{"id":3000,"date":"2010-06-05T06:29:42","date_gmt":"2010-06-05T14:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=3000"},"modified":"2010-06-05T06:29:42","modified_gmt":"2010-06-05T14:29:42","slug":"personality-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/06\/05\/personality-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"Personality Counts"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Are you willing to work?<\/span><\/p>\n

Plan on giving up television.\u00c2\u00a0 Nights out with your friends.\u00c2\u00a0 Marriage.\u00c2\u00a0 Children.\u00c2\u00a0 Making it is about sacrifice.\u00c2\u00a0 Talent is at best fifty percent, desire is the rest.<\/p>\n


2. Can you interact with other people?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, history is laden with abusive rock stars.\u00c2\u00a0 But they weren’t abusive at the beginning. Hell, Bob Geldof abused programmers at a big radio convention and it halted the Boomtown Rats’ career in America permanently.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not saying you’ve got to kiss butt.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that you’ve got to appear rational.\u00c2\u00a0 And you’ve got to be thankful.\u00c2\u00a0 Which brings us to:<\/p>\n


3. Show gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank the guy doing radio promotion, or maintaining your Website.\u00c2\u00a0 Thank the guy who opens the door.\u00c2\u00a0 People love to help, you’ve just got to pay them in attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, if you’re abused, go off on them.\u00c2\u00a0 But if someone’s going out of their way to treat you nicely, to do a favor for you, let them know you’re appreciative.\u00c2\u00a0 Labels have more than one act.\u00c2\u00a0 And most successful managers do too.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re an ungrateful sonofabitch, they’ll focus their efforts on someone else.<\/p>\n

4. Be willing to listen to advice.<\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t need to take it, but certainly be willing to let the other person talk.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the label might want to mold you improperly, scrub off all your rough edges, but the people working there have also been doing it for a long time and know stuff you don’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Like what media outlets will promote.\u00c2\u00a0 Who will take a chance on new music.<\/p>\n

5. Be nice to your fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

New paradigm acts don’t concentrate on radio or print.\u00c2\u00a0 They go directly to their fans.\u00c2\u00a0 A fan will do anything for you, he’ll not only put you up for the night, he’ll let you sleep with his sister.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’ve got to talk to him, you’ve got to sign an autograph, you’ve got to remember the effort.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing thrills a fan more than having a famous person remember them.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only do they tell the story to everybody they meet, they say how great you and your music are.\u00c2\u00a0 This is good will you cannot buy, but it can be earned.<\/p>\n

6. Overnight success is elusive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t moan when you don’t have instant success.\u00c2\u00a0 As a matter of fact, those who triumph quickly tend to fade just as fast.\u00c2\u00a0 If for no other reason than potential fans go on instant backlash.\u00c2\u00a0 You have to earn the trust of the hardest core of fans.\u00c2\u00a0 But once you’ve got it, they’ll never let go.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t we all have favorite acts that no one has ever heard of?\u00c2\u00a0 Aren’t we still imploring people to listen to their records, even decades later?\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, if you become monstrous, some hipsters will leave you.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, many will want to tell the tale of how they were there in the BEGINNING!<\/p>\n

7. Fame is mindbending.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Chris Blackwell puts it, "you go from a bum to a hero in a second, and you’ve got to be savvy enough to guide yourself through the maze."<\/p>\n

Beware of having your prayers answered.\u00c2\u00a0 Yesterday nobody knew you, today people you don’t know are writing terrible things about you all over the Net.\u00c2\u00a0 It takes time to adjust to fame.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why it’s best if it comes slowly.\u00c2\u00a0 So you can learn the ropes and cope.<\/p>\n

8. Money isn’t everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris Levy might have ripped off Tommy James, but would Tommy James have been a hit on another label?\u00c2\u00a0 Doubtful.\u00c2\u00a0 Mr. James was Roulette’s only star at the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Morris killed, maybe literally, for Tommy’s success.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, just because you’ve read Don Passman’s book and are an expert on the business, don’t think you don’t have to give up a bit to get not only a little, but a lot.\u00c2\u00a0 There are very few job openings for rock star.\u00c2\u00a0 Chances are you’re going to have to experience a few raw deals in order to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 If you sustain, you can turn the tables and dictate on your terms as time goes on.<\/p>\n


9. Be Reasonable<\/span><\/p>\n

If you don’t know of a band which negotiated themselves right out of a deal by being too demanding, you don’t know any lawyers.\u00c2\u00a0 No one needs your record to hit.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to earn your opportunity, you’ve got to build trust and maintain relationships.<\/p>\n


10. Trust is key.<\/span><\/p>\n

Involve yourself with people you trust, whose words you believe.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only is it hard to extricate yourself from a bad deal, hell, Billy Joel paid Artie Ripp for years after making it, words are cheap and just because someone says they’re going to do something for you, that doesn’t mean they will.<\/p>\n

11. Passion is everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

In your music.\u00c2\u00a0 In your team.\u00c2\u00a0 In your fans.<\/p>\n

People can’t manufacture passion.\u00c2\u00a0 And human beings can sense hype and fake interest and belief a mile away.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, just go online and experience the trolls hyping acts so they can earn some b.s. reward from a band or a marketing company.\u00c2\u00a0 We know when someone is testifying for real.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, even though your music might be great, you’re gonna be a nonstarter unless you can SELL your music.\u00c2\u00a0 By that I mean going on stage and convincing people you’re great through your performance, and convincing those you come in contact with in the business that you’ll forgo everything to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll sleep five to a room.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll dumpster dive.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll get ripped off, be underpaid.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the story of rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 Instant stardom is a facade.\u00c2\u00a0 Either the act has been working for years or is two-dimensional cardboard, the product of a svengali, and will fade as soon as their song leaves the radio.<\/p>\n

It’s not only about the music.<\/p>\n

In order to make it, you need a team.\u00c2\u00a0 No one can do it alone.<\/p>\n

And labels and managers and agents invest in people, not only music.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Diane Brady Talks with Chris Blackwell
The Island Records founder on his encouragement of Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, and U2<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Are you willing to work? Plan on giving up television.\u00c2\u00a0 Nights out with your friends.\u00c2\u00a0 Marriage.\u00c2\u00a0 Children.\u00c2\u00a0 Making it is about sacrifice.\u00c2\u00a0 Talent is at best fifty percent, desire is the rest. 2. Can you interact with other people? Sure, history is laden with abusive rock stars.\u00c2\u00a0 But they weren’t abusive at the beginning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Mo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3001,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3000\/revisions\/3001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}