Surviving A Band

And I do mean, "survive." Bands are awesome, and you should play in some*. Just know what you're getting into, and have a strategy for keeping your career and long-term goals intact while serving the needs of the band at the same time.

One the most critical keys is determining what the band ultimately wants, and what path it will follow to get there. As an individual musician, you need to have your own goals and path, as well, and you need to determine as early as possible whether your plans and the band's plans can work together.

If they can't, then it will probably blow things apart sooner rather than later.

A friend of mine tells a story about how his band broke up after a big contest over what they would have done with the money if they had won. They didn't win. There was no money over which to fight. They still broke up.

Personally, I've been a member of three different bands that negotiated record deals. Not one was signed, primarily because we couldn't and didn't agree on what we wanted and where we were headed. In this type of situation, the end result is that the band either breaks up or makes drastic changes to survive, most often the former.

It goes without saying, but a critical key is how the money will be handled. In the beginning stages, it may be how much each band member will be expected to kick in for equipment, recording, touring, merch and the like. Once the money starts rolling in, though, the real fun begins. Decide up front whether you will share the money equally, or whether you will divvy it up by role and workload. Whatever you decide, everybody has to feel comfortable. The only acceptable vote is a unanimous one.

Once band members either feel like they're working harder or contributing more than others, or that they're not being compensated fairly, the end is probably near. Money changes all, and if not handled carefully, it can cause real problems both on and off stage.

In the "real" music world, one of my favorite bad - but common - examples is a story told by a friend of mine, a former programming director for a group of pop/alternative radio stations in the Salt Lake City area. She had been to an after-concert party of an extremely famous band and ended up on a flight with them the next morning. The lead singer was flying first class, but the rest of the band was in coach. Why? The singer was also the songwriter, and was thus getting paid royalties from radio play and publishing as well as money from album sales, touring, merch, etc.

A couple of good - also very uncommon - examples of how to keep a band alive and healthy are Coldplay and U2, far and away two of the most successful bands in the history of modern music. Both of those bands share all of the income and credit equally. It's no stretch to think that one of the band members contributes more to the actual songwriting than the others, but they have (wisely and accurately) predicted that if one of them starts making a lot more money than the others, the band likely will not survive for long.

Both of these bands have had long careers and show no signs of slowing up. Both bands also realize that if they aren't successful, it doesn't matter who makes the money because there will be little or no money to be made. Likewise, they have realized that if they are very successful, there will be plenty of money to go around, and there is no place for greed in a great band.

It's not all about the money, though. While the financial side of things is absolutely critical, the most important thing is to make sure that you're taking care of you. Not that you're slighting the band or distracted from what the band needs, but that you're continuing to develop yourself as a player and musician, and that your eyes are on the bigger, longer term picture. In short, you should work like the band will be successful forever, but have a backup plan in case it goes bad.

Above all, don't let anything stand in the way of you becoming the best, most successful version of yourself that you can be, and that involves keeping your options open and continuing to broaden your abilities and exposure.

It's okay to be in a country band and play jazz on the side. It's okay to play in a metal band and really love pop rock. In my world, there's nothing wrong with loving Justin Bieber (platonically, of course) and Diana Krall at the same time.

*If you're a drummer, what else ya gonna do? Unless you're Evelyn Glennie or Terry Bozzio, you're playing with other people - all the time!

Friday Feature: Justin Bieber - Never Say Never

I'm going out on a major public image limb here, but I gotta do it.

Up until October of this year (2011), I didn't know much about Justin Bieber beyond his name. I knew that he was what my generation calls a, "teenie bopper," that young girls screamed about him, and he had floppy hair. That's it. The sum total of my JB knowledge. And honestly, I didn't care to know more. We've all seen these flash-in-the-pan acts. There are loads of them. I expected Justin Bieber to be the same. I expected that in another six months, he'd have had his fifteen minutes and would be gone.

In October, I went on a three day company retreat. Let me set the scene. I work for an AWESOME, but fairly new, non-profit organization. It has multiple facets and is a little bit complicated in terms of operation. The retreat was to be an intense, serious work session. The attendees (of which I was the youngest at 33) were the CEO and his wife, the CFO, the facilitator, the marketing guru - all of these people have been in the business world for decades - along with the president of a record label, another unit head, and me.

The second night we were there, after two days of grueling work, the facilitator announced that we were going to watch, "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" that night, as a group. Required viewing, no less. I absolutely could not believe it. I kept waiting for him to say, "Just kidding. We're not watching that." But he was serious. To add to my shock, the record label president said, "Oh, I've seen this. You're going to love it. Amazing film." What in the world was going on?!

(It's worth mentioning that we watched it on a wall-sized projection TV with a ridiculously powerful sound system.* It's a darn good thing we were at a cabin in the middle of nowhere, because anybody within a mile would have been able to hear with absolute clarity.)

I have a ton of respect for the people who were at the retreat, so I popped a Diet Coke, kicked back and watched the movie. It changed my mind, to say the least.

Let's pause for just a second, shall we? I just want to be clear that I'm not a "Belieber," a fanatic, or even a real fan. But I gained a healthy respect for the Bieber team, Justin himself, and for the process that he went through to gain his success. The kid has worked his tail off, and his story is nothing short of phenomenal.

I loved the film. I've recommended it to pretty much everybody, and even made my wife watch it. In fact, I've almost purchased it about a dozen times. And, kiddos, I'm a professional musician. My reputation is a real part of my life, and I try to look after it pretty assiduously.

Among other things, "Never Say Never" gives a real look at what a touring act goes through on a day to day basis, at what kind of work it takes to be successful, and at what a young person goes through when they accept a life of touring, recording and entertaining. As his vocal coach says at one point in the film, "You gave up normal."

As documentaries go, it's a home run. Grand slam, even. And I've seen a lot of documentaries. And, no, you don't have to go crazy over Justin Bieber to appreciate his career and his path to stardom. I won't play spoiler and get into it here, but if you have any interest in the business side of the music world, you absolutely need to watch this film. 

So, if I've lost your respect and you've seen this film, I can live with that. But if you're freaking out right now and you haven't seen the film, give it a solid look and then we'll talk.

I'll tell you this, too - the drummer in Bieber's stage band is a lot of fun. You don't get too many looks at him, but he's got crazy energy and some great ideas. Oh, and speaking of drums: if you LOVE drummers and drumming but HATE Justin Bieber....uh, maybe you shouldn't watch this film. Just sayin'.

Again, I'm not crazy about Justin Bieber, but I do believe that he's the real thing, that he's put in a lot of hard work, and that his story is maybe the first of a whole new generation of stars - a story that will become common. Someday we'll look back and the whole Bieber thing will be very normal.

For now, I can respect what he's done for himself. Even if I don't know any of the songs by heart and probably won't ever buy a ticket to a show. There are plenty of twelve-year-old girls for that.

*There was a large-ish ceramic bear on top of one of the speakers that fell to the ground and shattered because of how loud and rockin' the movie was. It is now affectionately known as "The Bieber Bear."