Shaun Groves
I’m sitting in a Gospel Music Association council meeting talking about what kind of event Independent artists would want to be part of. Why would an indie come to an event, a conference, or retreat? Education? Meet artists? Get signed? Be critiqued? Vacation time? Location? Great food?
You tell me. We’re listening.
Jason Lambert says:
As independent artists in the Christian music business, we are always looking for ways to expand our network and gain ground in building name recognition outside of our region. You can be the greatest musicians in the world and have a great sounding CD, but without exposure, you’re limited to what you can accomplish on your own skills as a promoter.
Having been ‘in the business’ for more than 13 years, the battle now is overcoming the influx of mediocre and below average bands that have flooded the market. They are getting booked in venues and have lowered the standard of expectation of many that do the booking. These bands barely know what it means to be a ministry, and know less about being musicians that are representing God. This flood of bands is also willing to ‘do their thing’ for NO compensation, which allows venues to fill their time-slots for no outlay. Obviously, business owners like that. But for those of us that are trying to just break even to keep our ministries going, the struggle intensifies.
We are not looking for a major label recording contract and prefer to remain independedent for all of the obvious reasons. Now more than ever, is the time to become cutting-edge indies on the front-lines of the music industry as it tries to restructure. It has been, and always will be a business of relationships and who you know, but there are more and more areas opening up to independents that were just recently not accessible.
We still need to create relationships with people within the industry that can support and validate groups that stand out from the rest in one way or another. Name recognition and who you know will continue to play a large role in building exposure for quite some time. We need access to those individuals. As commercial radio changes, we need to know how to get through the politics and get music to the right people. Yes, it’s still the “Music Business”, but by demonstration, we see what happens when the business receives more attention than the ministry/music.
Ryan G says:
I couldn’t agree more with Jason’s comments. I just pray I’m not a part of one of those “below average bands”.
Andy says:
Shaun, can you share the results of the meeting? As someone who works with indies, I’m interested in what you came up with. Is GMA trying to put together a CIA Summit of sorts?
Seth Ward says:
Sorry, nothing is really inspiring me when I imagine myself cramming my hard-earned indie money into their pockets. “Hey tell me what would make Indies that we really have no interest in want to come and spend their money working up false hopes of a record deal? We need these conferences so we can have a free vacation in the Rockies”
No thanks. Glad I didn’t read this when you were actually there. I might have faxed a picture of my bare butt.