Interviews Archive

Selling out your first show

By
Brett
 – November 10, 2009Posted in: Getting Shows, Interviews, Marketing, Rookie bands
Selling out your first show
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image by Rick Audet

When a pop rock band emerges out of metal stronghold Iowa it would be a miracle if anyone came to see it. Yet through a well-executed marketing plan, The Actress Adorable was able to sell out the first show they ever played.

By bringing in close to 300 people to their first show, The Actress Adorable has been able to get any show they want from hometown venues and have given their fans quality performances from day one.

It all started with metal guitarist, Jesse Barnes’, dream of starting his own band.

When Barnes wanted to start a pop rock band, he was going to do it the right way. He was not going to cut any corners, something he had learned from previous experiences.

Barnes had played in a professional touring metal band only months before starting The Actress Adorable. His time with the band left him with bad memories of how to run the business aspects of a band.

As the newest member of the band, Barnes was paid the least from touring. Often Barnes was paid as little as a $100 while at the same time the band’s roadie was getting paid $800.

“These guys ripped me,” Barnes said.

After this experience, Barnes considered giving up on his dream of being a professional musician.

Barnes decided to enrolled in college, and shortly after realized he could not give up on his dream to be a musician. On a trip to Michigan he heard some bands that he had never given much of a chance.  He started listing to Under Oath and Armor for Sleep and realized he wanted to start a band without a being tied to a specific genre.

Barnes and three of his friends started writing music, but is soon fell apart. One of the members did not like playing anything other than metal, forcing Barnes to rethink his strategy. He now realized to create a great band, he had to start by being great from day one.

Everything had to be done right 100% of the time.

“I wanted to find five rock stars…in it to win it,” Barnes said.

Barnes looked for not only talented musicians, but musicians willing to put in the time to making the band successful.

Once the band was created members got full time jobs with the intent of paying for a high quality recording and professional marketing. The members would pay whatever the band needed until the day the band could pay them to be full-time musicians.

The Actress Adorable wrote enough songs to get a professional recording with a producer. They hired a web designer to create a high quality MySpace page with photos they got from a professional photographer. All before they set up their first show.

Barnes even made connections with a national distributor, Quickstar Productions, to have their music available on iTunes.

The launch of the MySpace page and the announcement of The Actress Adorable’s first show was released to the public the same weekend. Then, promoting the show began.

Until the day of the show, every weekend the band took off work and spent two 12-hour days out on the streets talking with people. They lived close to several colleges and spent much of their days going from dorm room to dorm room.

The band also found a way to get the local media to write articles about the show. Two local newspapers ran page-one stories about the show.

The members of the band had a friend who needed medical assistance, so some of the proceeds from the show was going to help their friend’s bills. Once the local media got information that the show was also a benefit event it became local news.

“I put 100% of my effort into promotion,” Barnes said.

When the band finally played the sell out show it was a new experience for many the members. Some had never played for that may people before.

The club owner said that if they could sell out shows that The Actress Adorable could set up any kind of show they wanted.

Right from the start the band was getting a lot of respect from clubs and other bands that were more than happy to play with them. The Actress Adorable became the only local, non-cover band to play the largest venue in their hometown.

The sell out show also had a big effect on the work ethic of the band. They wanted to have this kind of audience for every show they played.

One of the biggest marketing tools they learned from that show was putting in the long weekends of hitting the streets pays off, and they have continued this practice for every show to date.

Working the streets with the full band has had great success to bring people to shows. It does a lot to help connect with the audience. First, it allows the band to talk to a lot of people in an area at once. Second, it allows different members strengths to come out whether it’s talking with girls or talking tech with music fans. Last, it helps to keep the band a tight group, something touring bands deal with every day.

Even as The Actress Adorable grows, the lessons they learned from their first show are still helping them succeed today.

Here are some of the tips for selling out your first show like The Actress Adorable:

Be prepared with marketing- When the band started promoting the show they already had a MySpace page with music for people to check out and follow. They followed this by making the music available on iTunes where fans were able to buy their music.

Meet people offline – Connecting with fans face-to-face is the fastest way to make die-hard fans and friends who can help your career.

Make the event more than just about you – The Actress Adorable’s first time on stage was also a benefit show. Give people more than one reason to come out and see you.

Don’t cut corners – Put away real money towards making the band better. Great recordings and good producers will cost money. A band is a business, and businesses need investments to get off the ground.

Don’t be satisfied – Congrats if you sell out your first show, but the job is not over. Promoting shows is a constant battle. Don’t assume that if you sold out your last show you will sell out the next one.

Ludo’s trial by fire

By
Brett
 – November 3, 2009Posted in: Interviews
Ludo’s trial by fire
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image by medigirol

After years of building a fan base, countless credit card bills and two days without sleep, Ludo found themselves signed. And they did it by playing a house party.

“We are still paying off some of those credit cards,” guitarist Tim Ferrell said.

Ludo is a band of humble beginnings. They started in open mic clubs across the Midwest crashing on peoples’ floors, only able to sell cheap burned CD and always asking friends for help. And they would play anything. “It was harsh,” Ferrell said. Yet, he also knew, “we had to do this.”

Ludo’s key to success was not a drive to become rich rock stars. It was what Ferrell describes as, “Coming from a place that this is the only thing  we can do.” They never did it for the money, because there has never been much money.

According to Ferrell being a musician is one of the worst ways to make a living. The amount of work that goes into making each dollar can be worse than making minimum wage. But, the members of Ludo stuck with it for years. They were willing to do whatever it took, and the confidence to go on.

They gained their fans like any young band does, by begging their friends to come to shows. Growth came from creating a network of bands in similar situations. Ludo could bring out 20 people to shows in St. Louis. Out of town bands would get Ludo’s audience in St. Louis, and then Ludo would go to the other bands town to play for that band’s 20 friends.

Ludo was able to convert other bands’ fans into their own. Their growth came from their humble beginnings. Ludo learned to write strong songs and to market themselves from playing open mic nights. When the band only had 15 minutes to play they had to be awesome, or at least create something original to get people’s attention. They also learned something just as important, the show did not stop after they got off stage. To get dedicated fans, as well as a place to sleep, Ludo spent time after they played hanging out with people.

“We made an effort to make ourselves available and approachable,” Ferrell said. “And, it was meaningful.”

Even the invasive act of sleeping on a stranger’s couch meant that these people were no longer strangers, but people they had shared experiences with. By having nothing they learned how to use their best marketing tool, themselves.

As the band grew over time they begin creating a street team of fans they called ninjas. The benefit of the street team was more than just a way to make new contacts; it also helped the band keep in touch with their closest fans when the band was not around.

But, as Ludo gained fans they did not gain interest from record companies.

“Getting signed was a long and painful process,” Ferrell said. Record companies were getting more selective about who they signed as the industry started losing money. “You have to have something to offer. Record labels want something that is easy. They want someone who is stable, has been around and has a bunch of fans.”

Record labels want to know they can get their money back.

Over the years the band had always stashed away as much money as they could for recordings. They preferred to sleep on floors than hotel rooms. All so they could save what little they had for recording.

In 2004, Ferrell created Redbird Records and Touring LLC, and he made Ludo an LLC. Making the band a business allows Ludo to write off business expenses and get insurance through the band.

The band continued its number one goal of gaining fans, and the connection with their fans is what ultimately got Ludo an agent, music lawyer and signed by a record label.

Ferrell found that music professionals did not “get” Ludo. Having professionals listen to their music was not enough. Ferrell and the other members of Ludo did what they have been doing for years, begged these people to come to shows.

In 2005, the band recorded the EP “Broken Bride” with money they had saved. By the time they played  in December of that year Ludo could draw more than 1000 fans in their hometown.

They were signed by Island Records in early 2006 from two performances at the SXSW event that year. Yet, Ludo was never invited to play SXSW.

Ludo played at SXSW four times, but never at a club or sponsored event. They found house parties.  In 2005, they had two house parties set up in the Austin, Tx. area. After they played the first house party, the band went out of state to play another show the next night.

Buzz around SXSW grew, and record label representatives got themselves invited to the second house party in Austin that Ludo played that week.

The second house party was the following night from when they played out of state. The band flew back to Texas and got to the party after being awake for 36 hours straight.

“We killed at the show,” Ferrell said.

It worked. Ferrell said that he thinks the record label people never really understood their music, but they could see that Ludo worked hard and had a great fan base. The band required very little work and could make the label money.

Island Records jumped on Ludo and signed the band soon after. And it happened because Ludo did what they have done from the very beginning: they connected with their fans, and they played anything they could.

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