The name of the band doesn't matter in the story. I could easily name a dozen bands in the death metal/metalcore/deathcore/what have you genre that have done this exact model. Some times it works out fantastically. Other times, they unfortunately fail hard (which happened to some very good friends of mine).
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HOW TO GET BIG FAST: A bedtime story
- Thread starter pablomigraine
- Start date
JT hits the nail on the head.
In any business, the best motivator is to take everything you have and put it up as collateral. Suddenly, you have a very good reason to do everything in your power to succeed.
I'd be willing to bet that when mom and pop put their house up as collateral in this story, there was a signed contract between them and all members of the band that made the individual members responsible for paying back the loan.
When the options are succeed, or lose everything you have (or in this case, everything you have plus ten to fifteen grand), most folks are willing to go that extra mile, or two, or three to make it work.
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
There's an underlying presumption of professionalism, business acumen, and musicianship among the band members that's about as rare as hen's teeth. Even with professional guidance, and well-conceived business plan, and start-up capital, it seems highly unlikely that a group of typical musicians would have the cohesiveness, professionalism, musicianship, and maturity to bring such a plan to fruition, and achieve a long-tern success.
In other words, the X-factor is the people: the plan itself won't succeed unless the right people are involved.
In other words, the X-factor is the people: the plan itself won't succeed unless the right people are involved.
Didn't mean to put words in your mouth, but the title of your original post suggested that this was a "how to," not just an anecdote. Just didn't want to perpetuate the old show biz myth that "all it takes is a little talent and a lot of hard work." Unfortunately it also requires a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time. This band apparently got lucky, but that still doesn't mean that having their parents take out a second mortgage was a wise thing to do.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
or they quit, get jobs at music stores, and become "experts" on why the music industry sucks. lol.
John, I'm not a fan of people changing my quotes to serve their own agenda, but in this case, changing "the music business" to "any entreprenurial business" in an earlier post was warranted. And yep, that's exactly what happens to a lot of them.
OTOH, I feel a lot better about not getting anywhere past Bowzer because it's all about how much money you have. As someone without much money most of my life, I didn't stand a chance. Does anyone really think Ashlee Simpson was ready to be a rock star when she can't sing a simple song in tune? No, her rich daddy bought her way into it, and that's why she was put up for ridicule in front of 60,000 people at the Orange Bowl and in front of millions on SNL. The quality of music is totally irrelevant, and the only reason bands work on sounding good anymore is a matter of pride.
It's parkway drive definately. Very close to prom queen like he said before, cept they are not DEATH metal.... LOL. Ok I won't start that debate.
All I'm saying is _I personally_ would find it a tad crass to proclaim the success of a "DIY ethic" if a large sum of money was thrown at me first. Most bands in my neck of the woods put up money they've saved from their day jobs and occasional paid gigs, merch sales and loans.
I guess the real moral of this story is that good parents are worth their weight in gold... anybody know where I can find some?
c-
The point of doing it all yourself is that, if the label contract doesn't happen, you can make it semi-small-time all by yourself for a while to at least recoup investments and make some dough.
Great post. I love hearing the insider info about how bands reach the level of success that they do. I could care less which band it is. But at least they understood how the business works and did not bitch about it. I just left a band that was talented but they have no clue on how the business works. They are getting advice from pros. But the pros they know are BIG in the metal scene and making $30K???
Thanks for the post! I forwarded to my 'mates
We're going to the bank after work to talk business
We're going to the bank after work to talk business
good stuff 
and i ABSOLUTELY agree that most bands these days with a degree of commercial success - most of them got there with substantial, private spend. i know a small band who paid around £10k to get on Ozzfest.
also, it's a good business plan! or it would be, if you can find people who are realistic about playing in a commercially successful band.
we can laugh at the 'Guyliner' story (which was great, too, BTW, cheers for that) but the fact is, if your'e selling a band with an image and a sound, you've got to be careful the members don't suddenly, y'know, start wanting to express themselves in the way they look or sound...
and i ABSOLUTELY agree that most bands these days with a degree of commercial success - most of them got there with substantial, private spend. i know a small band who paid around £10k to get on Ozzfest.
also, it's a good business plan! or it would be, if you can find people who are realistic about playing in a commercially successful band.
we can laugh at the 'Guyliner' story (which was great, too, BTW, cheers for that) but the fact is, if your'e selling a band with an image and a sound, you've got to be careful the members don't suddenly, y'know, start wanting to express themselves in the way they look or sound...
Geez. And I couldn't even get my old man to kick in $25K to buy a fast-food franchise.
Go fiigure.
How many venture capitalists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
ANSWER: 50,000. The first 49,000 have to go bankrupt before a ladder is ever purchased, the next 900 bow out just after the ladder's put in place, the next 90 fall off the ladder before the bulb's in place...And as for the last ten: they gotta wear shades!
Eh doubt it. Crafter is much more a business man than anyone in PWD. And they are hardly making 6 figure salaries by any means, they were still playing youth centres, schools and what not last year and I think they still do through Aus. From the best town in the world though!
