HITS FOR DUMMIES

Introduction

It is needless to say, that one over three people reading this is in a band or in another
conglomerate of individuals with slightly developed musical skill, cooperating in creating a 2
minute piece of seemingly harmonious notes and beats. As negative as my remark may seem,
there’s nothing wrong with it. We are social animals, and music helps us socialize on a more
intimate level, even more; it helps us create a more introspective point of view on ourselves, it
builds the dirty little fibers of a party community, it helps us laugh, and it makes us cry.
Music, as a gargantuan concept of immense possibilities of interpretation, plays the role of an
everyday composite for different situations, varying from financial usage (commercials) to
social usage (concerts, parties). The range of versatility is enormous.

So, economy wise, this is a pretty big market (but it is already largely exploited). And
building up skill can improve your odds greatly, right? Well, sort of. You have to take in
account that every young band’s first musical encounter is punk-rock, which is a somewhat
strong component of the pop movement. “Technically” speaking, the beats are easy, guitars
are practically basic and the vocals needn’t to be polished. So at the beginning of your
musical track you already have some “strong” competition (quantity wise). The other problem
is also, that you start at the same price range as these bands (meaning how much is your band
paid for a show) which ranges from 0 to a hundred bucks. Prices vary from owner to owner, at
least on the Slovenian scene. So in order to extract a bit of pocket money it's a good idea to
know how to navigate your way through places, ready to pay for your performance.
Remember, in “financial” essence, you are a performer, an entertainer whose job is to
entertain guest of a 2 dollar beer bar. I know, the idea is depressing, but that is how it is. The
biggest mistake is to accept this mentality, and then change nothing about it. If you want to,
proverbially, reach for the star, you need to accept what you are as a band. And surpass these
inconvenient little handicaps. If you are confident, and a bit skilled you have all the makings
of becoming a “solid” performing artist. But to become excellent, you need to put all of
yourself into it, heart and soul. But enough of the sentimental talk. As presented in the
following chapters, skill and confidence is not what mostly it's all about. Few more elements
need to be discovered to complete the picture. But before I complicate things to much, let me
present you the basics, the tabula rasa, if you will.

There are 3 basic spheres constituting modern music as we know it; artistic sphere, financial
sphere and psycho-social sphere. The first one being skill and “feeling” (in other words, an
individual's perception of musical creation”. Skill is needed in order to achieve a certain level
of musical “gusto”, but this so-called “gusto” seems to elude about 90% of (slightly musically
endowed) individuals. “Feeling”, also another expression for musical “gusto”, is a very
important compound of the skill sphere. You can memorize and play pieces by heart, but a
lucky few develop the touch needed for a neutral musical piece to become something more.

You can record a perfectly timed, amazingly correct piece of music, clean and mainstream-
like, but without any subtle finesses you end up with a boring, 2-minute piece of perfection.
You don't want that.
Now, the next sphere is closely connected with the second; communication. A group that
knows how to sell its own image is a successful one. Consequently, the energy a band
emanates is of almost key importance, as stage performance is something that attracts people
to music. Balancing act with play is, nevertheless, a difficult task, both demanding and
enjoyable; overdone technical pieces assume an anti-relaxed atmosphere when tried to
associated with incredible act (such example are The Hives; voted as best act in the world,
they implement simple structures into their song, amplifying the end result).

Energy and spunk attracts people; in this day and age values have completely changed,
resulting in an over-excess of free-time. Blowing of steam at a concert or in a club is probably
the most popular way of dealing with excessive free-time. So why give people boredom and
continuity (an Slovenian example; approximately 75% of bands stay in an 80-90’s period,
continuously presenting to the public cliché-band songs), as you could provide a hefty dose of
energy, and turn some heads in the doing. The tricky thing is that the financial sphere derives
from the second sphere. Why is this tricky? Well, nobody is willing try something new,
because there is an Omni-present risk of financial loss. The idea is quite absurd, but it applies
to most of the 75% in the upper lines. It is quite logical; you don't want to risk any losses, so
you follow the already tested formula, the secure way. It is effective with fast results and fool-
proof.

As I am about to show you in this quick “guide” of sorts, you can do better off by just
following your feelings. Anyway, as I was saying in the above column, the financial sphere is
a sort of necessary evil. Everybody wants a small base of fans, a couple of photos and an
article about them, so if you want to achieve a certain level of a renowned status, the financial
sphere is a sort of a quick patch for uprising bands. Hustling with owners, driving your own
equipment, doing all the dirty work, everything is an element of the financial sphere. So after
you get a hold of the basics, you can try and move on to the next stage of this sphere.

In order for people to see your live act, money needs to be spent. And in doing so, your
hobby, pseudo-musical career gets a bit of a boost. It seems very vague, but we’ll explore
each and every sphere along the way, in its own context (and maybe try to connect some dots
too). First, we need to say something about our focus group (this is a group with wide access
to our music).

Pop is shortened for popular, speaking in musical terms. It is widely listened to, grasping a
big percentage of “fans”-people supporting your band (mostly paying for maintaining the
cycle of concerts, albums, etc. But the focus is (presumably) on one time hits. They are more
profitable because of the low expenditures. The investment needed for one time hits is low,
including recording, marketing and upholding concerts. Building an image also comes
relatively easy as graphic technology and tutorials are free to access. But most of all (at least
in the American musical mainstream pop sphere) these one-time hits ooze some extra sap in
form of wannabe studio producers, who after working some months in studios and rehearsal
rooms gain some form of basic knowledge about composition. These artists end up (not
always) consulting young and upcoming bands about song structure and lyrical composition.
One time hits are easy to make and sometimes may morph into gargantuan success, but
getting your hopes to high can be a ball breaker. There might be some musical differences or
financial issues that can provoke an aggressive outburst, which can inevitably lead into break-
up. Economically and musically speaking it’s better to have the number of members held
down to a low number, for many reasons (like musical taste, financial upkeep, creative flow).
After being in a large band, individuals might fancy more the simple fact of working alone,
leaving the way wide open for their conceptual flow. So there is a connection between
member count and song construction. Like I’ve said before, keeping it simple is better.

Ok, so let’s talk theory.