A PARENT-MANAGER BALANCING ACT

For most small town American parents, the balancing of a job and parenting children is enough. Add any sort of activities they may have requiring carpooling and tightly gripping a camera phone, recording the memories that will be broadcast on your Facebook page, it's exhausting. Oh, and I almost forgot, at least half of these active parents have a spouse to pencil in on their Google calendar as well as the proverbial honey-do list around the house. Tiring.

But for me, owning my own business since 1999 and raising a two-sport-travel-athlete-son pushed the envelope. Averaging 250 days a year running from games to practices to tournaments in the Midwest and countless hours of personal training at the YMCA and other gyms is what it takes nowadays to prepare your child for college level athletics. We couldn't simply bypass that treadmill routine.

So why not add one more time-consuming ball to juggle?



In 2011, my son, Spencer Kane, tried his hand at balancing travel and school basketball, baseball, being a 3.8 GPA student, and the world of Youtube as a 14 year old singer. Why not?

Ever since, our family has been on an adventure that is not for the weak. In fact, after traveling nearly 40,000 miles touring this past 18 months, I tip my hat to the stereotyped roadies who slug gear and drive hundreds of miles between shows. At 45 years old, I have a newfound respect for the artist who is trying to establish themselves in the rapidly changing music industry.

Social media and Youtube have created a whole new platform to discover talent. The cornucopia of talent shows on TV make this 21st Century Gold Rush for fame quite a challenge. It's like being a needle in a stack of needles trying to be discovered by fans and industry executives.

Yes, it's only been a short three years since we've taken the plunge into helping Spencer pursue a life in the music and acting industry (Spencer is also a lead actor on the TBN Sitcom, "iShine Knect"), but I think it's more dog years in wisdom and wear and tear on this middle-aged dad.

Just a short list of some highlights these few years make my life as a parent and manager quite interesting. Let's see, there's been

• online and offline bullying
• studio recording sessions and music video sets
• having to give up team sports and his dream of playing in college
• puberty laden-Peter Brady singing voice at times
• my wife going back to work full-time to help the finances
• starry-eyed teen girls swooning over his social media posts, photos and videos
• getting the FBI involved with a pedophile stalker
• his first acting job on a TV sitcom
• life on the road
• butting heads over wardrobe choices
• dodging the money taking sharks along the way
• serious financial commitment
• and forging strong relationships with industry veterans and newbies

As a parent, my primary goal is to equip Spencer to be a responsible citizen and man that knows how to work hard and, most of all, rely on God to guide his steps. But more practically, how to manage relationships and himself when life becomes highly challenging no matter what his career or course.

My wife, Melissa, and I have demonstrated how a truck load of levity each day can make the journey endurable. Our home life is filled with antics and practical joking that eases the stresses of our small town American parenting (on steroids) of a teen who is traveling more than being a traditional student preparing his way for post high school life.

Spencer is finding his purpose at this season of his life and having as much fun as possible while doing it. He's learning how to hear my voice as the parent versus the manager and visa-versa. It's been a very difficult balance for both of us. The difficulty lies mostly with me having spent the majority of my adult life surfing the waters of corporate America. Frankly, I vacillate between the laid back, cool, goofy dad, and boardroom CEO pounding his fists and demanding results. He's learning how to respond as a professional singer when it's needed and yet still take down his mom in a wrestling match when she pile-drives him at unexpected moments.

For Melissa, it's all about preserving his childhood as long as possible.

I have taken to the world of blogging (The Why of Music)  to document my experiences and the wisdom I'm learning along the way while helping Spencer develop his talents and pursue acceptance by industry executives who have a surplus of talent and a shortage of resources to promote them.

Although it's my first article on Huffington Post, I'm looking forward to chronicling the adventures of a middle aged father as he goes alongside his son's music adventure.

When Spencer was dedicated as a baby during a church ceremony, the pastor spoke some words that still impact me today. He said that as parents, we have children like an archer has a quiver of arrows. As a father, my job is to point that arrow in the direction God asks us to. I have been entrusted to guide him according to the talents he demonstrates and it's certainly been a blessing and challenge at the same time. The pointing has occurred over the years, releasing the arrow is the part where being his dad, not just his manager, seems to require courage I don't currently possess. After all, he's still just my baby boy.

INTERACTION WITH FANS

Allow me to take a trip down memory lane for a moment. Pardon the religious perspective this metaphor uses, but it's very relevant to this blog entry.

I remember a home Bible study I attended waaaay back in 1991. I was really starting to do some deep study of the scriptures and was being taught so much by the leaders in the home study at the time. I remember the topic of "knowing God" came up and how reading the Bible was our primary way of getting to "know" God. One challenge was issued to the group about how well we knew God. The illustration they gave has never left me. At the time, the group leader said this, "How many of you know President Bush?" Everyone raised their hand because, of course, he was our president. Then came the zinger.

"How many of you talk to him over the phone? Have lunch with him? Been to his house on the holidays? Visit him when he's ill?"

The room went silent.

You see, the point he was making when sharing this perspective is that we can know "about" someone, but not really "know" them. I know a lot about famous people, but I don't really KNOW, know them.

Now thanks to social media and the impact of reality TV shows, "knowing" someone popular or famous makes it seemingly easier than ever before. With Facebook, I see what delectable delights a person is about to consume, wants to consume, or just consumed. I can learn how a stupid driver pulled out in front of them and nearly caused a wreck. I can see photos of them standing in their bathroom smiling for their phone camera. My ability to "know" a person is literally easier than it used to be. But even so, I still don't really "know" know them.

The farther down the road an artist gets in their career, the more likely their fan base will grow. The more fans they connect with in person and online, the more likely those fans will want to truly get to "know" the artist. This is where this blog post wants to focus...

HOW SHOULD AN ARTIST (especially a minor) INTERACT WITH FANS?

First, let me say there are various thoughts that could probably be summed up in these three areas:

• Talk to and connect with as many fans as possible because it will help your career, and, honestly, it's exciting to get feedback and adoration from them to help keep you motivated to get better.
• Find a way to keep your personal and public life separate.
• Make sure you stay aware of stalkers, weirdos, and dangerous fans who may want things other than to buy your music (to be discrete).

All of these are important to keep as a reference, but at times some are more important.

I can say that in the past three years of Spencer's career, we've experienced annoying, bizarre, frightening, and typical fan behavior. We've contacted the FBI in one extreme situation where a pedophile stalked Spencer online. We've dealt with fans who presume because Spencer speaks to them, they are somehow best friends for life. We've experienced fans showing up outside our house. We've seen innocent fans follow Spencer at the Mall. Spencer has experienced a fan mob attack him at a concert and needed to get a police officer in the midst to remove them. Then there are the fans who are desperate in their personal life with crisis occurring in the home or with themselves that reach out to Spencer for help. In fact, of all the type of fans Spencer interacts with, those struggling with something and asking his input are the most common.

Of course, there are the typical fans who want a follow or to friend him on Facebook. These are mostly young people just wanting to show off how many people like them or follow them on social media.

At this point, I'm sure some or all of these things have happened to every emerging artist. If not, they probably will.

A strange thing happened about 6 months ago when trying to figure out why music sales of Spencer's EP and iTune songs wasn't generating much income for him. He has averaged over 50,000 followers on his various social media sites yet we haven't seen that turn into actual revenue.

The question became, "Are these social media followers actually FANS or just kids wanting to have connections with other kids?" That question then led to "What really is a fan anyway?"

Well, according to industry exec types that we've had this chat with a few dozen times, a fan really isn't the same as a social media follower or subscriber. In the simplest definition, yes, but in reality, my friend list on Facebook is hardly the same as my "fans". No. They are simply people who I'm connected with in some way. Of course I'm not a public figure either, so it's hard to separate that.

However, one of Spencer's manager's in Nashville put it to me this way.  He works with another artist who has had top 10 radio hits each of the past 4 years. Their social media followers combined total less than 8,000, but their royalties and overall income as an artist exceeds several hundred thousand dollars. Plus, they sell more than 100,000 units (songs) a year of their new songs. So, knowing this, they may have an online social media picture that is far less than you'd think, but yet they are considered a successful artist (they are young too).

So, is a fan someone who follows you or is a fan someone who buys your music or comes to your concerts? Fan is really the shortened word for FANATIC... and if we called our social media followers FANATICS, it would probably make us think twice.

So, now that we've muddied the waters of what a fan is or isn't, back to the question. How should an artist interact with their "fans"?

These are just suggestions based on our experience so far.

• Because social media is FREE, it's always easiest and most efficient to simply tweet, post, video, or photo upload stuff that fans can use to connect with you each day. This is the simplest.
• Without going into too much detail, keep the social media content you post to a public focus only. Don't get into personal stuff (venting, complaining, etc.) as it will open pandora's box to fan follow up and digging to get into your personal space.
• ALWAYS remember that once it is posted in public, technology has a way of finding you years from now and all it takes is a screen shot (photo of the screen) for any fan to have a permanent record of what was said or posted. (works both ways if you also have inappropriate things occurring and the poster removes them after a while. You can always take a screen-shot for building a record of what has been said by them.)
• Don't ever give out your personal cell number to someone you don't have a personal relationship with or haven't met in person. No compromise on this.
• Avoid using any communication methods with fans that are hidden from the general public. Private messaging apps, instant messaging, or any form of communication that the public can't read should be off the table as an option. Always leave a paper (digital albeit) trail of fan communication.
• If you have occasion to meet fans in person, avoid giving in to the pressure of suddenly becoming their 'bestie' or close friend. Trust me, it's very difficult for them to separate the public persona they have come to know versus the real person outside the public eye.
• We've unfortunately had to block a lot of fans who pushed the personal envelope too far and began demanding Spencer's time and immediate attention. Some even began stalking.
• Allocate at least 2 days a week to devote to online interaction in a personal way. Upload a Vlog or go on a site like YOUNOW.COM to give fans a chance to connect. This means to purposely put it on your calendar and be faithful to it.
• Never give out your home address for anything. If fans want to mail you something, use a post office box. We pay about $75 year for a PO Box in our local town. It's a healthy way to keep whackos away. Not guaranteed, but at least an initial buffer.
• Try to find creative ways to be in the public in a safe setting so fans can interact. Meet and greets are always a safe way to have supervised fan interaction if necessary.
• PARENTS, "ALWAYS" (and I mean always) read every single email, message, and any form of communication that comes into your child's social media. Have regular conversations with your child about who people are, and do some of your own investigating of the profiles of any fans you see regularly trying to connect with your child.
• Make sure you keep fan interaction as professional as possible at all times. Fans need to understand that they can like an artist and be infatuated with them, but a healthy boundary of reminding them that the artist isn't just a regular Joe or Mary (even though in their personal life they may be) will go a long way in keeping them and the artist in a mutually respectful place.
• This last one is somewhat tricky. PROFESSIONAL (business persona) VS. PERSONAL (relatable human persona).
• Never forget that "EVERY" communication with the public is a representation of the business (brand of the artist) to the public. So using fan attention to help maintaining the brand of the artist is as important as letting them see the casual side of an artist. Both are equally important when launching and maintaining a career.

It's safe to say that most fans know "about" the artist because of what that artist publicly reveals and shares, but you don't want to get to the place where fans "know" the artist like I shared at the beginning of this post. It's not healthy for either the artist or fan to become entangled in the personal lives of each other. Keep it professional and friendly.

WHAT IS TALENT?

So, like any word in the our language, the meaning can be various and imply different things to different people in different situations. For example, I laughed when I heard that the word "SNOW" in Alaska can have 8 different meanings or types. We say snow and think white cold stuff that falls down from the sky and sometimes sticks to the ground in big piles. But in Alaska, they can say snow and the way it falls, the slushiness, etc. all are a factor of what KIND of snow it is.

Talent. A word used loosely by most proud family members of a focused artist in their DNA chain.

So what is talent? Is it like beauty... beheld in each one's eye differently? Sure. Why not?

When it comes to musical artists, talent comes in all shapes and sizes. And when it comes to the voice of a musical artist, it is as diverse as the types of snow in Alaska.

Let me just rattle off a few well-known artists and allow your mind to see why they deserve a sub-category of the generic word TALENT.

• Elvis
• Bob Dylan
• Patsy Kline
• Whitney Houston
• Jim Morrison
• Hank Williams (Jr. and Sr.)
• Janis Joplin
• Frank Sinatra
• Kurt Cobain
• Michael Jackson
• Nat King Cole
• Bee Gees (Andy Gibb)

I could continue making the list. There is no question every one of these artists has "TALENT" but I don't believe you can simply call their talent the same thing. You could spend time describing what makes their talent different from the next, but you can't put them in the same vanilla envelope and just label it talent. That would be a gross generalization.

When we were preparing Spencer for a collegiate career in basketball while he was in Middle School, we spent quite a lot of time working with trainers and mentors who not only knew the game, but understood what recruiters looked for beyond game stats. They explained that players are graded on more than just their ability to score points. They actually have entire rating systems that are based on physiological aspects of players that we had no idea were part of the equation. Things like intellect, character, discipline, athleticism, skill, get-alongability (team minded), habits, and the most ridiculous statistical analyses of specific drills that seemingly had nothing to do with the game of basketball. However, after seeing players who focused on these "unknown" areas of TALENT, it became obvious that it wasn't always the kid who was the tallest or fastest or scored the most that impressed recruiters. It sometimes boiled down to intangibles that weren't obvious to the popcorn eating parents in the stands.

In that same respect, the music industry is full of TALENT that can't be denied. But what is it that causes certain TALENT to be successful over others?

Some artists have song writing talent. They have the ability to play an instrument or more than one instrument. Others have the ability to sing 4 octaves. Some have the ability to sing scales at a lightning pace and evoke a jaw dropping awe from the listener. Others embrace emotion and interpretation of lyrics and notes that help the listener forget about caring how skilled their vocals are at the moment. Some can dance and sing. Some can play an instrument and sing at the same time. Some can put on a stage show that amazes the audience because they entertained more than wowed with vocal prowess.

The band "KISS" comes to mind. Vocally and instrumentally, nothing extraordinary. Visually... cha-ching. So it's not always about the most amazing voice or instrumental skill. Sometimes there are other sub-categories of talent that create a career for an artist.

So why write about this philosophical question of the definition of talent?

Depending on which person you're targeting with your music (Fans, media, industry execs, etc.) talent has many faces. So instead of pigeon-holing yourself into believing only A, B, and C on your checklist really matter, take a look around you at artists making money and see the ones who have sustained a career and what they've done to maximize their talent.  Most have built on a few strong areas and figured out how to let go of trying to be perfect in areas they won't necessarily need to be.

For Spencer, he isn't a prodigy of vocal ability, but he has charisma and a personality that helps his overall artistry. He compels fans to care about him beyond his music. That is, by itself, talent.

Take an inventory of the sub-categories of talent you or your artist has and see how you can focus on the strengths and not be so obsessed with removing the weaknesses.

WHAT TO DO BESIDES MUSIC

Perhaps one of the bigger misunderstandings about being in the music business at a young age or when you just get started is how important it is to work on your public life when you're not on the stage. I'm not really talking about interviews, but more about how today's fans are keenly interested in knowing the "real" artist, not just the one they see on the stage or in a music video or interview.

Enter social media.

I know I've spoken briefly about it in past blogs, but I wanted to delve into a little more of the nuts and bolts in this new post.

When Spencer first got started online with posting videos on Youtube, we did some research on how artists were using "video" to promote themselves. What methods were being used to build a fan base? What could an emerging artist do to capitalize on the very real fact that nearly every mobile phone user nowadays has access to Youtube? High speed internet in nearly every home and business in America as well as public access to FREE wifi has seriously changed the way fans connect with their favorite artists. So how can video help?

I stumbled across a thing called a VLOG (video blogging)... aka talking to your video camera on your iPad or phone or even digital video camera and basically doing a monologue. Sounds simple enough. Let's magnify this even more. Since 2010 (when Spencer started) things have rapidly changed. The social media world is more than Facebook and Youtube now. It's Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, Google+, SKYPE and more. Fans use these apps every single day and if you want to build a fan base, you need to be where the fans already are spending their time every day. What's more is that you need to observe how artists are using these platforms to promote their music. Sites like bandcamp, soundcloud and a few others are also social media platforms that introduce fans to your music.

Back to video.

So entire careers are being launched on the platform of VINE by artists who use it for a 7 sec video clip of their humor, thoughts, or music sound bites. 7 Seconds. Entire "tours" of VINERS are occurring across the nation. Fans "pay" to go see famous VINERS in person where they do nothing more than do meet and greets with the public. The power of a 7 second video clip has evolved into fan building. Instagram also has video now (15 seconds) where you can create video vignettes of whatever.

Taking a page from Spencer's playbook. He uses his Youtube channel to post VLOGS. He uses Vine to post quick goofy insights into his daily life and thoughts. He uses Instagram to post pics of his real life situations and the video on Instagram to showcase a quick a capella rendition of a song he's working on or even a clip of an upcoming music video he's releasing.

You see, it's not just about putting out good music and performing on a stage, it's about SELLING your brand (your artist name) and image to as wide a fan base as possible in whatever method or platform you can.

So instead of always thinking about the next song or music video, think of how you can share the real life artist with the public in a way that is cohesive to your artistry goals. Always think, "Is this going to relate to the fans I'm trying to reach or get?"  Frankly, we live in a reality TV culture in America and instead of waiting for a reality TV show to invite you to be a member of their cast, simply use the tools you have access to on the web to make your own REALITY show about your life as an artist.

Fans love it.

In order to maintain loyalty among fans, you have to do something between song releases and concerts to keep them engaged in your artist life. If you don't, there is far too much stimulating content online to get their attention and help them move on. In the world of web development, the phrase "content is king" has always been given to my clients as a warning to not let their websites go stale. People need something to keep them coming back and interested. This is why when you're not doing music live or on recorded videos, then you need to engage them in whatever way you feel most comfortable and is in sync with your overall strategy as an artist.

MONEY SPENT, MONEY EARNED

I have owned my own business since 1999 and was in corporate America prior to that. If I learned anything of value in my professional life, it's the importance of a business plan with a budget. A budget means both where I spend money and where new money comes from.

One thing I believe a lot of new artists and their families fail to understand is the importance of budgeting and treating your career like a business. To add to that is where to get new money and where to spend money at each level of the process.

First of all, geography, music style, and age of the artist will dramatically affect the budget. Include a band in the formula, and now you're multiplying the budget expenses over more people. But for the sake of this blog post, I'll just assume we're working with a solo artist. (plus, it's closest to reality for me recently)

Let me clarify a few possible myths about the MONEY part of being an artist. I honestly think many artists and families of artists think that there's this lottery that they'll win if they get signed by a label. It's an honest presumption since what is covered in the media seems to reveal Brinks trucks of cash available to buy life's finest. I can assure you that it just isn't true when you're just starting out.

I'll break this into smaller bites.

MYTH: When I get signed, I'll be making some serious money.

FACT: Almost all signing bonuses are advances toward future revenues earned by an artist. So in simpler terms, it's a loan against your future paychecks. It may be cash at the moment, but you still have expenses you're responsible to pay for as an artist that won't be paid for by the label. So that pile of money you may get as an advance needs to be carefully set aside to cover future expenses you will have to pay. Things like attorneys, accountants, managers, coaches, etc. are all guaranteed expenses that you will have to pay for at some point.

Another harsh reality is that most label deals aren't the guarantee of a long career either. So just because you're signed to XYZ Records and given a nice check up front doesn't mean they will EVER launch your career. It is a hard reality that many artists get signed and "shelved" by labels. The label signs them (just like a pro sport team would sign a rookie player) and after spending time in a studio with them, they may elect to NOT release the music and just let the contract expire. Several artists have experienced this. So, the assumption you are on the money train is absolutely not true.

MYTH: I can just post music online and let that build my career. It's inexpensive.

FACT: In order to make money, you MUST spend money. Too many artists are relying on free internet to build their career when in reality it takes investing in quality studio recordings, videos, marketing promotion, live shows (including travel expenses), original designed merchandise inventory, and a whole list of other expenses to properly get you out and exposed to fans and industry folks. This takes a budget.

MYTH: I can sell music on iTunes and other sites and make good money.

FACT: The sad reality is that even major labels now are looking at alternative ways to make income from an artist because record sales are simply not going to make the investment back. The same applies to an independent artist trying to make it on their own. The reality is that an artist will only make a living when they travel and perform and any merchandise sales they can sell along the way. Record sales is usually a losing revenue battle for at least two albums, unless one song sparks and blows up (again the lottery thinking).

The term "360" deal is used a lot in the industry nowadays and it refers to labels offering artists a contract that is 100% inclusive of all revenue streams being shared by the label and artist. It used to be that the label only shared in a portion of the income an artist brings in. Now the 360 deal means the label gets a piece of every possible income an artist can make. For example, concert ticket sales, merchandise, public appearance fees, licensing deals, etc.  It's not really a good model for an artist, but in today's competitive marketplace where there's a huge surplus of talent and very few labels able to get radio play for artists and help book the best venues and gigs for them cause of their roster reputation, it's usually in the artist's best interest to consider it. The label will spend millions in promotion to get an artist recognized, and it's that budget which needs to be recovered as quickly as possible and with digital music sales hard to capture (due to piracy) and people not buying physical CD's as much, labels want to tap into other areas an artist generates revenue so they can make their money back quicker.

MYTH: Royalties and record sales make some serious money.

FACT: In the industry about 20 years ago, maybe this could be more realistic. Today, however, royalties are very hard to obtain since radio (the major payer of royalties) is such a different animal now. Companies like Ascap and BMI or SESAC are intended to be clearing houses for getting royalty checks. The problem is in the reporting of those and who does the accounting and issuing of the check. I've talked to several managers and former artists who are still battling to get their rightful royalty checks from years of inaccurate or unreported music plays and sales. It's a dirty industry and many labels play legal games to keep your money in their pocket. I'm not jaded personally, but having read and heard first hand how many have been kept away from their money, I find it important to know this up front before cutting any deals. Make sure you understand how the splits of revenue happen and who gets what piece of the pie and when.




So, in all, you have to be serious about your expectations in the music business. Treat a career just like a small business and you'll be better off in the long run. Don't look at it as placing a $2 bet on a longshot horse at the races. Think of it more like investing in a college education with the hopes that a good job down the line will pay off those student loans and set you up with a stable career. This is especially true for parents of young artists desiring to see them be successful. I can honestly report that we have already invested enough money to have put Spencer through a four year college and well into his graduate degree at this point in terms of actual monies spent on his career. We are in debt as a result, but we also know it's like any business we have started, it takes time, investment, and hard work to get taken seriously by an industry of fickle fans and slick executives looking for a naive artist they can exploit.

THE RADIO GAME

One of the most frustrating parts of trying to build a career is the ever elusive RADIO AIRPLAY that is so hard to get as an Indie artist. Logic dictates that if an artist is heard on the radio, it would mean they have true credibility or have the ability to get more rapidly known. But radio today is not the same as it was 5-10 years ago.

First of all, it's obvious that the more America and international countries depend on digital data communication, the more syndication of media (like music) can occur to individuals with devices that can receive that media and play it or view it. Much like what email did to fax machines, wifi and mobile data are doing to CD sales and radio stations. In fact, the past 5 years of radio in the USA alone has seen a major shift in how revenues are created for station owners.

Since I'm a marketing guy for a living, I have to understand how advertising works.  In the simplest form, advertisers are what "pay" radio station budgets. Advertisers in any given community have a plethora of options to choose from to get their message out. Newspaper, billboard, direct mail, radio, TV, signage, and more importantly... the internet and social media.  Now the average consumer in America has internet access via mobile phone/tablet or computer. The "music" consumer radio stations reach are highly likely to use internet on a regular basis as well. I'm not talking "talk radio", but stations that play music format as their primary broadcast. Obviously the era and genre of music changes from station to station, but most are reaching consumers who are technology capable with the web.

Now, the FCC has made it difficult to get a radio station license to broadcast over the open air outside our homes. However, the FCC has no jurisdiction over the internet based radio stations broadcasting music. In fact, internet based radio poses a real threat to "terrestrial" radio stations which can be found on your radio dial in a car. As such, these stations around the U.S. which have paid for their F.C.C. license and have to keep that license in good standing in order to keep it, they have to be able to generate good income to underwrite overhead for just owning a station.

Sorry if this is boring, but it will make sense soon if you're following along.

So let me give you an example from the past.

Radio Station XYZ in Yourtown, USA was locally owned and operated. The station owner had a programming director or station manager that would decide what music would be played on-air. That station manager / program director would ultimately have the authority to decide what songs would get played and therefore they were the "ONE" you wanted to have a nice relationship with.  To some extent, that still holds true, but more on that later.

Record companies used to send demos to these station owners/managers/directors. They would build relationships with them and get their artists on the air. However, a nice feature of being locally owned meant that they could also decide to play Independent artist's music as well if they wanted. This is how many unsigned artists used to get radio play, and is how many artists today think it still works. In cases where a station is 'still' locally owned and not part of a group of stations owned by a big corporation, this may still be possible, but not likely.

The other factor that locally owned stations had going for them was that advertisers in their area had a hard time not finding success investing in radio commercials because (frankly) radio was the center of our daily world in the commute and at work and home. TV and radio were the cutting edge way of reaching a consumer. Factor in the internet, and suddenly consumer attention isn't fixed as much on local radio as it once was and suddenly the station's owner starts losing income because advertisers are spending their budgets on methods that may reach their intended audience more directly than radio (aka internet/social media).

So, with less money coming in, less staff. With less staff, less "LIVE DJ's" to work with. With less LIVE DJ's, the station programming director had to resort to pre-programming playlists of songs on a computer and hit "GO" and basically let the computer spit out music. At the same time, with less revenues, the station owners were less inclined to keep the station open and looked for someone to buy them out.

Enter the BIG CORPORATE TAKEOVER of local stations.

Now with large corporations buying out locally owned stations in a region or geographic area, there may be local programming that is overlapping a station of the same format 25 miles down the road. Saturation and overlap mean the advertising dollars are diluted so no ONE station can live off the splitting of the same advertisers among two format stations that play the same music. Big corporations consolidate stations and take over "play lists" they play from a CORPORATE level versus the old time local level programming director decision.

Add to this that the BIG 3 record companies in the world have their staff "buying" airtime with the corporate radio giants, and suddenly we have playlists that are saturated with what $$$ has been spent by the major record labels to "own" that air-time.

So what once was a local decision for songs being played is now a corporate decision because they are selling air-time to major record labels.

Now guess what advertisers are doing with this new model of radio?

They want to advertise on stations that play the music that is being sold on iTunes and shown on official music videos on Vevo. Frankly, corporate radio takes the lead from the Big 3 record companies because they know that the record companies are spending millions to promote their artists and those millions of marketing dollars are helping advertisers make the choice to buy commercials when they know the consumers are listening to the Billboard hits and latest release from their favorite recording artist.

So, yes, money dictates a lot of this.

Scratch that.

It's all about the benjamins.

Back to you... the independent and rising artist.

How do you get on radio?

Well there's an interesting shift in how consumers are "consuming" music now thanks to the internet and upgrading of mobile data bandwidth (think 4G and 4GLTE) which is making it possible to have "radio" on your cell phone with services like Spotify and iTunes. In fact, iTunes radio, which launched earlier this year, is becoming a force along with Spotify as a chief competitor to local radio.

Satellite radio makes it's dent, but when we're talking the younger generation, XM and Sirius Radio may not have the edge they once had for more music and the ability to listen to what you prefer (I prefer the 60's and 70's station).

Let me share Spotify, for example.

For $10 month, I can have commercial free (no advertisers) radio playing on my phone or computer and only include songs I chose to include in my playlist. So, when I sit at my computer and type away at my keys, I'm listening to any of my many playlists I created of songs I "WANT" to hear, not songs I have to hear because some Corporate Radio Giant dictates that I hear the same song 46 times a day.

How great is that?

So local radio may still hold attention of consumers, but it's nearly impossible to get an unsigned artist regular airplay unless they open their checkbook in a BIG way.

For example, we hired a radio promotion company in Tennessee to promote a single Spencer released this past February.  For a nifty $3500, the song was uploaded to a CLOUD based database of music that stations all over the USA and World can access. The file is in the proper format for computerized stations to quickly download to their server and insert into a playlist.

But wait, it's not just having the song available for program directors of these stations, it's also getting your song visible among the thousands that are plugged into that CLOUD every day. That's where I mentioned earlier that relationships with program directors or station managers can still be important. Well guess "WHO" those station managers and directors will tolerate calling them, emailing them, or mailing them "new" music?  Yep, the radio promotion people you HIRE to solicit them. Enter the tidy fee mentioned above.

A radio promotion expert knows all the station managers in the genre they specialize in. So it's not even enough to just hire a promotions company to get your song to radio, you need to make sure they are well accepted by the genre / format of station you want your song played on. So it makes no sense to hire a RAP / HIP HOP radio promotions guy to try and get your COUNTRY song on radio. That guy just does not have the connections at those format stations.

So let's just take a quick guess how much it costs a major label to place ONE song on radio? The national average I last heard for a top 40 type artist is $250,000 minimum for ONE song.

Hate to be a kill-the-vibe kind of guy, but this is the reality independent artists face and the reason why many of them get excited when an online radio station chooses to play their music. That's great for bragging that your song is on "radio", but if it's online radio, it only means so much unless that station is syndicated through the web or even on Terrestrial radio.

I know this is a HUGE amount of information to digest, but in reality, the more you understand about the RADIO GAME, the easier it will be to navigate that particular area of your artist's career. There's a ton more to know and understand about it, but this should give you a foundation.

MUSIC POSTING SITES - BEWARE!

The web is full of sites which are designed to showcase an artist's music for various reasons. Some are designed as a portal for connecting artists and industry people and venues together. Some are focused on networking artists with each other, etc. Whatever their focus, these sites have done great and not so great things for artists.

For the artist who needs quick exposure, these sites can provide traffic from industry types. Some industry and venue people crawl these sites looking for talent. So from that perspective, it's great. But if you're looking for a place to showcase your music for a fan, these sites aren't necessarily the best. Many require memberships to view and communicate with profiles on them and the average fan shouldn't have to become a member of a site just to view a profile or talk to their favorite artist.

I'll talk specifically about one site that Spencer used to gain some traction early on in his career.

REVERBNATION.COM

At present, I am completely angry about this site and it's blatant exploitation of unsigned artists. One such issue being that if you use them to distribute your music to iTunes or other online retailers, you're risking signing away any/all royalties because of a clever loophole they put in their Terms and Conditions that cites if you choose not to keep paying them annually to relist your song with online retailers they originally listed your song with for you, then you must pay a "termination fee" equal to $15-30 per song so they take that song off the retailers website. Here's the catch, if you choose NOT to pay them that fee to take it down, you actively surrender all your future royalties for that song as long as it is listed by them.

Beyond this nifty little gem is a caveat in song ownership that you may need to clearly understand. By uploading your music to their site, you are giving them a LICENSE to promote (use) your music however they want and they don't have to pay you for it. Nice!

So, it is very important to know the fine print of some of these sites before you use them to promote your music or show your music.

In fact, it is best for you to only provide "links" to your youtube videos or music you've uploaded to a place which you trust their intentions and let these sites just refer to your music. For example, create your own artist website, upload your music there, and use these 3rd party music sites to bring traffic to YOUR site where you have 100% control of ownership of your music and content.

Now, I will say that I have found a few performance opportunities for Spencer using sites like these, so they aren't necessarily evil sites, but you have to be very careful to read the fine print.

In general, it is always a good practice to have an artist website as the key place to keep your updated music and public information (bio, tour schedule, latest news, etc.)

At some point in the adventure of the music industry it would be wise to have an entertainment lawyer on hand to review any terms & conditions of sites like these and most definitely any contractual agreements you're being asked to sign.