Episode 1
From Stage to Bank: Mark Maxwell on Valuing Your Music and Making It Pay
Join host Jason K. Powers on an exciting debut episode of Backstage Money as he talks with Mark Maxwell, owner of Maxwell's House of Music and mentor to countless musicians. Mark shares his journey from working in his father's music store to running his own successful music shop and being a part of his band, The Crashers, for over 17 years. They discuss valuable tips on building and sustaining a music career, the importance of valuing your time and efforts, and strategies for making good financial decisions. Mark also reveals insights on how to rehearse properly, communicate effectively within a band, and manage band finances wisely. Whether you're in an original band or a cover band, this episode offers essential advice to help you thrive in the music industry. Don't miss it!
Subscribe on your favorite podcast channel: https://backstagemoney.captivate.fm/listen
Grab the "Gig Sheet" talked about in this episode at https://www.maxwellshouseofmusic.com
Get the free ebook, A Musicians Guide To Infinite Banking, at https://1024wealth.com/music
And don't forget to schedule a call with Jason K Powers and see what your financial future can look like - visit https://1024wealth.com/music
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Welcome to Backstage Money.
Speaker B:Real world finance for musicians.
Speaker B:I'm your host, Jason K. Powers, and today is an exciting episode.
Speaker B:I am very excited about this one and I think you're going to want to take notes.
Speaker B:Today I am joined by Mark Maxwell, owner of Maxwell's House of Music, a lifelong musician, a mentor to thousands of players through his store, lessons and stage programs.
Speaker B:We're going to talk shop about building your music business, serving a community, keeping the art alive.
Speaker B:Mark, welcome to the show.
Speaker A:Thanks, Jason.
Speaker A:Glad to be here.
Speaker A:It's a wonderful thing, talking music, talking money.
Speaker A:I like both of those things.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:We love it.
Speaker B:We love it.
Speaker B:And I'm loving the throne thing for our, for our viewers, those of you who are watching on streaming of some kind.
Speaker B:I love the throne scene we have going.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:This year.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker A:This is, this is something that, yeah, it was the idea of several people here and I just kind of all came together.
Speaker A:There's a fireman in our town who's a taking guitar lessons and we were talking about making a game of Thrones out of the, the Guitar Hero guitars.
Speaker A:And he said, I can build that for you.
Speaker A:I mean, you should see this thing.
Speaker A:It's massive and it's really amazing.
Speaker A:So, yeah, it is fun.
Speaker B:So fun.
Speaker A:But anyway, so how you doing?
Speaker A:You doing good?
Speaker B:Yeah, doing awesome.
Speaker B:I love, I love chatting with you and just learning all the insight you've got, which we're going to kind of unpack a little bit.
Speaker B:But first, you know, give me a.
Speaker B:Who is Mark Maxwell?
Speaker B:Where, where'd you, we say, how'd you get here?
Speaker B:You know, we were talking.
Speaker A:How'd I get here?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I, my family, my dad is a drummer, played here in Louisville area.
Speaker A:The Louisville area.
Speaker A:I'm in southern Indiana, which is Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Speaker A:And right across the bridge.
Speaker A:If you go across the bridge, you're in Louisville, Right.
Speaker A:So home of the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Fried Chicken, all the goodies.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:So I grew up in this area.
Speaker A:My, my dad was a drummer.
Speaker A:His band played on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars back in the day.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Which was a famous kind of thing that toured the, the countryside.
Speaker A:And anyway, then he eventually started working at music stores and then opened a music store and then I went to work for my dad and eventually I opened my own store.
Speaker A:So I, I, I worked with the family for a very long period of time.
Speaker A:I've always played music since I was a kid.
Speaker A:I've been in several bands.
Speaker A:I was in an original band for 10 years, and then I was then, you know, played here, there, and everywhere, and eventually ended up playing in a band that I play in now called the Crashers.
Speaker A:Been the same six guys for 17 years, which is crazy.
Speaker A:And, you know, the p. People will talk, ask me all the time, they'll say, man, how'd your band stay together?
Speaker A:I'd say, because we make a bunch of money.
Speaker A:And when you're paid a lot of money to be in a band, you stay in that band.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Particularly that.
Speaker A:These guys are also very nice.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so, yeah, I've always worked at a music store.
Speaker A:I've always played music in a band.
Speaker A:It's the kind of.
Speaker A:The two things that have been always, you know, in my life.
Speaker A:I love doing it.
Speaker A:I love people that play music.
Speaker A:I want to encourage people to play music.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, I.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:My brother is the drummer in my band.
Speaker A:He owns a drum store directly next door to me.
Speaker A:So I have this store which is mostly guitars and keys and some electronic drums, but my brother's way into drums, and he has a custom kind of drum store next door to me.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, so it's kind of been a family thing all my life, that this is what we did.
Speaker A:We played music.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So we don't know anymore or any less than that.
Speaker A:My dad, I would think you'd probably say he's kind of the.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The Godfather of music in Louisville, Kentucky.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That kind of.
Speaker A:He's just been around here forever, and he's done a lot of things, and so.
Speaker A:And he's done a lot of good for the community.
Speaker A:So, you know, I think that's where I'm a life.
Speaker B:A lifer in the industry.
Speaker A:He definitely is.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's been around it forever.
Speaker A:He owned, you know, the biggest music store in town as far as that goes.
Speaker A:And he, you know, he.
Speaker A:The best thing is that he taught me how to give back.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:My dad started.
Speaker A:My dad was in a real bad car wreck.
Speaker A:I was 10th grade in school, and he had a really bad car wreck.
Speaker A:And he was a drummer.
Speaker A:He was working at his music store during the daytime and, of course, playing gigs six nights a week, because back in the day, that's what you did.
Speaker A:Musicians played six nights a week.
Speaker A:He was playing, was driving home, he wrecked.
Speaker A:It was a really horrific accident and took him a long time to heal.
Speaker A:But after that fact, his friends got together and put on a big community benefit from my dad.
Speaker A:And all kinds of money came in I remember this.
Speaker A:I was like.
Speaker A:I said, I was 10th grade.
Speaker A:I remember at home when we got done after that event, there was cash on our kitchen table, like just stacks of money.
Speaker A:And I remember my dad saying, well, I.
Speaker A:We need this much to survive.
Speaker A:Now I'm going to take the rest of this and I'm going to give it away.
Speaker A:And so he started a thing in town in Louisville called murph, the Musicians Emergency Relief Fund.
Speaker A:And so if you were somebody and you needed some money, my dad would give you, hand you money.
Speaker A:So literally a drummer had a car wreck, got all his teeth knocked out.
Speaker A:My dad bought him new teeth, right?
Speaker A:My, you know, you, you.
Speaker A:He always called it putting beans on the table.
Speaker A:If you couldn't afford your electricity bill, my dad would try to pay for it.
Speaker A:It was like.
Speaker A:So he was very good at taking care of the people in his town, right?
Speaker A:And so that was, you know, I. I think I learned really well from him doing what he did.
Speaker A:So again, eventually, I did my own store, doing my own vibe.
Speaker A:And of course, if you're in a band, that was a.
Speaker A:That was a fluke, to be honest with you.
Speaker A:One of my guys at the store said, hey, sit down and tell me what you would do because your band's very successful.
Speaker A:I built a band in the town.
Speaker A:We were very.
Speaker A:Was the first band I ever treated like a business.
Speaker A:First time ever in my life.
Speaker A:Like, I really just kind of always played in the band.
Speaker A:Hey, let's go play.
Speaker A:Because that's what they call it.
Speaker A:Play.
Speaker A:Let's go play music.
Speaker A:Let's just play.
Speaker A:You know, it's not real, it's just play.
Speaker A:But I was like, I really want to.
Speaker A:I really want to build a business, right?
Speaker A:I want to build something that's going to be great.
Speaker A:And so I started to.
Speaker A:Started a band and.
Speaker A:And we treated it like a business from the.
Speaker A:The get go.
Speaker A:And it kind of blew up.
Speaker A:And anyway, a couple of years ago, one of my employees said, hey, you need to talk about building a band and what it takes and what you ought to do, you know, because I'm always giving people advice.
Speaker A:And so I did it.
Speaker A:I did it really for the people in.
Speaker A:In the Louisville area.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:It wasn't supposed to go nationwide or worldwide.
Speaker A:And now people in Australia and New Zealand and Canada and everywhere else are watching it.
Speaker A:So it's been a crazy thing.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:And for those of you who don't know of this, what Mark is talking about, can I.
Speaker B:Can I just say it if.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:If you're in a band.
Speaker A:No, no, no.
Speaker B:If you're in a band, and so that's.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker A:If you're going to say it, say it right.
Speaker B:We're gonna, we're gonna do it.
Speaker B:If you're in a band.
Speaker A:No, come on.
Speaker B:Some things today.
Speaker A:Come on.
Speaker A:No, if you're in a band.
Speaker B:If you're.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:If you're in a band is how it started.
Speaker A:So it started kind of goofy, right?
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:If you're in a band, you do whatever, right?
Speaker A:You, you, you drink a lot of water before the weekend, right?
Speaker A:Because you're going to get dehydrated, right?
Speaker A:If you're in a band at practice, maybe you should practice really soft so you can hear every mistake, right?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And also that you can work on your dynamics.
Speaker A:Like, I gave all of the tips that I possibly could come up with.
Speaker A:I still do to this day.
Speaker A:But yes, if you're in a band, maybe you ought to think about how much money.
Speaker A:You know, the first one I did was all about money.
Speaker A:It was about value and your time, right?
Speaker A:More than anything.
Speaker A:It was like.
Speaker A:So I, the, The whole, the very first one kind of got me in some hot water because I was like, hey, you know, I've spent my life learning to play guitar, to be a singer, to rehearse, to play in my bedroom, to rehearse with the band, you know, and, and played a bunch of gigs.
Speaker A:And, and by now, with all that time I've put in, I could have been a surgeon.
Speaker A:I mean, literally, it could have been a surgeon, right?
Speaker A:So why am I not being paid like a surgeon, Right?
Speaker A:Why is it that musicians.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you why it is, but it just blows my mind that we don't value the amount of time that we've put into this thing we call playing music, right?
Speaker A:And, and, and, and, and so until you value your time more, you're never going to really make any money.
Speaker A:And people are.
Speaker A:Will say, oh, it's my town.
Speaker A:My town won't allow that to happen.
Speaker A:That's not true at all.
Speaker A:We proved it.
Speaker A:We were all playing in $500 bands 17 years ago, literally playing in five.
Speaker A:Each one of us playing in bands that were 500 a night, right?
Speaker A:And we, we built this thing, and in less than five years, we were at a level that's just ridiculous financially meaning.
Speaker A:And so I think we kind of proved that we could do it, right?
Speaker A:And then I wanted to share it with the world.
Speaker A:And so I did, actually.
Speaker A:I wanted to share it with people in Louisville, but it made it around the world, and now we're sitting here talking about it.
Speaker A:Because you've seen it before, right?
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker A:I did not.
Speaker A:I did.
Speaker A:I did nothing.
Speaker A:Like, we didn't do anything that.
Speaker A:That made it go where it went.
Speaker A:It was just obviously something that no one had ever talked about, and it just grew very quickly.
Speaker A:So strange but true.
Speaker B:So, yeah.
Speaker A:Anyway, that's great.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So on the advice you give in this series, you've got.
Speaker B:I don't know how many points you have now out there.
Speaker A:200 something.
Speaker B:Okay, so what do you think?
Speaker B:What's the top two or three that stand out for you the most?
Speaker B:You know, lessons for artists that maybe save them time or money or relates to money and habits or building the business.
Speaker B:You know, just monetarily speaking.
Speaker B:What can they learn?
Speaker A:Now?
Speaker A:It just depends on your goals.
Speaker A:So if you said, hey, I want to be.
Speaker A:There's two sides to this.
Speaker A:I want to be an original band, or I want to be a cover band.
Speaker A:So when you get into this thing, there are two roads to choose from.
Speaker A:Hey, I want to be a cover band.
Speaker A:Okay, let's talk about that.
Speaker A:What that means.
Speaker A:I want to be in an original band.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Those two roads are different.
Speaker A:And I think when you say, first, this is what we're going to be, we're going to be an original band.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:We're going to be a cover band.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I do think it's important to be one or the other.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm a. I just don't know many bands that have done really well being both.
Speaker A:So I would say choose one.
Speaker A:Start.
Speaker A:At least start by saying, we're going to be this or we're going to be that.
Speaker A:And then you have to say, well, what are my goals?
Speaker A:What do I really want from this?
Speaker A:Well, after me living for such a long period of time.
Speaker A:I was 42 when we started the band that I'm in called the Crashers.
Speaker A:And here's what we came up with.
Speaker A:We sat around a table and everybody said, well, if this could be the last band you ever played in, what would it.
Speaker A:What would.
Speaker A:What would make you stay.
Speaker A:What would make you want to stay here and do this?
Speaker A:Well, one guy said, well, I'd like to be.
Speaker A:I'd like to make the most money I've ever made playing in a band.
Speaker A:Okay, write that down.
Speaker A:Next guy said, I don't want to Play past one o' clock in the morning, okay?
Speaker A:Write it down.
Speaker A:The other guy said, I don't want to.
Speaker A:I don't want to.
Speaker A:What was it?
Speaker A:Oh, I want to play in front of the.
Speaker A:The most amount of people that any band's ever played in our town, okay?
Speaker A:And the other guy said, I want to play the best gigs in our town.
Speaker A:The next person said, I don't ever want to move my equipment again.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:I want somebody else to move my equipment for me.
Speaker A:So we wrote down all those things as goals.
Speaker A:Here are the goals.
Speaker A:So what would we have to do to get these six goals that we wrote down?
Speaker A:Well, how would we get there?
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:And so we just kind of reverse engineered, like I said.
Speaker A:Okay, so, guys, we're all standing on this.
Speaker A:Took weeks and months of talking, right?
Speaker A:Because it was like a game plan.
Speaker A:It was like, hey, here's how we're going to win.
Speaker A:And I don't think enough bands do that.
Speaker A:I think they think it's all about getting in and rehearsing the band and being in a rehearsal room and then go playing a gig.
Speaker A:It's really not.
Speaker A:It's, where is your destination?
Speaker A:Where do you want to go with this thing?
Speaker A:What do you want to happen and see happen?
Speaker A:And where can your limiting beliefs.
Speaker A:If you know anything about limiting beliefs, you should study these.
Speaker A:Limiting beliefs stopped you from getting wherever you want to go.
Speaker A:And I think that's the biggest problem that I had when I was younger.
Speaker A:I don't have them anymore.
Speaker A:I do have beliefs about myself still.
Speaker A:That's really strange.
Speaker A:But I try to talk myself out of them.
Speaker A:So I think we as musicians have our beliefs that we can only go this far or we can only be worth this much money.
Speaker A:And if you'll just kind of keep.
Speaker A:Get rid of that belief and, and believe a little higher level, you can do anything you want.
Speaker A:I mean, my band, it's weird, man, how we ended up.
Speaker A:You know, I. I've started to do some zoom calls with bands to where they're all sitting in a room and I'm sitting there with them and I'm trying to say, all right, tell me where you guys want to go and I'll help you get there.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:I started to do that more and more lately because I don't know if they.
Speaker A:If they can see the end result very well.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm a guy who can go, okay, if these are the goals, how would we get there?
Speaker A:How would we.
Speaker A:If this was going to be the end cap of what we were going to do, what would it take to get there?
Speaker A:And so we got there literally in three and a half years, and strongly there by five years of being a band.
Speaker A:So by the fifth year, we were solid with every goal that we had, right?
Speaker A:And with that, I, I just, I. I was like, wow.
Speaker A:But the problem is, is we were too dumb, and we stayed at that same level for five more years as opposed to going, hey, wait a minute.
Speaker A:What if we doubled up on all of this, right?
Speaker A:Because we set a financial goal.
Speaker A:This is how much we're going to be a night, right?
Speaker A:And it was so ridiculous that none of us could even believe it, but we tried, you know, it was like, hey, let's be $5,000 a night, right?
Speaker A:Let's be $5,000 a Night.
Speaker A:We were all playing in $500 bands.
Speaker A:Let's be $5,000 A Night.
Speaker A:That was just like, literally saying, hey, I'm going to do a long jump, and I can only jump 5ft, but I'm going to go ahead and jump 10ft, right?
Speaker A:I'm going to go myself, right?
Speaker A:So we go.
Speaker A:Something we never thought we could do, but we thought, why not just try to get our belief system behind it?
Speaker A:And so we did, and we ended up getting there.
Speaker A:And then we went way further than that.
Speaker A:And now, like, it's just amazing how if you just stop stopping yourself from doing great stuff, you can do anything, anything you set your.
Speaker A:Your mind to.
Speaker A:And so, I don't know, I think we've proven it as a band.
Speaker A:What I'd like to do is I'd like to prove it, because I've proven.
Speaker A:I've proven what you could do with in a cover band.
Speaker A:But now I'd like to take these same principles on an original band and say, all right, let me show you step by step what we did to get there, right?
Speaker A:Because I can tell you what we did step by step to get us to the point of being a very expensive cover band, Right?
Speaker A:Yeah, I can tell you how to do that and also how to stay together.
Speaker A:You know, again, money keeps you together.
Speaker A:If you're making a lot of money, why not?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Well, let's talk about that for a second.
Speaker B:Like, on the flip side of it, you know, what's some of the biggest, you know, money?
Speaker B:Making mistakes you see young bands, local bands make when it comes to growing.
Speaker A:Well, they don't know.
Speaker A:I'll tell you this.
Speaker A:If I was a young band again, I would.
Speaker A:I'd offer myself, and I got criticized for this, too.
Speaker A:But I would offer myself up to free to one place in my town.
Speaker A:So if I lived in any city, I would go find a pizza joint or a, a bar somewhere that's doesn't have much going on.
Speaker A:You could go to with your band and walk in and say, hey, could we be your house band every Monday night?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:We don't want anything for it.
Speaker A:We don't want to, you know, I know you're.
Speaker A:I went to a place and said, tell me your worst night.
Speaker A:Well, Monday nights are definitely our worst night.
Speaker A:Okay, could we come here and play every week for an hour, hour and a half, maybe two hours every week and just invite our friends and make this thing a big deal?
Speaker A:They said, yeah, well, we started doing that and then every, that place got packed to the point it was a big deal.
Speaker A:Well then you go around to all the rest of the places in town and say, hey, come see us this Monday night.
Speaker A:We're going to be playing at this place.
Speaker A:It's packed full of people and anybody that owns any place in town is going to walk in and go, oh my gosh, I want this band to play at my place.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So I would tell young bands to try to find a place where they can kind of, you know, become a really good band and be consistent.
Speaker A:You know, like again, once a week gig somewhere where they can go in and set up and play, invite all their friends, and eventually they invite everybody on the planet to come see their band.
Speaker A:I would do that in my town again if it was me.
Speaker A:I just think that.
Speaker A:I think that the biggest problem is that you're not being seen.
Speaker A:There's not enough people in your town that know who you are.
Speaker A:My band's a pretty popular band, but you can still walk down the street and say, hey, have you ever heard a band called the Crashers?
Speaker A:And people go, no, no.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And we've been doing this for 17 years.
Speaker A:So you would think everybody in this town would know who we are and they don't.
Speaker A:So I would also.
Speaker A:Again, most people don't know who you are as a band.
Speaker A:And so you've got to find a way to get people to know who you are.
Speaker A:And so I think as a young band, that would be my first thing to do.
Speaker A:And then as you pack the place and the guy's making money hand over fist on whatever, pizza, beer, whatever, then ask for some money, start getting paid well to play that gig.
Speaker A:And then when other people show up from other clubs to try to book you, you can say, hey, man, this is what we ask for.
Speaker A:This is the price.
Speaker A:Second thing is that everybody prices themselves way under, right?
Speaker A:There are bands in this town paying for $300.
Speaker A:There are bands playing for $500.
Speaker A:Are they crazy?
Speaker A:Seriously, like, I just blows my mind that they.
Speaker A:Now here's the thing.
Speaker A:If you can't draw any people, can't ask what you want.
Speaker A:If I can pack your place out, I'm worth a lot of money.
Speaker A:So maybe the right question is, what would make people show up and watch my dance?
Speaker A:Maybe that's the right question to ask.
Speaker A:Not, how do I make more money?
Speaker A:Well, how do you get more people?
Speaker A:Because if you have a whole bunch of people showing up and watch your band, guess what happens?
Speaker A:You can ask for whatever you want, and I'll be glad or anybody be glad to pay you.
Speaker A:You pack their place.
Speaker A:That's the question.
Speaker A:How do you pack a room?
Speaker A:How do you get followers?
Speaker B:Well, and I know, and there's a lot of right now, in particular, a discussion going on in the online platforms about, do you even take a chance in doing these free gigs?
Speaker B:Are.
Speaker B:You know, some have an issue with that, right?
Speaker A:And you don't.
Speaker A:You should.
Speaker A:You should have an issue with it, but you pick one place, you don't.
Speaker A:I can't use that word.
Speaker A:You don't give yourself away.
Speaker A:Okay, look at the harshest word for that.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But don't give yourself away, right?
Speaker A:In other words, give yourself away at one place.
Speaker A:Find one place that's not doing very well that you can go in, set up your gear, play a show, invite all your friends, all your family, and then start meeting people to say, hey.
Speaker A:Every Monday night we do this thing.
Speaker A:As you build that, it shouldn't take you four to eight weeks before the place is kicking, right?
Speaker A:And you can go back to the guy and say, hey, man, this is how much we want to do this thing and stay here at your place on Monday nights.
Speaker A:He'll pay you whatever.
Speaker A:I mean, literally, he.
Speaker A:He'll pay you a very good sum because the fact is, you're making money.
Speaker A:That's what happened to us.
Speaker A:We had a fan, little pizza place.
Speaker A:Guy wasn't making any money on a Monday night.
Speaker A:We started playing, and the next thing you know, we're like, you know, a very popular thing.
Speaker A:The place is packed and.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And the guy's paying us good money to play his gig.
Speaker A:And then we didn't play free anywhere else, anywhere.
Speaker A:So somebody came to us and we'd say, hey, yeah, we're a thousand dollars.
Speaker A:It was Simple Simon.
Speaker A:We were a young band and it worked, right?
Speaker A:And they'd be like, okay, we'll pay you $1,000.
Speaker A:That was three times more than any band was making at the time, you know, So I don't have a problem with people playing a free gig, as long as it's the same gig.
Speaker A:And you don't want to give yourself away at every place in town.
Speaker A:So just pick one place, start there, Build your crowd, build your following.
Speaker A:That's what I say.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker B:I think there's something to be said about too, where in a way, you know, you're starting out like that.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker B:You're helping them, they're helping you.
Speaker B:It's not just about, well, let me come in and me be me, right?
Speaker B:It's a little bit of it.
Speaker B:Give.
Speaker A:Listen, it's.
Speaker A:My dad always said to me, he said, look, look, a good deal is a good deal for you and a good deal for them, right?
Speaker A:You can't win and they lose.
Speaker A:They can't win and you lose.
Speaker A:What's happening?
Speaker A:That's the problem is that a lot of people.
Speaker A:I'm not going to blame it on clubs, but there are a lot of places in town who are winning in the music.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, I'll tell you where.
Speaker A:Who's winning.
Speaker A:Nashville, Tennessee, is winning.
Speaker A:Every club in that place has got a lot of people in their club, and here's a band in there, and every one of those musicians is losing because they're playing for pennies.
Speaker A:They're playing for pennies, and they should stop playing in Nashville, period.
Speaker A:Nashville's the music city.
Speaker A:Well, show us the love.
Speaker A:Show us the love.
Speaker A:If you're the music city, why don't you pay us to play?
Speaker A:Because you're making a ton of money in your bar, and they are, through sponsorships, through the people standing at the bar, paying $12 for a beer.
Speaker A:Give me a break, right?
Speaker A:So I, I. Nashville makes me really, my blood boil.
Speaker A:But you know why?
Speaker A:Mostly because the musicians will just be like, well, we can't do anything to stop it.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, you can not play there.
Speaker A:You can absolutely say, no matter back, you call me.
Speaker A:I'll be glad to talk you through how to make your band profitable on the COVID side.
Speaker A:It's hard to make it profitable on the original side, but we can talk about ways to do that, too.
Speaker A:But I think people are giving theirselves away.
Speaker A:Their talent, what they've worked their whole lives towards, right?
Speaker A:And I. I think it's a travesty I do.
Speaker A:It breaks my heart.
Speaker A:Especially.
Speaker A:Especially in Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker A:Breaks my heart.
Speaker A:I go down there and watch musicians playing and I know they're playing for pennies, and it just breaks my heart.
Speaker B:So how do you.
Speaker B:How do people wrestle with the mindset of.
Speaker B:Well, because I'm sure a lot of them are.
Speaker B:I don't want to turn this down because I don't want to lose the exposure.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And for me to say no just means no work, you know?
Speaker B:Does it really?
Speaker A:I hear there's that.
Speaker B:That fear.
Speaker B:That fear of, well, if I keep saying no to stuff like this and what to do, you know, I'll never get anywhere.
Speaker B:I feel.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, that is.
Speaker A:That is something.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's not right, but it's something.
Speaker A:I will say this to you if I'll use the word.
Speaker A:I can't use that word.
Speaker A:Trying to not be raw and nasty.
Speaker A:I don't think I can tell you what worked for us.
Speaker A:We built something that had a killer website.
Speaker A:And it looked like we were rock stars on our website.
Speaker A:And we pushed that website to every bar, every joint in town, every event place, every dressmaker, every tuck shop, every flower shop, any place that we thought was going to be some kind of event, one of the three, either a public event, a corporate event, or maybe even a wedding.
Speaker A:And so we pushed our website out to everybody.
Speaker A:And then when they called us, we priced ourselves out of the market heavily, right to where we had to listen to no a lot for about six months or a year.
Speaker A:But then by that point, something had happened where people had never heard a band say, no, I won't play, right?
Speaker A:Like, we became the first choice for people to call.
Speaker A:But we would say, I wish we could do that.
Speaker A:We just can't.
Speaker A:I wish we could.
Speaker A: But we're $: Speaker A:And people could not believe that.
Speaker A:I would not.
Speaker A:Well, how about if we did 900?
Speaker A:I'd say, man, I wish we could.
Speaker A:Well, what do I.
Speaker A:What about twelve hundred dollars?
Speaker A:Man, I wish we could.
Speaker A:I wish we could.
Speaker A:Now at that moment, you're value in yourself, your time, your life, and your product that you're designing now.
Speaker A:If you don't believe in your product, then fine, go give it away.
Speaker A:Just go give it away.
Speaker A:But if you spent your time and you thought about it and you worked hard and you built that product up, you wouldn't want to give it away.
Speaker A:You just wouldn't want to.
Speaker A:It doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker A:At all.
Speaker A:I don't care what band you're in.
Speaker A:I know how to.
Speaker A:There's about 25 things that you would have to do, but if you did all of those things, you could be very profitable, and your band could be one of the biggest bands in your community, in your town.
Speaker A:You just have to change the way you're thinking because we are thinking wrong.
Speaker A:I promise you that.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:We are thinking wrong.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker B:Yeah, I say that all the time, too, you know, the change of thinking to change your thinking.
Speaker B:And in my business, you know, it's changed the way you think about your finances, and it will change your life and what you're saying.
Speaker A:It will change.
Speaker B:Change the way you value yourself, the way you see yourself in the business and what you're.
Speaker B:Where are your boundaries?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:Where.
Speaker B:Where are you going to draw lines and say, I'm just not going to cross this line?
Speaker A:Even though it's tempting, you know, man, it's very tempting.
Speaker A:And here's the thing.
Speaker A:My guys in my band got very mad at me the first year because I'd said no to a lot of things, a lot of good things.
Speaker A:I mean, like.
Speaker A:Like things that I would have never said no to in the past.
Speaker A:Never.
Speaker A:And they were like, why would we.
Speaker A:Why don't we do this?
Speaker A:What are we doing?
Speaker A:I said, we're getting everybody to respect us is what we're doing.
Speaker A:We're getting everybody in this town to understand that we value our time.
Speaker A:We under.
Speaker A:We value what we're doing, and we're creating this buzz in the town that we may have something special.
Speaker A:Now, you do have to show up.
Speaker A:When you do show up with something special, right?
Speaker A:You have to.
Speaker A:You have to show up and swing a big bat.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And of course, we had a whole year to work on swinging a big bat, and we eventually did.
Speaker A:We got to that point to where, hey, we can go in here and swing a really big bat, and it's going to work for us.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It's almost like a band.
Speaker A:It's weird.
Speaker A:I even told my guys when we were playing, I was like, don't quit your band that you're playing in now.
Speaker A:Don't quit your band because you're going to be mad at me because I'm going to let go of all these great gigs that your band's not even getting offered, but we're going to get offered, and I'm going to say no to them so that they'll believe that we're A better product than not.
Speaker A:I mean, it's like anything else, man.
Speaker A:It's me holding up a Mercedes key and me holding up a Ford key and me saying, which one would you like to have?
Speaker A:And if, and if you said, if I said, here's a free car sitting outside, which one would you pick, Jason?
Speaker A:Would you pick the Mercedes key or would you pick the four key, pick.
Speaker B:The free Mercedes, man.
Speaker A:It would.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:You would.
Speaker A:Everybody would.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:More value.
Speaker A:Because you believe it's more value.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker A:You believe this Kia is more value and it could very well be.
Speaker A: miles and be a: Speaker A:And this Ford key could have been a brand new one right off the lot with no mileage on it and worth 30, 40, $50,000.
Speaker A:So perception is what we're selling here, right?
Speaker A:How do you get people to perceive that your band is worth more than the next band?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And then how do you deliver?
Speaker A:How do you deliver?
Speaker A:How do you become something that's so good, that draws so many people, that you're undeniable?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:That's what I can teach a band to do.
Speaker A:That's what I can teach anybody to do in two ways.
Speaker A:I can teach them in the business sort because everybody goes in the rehearsal room and rehearses.
Speaker A:They rehearse wrong, by the way, but they do rehearse.
Speaker A:So I, we have, I have a specific way to rehearse a band and I have a specific way to deal with the business that actually does work and will, you know, but I don't know that we ever learned how to rehearse right in the rehearsal room.
Speaker A:And I don't think we definitely.
Speaker A:No one ever taught us how to run our business at all.
Speaker A:Matter of fact, it's barely ever talked about.
Speaker A:You know, this is the music business.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker A:It really is.
Speaker A:And, and how do you get ahead in that?
Speaker A:How do you win that, that, you know, that fight?
Speaker A:And so I don't know.
Speaker A:I think that's why I started doing these.
Speaker A:These, if you're in a bad things is because I, I felt like I knew how to do it and I, I mean, I proved how to do it with more than just my band.
Speaker A:There are now bands in our town that are making ridiculous money, right?
Speaker A:And they're just following our direction, right.
Speaker A:Kind of what we did and how we did it.
Speaker A:So anybody can do this in any town, everywhere in the world, and people will say to you straight up, it won't Happen in my town.
Speaker A:Okay, you're, you're right.
Speaker A:It will not happen in your town.
Speaker A:100%.
Speaker A:You are 100% correct.
Speaker A:Or you can say, I'm going to change everything about my town and how it works so it can be done.
Speaker A:It just takes a brave soldier to take off on this thing.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker B:So, so let's meet one piece of advice on the back end.
Speaker B:So, you know, we've talked about a little bit of getting, getting paid.
Speaker B:Okay, so now you've gotten paid or you're consistently getting paid.
Speaker B:What are some practical advice steps for bands at that point?
Speaker B:Or maybe don't do this.
Speaker B:We, and you know, in other calls, we, we talk about, you know, where not to place your money.
Speaker B:Make sure you're warehousing your money a little bit somewhere.
Speaker A:Investing money.
Speaker A:Oh, my years.
Speaker A:I tell you what I wish we would have done.
Speaker A:I wish that our van would have done what we talked about going into year five.
Speaker A:If we would have, we would have been a much better off band, right?
Speaker A:Whether it was taking some of a portion of our money.
Speaker A:Because what we did with our money is we split that money up.
Speaker A:We, we put each guy.
Speaker A:There were six guys who started the band.
Speaker A:Each one of them got 10%.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So whatever money we were getting, 10% was going to.
Speaker A:So 60% of the money was off the table.
Speaker A:So now there's 40% of the money.
Speaker A:Now we knew we wanted a road crew and we were like, well, how much is that going to cost us?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Well, it's going to cost us 300 to get.
Speaker A:For you guys to set up our gear and tear it down, okay?
Speaker A:So we budgeted that, which was about 20% of the money, right?
Speaker A:But then we had this other 20% that was left over.
Speaker A:So we got into the point we're even doing that to this, to this very day.
Speaker A:We talk about percentages, like that person's paid 2% of our money or that person's paid 3% of our money.
Speaker A:Like, we know our, like, again, it is a business.
Speaker A:Like, it is a real business.
Speaker A:And so reinvesting that money and whether it be in real estate or in the stock market or however you decide to reinvest so that your band can come out of this thing and actually have some kind of money to, to survive with, right?
Speaker A:In the long run of life.
Speaker A:Hey, I, I, I. Yeah, I can't say enough about that.
Speaker A:I wish we would have done better than what we did.
Speaker A:We did do a good thing.
Speaker A: st, you know, the hindsight's: Speaker A:It's like you, you get through it and you go, man, just imagine.
Speaker A:A matter of fact, if you're an original band, my opinion, I'll say this.
Speaker A:I think you should record 12 songs a year, right?
Speaker A:Every month.
Speaker A:I think you should go in the studio and cut a song and release it every month.
Speaker A:Release it, Release it, release it, release it.
Speaker A:If you did that in three years, you'd have three full records out, right?
Speaker A:But what happens with the original bands is they'll, they'll go and they'll record something and then they don't record anything for two or three years later, right?
Speaker A:If that, the consistency of anything works better than nothing.
Speaker A:And that's money or anything else.
Speaker A:So you want big muscles, go to the gym and lift a weight every day.
Speaker A:You'll have big muscles.
Speaker A:There's no if, ands or buts.
Speaker A:You are going to be stronger person if you go to the gym.
Speaker A:Do that.
Speaker A:If your band does the same thing, be consistent.
Speaker A:If you're writing songs, be consistent.
Speaker A:If you're recording songs, be consistent.
Speaker A:If you've got money that you've made and you're making good money, like all of my personal money from my band, I live on my day job and my band is my fun money, right?
Speaker A:So I go, I travel with that money, I invest with that money.
Speaker A:I do all kinds of things with that money from my band as opposed to using it right in, in any kind of, you know, living expense way.
Speaker A:So I have two jobs.
Speaker A:I work at a music store that pays my electricity, my house, my car, whatever that is.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:My living expenses.
Speaker A:So it's another thing.
Speaker A:Most musicians cannot survive on just being a musician.
Speaker A:Even though there are a lot of guys in this town that are just musicians, but a lot of them also will learn to teach.
Speaker A:So there'll be teachers during the day, musicians at night.
Speaker A:So investment wise.
Speaker A:Yeah, I wish we would have been smarter.
Speaker A:I. I really do.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:Especially since we've been together for 17 years because for the last 12 years of that we could have had a killer nest egg as opposed to not realizing it till about year 10 that we should have done it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And that's a conversation that comes up just in about every recording we do is you hear it.
Speaker B:I wish I would have started some kind of mistake, some kind of saving, some kind of something when I got started or early on, or when I can't.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And I think that's a common theme throughout this, and that's actually one of the main reasons I wanted to start this podcast to begin with, was because you hear that, you know, you run into situations, you start seeing musicians, even very well known musicians, internationally known, you know, who haven't been on the forefront lately.
Speaker B:Some crisis happens and all of a sudden there's a GoFundMe page up and.
Speaker A:You'Re thinking, why in the world does that guy have a GoFundMe page?
Speaker B:Right, right, right.
Speaker B:And it's, you know, thankful that there are institutions like GoFundMe where they have that capability.
Speaker B:But also, my gosh, if we could instill some systems and processes and planning in the early years and get those kinds of things put in place where you have these safety nets and you don't have to go to the public, you know, for that.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, you're.
Speaker A:This is exactly.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's an interesting thing because you're dealing, okay?
Speaker A:So you work your.
Speaker A:You work really hard to be able to do something and all of a sudden you get to that point to where, oh, wow, I'm now making a good living by playing music.
Speaker A:But you forget that one day you're going to have a bad back, you're not going to be able to walk, your knees are shot, whatever it be, and you have no money left.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:At all.
Speaker A:You have no nest egg whatsoever.
Speaker A:Nest egg is not a word musicians use.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Which is why most people leave being a musician and they go do anything else.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:In the whole wide world, they.
Speaker A:Which is kind of sad.
Speaker A:Again, we don't charge enough money for what we do and how, and how long it's taken us to get to this point to be able to do this.
Speaker A:And we don't need to give ourselves away and we need to get paid better.
Speaker A:And then we need to realize what we do with that money.
Speaker A:Even if it's just 20% of your money that you go, okay, for the rest of my life, no matter what, 20% of my money is going to go somewhere else.
Speaker A:I'm going to save that money.
Speaker A:I'm going to invest that money.
Speaker A:I'm going to.
Speaker A:I want to buy my.
Speaker A:You know, I have a friend who took all his and just did real estate right now.
Speaker A:He's up to like 27 houses, right?
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker A:And I'm like, dude, I've seen several musicians do that.
Speaker A:I remember where they actually kind of started again.
Speaker A:Any kind of investment, anything is good, right?
Speaker A:Just take 20% of your money and if you don't know anything to do with it.
Speaker A:Get a guy like you, right?
Speaker A:You're out there talking about this because it's.
Speaker A:It is a need.
Speaker A:It's horrific.
Speaker A:It's crazy to me is what it is.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker A:Who am I?
Speaker A:I'm just some dude.
Speaker B:Indiana, hey, you made it this far.
Speaker B:You made it this far.
Speaker B:Okay, so.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:If you're in a band, what is one of your.
Speaker B:What's probably your favorite piece of advice that comes up?
Speaker B:And people are like, I never knew.
Speaker B:I never thought about that.
Speaker B:I mean, do you have something?
Speaker B:I know it's probably every point.
Speaker B:I'm sure every point you give is like.
Speaker B:Everybody's like, wow.
Speaker B:You know?
Speaker B:But what's kind of one that's a.
Speaker A:Lot, A lot of favorite one?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I don't think there's a favorite point.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:I don't think there is.
Speaker A:I mean, there's.
Speaker A:There's points that people say, you know, I know this.
Speaker A:I just didn't think about it, right?
Speaker A:I know this.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I never thought about it like this.
Speaker A:Or I know these tips.
Speaker A:I just don't think about them often.
Speaker A:And now it's bringing me back to, you know, to thinking about them.
Speaker A:So I don't know what to say about that.
Speaker A:I don't think there's any one point.
Speaker A:I do think that.
Speaker A:I do think I wish that we would have more conversations.
Speaker A:That's what I wish.
Speaker A:I wish we'd had more conversations about what we're doing.
Speaker A:But we kind of get in our little bubble of our band and we don't really have community with other bands.
Speaker A:So I think if I was going to talk about anything, it's trying to make a community of people, you know, like minded people in your town.
Speaker A:So all the COVID bands, not that you're starting up, you know, you don't have to start a, you know, group or, I mean, you know, but.
Speaker A:But it just.
Speaker A:It is a thing to have a community of people who do what you do in your own town so that you guys can talk about, you know, how you.
Speaker A:How.
Speaker A:Because there's bands in town doing things I wish I was doing, right?
Speaker A:And so it's.
Speaker A:It's not like I know everything.
Speaker A:I'm watching other bands and learning from them.
Speaker A:It's not, you know, I just keep learning.
Speaker A:But I'm.
Speaker A:I tell you what I won't do is keep making the same mistake over and over, right?
Speaker A:How stupid is that?
Speaker A:You Know I will not do that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And I think the next phase for me and my band is that we've kind of become a backup band for a lot of bigger artists now.
Speaker A:So we're.
Speaker A:We're going down the Dominican and playing a show, and we're going to play in Vegas.
Speaker A:Also backing up Mike Reno from Lover Boy and.
Speaker A:And John Elefante from Kansas and several people like that.
Speaker A:So we've become that band that's kind of like a backup band for artists.
Speaker A:In other words, it was like, okay, we would just want to play this bar in our town, right?
Speaker A:To where, well, we want to play this event.
Speaker A:Well, we want to play this event.
Speaker A:And we just kept staging it to the point to where, wow, all of a sudden, Kid Rock stand on stage with this and we're like, how did this happen?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I know how it happened.
Speaker A:And now all I want to do is try to share it, but it's a very individualized thing.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So I can't.
Speaker A:I can say all these tips and you can try to put your own little roadmap together, but until we had a conversation about your specific band, your specific band is going to be different than my band.
Speaker A:And so we really need to decide how do we deal with that?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:How do we deal with your band?
Speaker A:Like, what is it that you have?
Speaker A:Or what would you do or want to do, and how far can that take you?
Speaker A:You know, my friend started a ACDC tribute band and he went to this point and he knew it wasn't going to go any bigger.
Speaker A:Now it got big, as opposed to most of the bands were down here.
Speaker A:His band that was doing an ACDC tribute band was here.
Speaker A:Then he left that band to go do something that's now way up here.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because he saw the opportunity and thought, I want this opportunity to last and I want it to be big and I want to make a lot of money doing my thing.
Speaker A:So I think we are our biggest limiters of everything.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So in.
Speaker B:In that you just rolled out something new that's helpful for bands and.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've got it.
Speaker B:I've got it, you know.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Tell us.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:What's it called?
Speaker A:What do I call it?
Speaker B:The gig sheet.
Speaker A:It's a gig sheet.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:It's just one of the little tips we do.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:If we're going to book a gig because there are six people that are in our band, then we have a sound man that's seven, then we have four crew members.
Speaker A:That's 11 people that have to know.
Speaker A:Oh, we also have a merch person, 12.
Speaker A:Wait.
Speaker A:All right, there are 14 people that.
Speaker A:That my band supports.
Speaker A:And all of us have to be on the same page.
Speaker A:So when we book a gig, the person that books that gig fills out that sheet.
Speaker A:And that sheet is an electronic sheet that I can look at.
Speaker A:So I know this weekend where I'm playing, I can go to my phone, I can say, all right, here's where I'm playing.
Speaker A:This is what time we're playing.
Speaker A:This is how long the gig lasts.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:Are they providing a PA system?
Speaker A:So it's all the questions that need to be answered on the front side so that everybody.
Speaker A:The drummer shows up and all he's got is a pair of sticks because he thought there was going to be a drum set.
Speaker A:Yep, we've got a problem, right?
Speaker A:And there's no drum set.
Speaker A:So this one sheet, which is a free thing, it's a. I just.
Speaker A:I want to get.
Speaker A:I give it all away if I could.
Speaker A:But this is a one sheet that's free that you can go to our website@maxwellshouseofmusic.com your band can take this, use it, change it the way they want to use it or whatever, or just print ours off and be able to have it.
Speaker A:But what this does is answers all the questions on the front side so that you know what's going to happen, right?
Speaker A:And then everybody in your band, without having to say a word, right, hey, the one sheets up on this gig.
Speaker A:Here it is, right?
Speaker A:I tell everybody, get a Google Calendar.
Speaker A:Google Calendar.
Speaker A:So that everybody knows what's happening, right?
Speaker A:Have that.
Speaker A:And then two is on the Google Drive is where we put this piece so that I know I'm playing this weekend, where I'm playing, what's going on, everything about that gig.
Speaker A:No one has to talk at all.
Speaker A:So it's a good way to communicate.
Speaker A:I'm soon going to drop an agreement.
Speaker A:Some people would call it a contract, but it's not legal.
Speaker A:It's the agreement that I use for every gig that we play.
Speaker A:So when we're going to play a gig, we send them an agreement that says we're going to do this and you're going to do this.
Speaker A:Here's how we're going to promote it.
Speaker A:Here's how you're going to promote it.
Speaker A:Here's what's.
Speaker A:Here's how we win this thing together.
Speaker A:That person signs that, sends it back to me, right?
Speaker A:With half of the money.
Speaker A:No Matter what.
Speaker A:I don't care if it's a year from now.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:So this is the.
Speaker A:This is the stuff we have to talk about.
Speaker A:So then we take that money at that money, remember that we booked for next year, and we stick it in a certain account.
Speaker A:You want to make some money?
Speaker A:Upcoming gigs can make you a lot of good money as an investment piece.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We can talk about that someday.
Speaker A:But anyway, bottom line gets down, too.
Speaker A:So the next.
Speaker A:The next, again, the one sheet right now is called the gig sheet.
Speaker A:And that gig sheet will 100% teach you how to.
Speaker A:How to.
Speaker A:How to run your band just a little bit better.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Did you look at it?
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:I got it right here.
Speaker B:I got it right here.
Speaker B:I love you.
Speaker B:Got.
Speaker B:Even got payment info, production and logistics, you know, the band, the promos, marketing, all that stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It was like, hey, it is great.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's one of the best things ever.
Speaker A:It's like, again, if you want to be a professional band, act like it.
Speaker A:I mean, just, you know, if you were going to.
Speaker A:If you were going to.
Speaker A:If you were going to open a lamp store tomorrow next door, you'd have to have the building and a computer and lamps and light bulbs.
Speaker A:You'd have to put up a sign.
Speaker A:You'd have to advertise, you'd have to start a.
Speaker A:You'd have to do all of this stuff to open up a business.
Speaker A:So why don't you do all those things to open up a business?
Speaker A:You get what I'm saying?
Speaker A:That's what I'm trying to do, is to get them, like, to mind that this isn't just about playing guitar, playing drums, playing keyboards, singing in a band.
Speaker A:This is another step in life.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:How do you.
Speaker A:How do you start a real business called whatever you want to call it, Right?
Speaker A:How do you start a business called the Food Fight?
Speaker A:Foo Fighters.
Speaker A:Foo Fighters is a killer business.
Speaker A:Kiss.
Speaker A:Killer business, right?
Speaker A:They are, yeah.
Speaker A:They're creative and good, but they've built themselves an amazing business.
Speaker A:We're all businesses.
Speaker A:It's just some of them are doing good and some of them suck.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And I don't mean musically.
Speaker A:I'm talking about financially.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Business.
Speaker B:A lot of great musicians out there.
Speaker B:A lot of bad business people in the.
Speaker B:Oh, as musicians?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It's so sad for me.
Speaker A:It's so sad.
Speaker A:It's so sad.
Speaker A:And a lot of people say, well, I don't care.
Speaker A:Well, you do.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, that's.
Speaker A:Again, Another reason our band stayed together for so long is that we're all doing pretty good financially in it, right?
Speaker A:So if you're doing pretty good financially, it's harder to quit something, you know?
Speaker A:Plus, the guys in my band don't suck.
Speaker A:They're all nice people.
Speaker A:I like them.
Speaker A:Right, yeah, that also makes sense.
Speaker A:I tell people the first thing I ever did.
Speaker A:I sit down, as we sit down at the table, and I was like, look around this table.
Speaker A:Are you sure that we can all survive this without killing each other?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That was like the first question ever answered.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, are these good enough people?
Speaker A:Yeah, they are good people and I want to be in a band with them now.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Well, let's make our goals and then figure out how to get there.
Speaker B:All right, so tell us again, where can people see all your bits about if you're in a band, where can people.
Speaker B:People get the gig sheet and learn more about what you got going on?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Maxwellshouseofmusic.com that will take you straight to everything that you need.
Speaker A:If you want to buy a piece of gear.
Speaker A:We have a great music store here.
Speaker A:It's a beautiful place.
Speaker A:If you want to get ready for a tour, we have a great facility to do that.
Speaker A:As far as, like rehearsal rooms and things like that, it's a great place.
Speaker A:But if you want this gig sheet for free, maxwellshouseofmusic.com Definitely go there, get the gig sheet.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It's pretty cool.
Speaker A:It's a good way to do business.
Speaker A:And if anybody wants to in this whole wide world want to talk to me about their band and how to make it bigger and better.
Speaker A: -: Speaker A:I want people, I want you to win and I want us as a musician culture to win.
Speaker A:What's scaring me is this.
Speaker A:Can I say this real quick?
Speaker A:Here's what's scaring me.
Speaker A:I put a thing out on if you're in a band to say, hey, do me a favor, thanks for watching, but tell me how old you are, what instrument you play and where you're from.
Speaker A:So the guy says, hey, I'm from Hawaii, right?
Speaker A:I'm 72 years old and I'm a drummer.
Speaker A:Well, we put all that stuff into AI and we figured out that the, the, the average age of the person that's watching if you're in a band is 58 years old.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:Why is that?
Speaker A:That's the question you have to ask.
Speaker A:Why well, we had the Beatles, we had the Eagles, we had Van Halen.
Speaker A:We had Motley Crue, we had Rock Band.
Speaker A:We had bands.
Speaker A:We didn't have this.
Speaker B:The phone.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And so we're losing musicians.
Speaker A:And not only that, how many parents are going to say, hey, I want you to become a musician when you get older?
Speaker A:Nobody, no parent says that.
Speaker A:They're like, you want to starve?
Speaker A:Be a musician.
Speaker A:That's what parents say to their kids.
Speaker A:We have to change that attitude of, hey, this is a lucrative business to be in.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:It's a good thing to be a musician.
Speaker A:It's a wonderful thing.
Speaker A:It's the it's all about.
Speaker A:And again, I want it to be financially great because I know how great it is for my soul, right?
Speaker A:And finances will never catch up with how wonderful music is for the soul, period.
Speaker A:But wouldn't it be nice instead of being down here at the finances, that we could be right up in here, Right?
Speaker A:Wouldn't it be great, you know, soul getting fed, stomach getting fed.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:That's it, man.
Speaker B:Preach it.
Speaker A:I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Speaker A:But somebody has to say it.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Well, okay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Every show, we like to wrap things up with a segment called Final Riffs.
Speaker B:This is where we kind of turn down the storytelling and we crank up the honesty and ask our guests a few quick hitting questions.
Speaker B:Some pull out real lessons from life music.
Speaker B:Some shed light on who they are as a person in the hot seat.
Speaker B:You know, you never know what kind of gems are going to come out of this part.
Speaker B:So, Mark, this is where we loosen it up and we get a little reflective.
Speaker B:You ready?
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:No, but I'll do it anyway.
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker B:We leave out the what color is your underwear?
Speaker B:Kind of questions, you know?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I don't wear it.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Sorry, Kyle.
Speaker B:All right, real quick.
Speaker B:If you could go back and tell your younger self one thing about business side of music, what would it be?
Speaker B:Hardest one.
Speaker A:Oh, wait, wait, no, no, it's not hard at all.
Speaker A:I would say to my younger self, be the best.
Speaker A:You don't try to be anybody else.
Speaker A:I spent too much of my time young trying to be like Kiss and be like Van Halen and being all these bands that I wanted to be like, as opposed to being the best me.
Speaker A:That'd be the first thing on the creative side of things.
Speaker A:The second thing is just is to realize also financially, you can have anything you want at a younger age.
Speaker A:You just have to Know how to ask for it.
Speaker A:And so that's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it took me so long, I could teach, I could teach a 20 year old kid how to do this really well right now.
Speaker A:And I'm 59.
Speaker A:It took me a long time to figure it out if they would listen.
Speaker A:The problem is will they listen?
Speaker A:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker B:All right, who's someone in the music industry that has impacted you the most and why?
Speaker A:My dad.
Speaker A:Probably just because he was instrumental in me learning to be a good musician.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Yeah, I would have to say he was.
Speaker A:My mom taught me to be a good human.
Speaker A:My dad taught me to be a good musician.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And you know, I would say that's probably where that all started.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker B:I hear that a lot coming from the parents.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It trickles down.
Speaker A:They very much were supportive of what I wanted to be and do, so.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:What does success in the music business look like for you now?
Speaker B:That, and how has that definition changed over time?
Speaker B:How would you define success?
Speaker A:Yeah, I thought success was being a star.
Speaker A:That's what I thought it was going to be.
Speaker A:But since that didn't happen, I had to.
Speaker A:The alternative is that I can survive on how I do what I do.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I can survive.
Speaker A:Well, I could survive doing either one of these jobs.
Speaker A:Working at a music store or working in a band.
Speaker A:I could survive on either one.
Speaker A:But both of those together make it a pretty good lifestyle.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'd say that.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Non work related hobbies.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:How much?
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker A:I, I, I, I now, I mean, I like to play basketball.
Speaker A:You know, I, I don't do it very often, but I like it.
Speaker A:I used to go fishing all the time when I was a kid.
Speaker A:That was one of my favorite things.
Speaker A:I don't, I don't do that anymore either.
Speaker A:I should probably do both those things so I'm not going crazy out of my mind.
Speaker A:There's nothing else.
Speaker A:I'm a music guy.
Speaker A:I wake up and I start my day.
Speaker A:It's all day this, you know, today I'll spend my entire day working at this store.
Speaker A:And then I'll go to rehearsal tonight.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I don't know.
Speaker A:I'm, I'm a music guy.
Speaker A:I'm a music guy.
Speaker A:And so I said, somebody said, what are you gonna do when you, when you retire?
Speaker A:And I said, I don't, this is not something I retire from.
Speaker A:It's, this is retirement to me.
Speaker A:Right now, maybe I don't stick around, do as many hours, you know, But I don't know.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:All right, so, so then spinning off of that.
Speaker B:If you couldn't do anything in the music industry, what would you be doing?
Speaker B:Where do you think you'd ended up, maybe if you couldn't have been in the music industry at all?
Speaker A:Oh, I definitely know the answer to this question.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I definitely know the answer to this question, but I don't know.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker A:Oh, I don't know.
Speaker A:I mean, I really like psychology, so I would probably have, maybe have been a therapist or something like that.
Speaker A:You know, I think I, I think I would have liked that to a certain degree to help people.
Speaker A:So maybe a therapist.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay, final question.
Speaker B:What's one thing you think every artist should be doing to build longevity in their career?
Speaker B:One of many.
Speaker A:Being nice.
Speaker B:Be nice.
Speaker A:Yeah, be nice.
Speaker A:I think I, I think again, it is just be nice.
Speaker A:And, and, and, and yeah, the more you do for others, it's just like your band.
Speaker A:Your band is not there for you.
Speaker A:Your band is there for them, right?
Speaker A:You're on stage for someone else's relief of life, your entertainment.
Speaker A:You're no more than a Netflix show.
Speaker A:You're nothing but that.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker A:They're coming to see your band because their life is crap this week, right?
Speaker A:They're too busy.
Speaker A:I just got to get out and have a drink.
Speaker A:Go, go to the bar, whatever it be, right?
Speaker A:I want to go see this band so I can forget about my life for a couple of hours.
Speaker A:That's what you are.
Speaker A:So be really good at that and be nice to those people because they've had a really rough week.
Speaker A:And you're the, you're the, you're that, you know, they, you're that movie that they go and see, and they, it takes them away to another place.
Speaker A:You're their relief of life and be that and be nice to them, because without them, you are nothing.
Speaker A:You don't have any kind of existence as a band.
Speaker A:You can't go out and play gigs.
Speaker A:No one shows up and watches you.
Speaker A:Be very kind to those people.
Speaker B:That's great, Mark.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker B:I know you're a busy man.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker A:Jason, I, I, I appreciate you having me, man.
Speaker A:This is very cool.
Speaker A:I'm glad you're doing this.
Speaker B:I know our listeners appreciate it too.
Speaker B:Getting all the advice and head on over to maxwellshouse music.com and.
Speaker B:Okay, if this hit home with you, subscribe and share it with other musicians.
Speaker B:And hey, if you want a system to keep your money working while you create, grab my free ebook, A Musician's Guide to Infinite banking.
Speaker B: It's at: Speaker A:I have to get that.
Speaker B:You got it coming.
Speaker B:You got it coming.
Speaker B:Then as soon as we're done, we'll get it going.
Speaker A:That's incredible.
Speaker A:I can't wait to.
Speaker A:I had no idea you did this.
Speaker A:I have no idea what you did.
Speaker A:Unbelievable.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker B:Okay, so imagine, we talk about, you know, imagine covering touring costs while your savings keep compounding.
Speaker B:Or what if you could fund your next release without stopping the growth of your money along the way?
Speaker B:That's what this ebook is about.
Speaker B: r listeners, grab a free copy@: Speaker B:Let's talk.
Speaker B:Until then, you've been listening to backstage Money, where music and money collide.
Speaker B:We'll see you next time.
Speaker B:And until then, keep creating and keep your money working.
Speaker B:Mark, you want to close us out with and if you're in a band, One more.
Speaker A:If you're in a band.
Speaker A:If you're in a band, you make some money and you save some money.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker B:Love it.
Speaker B:Thanks, guys.
Speaker A:Take it easy.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
