemons you make lemonade. One time when I did a show at a big Showcase Festival we arrived at the place just to find that the floor tom on the drum kit was missing one leg. It only had two legs out of three. Luckily the drummer that was on that tour was professional. He looked at it, went away into the kitchen of the place, came back with a plastic bread box. Fitted that in of the missing leg and voila you can play on it.
The band before was so upset about the leg that they skipped the gig and just went off. Unlucky for them in the room was one of the bigger festival bookers in the world. My band performed and also used the story in their set as a joke on how to solve problems. That impressed the guy so much he booked the band for three festivals.
No, you are not a professional when you hide behind technical stuff. I was approached by an artist who really needed an in-ear system for their show. That is not professional, more amateurish, if you are not good enough to perform without an in-ears system, get back to the rehearsal room and fix that, stop wasting my time. You will have an in-ear system when you get on the big stages, yes, but you need to adapt to handle the small stages as well. I was more likely to just send the artist back to flip burgers on McDonalds. This also goes for the artist that needed a full rig stage with a special light show with eighty lamps and a special lightning engineer just to be able to perform. That booking agency needed to be sure what was in the dressing room if you book the artist. Not to talk about the production company that had the solution to pay a lot of extra for anything that was needed to solve a problem.
Please can you just move away go back to your 9-5 job world and stop pestering us around here? I need the people that see the opportunity, not all the problems.
Editor’s Note: Peter Åstedt has been working in the music industry for over 30 years. He has started record labels, distribution systems, and publishing companies. Peter also runs several major showcase festivals and is an advisor for INES and co-founder of MusicHelp/Discover Sensation. He has worked with the Top Ten most streamed songs and had music on both the Olympics and Super Bowl. Peter has currently taken up the seat of Station Manager of Cashbox Radio, working with MD, PD and station owner, Sandy Graham. In 2021, he worked as the European Consultant for Heal the Earth – An Earth Day Celebration. His latest venture is a new Showcase Festival in Sweden, Future Echoes futureechoes.se/. Peter is a Managing Partner and Editor of the newly launched Record World International.