{"id":12698,"date":"2015-12-29T11:50:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T19:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/?p=12698"},"modified":"2015-12-29T11:59:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T19:59:24","slug":"holy-crap-shoot-the-man-behind-the-curtain-aint-no-wizard-and-he-never-really-was-so-you-want-to-be-a-rock-and-roll-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/holy-crap-shoot-the-man-behind-the-curtain-aint-no-wizard-and-he-never-really-was-so-you-want-to-be-a-rock-and-roll-star\/","title":{"rendered":"HOLY CRAP SHOOT, the Man Behind the Curtain Ain’t No Wizard and He Never Really Was. So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"So<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to\u00a0So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star?<\/strong>
\nby Ron Young<\/p>\n

HOLY CRAP SHOOT, the Man Behind the Curtain Ain’t No Wizard and He Never Really Was<\/h3>\n

I remember when I was a kid hearing stories of how young\u00a0starlets were discovered sitting at the soda counter at Schwab\u2019s\u00a0Pharmacy in Hollywood. Stardom seemed so easy. Just be looking\u00a0good at the right time and the right place and the powers that be\u00a0would sweep you off your feet and give you the life you always\u00a0dreamed of.<\/p>\n

In 1984 I moved to LA from NYC. The Rock scene was being pushed\u00a0out by Hip Hop and I heard there was gold in the hills of\u00a0Hollywood. I got a job being a motorcycle messenger by day and\u00a0working the door at Club Lingerie and The Music Machine\u20262 showcase\u00a0venues in LA. I spent many nights working, and soon playing Club\u00a0Lingerie. It was a warm brick room run by proprietor in a nice\u00a0suit, pinky ring and swept back hair that held court at the end of\u00a0the bar. It seemed every night of the week the room was packed\u00a0with patrons and up and coming bands that brought out throngs of\u00a0A&R folks. So many in fact we had to leave space for them as they\u00a0would show up just before the flavor of the week was about to\u00a0commence in wowing the crowd. This was the heyday of the Rock\u00a0scene in LA\u2026and this was going on in any one of 10 famous dark\u00a0caverns of emerging glory that made up the town.<\/p>\n

I put a band together and within months we had \u201cinterest\u201d and\u00a0landed a \u201cdeal\u201d. The largest deal ever signed by a new artist to\u00a0date. I didn\u2019t hurt that Jimmy Iovine was our Manager. Let the\u00a0lessons and nightmares begin!<\/p>\n

I am shocked these days when I hear bands complaining they\u00a0can\u2019t a record deal. Even if you could find such moisture in the\u00a0current desert that is the \u201cmusic biz\u201d, why the hell would you\u00a0want that? Are you lazy? Are you a masochist? Are you delusional?<\/p>\n

My experience is from the days when folks were still making\u00a0money and when folks still bought CD\u2019s. There where were 24 hour\u00a0video channels promoting music. There was no Internet or other\u00a0distractions from what music meant for so many rabid fans. Bands\u00a0were loaded up in tour buses and playing every night in a zillion\u00a0venues to healthy crowds. It\u2019s only dried up and shrunk since\u00a0those days. But even then I knew of acts that sold 7 million total\u00a0albums and their label said they were in the red.<\/p>\n

Let me explain how this Holy Grail that you seek works:\u00a0Say you get a million dollar record deal. That usually means that\u00a0you will get a budget of a few hundred thousand to start with and\u00a0the rest gets delivered out after you hit certain targets for the\u00a0next few releases. That\u2019s if they choose to renew your contract.\u00a0So it\u2019s not really a \u201cmillion dollar deal\u201d. These days labels\u00a0don\u2019t pay advances anymore. That means there\u2019s no \u201cquitting your\u00a0day job\u201d to do what you love and need to nurture. If they think\u00a0you are amazing and a few different labels see your potential and\u00a0can leverage an advance of say $100K and you get $300K for all the\u00a0operating costs, you can kiss 15% of that goodbye to your manager\u00a0(they won\u2019t deal with you without one), 5% to your Business\u00a0Manager (you have to have one to pay the taxes on your $100K) and\u00a0then all the legal bills for the many hours of negotiating the\u00a0contract at $400 an hour. You will be left with, if you are lucky,\u00a0$30K\u2026but you have to pay back $100K\u2026..WHERE YOU ONLY GET CREDIT\u00a0FOR 10 CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR! Do the math…and that\u2019s just for\u00a0the advance!…the same applies for the recording fund, flights\u00a0you\u2019re A&R guy takes to come see you play to 35 people in\u00a0Atlanta\u2026while he also goes to see the Braves play\u2026and stays in a\u00a0nice hotel\u2026all while you are doubling up with a band mate in a\u00a0Motel 6. Now you know why so many artists after selling millions\u00a0of albums are still in the hole to their labels. WHY IN HELL WOULD\u00a0YOU WANT THAT??<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s deals RARELY have advances and because physical sales\u00a0are so low, they want to also take part of your merchandising and\u00a0publishing\u2026the things that actually make the artist money. Their\u00a0overhead is so high, and revenue is so low, they have to pad their\u00a0gamble on all your other potential revenue sources. In the glory\u00a0days they threw deals around because there was a lot of money\u00a0coming in from their \u201cestablished artists\u201d that they could use to\u00a0gamble on your career. It used to be a crap shoot getting a record\u00a0deal and becoming successful. Now it\u2019s like playing the Powerball.\u00a0There are better ways\u2026but you\u2019re gonna have to work for it.<\/p>\n

I know how tiring it is to work all day and sit down to write,\u00a0rehearse, and record. Then there\u2019s trying to build a fan base\u2026so\u00a0you can get that attention you know in your heart you deserve.\u00a0These day\u2019s labels want to see A LOT of traction before they would\u00a0even consider investing in you and your music to try to take it\u00a0globally. That means you are going to have to do their job\u2026for a\u00a0long time\u2026to prove to them, their bosses and all the financial\u00a0powers that be that really run the label\u2026who usually have \u201ctin\u00a0ears\u201d\u2026that you are something special. So if you are going to do\u00a0all of that heavy lifting, why would you want to seek a\u00a0relationship where you get pennies on the dollar for all of your\u00a0blood, sweat and tears?<\/p>\n

Schwab\u2019s Pharmacy made a few Country girls famous, The Sunset\u00a0Strip made a few bands famous\u2026and there were 10 times as many you\u00a0barely or never heard from that \u201cgot a deal\u201d. These days there are\u00a0even fewer. Don\u2019t you want to be the decider of where you gamble\u00a0your heart and soul?<\/p>\n

Fame is attractive. Having someone nurture your art so you\u00a0don\u2019t have to worry about money, sales, artwork, imaging,\u00a0promotion, accounting, travel, gear, scheduling, all sounds great.\u00a0But the man behind the curtain ain’t no wizard and he never really\u00a0was\u2026and these days, you can do a lot better.<\/p>\n

I will discuss these ways in upcoming rants. Stay tuned. But\u00a0ya better get ready to wear a lot of hats!<\/p>\n

Ron Young<\/p>\n

I have always enjoyed Ron Young’s discussions and thoughts about music and the music industry. In the past he was a co-host of The Rock Star Branding Podcast and now I welcome him as a guest columnist. Ron will be sharing his thoughts and words. I am giving him complete freedom to discuss whatever he wants, say whatever he wants and write as often as he wants.\u00a0These posts by Ron represent Ron alone. Please send all cards, letters and hate mail to Ron Young.<\/p>\n

You can reach out to Ron on Facebook at\u00a0www.facebook.com\/ron.young.5<\/a> or\u00a0www.facebook.com\/LittleCaesarOfficial\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ron<\/a>About Ron Young<\/p>\n

Ron Young is the lead vocalist of Little Caesar. Little Caesar\u00a0were signed to a major label deal with DGC\/Geffen Records in 1989 and had two big singles, “Chain of Fools” and “In Your Arms”. Positioned as the next big thing, Little Caesar were managed by a team of industry bigwigs, including Jimmy Iovine, A&R by John Kalodner, and with Bob Rock producing their debut album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to\u00a0So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star? by Ron Young HOLY CRAP SHOOT, the Man Behind the Curtain Ain’t No Wizard and He Never Really Was I remember when I was a kid hearing stories of how young\u00a0starlets were discovered sitting at the soda counter at Schwab\u2019s\u00a0Pharmacy in Hollywood. Stardom seemed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2579,12],"tags":[2627,2626,304,2505,686,25,1628,2629,2639,2638],"class_list":["post-12698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-music-marketing-2","tag-commentary","tag-editorial","tag-little-caesar","tag-music-biz","tag-music-business","tag-music-marketing","tag-ron-young","tag-so-you-want-to-be-a-rock-and-roll-star","tag-why-do-you-want-a-record-deal","tag-you-want-a-record-deal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/rocknrollstar.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12698"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12703,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12698\/revisions\/12703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbrandvold.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}