Yesterday I shared with you how I selected what cities to go to on my tour. I decided I wanted to start in South Dakota, work my way to Milwaukee, WI and then loop back around. This allowed me to hit about 10 or 11 cities in 14 days.

So now you should have your list of cities to play….and also a list of possible venues…..here is a copy of the exact script I used to call venues and book myself:

“Hi. My name is Chad Sharp. I am a singer-songwriter. I am getting ready to release a new CD and I am going to be on tour. I am going to be in __ on __. I was wondering who I would talk to about setting up a time to play there when I am in town.”

Boom. That’s really it….. The people I called would usually refer me to who I needed to talk to, or they would tell me they are not booking anyone. This script does 2 things: 1. Tells them you are serious, you are touring. 2. Tells them you are already GOING to be in their city, so this isn’t a special trip.
Many places are going to ask how much you charge….they may also ask you to send a CD and press kit, etc.
For my tour I played mostly for Tips and CD Sales, but a couple places actually paid me to play.
If you have never toured before, and you do not have a following in the city you are visiting, be careful to not ask for too much money and book yourself out of a gig. My tour was designed as more of a promotional tour.

Using this script I ended up booking shows from South Dakota to Wisconsin. I hit places like, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls, Milwaukee….and places in bewteen. It didn’t take me a super long amount of time to get the shows set up.

Tomorrow I will tell you how I promoted my tour….

- Chad Sharp

So now you have your 2 week time set aside for your tour…and you know kind of where it could take you…..

Now take a sheet of paper and write down each date that is on your tour plan.

The next step is to start picking locations/cities that you want to play in. What I did was started close to home, in South Dakota, and worked out. I chose places like Aberdeen, Mitchell, Madison, Sioux Falls….and I knew I wanted to work out to Milwaukee, WI.
So now when you start picking places to play…simply drop in the cities on a date on your sheet. I tried to follow as much of a straight path as possible with each city being about 1 to 2 hours apart. It was easy to see following roads on the map. So your sheet may look something like this:

September 1: Aberdeen
September 2: Huron
September 3: Mitchell
ETC, ETC…..

After you have all 14 dates you can start looking for venues to play. When I did my tour I played coffee shops. So I took my list of cities and looked up every coffee shop I could find and made a list. This would be the list of places I would start calling.

Tomorrow I will share with you exactly what I said to book myself on a tour.

- Chad Sharp

In 2005 when my CD, ‘Personal’ was released I decided to book a little tour to promote the project.
Over the next couple days I will share with you how I did it.

The first thing I did was block off a 2 week chunk in my schedule 6 months out. So I chose April since I was in November-December. This allows plenty of time to do everything right.

Next I went to Walmart and bought a Rand McNally Atlas of the US. This is what helped me decide routing, cities, etc.

After I had my Atlas, I decided that I wanted to go no further than 500 miles from home. So I used the atlas and drew a big circle on the map that had a 500 mile radius from Mitchell, SD. This gave me the area that I was pontentially looking at for booking dates. I could see clearly what highways, interstates and other things were around the area I selected.

At this point if you do what I did, you would know 2 things: 1. When your tour would be 2. What kind of area are you looking at.

Tomorrow I will talk about the next step in booking your own tour….

- Chad Sharp

I started C-Sharp Productions in 1996 in Mitchell, SD. In 2007 I moved the production and recording operation to Minneapolis, MN. This is around the time when I started to get bugged by something that people seem to do…..stand up set recording times!

It is very disrespectful to the engineer, and facility. They set aside time for you to come in and work…when if you don’t show up you rob the studio of a chance to work with others. If you do not want to show up, at least have the balls to call and cancel.

It is really starting to piss me off….I wonder if it happens to other studios!?

As musicians we can struggle with  finding a balance between our passion and the real world. Should we work a day job and just do what I love on the side….or should I put everything into music and make it a career.

I found this interesting blog by Tom Leu today….please check it out:

http://tomleu.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/rich-in-personality/

- CHAD SHARP

We are still working on Lucas Doppler’s songs for his project. We have about 4 or 5 new ones in the works. Some of them just need to be mixed, and some are not quite ready for prime time. Lucas is also working on his own MySpace site….so be sure to keep checking this blog for updates!

I am also mixing another song for Dayna Jones. It is a cool song that has some neat harmonies. That should be ready within the week….so also check back for updates and to listen to that as well.

I cannot count the times that artists have contacted me with the mantra, “I know I will go platinum. I just need someone to hear me. We can be rich and famous! You won’t be sorry for working with me.”  The first thing I think of when I hear this is, “amateur.”  It literally screams ignorance to how the music business works.  I think tons of people still think that if you record a demo and mail it off to a bunch of labels and BLING! you are the next superstar.  As many of you know, the industry does not work like it does “in the movies.”

Artists and bands really need to consider what they want to achieve with their music. If you are starting a band just to live the rockstar lifestyle and be famous you are doing it for all the wrong reasons.  I feel that people who make music because they have to, because it is in their blood will find success….success does not always have to equal money.

Let’s look at really what a record label does:

1. Manufactures Products - CD’s, DVD’s, etc.

2.  Distribute the product to stores

3.  Sells the products

There are many levels to those 3 functions, but basically that is what the label does. In order to do those things on a national level, they have to invest hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. In other words, they take on huge risk every time they sign a new act.  That is precisely why most new artists getting signed now are usually well known for another reason….TV Shows, other bands, famous parents or siblings, etc, etc.  It is not very often an artist is found compeletly untouched and developed.  Then the label will take the majority of money the projects generate in order to repay the huge sums they put out to get the project launched. They also have overhead expenses to pay as well….so the labels do not give the artist the short end of the stick just because they feel like it….many times they have to in order to keep the lights on.

Since I have my own indie label, I understand what kinds of thoughts go into signing a new artist.  Do I like them? Do I like their music? Am I willing to spend my own time and money on them?  Will I keep pushing even if it doesn’t catch on right away? Are they willing to invest their time on themselves? Since I do invest my time and money, I always take a larger cut than the artist.  I don’t force them to sign with me….so I feel that if they want to put most of the risk on me, I should get most of the reward.

So now back to my point about artists and signing deals.  Is a deal really what you want? 

I think WAY too many musicians think that if they sign a deal that all they will need to do is sit back and make music and someone will do all of the work for them.  Not so much.  Even with a deal an artist is going to be expected to do press, gigs, appearances, etc…..hard work.  If I sign someone and they do not show they can invest time and effort into themselves, they will not be my artist for very long.

So what do you want from your music?  Money….Fame/Notoriety….Expression…..fans.  I am sure all of those things play into it.  The fact of the matter is that you can gain all of that on your own. The best part is if you do it all on your own, YOU will get to keep the majority of the money generated.

How do you develop your own music career without a label??   GET KNOWLEDGE.  There are literally hundreds of books and websites that can teach you how to be your own label.  The catch is that you will need to invest your time to learn.  Too many people are too lazy to make anything happen for themselves yet they will say, “I will do anything to make it!”  No you won’t…you won’t even take the time to teach yourself how to ‘make it.’

Will you take the time?

- Chad Sharp

It is Friday….rainy and cold here in Minnesota.  So I thought I would help warm you all up with a free download of a hot remix.

Feel free to download, and share with friends….if you enjoy the music, come back and purchase some CD’s or downloads at Sharpmusic.com

“Know About You” - Dance Remix - written, produced and performed by Chad Sharp

Dayna Jones, a great singer/songwriter I have worked with for years was here in Minneapolis recording this weekend. We had alot of fun. We cut two songs. One of them was a song we started from scratch and finished while she was here. It is called, “Keep the Change.” I have not had a chance to do a mixdown of the tracks yet…so no samples yet. BUT… I got to mix the other song we recorded called, “Beautiful Mess.” It has a neat fresh, fun feel to it. It is a joint work of C-Sharp and D.Jones…D-Unit!! I am putting up a little high quality sample for you to check out. You can also listen to the full song in lower quality at Dayna’s MySpace.

Download a sample of “Beautiful Mess” - written by Dayna Jones and Chad Sharp (c)2008

Dayna Jones MySpace Music Site

Many years ago I read a book that has turned up to be an invaluable tool for me as I tread the music industry waters.  It was written by a guy who is a big-time music attorney. His name is Donald Passman. The book is called, “Everything You Need to Know About the Music Industry.” It is an awesome book if you are looking to pursue any sort of business with your music.

If you are a band, solo artist, songwriter or musician there are parts of the book that would apply directly to you. It is a good idea to know as much about all of the aspects of the industry as you can.

Many of the emails I get from people are artists looking for record deals.  I assume that many of these people do not really understand what a record deal is. This book explains it in a very detailed way, and it may change the way you think about your music career.

“Everything You Need to Know About the Music Industry” by Donald Passman

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