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HOW TO GET BIG FAST: A bedtime story

#62
Really Mom & Pop acted as VCs for the band. With a strong enough biz plan, it's possible that another VC would have jumped on board.

To the poster who mentioned letting the music generate its own buzz, that's great, but if the goal is to make decent money it's just not enough. If the goal is just to cultivate a few hundred fans in a limited area by playing shows and word of mouth, that's one thing, but to make it a profitable experience... music simply doesn't generate that much buzz via word of mouth. Typically, nothing does. You might have the greatest music in the world sitting on a myspace page, but if people aren't checking it out in large numbers, buzz won't be generated.
 
#63
pablomigraine said:
One day, one of them convinced their parents (all the members were in their 20's) to take out a Home Equity line on their house for $65k. Mom and Dad complied.
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Ok take that incredible stroke of luck out of the equation and where are they? Still playing in the basement and hoping to get a headlining spot at the local bar on Friday night maybe?

Must be nice to have parents that support your musical aspirations so much as to give them that kind of coin. Not everyone is so fortunate. My parents hated the whole idea of me playing bass and never once gave me as much as penny nor ever came to see me play. YMMV of course. :(
 
#71
dystopiate said:
Really Mom & Pop acted as VCs for the band. With a strong enough biz plan, it's possible that another VC would have jumped on board.

To the poster who mentioned letting the music generate its own buzz, that's great, but if the goal is to make decent money it's just not enough. If the goal is just to cultivate a few hundred fans in a limited area by playing shows and word of mouth, that's one thing, but to make it a profitable experience... music simply doesn't generate that much buzz via word of mouth. Typically, nothing does. You might have the greatest music in the world sitting on a myspace page, but if people aren't checking it out in large numbers, buzz won't be generated.
Click to expand...


I agree; I didn't mean to say that you don't have to work your ass off and dedicate yourself to getting your band out there. However, theres been a few posts making the argument that basically the only way to "make it big" is to literally pay the right people into making you big. The bands who have gotten big through this approach, I would like to believe, simply don't have good enough music to make it otherwise. OR there simply isnt a big enough market for their style music.
 
#72
Skeet said:
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.
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wouldn't supprise me, I remember a few years ago they realy did burst onto the scene in a big way.

I saw em live around 2 years ago and thought they absolutely SUCKED live, though everyone seems to rave about em.

200k a year per member? dunno... they do seem to be (literaly) playing gigs every day even if they are often small gigs and yeah - they still play schools.
 
#76
assuming that's true...


for every band that 'makes it' laying out this kind of money up front, there are TENS OF THOUSANDS that don't and go broke.

Just laying out money and having a plan, and even being "good," isn't enough.

This kind of story however is a fast ticket for most bands to financial ruin and bankruptcy (and I guess putting their parents out of their house)
 
#79
Not to be negative, but why do I get a sense of "I told you so" out of the OP's post?

In my experience (with the progressive metal band I had) we sunk a lot of cash into our band. We didn't pay tons of cash to get on tours, nor did we pay lots of money for key people to vault us to the top of our gain. We did, however, work together to get to where we did. While I wouldn't recommend having your folks mortgage or equitize their home to fast track you into the thick of things, having a business plan is important to any band. To me, that means that any band (with or without talent) can have a good go at it if they have the money at their disposal, does that mean you don't have to play in bars, all age shows, festivals, talent contests etc. to work honestly at getting their name out there?

I believe having a successful band in any genre involves having bandmates who are all on the same page, who have talent, who are dedicated, and who are all willing to work hard and show creativity in getting past the numerous hurdles and obstacles that get in the way of success. That's half of the battle. Then, once tunes are written, wow the local area with your talent and tunes. Save the money from gigs, work at jobs to pay for the improved gear, work extra jobs to save in the bank for merch, etc.

I guess my point is that this bedtime story is one of many, many ways to find your way to success, each way has it's own seemingly impossible obstacles to overcome. Music is a business as well as an art, and if you believe strongly enough in your art, slowly things will come in place. It is not worth putting my folks home in jeopardy, I would have tried another means of capital.
 

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