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So... You Want to be in a Band?How To Start A BandStarting a band can be as easy as just jamming with some friends or as complicated as you make it. Be sure to know what you want to accomplish with your band and that will help you determine what needs to be done. Bands can be to just get together with a few friends and have fun. It can be to play clubs to get free beer and score with the chicks and dudes. A band can also be to make $$$! It may be to write original songs for personal satisfaction or to get that major record deal. You have to know up front what you are trying to do with it. Don't just let it fall together because, it WILL fall apart usually as quickly as it came together. You may want to form a band or just join a band. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Forming a band has the advantages of being able to have more control of the overall direction of the band. However, it will probably take longer to put a complete band together. Joining the band has the advantages of stepping right in and going, however, you are most likely just catching a train and are going along for the ride. Sit down by yourself with a piece of paper and decide, "What do I want to accomplish with a band in the next year, two years, five years and ten years?" Then write it down. Writing it down is the most important part. Be very specific and don't worry about how "unrealistic" it may seem. If you have the desire anything can be done so, don't let anybody steal your dream. There are many things that can be done with a band besides becoming a rock star. You could write jingles for commercials, background music for training videos, movies, computer games, and TV shows. The possibilities are virtually endless. How To Find Musicians For Your BandOnce you have a clear picture of what you want to do, the next step is finding the people. There are a few ways to find people. Ask your music teacher if they know if any of their students are looking for the type of band you are putting together. Put an ad in the local music magazine. Many music stores publish their own music magazine and provide classified ad space that is much cheaper than your local newspaper. If you advertise in the newspaper, usually the best days to advertise are Sunday then Wednesday. Depending on the size of circulation for the paper, this can be quite expensive. Look at ads for music teachers. If you are looking for a drummer call the drum teachers and ask them if they have any students looking to join a band. Put up flyers at the local music stores and record stores. Many have a location in the store for equipment sales and bands looking for members. The type of band you are trying to put together will determine what type of ad you place. If you want a professional band, just ask them to send a tape and just put an address in your ad. Don't bother puting a phone number. This will drastically reduce the number of respondants, however, you will get a higher caliber of people responding to your ad thus saving time during the interview process. InterviewingAn important part in finding musicians for your band is finding the right people. You have to communicate exactly what you want to do with your band right up front. Don't sugar coat anything. If you want to be a rock star, make sure they know it and that is their goal as well. The worst thing you can do is have somebody that just wants to play for beer and you want to get a record contract. It won't work! There will be things that must be done and you will not be working together and it will pull the band apart. Ask them what they are looking for. Don't be afraid to pry informaition out of them. Treat it like a job interview. Ask them what their goals are, what they have done in the past. Ask for recordings of their previous work. Find out who their influences are. Find out if there are any transportation challenges. Find out what equipment they use. The more information you get up front, the less likely it is that you will discover things later that can adversely effect the band. Writing Original SongsThere are as many ways to writing songs as there are people. I can tell you what most people that want to write books are told and that is go live life. You will get many lyrical ideas from reading and interacting with other people. Read, read, read, read... This is one of the best sources of lyrics. As far as writing the music, don't be afraid to listen to other people's music and get your ideas from them. Write...write...write... and write some more. The more you write, no matter how corny or stupid, the more you will get into a groove and start to produce good songs. I often fall asleep at night just trying to think of lyrics. Get a rhyming book from your local book store. They can be helpful in trying to find that word that fits. Copywriting Your SongsWhat is a copyright?Well a copyright is what the term implies, and that is as a copyright owner, you have the right to copy the work or allow (license) somebody else to copy it. It is your copy right. Do I need to copyright?You don't need to copyright a song if nobody is ever going to hear it or if you don't care if somebody uses it and you don't get paid. How Do I Copyright A Song(s) or Recording?The moment you write down some lyrics on a piece of paper or record a song, it is automatically copywritten. By registering a copyright with the United States Copyright office, what you are doing is establishing a record of when the song(s) or recording was authored or produced. This is the best proof you can have in a court of law. Other methods you may have heard about is mailing the tape or lyrics to yourself and just not opening the package. This can help to establish your copyright, however, it doesn't hold much weight in a court of law. The other reason to register your copyright is so that somebody that hears your song or sees your tape can go to the copyright office and find out how to contact you. There really is only one way to copyright a song or recording properly and that is to fill out the form from the US Copyright Office, send in your $20 and that's it. You can copyright songs one by one, or what is more economical is to just record a bunch of songs and copyright the tape. You can at a later date as needed, copyright the individual songs. This is one of the areas that a lawyer can be helpful. Don't be afraid to contact one. If money is the reason you can't talk to a lawyer, contact your local lawyer's referral service. You can almost always get a free hour of consultation. Go in with all your questions written down and you can save yourself $100 to $200. Where do I get the forms?You can contact the US Copyright office or just download them from their web site at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/. Getting Your Music HeardThere are many ideas on how to get your music heard. Some raidio stations have a local band hour where they play music submitted by local bands. If you have a good quality recording, give them a call to see what format they require. Go to the local record store and even major record stores, and ask if they can sell your tape on a consignment basis and see if they can play it periodically on their in-store sound system. Get in touch with local DJ's and see if you can give them a copy of your song for them to play. Watch for "Battle of the Bands" types of contests. Enter them and get the exposure. The next place are the record companies. This is usually the most ineffective way to get your music heard. They litterly have piles and piles of tapes, CD's and videos and most never get heard. Start with the local independent record companies first. It's best if you have some sort of raport with somebody there before you send the tape. One thing you can do is call them and tell them you will be sending them a tape or whatever, then send it out right away. You can sponsor your own concert at the local park. Contact your city's park and recreation office to get more information about what you need in the way of permits, insurance and such. This works well when you have a few other bands that are willing to commit to sharing the workload to put something like this on. Contact local charities and media and let them know what you are doing. Being affiliated with a charity can help get the media attention you are looking for. The final place is to just get a gig at a club, cabaret, hotel, wedding, prom, etc. Where Should The Band Rehearse And How Often?There are a few basic places to play. Somebody's house, an industrial park or public storage facility, or a rehearsal studio. Somebody's house doesn't usually work too well unless you play softly, have great insulation or very tollerant neighbors. These places usually only last a short time and the police show up threatening to take your equipment away. Not a lot of fun. Industrial parks are good, however, you usually have to limit your practice times to off hours when nobody else is there working or you could end up in the same boat as practicing at somebody's house. Public storage facilities used to be a great place to go, however, too many "party" bands have ruined it for the rest of us and the owners of such facilities are very leary of renting to a band or just don't allow it at all. If you can afford it and you plan on rehearsing for the long run, a rehearsal studio is the best bet. Not to mention the interaction with other bands and shareing resources like contacts, PA equipment and gigs. Be careful with rehearsal studios. Many of them are run by musicians and don't be suprised if they run off with your deposit and you now have the owner of the building locking everybody out because he hasn't received the last three months rent. Also take note of the environment, especially if you plan on leaving your equipment there. Check the security. Make sure there are fire extinguishers around the building. Look at the locks on the doors. Just like anything else, you will pay for what you get. How offten you practice depends on the goals of the band. If you are looking for a record contract or getting ready to go into the studio, you should be practicing four to five nights a week at a minimum. Remember...practice makes perfect and playing perfect can get you that record contract or save you $$$ if you are producing your own recording. There is nothing worse than spending $20 to $100 an hour in a recording studio just trying to get the structure of the song right. You will also get "Hey Mr. Big is in town tonight only and he wants to hear us." You better be ready. Your Band Is A BusinessIf your band is not a hobby and you have every intention on making a profit and are working to make a profit, then you have every right to treat it like any other business. If you call yourselves anything but one of the band member's names (e.g., The Jo Bob Band, Bob Smith and the Flames, etc.) then you will need a DBA or "Doing Business As". Check with your county clerk on how to get one. Usually it means filling out a form, paying some money and advertising in a localy distributed newspaper. This will do a few things for you; establish the ownership of the name, allow you to get a bank account and conduct business under that name. Next thing you need to establish is what kind of business this is going to be. A sole proprietorship (owned by only one person), a general partnership (all members are owners), a limited partnership (some people are active in the control and operation of the busines and others only invest money and have no say as to how the business is run) or a corporation. As far as setting up the above business, the sole proprietorship is the easisest to start and end. The corporation is the hardest to start and usually not that hard to end. The partnership and limited partnership is fairly easy to start but offten very difficult to end. Talk to an accountant and or lawyer about what is most appropriate for you and your goals. Check with your local city hall to make sure whether or not you need a business license. Most citys don't require one for a band, however, you better check because, if you do need one, the fines can be very stiff. Also, if you plan on selling T-Shirts, tapes, bumper stickers and such, you will probably need a license from your state's tax authority to collect and pay sales tax. Once you have all the licensing taken care of, now it is just a matter of keeping track of all expenses and income so you can do your taxes at the end of the year. Consult a CPA about what you can or can't write off. You could, in the right situation, depreciate your equipment for example or write off your milage to and from practice and gigs. If you don't know what this means, talk to your CPA. Every good business has at least two people that they will rely on and they are a good lawyer and a good CPA (Certified Public Accountant). Find them as soon as you can. Shop around. You can and should interview your CPA and lawyer. After all they will be giving you advise about your money and you don't want to trust any old Joe Blow.
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