The Cartesian Nature of Music Business Advice
December 01 2008

The philosopher René Descartes said: "Of all things, common sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks they are so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to please in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have."

(Actually Descartes was French, so what he really said was "Le bon sens est la chose du monde la mieux partagée; car chacun pense en être si bien pourvu que ceux même qui sont les plus difficiles à contenter en toute autre chose n'ont point coutume d'en désirer plus qu'ils en ont.")

Descartes might have added that everyone also thinks they are well supplied with knowledge of how the music business works, that they never desire more of it than they already have.

Now, bless people who want to be helpful. They do not bend our musicians' ears with career advice for their profit (unless they are in the industry- but then they don't talk to us.) So, thank you. THANK you.

It's just that... well... people have so many solutions, without any real idea of how the business works, nuts and bolts, day to day. So the ideas are usually unworkable at best, coocoo at worst.

Example Advice 1: Get a Manager.

Sure. I'd love a manager. And by manager, I know you mean someone who books lots of gigs, negotiates contracts, oversees travel and payment, and so on.

But a manager needs something to... manage. With few exceptions, managers don't just make gigs POOF happen. They plan, they call, they promote, they work, they toil. If they're working on straight commission, they're not making money, not even for expenses. If they're getting a regular fee, the musician is bleeding money s/he doesn't have, until the manager gets the gigs.

After a while, the manager gets an occasional booking. But, unless you're in the 0.0001% elite of musicians so well known that they're relentlessly pursued by presenters, managers are often not effective or useful. And the ones who are effective, are being hunted down by the 99.9999% of musicians who need help. It's hard to even get to talk to them.

Example Advice 2. Have You Tried New York?

I see. I get on a plane. I land. I step foot in Manhattan. And voilà- gigs!

Yes there is work in New York, and yes it is a great great city, and yes many triple-A (is credit rating imagery still cool these days?) musicians are there. But from what people I know there tell me, it's just as much of a struggle there as it is here. I never heard the term "pay-to-play" until I heard it from New York musicians. You don't just walk into the Blue Note and get a gig. It's tough slogging.

Other things people say: "Why not go on tour?", "How about a whole record of [insert 60's rock band here]'s songs?", "Why don't you just send a CD to [insert name of famous person here]? I'm sure if they hear your music they'll help you."

Don't get me wrong. Managers are an asset. New York is a dream city. But there are no easy answers in the music business. You can almost be sure that, if you have an idea, we've already tried it to no avail, or just can't pull it off.

For some, nothing in their lives is more important than music. They want to do everything to stay connected to it. Non-musicians are just so passionate about music, that one way of sharing the passion is to share their "expertise" with a musician. "Expertise" in quotes because it's often no more than the sum of a life of listening, reading CD cover notes, and scanning newspaper articles. It must be like this for doctors who deal with diehard viewers of 'House'.

Bottom line: Thank you, Advice-Giver, for your interest. Thank you for your time. Thank you for being the consumer (demand) of our music (supply.) Thank you. Really.

But, for now, I'll stick with another philosopher, the Greek Archimedes who found his Eureka, rather than continue with Descartes and the unlimited supply of musical common sense in the world. But we do have a near unlimited supply of CDs, merch and gigs, which we do invite you to buy.

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