Achtung, baby.

One of the most important topics for any artist that creates and sells their work is sales and marketing, and more pointedly, how to gain the attention of the buying public in a market that is very much oversaturated.  Speaking from experience, the music industry is highly competitive and the advance of technology over the last 10 years has made it increasingly easier and more affordable for musicians to record, produce, manufacture and distribute their own original music.  No longer is it necessary for musicians to have to spend upwards of $3,000 a weekend to record in a high end studio.  With some research, experimentation, technical know-how and decent, affordable recoding equipment, DIY musicians can create a home recording that sounds good enough for commercial release. 

That’s not to say that highly experienced recording engineers and high quality studios are a thing of the past.  Sonically, nothing will ever replace the expertise and knowledge of a seasoned, educated recording engineer using top of the line equipment.  My point is that musicians in the early stages of their careers, or those who can’t afford the services of top-end recording studios now have a viable alternative that will allow them to develop their audience base and release recordings.

As far as music distribution, if you take the physical manufacturing of compact discs out of the equation in favor of MP3 files, then the process becomes even more truncated and almost instantaneous.  It has never before been easier to reach the audience in such an immediate manner.  So, with this glut of new music being created and sold both retail and over the internet, how does one stand out?  Although technology can play a role as a tool with which the artist can make an impression on the listener, in the end it is the musician’s story, personality and musical voice that needs to be communicated, and some old fashioned best practices and techniques often times still produce the best results.

Derek Sivers, a seasoned longtime professional musician, founded CD Baby, the largest online distributor of music.  He has been called a music business folk hero by Esquire Magazine, and largely built up CD Baby with a grass roots and endearing approach.  Although the volume of the company’s business is large, there is little “corporate” about it and in many ways the site levels the playing field for independent musicians.  Derek is also a champion of the independent musician, and does not hesitate to offer his wisdom and experience to help out bands or musicians trying to make a name for themselves.  An example is this 70 page guide written by Derek that covers various approaches to marketing, networking and how to gain attention for your work.

It’s Getting Better All the Time

Anecdotally speaking, support for creative professionals in Cleveland is currently the most robust I have seen in my 17 years of playing music professionally.  When I first started out in my early years as a freelance jazz/rock/roots music bassist and manager of musical acts, support services and funding for artists and small arts groups was limited.  The local foundations did a great job of supporting arts nonprofits and cultural institutions, and they still do to this day.  But in many cases those funding streams rarely reached the hands of the individual working artists, who in many cases needed revenue to support their overhead.

I would say that in the last few years or so the working, creative professional in NE Ohio has been provided with new avenues of support on several different levels.  The local foundations still support important programs of arts organizations, which in turn employ and engage many independent artists.  The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture has for the past decade worked tirelessly to improve the conditions for arts organizations and working artists in our area, namely by affecting public policy, creating and delivering the Artist as Entrepreneur Institute and most recently by operating two rounds of the Creative Workforce Fellowships, a publicly funded program in connection with Cuyahoga Arts and Culture that has delivered over $800,000 in grant money directly to working artists.       

This past week another level of support for the creative workforce was announced by the Noteworthy Federal Credit Union (NFCU), a nonprofit organization that provides musical instrument loans and financial products to the arts community.  NFCU rolled out its Creative Arts Project (CAP) loan recently, which is a loan meant to help artists, musicians, filmmakers and other creative professionals capitalize themselves in order to start or complete an artistic project.  This type of loan is needed by the arts community, as many artists can attest to the difficulty in convincing a bank or other lender to provide a loan with decent interest rates in order to fund a recording session, buy a Hasselblad camera, or purchase an embroidery machine.  While these items are crucial to the artist for the development of their arts project, convincing a lender of this is sometimes an exercise in futility.  NFCU, a member owned part of the arts community, understands this dilemma and works to help capitalize artists so that they are free to create their work.  They are also a humane lender that will work with the borrower to make sure that they keep their instruments, machinery or other arts equipment.  In their 50 year history, NFCU has never once had to repossess a musical instrument for which they were the lender.

Recognizing Artists

It’s not easy being a working artist, musician, dancer or other creative professional.  Not only do artists have to deal with modest and fluctuating levels of income, but also the perceptual issues of not being held in the same regard as other small business owners or entrepreneurs.  At a recent conference a speaker mentioned that their national survey indicated that 97% of Americans said that they valued art, but only 27% indicated that they valued artists.  Those who go into the arts as a profession are sometimes perceived as selfish and frivolous and choosing an easy, care-free job that doesn’t contribute to society.  Of course most of us know otherwise, and anyone who has worked professionally in the creative arts can tell you that it is a tireless pursuit and that there is truly never any time when you are “off the clock,” as most of us can’t control when our creative wheels set to spinning. 

Currently the COSE Arts Network is working to combat the misperception that a job in the arts isn’t really a job.  Each year we present the COSE Arts Business and Innovation Awards, a program that recognizes outstanding arts entrepreneurs and business owners throughout Northeast Ohio.  Awards are being presented in four separate categories, the Individual Artist, Arts Business, Young Arts Entrepreneur, and the Arts and Culture Community Champion . 

Both self applications and nominations are being accepted, so if you know a deserving artist or arts business, please give them a nudge by nominating them online.  In particular, the Arts and Culture Community Champion award will honor a non-arts based business that has dedicated time, resources or energy to supporting a facet of the arts and culture sector.  If you know of any small businesses that have engaged in creative partnerships with the arts community, please go online  and bring them to our attention by nominating them. 

All applications and nominations are due my 5:00 pm on March 2^nd.  Three finalists in each category will be notified by April 1^st, and all finalists, as well as the top winners  in each category, will be honored on April 28^th at the COSE Arts Business and Innovation Awards Celebration at the Cleveland Public Theatre.

Contractor Blues

I’ve posted before that while sometimes it seems daunting and time consuming, creative professionals often need to think more like a small business and accept the necessary evils of financial management, bookkeeping, sales and marketing and other business issues.  Although these activities do require some time commitment—taking the artist away from creating their art or practicing their craft—a little bit of upfront effort on certain matters will pay dividends in the future. 

One such area concerns contracts and agreements.  Many creative professionals work on a freelance basis and have a host of different clients and vendors to whom they provide services or whom they hire for projects.  In many cases—live music performance and audio recording especially—the transactions take place with a handshake or a verbal agreement.  Often this simple verbal agreement will allow the transaction to take place without a hitch.  Artists that have developed strong relationships with their clients feel comfortable operating this way.  However the real need for contracts and agreements is to try to plan for when the transaction does not go according to plan, and work out ahead of time how the artist and client will agree to disagree when the contracts may be enforced in the courts.

I strongly advocate to all of my fellow musicians and teaching artists that they work with contracts all the time.  However, many don’t and for a myriad of reasons.   Many musicians are paid in cash for their performances and worry that if they use a contract it will create a paper trail of their earnings (it will).  Years ago most clubs and concert halls only hired union musicians, but nowadays freelance musicians play at nonunion clubs and restaurants, so there is no system in place to enforce contracts and protect the working musicians. Furthermore many of my friends in the music business feel that if they request that a club sign a contract there would be a backlash against them and the club would just hire another performer who wouldn’t require a contract.  These musicians feel as though they have no leverage. 

What I suggest is that freelance creative professionals take some time to study the basics of contracts, become familiar with some typical contract formats and have a “go to” contract template that they are comfortable tailoring to fit different clients and projects.  Todd Masuda, a local attorney with a very strong arts background was kind enough to present a Contract Basics for Creative Businesses workshop at COSE’s 2009 Small Business Conference.  He also stopped by our office after the Conference to record this brief podcast summarizing his presentation and giving a few key points that will help artists start to consider the issue of contracts.  Please click HERE to hear Todd’s podcast.

Online Small Business Coaching Broadcast

Starting this afternoon at 1:00 pm Diane Helbig, a certified business coach with Seize This Day Coaching, will begin a series of online programs and live chats dedicated to helping small business owners grow and improve their business. 

Diane is a frequent collaborator with the COSE Arts Network as she leads our monthly Arts Roundtable discussions.  I’ve witnessed firsthand how artists and owners of creative businesses can benefit from Diane’s practical business coaching, so any artist entrepreur that wants to focus on business growth should try to tune in and participate in Diane’s broadcast every second and fourth Monday of each month.  Listening and program information can be found HERE, as well as the call in/live chat information.

Under the Bridge Downtown

If you have not yet heard, Ingenuity—Cleveland’s Festival of Art and Technology, will have a new home in 2010; the lower level of the Detroit Superior Bridge.  In previous years Ingenuity has occupied Public Square, Playhouse Square and the area near Prospect and East 4^th as it staged its three day presentation of arts installations, technology, and both musical and performing arts.  While the event has always been very interesting artistically, some patrons have wondered if past locations did a disservice to the programming (to wit, one of my colleagues performed one year in an alleyway, in front of a dumpster).

The new location under the bridge will allow much of the programming to be concentrated and provide some connectivity for patrons to move from installations to performances.  The enclosed area of the bridge’s lower level will also force the patrons into a defined space, making it feel more like a communal arts experience and increase patron interaction.  The act of hosting an interdisciplinary arts and technology festival in a once-used, but now forgotten level of a bridge is also unique to Cleveland.  According to Ingenuity’s press release, “there is no other event that brings together art, music, technology, business, and urban landscapes quite like this.”  The decision to move Ingenuity in its entirety to the Detroit Superior Bridge most likely stems from the successful Bridge Project that Ingenuity staged in September of this year.  Over the course of two beautiful summer days and nights patrons explored different areas of the bridge’s lower level, experienced music, dance and visual arts presentations, and got to see the Cuyahoga River and downtown skyline from angles and perspectives most have probably never experienced.  The weekend was a great success for Ingenuity and prompted the recent announcement that the full blown festival will take similar shape in the fall of 2010.

At this point local and regional artists are being asked to get involved with Ingenuity by responding to its call for artists.  Because of the location in the bridge’s lower level, Ingenuity is seeking “site specific” and environmental work.  Artists are encouraged to attend one of the tours of the space being offered once each month until mid-April.  More information can be found HERE

Jazz Musicians, Where Y’all At?

I’ve spent nearly 13 hours over the past two days attending and observing the public review sessions for the CPAC and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Creative Workforce Fellowships (CWF).  As I write this, the adjudication panel is deliberating on the applications that made it into the second round, and at some point this afternoon they will have come to a consensus as to which 20 applicants will be recommended for Fellowships.    This current cycle of CWFs, the second of 2009, focuses on artists in dance, music, theater and literary disciplines.  Earlier this summer 20 artists within the fine art, photography, film and design disciplines already received fellowship honors of a $20,000 grant to support their artistic activities, free business training opportunities through CPAC and a free one year membership in the COSE Arts Network.  The funds for these individual artist fellowships comes from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture which receives its revenue from taxes on the sales of cigarettes within the county.  Because CAC is limited in its ability to give funding directly to individuals, CPAC is facilitating and managing this entire CWF program.  

To the best of my knowledge this is the only program of its kind nationwide to use public funding to support individual artists.  All told this year, CPAC and CAC will have distributed $800,000 directly to working, creative artists right here in our own back yard.  Even if you or a colleague aren’t  among those honored with a fellowship, you are a beneficiary of the program; our entire creative community and local economy is better off having these artists supported financially to stay in the area and keep creating and producing their work, rather than seek greener arts pastures elsewhere.  The CWF program, and the seemingly tireless work of CPAC and CAC, goes to great lengths to lessen the “brain drain” so prevalent in NE Ohio and to help combat the stigma that our city and area can’t be a hub of creative thought and work.  Please look soon on the CPAC Web site to see the final selections for this round of Fellowships. 

However, with that being said, I still walk away from these review sessions somewhat disappointed.  Of the nearly 180 applications accepted and reviewed for this cycle, only 3 were jazz or creative improvisation-based entries.  Of those 3 entries, 2 moved on to the second round to ultimately compete for a $20,000 Fellowship.  Traditional, folk, Golden Era and old timey music was well represented; European classical and new music instrumentalists were present; R&B, rap and hip hop was present; and even modern rock and singer songwriter styles were well represented in the pool of applicants.  Yet I could count on one hand the number of jazz and creative improv musicians that stepped up and demanded to be recognized in the process.  Also very well represented were dance, theater and literary artists from many different genres and styles.         

Jazz and creative musicians in our area often complain about the lack of playing opportunities and exposure, shrinking number of serious jazz or creative music venues, and indifference towards jazz music from the general public.  It is not uncommon for younger aspiring jazz musicians to leave the area to seek a city with a jazz scene that better supports musicians. 

Well, Cleveland area jazz community, you may have dropped the ball on this one.  The very well publicized application process was not only inclusive and well marketed, but CPAC went to great lengths to hold informational workshops about the application process (in several different geographic locations), and also offer tactical advice on how to enter the competition and best represent yourself as a creative artist seeking grant funding.  In short, they availed themselves to the artist community to try to minimize any perceptual or inclusion boundaries sometimes associated with the arts grant process.  I personally sent out emails to over 120 jazz and creative musicians to help promote the grant information workshops and the CWF application process and to spread the word.   

This was an opportunity for the jazz community to be heard and recognized by the funding infrastructure of NE Ohio, and sadly the community fell short.  One of the reviewing adjudicators actually went so far as to comment that he was disappointed that a city with a rich jazz history such as Cleveland did not produce more than 3 applicants in this grant program (please note, all of the adjudicators were from outside the region or state, and the comment I just mentioned came from a musicologist, college music professor and professional pianist from the Michigan area). 

The bad news for the jazz community?  Depending on how the second round goes today, as many as 20 separate $20,000 Fellowships may be awarded to non-jazz musicians, which to my mind is not representative enough of an art form considered by many to be America’s classical music and with such a respected history in our area.  This is not reflective of the grantmakers or adudicators; they can only review what submissions they receive, and in this case the jazz community was absent by their own inactivity.   

The good news?  As long as funding continues, CAC and CPAC will again offer Creative Workforce Fellowships in 2010, and the opportunity for inclusion may present itself again to the jazz community, including informational workshops and the opportunity to learn about the grants and application process well before any materials or submissions are due. 

I don’t mean to come across as didactic or condescending, but if you are a jazz musician or creative improv-based artist, and you feel that this truly American art form is relevant and deserves to be recognized by the general public and funding infrastructure, then get up and get involved in programs like these as they are offered to the arts community in NE Ohio.

Mind on Your Money

In my experience many of those in the creative arts take an “out of sight out of mind” approach to their finances and taxes.  While there are artists, musicians and gallery owners that track and manage their money well—using either professional software such as QuickBooks or simple spreadsheets—a good majority of the freelance artists that I have hired, managed or worked with tend to put money matters off until it is too late.  You’d be surprised at the number of musicians that have reacted in great shock to receiving their year end 1099 because they weren’t keeping track of their earnings over the course of the year, and “suddenly” faced a tax responsibility on those earnings.  In most cases these artists were not saving the recommended 30% of earnings and setting it aside to pay their taxes.  Most likely these artists will have to take a huge hit on their current overhead to pay the taxes, and in some cases incur debt to cover the costs, or even worse not pay the IRS at all, thinking it will go away or that the chances of being audited are too small. 

I’ve found that freelance musicians often have trouble separating their personal and business monies as well.  I was surprised recently when a bandleader that hired me for a private party had already spent the deposit check from the client.  On top of that, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to pay the rest of the trio in a timely manner because he needed the balance payment to cover some of his personal bills before he could pay out the musicians he hired!  Clearly he didn’t understand the concept of keeping his personal checking separate from his music business activities. 

Below are some very basic money management tips for artists who often depend on variable, unsteady income.  In addition to these tips, the COSE Arts Network will present a 2-hour tax and money workshop on November 19^th.  Our presenter is Joanne Montagner-Hull, a CPA with Your Bean Counters , who not only has 30 years of accounting and business experience, but has a background in the theater as well, so she really gets what it means to be an artist.  Please click HERE  to learn more about this workshop and sign up today.

Record Keeping
Read this paragraph, and then immediately create an Excel spreadsheet where you will record every single payment you receive from your arts activities.  Record the date you received the payment, the source, the amount, any mileage you incurred during the job and any other expenses you incurred.

Keep Receipts
Very straight forward, but very essential.

Save for the medium to long term
If you are an artist that sometimes goes months without payments or commissions, or a musician that gets paid gig to gig, divert a comfortable percentage of those payments to a very safe place such as CD’s or a savings account.  Even though those two savings options yield next to no interest earnings these days, you will rest assured that you have started a “rainy day fund” that can’t really be drawn upon to pay your regular overhead expenses.  Try diverting the same percentage, say between 5% and 6%, from every single payment you receive, whether it is large or small. 

Start a tax fund
Aside from your medium to long term savings, put roughly a third of your freelance earnings away for taxes. You must pay the IRS, state taxes and Social Security out of these freelance earnings

Quarterlies – Make partial quarterly payments towards your taxes four times a year — ask your accountant about this.

Social Media for the Arts

Not long ago at the COSE Small Business Conference, Linda Nawrocki from Optiem delivered a presentation on how to best use the social media tools Facebook and LinkedIn to benefit an artist’s career or creative arts business.  Linda gave some very practical advice as to how each of these social media outlets lends itself to putting forward a professional image, attracting new fans/clients and reaching the broadest range of people.  She also gave a few common “dos and don’ts” as far as maintaining personal and professional information on these wildy popular Web sites.  Please visit here to see Linda’s slide presentation and follow up to her via the contact information at the end of her slide show for more specifics about how social media experts view Facebook and LinkedIn.

Notes From the Artist Trenches

Every month the COSE Arts Network hosts peer to peer roundtable discussions for its members.  The sessions are open in format and moderated by award-winning business mentor Diane Helbig from Seize This Day Coaching.  Members discuss issues that affect their arts careers and businesses on a daily level, as well as larger trends and issues in the arts and culture sector and small business sector alike.  The following notes are taken from discussions this past year, and hopefully will lend some insight and advice as to how others approach their arts businesses.  Please note that any of the notes pertaining to legal issues, contracts, negotiations, etc., do not constitute legal advice from COSE or Diane Helbig.  If you are an artist in need of legal guidance, please contact the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts a program of the Cleveland Bar Association, who may be able to offer their assistance.   

 Business plan development

• Two different types; Funding and Plan of Action plans
• Sources, the Small Business Association  has good examples for funding- or investor-seeking plans
• Planning : must know what types of targets you envision. 
  • Work backwards, identify or frame the daily things that will bring you to your end goals.
  • Monitor this plan; are you still on target to meet your goals?  Do you need to adjust to meet changes in environment or career?
  • Identify your scope of work
  • Be clear about the money needed (try to stay away from “rough” numbers) Do the diligence to show how the investor’s money will be used.   Do the research so you can speak intelligently to market needs, market research.
  • Put the process down on paper or in a fixed format
  • Focus.  Try to define your ideal brand.  In the creative arts, be ready to identify your specialty.  Try not to be so broad that the customer can’t figure out what it is you do.

“Free Samples”

• Charge for speculative work.  If you are being engaged, show them work samples, have a price list.  Say “no” so you can preserve your value and worth.
• It might not be a good fit with a company that is trying to get your work for free anyway.

Streamlining your services/focal areas

• Start with a relatively narrow focus, you can always expand or meet requests later on
• Many artists enjoy the diversity of having a broad interest—it keeps the work interesting.
• In Cleveland, some feel that it hurts business to be too narrow of a niche.  Being general is best for business, but make sure your message is very clear and focused.

Promotion/networking

• Craigslist has been useful to some members in finding work/opportunities. 
• Some have used Craigslist to find local exhibit opportunities, or seek out the ads looking for artists.   Also use Craigslist for networking and to keep your name out there. 
• Do promotional activities in concert with other activities….use social networking along with exhibits, etc.  Tie them all together. 
• The more people that know you, and what you are doing, the more “energy” is out there about you.
• Key to networking: go with the idea that you want to learn something.  Meet someone new, learn something about another artist or business.  Use open ended questions, ask their favorite thing about their arts careers, etc.   Make your message about how they will benefit by your service/connection, not what you want or how you will benefit.
• Use active listening!  Make sure you are really paying attention and listening at networking events.  It opens up personal connections to other networkers or speakers, etc.
• Do not hand your business card unless it is asked for.    But always ask them for theirs.  Follow up after the event to 5 people.  Send hand written notes along with your business card, a special message, etc.  Shows that you are taking the time to establish that connection.
• People do business with the people they know and like.
• Assume the people at an event have no need for your services or art; that way you don’t come across as a salesperson, and instead as more genuine

 Email marketing

• What is allowed for adding names to email/newsletter lists?  Ask permission when you receive the card from them.  Don’t just go home and add them to your database.  Instead, send a quick follow up email to them to ask permission, always include an opt-out feature on the email marketing.  
• For older contacts, send an invitation asking permission  via constant contact or a similar service