Although many small businesses meet with their individual advisors on a regular ba-sis, they don’t usually bring all of them together at the same time. You might consider
holding a meeting, at least annually, attended by all your advisors. Getting everybody to-
gether can be a springboard for new ideas and help grow your band, act and show faster
and with more stability.
When A&R Comes Calling
Most of the time it will be your marketing and promotional efforts that attracts an A&R
scout. But, at times, they may hear about your act through various associates or be at an
event to listen to a certain band and also hear yours and like what they hear. However it
happens, when A&R comes calling it’s critical to be prepared if you hope to get signed.
In many ways, a record label is like a lender. If you get signed, as mentioned earlier in
this book, the label machine kicks into gear. They develop your act, arrange and finance
recordings, promote artists, manage and direct publicity, manage legal issues, distribution
and all the other tasks involved in getting music into the end customers’ hands. All this
cost money and lots of it. So, in many ways, the label is taking a big risk when they sign
your act. Can you and your music generate enough revenue so the label, at bare mini-
mum, breaks even? Breaking even, though, isn’t going to get you too far. The label is
gambling that you’re the one who will connect with the fans, draw them in and make a
ton of cash, much of which will go to the label to cover costs and ensure their profit mar-
gin.
Before they take the big gamble, like a lender, they’re going to want to know a lot
about you and your act, your fan base, additional resources or service you can bring to the