This is a story about a new song that I will share with you This message was from an artist I used to work with around ten years ago. “Fun!”, I thought, it’s always fun to see if someone has evolved as an artist, especially in this case since I haven’t really had any contact just followed what he was doing online from time to time.

I took a listen to the link. I can also kill a myth here. Yes, I usually listen to everything I get in. The thing is that I don’t really have time to respond to all things I get in. If something is interesting, I will get back to the artist but just having conversations around stuff that is not interesting is just taking part of my precious time. And most people in the business are doing the same. They listen but rarely have time to answer anything back.

The changes to the music industry are not just the COVID situation. You must consider also climate change as a part of the new industry. Tonight another city in Sweden was flooded and all roads were cut off, the fifth just the past month. And these floodings are nothing  compared to the flooding in Europe or in Chine earlier in the summer. At the same time, there are big fires in Greece and Turkey. Canada and USA had their fires earlier that were also devasting. All these factors will affect the music industry.

I am always amazed at how stupid you can ever be in this business. Just got a message on social media about our festival from a random dude with Hello, and then a link to a page. You can see the page is booking agency. Just by curiosity, I went out there to look. The page holds around a hundred lookalike artists.

First of all, a festival normally is not looking for a look-a-like artist or impersonator. They probably have access to the real deal if the artist is still alive. This is more for cheap weddings, birthday parties  and boat cruises, still usually the standards of these bands are better than this. Obviously, nothing appealing for the festival. I just sent the dude back a link to the application site, the worst thing would be that he applied with a hundred utterly bad look-a-like acts.

Then I directly get a message back, what fee can we get? I just wanted to write back, for real if you pay me 1000 euros, I will consider having mercy on one of your acts. I didn’t of course;  I used the standard answer, I didn’t reply at all.

To be an artist is like running a business. Any business; it’s not anything special just because it’s about music though many want you to believe that. As an artist you will face the same obstacles as any entrepreneur that starts a restaurant or landscaping you name it, you are all in the same boat.

With that in mind, I just can’t understand why people try to make it so magical. If you start a restaurant where the food is mediocre, but you are in a place where a lot of people pass by. Yes, you will make the restaurant  go round. It won’t be famous; people won’t talk about it, but it fulfills its purpose. I guess this will be like a the troubadour in the music industry. Yes, you play at different places, but you play old hits in the corner. Nothing wrong with it but people won’t talk about it in that kind of sense. You get your money but there are thousands of these people playing what people want to hear as entertainment.

Currently I am receiving all these emails from artists that have sent in applications to play at my festival, Future Echoes. Of course with the COVID situation and the fact that we closed the application on the last day of June, we are in the middle of the process of compiling the last artists for the festivals. As predictable as the sun always coming up in morning,  you get the letters from artists that want to know if they were accepted or not. Actually, these letters started to come even two months before we had even closed the application process.

Most actually do make a crucial mistake though. I understand that they want to have an answer if they are playing or not but there are ways to do that. Most write a nice mail saying that they want to know because they need to plan their trip. You might think this is a good reason to send an email and kind of professional to care about their gigs and applications.

People are going crazy to try to save their digital enterprises right now. Sorry to have to break the news to you but digital is not working in the music industry. The digital summits and showcases we had online were just to keep up with something at a time when live events were not allowed.

So far, it’s been a very few that I thought were good, and you saw that it was getting harder and harder to get people to log in to different online communities to be on there. The tragic part is that the only one I have heard taking on the positive about these digital events is the organizers. Mainly because there is a lot of funding to get if you are digital edition, second, it’s much easier for you  as you can gather a lot of people from around the world with just emailing and social media.

Problem with this is that, yes. you get funding, but you can’t get paid for doing it. The conferences I went to that cost money were very seldom occupied, most people in there were the people that got free tickets because they were speakers or friends with the organizer. Many of the events were free or you could decide the prize yourself.

Right now, when I do my send-outs, I get an auto-reply from people that say they are on vacation. Especially in Sweden where it seems like we are shutting down the whole country during July. Yes, having five weeks vacation in a row in the summer is a must if you live in Sweden. Not for me though, I work in the music industry.

Do you really have something to offer? This question needs to be asked in so many different ways and forms. People today give out music, but is that really something to offer? I was doing a funny video for my friends and was amazed about how many free pictures and music was out there for my project. And most of them are really great. Made by people in their spare time who just want to share what they have filmed or composed. And for my project that was enough. I found what I needed and put it together.

Of course, this was a hobby thing. If I worked on Netflix and did a bigger TV-series these pictures or music might not be up in the top-notch material, they need to compete in their channels. Of course, they pay to get the best material as well. The problem is that most of the material that is offered is in the hobby quality that I used.

You always hear about people saying that they got screwed by the music industry. Yes, the music industry is a very competitive environment so don’t think it’s a nine to five place. And yes, there is always some shady stuff, but not really more shady than in any other business. What is actually more common is that people are screwing themselves because of their own lack of knowledge.

The biggest problem in the music industry is that it’s too easy to just start a business and claim that you are part of the industry. No education, no credentials, nothing. Even with an education, you still need an extended amount of networks and a genuine interest in how things are developing to be considered valid in the industry. The problem is that many just think this is a bit more competitive nine to five work, when in actuality it is a lifestyle.

So who screws who in the industry?

Before in the industry, there were filters for everything. Like when an artist recorded in a studio there was a producer that made decisions. Then the producer took it to the record label and they made decisions. The record label took it to the distributor, and they had their opinions. Not optimal for sure, many of the complaints back in the days were a long time between when the artist had recorded a song until it actually was out on the market. Another complaint was that much of the artist's work was changed by different opinions, right or wrong.

All that has changed. Today an artist can record in the day and get it out to the audience the same minute the song is finished. That is why the demo is no longer exists. Demo was the song roughly recorded for different people in the chain to give comments, so they didn’t have to get back and do it again. Today with all digital it’s so easy to change you consider everything release ready, the demo is gone.

So, you got booked to a Showcase Festival or are planning to attend one. Congratulations if you got booked and great if you plan to visit one, good choice. In this part of Showcase Festivals for Dummies, I will go guide you through the dos and dont’s of how to make the most out of a Showcase Festival.

Firstly, don’t overdo it. Many artists get really excited that they will get a show at a Showcase Festival and suddenly they are planning a show of a lifetime. Yes, its can be an opportunity of a lifetime but the people that are going to see you want to see what they get. So, if you book a small choir of singers for the background vocals and an extra person on the saxophone, yes, it will sound great and be amazing on stage, but for the professionals, we will think “okay, the promo picture showed four people in the band do we really need the other extra eight? That will be a massive cost in transportation. Try to make a great show that you can re-create every time. So even if it’s tempting for this time using some fireworks, if it’s not in the show every time just skip the extravaganza, be excellent at everything else.

I guess this is one of the more important and pertinent articles that are in my series if you are trying to get accepted as a Showcase act at a Festival. If you have not already read them check out Pt. 1 and Pt 2 of the series Showcase Festivals for Dummies.

How do you secure a spot on a Showcase Festival?

Even though Showcase Festivals usually don’t pay any or at best a minimum fee, they still get a lot of applications. A midsize festival can get around 1500 to 2000 applications. How do you stand out when there are so many other artist’s applications?  I have been working on many Showcase Festivals over the years and they all deal with it differently. And yet, some things never change.

If you read my last posting (cashboxcanada.ca/features-music/showcase-festivals-dummies/4854) it was about the difference between a Festival and a Showcase Festival, check back and read that if you don’t know the difference. Don’t be shy that you don’t know I just explained the concept to one of the biggest bosses in one of the biggest booking agencies in the world last week. Here is my next part into my Showcase Festivals For Dummies.

You can think of a Showcase Festival as a fair. You know the trade shows where they gather under one theme. Like a trade show based around boats. You have exhibitors showing off their latest boats, engines, lights, life vests. A Showcase Festival and its conference is the same just that you show off music and artists for the global music industry.

I am still amazed about the fact that so many people in important positions really don’t understand how a showcase festival works? By now people that work in the industry should be aware of how it works. I even lecture on Universities for new students about this subject. I guess the problem will be solved with the new milleliums. Still, for me, it is an annoying issue.

So here it is - Showcase Festivals for Dummies.

Let’s start with a simple explanation of the difference between a festival and a showcase festival. A festival contains artists that will sell tickets to an audience. For the festival, the mandate is to book major acts as cheaply as possible to sell as many tickets as possible to an audience. Of course, this is not easy as it sounds. Choosing an artist is depending on if they are on tour, what price range, and what the rest of the tour and it is no easy task. Just calling up the Rolling Stones and try to book them is not going to happen. Here it’s important which contact name you have on your roster and a network to get to the right artists.

One thing I have learned during the pandemic that I’m not a guy wearing many hats. I’m a serial entrepreneur in the music industry.

Being an entrepreneur is maybe a harder thing during the pandemic, you really want to get things done, and done now. Of course, the restrictions have been bad, but as an entrepreneur you just get around it and make it work anyway. During the pandemic, I have worked hard with the whole team to make Cashbox radio sound better. Still, the station became a priority focus and since it was online it was a perfect project that has developed and grown.  I also the European Consultant for an online music offering with a special one hour presentation called “Heal the Earth” in celebration of Earth Day 2021. Check out the Heal the Earth video here:

When you work in the music industry and you are at a party or a gathering with people that don’t work in the industry and you say that you work in the industry there is always someone who will ask, "so do you work with some famous music, or is it artists that we know?"

The question though is what is famous for this person. You don’t know what rock they have lived under or what small town they just escaped from? Or that they have a lot of knowledge? Also, especially when you work in the industry, you might work with artists that are on the way up that you think they should know about but that is never the case.

I have worked with all ranges of artists so you can’t really play that game with me. I can just drop some big names like Kiss or Dolly Parton and that would be the end of the discussion. Everybody knows them you think. Nope, if you are with an older lady in 70's she might never have heard about Kiss, Dolly Parton she had heard of but really doesn't know any songs. That happened last weekend. It also depends on where you are from. Every country has its own superstars that it seems like people just should know who they are.

Trust and loyalty is a very important lesson to learn in the music industry. Many don’t really understand this theory. Even the worst of  the mob were less hard in this area.

My guess is that over 70% of all careers are probably gone because of someone breaching these rules.

There is a test of younger children that is very cute, but interestingly you can find these homemade videos on YouTube search after “don’t eat the candy challenge”. In short, what they do is put a four-year-old in front of some candy. They tell the kid to not eat the candy and they will get more candy in return. The scientist though said to the kid that you can have the candy but if you wait until later you will get a whole bag of the same candy. Then they measure how far you are as a child in consequences. Some kids weren’t so far so they eat the candy and were not rewarded, some have matured more and waited and got a bigger reward.

My guess is that the kids that had not matured actually became artists. All of them. I have no proof but I have a  good hunch.

Right now is the best place to be in the music industry. At the same time the worst to be in the music industry. No, I am not talking about the COVID, sure it disrupts things and puts people out of business, still, I see that as good cleansing of holy alliances that we really don’t need anymore in the industry.

I am actually talking about the state the media is in right now. To be honest, media is the place where you can get many eyes and ears to listen to your music. Right now everything is so shattered. Social media is mainly just bubbles where very few people see what you are doing or in this case listening.

Doesn't matter if you have a  half-million followers, most people won’t know who you are. Yesterday I read in the normal media (also called old media) about a Swedish influencer that had died. I never have heard about him until I read in normal media, I guess sadly his fame came with his death.

During the COVID, many have tried to take their conferences online. It’s a supplement to having a conference since COVID stopped us all from meeting personally. Of course, it’s not that hard to get people to sign up for an online conference. Especially if it’s for free. The problem is to get people to interact in a positive way.

How is that? Usually, I come back from a conference with at least a hundred new business cards! I love chatting and hanging around with people. With an online event it looks more and more like a cheap version of a dating service. When I’m at these conferences there is no small talk. Let’s pretend you are at a bar see someone that you like, and you want to make contact with this person. You wouldn’t just walk right up and tell the person that you are the best partner that has ever existed, and you now wonder what the person can do for you.

Online dating is kind of that in its worst form. Here you mainly go on a small piece of information that the other person has pimped up to get attention like a peacock. More or less you can guess that information is not really anything like reality, but hey that is what you are choosing from.