Being an artist today

It’s tough being an artist, don’t let anyone tell you anything to the contrary. Nevertheless if you’re a true artist and by that I mean someone who is true to themselves you have to do some soul searching and identify who you are. It’s not a one off task, you need to be constantly searching, looking to see where you are today and more significantly where you are going tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes to those that embrace yesterday. The reason it needs to be a constant, as John Lennon so rightly said is ‘Life gets in the way.’ All sorts of obstacles and setbacks will present themselves along the way and searching and finding out who you are and where you are makes you more able to adapt and change. Be the innovator not the procrastinator.

I love artists, I never was one but sometimes I think I understand them better than they understand themselves. Giving people advice is one thing but it becomes increasingly frustrating when people approach you with a ‘What do I do now?’ If you have no idea what to do how can you expect to achieve anything? Would you get in a car, slam your foot down on the accelerator pedal, glance across hoping someone is there and ask, ‘What do I do now?’ Personally I’d have the same answer for both. Steer!

Artists need to ask themselves from the very start, what is it I want out of this? If you honestly believe you want to make a living from it then map out some sort of plan. Set yourself goals, realistic ones that aren’t, ‘I am the next American Idol.’ If you’re one of those convinced it will happen because you’re passionate then join the rest of the line for a lottery ticket. No one ever finds anyone who hasn’t discovered themselves. Direction for an artist nowadays is more important than ever. If you’re the one in a million who gets a record deal  you still won’t have someone guiding you like they did when I worked in the music industry. Artist development is a long term task. It doesn’t happen today because it takes time and time is something record companies don’t have. If someone was to give you that they wouldn’t have a job because the person over their shoulder is looking for a return and long term doesn’t matter. Short term keeps them in a job.

Filed under: Business Lessons, Uncategorized, artist development, artists, music industry, record companies

Slumbering but awakened.

Utter disgrace, that’s what I am. I pontificate about a love for writing and what do, I don’t write. Right? Well I am about to right my wrong, big time. The truth is there is an excuse,’cept I don’t like excuses so go ahead, berate me for all I’m worth.

Ok I will tell you if you must ask, better still I’ll let John Lennon tell you because you’re more likely to listen to him. ‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.’ I don’t think I’m alone either. What happened to the world? It was a lot cooler to me growing up, so many people around me doing well and us all inspiring one another. Fire in the blood and  a passion in the soul, although it does help when you get rewarded for your talents. Today  so many people are working for next to nothing, budgets are decreasing daily and they are torn between passing on a project because it doesn’t pay against the risk someone might not come back to them when they have the money to spend. It positively sucks because all the time your overhead stays the same, you have to eat and you have to pay the electric bill.

For me I needed to take stock, to stop, look around and re evaluate everything. I went back to the evaluation committee (me) and made a conscious decision, it wasn’t working so time for a change. I had no one to blame, only myself so cure was more the likely. Getting older I might be but lack of energy and enthusiasm, forget it! I’m as fired up as I ever was. I’m a great believer in everything for a reason, people come in to your life at a time and it’s always more than pure chance. In fact it’s pure bliss and delightful to work with like minded people who all share the same belief. There’s a passion and a commitment and even more than that a determination to make it work. The older you get the more you have to look back on and the easier it is, or should be to work out what it is that you have. What you’re good at and what you have learned along the way. I learned a lot, damn it I wrote a book about what I learned. Maybe I should have read it before I told others! It’s amazing , I’m writing about the mistakes U2 made, the opportunities that came Simon Cowell’s way, David Bowie and Innovation and I’ve become every character in the book. Who needs case studies, lessons learned from Rock and Roll indeed.

And so cometh the time, cometh the man. I bring you the real me, older , wiser and a damn sight more ready to rip. Enjoy the ride, I most certainly will.

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Business Lessons, mistakes, View from the room, Journey Through The Past, tony michaelides

Creating an artist

Over the years the artist benefited from a music industry swelling with a backroom of talent. It was the creative infrastructure of the music industry and what I like to call ‘The Engine Room.’ It’s where collaborations were born and where the road used to begin.

When you signed to a record company it was the beginning, it meant the start of a relationship. And the better the relationship the greater the chance of success. You see success was something everyone used to share and it was an industry that drove people to succeed. The pleasure was shared with everyone because everyone played an equal part. Today with a rapidly diminishing return I don’t think it’s a unity, it’s a jungle mentality. Eat or be eaten, artist against the record company. They want a piece of every part of the pie.

Many of the things that worked so well in the past seem to be lacking today. Yet so many of these things are quite simple when you think about it. Everyone is scared of losing their jobs and even the artists nowadays are scared of being dropped. Why should that be any different though? It’s supposed to be a risk business, it’s supposed to be about taking chances and pushing out that little bit further. We lost our mavericks and we lost our risk takers. We lost our innovators and we lost our way. We are not creating anything anyone is going to remember. And before I hear you say Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift or Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Justin or even Jay Z. They’ll be here next year but I doubt they’ll be here next decade.

The relationships were everywhere, the artist with their manager, the manager with the label, the label with the publisher. Then the producer and the A and R manager and it went on. The only thing that may have changed as we face up to the demise of the ‘pop star’ is that the fan has a closer relationship with the artist. Or they should have if both parties are reaching out like they should.  Today artists should be connecting with their audience, a bit like John Mayer until he has his sudden whacko swings towards lunacy and he over communicates to the detriment of others and damages something he worked so hard at creating.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Managing Creativity, record companies, social networking, A and R people, artist development, creating talent, record companies

Do I need a manager

Artist management, it’s a question to need to ask yourself at the very start of your career. The thought of having a manager can be exciting because you feel that you’re moving in the right direction, finally someone working alongside you to get things done. You might be right but you might be horribly wrong. The days are gone of the drummer’s brother managing a band, the nice guy who didn’t play anything but had always longed  ‘to be in the music business.’ Before you appoint a manager ask yourself the question, ‘Do I really need a manager?’ What you may find is that while you’d like a manager you don’t actually NEED one.

Ask yourself, ‘What do I want to achieve from this?’ Are you after a deal or do you need someone to do all the things that you don’t want to do? The manager has their job but you still have yours. You are your own artist development manager within your own infrastructure. It’s your job to define what role you want the manager to play alongside what it is you do for yourself.

If you’re at the stage where you can do it all then leave well alone, you don’t need a manager. If however, you’re generating a buzz and at the stage where there could be interest from the record industry then maybe you do need a manager. If you don’t have one you’ll at least need a lawyer. Record companies need someone to deal with and it’s unlikely to be you. It can be some of the best money you’ll ever spend. Protect yourself from the horror of having your career taken away from you before you’ve begun. If you have and they see you’re vulnerable, you’ll get eaten alive.

Then comes the finding of the manager. Good managers are like a jewel in the crown. You’ll rarely find a great artist without a great manager. It can be the basis for where all future relationships are born, the ultimate collaboration. We’ll look at the role of the manager later but for now you have to make the same decision as you hope you’d hope you make with your life partner. Is this the one? The chances are you might get divorced from manager and you’ll be left holding the baby, your band. Do everything in your power to make the right choice. While you’ll be driven by instinct and intuition strive for more. Do some research and convince yourself they are the right person for the job. You’ll need to get on with them because you’ll rarely be apart from them, take time to get to know them. You will need to identify they have those basic human ingredients such as honesty and trust. Being a nice guy is never enough. Ask yourself, ‘Can they do the job?’

I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t a good manager, there were the things that I did brilliantly but I didn’t enjoy the taking care of business. And today there’s much more of that you need to do. I wanted to be creative but the business stuff got in the way. Organizational skills are of the essence and being business savvy so that even if you don’t handle that side of things you make the right decisions when it comes to accountants and lawyers. The power to delegate is what makes the difference, knowing if something can be done better and quicker by someone else. So many of the people around you might be looking for personal gain, what’s in it for them? It’ll destroy you, chose your manager wisely.

Filed under: Business Lessons, management, Managing Creativity, artist development, artist management, good management

Days I remember all my life

I tuned in to my new found radio home ( http://www.manchesterradioonline)  because radio honcho man Paul Ripley had uttered the words ‘Guess who’s on my show? ‘ And the guess who was none other than the Martian Spider himself Woody Woodmansey. All of a sudden I was working while I was listening to the radio and I thought I’d discovered multi tasking. I was wrong, I stopped and I listened. Radio heaven, a spider talking about the web he lived in.

It’s hard to believe that Ziggy celebrates his 40th year anniversary this June and they are still not teaching it at schools, even worse why isn’t it a case study at music schools, business schools, everywhere! Paul started proceedings with ‘Five Years’ from the Hunky Dory album, well that was it. I downed tools and gloriously fell back in time, I was at The Hardrock  (no please, no burger references, it wasn’t that one) and I was rammed close up front and personal and gazing forward at what still remains one of the greatest concerts of my life. Not of course that I’ve been to many….It was September 1972, Saturday 2nd to be exact and I went back the next night to see them again. And again in December, he played that same venue four times that year. And yes I did.

That song took me back to my college years and when I first heard it. I had just bought Ziggy Stardust and was thrilled to bits. I had just also starting dating a ‘college cutie’ I think we call them now, back then she was just a chick. I think we’d been for  a drink, maybe  a movie and then it was back to listen to records until God knows what hour until I’d hitch home. You did these things back then, it was the norm for teenagers like us. Can you imaging even thinking of doing that now, never mind hitching home but just the mere thought of listening to a record !

Anyway she pulled out Hunky Dory and stuck on Five Years, and then initiated me with the rest of the album. That was it, I never left and were married six years later. Why wouldn’t you marry a girl with a record collection like that, Marie I thank you! Oh and for our two beautiful children but let’s face it Bowie came first.

Back to the show. Woody was an unassuming character, happy with his lot today yet proud and very grateful for what he’d had. Well who wouldn’t be, there was only him and three others after all. It was fascinating to hear someone other than Bowie talking about that period and especially from where he was standing, behind the man and driving home a relentless beat. What a seat! He spoke of how he got the gig and also about the late Mick Ronson, never a forgotten hero to me and many others. I can see him now with his glam pants and mad hair, and that iconic rock pose with Bowie sliding under his legs and dragging the solo out of him. Bowie loved him and although Mick  was a wonderful guitar player Woody said he never saw himself like that. Bowie would ask him to play a solo and then tell the producer, ‘keep it’ although Mick thought he needed to go back and do it over and over again. When you’re that good you’re good first time round.

Woody also talked of those wondrous eccentricities that are David Bowie. How he would ‘mess about,’ pick up an accordion that was lying around and tell the producer Ken Scott, ‘record this.’ The band would sit around and watch all this going on thinking, why is he pissing about, let’s get on with it. Then it would be played around with in creative , innovative ways with his producer and himself and they’d look at each other and say, ‘how the hell did he get it sound like that?’ And it would end up on the album and the rest indeed is history.

Great stories makes great radio and this was great in itself. Good questions that came over like any fan would ask and a responsive totally normal guy telling it like it was. It could have gone on forever, I’m first in line to request a repeat. Get him back and roll the tape once more. It gives you hope and brings back your faith in radio once more. Bring it on.

Thank you for the days,
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me.
I’m thinking of the days,
I won’t forget a single day, believe me.

Ray Davies 1968

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, manchester radio on line, Opportunity, Radio Ga Ga, Hunky Dory, Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey, ziggy stardust

Sid and Malc

Management and the style of management can vary so much. Good managers always act in the best interests of the artist and that requires a huge understanding of what it is you want to get out of them. That doesn’t mean always agreeing with them, on the contrary sometimes that means vehemently disagreeing with them and getting them to shape up. At the top level you’re protecting them from the record company and if you’re lower down the pecking order you’re often having to protect them from themselves.

The classic example here would be Malcolm McLaren and a quarter of his act, Sid Vicious. Just the other day I was, together with many others praising McLaren and what he had achieved in his years and I still stand by that. He played a large part in a small part of musical history, the revolutionary part which is always the exciting bit. McLaren’s relentless pursuit was always about the end product, The Sex Pistols and in doing that he was almost encouraging Sid to spiral out of control. It worked in the general scheme of things, he wanted the Pistols to be a train wreck and whatever carnage had to happen then so be it. It all added to the end product and the media frenzy.

Sid was that rollercoaster of a train wreck, his whole tragic world in turmoil and too brain dead to ever be bothered. And while it all fell apart underneath him he paid the ultimate price, he’s not here anymore. The whole Sid and Nancy tragic opera was played out to it’s inevitable conclusion and alongside  John Lydon we remember Sid more than the others and for just that. the messed up smack head that he was. We love tragedy in rock, Jim Morrison, Hendrix, Janis and Brian Jones, not to mention Kurt Cobain and Elvis Presley. It’s hard being a legend while you’re alive.

McLaren, cruel as it sounds almost encouraged Sid and left him too it. Whatever Sid got up to was front page news and that was what  always worked in the bigger picture. It was front page news from the start of his heroin addiction and his behavior right through to Nancy’s death. And the ultimate swanson, his own death where he was Romeo to his Juliete.

You wonder if Malcolm felt any remorse deep down inside because he never showed it. Did he think it was worth sacrificing a human life, maybe two in the quest for publicity? Is a life that important, somehow I doubt it. And yet if it wasn’t for the end who would remember Sid? He was a punk star because of all that, no more significant than the other three yet there he lies in rock’s tragic corner. Famous for careering out of control.

Filed under: management, mistakes, View from the room, John Lydon, Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, The Sex Pistols

McLaren’s final pit stop

Few people leave their mark in pop music the way Malcolm McLaren did.  That’s the problem with the music industry today it’s too safe, too squeeky clean and  too uninspiring. It lacks characters like McLaren, Tony Wilson and other mavericks, the rebels who believed in getting their artists known because, stupid as it sounds they believed in them.  Malcolm left his mark in a way few will ever emulate and few will ever forget. Successful as Simon Cowell is the whole  American Idol funfare is safer than safe. Uninspiring artists covering tried and tested songs, one of them wins and they give them a song to release, make all the money and then they’re done. Nothing remotely exciting, you expect nothing and you’re content  to get nothing. But then again Simon Cowell believes in pop music as a disposable commodity, there is no longevity in it so who am I to judge? Memories are not always made by hits.

People like McLaren made the music industry great, he made people sit up and take notice. He was driven and he was noisy, he was a man on  a mission. A relentless bulldog and once he had the bit between his teeth he was off and running.   To quote his own words’ “I have been called many things: a charlatan, a con man, or, most flatteringly, the culprit responsible for turning British popular culture into nothing more than a cheap marketing gimmick”  And most of the people who see that as criticism probably inspired him to do more of the same. Great publicists like to get noticed and McLaren did more than enough of that. When you hear the words ‘cheap marketing gimmick’ applied to the likes of The Sex Pistols, New York Dolls or Bow Wow Wow it makes you wonder what we’ve replaced the word ‘cheap’ with today, worthless? It’s definitely cheaper than cheap.

The Sex Pistols got on more front covers of national newspapers in six months than a high profile act would get in their entire career. You couldn’t avoid finding out what they were up to and McLaren couldn’t give a toss about what people were saying about the band as long as they were saying it. He got noticed and they got noticed, he hit a nerve and he generated a reaction. And again like Tony Wilson, if you met him you knew you’d met him. He was never, whatshisname? If he didn’t think it would create a fuss then he couldn’t be bothered and his ability to manipulate the media to get what he wanted was unique.

I met him once when I interviewed him the mid 90’s and no matter what the question might be he would swerve the conversation into exactly what he wanted to say. He lapped up any media opportunity and of course being articulate and interesting in the way he explained stuff always helped.  He was a brilliant marketing guy who also knew a lot about other people’s jobs and if you were below par he had no problem telling you. Record labels had a hard time with him!

There is no doubt The Sex Pistols had the best manager they could ever have dreamed for. They’d never admit it and it’s well documented that they, particularly John Lydon/Rotten had their problems with him but it was only to be expected that when it was over he would be the target of criticism. How else could they maintain their image unless they still had a reason to be angry and controversial. If it’s not around you anymore then all of a sudden you have to recreate it. But if you look at everything that got them noticed, the  publicity it was all his doing. The anarchy, the boat trip down the River Thames on the Queen’s Jubilee, the whole God Save the Queen outrage in fact. When it came to shock he near as damn invented it.  He knew how to get his band on the front cover and he would stop at nothing. It was almost too easy for him, why employ a publicist when he could do it all himself?

Malcolm McLaren, Malcom in the middle. Of everything.

Filed under: management, Managing Creativity, Opportunity, Malcolm McLaren, Sex Pistols, Simon Cowell, tony wilson

Earning a reputation

One word can say so much and  some words like ‘reputation’ take on a whole new meaning depending on the context. Just think of something as simple as ‘she’s got a reputation’ which implies either she’s a bit of a slapper or she’s to be heeded. Either way it’s not good but then when you hear someone say  ‘he/she has survived on reputation’ it takes on a whole new meaning. It describes someone who is both worthy and deserving, someone who has has earned something on merit.

I was looking back over the years at the people I’d worked with and those who I’d enjoyed the best relationships with. Without question it was those I respected that I liked the most. They were the types who were comfortable with themselves and whose behavior both professionally and socially were admirable. Each time you met them they were the same and when you spoke to others you’d hear the same remarks, ‘Good guy, nice girl, I like them’ and where people were uncomplimentary it was probably because they were jealous. They wished they could be more like them and hated the people who gave them accolades and to retaliate they’d be insulting or sarcastic.

These are people who earned a reputation, it’s not something that comes easy and it isn’t something you can force on people. It’s there because of the constant way you conduct your life and your affairs. People can rely on you, they know what to expect and they’re understanding when things don’t go quite the way they should. They respect you because of a consistency in the way you are, they sort of feel safe with you and at ease. You show the basic human ingredients that so many lack nowadays. Reputable people are trustworthy, loyal and have standards they live up to, not because they want to show off but because they want to do something to the best of their ability. They want to do everything in their power to do whatever they can to make it a  success.

Nothing is of any value  unless you earned it. The music industry thrived for so many years because of the sum total of it’s parts, not just the artists but the whole infrastructure. It was a business where people collaborated with one another and where each contributed to the end result. They made it happen, they made it a success. They didn’t wallow in their own glory and when one project was over they moved to the next with the same belief and with the same determination. It was done in perfect harmony. Your work colleagues were your mentors,they mentored you and you, in turn mentored them. If you worked with someone who had a reputation of being successful it drove you to reach those heights, you wanted to be as good at what you did as they were at what they did. It was a natural human instinct, no self respecting person employed to do a task with others wanted to lag behind.

Reputation is born out of pride and integrity , groomed from respect and deserved through merit. If you do something long enough and you do it well then recognition is the ultimate reward. No one need utter words of congratulations if you are true to yourself and know you tried your hardest. When you know what you have achieved and when you can see how others have benefitted from the results it’s safe to reflect in the gratification. And to know your reputation is something that you have earned.

Filed under: Managing Creativity, View from the room, integrity, music industry, relationships, reputation, respect

Letting the days go by

I just got a note on my Facebook page from an old pal and colleague at Piccadilly Radio David Dunne attaching a clip from a bygone era. Oh how I laughed, it’s funny how you never remember how you looked. And then I found myself saying, ‘I wonder what ever happened to that jacket?’ All nonsense really but all good clean innocent nonsense.

It was amazing to think how old the footage was, from late 90’s and a program featuring Happy Mondays. The funniest thing of all was it has been screened numerous times over the years as an ‘educational program.’ Information Technology was the title of the show though Lord knows how Happy Mondays made it in to a BBC educational show!. Having written a book about the lessons I learned from rock and roll strangely enough The Mondays were absent. It was pleasantly funny to see the recorded interview between myself and Factory Records supremo the late Tony Wilson where I was a bit pissed off at the Mondays constant absentiesm when it came to radio interviews. Then I wondered why on earth did I ever even attempt at getting the Mondays any interviews. As lovable as they were they were usually so wrecked they couldn’t speak anyway and having to go and collect them to take them to radio interviews was hardly my easiest promo task. Ah they don’t make pop combos like that anymore. A totally wonderful band  but no suprise they never won anything at The Brits. they didn’t have a ‘Best band from  another planet’ category. Best International artist didn’t cover the galaxy.

Maybe the Mondays were the last of the great bands, part of a pedigree of bands that work in a totally unique, unconventional manner. What they were had just as much to do with being with a label like Factory. No other label would have been able to allow them to develop in to what they became, they wouldn’t have had the patience and they would have tired of their antics and dumped them. It’s the exact same scenario as A and M Records and EMI, they had no idea what to do with The Sex Pistols so they let them go. They are both bands who know what they are doing and need a label to support them but to leave them to their own ‘artistic’ devices bizarre as they may seem. Both acts worked because of Factory and because of Virgin and because their A and R people understood they were a little different from everyone else. Thank God.

Filed under: Managing Creativity, record companies, View from the room, david dunne, Factory Records, Sex Pistols, The Happy Mondays, tony wilson

Another Brit in the wall

The Brits. that much lauded, much laughed at awards ceremony celebrating what’s best in British music. But has it really ever done that? Those who think they know put together a list of nominees, spread them around the labels they work for and then troll along to the event knowing that their expenses will get signed off,  because they sign them. When they start off there is speculation, will they get it right and then as each year goes by your expectations become less and less. Until you expect nothing and you’re satisfied. . Next year I vow to not even comment, though I might have said that last year. I only watched for curiosities sake and Lady Ga Ga who by a mark of respect for Alexander McQueen was very low key on the night.

I’m just glad they haven’t come up with a ‘Lifetime Whinger’ award for Whitney Houston or ‘The Lifetime Ego’ award for Clive Davis. In fact it would need to be  ‘The Clive Davis Award’ so Clive can come up on stage to present it to himself every year, and then when he pops it Whitney can come up and accept it posthumously on his behalf and tell us how he will always be missed. ‘I will always love me.’ Clive’s cover version of Whitney’s cover of Dolly’s song. (Parton the pun.)

The funny thing is I didn’t see the whole of The Brits but I saw enough on You Tube and read various reports all saying the same thing as it’s said every year. It is what it is, but does is what it is make it what it should be? The problem is we don’t have anything to celebrate now, no one’s buying records so the only way they can get anyone to watch a show is to put the only artists on who sell anything. So then we are left with a show to showcase the artists who’s records we have already bought.

You’d be tempted to call the proceedings ‘safe’ if it wasn’t for the predictable controversy of ‘anarchy.’ We’d had the water thrown over John Prescott outrage. We’ve had the Michael Jackson carry on from Jarvis Cocker. We’ve had the Sam Fox, Mick Fleetwood great presenters of our time show. We’ve had the lot but they always manage to find something that will make it to the papers. But didn’t you expect it the moment Liam Gallagher stepped up on the stage, that sweet aroma of predictability where he wants to grow old disgracefully and The Brits is the place to do it. I saw him swagger up and I was going ‘Go on Liam do something outrageous, be respectful and say what a fantastic ride Oasis had been.’ Thank others for allowing you your own bit of the limelight but no he did the most obvious thing possible. He was Liam twenty years on.

He wasn’t there to celebrate anything, he just thought he needed a bit of attention and he knew the media would lap it up. But now when you’ve been and gone wouldn’t it have been more outrageous then to do something not outrageous? People would have given him a rousing reception but he’d rather take the swipes, it’s mens work. How utterly ludicrous to thank his band apart from the one person who allowed their very existence. Why would we have ever wanted another swaggering monkey when we still had the King Monkey himself, Ian Brown?  And let’s face it Ian Brown has always been and still is cooler than Liam Gallagher. Sorry Liam you worked well in the band as a front man but all the tired tactics? It’s no longer relevant.

Maybe you should have kissed Robbie Williams live at The Brits. Damn, I’ve given them an idea for next year. it if not for whom it wouldn’t have been much of a band.

Filed under: mistakes, Opportunity, record companies, View from the room, Ian Brown, Lady Ga Ga, Liam Gallagher, The Brits, You Tube channel