Less than 3% of all new artists actually get to gold or platinum status. This article is for the other 97% + of all artists out there…

Whether your band is #1 on the alternative radio charts or your album just debuted in the top 24 on the top 200 soundscan chart or you just got your first support slot on a nationwide tour with the hot band of the moment or maybe your band is working hard for the break like the most of the bands out there living the vision and bleeding for the passion – one things still remains common to all bands at all levels – to be truly successful as a touring band, you have to be focused on selling concert tickets and t shirts.

In an ever so competitive market where records sales and profit margins are shrinking and artist development is of the past, bands today need to be more self-reliant now then ever. One of the few areas where a band still can maintain its creative control is merchandise. Hitting the road to tour so kids from city to city can be a part of your lifestyle is a major part of the business model in creating that “break�. As equally important as the music you play and how you play, is what kind of merchandise you offer at your shows and on your website. It is a priceless promotional value of when a fan buys your band’s Tshirt and wears it to school the next day.

Bands today need the knowledge of how to properly manage and develop the merchandise line. In today’s market, you don’t have to have a retail deal to turn your brand’s logo into profits. Merchandise income when managed correctly enables bands to see their visions grow at a time when other avenues of the music business seem to be shrinking. In lieu, bands should focus on the business module of merchandise early in their career and find new and creative ways to self promote.

The age of the internet shows no boundaries, no limitations; it is the entrepreneur’s ultimate canvas. The internet has become a 24 hour 7 days a week 365 days a year gateway to your every wish. The internet can be your music, video and merchandise distributor. If this all sounds a bit overwhelming and need to tools for success, here is a company that helps bands get off their feet and get affordable merchandise so that bands can start their own music career… www.sicscreenprints.com

Check out new music from unsigned NYCÂ Blacklist.
The track Language of the Living Dead captures the dark NYC east village post punk vibe. For more information contact the band.
Next Show:
November 3rd – Sesac/CMJ day party @ The Delancey

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KOAR posted several editorials on the ‘novelty’ of myspace. Check out the new article in the Washington Post, ‘In Teens’ Web World, MySpace Is So Last Year’.

Teen Web sensation MySpace became so big so fast, News Corp. spent $580 million last year to buy it. Then Google Inc. struck a $900 million deal, primarily to advertise with it. But now Jackie Birnbaum and her fellow English classmates at Falls Church High School say they’re over MySpace.

“I think it’s definitely going down — a lot of my friends have deleted their MySpaces and are more into Facebook now,” said Birnbaum

E.J. Kim chimes in that in the past three months, she’s gone from slaving over her MySpace profile up to four hours a day — decorating it, posting notes and pictures to her friends’ pages — to deleting the whole thing.

“I’ve grown out of it,” Kim said. “I thought it was kind of pointless.”

The high school English class cites several reasons for backing off of MySpace: Creepy people proposition them. Teachers and parents monitor them. New, more alluring free services comes along, so they collectively jump ship.

Myspace is just the recent online fad. Before Myspace, the place to be was Xanga, and before that, Friendster, MiGente and Black Planet.

Evan Hansen, a sophomore at Falls Church High School, said he didn’t buy into the MySpace hype and is waiting for the craze to die.

“Over time, people are going to get sick of talking to people on the computer,” he said. “I just think people will want to spend more time with each other — without the wall of technology.”

Unsigned The Vanished will be releasing a new EP. The First single includes “the Longest Goodbye,” which has accumulated airplay in the last several weeks inlcuding KLAQ (El Paso), KDJE (Little Rock), KDGE (Dallas), KMOD and KMYZ (Tulsa) and others. The Vanished will be on the road in Novemeber with Blue October, Bowling For Soup, and Angels And Airwaves. Legal is Mike McCoy. For more information contact Ronnie Raphael or 214 691 1908.  Check out the track The Longest Goodbye.

Secondhand Serenade which KOAR talked about in a myspace post signs with Glassnote, a label started by industry vet, Daniel Glass.

“The CD as it is right now is dead,” Levy said, adding that 60% of consumers put CDs into home computers in order to transfer material to digital music players.

But there remains a place for physical media, Levy said.

“You’re not going to offer your mother-in-law iTunes downloads for Christmas,” he said. “But we have to be much more innovative in the way we sell physical content.”

Record companies will need to make CDs more attractive to the consumer, he said.

“By the beginning of next year, none of our content will come without any additional material,” Levy said.

CD sales accounted for more than 70% of total music sales in the first half of 2006, while digital music sales were around 11% of the total, according to music industry trade body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

CD sales were worth $6.45 billion and digital sales $945 million, the IFPI said.

Bottom line: That’s right CD’s are dead. People just decided one day to wake up and not decide to buy CD’s anymore. This happened in one day and was not a gradual process. It has nothing to do with the ‘actual’ music. Nope, not that. Instead, one must invest more time hiring better art designers so the consumer will buy more physical CD’s. The record business is based on science rather than science and art.