Tech consultant for Olympia, Lacey, And Tumwater

Yes, I have something brewing for March of 2010. It’s a campaign launch for a start up that has been in public beta for awhile now. Well, we are ready to take this thing seriously now and will be launching a national contest & viral marketing campaign. I can’t give too many details here, but I am looking for someone to make a documentary of my attempt. This is the biggest thing I have ever been involved in and if works it will be a great testament of human spirit. If you have seen Anvil:The story of Anvil you will know what I am talking about. Of course if it is a total flop it can be a lesson in what not to do. Either way you win. If I win I will win big. If I fail I will fail big. I am putting everything I got into this to lengths I will not go into detail about at here.

Whoever makes this movie, it is their movie alone. The creator owns it lock stock and barrel. It is also your movie budget. I am putting everything into the campaign. I don’t have anything to put into your movie. This is why you get all the profits. You are taking all the risk. it’s only fair.

As far as control goes, I want this thing to be honest. So I will do everything in my power to give the creator as much control as possible. The only major rule are to leave anyone out of it that asks not to be part of it. This just means I am open season. make it honest. In other words you can’t be some bible thumper trying to spin this into some preachy thing. If you have motives other than making an honest film I will boot you out the door without a thought. Pretty simple eh? A good documentary will sometimes make it’s subject look bad. We are human and we make mistakes. The film should show that. It should also show the triumphs. Hope that’s clear.

You should either be from Olympia WA or at least be willing to travel and stay here for at least that month to film. A ton will happen in that month. Feel free to try and film before that, but it won’t be as predictable when I’m working on things. I will not provide room or boarding. That is up to you.

Further details can be worked out in private. In fact, even the details above can be tweaked on private discussion. Contact me if you are interested.

True Stories of a music journalist with a full bladder!

So I’m waiting for this band to call for an interview for RMM just now. They are 30 minutes late, (more normal than it should be) and I need to piss. Well I know that they are going to call the second I walk away. I have them call my Skype number so I can get a clear recording, so this is on my laptop. So I unplug everything except the headset, carry the entire set up into the bathroom, and take care of business. Of course they didn’t call, but you know they would have if I didn’t do that. So glad this wasn’t being streamed live with video like I used to do. There would have been some people laughing their ass off over how funny I looked I’m sure.

I know this is a short blog post, but it was too long for Twitter and I felt I needed to share. Funny story and all. True story too. I can’t make this stuff up.

The art of a good press agent

Now I talk a lot of smack about how music industry press agents are about as clueless about technology as it gets, but this time I am going to talk about the non-tech side. This time it’s all about attitude! For the most part women kick the living crap out of guys in this line of work. Not sure why. No, it’s not because they are these sweet little lambs. In fact most of them are rather ruthless! However, they do it without the ego many guys have about it. Let’s face it, the artists are the ones who are cool. Us journalists and the press agents we work with are not the rockstars. We are not cool, but for some reason some male press agents seem to think they are the rockstars. It’s that confusion that makes them suck.

Recently there was a press agent that was offended that I called him on the phone to square away some interviews. We had been going back and forth for days and so I went down the line and made a few phone calls to nail some things down with several press agents I deal with. This guy (who will remain nameless) got a major attitude about how no one does anything over the phone and I needed to get with the times. Funny, he was the last in a morning full of phone calls both made and received. He also still does HTML emails. Does he not know how “ten years ago” that is? Security experts the world over have been preaching against HTML emails and the danger they cause for well over a decade now. I think he is the one who needs to get with the times. The phone isn’t dead, he just seems to think he is the rockstar instead of the bands he is paid to be pushing. Because of this he gets no favors. I will only cover the bands of his I want to.

Not all male press agents are this way though. I have one I deal with that is about as down to earth as it gets. This guy will do anything and everything to get a band press. He will email me, call me, and is even a friend on Facebook (unlike the guy above), to make sure I am pushing his artists. I have told this guy that I find a band down right annoying and he replies with “Yeah, but will you do an interview anyways?” Now that’s a press agent! I have told him that bands don’t fit our format and he will send me cuts from the cd that he thinks prove that thought wrong. He never goes over the line and if I tell him there is just no way he will back off. The point is that he has zero ego about it. He always takes my calls and he always answers my emails. He is always ready to deal with something when I call. That’s called organization people. In this business, if you don’t have that you are dead! Because of this I will cover a band of his that I have zero interest in. It’s all about attitude.

So what makes a good press agent? Same thing that makes for a good music journalist. Someone who knows their place. Sometimes I have to tell myself to just shut the hell up and do my job. It’s not about me. It’s about the artists. Same goes for the press agents I deal with. They need to know that we are not the cool ones. The artists are. Ok, some press agents are cool artists too, but that’s a whole ‘nuther blog post. Funny thing is that the cool rockstar press agents are the ones with the least ego problems!

The truth is that none of these people are friends. If I no longer was a music industry person I would not exist to any of them. If they have no bands I care about, I have no reason to contact them either. Both sides have a job to do. I care about the bands and they are paid to care about the bands. Sometimes they honestly do like the bands but there is no way to know. Will I work with someone I have no respect for? Sure, but it sucks. I would rather work with someone that is easy to work with. Male or female. So the art of a good press agent is one who keeps the ego in check. Same rule applies to music journalists, so feel free to remind me of that if you think I need it.