Artist Survival Manual IV
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B. NEWS RELEASES
During the course of your first twelve months of development, you are going to be mailing a news release out to the media every two months for the next year. It is essential to your career for the media to continue to be informed about what you’re doing on a month to month basis. As your career grows, your publicist and/or image development consultant IDC will be mailing out news releases every week of your career. Today, some of the better known Nashville publicists receive $50,000 per month for doing publicity for the superstars. That’s the retainer each and every month. And, you were just asking yourself why you can’t get Reba McEntire’s or Dolly Parton’s publicist to take your account.
Many of the new artists will hire a first time (IDC) image development consultant to assist them with the mailing of their news releases and use the integrity of the firm’s name to get the articles in the various national music magazines. The cost of hiring a really good first-time publicist that does the mailings every month and writes the various news releases for you is $3500.00 for 180 days of work. Most of the promotion people that I deal with are going to charge that to promote your record and career for 180 days. If after the first 180 days, you wish to retain their services for the next 180 days, then they can be hired for additional 6 month periods.
AFTER YOU RECORD, one of the first things that you should do when you get home is to head for your local library. Look up the press association’s address and phone number for your state. You will be able with the librarian’s help to get the current names, addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers of every single solitary media outlet in your home town, your state, and the surrounding states. The world wide web is a great place to start getting together your list of media contacts. Collect all of this data and get it into a presentable form or even on to a personal computer disc and send it to your record label or your publicist immediately. The following news releases need to be out during the first 12 months of development.
1. News Release One: a short two paragraph release to the media telling them about your trip to Nashville, and your recent experience of recording in the studio.
2. News Release Two: a short two paragraph release to the media telling them about your return home and the single release that has been chosen to come out nationally.
3. News Release Three: a short three paragraph release telling the media and your fans that the single record has been shipped to radio and that it’s available for sale.
4. News Release Four: a short three paragraph release telling the media and your fans about the success of the single release and any other favorable reviews that are coming in from radio or television about you the artist and the song.
5. News Release Five: a short four paragraph release telling the media and your fans about the various venues your now playing, the new songs you’re working on for your future recordings, any recent media appearances or telethon appearances and how the single promotion is coming and especially if the record has chart position.
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6. News Release Six: a short four paragraph release telling the media any nominations you might have from AIRA in the year end awards, and further updates on the future of your recording career, the various dates you’ve played, the organization of your fan club, any commercial corporate sponsorships, or other news worthy items that have happened to you in the past two months.
National Radio Charts
These news releases should be sent to all of the local media in the town where you live, to all of the State radio stations, television stations, newspapers, and all other media outlets. An image development consultant or promotions person should handle all of the various mailings to the national media in music, CMT, The David Letterman Show, The Tonight Show, and various other shows on which you’ll want to appear. And you should be consistent in mailing these news releases on the same day of the month each and every two month period for the entire year. Long after you’ve left the development stage, you will want to continue to have consistent news coverage in all of the various media outlets. Without an image consultant or publicist to keep your name out there, you know what happens? Nothing!
One word of caution for you. Most of the media people who call and want to personally interview you for an article will be on the up and up. In other words, their motives are basically genuine and they want to assist you in getting your fair amount of space in the local paper or at the local level. However, you must be careful of one type of media personality. This is the "investigative reporter" who wants to dig up something or uncover something about you, about Nashville, about anyone so that they can become more famous and get a bigger job, Instead of writing for piddly dee newspaper in Earth, USA they want to go to work for the National Enquirer. Oh, and by the way, this type of media person will have some “anonymous” contact in Nashville that will know for a fact that if you were good enough, it shouldn’t have cost you anything to record.
Expect that one and tell them to take their opinions and newspaper and put it where it will do them the most good. What you don’t want to do is get involved with some media hound who is trying to use you and step on your career to further his own fledgling journalism project. Better still, they will even place some phone calls to Nashville and talk with so-called “reputable” people who don’t want you to spend any money with anyone until they can help you. Fine. Just ask them if they’ll put the money up for your recording. If they do, then you’ve got yourself a corporate sponsor. If not, you’ll just have to do it the hard way.
When you mail your third news release, you also need to mail your material along with a thank you to the breaker markets in country radio that subscribe to the radio panel and report to
| ARA | Billboard, | Radio & Records, | The Gavin Report, | PACERS | ACR |
PACERS (Professional Association of Country Entertainer's Radio Survey) and the ACR (American Country Radio ) Network all play new artists. You’ll need pictures, news releases, biographies, and other materials sent under separate cover to the 275 breaker market stations in the U.S. There are only 480 total reporter stations in the United States and all of the non-reporters can be serviced through CDX service in Nashville or if your own record label has national distribution, then they will service radio for you.
Manufacturing your single after you record is going to take a minimum of 12-14 weeks. Single records are mailed in compilation to radio. It takes approximately 3-4 weeks after the records get to radio by first class mail for the program directors to get them reviewed and get them started into rotation.
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If they are a syndicated Top-40 Billboard station then you can forget about ever getting any airplay at that station until you are signed to a major label and have a Top-40 hit which is determined primarily by the number of pieces of product shipped at the wholesale level which are scanned into the Billboard system and has very little to do with legitimate airplay. So if you live in a major metropolitan area that has several 100,000 watt Billboard syndicated stations with a play list of only 30 records, you are not ever going to get played on those syndicated stations. The reason can be found in The Tennessean newspaper. Those stations are bought and paid for by major labels. They will only play major label products.
C. BIOGRAPHIES OF ARTISTS
Now don’t sull up and pout over this, because 65% of the major label acts aren’t getting any airplay on those stations either. If they won’t play this year’s single by George Jones, Clint Black or Patty Loveless, do you really think they are going to play your single record and you’re an unknown artist? By pass these Bozo brain stations who haven’t got a clue about the public’s real taste in music and go in person to the stations in your area and State that do play new artists and independents. If you own a business, be sure and never spend a penny at a station that only plays 30 records over and over again. If they can’t play the likes of Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Roy Acuff, or Carl Butler, then don't bother with their play list and their station. They aren’t country…they’re just stupid, will be broke this time next year because no one wants to listen to the same thirty records day and night. Before you know it, they’ll be the oldies station in town and then they’ll finally be sold at a reduced price because their Arbitron ratings don’t exist or they’re so deep in the toilet bowl that even Arbitron can’t find them anymore.
Now please remember that your biography for country music isn’t a resume to go to work at the local funeral home. I’ve read some of the most depressing biographies in the world that were supposed to inform the media about the background of the artist. LEAVE OUT THE OBITUARY COLUMNS PLEASE! Get yourself a great IDC firm that knows how to write a great biography and press release.
When you are preparing your biography, you should start by asking yourself the following questions?
1. What influences in my early years caused me to want a music career?
2. What people, other artists and singers, did I listen to and gain help from in the early stages of my career?
3. What activities did I participate in that helped me get started singing?
Were you more influenced by rock music or classical music or Gospel music? Write down all of the experiences that you can remember regarding your early musical tastes and performances. The second thing to include in your biography is the instruments you play and who helped you learn to play them, whether you ever had lessons or not and how you came to acquire your knowledge of music. Remember, your voice is an instrument and if you don't "play" an instrument, you certainly sing with one.
4. Have you ever written original songs or sang in a musical or were you influenced by a school choir teacher or a church leader?
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5. Did your upbringing or family contribute to your career?
Part of the wonder of country music is the types of stories about where these artists came from and what they did in their early years even as children. I love the fact that Dolly Parton used a hair brush for a “play microphone” and that Loretta Lynn was indeed a Coal Miner’s Daughter and Reba McEntire was a barrel racer who really was a true cowgirl. I love to hear the stories of their struggles and their heartaches. I like the fact that George Jones got and kept for years a reputation that made him so famous by “no-showing” at his concert dates. What an incredible story.
I love the story about the country artist whose parents were very wonderful Christians. When the artist was a child in Sunday School, he read in the Bible that Christ raised people from the dead. There was an old cat that the young boy found out in the church’s parking lot that had died. He took it inside his dad’s church and left it in the water in the baptistery prior to Sunday night service, hoping it would receive one of it’s nine lives in the resurrection. That night when the pastor started to baptize the converts, and the first one started down into the baptistery before the pastor, he said, “Lord have mercy, preacher there’s a dead cat in here.” And the pastor who had no clue what he was talking about said, “Oh, yes brother, there are several old dead cats in this church that spiritually died years ago.” Those are the kinds of stories that make a biography really readable and interesting.
You want your biography to answer all of the following questions:
Who Is The Artist?
What Was The Background Of The Artist?
When Did The Artist Get Involved In Music?
Where Does The Artist History Come From?
How Does The Artist Compare To Other Artists?
Why Did The Artist Choose This Particular Style Of Music?
List All Of The Present Activities, Awards
Discography Of The Artist
As you accomplish more and more, the biography will get more complex and complete. But, remember to always keep the things that you write about yourself such as news releases and your biography upbeat, positive, and interesting. Write in common language where the most simple person can understand what you’ve written. Believe me it’s hard enough to build a career and image out there in the music business without turning off all the people who read the first paragraph in your bio with 4-5 syllable words everytime you turn around. KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid!
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D. Personal Appearance Information
It’s been stated so many times before. An artist comes to Nashville and records. They put out a single record and their worst nightmare is suddenly upon them. They are asked to perform “live” and they just can’t cut it in front of a crowd. They have such stage fright that they literally can’t go on. Believe me, this has happened to more people that you can imagine. I am personally aware of an artist that a financial combine spent over $500,000 in developing that act, the album, the video, acting lessons, wardrobe, musicians, a bus, touring equipment, lights and sound, audio equipment and background singers. The artist did great until he had his first live show in “Horse-creek, Nebraska.” Called upon to perform live at the first show of his career, he took one look at the audience in Horse-creek and decided that this wasn’t something he wanted to do. The life of an entertainer on the road isn’t nearly as glamorous as most of us think it is.
The things you are going to need for your personal appearances are as follows:
1. Get a contract on every date that you agree to play, spelling out every fortunate or unfortunate detail. Get part of the money up front as a deposit and get the rest the “day of performance.” As an artist you are entitled to join either the AFM (American Federation Of Musicians) if you play an instrument, or AFTRA which is the ( American Federation Of Television and Recording Artists). Either of these unions are strongly pro-artist and will seek to protect you legally in any type of disagreement with an establishment that might not pay you or treat you properly.
2. Write everything down! Write everything down. Write everything down! After the contract is handled, get all the various information written down as to where the venue is, who the contact party is, how long you are to play, how many sets you are to play, when you are supposed to show up, is there going to be any food available, what about accommodations, and a hundred other little details need to be written down in your master calendar where you keep your bookings.
3. Communicate constantly with the venues you are playing! Constantly! Ahead of time send the venue contact your list of songs that the band performs, the number in your party, their names and contact numbers, your mobile numbers on the bus or in the car, and any other information that they need. Most contact parties at a venue will want to know what type of equipment you’ll need, exactly what type of sound equipment you have provided on a written “equipment list” with a diagram of the set up of each band member, vocalist, microphone, and background vocalists. They are going to want to know ALL of the technical details about your set up so you might as well start working on this now.
4. Promote & Publicize! Promote & Publicize! Promote & Publicize! Plenty of promo kits, pictures, posters, and advertising slicks should be available at least 6 weeks ahead of time so that the venue is well advertised. Promotional product, singles, compact disc units, and radio promo’s need to be out in that area long before you arrive. If not, the crowd won’t arrive to see you, the venue will be deserted and you won’t make any money. All of this is called promotion and it’s an area that you must see over with diligence in order to make an impact on each and every venue where you play. There are many artist’s that are making millions of dollars without a major label by touring the United States on their own label or a smaller independent label. Who cares if the money’s foreign? Your tour of Japan, Europe or Canada will bring you income that you can take right over to the local grocery store and get groceries with even though it was earned outside the U.S.
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Don’t forget that if you have T-shirts, albums, key chains, hats, belts, or any other promotional products to give away prior to the venue date, that for each promotional piece you give away approximately 14 people will be influenced to show up at that venue. You know what happens when you don’t advertise? NOTHING HAPPENS!
E. TELEVISION
When it comes to television in the new artist’s life, it is without question the vehicle of exposure world-wide. Remember this saying, “Radio reaches thousands and television reaches millions.” There is absolutely no substitute for television exposure in the new artist’s career. Television is a totally different animal than radio. It is a medium through which careers are started and sometimes lost through “over exposure.” The public tires of seeing and hearing the same old things really quick.
If you’re on television locally, there isn’t the pressure for “perfection” that exists when you’re on network television. So, you’ve got to start somewhere and even if it’s the early morning show at your local level at 4:30 a.m. in the morning, or the late night venues after midnight, remember this is extremely important. TAKE ALL THE LOCAL TELEVISION APPEARANCES YOU CAN GET!
What the new artist wants out of local television is experience, how to address the camera, how to make the right moves to the camera, and how to speak in the right language for television. Again, television is a different animal. You speak in short "sound bites" on the camera. You never go off into long uninterrupted paragraphs on camera because they’ve got to go to commercial every few minutes. Remember the person you’re talking to on that camera thinks they’re a bigger star than you are and maybe they are locally. BE CAREFUL of the ego of the twisted television host. You have to play the politics of television really well in order to be asked back on these programs.
Always and I do mean ALWAYS find something about that show and host to compliment and do it immediately. On television, you have to let the interviewer know instantly that you’re their biggest fan whether you’ve ever seen the show or not previously. If you think some music egos are large and have to be massaged, the egos of television “on camera” employees are like trying to cram an elephant in the front seat of your car. Believe me, there will only be room for one star on the show and that’s the guy that invited you on, so quickly make him feel comfortable and don’t wait around for these people to massage you. It’s just the reverse. The only people who get invited back to these shows are artists that immediately immerse the host in a verbal bath of compliments, a plethora of adjectives to describe how handsome or beautiful they are, and a sauna of praise for their show. And I’m sure that some of you are reading this are saying, “You must be kidding!” No, I’m as serious as a woman whose labor pains are about two minutes apart.
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Take a good look at “LETTERMAN” and “THE TONIGHT SHOW” and figure out how network television works. The guests that are on these shows are nothing but “window dressing” for ratings. It’s amazing how meaningless the guests really are and the minute one of them makes the slightest “goof” on camera, they are not only never asked back, but the host then makes a running joke of their “goof” on camera thereafter. If a new artist thinks its competitive and vicious in the record label business, then you start swimming in the shark infested television industry. You’ll think the major label executive who axed your deal because you didn’t stroke him enough in his office is a “minnow” in a tea cup compared to the great “white” sharks of network television. If you saw JAWS I, JAWS II, and JAWS III, just remember they’re filming JAWS DAILY at the top of every major label and network in corporate-america. These people eat artists every day as hors d’oeuvres, and if you looked in the very back of the network refrigerator, you’d find artist pate` left over from last year’s crop of newly diminished failures. So watch yourself at the network level. Career’s are made and lost in minutes on network television .
Getting invited on these shows is an interesting story in itself. Here in Nashville, it’s no different than Hollywood. A few years ago, the labels here locally had to cater to the individual who booked network guests in an extraordinary way. I personally have been in the trailer where the staff worked, and have seen as many as 10-12 vases of roses, flowers, candy and gifts just to get the secretary to the scheduling agent to call a person back. And, the trips that the labels paid for was unheard of in our business. Clothes, cash and catering to their every whim was the order of the day. Pay offs were the order of the day. Sometimes as much as $2,000 cash was necessary to even schedule a newcomer on the show during the height of the ratings battles. But that all went down in flames along with their ratings. You can’t arrogantly stiff-arm the industry into literally paying “blackmail” money to get invited on a show and last long in the television industry. Something interesting about the behavior of sharks. As soon as one of their own leaves a blood trail, they all turn on each other in what is called a “feeding frenzy.” Watch the payroll vouchers at the networks and you’ll see the latest version of JAWS entitled Network Fedding Frenzy as entire groups of staff members are laid off and replaced because the blood trail of poor ratings led the hatchet men to their front door.
Some of the best network employees they had got their final notice on the Friday of Christmas Eve prior to Christmas that year. And you thought your company was the scrooge of life. Believe me money and ratings are all that count when it comes to network television. If you couldn’t sell ads around the birth of baby Jesus at Christmas time, they’d get rid of Christmas all together and get something they could sell ads for. It’s ruthless hard ball on the other end of that camera and don’t ever forget it.
Get someone who has a video camera to work with you at home until you become totally comfortable working to the camera. The best place to train a dancer is in a room full of mirrors. That’s the same place you want to train as an artist. Go into a room full of mirrors, in 10,000 watts of brilliant white light, and look at yourself in those mirrors. Do you like what you see?
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Well that’s the way you’re going to feel on television. If you’ve got one nose hair growing in your nose, the camera person shooting you up close will find it and zero in on it until it’s big enough to scare small children. Television is the most uncomfortable of all of the mediums of exposure. You automatically look 30-35 pounds heavier on camera than you do in person. And if you don’t get with some professional help and learn how to dress and put on your make-up when you’re on camera, you’ll get so many letters from fans making fun of you that you’ll be the star of your own JAWS sequel. You won’t have enough time to make to the beach before you’re shredded into lettuce-pieces, fine enough for television tacos.
So you’re asking yourself, how do I make a good impression when I am on television. Colonel Tom Parker in the early days of the Elvis career used to hire about 50 little teenage girls to show up every place Elvis was going to appear on camera and paid them to scream their little hearts out everytime his face appeared in a doorway or in a monitor. Finally, this became such a part of the “Elvis phenomenon” that the Colonel didn’t have to pay teenage girls to show up and scream. They just showed up and screamed because that was what his image was built upon. It’s called, "seeding the audience." Oh, you’re thinking “that’s so unfair.” Are you delirious? Nothings fair about competing for the top roster spot at a major label. Do you really think those acts at the top want to see you get their job? Get serious for a minute and realize that these contracts are worth literally millions of dollars to the people who get them. What do you think they are willing to do, to keep them?
Anytime you’re on television, you make sure that you’ve planned your appearance on the camera much better than they have. Invariably, the television host is going to horribly disappoint you the first few times you’re invited on. They are going to make you feel so important having their staff interview you, get a list of questions the host is going to ask you and having you prepare to sing at least three songs. What you’ll usually get instead of their promised “fifteen” minutes of exposure is one question on camera before the break and a piece of one of your songs going to commercial. Your television debut has just been cut down from fifteen minutes to fifteen seconds. So, how do you react? Do you get angry and make a scene? If you do, then your future television career is about as worthless as the new television they presented Ronnie Milsap prior to figuring out he couldn’t watch it anyway. The only people who gossip more than a sewing circle at church is a group of television hosts at a party. They exchange the names of the various people who come on their shows and make their ratings climb. You had better plan ahead of time to get on the list of ratings breakers to stay in this business.
How do you plan your television success? For starters, you bring as many fans as you can to sit in the live audience and have them applaud at the right time for you each and every time. Write thank you letters to every person that was on that show, the host, the camera people, the girl in make-up and anyone else that you can get an address from. MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION the first time because you won’t have a second chance to make one. Get every friend you know to write the television station or network a personal letter of thanks about you and your appearance on the show. Network executives know that one physical letter sent to the network represents the opinion of at least 1100 other viewers who didn’t have the time to write but think the same way the letter-writer thinks.
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So get yourself a Colonel Tom Parker ahead of time to marshal your forces from around the country and have them write the show and personally let them know how much they enjoyed your appearance. If they get “no letters” good or bad about your appearance, then you’ll be classed as someone who really doesn’t make the meter move and they’ll go on to someone who does make their
meter move. If you’re going to play hard ball in the big world of television superstars, you better get ready to run out on the field with the world champions. If you’re not ready for this experience then wait until you are. It’s better to have your career more together than to go on and blow it in front of 52 million viewers. Then you’ll only be seen in re-runs after midnight on the “Country used to be an artist gong-show!” Get the deck stacked in your favor ahead of time and make sure that continues to happen each and every time you go on a television show. If you ever let down one time, and get lazy about your television appearances, television will chew you up like a Dan Rather chain saw going through a Connie Chung doll.
E - Expect a lot less from television than they expect from you. You had better be prepared ahead of time. Oh, if you don’t have the charts to your music done ahead of time, they are going to think you’re just a little quirk in the system and wonder how you ever got on. GET THOSE NUMBER CHARTS DONE AHEAD OF TIME and get someone who knows how to do them for the network band, pay them their $20.00 per song and that way the band will be ready for you when you walk on during rehearsals. Get your "media questions list" and your “answers to the media question list” prepared ahead of time along with all of your promo materials. Remember the color picture you send over is the color picture they are going to cut to in the “teaser” part of the show up front. Be sure you send them the new pictures from the cover of your latest product that you’re going to mention on camera.
X - Xtra precautions are taken with network television. Get every detail of what they expect, what you’re going to be singing, and get yourself prepared for the show and be there early for your make-up and rehearsal sessions. Start showing late for rehearsals and curtain call and you’ll get axed about as fast as “Models, Inc.” did from prime time. No one wants to put up with a “prima donna” during rehearsals or filming. Just remember a wasp is bigger when it’s born than any other time of it’s life. You’ll figure it out soon enough.
P - Plan something fresh and new on each appearance. When you go on television, you’ve got to have something to say, something to sing, and something to show. All of these three things have got to be new. If the host asks you to perform one of your older hit songs, fine then do it, otherwise remember each time you go on the three rules of television:
Have something fresh and new to say. Don’t talk about the same cold things everytime. The public has a voracious appetite for new things. Have something new to sing. Oh and please spare us another long drawn out boring ballad on camera. The mark of a dying act is when they go on television and sing another one of their own “original” boring five minute ballads. Go out there and kick some ass pal with a song that makes their heart start thumping, their feet start moving, and puts the audience in a good mood. Who cares about your latest “cryin’ in your beer ballad?” The audience certainly won’t. Last, have something new to show! When you’re on television you have to show the audience that you’re alive, thriving, and making things happen around you.
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Don’t be the type of person who “waits” for things to happen, be the type of person who “makes” things happen for their career. If you wait, you’ll still be in Dumbo Falls, Montana this time next year.
O - Overwhelm the people on this show with class! You make sure that every person there gets a thank you card, gets something to remember you by. If you think you’re the only artist or person who wants on their show, please relieve yourself somewhere. Dress is so important. One of the great lines from Porter Waggoner. “If they don’t remember my singing, at least they’ll remember my clothes!” Get the guy back that had all the rhinestones…you know what’s his name? Dolly Parton’s line to Regis on the morning show overwhelmed me. Regis said, “Dolly, when you go out to a Broadway show in New York, I’m sure you get tired of signing autographs and people staring at you, don’t you?” Dolly’s reply, “I’ve wanted to be a star all of my life Regis, and I enjoy every minute of it. Keep ‘em coming is my philosophy and I’ll keep signing autographs all night. Look at these headlights the Lord gave me to see by!”
S - Soak these network people in a bath of goodwill. Ahead of time let them know you’re coming by sending them everything you can imagine to make them notice you. When you leave, send them everything you possibly can to make them remember you after you’re gone. The best at this I’ve ever seen is Wayne Newton. Wayne is like the most overly gracious host you’ll ever meet. If you got one fruit basket from KENNY ROGERS, you’ll get a dozen from Wayne. That’s his style. A couple of years ago at the JUNE JAM, Wayne was the guest of ALABAMA lead singer, Randy Owen. All of the acts at the jam had little travel trailers to change in. Wayne had a double-wide house trailer that looked like the inside of a Saudi sheik’s residence. Needless to say when I drove up and he asked me to go to Wayne’s trailer, I told the limo driver, “Well, it doesn’t take a guy on a turnip truck long to figure out which trailer is Wayne Newton’s!”
U - Underestimate the power of television and you’ll never be a superstar! Television cannot be underestimated at any level. You need television like a drug addict needs drugs if you’re an entertainer. Without it, your career just hangs there if you understand this terminology. Television is the "ultimate turn on" and must be treated with great care. The camera is like a lover. Remember the old saying, “There’s nothing quite so bad as a lover gone mad.” Don’t forget to treat the camera like a “jealous lover.” Never take your appearances on this medium for granted. Years back I recorded two sisters who took their little custom tape home and played it for one of the disc jockeys at WBAP in Dallas-Fort Worth. This DJ happened to be one of the legends, Bill Mack of country music hall of fame status. These two sisters were just 15 and 18 and only had 500 cassettes made when they left Nashville. Bill fell in love with the girls and their tape. He invited them to front a major superstar act and open the forthcoming TEXAS STATE FAIR. These kids were clueless to what this meant to their career.
The first day they appeared before 98,000 screaming country music fans,
they got the picture pretty fast. Their dad called the office and said, Robert, you know that project we did? Is there anyway I can get 10,000 cassettes shipped down here before Friday. The girls are on again Friday night. The staff here at the fair loves ‘em and the tapes we had sold out in 10 minutes.
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In Nashville, all things are possible and in 72 hours 10,000 cassette tapes were in Dallas and these two sisters have been making money in country music ever since. Yeah, you’re right, that’s the two sisters I’m talking about. The lead singer joined them later. And yes, they sold all of that order and a few million more since then. I’d say at $10.00 per tape, that little custom project came in real handy. Of course if they had waited to be noticed by someone in Nashville, they’d still be in Dallas, Texas unheard of and lonely.
R - Ratings and money are everything in network television. If you are someone who improves a show’s ratings, they’ll have you back all the time. If you’re someone that they get one negative piece of mail on, it will be a cold day in Equatorial television when you’re asked back. I can’t stress enough how important it is to hire the screaming teenage girls and seed the audience. Before an act is re-booked on any show, the producer’s last question to the staff is, “Oh, by the way, how many pieces of mail did we get the last time they were on?” The answer had better be “a lot …I can’t remember how many, but we got a lot of mail.” If the answer is otherwise, then you’re in trouble.
E - Every appearance you make is worth millions of dollars to you! Don’t insult the producer and staff by cashing your union scale payment for being there. The stupidity of some people sometimes amazes me. You’re invited on a show, and the payment required by the union is $257.00. You cash that check and you won’t be invited back either. Just a word about personal appearances. I had an artist in my office that had a chance to appear as an opening act on a Gospel music tour that encompassed 48 cities, each auditorium was sold out in advance and the minimum seating capacity for the tour was 6000 seats a night. The tour operator offered the dates to this artist if he would appear at no charge to the tour operator and promoters. He was so thick headed that the only thing that came out of his mouth was, “You mean I’m not going to get paid? I can’t do that!” Needless to say, I got someone else to go on the tour, they paid their own way, fronted all the shows for no compensation and sold over a half-million dollars in product sales at the back of the auditorium. In 48 days, this other artist cleared over $400,000 dollars on that tour. Got the message! Look at the big picture. Don’t get so focused on you and forget, “You might need to eat this week.” Kroger grocery store doesn’t care if you’re a preacher, a policeman, or a prostitute when you get to the cashier. All they want are those $20’s for those groceries. So figure out the big picture where tours and money are concerned. And, don’t forget that people of lesser talent have gotten to be superstars because they had superior skills as a politician.
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