Tour:Smart : And Break the Band (eBook)

How to Use This Book

All of the concepts expressed in this book are the fruits of many years of ideas, execution, examination, lessons, and application of the new information to start the cycle again. It's great that you don't have to go through all of that - but, it's not possible for you to dive into this, digest it all, and take all of these strategies on at the same time. It took me a while to build up a tolerance for alcohol and reach a point where I could drink very large amounts of beer, vodka, or anything really, and I was 12 or 13 so, be careful. The consequences to you of trying to do all of this at once could be the same - dizziness, vomiting, clutching the toilet, sweats, and an aversion to peach schnapps. The ideas for promotional CDs evolved over a period of fiveyears and had a staff to execute the tasks involved. So, yeah, be ambitious...you have to be - but carefully ambitious!

Look up the 'Grains of Wheat on the Chess Board Story.' In short, a king offered a farmer a large amount of gold to do something. Before getting paid the farmer gave the king an opportunity to pay him in wheat instead by placing one grain of wheat on the first square of a chess board, two on the next, four on the next, eight on the next, and so on, doubling the grains on each square. Easy right? Actually, no. By the time you get to the last square, youwill need more wheat than there is in the world and a six story, 25 square-mile building to put it in.

OK. So, here is an analogy for you: Fame and fortune - Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Elvis Presley (I know I keep mentioning him), and U2. For your purposes those are all unattainable, 25 square-mile wheat warehouses. Forget it. Stick with me on this stuff and I guarantee you that you will advance further along the hessboard. Has anyone ever said that? I'm guessing not. They'll dangle something impossible to hook you in and sell you something. That's not right, not cool, and not going to happen. You can't conceive how to go about going from where you are now to U2 status. Well, neither can I. But, you can get two extra pieces of wheat on the next square, can't you? OK let's start there.

So, here's a couple of suggestions:

1. As you go through this some areas will speak to you and you'll say, 'Oh, yeah, I can do that.' Others won't. They will be time consuming and freak you out - skip those for now. Mark them down as an area you need to go back to. I'd suggest implementing some of the merchandise booth strategies first along with some of the strategies for a more successful show. This way, you'll be getting better results and there will be a little bit more money. That's always a bit of stress relief. The next time -- the next show - you can add two more strategies to your list and ditch one that just didn't work for your band. Build.

2. It's tough when one person is driving a band's process. It may be the case with song writing in the studio or practice space, but it doesn't have to be all the time with everything. Read this book as a band. Divide up some of the areas that people have skills in. Four of five people working together can accomplish more than five times the workload of one person when each is fueling and supporting the other. This is where band stuff crosses over into 'Three Musketeers' territory - not that you are covered in chocolate - but that you are 'all for one and one...