May 2007
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My Scene: Learning To SurviveThere’s nothing like a near-death experience to put things in perspective. Fortunately, I survived and went on to acquire a multi-faceted career – entertainment attorney, artist manager, producer and drum corps instructor – and a 360-degree view of the industry. While each experience is unique, there’s point at which they intersect. Here’s a nutshell account of my trajectory and lessons learned: Once upon a time, I was a snare drummer in a marching band in Pennsylvania. Post high school, I rose up the ranks of rudimental percussion, moved to California, and eventually won few world championships in percussion with the Santa Clara Vanguard. After ageing-out of drum corps, I briefly interned at Island Records and played in a few Bay Area rock bands. The bands imploded, as they often do, and I realized that keeping a backbeat for the guys who were running the show wasn’t for me—nor was acquiring photocopying skills at a record label. Epiphany #1 Things became even clearer on the night of February 15, 1995, when a carjacker shot at me repeatedly from close range in Santa Clara, California. Bullets hit all around me, and then I ran across a highway without looking. Not your typical evening. By some miracle, no bullets struck me and I survived the game of human-Frogger, which was enough of an event to make the Mercury News. Most importantly, I came out of that night with a new appreciation of life, and the profound realization that whatever I had accomplished in drum corps or rock bands was not enough. You only live once, and I needed more from my career. Faaaaaaaaast forward. Twenty-four hours after I got off of tour with Vanguard, I walked into the University of San Francisco on a mission to become an entertainment lawyer. Going from drummer to law school was a difficult transition, but I worked hard and had fun. Three years later- Ta-da! I was an entertainment lawyer. The only problem was that San Francisco—one of the most beautiful cities on Earth—is not the epicenter of the entertainment industry. I was a new lawyer with no clients, save a metal band from San Jose that had no contracts to negotiate. With little legal work to do for my music client, I focused on other ways to help them. My goal was to get them to be a viable business enterprise, so in theory, it would become a bad business decision for a label “not” to sign the band, rather than a desperate attempt to convince A&R that they were the next Beatles. Accordingly, I began to develop a business and marketing plan that would enable artists to generate revenue that could be cycled back into publicity. I read everything I could about branding and marketing, and continued to refine my business plans over the next few years. It was a beat-the-clock scenario, as the average life expectancy of a rock band is about two years, and it proved hard to get musicians to stick to a plan without constant supervision—not to mention the exploding drummer problems. Unfortunately, the metal band eventually went under, after infighting brought them to a point where they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room together for rehearsal. Interestingly enough, I gained a lot of confidence in my business and marketing plan not with a rock band, but with a drum corps that started with only seven people, the San Francisco Renegades. Together, with a few others, including Chris Nalls, we refined the plan for the drum and bugle corps activity, including a controversial marketing element whereby we turned them “evil”. The evil version of the Renegades took the drum corps world by storm. Within three years, the corps had over 100 members and was among the top-10 senior corps in the world. Corporations started paying tens of thousands of dollars to see them perform. In fact, in 2005, the Renegades set a world record for a drum corps performance fee at a show. The story of how this was done is a book by itself (literally), but suffice it to say, the basic premise was proven correct. A solid and innovative business and marketing plan is essential. Without one, you’re playing the lottery. In my experience, too many musicians make “get signed” their sole focus and business goal. I think this is a mistake, and that signing a recording agreement should probably be the last item on your business plan, not the first. In fact, given the current state of the recording industry and CD sales down 20% across the board, maybe “get signed” should not even be on your list right now. Please excuse me if that statement just offended half of the music industry, but I’m a musician as well as a music attorney, so I have diplomatic immunity on this point. Think about it. Record labels usually approach a band only after they’ve generated significant publicity and revenue on their own. Major labels are great at a lot of things, but they are not particularly good at breaking new and unproven talent. And even once your band does get signed, the jury is still out. A huge percentage of record label artists fail. The bottom line is that if you can get a substantial fan base and publicity BEFORE you get signed to a label, you will significantly increase your chance of long-term success, without relying on someone else to make it happen for you. Epiphany #2 – Back to the story. In 2004, I found myself at a San Francisco entertainment law firm, representing companies like Clear Channel and Bill Graham Presents. I had a good job, I was in a great city, but I still felt a little detached from the entertainment industry. Then one day as I worked at home, I heard a television commercial in the background that said: “The minute you truly tell yourself that you can do something … you can do it.” Seconds later, I gave my two-weeks notice and planned a move to LA. Sink or swim, it was time. As many musicians have done before me, I packed up my stuff and made the move. Right before I left, I sat down and devised seven rules that I would stick to, no matter what happened. I include the 7 rules here because they just might be applicable to anyone making a move to Nashville, New York, Miami, LA, Atlanta or any other center of gravity of the entertainment industry. If you are one of those brave souls planning a move to crash your way into the entertainment industry, think about putting together a long-term plan before you go. Walking into the lobby of Interscope or Hollywood Records and handing your press kit to the receptionist is about as useful as throwing your album into the Artic Ocean (but maybe not as cold). Without further adieu, here are the 7 rules. 7 Rules Rule 1: Network + Indifference. Rule 2: Never Ask. Rule 3: Treat Everyone the Same. Rule 4: The 150% Rule. Rule 5: The No Stress Rule. Rule 6: Innovate and Continue to Learn. Rule 7: Seven. The Move to LA. As the story goes, I moved to LA in 2004 and stuck to the 7 rules. Within a few weeks, my practice expanded into film and television, and I started to make progress. To be sure, I have a long way to go to achieve my goals. But, the rules have worked so far, and development continues on the business plans and Broken Ocean Entertainment, which is becoming a production company. Most recently, I came across a hip-hop group that was formerly called the “Rebels of Rhythm.” The artists are committed and talented, so I signed them to a management deal. We then changed the group’s name to Hollywood Kill, and changed the marketing image from stereotypical hip-hop to one of old Hollywood glamour. Hollywood Kill put out an album, did a few shows in LA, and things started to roll. We just got them on television, had two tunes from the album selected for the Warner Bros. film “Twisted Fortune” and signed a ring-tone deal. Other opportunities are coming, but Hollywood Kill is not signed with a record label yet. Whether Hollywood Kill will ultimately succeed or not remains to be seen, but things are moving forward and we’re sticking to the plan. We’ll see happens. Lee Rudnicki is an entertainment lawyer, producer, and artist manager in Los Angeles. He stays of out trouble by sitting on the board of the San Francisco Renegades drum corps and the New York music licensing company Sir Groovy, and running Broken Ocean Entertainment, which manages Hollywood Kill. You can also find Lee at: Website: http://www.drumlaw80.com
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