My Band’s Bigger than Your Band

“I pay $6,000 a month now to my business manager and lawyer. Yeah, I hate the business side of the business.”

This was “Ryan” (name changed), a traveling musician at the recent Wildflower Festival in Richardson, Texas. His music experience is different than my own.

While volunteering at the Dallas Songwriters Association table, I sat with some of the artists and listened in as they compared notes about life on the road. One was from Boston, another from Wyoming, the other from Nashville. Here are some differences between their music lifestyle and that of my band, Merry and the Mood Swings:

Touring artist: Travels all over the country and the world, singing their own original songs.

Mood Swings: Travels all over the Dallas area, singing their own original songs

Touring artist: Has a band, but often can’t pay for them to travel, so must hire an unfamiliar band to back them up in whatever town they are in.

Mood Swings: Always plays with the same band members, with an occasional sit-in.

Touring artist: When they can’t hire a local band, sometimes they perform solo.

Mood Swings: Never does solo work, but on rare occasion sends two or three ‘Swings out to do an “acoustic” set.

Touring artist: Has booking agent working the phones, negotiating accommodations and fees, and promoting the artist. Agent keeps a percentage of whatever artist makes.

Mood Swings: Do all of the above on our own. We keep whatever we make.

Touring artist: Earns enough money to pay for entertainment lawyers and agents because the artist can’t do it by themselves.

Mood Swings: Wishes we earned enough money to pay for lawyers and agents so we didn’t have to do it by ourselves.

Touring artist: Has some difficulty writing new songs because of distractions such as traveling, meetings, recording sessions, and shows.

Mood Swings: Has some difficulty writing new songs because of distractions such as day jobs, family responsibilities, meetings, recording sessions, and shows.

The last difference is the one that weighs the most. It is what makes me grateful that I and my bandmates get to live a rich musical life, but without some of the toll that touring musicians pay:

Touring artist: Has 150 gigs in an average year, a second home in Nashville (or L.A.), and sees his family on occasion.

Mood Swings: Has about 24 gigs a year, one home in Dallas, and sees family every day.

Search Me

According to Google, these are the things America is searching for: sports, music, Oprah.

If I were to write a song today about a singing football player who appears on Oprah, would people search for it? Would I be giving America what it wants?

Today, if you want your music to be heard or seen, it has to be on the Internet. If you can be Googled, you’ve got a chance.

I searched for Google hit statistics on “Paul McCartney.” Hit results were astronomical. I was surprised to learn that Canadians searched for Paul more than Americans, followed by Mexicans and Argentineans. The Brits were somewhere behind Argentina. People are nuts for his lyrics, which they look for more often than info on his tours, which came in second.

I then entered Texas-bred band Bowling for Soup. We cover one of their most popular songs, “1985.” It is just too perfect for our band of five women. I learned they are bigger in the U.K. than they are in their home country. What is it about hometown folks not being number one fans??

I then entered Merry and the Mood Swings. The message came up: “Not enough search volume to show graphs.” Well then! Here we have a wonderful home website and a presence on myspace, Facebook and now ReverbNation. I know we are searched for because ReverbNation can show me examples of where we have appeared on the web, and Google sends Mary H. updates when we appear on the web.

So I’m experimenting. If I salt hot topic terms into my blog posts and the band websites, will they eventually come up on Google searches? If they do and people click through, will I write a hit song titled “Oprah’s Football Music?” Maybe an entire CD, “The Battle of Jon and Kate,” “Taylor’s Swift Kick to Kanye,” “Facebook Virus Blues,” etc.?

Will I?

Search me.

Previously, On Mood Swings

Texas Country Reporter, Part Two

The big eye of TV winked as we played at Opening Bell Southside. Friends filled the seats, buddy/soundman/musician Doug Potts crammed the mixer board onto a table in the middle of the room, and Dan and Ryan from Texas Country Reporter moved around without notice, except for the fact that everyone of course knew exactly where they were at all times and pretended they didn’t see them, which of course they did, clearly, with both eyes, because Dan and Ryan were holding large TV cameras, one of which could look your way at any moment. It was a marvelous example of the the magic of television: even after being around for 80 years, TV still thrills. Through the magic of television, you can be transported into millions of glowing boxes in people’s living rooms, where, for a few pinnacle moments, you will be the center of attention, the fleeting electronic gestalt of countless strangers’ existences, with the side benefit of writing home to mom to say, hey, I was on TV last night, didja see me.

Gets ‘em every time.

And so this pixie-dust made for an animated crowd, and the ‘Swings fed on the buzz. It was such a boost to look out into the room at all those smiling faces, those dancing feet— a happy thing indeed, and we cavorted through “Trailer Park Living,” “Reach Out,” “Match Not Made in Heaven” and a few covers, including “Dream On,” with cellphones waving in the air like so many handheld Tinkerbells.

At the end of the night, as Ryan and Dan were packing up their things and the ‘Swings continued to play, Mary H. picked Ryan to be that night’s “Metrosexual.” For those who’ve not yet heard it, “Metrosexual” is a song Mary H. wrote about the kind of hunky guy who dresses so well he could be a magazine model: “He’s a metro, metrosexual, he looks better than me… he’s a metro, metrosexual, oh what a man is he. . .” It’s a lot of fun for the audience, and usually fun for the pick of the night, unless the pick is terribly shy and mortified by five women singing about how gorgeous he is in front of a bunch of people, but Ryan had a trick up his sleeve – at the end of the song he tore open his shirt and revealed a Mood Swings T-shirt!!

It was a Superman kind of moment.

After that night’s shoot was done, I thought we were finished taping, but I was wrong. I’m telling you, when Texas Country Reporter does a story, they really go after it. Not only did they tape the rehearsal and the gig, they taped four more interviews with various Mood Swings at their places of work or home, AND came back to shoot even more footage at the Deep Ellum Arts Fest. Unbelieveable!

Ooh! Ooh! Remember the big fat hint I gave Bob Phillips at the rehearsal taping, about heyyy, wouldn’t it be great if the ‘Swings could play at the annual Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival in Waxahachie in October? Well guess who’s playing at the Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter Festival in October! Shazam!! We’ll be there on Saturday, October 24!! Do you know they actually shut down downtown Waxahachie so that 50,000 people can converge for the Festival? It’s a full day of seeing everyone you’ve seen on the show that year, only in person and in festival style. I can’t wait!

Merry and the Mood Swings play on May 9 at a fundraiser for septecimia patient Delia King at Opening Bell Southside (see http://openingbellcoffee.com/calendar1 for details about the benefit or www.deliaking.org for more information about Delia King).

Then the ‘Swings open for Once in a Blue Moon at Poor David’s Pub on Saturday, May 30 – if you’ve been jonesing for a Hendrix/SR Vaughan-league guitar player (no joke), don’t miss Once in a Blue Moon – OMG. And bring your dancin’ shoes (and cellphones)!

www.merryandthemoodswings.com

Copyright 2009 Mary Guthrie