This is not a post about musicians associations; the MU, PRS for Music, PPL, B.P.I, BASCA, UK Music, FAC… That’s a whole other post!

This post is about the importance of considering the power of association.

That’s not supposed to sound as mystical as it does!  It simply means that who you associate with throughout your musical career, can have a huge effect, either good or bad, on your progress.

More often than not, kids in school achieve better results if they associate with a ‘good’ crowd.  The same is true of musicians.  If the rest of your band mates just want a couple of beers once a week whilst playing a few tunes, then eventually record a demo thinking that they will get signed, it might be worth reconsidering this initial association!  You want to find musicians who understand that being a musician is a career, and are prepared to treat it that way.  Teachers don’t just decided they want to be a teacher, get a job, and start teaching.  They spend two years at college, three years at University, then at least one more year on post-graduate education before they’re even offered a contract, at which point, they sign up for a lifelong commitment to on-the-job continuing professional development.  The equivalent for musicians has to be developing your business, marketing, promotion, songwriting, and live performance skills, so you need to find band members who understand this and are prepared to put in the level of commitment necessary for success.

After you band mates, you may find your self having to associate with a manager, producer, record label, PR company, or radio plugger.  It’s really important that you check out their associations and make sure that you want to fit in with who they’ve worked with before.  It’s also important that you make sure that their outlook and ethos fits with that of your band.  There’s no point hiring a PR company, or trying to sign to a label, whose previous clients have all been Europop artists if you make death metal music!

I was once in a band who were offered a deal to put out a few tracks through a local label.  It was at a time in my life where I was jumping at every opportunity but my band mates did a bit of research and weren’t happy to be associated with the type of artists that the label were putting out.  The musicianship left a little to be desired and the production was pretty poor… so, we ended up self-releasing our music which worked great and has since allowed me to help other artists do the same.  It’s important to not get caught up in every opportunity that comes your way and really evaluate whether the fit is right for you… There will always be other opportunities.

Another association that deserves serious consideration is brand partnerships.  Early in an artists career there are few opportunities (Jager Bands & Converse Rubber Tracks are all I could think of off the top of my head) but later in your career you could be presented with what looks like a very attractive offer, with huge payouts that may be more difficult to properly evaluate.  Paul McCartney released an album through Starbucks for example while Prince gave a couple of albums away for free with the newspapers.  What’s important, is not associating yourselves with a brand that alienates your fans… You couldn’t imagine Coldplay partnering up with Monsanto Company for example.

So the point of this post???  Just be aware of the associations you make and the effect they could have on your career.

Rich Hearn
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