BEING CONGRUENT
Lining everything up or striving for congruency is step one for any artist.  More often than not, I talk to artists and they have no idea how to put their “ducks” in order to make their businesses work for them.

To illustrate what I mean about being “congruent”, here are a few fictitious examples of being INCONGRUENT:

• Lexus selling cars at Burger King.
• A band called “Bitch Slap” that writes folk-rock love songs.
• McDonalds putting Filet Mignon on the menu for $39.00.
• Jack Daniels advertising in Modern Maternity.
• An undiscovered adult contemporary (AC) rock band promoting on MySpace.

None of the example above make much sense, yet this is typical of what I see artists doing all of the time.

DUCKS IN ORDER
It doesn’t matter if you are promoting popcorn or pop rock, if you’re incongruent, if your ducks are out of order (column on the left), then you will have trouble achieving success.  Let’s examine each of the “ducks” and how they should line up under each other (illustrated in yellow below).

BAND / ARTIST NAME
It always amazes me when bands fall in love their name.  If you maintain a mailing list and control your URL, it’s not a big deal to change names.  If you have fewer than 10,000 fans, then telling me your “fans” know you as “X”, so you can’t become “Y” doesn’t cut it when more than one billion people have never heard of you.  

The name you choose should be harmonious with your songwriting, the personality you want to project, the radio format your music fits under, and it should resonate with the audience you are going to target; anything else may work, but you are going to be digging out of a trench from day one if you run with something that is incongruent with the rest of your ducks.

SONG WRITING
Song writing is the least movable duck on the list.  You have to write the songs you love and the music you want to play.  However, if you find yourself stuck in a band called “Bitch Slap” then you may want to reconsider your inclination to write folk-rock love songs.

As a business guy, I’m inclined to advise you to build a product for a market segment you understand.  However, when it comes to art I believe you have to go with your heart and soul, and then build a business around the result; this is why I say songwriting is the least movable duck on the list.

It’s probably easier to plan a business around great songs, then it is to write great songs for a planned out business.  

REPUTATION  
If you consume mass media, you will see that reputations run the gamut when it comes to success.  However, I will tell you that your reputation is critical to getting spins on corporate radio and to your ability to be signed by certain labels.  For example, the ONLY artists that get spins on adult contemporary radio (dominated by the big radio groups) are those artists that are signed to major labels (unfortunately), and the majors like to sign artists that can become presentable celebrities.  

Here’s an example of having a reputation that is incongruent with the rest of your ducks: You write middle of the road rock songs, you hope to be on rock radio (pop, modern, great rock, etc), you need major label support to get there, and you drink like a 70’s rock star; this won’t work!

Here’s an example of having a reputation that is congruent with the rest of your ducks:  You look like you party like an 80’s rock star (doesn’t mean you have to), you play hard rock, your always on tour, you hate record labels, your satisfied with college radio exposure, and you would rather be crowd surfing than appearing on Good Morning America; this may work.

GENRE / RADIO NICHE
Although radio is having less and less of an impact, being on terrestrial radio is still great exposure.  Pick the radio station in your market that you hear your music being played on.  Research the songs and the artists that are played on that station, and then mix your songs into a playlist that features 20 to 30 of the most frequently played songs.  Do your songs fit in?  Are they good enough?  Have you shared the playlist with 25 friends, and do they give you honest feedback?  

You should know that if you hope to be on any of the radio stations that are owned by the large radio groups, you will have to pursue a relationship with a major label or with one of the sub-labels of a major.  Unfortunately, nothing gets onto big radio unless it is “promoted” by the majors.  This should change over the next few years, but this is the way of the world in 2007.

TARGET MARKET
Who’s your target market?  “Everyone.”   Wrong!  That’s the dumbest answer to that question.  It’s essential that you know exactly whom you are going to pursue with promotion and on the Internet.  You have to ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are my fans?
• Which age group does the biggest portion of my fan base come from?
• What do my fans look like?  Describe them.
• Are these the fans I want, or are these just the fans I ended up with?
• Do they use MySpace?  Do they use Facebook?
• Do they have kids?  Do they still go out to hear live music?
• Are they passionate about music, or have they reached an age where they are just passive consumers of music?

The answers to these questions drive the decisions you will make about promotion, about where and how much time you will spend online, and they should guide you when you are choosing live performance venues.

LOOK AND IMAGE
Should you wear a t-shirt or a sport jacket, sneakers or shoes, long hair or short, jeans or pants, be shaven or unshaven? 

The music business is hard enough; every little detail matters.  

My broad advice on look and image is this: study your target audience and dress like you are a successful leader of your fans.  Successful leaders look different in every segment.  Envision yourself leading your fans into battle (protest, rally, picket, etc); what do you look like?  That’s your target look and image.  Just make sure your look and image falls in line with your other ducks.

HOW YOU MAKE MONEY
If you are building “a business” to SELL music (CDs or MP3s) then you are going in the wrong direction.  If you are starting now, by the time you have built serious momentum, selling MP3s and CDs will be a thing of the past.  However, that does not mean your music will not be valuable.  Some of the options for making money between 2008 and 2011 that you can consider are:

• Using music, video and blogging to build traffic to your own website, and then selling your merch, some music, Amazon products, other products, and ad impression space.
• Building a live show that sells out everywhere you go.
• Continually recording music that has the potential to generate publishing income.

Each one of these strategies requires a different effort, and each strategy is a lot of work.  These strategies can overlap, but the act of consciously pursuing one or the other will yield different results on different timelines.

After 2011, you can expect new products to enter the marketplace that will give you revenue options you never considered in the past.

PROMOTION STRATEGY
Once you have lined up all of the ducks above, you can begin to think about promoting these “ducks”.  If you know what you are, whom you appeal to, and how you plan to make money, then you are ready to think about promotion.

Entire books have been written on promotion, so I am only going to say a few things here.  You really have to think about the objective(s) of your promotion.  Here are some sample objectives:

• To personally place my CD into the hands of ten music publishing execs.
• To have 10% of the 18 to 24 year old segment in my city attend one of my shows this year.
• To have 10% of the 25 to 35 year old females within 100 miles of me recognize my name and brand.
• To be featured in ten independent films this year.
• To sell 2,000 shirts.
• To have 20,000 people see me perform this year.
• To have 500,000 plays on the Internet this year.
• To get into 200,000 iPods this year.

ONLINE PRESENCE
Your target market and the path you choose to make money from music are the biggest determining factors that will drive the decisions you make about your online presence.  For example:

• I believe MySpace has become a place for kids.  If your music is “grownup” then you may want to consider another place to invest your time into.
• If you plan to market a lot of merchandise or Amazon product then you should consider creating a blogsite like we have done for Jediah.
• Similarly, if you are going to go out and get sponsors and advertisers, you should consider creating a blogsite.  For this blog and for most of the blogs we create, we use SquareSpace.
• If you are going to make your money from live events or club shows, you may want to stay on MySpace to attract high school and college kids.

PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
As you know, every club, bar, bookstore, and live venue is different; each has its’ own regular patrons and each appeals to a particular segment.  I think the most important thing to remember about live performances is: by 2009-2010, you will have trouble convincing anyone to buy CDs.  If you are playing out live to sell music, then refer to my paragraph above about HOW YOU WILL MAKE MONEY.  Depending on your target market, you may be better off limiting your exposure and carefully choosing the venues you play in.

LABEL / PUBLISHING STRATEGY
Most artists still believe they need a record label or publishing deal (I can prove this).  What you really need is a business plan.  You need to truly think about how your ducks line up.  This industry will change more over the next three years then the last three years.  Labels and publishers will take on new roles, and everyone’s business model is changing. 

Companies that may INVEST in you are not only going to be looking at your upside potential, they also want to know how YOU are going to MINIMIZE their risk.  Having a solid plan is one way to minimize risk.  I recommend that you write your plan down; somehow writing it out forces you to truly think about how you are going to proceed. 

When your ducks line up, you will be more attractive to labels, to publishers, and to businesses that may consider making an investment in you.