10 reasons why your band won’t succeed.

I think most of us have dreamed about playing in a band and a quite few of us have. For most of us it’s just a fun memory in the past. But for some it becomes a lifetime obsession. So why do so many bands fail? Well here’s 10 sure fire reasons why your band won’t succeed.

1. Lack of combined vision
It is great that you dream about playing the Royal Albert Hall in two years time, but that is no good if your bass player sees your band as a bit of fun or few drinks on Friday night. If you all don’t fight for the mutual goal you will fail.

2. Looking for a manager instead of managing yourself
No professional manager will want to work with an unknown band. They want a band that is already making money. So get off your backside and start learning the ropes by yourself. Once you have done it yourself, you know better what you look for in a manager and won’t get screwed over.

3. Looking for a record label instead
of releasing your own records
Another reality check, no record label is going to pay you to record an album unless they know you will be making money and lots of it for them. Once again, learn the ropes. Put out an album. You’d be amazed how much you will learn along the way.

4. Not writing good enough songs
Here’s the thing. No one was born as a natural songwriter. Believe me, I’ve been told I was, but I had to learn my craft. I dissected Rolling Stones, Beatles, Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen songs since I was a young kid. I learned structures, I learned what a good rhyme sound like. I wrote hundreds of songs that never saw the day of light. You need to work at your craft a lot.

5. Investing too much money too early in your career
There is no point booking your band into a fancy studio when your band is not ready for it yet. There is no point of filming a fancy video, if your song is not up to scratch yet. There is no point investing in advertising of any sort before you have something to advertise. There is no point in booking an expensive prestigious venue when all you are going to fill it with is your mates. Why don’t you just do it in your local pub? You’ll make more money that way.

6. Not willing to invest money in your career
Once you are ready, you need to be willing to pay for a proper website (this one’s a must!) If you don’t know anything about marketing, pay someone to design you a plan and show you how it is done. And once you start getting busy, learn to outsource the stuff that will eat too much of your time that you could be utilising for something much more important.

7. Not willing to learn skills outside your comfort zone
These days to be successful, you need to be willing to do a lot more than just play music. You need to learn all aspects of the business. The information is out there on the net. You just need to be willing to search and learn.

8. Not playing enough live shows
This is where you become a real band. This is where you will iron out your live show. Don’t even think about getting precious about concerts until you have at least 100 shows under your belt.

9. Being a douchebag
News flash. No one wants to work with an asshole! Be a person people want to be around, a person people want to work with. This is very important!

10. Giving up
In most cases it takes years of hard work before you build following and things start to “happen”. You need to be in it for the long haul. “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Most bands give up before they even get good, let alone build a big enough name for themselves. If you don’t give up, you have 90% bigger chance of success than the rest.

Keep rocking, and keep rolling.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get two of his free songs go HERE and click Download