Where did you intern or work in the music industry?
I interned at various spots in NYC when I left college for the first time around 2014. Baeble, The Deli Magazine, Impose Magazine, Northern Spy Records, an instrument maker and visual artist named Ken Butler. Most of them were pretty crappy internships, and I'd actually say did very little or nothing to further my career in the music biz past having something to put on my resume. My advice: don't obsess over internships unless they're paying you, you have solid evidence and knowledge that it might turn into a paid gig, or you really believe in the company. As I was doing these internships I was also working kitchen gigs at various restaurants to make money. There are things you should be paying MUCH more attention to than unpaid labor. Namely, your community, building trust with people you want to work with, and just doing what you want to do and showing the world that you're good at that thing you like to do!
At the same time as these internships I was booking shows at Brooklyn venues of varying legality. Most of them venues that don't exist anymore... Palisades, Trans Pecos, The Silent Barn, The Living Gallery, Market Hotel and others. That's how my career really started, by just cold-calling a lot of bands and venues and setting up shows. I was pretty decent at curating and I started to get good at promoting, hitting up various local publications, making sure the shows were listed on show list spots (Oh My Rockness was HUGE for me back then), and so I ended up getting a good reputation with musicians and talent buyers. I would later start signing a lot of these artists to my label. Some advice: Be a friend to artists. Meet artists. Hang with artists. Get to know their art and get to know them as people. It's why we do what we do: for the furthering of artistic endeavors, to help artists realize their music in a way that serves their creative and economic needs. Artists won't want to work with you if you can't show appreciation for their art. Artists want to know they have people on their team who cares about their work.Â
Once I had solidified my reputation as a show promoter, with a pretty niche group of underground noise-rock and punk musicians, I was approached by the owner of Wharf Cat Records who asked if I wanted to help him run his cassette label Ramp Local. After about six months he kind of handed me the reins and I started manufacturing vinyl, cassettes and CDs and releasing things more officially with more focus on PR and distribution. It's still a very small endeavor, because I don't have the funds or man-power to run a fully fledged record label, but I basically was handed an opportunity to run my own business because I had spent two years just meeting people and gaining people's trust.
Running a record label is not very lucrative. I actually moved to Philly so I could work on the label and not be insanely broke at the same time. So I approached Northern Spy Records about being a publicist for their new PR company, Clandestine Label Services, not expecting anything to come of it. I actually think I was a pretty crappy intern for them. I don't think I did much to help them when I was at the side desk in the corner researching contact information. But they knew me because I love their label and the artists they worked with (I was frequently booking them for shows), I was already doing PR for my own record label, but most importantly: they knew that I had a lot of artist friends and connections who I could bring on as potential clients. There you go folks -- meet artists. Be friends with the artists. One day they might have an opportunity for you to get involved and you want to be the first person on their list of names. When I first started the publicist gig I sent 80 emails to folks I was an acqainted with, had worked with before, or was just a general fan. I think I got 2 clients from that and those two clients paid my rent for three months!
What did you like or wish was different about the role?
There's nothing I really like or don't like about pushing independent music. It's way more complicated than that. It's basically my life's calling and I don't really know what else I would be doing. There are so many things I love and hate about this world. One thing I like: listening to music before it's released. One thing I hate: no one buys music anymore and Spotify is the most evil corporation of our generation and is killing any independent artist's chance to make an income.Â
Booking shows is hard because it's always a time-limit on how long you can promote and how long it takes to get the bill together. You have to predict how many tickets the show will sell even before you announce and plan accordingly. Usually there are one or two established companies in your city that will book the mid/top-range bands in your city so you have no chance of getting a bigger venue because they usually have reserves on the calendar (R5 is the indie/pop one in Philly, Ars Nova is the jazz promoter, not much else around here though). You need to prove that you can bring people to the shows. You need to be good at negotiating door deals and making sure you know how many tickets you need to sell to be able to make the venue's cut and also pay the artist. Sometimes you have to make a guarantee and that can suck because you're just taking on more risk if the show doesn't sell enough. I don't book shows anymore because it was way too time consuming and now that I'm full time on the PR gig
Running a label is expensive, time consuming, and often thankless. But I get to help artists realize a new piece of artwork into the world and that is beautiful. Distribution is key. Signing the right artists is crucial. Having a business partner who can make good business deals and decisions really helps too. Make sure you get your accounting system done early.Â
Being a publicist is great because you can make a lot of money and meet a ton of people and make connections with publications and freelance journalists, but it can take a year or two before people even respond to your pitches with consistency/even recognize you as a real person. I've found something of a niche in the NYC avant-garde jazz community. Big advice: Find your niche. Other big advice: Try not to work any projects you don't like. It'll sap your motivation and then people will get mad when there are no results. Track premieres are a thing of the past now so publicists need to get more creative when it comes to pushing developing artists, especially in the pop/rock world. Jazz is easy because there are like 20 different blogs/magazines to hit up and like 200 freelancers, so it's a much smaller writing pool and you don't feel as lost in the sea of crappy music blogging that's out there. I like working with artists I love, hate it when they blame me for not getting them written about in the New York Times or Rolling Stone when those publications only allot one or two pieces of coverage for jazz music per month...
What did you learn?
Meet people. Be a familiar face. Find a music scene and get to know everyone. GO TO LOTS OF SHOWS. Live music, baby! It's the best. Sometimes it's better to just do before think, but also make sure you think before you do. Meet people with similar interests and ask them to get coffee. Make sure you drink a lot of water, hydration is important. Be as up front as humanly possible about any money splits or financial deals with anyone you're making a deal with. Form an accounting system early. Make a budget. Make a business plan. Make sure you eat breakfast. Everything is all about who you know in this world, so get to know people. Make genuine connections. Don't force things. Sometimes things just don't work out and you need to cut your losses and move on. Get a cat that sits in your lap while you work at the computer.Â
The Music Business Club is the perfect environment for you to learn about the industry, discover new areas of interest, make friends, and find people to work with! Follow @tumusicbiz on IG for updates.Â
Be sure to check out Jake Saunder's work with https://ramplocal.com/ and connect with him on IG at @jake_ders