Emma Scott is more than just an award-winning radio presenter and live music promoter. She can now add accomplished author to her ever increasing resume. Emma has just released her second book “If It Was My Band…” with the aim of helping bands and musicians all over the world to break into the industry and/or further their music career.
“If It Was My Band…” contains hundreds of tips to help you increase your chance of success, and provides ideas of how to make money from your music as well as how to avoid wasting money in your quest for success. It’s written through the eyes of a musician and each tip starts with the words “If it was my band…” and so far has been empowering musicians all over the world with its vast knowledge of insider information and inspirational real life stories too. The book was born out of frustration as Emma came into contact with many musicians who didn’t seem to have a clue how to approach her for radio plays or gigs. She often felt herself saying “If it was my band I would never send an email like that…” or “If it was my band I’d never act like that at a gig..” and each time someone made some sort of mistake, Emma made a note of it and, after roughly 3 years of note-making, she had enough to fill an entire book that is rapidly becoming a how-to guide for any musician trying to make a name for themself.
The book is available now only via http://ifitwasmyband.bigcartel.com
Consider it the Bible for the Independent Musician!
Emma has taken a few of the tips from the book and explained each one in more detail here:
If it was my band I’d make sure we had a ‘band success plan’ (e.g. release two or three singles and an album each year over three years) and that each member of the band knew what it was, and agreed to it. Are we in the band ‘for a laugh’ or are we seriously trying to ‘make it’? We all have to be singing from the same song sheet. It’s a cliche, but it’s important.
In my opinion, having a good idea of where you’re going and planning the future of the band is the key at the start. Do as much research on as many music industry topics as you can and think about what you want to achieve from your music/band. There are a lot of bands that are in music as they just want to get drunk with their mates and they have no desire to be a success. On the other hand, there are other bands and artists that have a dream of success – so you need to make sure you have the right members in the band – that want the same thing – and get things straight before launching into the next three years of your life. Three years is a good amount of time to give yourselves for a musical project. Some may need more time to get things just right, so it’s important you are in a collective of musicians that will be sticking around til the end.
If it was my band I’d make sure we had a band calendar, so we all knew each others’ movements and availability to play live or attend radio interviews and sessions. There’s nothing worse than being offered a decent gig, but not knowing if we’re all free and if we take too long to reply, the gig slot may have gone.
This seems like such an obvious thing to do and is SO simple, but you wouldn’t believe the number of bands I’ve booked for a gig slot one day and then three days later I’m told the band can’t actually play as Johnny the drummer is on holiday on that date. By this time the gig promoter may have built a whole gig around you and your band, so by pulling out (even with a couple of months’ notice) you may have really annoyed that gig promoter and cause them a lot of hassle as they’ll need to start from scratch and then not bother considering your band again in the future. If there was a bit more organisation within each band, this will never happen and promoter’s will have an easier ride:-)
If it was my band I’d remember that people in the industry are really busy and we probably have around 30 seconds to impress them. We want them to hear our music straight away, rather than risk losing their attention by asking them to ‘like’ us, sign up to our mailing list or read through a 2000 word biography.
I’ve lost count of how many bands have missed out on good gigs or radio play because of this, so it’s an important point to make in the book. Again, a simple and obvious thing to put into practice, but not obvious to all – hence its inclusion in the book.
If it was my band I’d be aware that releasing a single and getting airplay for it will really help get the band’s name out there. We can reach far more people via radio play, than gigging all over the country, without even leaving the house.
I really wanted this important information to be included in the book as so many bands approach me for gigs “to get them exposure” but to get decent gigs it’s sometimes the fact that the band has a single out that’s getting radio airplay that will clinch them the show. Also, airplay gets the band exposure and gets them talked about all over the country (if they send their material out correctly to radio stations) so it’s a win-win situation. Release a good quality single and you’d have climbed several rungs of the industry ladder.
and finally…
If it was my band I’d never get drunk and start posting on the band’s Facebook page.
Another no-brainer really, but I’ve seen some terrible examples over the years of p*ssed-up postings on social media and they’re not very beneficial to the band. Especially when you start slagging off DJ’s, promoter’s and other bands in those drunken rants! A real no-go for furthering your music career!
This is just a small selection of tips from the book. We have over 300 of them in total in various chapters – from starting out, getting gigs, building a buzz, achieving airplay, managing the band, playing live and making music a full time job. It really does encompass everything a band on the way up needs to know. Every one of the tips has been born from a real-life situation I’ve been involved in, so you know you can learn from others’ mistakes by reading If It Was My Band… and make sure you don’t mess up like others have done! You’ll love the illustrations too;-)
In addition to the tips, there are other ‘real life’ stories about other successful musicians’ to inspire you to keep going and keep pushing, because one day – it could be you!
I hope you enjoy the book.
It’s only available via the website” http://ifitwasmyband.com
