Hammond Music

Posts Tagged ‘guitarists’

Many bands feel that being signed to a label is the best thing that can happen. This is often true but more often than not this starts a whole new set of problem no band ever wants.

Today, recording contracts are nothing more than a bank loan. If it doesn’t sell to expectation you still have to pay the money back somehow. Music companies are a business and they are there to make money not lose it. It is no different than going to a bank and getting a loan to market your music your self, except the recording companies have the methods to make the product sell, get airplay and distribute the product throughout the country or even the world. Recording companies loan you the money to make the music and get their money back by distributing it.  Typically artists make a small fraction on CDs- most of the money comes through merchandise and tours.

If you can get a recording company to get behind your music, that’s good. But beware of recording companies who try to influence and change your sound, often to the point of rewriting your songs and even changing members of your band or, worse still forcing you to record songs made by other peoples.

Here are some horror stories that can happen to musicians who get signed and think they are on their way to fill stadiums around the world.

Getting shelved!
A band gets signed; get some money advanced for recording. The songs are recorded and completed but the record company ‘shelves’ your act and you never sees the light of day but you can’t take your product anywhere else because you are already signed. Often you can’t even play live gigs without giving some of your performance fee to the record company. This happened to Billy Joel who waited his five year contract out playing in piano bars.

The song gets changed.
Often you will be all ready to record your songs and the record company will bring in a co-writer or producer who alters your compositions beyond all recognition to “fit in with label’s style.” You started to make a hard rock album and you end up with a rap album with all your instruments removed and samples replacing them.  You thought you were Metallica only to end up like Jack Johnson. Then you have to go and promote something you really hate and your product is no longer recognizable.

Where did all the money go?
Beware the big advance of money, to make and promote your music. If it doesn’t sell you will have to pay the money back, with interest, just like the banks. How do you pay the record company back? Live gigs, touring, radio shows, shopping centres etc for the next ten years.  How do all those artists who make millions of dollars end up bankrupt? All the bills they didn’t know they had to pay. They had so much fun, they never saw where their money went.

Where did my band go?
Record companies fire and replace a lot of musicians and band members who don't agree with their policies. They are always trying to get work for their own players and artists who have already been signed. Quite often you will find all your guitar player’s work re-recorded by the studio guy or producer to fit in with the label’s sound or smooth over tensions within the band.

I thought I was a musician not a pop star.
Increasingly recording companies are trying to “cross media” any act in anyway they can. They will market you anyway they can, and they will get you to do things to increase your and their exposure any way they can. You may end up on dog food commercial, on big brother or, god forbid, on Australian Idol. Most recording companies are part of large corporations. Since most bands are only around for a short time, companies try to get as much as they can now before people stop listening. (We’ve all heard of the sophomore slump!)

Remember that the music business is mostly about the business. Try to go independent if you can, market yourself on the web at sites like Axebay and build your own presence in the world by networking in its guitar forums. If you are very successful in the beginning of you career, you can get more favorable terms from the recording company. If you do get an offer, get a good lawyer. You don't want to have to wait out your contract.

When I was 14 years old, I was in a band (I had a used guitar) as we all like to think we were, even if we couldn’t really play anything. With two school mates in tow, we rehearsed about once a week and made quite a lot of rather nasty noises we thought was great music!! We loved the idea of being rock stars.”

We never really thought about gigs or anything serious, we just plodded along rehearsing in my mates lounge with our 10 watt amps when his parents were at work and we were skipping school. We had no idea how bad we were and I thought I could play anything, anytime, anywhere. None of us knew about scales or keys or being in tune!! I liked to play anything!!!

We eventually went to a dinner at the local memorial hall for some older students. We always had live bands back then. DJs didn’t really exist (yes, it was that long ago!) and so bands were hired. By an act of god, we were that band.

The band that was performing was rather lame, performing songs not really suited for a bunch of hormonally challenged 14 – 15 year old youths. In fact, they reminded me of the scene in the “American pie” movie where the band is doing an awful version of ‘don’t you forget about me’ and all the kids are bored.

A few of friends at school knew my friends and I had ‘a bit of a band going” and suggested we get up and play. All of a sudden our self assurance disappeared and we got all shy. We said we weren't ready. We just play because we like it. Fright entered all of us and none of us wanted to go. 

However, next thing we know, the “tough boys” who played football and were athletic heroes came over and told us we should play. We didn't want to play but they insisted. We pushed back. They told us to get on stage or they would punch our heads in.” It appeared we didn’t have a choice.

So with the prospect of our heads being smashed heads and loss of any degree of cool we ever thought we had, we trundled toward the stage. It never feels right playing someone else's instruments- it is like wearing someone elses's underwear!!! But we got up there any way, ready to be booed off the stage and into the dark recesses of the hall. The place went wild when we played and everyone was having a good time. We thought “hey this ain’t so bad” so we kept paying whatever we knew. No one, especially us, seemed to really mind at all. Everybody loved it. We kept going and going. The tough boys applauded and the girls smiled. My guitar solos still not in any scale or key but hey, there we were a real band on a real stage!! We were suddenly too cool for school and the “it” thing at school.

What we thought was hell turned out to be heaven and we ended up getting a gig with the other band. It was the start of a long musical career that still continues to this day.