Turn bloodsuckers into blood donors (FAI Tip 2)
Paul Barker, host of Barker’s House Concerts, wrote an exemplar essay for the first-timer attending a music conference like Folk Alliance:
Read here: NERFA: For First Timers
“Take the pledge:“I am not here to book gigs. I am here to build relationships and the gigs will follow.” – Paul Barker
I love this pledge! Obviously, we hope to gain some monetary value from spending money on a music conference, but it’s easy to lose sight of the forest of songwriters and community from the trees of venue hosts and radio DJs.
You are here to connect to people. The gigs will follow if you follow this mantra. So take that pledge, first timers!
* * * Free CDs and Bloodsuckers * * *
One point of advice in Barker’s essay doesn’t hold up for me, but maybe that’s because it’s 2016 (IE: Apple Music, Spotify); not 2010 when his essay was written, as CD sales were at the start of declining.
Barker advices to conserve your CDs and promo packs–which is sound advice–but he goes a step further about people who don’t represent venue that take free CDs:
“These bloodsuckers go from table to table collecting ‘free’ CDs for their personal collections. It’s very unprofessional, but they think they deserve it for their ‘support’ of folk music.”
I applaud the stellar use of the word “bloodsuckers”; however, I think we need to take a step back here, especially in a world where scarcity left music long ago, and the enemy of a new artist is being unknown.
If someone is interested in your music, why would you want to withhold them from getting hooked by your music?
Instead of seeing these freeloaders as bloodsuckers, I think it’s important to see them as potential fans.
That doesn’t mean you need to give them a professional CD for free, but this is standard advice for all merch tables: You should always have something cheap or free to give away.
Maybe a CDR. Better yet a download code. Even better, an iPad on a stand with a Noisetrade widget on the screen, so someone can type in their email address for a free download! Build your email list!
Let’s turn them bloodsuckers into blood donors!
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Here’s a group to checkout at Folk Alliance 2016: Michigan’s The Accidentals!
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This is blog #2 of a multiple series of tips for attending Folk Alliance International! Read tip 1: Give your art a snack.
Give your art a snack (FAI Tip #1)
Want to know how Lyal Strickland became one of the most memorable attendees at a Folk Alliance conference three years ago? It wasn’t just his showcase performance.
Instead of simply a CD, he add a bag of ready-to-eat popcorn in everyone’s conference bag with a note that included a link to download the album.
After SERFA, on the community message board, so many musicians commented a thanks to Lyal for the snack during the long commutes home from the conference. (I bet the venue and radio hosts were thankful, too!)
In the end, popcorn doesn’t replace the art, but it helps to have a snack to enjoy as you listen to it. Especially when the music delivers:
Shine On: Attitudes Are Contagious
Attitudes–positive and negative–are equally contagious.
“Language is a virus from outer space,” said Burroughs, but let me remind you that a bad attitude is a virus from right here on Earth.
Last year, it took me seven months to realize I was carrying around a bad attitude that I had picked up from someone else who was feeling rather negative about the challenges of performing music.
Everyone has a right to their own opinions and feelings; and you have a right to create your own!
It’s my own fault for picking up that attitude. We have a choice about what clothes we wear, what songs we learn, what gigs we say yes to doing, what trash we pick up from the ground (and throw away).
We choose our attitudes.
Stay positive. Shine on (#51 in the playlist). And get working.
The Best Writing Spot: I like to be closest to the snacks – Rebecca Scherm
Author and U of M writing teacher, Rebecca Scherm gave an wonderful interview on Stateside last month. Her articulate answers and powerful responses about her characters in her first novel, Unbecoming, inspired me to get her book.
- Ann Arbor-based writer Rebecca Scherm on Stateside to talk about “Unbecoming,” her first novel.
I also chuckled when Scherm admitted she writes usually at the kitchen table, rather than a fancy desk.
“I like to be closest to the snacks.” – Scherm
I knew it wasn’t just me! Nothing beats a kitchen table for writing!
My great-grandmother’s, 1930s porcelain kitchen table lives in our kitchen, and remains my favorite writing spot. It took a lot of convincing to get my mom to give Natalie and me that family heirloom, and we’re lucky to have it.
I think one of the best ways to get to work is clean off your kitchen table, grab some snacks, read a bit of a book, and get the pen moving or keyboard keys clicking.
My wife recently went into the attic of her dad’s garage. She was searching for a specific photograph, and she ended up on an unexpected treasure-hunt of looking through tons of family albums for hours.
When’s the last time you went looking in a closet that you rarely peruse and got lost on a hunt?
The artist’s road is often faced with roads blocks, discouragement, and self doubt; but opportunities are as simple as saying, “yes!”
It’s easy to want to tell the muse, No. It’s too easy to wait for opportunities to come to us.
So let’s consider a quote from the Art of War:
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”― Sun Tzu
The number one reason to go book a short tour, write a song a week, paint every day and post it to the internet, collaborate with another songwriter, etc. is because by doing stuff, you are going to find more stuff!
Go open the box. Get creating.
