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Tales From the Manager Part 3
🕑 Added 2021-01-29 16:01:01 +0000 UTCFor most bands there is a dichotomy between art and business. That is because the vast majority of musical acts approach their craft as a calling, not a career. Yes, there are dreams of big shows and the attention of thousands of fans, but for the most part, they remain dreams. They do so for several reasons. The main one is that it is just a hobby to them. But if they have any type of ambition, there are plenty of hoops to jump through.
All it takes is one fatal flaw to stop a band becoming successful, but usually it is a combination of shortcomings.
a. Bad musicians. Not that everyone has to be a genius player, but most amateur bands
are peopled with some good, some bad and maybe one great players. You might say that there is no need to be that good, and you might be right, but if you are not good players then you sure as hell have to have something else going on for the band.
b. Poor material. More than one mediocre band has been lifted from the ranks of the unknown to stardom by the creation of one great song. I am not going to name names here, but if you just peruse youtube, you can find a lot of them. And many of them had other musicians actually play on the sessions because the band was not good enough.
c. No discipline. It takes hundreds of hours to reach the beginners level and thousands to be great. If you saw the rehearsal schedule for most amateur bands it looks like swiss cheese… with mostly holes! Those who really want to make it are doing it all the time. From writing to rehearsals, they are driven!
d. Attitude. You have to be open to do what needs to be done…. And with a good attitude. Whiners and complainers do not last long on the road to success. They either dial themselves out or those who might work with them take a pass.
e. One True Believer. The band might believe, the family might believe and even your local fans might believe. But, what every band needs is one true believer who either knows the business or is a quick study and makes the right decisions.
So, TBM had a. b. c. and d. covered. I was the One True Believer. I didn’t take them from obscurity, their website, records and touring did that. But they were at the place where you make money but don’t get to keep it. A lot of bands wonder “How did we make $50,000 on tour but we came home in debt. I had the knowledge, contacts, belief and the expertise to help them change their trajectory. The Artist is the rocket ship supplying the power and the manager is the gyroscope making sure all that energy moves in the right direction.
I believed in them, but they had to believe in me as well. When bands find themselves working with the business side of the industry, a lot of times and Us and Them attitude can show up. I think that TBM had been through enough unfortunate business dealings by the time we met to be open minded about what I would and could do for them. We made a good team.
My job always was and is to help them monetize their art. Make a living. I will make some comments about presentation or career choices regarding material etc. but I always defer to their opinion in those matters. ( A running joke among us are the many Album Titles that I have come up for them to use…. .that they never have and never would!) I do that monetization within their personal values and artistic limits. And, I think it has worked out for us and for all of those involved with the band’s art and business. And all of this effort ultimately goes to working with another important part of this band, you the fans. TBM doesn’t write songs that they think you will like, they write songs that they want to hear and they feel lucky to be able to share those songs with so many people who like them too.
This band was born in a fine art course and has never strayed from that path. Ironically, across the hall from their Fine Art Program, I was teaching others how to succeed in the music business. Several years later we got together and it has been smooth sailing, (so to speak), with one exception.
I will write about that next time!
Cheers
Terry the Manager
Comments
Spirit
So much is true in this tale, and its why so many bands have fallen from all of a-e or a combination. Sometimes just one reason is enough to stop a band from growing and its really unfortunate. I'm glad that has not happened to TBM. I discovered your band in late 2015 on YouTube actually. A guitarist by the name of Commander Frodo that I was subscribed to did a guitar cover of Pins and Needles. To this day that is the only song he covered. If it wasn't for him, I would have never had the chance to explore and listen to that entire album, let alone buy it. Pins and Needles was my first album, and by this time I believe Superstition was already out, so I had to catch up on albums by 2017, which I donated via PledgeMusic to help fund Under Your Spell. I remember getting the instrumental version of Destroyer as an award before Under Your Spell came out, I still have that instrumental saved to this day and would hope one day it would resurface on your Patreon. Either way if it wasn't for Robert Uludag aka CommanderFordo, I wouldn't be here today, and my life would have very likely gone a much darker direction, so I'm glad that wasn't the case. Everything happens for a reason.
Andrew Patton
Oh yeah that was in 2006-7 at most.
Andrew Patton
I really don't remember how my friend found your songs, but I remember Blue popping off, my mind was just coated with this euphoric mix of synth-metal and this 80s vibe pop. Idk how to explain you guys to people and I love that, you are my #2 definitely, like spanish is to America, I may not know my #1 but you'll always be my #2.
I really like these stories!
"TBM doesn’t write songs that they think you will like, they write songs that they want to hear and they feel lucky to be able to share those songs with so many people who like them too." - This is a very interesting sentence, I'm still thinking about it.
Similar to ChicagoMike, "Happy Birthday" showed up one day circa 2010 in my iTunes recommendations. I spent the next several glorious days exploring, and being blown away by, TBM's music. And you are still my favorite band.
I have always wondered how TBM ended up on Pandora, because if it wasn't for Pandora randomly throwing "Shallow Grave" into my mix, I wouldn't be where I am today as a fan. Definitely a life altering moment in time.
Michael Gehrman
It’s my biggest peeve!
Michael Gehrman
One other small detail that deserves mentioning that is often overlooked is that bad or amateurish production sinks a lot of good ships. A bad mix where good vocals are buried is the most common and frustrating thing in the world, and I’ve heard it happen a hundred times, killing good bands in the cradle.
