I prefer the DIY approach when it comes to music. It’s better that way. That way you can have total control of your music, your own ideas, and you can be your own boss. There are quite a bit bands & artists out there in local music who mistakenly believe they need to rely on mangers & promoters to get somewhere. The truth is, you don’t need to. There are plenty of successful bands and solo artists out there who have made it to the next level in their career without relying on mangers & promoters. It can be done! You can get a bigger fanbase, get bigger opportunities and go on tours without the use of managers & promoters. You can simply be your own manager & promoter for your band.

When I was gigging in the past, I never relied on any of this stuff. I played on gigs by doing it all myself. I can do it all over again when I get new music written here. When I’m ready to perform live again — I’ll still do it the DIY way. Once you get a manager/promoter doing the stuff for you —  your band is no longer DIY. You’re having this person doing all the work for you.

In my opinion — don’t take this the wrong way, just my humble opinion – I think getting to the next level in your career with a manager/promoter is cheating. It’s almost like winning the lottery and they go, “Hey, here you go… here is free success & fame for ya”.

You’ll get more respect as a musician and as a person if you get yourself there with no help at all. If you rely on managers/promoters… then you don’t know what you’re doing with the marketing/promoting side of things and the booking process. They don’t want to admit it and that’s why some bands/artists get managers/promoters to make themselves look good.

This post is not aimed at any band in particular… I’m just being real here.

You can get success with your music on your own just by working hard, promoting yourself to death and you can manage your own money if you’re good at mathematics. I just think relying on managers/promoters is just the wrong way to do it. I understand you want to move forward and get heard but you can do that on your own. You just got to learn how to do it and do it right. I know plenty of bands & solo artists who have gotten success on their own and they didn’t rely on someone else.

To manage your own band or solo career… it also requires a professional attitude and learning how to talk to the clubs, labels, etc. This post might ruffle some feathers some but it just needed to be said. You can get into a label signing and get yourself into the industry without use of a manager. You just gotta learn how to do this stuff on your own. There are tons of material where you can learn the DIY approach from by reading books, the internet, etc. DIY is the best way. If you have someone else do the work for you — it’ll make you look kind of lazy and you don’t know what you’re doing.

I like giving the most respect to the bands/artists who do the DIY approach. It shows they work extremely hard and shows that they love what they do.

Kev