Motu Artist Management

Latest Entries »

The New Music Industry According to a Pumpkin

Filed under: THOUGHTS, Uncategorized by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

May 14, 2012

“We’ve lost the gradiated intrinsic value of what music is worth… It’s turned music culture into a service culture… now somehow I’m supposed to beg for attention. That’s totally counter-intuitive to A) why I became a musician in the first place and B) to the personality of someone like me…” -Billy Corgan, Co-founder of The Smashing Pumpkins

Billy Corgan hits the nail on the head in this SXSW interview about what changes have hit the music industry. He even accurately describes the massive void between the 16-24 year old artists and the 25-40 year old artists and why they cannot understand one another. This really helps peal back some layers of reason for work ethic, how people conduct their business and why the record labels should be having to change their pants every 3 minutes because they are so excited about not having to convince people to bend over any more. Is ANYONE ELSE LISTENING TO THIS?

Watch this now, we’ll discuss later

Comment

The Good : Its Not All Gloom and Doom In The Music Industry

Filed under: THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

April 4, 2012

Good is not dead in the music industry

This industry is filled with both good and bad people as well as good and bad intentions. Opinions outnumber their oft compared body part, but not by much. The lack of professionalism is staggering, the lack of insight into fans and listeners is almost as staggering and the death grip on the past and refusal to embrace the present is understandable but shocking given their resources. It can be a pretty big bummer some times since they hold the keys to getting your art to a lot of people in a very short amount of time.

In his recent Rolling Stone interview, Jimmy Iovine claims that people wrongly point to a building (the major labels) accusing them of wrong doing, but they misunderstand the true intentions. My response to Jimmy is that history has revealed the labels’ ilk very clearly, and the present shows their lack of vision and greed through their myopic-view driven self destruction. (as a side note, this is quite a fascinating interview as it show’s how aware Jimmy is of the actual state of music and his willingness to call it like it is as well as his nose for opportunity and shark-like predatory skills in going after a buck)

But there is an up side to all of this. I’ve always said the greatest thing to come out of the death of the music industry is the flushing out of the greedy turds.

The dream that the record companies and other corporate pigs have been selling in order to line their own pockets on the backs of the eager and committed artist is fading fast, being replaced by self-driven bands who gain true fans one handshake and one note at a time and no where is that more evident than in your local music scene.

I would urge you to visit your local clubs, go see a band that you’ve never heard of, spend some time View full article »

Read More & Comment

Welcome New Followers! Free Music, Free Concerts!

Filed under: THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

January 19, 2012

Well, you must have seen us around the interwebs, causing problems, offering solutions, being asses or being mentioned by some of the industry’s heavier thinkers. Whatever you’ve heard about us, it’s true!

As a thank you, please accept some free tunes. For a limited time, download
Colin Tyler, Your Baby Boy http://colintyler.bandcamp.com
The Root Cause, It’s You & I http://therootcause.bandcamp.com

And if you are in the Chicagoland area, join acoustic rockers The Root Cause for a FREE concert at The Montrose Room on Friday 1-20-12 http://www.montroseroom.com/ the password to get in is Common Man

Also, take a look around, read some articles, chime in and let us know what your thoughts are. We’re all in this together Music Fans, so let’s pull ourselves out of the muck and into glory.

Stay tuned for more exciting news about our Music Industry think tank The Sisyphus Collective!

Comment

SOPA ! Great Idea If you HATE EVERYTHING

Filed under: THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

January 18, 2012

Sheesh. Do I really need to write anything on this deal? Sign petitions, write your politicians and make them kill these bills/laws before they can take a giant crap on everyone. Read more https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/sopa-pipa/ and take some action.

Things like this are exactly the reason why we’re starting The Sisyphus Collective… website will be up soon to explain, but essentially it’s a think tank to solve these issues for the every day artist and create change in the music industry and hopefully this work can be leveraged to do good in other places. Browse the site here and check out some of our other experiences and discussions and join in while we feverishly pull it together!

Comment

Me Likey. Press a button on Facebook and save a puppy

Filed under: ABOUT, THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

January 16, 2012

We’ve made a Facebook Page… and only 6 years after we should have done so! It’s actually easier to get updates, show announcements, requests for booking, free music and free concerts on FB, so look at it as a little tiny cute condensed version of this fat bloated site. Click like and you’ll save a puppy from having something horrible happen to it. We’re not quite sure how the two are related, but we are sure that they are.

We’ll also be expanding and reviewing and covering some concerts and releases. If you are interested in participating as a reviewer or having your stuff reviewed, please contact outreach@motumanagement.com

Comment

HOT SHOWS TO ATTEND IN A COLD JANUARY! The Root Cause and Colin Tyler

Filed under: ARTIST ROSTER, THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

January 12, 2012

2 shows for $7 next week! MOTU A.M. bringing you more entertainment for your hard-earned dollar.

Colin Tyler at Martyr’s in Chicago, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave, 7:30p doors, $7 http://www.martyrslive.com

The Root Cause at The Montrose Room in Chicago, 5300 N. River Rd. Rosemont, IL FREE! email outreach@motumanagement.com for your passes! http://www.montroseroom.com/

Comment

News! Midwest Tour Submission Update, Cracking the Music Industry Nut, Learn How to Make Your Band Amazing

Filed under: THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

January 11, 2012

TIME TO CELEBRATE! 2 pieces of GREAT NEWS that can help move the needle with your band in a very real way! 1) We’ve innovated a brand new type of listing for Sonicbids! 2) We’re shaking the ground and moving rock forward… WITH NON-MUSIC TYPES! oooohhhh scaaaaaaary.

We’re now working with Sonicbids on a BRAND NEW type of listing initiated by MOTU AM. This is the first any only kind of this listing put on a gig finder site. This gig does not rely on “promises” of dates and pay, it relies on the music community to come together and make their own fate. Rather than the typical venue listing or promoter listing that takes money out of the artist pocket, we are once again practicing what we preach and have created THIS GIG OPPORTUNITY for bands in IL, IN, KY, MO, and WI. http://www.sonicbids.com/Opportunity/OpportunityView.aspx?opportunity_id=106595 . We spent some time communicating with Sonicbids http://www.sonicbids.com and explaining our intentions and goals in order View full article »

Read More & Comment

Solution Oriented: Fixing Music

Filed under: THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

January 5, 2012

The debate rages on. Well “Perpetua” (Matthew Perpetua) over at http://perpetua.tumblr.com/post/14873014757/u-s-sales-figures-for-pitchforks-top-50-albums-of says that I’m “demonstrably wrong” in my opinion with “no insights.” I guess years of working with tens of thousands of points of research and studies to improve and change companies and their products in far flung industries, sectors and countries from such horrible research companies as Forrester, Greenberg and McKinsey and siting such awful sources such as Harvard Business Review as well as volumes of books on culture, purpose, audience, change and business as well as being in and around bands, musicians and artists for years has made me a total idiot and left me without the ability to put together a logical thought. In 2012 I resolve to listen more, so lets review what I have been hearing when I voice my uniformed moronic opinions over the past few years… and BTW this is all against the backdrop of a wildly successful music industry, so I’m really starting to see where these thoughts are coming from.

Looks like the guy who used to check id’s at the door of your local club who moved to booking bands then got a job at the indie label the next city over only to move to L.A. so he could hide at Warner Brothers Music long enough to move into a middle management position after his boss got fired really has it over on me because he has “been in music” longer.

So here’s the conclusions and truths that everyone seems to be reaching. Looks like View full article »

Read More & Comment

The Death of the Rockstar: A Letter to Our Artists and Pitchfork Top 50 Album 2011 Sales Numbers

Filed under: THOUGHTS by MOTU Paul — Leave a comment

December 28, 2011

Recently, after reading a few year end sales figures, I felt the need to encourage and reinforce the courage and hearts of the artists that I work with. After all, the numbers from sales, failing radio stations, concert attendance and basically anything that would put a buck in their pockets, are all shockingly low or non-existent.

Coming from outside into the industry (certain people see this as an immense disadvantage telling me “you don’t understand how bands work. you don’t understand how this industry works,” which is of course what every industry says, yet I’ve managed to help make them tens of millions of dollars see http://www.motumanagement.com/?p=126), having experience dealing with and changing actual businesses from start-ups to venture capitalist portfolio pieces to long standing pillars in their respective sectors, I can see what a joke the music industry has been. My feeling is that everyone has known it on some level for quite a while. Artists have been shouting View full article »

Read More & Comment