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Kevin Kelly

The fan base 'long tail' is famously good news for two classes of people; a few lucky aggregators, such as Amazon and Netflix, and 6 billion consumers. Of those two, I think consumers earn the greater reward from the wealth hidden in infinite niches.

But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist's works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales.

Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail?

One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. While some artists have discovered this path without calling it that, I think it is worth trying to formalize. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply:

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Sheena Metal

It's the dream of many a musician to open up for either: their favorite band or the favorite band of their childhood. For many, the ultimate in true rock star status is to share a stage with the musicians who made you want to play music in the first place.. to see you name in lights (or printed on a flyer, as the case may be) with the guys (or gals) whose music you listen to almost as much as (if not more than) your own.

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Let's take it from the top.

The decision of what the right show is becomes a battle in itself. Committees, fair & festival boards, corporate meeting planners, and marketing departments generally end up with this task. Of course, everyone is an expert in telling others what they think is best and what they like, as it should be. After all, they do know what they like and they should know what is best if given the responsibility of finding talent. The idea of knowing exactly what the right show is, staying in budget, securing the right production, filling the contract and rider requirements, promotion, ticketing, building rental, insurance, etc., is a breeze. After all, 80 to 90% of these folks do this once a year or even less. To think that an event would have to pay someone, or there is money on top of what the artist gets, is a tough thing to take in today's performance fees.

Before we get any further down the road let me use the term "middle agent." Who in the world is this guy or girl and why do I need this person? First of all, I don't know that you do. The choice is certainly up to the decision maker. Those of us who have had to make a living out here seek to serve and I hope honestly represent the best interest of the decision maker, as we affectionately refer to as buyer. After all it's your money we are striving to get the best value for. Here are some caught thoughts for your consideration, and some things I have learned in my tenure as buying talent and servicing shows on behalf several different events. If you are comfortable with what show to buy and where to get it and confident of the cost... go for it. If not, consult a talent buyer, yes, middle agent; after all, it's what we do. We are plugged into the necessary sources and can get there very quick with the pertinent information.

When cost and web information became assessable on the internet, the consensus was, "Well, nobody is going to need any help with buying shows now." As it turns out, there is no replacement for relevant experience and expertise. As you are probably reading this now on the internet, just take a little trip when you are done and go to http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite. Go to the charts and just take a look at how diversified the genres have become. In the old days, we had two kinds of music: rock and roll - just kidding. If you are seeking someone to help you get a show, and they have no idea of what you are looking for, they are not the right source.

If you think all you have to do is gather a few exhibits, buy some entertainment, advertise what is going to happen... and the folks will bang down your door!

WRONG! It's not that easy!

First off, today's leisure-time market has more options with entertainment than "Carter has liver pills." There are virtually dozens of events every weekend in Anytown, USA, tugging at your customer's jacket. You have to fight sports on TV, Sunday shopping hours, the kids' soccer games, and discount movies.

You need to razzle-dazzle them and promise 'em the silver cup or else you're just another ho-hum event. The only foreseeable problem is: If you don't deliver the glitz and the silver cup, you might as well pack up and become "another thing of the past."

Have you been reading the trades lately? I'm sure you'll agree, events are changing. More commercialism. Festivals are now after the 30+ demographics, and motion picture producers are going for the 14- to 26-year-old.

1. Hire the Right People. Successfully staffing your concession business starts with finding and hiring the right people for the job. Honesty and reliability are the first qualities we look for in a concession worker. A worker who also learns quickly and can multi-task is much better. If they are also friendly, outgoing, and energetic they are ideal. Perhaps, equally important; because the success of a food concession business depends on maximizing sales during peak sales times a worker must be able to work quickly and competently, while confidently managing hordes of impatient, hungry customers.

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All crafters hate reading these words in the top of an email from a craft fair they've been dying to get into. It really sucks, especially when you are trying to plan a craft fair schedule or you know it's a cool event and just really want to be part of it! What usually follows that regrettable sentence is a polite decline of your application, and some encouraging words that make you want to barf. Since it's that time of year where acceptance/decline emails are going out for some of the spring shows (in fact, I've already received a few non- acceptances for spring myself!), I thought I would share some of my thoughts on what to do when you get declined from a craft show.

What to do:

1. Remember that those who are running a craft fair might be looking at hundreds or even thousands of really great businesses, and at some point they will have to turn down applicants that are really great, just because of space. They simply have to accept some and have to decline some. They also have to offer a variety of different crafts for their event, so some really talented purse designers, for example, might be declined just because there happen to be lots of equally great purse designers entering that year.

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Jeri Goldstein Copyright 2012 The New Music Times, Inc.

Timing is everything. So having some idea of when artistic directors are most likely to focus on booking next year's festival will certainly give you an edge.

Since so many artists and agents are attempting to contact the festival, their booking schedule is not likely one of those items announced on their website. So here are a few guidelines to follow:

1. One month prior to the festival, they are busy and will be very unreceptive to booking calls.

2. Never call during the week prior to the festival or during the festival.

3. The week after the festival is usually a bad time since they are recuperating, regrouping or just plain relaxing.

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Two words, success and successful, have sparked heated conversations between artists on my blog.

I’ve learned that the definition of a ‘successful artist’ is subjective, and tends to vary from person to person. Nevertheless, there truly are things that most successful artists do differently.

Things Successful Artists Do Differently

Follow Their Effort:

Successful artists know their strengths, and that’s where they focus their efforts. In this world, the value of hard work cannot be substituted. Effort is the life-force and core reason for success. Yes, artists are passionate. But, passion and talent alone cannot take the place of hard work!

When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible. ~Unknown

At first glance, the following points by billionaire businessman Mark Cuban might seem counterintuitive. However, successful artists are constantly striving to better their craft with effort. Cuban states, “Don

Are You Considering Using A Daily Deal In Your Food Business?

Daily Deal sites like Groupon and Living Social have been around for a few years now. You've probably heard many arguments as to whether these programs are good for the independent food business owner. I admit that there are many pros and cons for using these and other types of coupon-ing or discount deal methods to attract customers to your business. I also think that the success or the benefit of using these programs depends on the preparation taken before you sign on.

The costs for taking part in a daily deal can be overwhelming for food business operators. Basically, if you choose to offer a daily deal, you will pay at least half of your sales to the Daily Deal companies. Then you must add-in any extra employees (yes, you may need this because many buyers will wait until the deal has almost ended before showing up-that could add up to a lot of extra customers in one or two days). Of course, you have your food cost to take into account as well. When you look at these numbers, you could view the daily deal method of marketing as a losing venture.

Do Daily Deals work for food businesses? It has been proven that you will increase the number of customers who will walk through your door. If you are not prepared for this onslaught of coupon- waving deal participants, it could be devastating to your business (as seen on the video).

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Adding your event for free in the FestivalNet.com database is a great first step! You're on your way to getting noticed in a big way as we get over 750,000+ monthly visitors! Be sure your listing has a great description and your event details are accurate and complete. Here are some additional ways to increase your exposure.

Co-Promote with FNO

We offer some sweet co-promotion opportunities! You scratch our back, we scratch yours! You get free Featured Event exposure for your event in exchange for promoting FNO! Learn more here.

Featured Events

Place your event at the top of the FNO general search results and on the FestivalNet.com Featured Events Map. Learn more here.

Advertising

You can also buy advertising like Banner, Button, or Newsletter ads. View our very reasonable rates and learn more here.

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Jeri Goldstein Copyright 2012 The New Music Times, Inc.

Getting into your festival of choice is not an easy task. There is so much competition vying for just so many performance slots. So how can you make yourself look more attractive to the artistic director?

First spend some time on the festival site and get familiar with what the festival is about. Get a real understanding of the scope of the festival and what the director is trying to accomplish with their programming. Look over last year's schedule and read all the workshop titles and who performed in those workshops. See anything familiar or performers that you know? Can you do something like what is being promoted here? Take a look at all the stages if it is a multi-stage festival. Those smaller stages are probably the right place for you to enter the festival if you are a first timer. As you view the main stage time slots and acts, can you see potential time slots that might be good for you to get your foot in the door that are not the prime time evening slots if the festival runs night stages?

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