RE: Music Industry Blog: a Band is NOT a Business
I would have to respectfully disagree here.
Having spent 15 years working in and around the music industry, dealing directly with bands that have both succeeded and failed, I would say that a band is absolutely a business and needs to be treated as such.
If you want to stay in the garage and play local shows to 10 people, don't worry about business. But if you wish to establish a brand and something that will last in a very fickle industry, you will need to take your project seriously and treat it like an operating business.
Even if you are collecting $10 a week from playing cover gigs, that's still incoming revenue. There are those who pocket the money and don't think twice, and then there are those who look to properly save/spend their earnings in order to grow their opportunities to play more efficiently and more often.
Just my two cents, I just don't believe in doing anything as a hobby. 100% or nothing.
JL
Why does taking a band seriously mean looking at it like a business?
Most of the successful artists I have seen follow this path:
Get amazingly good at music -> An audience starts to show up and spend money on the music -> then the artist learns just barely enough business so they can deal with stuff as it happens.
It's like 90% music, 10% business. its not about it giving it 100%, it's about giving it 100% without letting business get too much in the way
Lets just agree to disagree on this one :)