Tribute bands, meet Jack Summers

The tribute band I’m in played shows in November at the Big Easy concert houses in Spokane and Boise.  Resting backstage in our dressing room, enjoying complimentary fried chicken and beer, I had a chance to reflect on how far we’d come.  A year ago, give or take, this same band was playing in piss-soaked dive bars in Everett for no money.

We’re better now than we were then, but not that much better.   We owe our success to the people we’ve met along the way.  And the man who made this fall and summer so fun and lucrative for us was Jack Summers of Entertainment Services International.

Jack told me he got involved with a promoter 19 years ago and subsequently decided it was what he wanted to do with his life.  He said he handles all the venues west of the Mississippi, and currently works with The Guess Who, Rare Earth and lots and lots of tribute bands.

I asked him to tell me what he looks for in a tribute band he’d like to work with.  He said, “They have to look like and sound like the real deal.”  He also said they have to be reliable, arriving on time at the venue for equipment load-in and sound check.   “I want to book a band and know there won’t be any problems.”

He also said he wants bands that do not drink prior to shows.  I think two beers are probably OK, but that’s me.

A better blog than my own

When I met with Kevin Jablonski, he told me about the Web site of a friend of his, Christopher Knab. You can find it here. Actually, the site is called “Music Biz Academy.com,” and Christopher is one major contributor of several.

Christopher has worked in the music business for more than 40 years. He owned a record store in San Francisco in the 60s, started his own record label and worked as a DJ and station manager for several radio stations, including the UW’s station KCMU in the late 80s and early 90s. Currently he is an author, lecturer and consultant in Seattle.

The site is impressive. It will take me some time to get through it: There are hundreds of articles, about everything from record label deals to how to not get stiffed at live shows.

The centerpiece of Christopher’s page seems to be his FourFront Music Marketing Concept. It’s a do-it-yourself guide divided into four sections: Artist and product development; promotion; publicity; and performance.

Not only is this interesting and useful, I find it timely as well. Many of the things Christopher explains are tasks that would have been handled by a large record company in previous decades. Now, of course, changing technologies have given us the opportunity to do these things on our own. This is the true “independent” music industry.

“Independent” has unfortunately become a buzzword for a genre of music—“indy,” or “indie” (I’ve seen both, and the AP style guide is no help). What people seem to have forgotten is that even if you wear second-hand clothes and emphasize the diphthong when you sing, if your record label is owned by Sony BMG, you are by definition not independent.

Many of us hold out hope that a generation of do-it-yourselfers will be able to show music consumers a few things about real artistic independence. That’s my two cents.

The Jablonski Law Group

When Ed Dekema put a copy of his standard agreement in front of me to sign, I turned to Kevin Jablonski of the Axios Law Group. He charged me for an hour of his time and talked me through every point in the contract. Without going into details, Kevin gave me a list of important changes I should ask for, and Ed agreed immediately to almost every one. It was quick and easy and, since the contract dealt with ownership of the copyrights to my music, it was absolutely essential to get it right.

When I spoke to Kevin again recently, he said he has left Axios to start his own firm, the Jablonski Law Group. Citing an overly competitive environment at Axios, Kevin also said he’s in a better position now to shape what he does.

“While I do do patent law, I want to refashion my practice towards musicians,” he said.

I asked Kevin if there’s any advice he frequently gives to aspiring musicians. He said musicians should make sure they’re doing things correctly when they agree to license their music, and they should ask themselves how they can be a good business person in the music industry.

Kevin said some of what was common sense in the past no longer applies. “Before, the path to success was with a major record company,” he said. “But there are too many stars being made these days.”

He suggests that young musicians, guided by a faith in their talent, use tools made available by the internet to promote and distribute their own music.

“A shrewd business person can come in and say ‘I don’t need some A&R guy to make me a star,” he said.