MADE

Take a quick peek at this interesting exchange between Gene Simmons of KISS and Bob Lefsetz. Watch the whole video. It’s real funny and extremely informative. I’ve got the link to the whole clip at the bottom of the article.

Bob Lefsetz, in case you’ve never heard of him, is a music industry analyst who publishes a popular online newsletter called the Lefsetz Letter. People like Quincy Jones and Clive Davis read him. He’s a legend in the music business and he has a talent for getting under the skin of people like Gene Simmons. He totally understands where the industry’s headed. Far better than any of the industry big Whigs who read him.

The reason I included this video is because I wanted to prove a little point by injecting Gene Simmons into the conversation. Like you, I do think Gene Simmons is an all around asshole…But. He’s a pretty good businessman. It’s the only reason he’s not some washed out 80s drinking-at-10-in-the-morning has been.

Only problem is, like most old school music industry types, he hasn’t yet heard of the Internet. But KISS is still touring and making money because of Gene. But not the way a band like Phish was and is.

You can tell by watching that video that Gene is old school. But what still makes him a good businessman is that he’s the type of guy who’s always on the lookout for opportunities to make a sale. And a sale is the holy grail of any business, including…yes, any Indie music outfit.

I know there are many of you who think that money is a dirty word. It scares me how many people I run into who think that money or having a desire to make money is dirty and corrupting.

It isn’t.

If you do happen to be one of those real creative types who does think that money’s a dirty word and that your artsy-fartsyness will solve everything, you may be playing with fire. I know it sounds obvious, but it’s an important point worth mentioning precisely because there are so many people out there blinded to it because of their low opinion of money.

Gene Simmons comes across as a cold, shrill opportunist because he promotes low rent KISS branded products like KISS “Tongue Lubricant” condoms. He’s like the rock version of all those rappers who put out porn DVDs. In that sense, you don’t want to be like Gene Simmons. But you do want to be like Gene Simmons in the sense that you want to emulate his spirit of enterprise and profit-seeking.

Gene is a businessman and every indie band needs a businessman…unless you really do want to spend the rest of your life fishing for change under your sofa cushions. If you’re not a businessman, then someone else in your band better be. By businessman, I don’t mean someone with an MBA or someone who has managed for profit before. I’m just talking about someone who has an eye for opportunity and profit-seeking.

What’s that you say? “I’ll just hire a business manager.” Well, you can, but understand that a business manager is just rented talent. You need to be the businessman-in-chief because you’re the one with the vision. He works for you. He follows your vision…if you have one. And if all you have to your vision is 16 bars and a nice melody, then I’m afraid you’ve got some work to do.

Here’s the deal: Even though music is at its core creative, it’s also supremely about business. The major labels made it a bit too much about business. But that doesn’t mean you should go to the other extreme. The thing that drives the business is the music. To really keep the business going, you need the vision and the vision is inspired by the emotional connection to the music.

So ultimately, you or the people in your band who are emotionally connected to making music must be the ones thinking business strategy. You can hire people to execute it, but you can’t outsource vision because it’s based on emotional passion, which comes from the music. Rented talent can’t have the emotional passion that you do and therefore not the vision. When times get tough, a business manager won’t hesitate to jump ship. He’s just in it for the paycheck.

Your vision should cause you to entertain thoughts like Who should we market to? How should we market? What can we sell? How does our music fit into the big picture of where we want to go? Even if you aren’t the one executing these things, you are ultimately the one with the motivation to push them forward. Intense passion and motivation are unquestionably the two most important qualities to success at anything that’s difficult.

Creativity and business are inseparable. Too many Indie bands just think about the creative side of things. That’s fatal. The market is too saturated to make it on creativity alone.

Here’s the whole Simmons/Lefsetz clip. Check it and let me know what you think.

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