Artist or Karaoke Star?

I recently worked with an artist who was going to be playing a few big gigs over the next couple months. I flew out and we started to push through the material.

Song after song, note after note…I realized we were looking at a cover act show. Why? They had great material on their new indie CD release. The songs and stories were relevant. But they were doing mostly covers for their live shows!

I asked them, “do you want to be an artist? Or do you want to play cover songs in a bar the rest of your life?” The answer was, “of course we want to be an artist!”

So why were they doing the covers? I asked questions and found out some issues that permeate the music industry, especially the indie side of things…

Promoters, radio people, and other industry personalities were asking for this “unknown” artist to play cover tunes. The advice they were giving was to forget about your music, and play familiar tunes so the crowd will stay with you.

Now, I understand what they are saying and I agree with them on this: If you try to play music (and just play music) and the crowd does not know who you are, they will tune out. If you play some great tune by an artist they like, they’ll join in, sing with you, and have a great time.

So-o-o-o, if you choose not to work on your show, and are happy playing in front of a large audience and letting them go home not remembering who you are, then keep on playing covers and creating a big sing-a-long! But, if you choose to be an artist, and not a cover act…live dangerously. WORK ON YOUR SHOW!

Here are three things you need to do when you work on your show:

1. Know the music. Working on the tunes and getting tight as a band comes prior to getting together to rehearse the show.

2. Playing the music well is only the starting point. Work on the dynamics of each song once the notes are there!

3. Make sure every song physically represents the tone and emotion of the song.

These are three to start with…nail these three things and you will be head and shoulders above your competition.

You can be an artist and entertain the crowd, creating moments and leaving them wanting more.

Here’s what I worked on with this new artist: we took one old cover and made it their own (wasn’t even a song within their genre – so no comparisons), and than worked like crazy on the bands original music. We created moments. We told stories that were about the artist and made a memorable show.

The industry people, the radio personalities and the promoters were thrilled! They didn’t want a cover act either; but typically, they don’t see bands create moments from their music, so they ask them to play familiar music.

Promoters want great acts that can create moments and capture the attention of the audience…but so few do, they would rather have a live juke box than a dead band!

So you need to ask yourself, do I want to be an artist or a karaoke star? If the answer is artist, take your music and your show seriously. Work at it, and invest in it…after all, your show is your calling card!