PlanningOrganizing

LeadingControllingAdapting

I got all this courtesy of Professor Vandenberg in management. Last year he did a one hour crash course lecture in management.

Traditional management. Discuss pros and cons of this in the music business.

Good in formal parts of the music business. Organizations like big management companies, large agencies and record labels.

Less so in the informal parts of the music business. Bands, small labels, college radio stations independent agencies, small venues. These things are not applicable right?

That of course is a setup. They are still applicable its just they need to be adapted to fit the culture.

http://www.bestads.tv/view/2251/sprint-nextel-roadies/Like the Sprint Nextel commercial with a rock road crew getting a flight ready for take-off, music road crews are actually highly organized and efficient. They just dont look like an airline ground crew but ultimately they are performing in a similar manner.

My point

Robert Vandenberg suggested Leading was the most difficult role in management. Leadership varies according to the situation and person. It needs to be believable and appropriate. A quiet thoughtful person probably shouldnt start acting like general patton when he/she is promoted to management or a leadership position. It is not genuine. It needs to match who you are or its fake. And no one has faith in someone who is fake.

Conversely the style of management needs to be appropriate to the situation. Example. Cursing like a pirate while hanging upside down from the lighting truss 40 feet above the stage may be the most effective way for the Paul McCartneys lighting director to motivate and organize the local crew. The lighting directors sheer bravado and insanity establishes a kind of respect that makes others want to follow him/her But this kind of behavior this style of leadership would not necessarily work so well with the publicity staff at a record label. (or would it?).

You can read many different management books for the basic mechanics of how to organize and lead teams of people. Im not gonna cover that here. Im gonna cover some observations on how to lead organize and plan in an appropriate manner.

People take the useful things like POLCA but take them too literally, they dont adapt them to the situation.

Jackson was my bands longtime manager. His style of management varied according to whether he was talking to the band members or whether he was talking to the record label. It was also different when he talked to the agency or venue manager.

Planning = process of setting goals, developing strategies,and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish thegoals.

Lets think some about bobby conners tour managing jobs.

Planning is strategic. Bigger picture. Organizing is more tactical. DetailsExamples? (FROM CLASS)

examples from my experience.

New record release strategy.Sell as many records a possible

Get a lot of radio,press and publicityConcerts in 25 key markets in first 6 weeks of record release.

Reviews and previews in 25 key market weeklies, dailies and blogs.Reviews and previews in at least 3 top national magazines.

Events, interviews, airplay, in-station visits with top 15 AAA radio stations.Build a fan based street team.

Make in-roads into the country market.

Strategic

Organizing = Arranging elements into a purposeful orderor structure; assembling required resources to attainobjectives.

Ask Class for examples.

Show day details, Load in, soundcheck, doors opening act, show time, load out bus call

Travel time. hotel details.

what supplies are necessary that day.

local crew. who does what task?

Tactical

Routing the tour with agent.Get strongest cities on weekend nights

Promotions with WTTS, KBCO, KFOG, DAVE-FMHiring road crew, Booking hotels, Travel

Tour budgetsShow details

Leading = positively influencing others to achievemutually satisfying goals.

Hardest to master. We met bob conner in iraq. Somehow he was immediately in charge. despite the fact he is nearly half our age.

Drummers- great session drummers are great because they convey authority.

This is where we speed up This is where the backbeat gets lazy who cares if we speed up it feels good.

Must lead the musicians. they must follow unquestioningly.

Examples from Bobbys stories. (class)

my examples from my experience.

Controlling = the formal, information-based routines andprocedures used to maintain or alter patterns in activities.

Examplesthe Tour bookDay sheets for touring.Book keeping reports to accountants.

Record companies require producers to turn in label copy which is sometimes confused with liner notes. its a roster of everyone who played or contributed to each song.

Adapting = to make suitable to changing requirements orconditions; adjust or modify fittingly

Examples from bobby conners tours

my examples. My band cracker was first regarded as an alternative rock band. We had a grateful dead cover on our 2nd album. we were then asked to play with the grateful dead.we were then embraced by the early Jam scene. we were then asked to go on the first H.O.R.D.E tour. A huge success the first few years. WE FAILED TO ADAPT. We turned this down. This is one of two key mistakes that my band cracker made in the mid 90s. Later we did embrace the Jam scene but with less success.

Dont read self help style management books

"Can't is the cancer of happen."

Who moved my cheese?

"Faith is for winners. Hope is for losers."

Which are real book titles and which are Charlie Sheenisms?

Beware there are a lot of useless books on how to become a good manager.Can you tell the difference between Management Jargon and Charlie sheen quotes?Other charlie sheen ism."I have one speed. I have one gear. Go.""I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total, bitchin' rock star from Mars.""I'm bi-winning. I win here, and I win there."

They couldn't extinguish my pilot light. And that was a mistake."

"When I'm fighting a war there's no room for sensitivity."

"I dare you to keep up with me."

"It's been a tsunami. And I've been riding it on a mercury surfboard."

Rework

A book by Jason Fried

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xD2NopsUs

you can however read this book.

The insurgent music business:The independent artists, labels, small management companies, agencies and independent specialists that

make up the bulk of the music business

The corporate music business:The old line multinational labels and publishers, the major agencies, institutional management companies

and business managers.

We are gonna spend more time later in the course examining the difference between the two.

Insurgent music business:Seemingly chaotic

NimbleQuick to adapt

EfficientInnovative

Embraces new ideas and techDisruptive

++++++Develops new artists efficiently

High return on investmentResponsive to changing consumer tastes

Low overhead costsbetter at P.O.L.C.A

Corporate music businessSeemingly orderly

LumberingSlow to adapt

InefficientConservative

Blocks ideas and tech that threatens controlseeks stability

++++++Access to large amounts of capital

Until recently controlled distributionGatekeepers to Radio TV Film National PressFinances/Co-ops the insurgent music business.

A symbiotic relationship

This is not a scientific survey. Its a generalization. But i think you get the idea.

symbiosis |simbsis; -b-|noun ( pl. -ses | -sz|) Biologyinteraction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. Compare with antibiosis . a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups : a perfect mother and daughter symbiosis.

The great mystery of the music business:Why do the suits at the big labels try to make their companies like normal straight corporations

when they should be emulating the insurgent music business?

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look on youtube for sprint-nextel what if roadies ran the world.

NOTE the top comment.