Having run a music studio and played in a band for 45 years, I've done a few gigs, seen a few artists come and go, at close quarters and seen a hell of a lot of gigs. I wish I'd kept a diary of all of them. These days, I take a snap and put it on Instagram to remind myself, but I actually remember very few details of any. The first few gigs I saw, I have pretty clear memories of, but for most, there may be a snippet. I was fully engrossed at the time, but when the gig finished, that was that really. Onto the next one. What I did remember were the bands that were good and the ones that were bad. The ones that were sort of OK ended up being forgotten. That is why I have no recollection of seeing some of the biggest bands in music. In fairness, when I saw them was before they really got their act together. I saw U2 supporting Modern Jazz at the Moonlight and Pulp at Pindar of Wakefield in Kings Cross and have no recollection at all. It takes bands a while to get top the point where you think "Wow, that is amazing". The gigs I saw were very much at a time before they became what we recognise as having their sound together.
Sometimes, I've seen bands that were brilliant that sunk without trace. Usually personal differences emerge before the bands get established. I was reminded of this by a tweet posted by the rather marvellous Gary Crowley.
Cracking story, plenty of lost gems from that era. The Mrs was away so was playing some old vinyl yesterday. Was struck by what good singles Him or me by the Banned and The Aftermath by Cowboys international were
— Roger Tichborne/Rog T (@Barneteye) March 28, 2024
I never saw the band Gary mentioned, but his post reminded me of a couple of bands that I'd been listening to earlier. As Mrs T was away, I had a little vinyly 45 frenzy. One band I mentioned in my response, was Cowboys International. I saw them at a Virgin records sponsored gig. They were pretty good and we were given a free copy of their single "The aftermath" which is a pretty good pop song. I thought they'd do well at the time. I never heard of them again, despite some heavy hype from Virgin Records for the single.
There is an saying that success in music is 80% hard work, 10% luck and 10% talent. I am not convinced of the percentages, but the theory is sound. Sometimes, what I thought were surefire hits, got nowhere because the week they were released, something else by a bigger artist hogged the media attention. Sometimes, the timing is wrong. It is worth noting that Roxanne by The Police didn't trouble charts when it was first released in the UK. It was re-released and became a hit later. For whatever reason the timing was wrong. There are many songs that didn't get the re-release and were overlooked. One band that I'm a massive fan of, who had a string of what I thought were surefire hits in the 1970's that did nothing were Art Punks Wire, with only Outdoor Miner making the outer reaches of the charts.
That was in the days when it was tangible to say what a hit single was. It was released on vinyl and an auditable number of copies were sold. Now? The charts are made up of all manner of stats, Vinyl/CD's/Downloads. WIth platforms like TikTok, something can have millions of plays, often with no one knowing what they are listening to.
So what makes you have a hit single in 2024? Well a chart position is always something that is measurable. However, you'll make more money if your music is featured in a TV production than a UK chart placement. Just having people hear your music is no guarantee of success though. In 2011, a track I co wrote and performed called Spotlight was used by Manchester City FC for the backing music for their website goal of the month show. It got 11 million hits, but I am not driving a limo on the proceeds!
If you want to have a hit record, it helps to understand how the chart is compiled. This article details the process. To have a hit, you need to make your music attractive enough to buy a copy, download or watch on a video app. This can be quite daunting. Getting featured on popular radio shows or the Jools Holland show are still the best way to get a hit, although there is always the prospect of getting something to go viral on social medial. In my experience, a new band, with the best song ever written is unlikely to get a viral hit, unless they have a bit of clever attention grabbing marketing. This does not have to be expensive. If you are making a video, make it so that people circulate it and tell their friends. This will be a different process for every genre. In this era, getting noticed by social media influencers is absolutely key.
So how do you do this? The best way is to find some sort of angle that makes it interesting and unique and impossible to ignore. What works well for a Country and Western track will be rather different to a Rap track. Often people see a great video and are inspired, but end up just doing a bad copy. My advice is to think what makes your track unique and any publicity pics, videos, clips etc you do, make sure you bring out the uniqeness of the music. A bit of originality will go a long way. Before you release it, test it on friends. If they aren't interested but tell you it's great, try something else. Try and make any video as dynamic as possible. If you can cut in things people talk about and get interested in, that works well. Quite by accident, my band had a mini hit a couple of years ago with a track called "The Burnt Oak Boogie". The plan was to film lots of scenes around Burnt Oak, then splice in the band being silly, but we ran out of time and just put the Burnt Oak scenes in. Within a couple of days of release, it had thousands of views. The reason? The people who lived in Burnt Oak were excited to see their hometown in a video. There was a lesson there. The fact the song also mentioned places with a resonance helped. There was an old adage that if you wanted a hit, write a song with a girls name in. That way, everyone who knows a girl with that name will buy it. Van Morrison went one better and did "Brown Eyed Girl" that appealed to about 80% of the population. Artists like Morrissey go the other way. They go for a niche market appeal. If 98% of the UK population hates you, but 2% loves you, then you'll sell a million records. Morrissey connects with his audience, which when it comes down to it, is what sells records.
So the rule is to make music that connects with an audience. If people get you then you have a chance.
Since releasing The Burnt Oak Boogie, our audiences have been great. There is a connection. What is your connection?
You can see The False Dots at the following gigs. Click the gig for tickets and details
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