If you’re just tuning in now, you may want to check out
Marketing, Part 1.0 (Take Two) for an outline of a band marketing plan and
Marketing Plan Break-Down: Part 1, Section 1. Why/How/What Are You? for a more detailed description of what belongs in your band summary and positioning statement.
Continuing on our dandy way toward marketing plan perfection, the next piece of the puzzle to ease into place is the dreaded market analysis. To you, this means, in a nutshell, “what the hell is going on?”
Put your band, your music, and everything associated with those two things into hypothetical file. Given everything you know about what’s in that file, in which filing cabinet does it belong? Do some research about the genres of music that resemble your sound. How are artists in these genres doing in the music market? Where are they located? How do they make their money (merchandise, live shows, online sales, etc)?
How’s the music industry doing as a whole? You may want to include some market trends. Those are kewl.
Next, Look around. I filled out this section on a lark. Check it out!
How successful is the music scene in your town? How many venues are there? Do they range in size? What’s the turn-out look like for a Monday vs. a Friday at these venues?
My town, Gainesville, has a well-known and thriving music scene. We have lots of venues of varying size and pretentiousness, ranging from a Performing Arts Center and the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to the Laboratory and Maude’s Coffee Shoppe. In Gainesville, you can play music just about anywhere.
Does your town support its music scene? Are there any famous bands from your town? If so, what are they like? If not, how about the surround area?
Gainesville, has a very well-supported music scene. Santa-Fe College and the University of Florida provide an endless stream of new fans for Gainesville’s awesome downtown nightlife, and there are plenty of townies who are crazy about music to keep venues busy over the summer. The city commission is not all that into the music scene specifically, but as we are a very artsy town on the whole, the city tends to support the music scene by default in its ceaseless crusade to maintain our quaint-ish artisan culture. Gainesville has given birth to many well-known acts. Most notably, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, CYNE, Against Me!, Hot Water Music, Less Than Jake, Sister Hazel, the Know How, Morningbell, and John Vanderslice. We have several major festivals, namely The Fest, Skalloween, and the Harvest of Hope Festival. Gainesville was also named "Best Place to Start a Band in the United States" by Blender Magazine in March 2008.
What do people listen to genre-wise in your town? (You may want to break your town up into sections.) Gainesville, for instance, is split neatly into NW, SW, NE, and SE, but there are major landmarks like Downtown, Midtown, Haile Plantaton, and Archer Road that may have unique genre awareness. The major genres in Gainesville overall have been and continue to a certain degree to be ska, reggae, punk, and good ole rock-n-roll, although hip-hop, alternative rock, metal, and folk rock are peaking the interest of an ever-increasing number of show-goers. Downtown is a melting pot of genres, and Midtown tends more toward rock. Haile Plantation hears a lot of rock, and low-key background music. Archer Road is another rock hub for bands that want to get booked at coffee shops and restaurants.
What are some attributes of the local music in your town? What kinds of bands tour through your town? What are some good and bad things about the music scene in your town for local artists? Which local bands sound like your band? What is their turn-out like? How are you similar to them? Where do you differ?
Talk about what mediums other bands, locally and one a broader scale, are using to reach their fans, the media, and other music businesses, as well. What web sites are particularly useful for bands? What magazines and blogs really cater to musicians in your genre?
You can, once again, start by looking at the industry as a whole then narrowing your focus down until you get to your local scene, or you can start by examining your local music scene and zooming out to the entirety of the music industry. Be sure, however, that you give as much information as you can. The point of this section is to educate yourself about your business and start to do some figuring about where you fit into that business.
I have attached some super nifty graphs for your viewing pleasure. Marketing plans and business plans love graphs and tables, I have found. You’ve always got to include at least one, otherwise it just doesn’t look right.
If you need help, let me know.
My name is Casey Robbins, and I am the Vice President of Theironics LLC and Manager of a label called Cardboard Box Records. As we've only been around for about two months (as of January 2010) and are still learning vast amounts about the music industry as a whole, I thought it might be useful and interesting to have a blog documenting our adventures into the business of music. I hope that you can learn something from these posts, and that you or someone you know with lots of talent, patience, and drive starts up a label in your area. Honestly, its the most amazing thing I've ever done, and I know you'll feel the same. 