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HOW TO GET BIG FAST: A bedtime story

#86
Depends on whether you want your career to be a flash in the pan or be something that has longevity.

These stories tend to end up with the parents (because I've seen this happen many times) owing huge money and their kid musician working at a gas station cursing all those "idiots" who didn't "get" the musical genius he/she is.

If this story is true, it's one in a million... don't take it as a blueprint.
 
#87
The question isn't whether that could happen. It could and if you care enough about that to endure the consequences if it doesn't pan out, then you must try.

Otherwise, the real question is: Of the 1000s of bands who do something like this, what percentage of them succeed enough to recoup their money and how many lose their money, and probably more money along with it?

Knowing that (which I assume is not a very easy number to know) gives you at least some quantitative idea what your likelihood of success is vs. failure, which gives you more of a basis to decide whether you want to take the risks.
 
#91
This is how I've thought about doing it. Just get what money you can. Record it, package it. Buy your way into big festivals and gigs. Fans love you, record companies take interest. Then you're good for at leat 5 years. If your material is good and you play well, hell, you might end up making more than Metallica.
 
#92
RichardCranium said:
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?
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This.

dystopiate said:
Really Mom & Pop acted as VCs for the band.
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This.

hbarcat said:
Let's see, this bedtime story of commercial success for a band has:

money
nepotism
money
marketing
money
hype
money
bribery
money

I didn't see talent anywhere in there. :hmm:
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And this.

baalroo said:
I have a REALLY hard time believing there is a death metal band out there making $500k - $1mil per year take home.
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Agreed. Even in metalcore, I'm not sure there'd be many bands making that much. Maybe some, but not a whole bunch.


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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This is the part of the "story" which is way too unrealistic for most of us. Forget about 1 in 100 bands making it even with that money, I don't think there'd be 1 band in 1,000,000 where parents of the kids playing in the band would take that kind of a risk. Also, there's no mention of this being their only house. Maybe they had a 5 more houses :p
 
#95
I think those parents were either really, really, really smart or really, really, really, really, really stupid!

$65K is a ton, and that band had zero real proof that they could recoup squat.

I won't dis the story, because I find it hard to believe any Death Metal band makes big bucks now a days.

Either way, this is a great lesson. Look at all the stuff they band had to do B4 they got to the label and any money. Also, the label was in a poor position to demand a lot since they had nothing invested. For the label this was easy, as they had nothing invested and if it didn't pan out they were out.

Note that the band took a year to make back the $65K, the label didn't pay that up front.

Interesting story....
 

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