British/American music industry polymath Martin Atkins hits Australian shores this week to give a series of expositional lectures highlighting industry dos and don?ts. Starting his career drumming for PiL in the late 70s, Atkins has also played in Killing Joke, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. In the late 1980s he established the artist-driven label ?Invisible? in his adopted home of Chicago and also formed industrial supergroup Pigface. More recently he has used his wealth of industry know-how to author books Tour:Smart and Welcome to the Music Business, You?re Fucked, as well as leading courses on touring, artist and event management, and online marketing at Madison Media Institute.
Living a music-dominated life for over 30 years, Atkins has clearly gathered a lot of experience. Speaking with him just prior to his Australian visit, he remarked somewhat incredulously that the music industry is still functioning in essentially the same way it has done since the advent of rock?n?roll.
?You know we?re on version 50 of eye surgery, they can do amazing shit with your eyes. Music business, it?s still at version 1.0. I bet there?s a book with stories from Billy Haley & The Comets on their first tour and you can just substitute the year for now and the name of the manager and the name of the label or the digital distribution company and it would just read exactly the same.?
The music business is a volatile working environment and innovative thinking is required if success is to be attained. Atkins insists bands must diversify as much as possible, rather than giving themselves over to the patterns of luck.
?I think that the really good bands spark their imaginations. I?ve seen this in so many situations, not just musical, when people get overwhelmed they go and re-arrange the filing cabinet. If they?re a band they go and practise guitar. It?s not enough to be good at just one thing anymore. You have to be okay at ten things.?
Atkins dismisses the notion that fine-tuning one?s musical chops alone is enough to launch artists to the top. Sure, a band has to have good tunes but more effort is required if they want to achieve any sort of enduring recognition
?If there?s one thing that punk taught us ? ?Here?s a chord, here?s another, here?s another, now start again?, is the punk-rock saying. But Woody Guthrie said three chords are too many. If that?s the case, why is everybody practising their scales, practising their drumming, when what they need to do is meet people, form connections ? anything except their band and their music.?
A band is more likely to make a lasting impression if they personally interact with the audience, rather than assuming an air of importance and acting as if the fans aren?t important.
?If you?re in a band and you post anywhere on the internet ?Hey, I?m in a band?. Fuck off! Everybody?s in a band, everybody?s a DJ, everybody?s made an album. ?We?ve got a gig.? Fuck off! Everybody?s got a gig. It?s not interesting. Shortly followed by ?please come to our gig, please.? That sort of pathetic thing that nobody wants to be around. Dale Carnegie said in the 60s or the 70s, you?ll make more friends in two months being interested in other people than you?ll make in two years trying to get other people interested in you.?
Considering how easily people trawl through music currently, and consequently how temporary listeners? attention spans are, having a decent sound won?t necessarily make a band stand out. Within the span of a couple of days any given listener might download six new albums and change their musical preference from dub step, to r?n?b, to junkyard orchestration. For something to make a sustaining impression it needs to have a deeper appeal. Atkins suggests fans want to feel like they have a special bond with bands.
?What we?re interested in, like it or not, I think that we want the back story. I think there needs to be a broader understanding between who a band is, what makes up a band.?
The music industry is about supply and demand and no one gets by on artistic merits alone. Atkins is actually a supporter of the ease of access that the internet offers because it can generate a willing audience. However, he maintains that bands must be equipped to capitalise on all available opportunities.
?People get so paranoid about ?illegally downloaded albums?. If somebody takes the time to ?illegally? download your album and they take the time to listen to it all the way through more than once then they might come to one of your shows. As long as you work hard to have two more albums, five live albums, some remixes, four different t-shirts, a cooking book, a poetry book, a VHS tape and an 8-track cartridge, you can sell your greatest fan everything and your average fan one of things that they like. To please everybody as much as you can you need to have all of the skills.?
Atkins will be speaking at the Face The Music conference (part of Melbourne Music Week) at the Melbourne Arts Centre, November 16-17.
As well as giving a Punk lecture & DJ set:
Nov.? 22?? Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Nov.? 23?? Enigma Bar, Adelaide
Nov.? 24?? The Factory (Floor), Sydney, Australia
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Source: http://theorangepress.net/2012/11/interview-martin-atkins/
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