Musicadium Blog

This, to me, seems like a very interesting topic within the music community.  I have been meeting and playing music with a lot of bands lately.  All of whom I question endlessly about the way their band operates - how do they promote themselves, who does the work within the band, what services do they use to promote their band, how did they come up with the “image” of the band etc.

One thing that comes up in my mind is…what if the music doesn’t achieve the dizzying heights you imagined in the first band meeting you had?

What if sales aren’t rolling in?  What if the phone isn’t ringing? What if MySpace friend requests aren’t clogging up your email inbox? What if no-one is turning up to your shows, despite the amount of promotion you are doing?  You’ve tried everything.  You are becoming frustrated.  WHAT THEN?

What do you do? Do you gather the band, have a meeting, re-rally around the current band and try some new promotion methods and keep plugging away at the current band and trying to connect with people and turning them into fans?

OR…

Do you swallow your pride/”sell out”, have a band meeting, re-assess the influences in your bands, change the sound and image of your band (not necessarily to a more “pop” sound, just something different to what it was before)?

What can happen?  What are the pros and cons of such a move?

Here’s a few examples of the benefits and pitfalls of changing the band name/look/sound of your band….

Glasshouse/Drawn from Bees - A Brisbane band (of whom I am a big fan) who, after playing for numerousyears under the guise Glasshouse, decided that, as much as they loved their band and their music, it had gone as far as it could go - new releases did not gain any more momentum than the last and fan numbers were not increasing. The band decided to disappear for a little while, write, record and re-invent themselves as Drawn from Bees.  The original members remained, the ideologies remained, the sound shifted only slightly, if not a little more catchy and a touch les progg-y.  All promo released about the band and their releases did not mention Glasshouse or any of their previous efforts.  They were treated as an entirely new band and things have been rosy for the band ever since, attracting high rotation on Triple J for their song Long Tooth Setting Sun, they have been playing support for many touring bands, such as The Devoted Few, They played at VFestival earlier in 2009 and they attracted the attention of Brisbane Management/Publicity business Mucho Bravado. They are recording their next release - their goal, to write, record and release an EP every 6 months.

De Jah Dan Dah/Astralaliens - Originally from Brisbane, De Jah Dan Dah featured two brothers, Jake and Mablo Fehres.  They decided to export the band to Los Angeles, after attracting attention from Robie Porter. Once there, they found that the Martial arts and other parts of the band were not connecting with audiences in the way they hoped, reinventing themselves, with new band members as Astralaliens.  They stripped back their show to playing great rock and roll music and integrated a very choreographed stage show.  They embraced their webs presence, utilising their MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. Since then, they have been playing at various prestigious venues in the LA scene, such as the Viper Room and Whiskey-a-Go-Go. They have won many band competitions in the LA area and their fandom has risen across the board.

Evermore/New Look Evermore - One example of how changing the look of the band may work monetarily, but doesn’t feel right, is Evermore’s new look and shift (sonically and in their image).  Check the links to see just how much their new album has changed their look.  It screams of their Record Label or Management telling the band that they should implement these changes to increase sales, not necessarily for the good of the band or their further career in the music industry.  A drastic shift such as this for “instant hits” and “truckloads” of money may serve a band well in the interim, but destroys credibility in the long run and can scuttle a band’s career.

Are there any interesting shifts in bands’ sounds/images that you can think of that are worth discussing?  More to the point, is it “selling out” to change your band’s image or sound or name?  Let us know.  We don’t think that there is anything wrong with it, as long as it is handled well, with respect to fans and with a very specific point in mind of how the “new” band will be portrayed and how the credibility of the band will be handled.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm and is filed under A Call to Arms, Marketing & Promotions, Useful Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.