20 People You Need To Know In The Music Biz

16. Publicist

The band wrote songs, the label signed you, your album is recorded, mixed, and set for release, and the product manager has developed the marketing strategy. Enter the publicist, whose job is to create a buzz in the press. The publicist will compose a biography and press releases, pitch the band to all types of media (television, radio, magazines, etc.), and provide advance copies of the album for review and promotional reasons. Best Approach. You need to work with the publicist to help promote the album and entice people to buy it. It is a synergistic approach — the publicist sets up the promotional opportunities and you follow through by providing access and doing interviews.

17. Endorsement Company Artist Representative

The endorsement company artist rep looks for new product endorsers, signs them to limited deals, and acts as a liaison to service the endorser’s needs through the life of the agreement. The most famous drummers will always receive star treatment, but less well-known players who get endorsement contracts typically don’t receive free merchandise, and instead get the opportunity to purchase equipment for a greatly reduced rate. The more you promote their product, the more likely it is you’ll move up on the endorsement evolutionary scale. Best Approach. Drums are expensive. If you’ve got someone who is going to give you discounted and/or free merchandise to promote their line of equipment, you’d better be thankful. But if you’re at the level where you are being considered for an endorsement then you have something to offer the company as well. Don’t be afraid to negotiate.

18. Tour Manager

Your band is finally going on tour to support the newly released and promoted album. Personal managers rarely go on tour with the band, especially those from the large management companies, so your tour manager deals with all of the day-to-day tasks on the road, from booking hotels, to planning traveling routes, to checking into the venues, to waking the band up to get them on the road the morning after a show. Best Approach. When your tour manger wakes you in the morning to board the bus, and you’ve been up late the night before partying with “visitors,” don’t throw your alarm clock at him. Remember in the end a successful tour is a team effort, and you hired your tour manager to keep the ears lubed. Work with him as much as possible, and be thankful that you don’t have his job.

19. Promoter

The booking agent sells your band’s live show to buyers in different markets that are called promoters. They negotiate a price with the booking agent (which usually includes hotel rooms, tour riders, a local stage crew, transportation to/from the hotel, ’runners’ to work with the band, etc.), then book the venue and promote the show. Their main objective is to sell enough tickets to cover their expenses. Anything they make over their costs is profit and is how they make their living. Best Approach. As a band member, you won’t have as much contact with the promoter as your booking agent, personal manager, or tour manager will have. When your show rolls into town, you’ll meet the promoter for that day’s gig. He has done a lot of work to make your show successful, so take some time and hang out with him, and then deliver one hell of a show, so he will buy another show either at a later date.

20. Drum Tech

The day you are able to hire a drum tech will be the greatest day of your life! Your tech sets up your kit, tunes your drums before each show, helps the sound crew set the drum microphones, and makes all adjustments necessary for you to have the best possible show. During the gig, he’s right beside you to adjust equipment that shifts or falls while you’re playing. Best Approach. Make sure that you hire a tech who understands drums and who can do the job night after night. Tuning drums is an art, and you need to sound your best every night. And once you’ve got your own tech, be thankful that he’s there, because the rest of us are jealous.