Introduction
BY BOB DENNIS
     Two decades ago a couple dozen people crowded into a small RID classroom that would be comfortable for eighteen.  Award winning record promoter Tom Gelardi was speaking and "telling all" how you break into the music biz and get a hit record, and there never was an empty seat when Tom talked.  Tom would begin and end each of his seminars with two words: Test Market and in between he would present the "how" you do that in the current market.  He would be rich with examples of past great successes as well as how one of the latest "Motorcity Breakout" stars recently did it.
     About three years ago Tom published his "success formula" in an article entitled "Right Steps On The Road To A Hit" as a text that Recording Institute Of Detroit students could study.  Because the the music biz has undergoing huge and constant changes, Tom has had to update his article about once ever year to keep it in pace with the current music marketing scene.  The "what" you need to do ("test market") remains constant but the "how" seems to change a bit every few months.
     This article represents the latest path on the marketing music road to a hit as observed by an industry professional still "out there" in the field every day.  Joining Tom will be Frank ("Cornbread") Jamal and myself giving advice on steps you need to take in music business, and in the recording and production if you're going to travel this hit music road. 

The Right Steps On The Road To A Hit
BY TOM GELARDI

NO GIANT STEPS!

     It amazes me how many local musicians and performers truly believe that they can go from basement demo to "national recording artist" in just one step. Having seen hundreds of acts try and a few succeed, having helped those who made it and those that only tried (for nearly 4 decades), I can tell you that I have never seen anyone successfully make that giant step.
     The music industry hype is probably to blame for the public's misconception about the path to a national hit record. "Overnight Success" makes an excellent headline for a promotional article that is "planted" in a music industry magazine, and the "story" makes good reading. It's not usually the magazine's fault, it's just that "stars" and their publicists like to spin tall tales. They like to talk about how their talent was suddenly discovered and don't mention the years of sweat and effort that everyone went though to get the act "ready" to be discovered.
     A tall tale of "overnight success" a few years ago was about the rock group "Creed" who sold 6 million copies of their first national record.  Joel Mark, the A&R director who signed Creed to their platinum national record deal on WindUp Records, in a 2001 interview with Michael Minnick paints a different picture: First of all, Creed was weekly selling 300 or 400 records a weekend in Tallahassee and "Every label" in New York had rejected signing the band.... [in concert] they started "selling out to 500 -700 people.  A lot of "work" and "sweat" needed to be put in by the band before they were "discovered."

TEST MARKET

     For years I've had a saying of "If you want to sell a million, figure out how to sell a thousand and then actually sell that thousand". After you sell a thousand, put out another release that may sell 3000 - 5000 copies - then you are in a position to think about a national record deal. If you are the one-in-a-million act (that I never met) that sells a lot of copies and gets signed on their first record, more power to you. The formula for success In the music industry follows the same formula as with other business - get a solid foundational sales base and build from there.
     What the new act needs is to test market, something that I have been stressing in seminars for decades.  "How to get a gold record" starts with "how to sell a thousand copies" and this a subject that I am very familiar with, being in the music promotions and distribution area of the field for a "break-out" market. The market has changed dramatically in the last two years and is continuing to have huge changes. As a result, you must make sure that you have very current marketing strategies that will work in the current music scene. Working on information a couple of years old could result in failure - no matter how good your product is. If you pick up a magazine article that first advises you how to get airplay, you can be pretty certain that you are getting outdated advice.

MUSIC SCREENING & CRITIQUES

     A helpful source that could give advice from your peers is free and on the web, but you need to join and be active in the web community providing the services. These sites give you feedback without the automatic "I like it" that you are likely to get from family & friends. Two sites where my production partners are active are www.recordingwebsite.net (Dan Gray's Freedom Exchange) where songs are critiqued, and www.recordingwebsite.com (RID Production School Forum) where users practice critiquing productions.
     Other websites are also free (but charge a fee for "premium services") or very low-cost that allow postings of an artist's songs and even "charts" of the most popular "unsigned" product downloaded from the site.  One popular site is www.soundclick.com.  Also, Independent Musician's Magazine (a printed bi-monthly publication from San Francisco, California about independent artists and their music) holds a contest for exposing Independent Musician releases.  Winners get a showcase write up in the issue (click here to see their recent "Expose Yourself" showcase of U.K. artist Ari Gold).
     There are three paid services that will screen and give you professional feedback on your productions or tunes. These services evaluate your product by comparing it to releases by major acts and against those played extensively on the radio. Their feedback could be helpful to you, if properly used and not followed blindly. The three services are Taxi (www.taxi.com), Tonos (www.tonos.com) and InsideSessions (www.insidesessions.com).  
     If you get professional screening before releasing anything, you are again taking an awfully big step. Record companies today are proving that they know less and less about what the public wants in recorded music. Their sales have decline 50% over the last several years despite spending billions in advertising and promotion to "prop up" their sales.
     Let's go back to the Creed example. Joel Mark said, Every label in New York had rejected signing the band..., yet the group sold 6 million copies on their first release. Shouldn't one conclude from this that the record companies don't know all that much about what the public wants? Bottom line is that the feedback you could get from a paid service is simply another opinion, not something to be taken blindly.   

THE RIGHT STEPS CHART
Tom Gelardi & Bob Dennis
 

Get It In Writing
BY FRANK IMANI JAMAL
At the very heart of the music business is a "contract". Most people, upon hearing the word "contract", envision a voluminous tome replete with a bunch of tongue-twisting words that requires a good lawyer to explain. Although documents such as these exist, many agreements needed to fulfill a basic work arrangement do not necessarily have to be so complex. Contracts are merely a device that spells out the duties of those who signed. It answers who, what, why, where, when--and how much. This agreement should be used to settle any dispute that may arise out of the work situation, and should be viewed as one would a lifeboat, that is to safely deliver you from a situation that may not be in your best interest.

In business there is no room for sentiment, assumptions, favors, or nostalgia--unless, of course, it is in writing. This is especially true in the entertainment industry where a normal 9 to 5 environment does not exist. This is a 24 hour a day business that takes place in dimly-lit recording studios, smoke-filled clubs, and arenas all over the world. In this hectic environment, things that were verbally agreed upon may years later need legal help to clarify. Sometimes verbal agreements about songwriting credits or ownership of a band's name get "forgotten" and lawsuits begin to fly. These matters often take years of litigation, are VERY expensive, and have been known to completely destroy both business and personal relationships. That is why it is so important to get work agreements in writing BEFORE any work is done.

The lesson from all this is to make sure that if you proceed in ANY situation in this volatile business, handle all what is necessary to ensure a smooth sailing future, one free of lawsuits, hurt feelings, and crumbling bank accounts - Get it in writing.