Reviving the Burn
Managing a band is difficult. Self-managing your own band is even more difficult. Last night at rehearsal, we had a round-table discussion to address issues, problem areas, ideas, and refocus our energy and efforts going forward as well as share the responsibilities involved in managing and organizing a band.
GOAL #1
Our main goal and focus is the second album. We have been dragging our feet and not hammering it out. We have to continuously get on ourselves to remember to work on this. Playing and writing music comes easy to us, but doing the studio work is a challenge despite us all wanting that final piece to listen to.
GOAL #2
Our secondary goal is perfecting and tightening the 6 new songs we have written (outside of the album, and have not yet revealed to the public). Then, finding a studio to record us as we play them together as a group, almost like a controlled, live album. We are currently considering the recording studio at Schmitt's Saloon, but are open to suggestions.
Our struggle areas are dedication, money (no surprise there), promotions, and shows/bookings...
DEDICATION
When I say dedication, I don't mean that we aren't dedicated to our music. Our mantra has always been "family and work first" and those that know us and come to our few select shows, know this very well. We have kids, girlfriends, a husband, and full-time jobs just like all people who strive to live normally in this life, and these things are extremely important to us as individuals. Though, sometimes we may use "family time" or "work" as an excuse to be lazy for an evening, and we just can't do that anymore with the goals we have set for ourselves musically. Also, dedication is referring to side projects. Many of us are multi-taskers and involved in outside projects both musical and non-musical. We agreed to make Shadowburn the first priority in order to keep moving forward in a positive direction.
MONEY
Everyone's favorite thing is money, right?. Well, honestly, we hate it and the limits it causes us as a band. We are always in the red. Profits do not exist for us. Most of the big shows we play are based on ticket sales and practically paying to play. We have gotten the opportunity to play with big names in the industry like Lacuna Coil, Sick Puppies, Saving Abel, Like A Storm, HED P.E., Alien Ant Farm, Powerman 5000, and more. All of those opportunities came at a price. It wasn't just the price of travel, gas, food, time away from families, time away from work, lack of sleep, extra practices, and merchandise preparation. It was also the price of a minimum set number of ticket sales in order to play, which is typically 30 tickets at $10 to $20 per ticket. This may not seem like a lot; however, none of these shows were in our hometown, they were all in areas we have expanded to and haven't built a strong following with yet. Also, believe it or not, people consider $10 to $20 a lot of money to blow on a concert ticket like the ones we have been playing.
Props go to The Blue Fox in Winchester, Virginia for our show with Charm City Devils and Era9, and Schmitt's Saloon in Morgantown, West Virginia with Sebastian Bach for not charging us to play, and being a vessel to allow original bands to be heard and expand and grow. Granted, we were not paid for those sold out shows, BUT we were given a food allowance and the opportunity to play in front of a real, live, HUGE crowd that gained us more followers and actually did provide good "exposure."
We discussed ways in which to generate some income as a band to help fund these larger shows (and please comment below if you have any other ideas, thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions to help us with this). The ideas are:
* Revamping and adding more merchandise
* Crowd funding sites (indiegogo, gofundme, etc.)
* Streaming shows and/or practices online for a small registration fee to view
* Local shows with a donation jug (adding 1 local show per month, possibly requires learning cover songs)
* Hosting a Battle of the Bands
* Local fundraising - selling hoagies, candles, candy bars, Joe Corbi's, etc
* House Concerts (private live and acoustic shows) - possible requires learning cover songs
PROMOTION
How do we promote our band and keep ourselves "out there" without bugging the crap out of you all? Here is what we came up with:
* YouTube - increasing exposure and doing more videos
* Keeping our band website up to date
* Starting a Blog that is personal and updated weekly (I'm about to check this one off the list!)
* Facebook Live during events and happenings
* Utilizing Social Media in a non-invasive way ;)
* E-mail Subscription List
SHOWS
Believe it or not, we struggle with shows. This is not easy for us between trying to find a common ground with scheduling, selecting shows that won't eat into our personal income and affect our personal budgets, and selecting shows that are valuable in time, effort, and "exposure". We don't play every show that comes our way. When we announce a show, please know that it came with careful consideration by all band members, and it truly means a lot to see fans come to those shows and support us. Truly. Means. A. LOT.
We want to create a better and more appealing digital promotion package to send to promoters across the Mid-Atlantic and Eastern Shore. However, this requires finishing the second album (See Goal #1). We want to increase our booking contacts, and honestly, we are not really sure where to begin or how to go about it just yet. We want to increase our shows and bookings, but still choose the opportunities that are the most meaningful overall. Finally, we want to grow our network. We want to expand the Shadowburn family, without forsaking our own individual families.
FINAL REMARKS
As musicians and human beings, we are constantly trying to improve ourselves. Being in a band with other members where everyone's opinion counts and matters, it is like a very unique and functioning dysfunctional family. We tell each other what we don't like about our tendencies, musicianship, and choices. We don't always keep an open line of communication with each other and we don't always have enough respect for each other, but we are working on that. Some of the improvements we are working on in this sense are having better communication with each other, having better communication and interaction with fans and friends, and not letting our own individual prides hinder the progress of the band as we push forward.
What you have just read is a glimpse at the inner-workings of our band. We don't just put in effort by practicing and playing shows, it truly is a monster all its own. This monster that we have created is something we each have a part in and love. So... when we tell you that we really appreciate your support and show attendance and buying things, we mean it. We really mean it. We can't thank you enough.
Enjoy your weekend, and go support live original music wherever you are!
~ Nicki
