So You Wanna Be a Rock Star?

A Business Primer for Wannabe Rock Stars

By Matthew Pruitt

Utah has been a wellspring of musical talent in recent years. Such bands as The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees, David Archuleta, Lindsey Stirling, Panic! At the Disco, The Used, and Meg & Dia all have roots of some type in Utah. In northern Utah, the music venue Velour has become a mainstay in the community as a place to develop great talent. Here in southern Utah, the scene grew with Jazzy’s Rock N Roll Grill, and while that has since closed, other venues have stepped up to take its place.

Having worked closely with several of the aforementioned artists, I’m often asked what it takes to make it in the industry. Making it in the music industry is much like making it in any other business: you need a quality product, a solid team, good marketing, and good business fundamentals.

All too often, musicians buckle down on perfecting their craft while forgetting the rest. An established artist may have the freedom to do that, but for an artist starting out, close attention needs to be paid to every aspect of the business. That said, having a quality product is the most critical aspect of them all. If you open a restaurant and the food is not good, no one is going to eat at your restaurant. In the same way, if your music isn’t any good, no one is going to listen to it.

Artists need to understand, though, that not all good music is marketable. Artists should conduct a market analysis related to their music and have reasonable expectations for the market size. True artists might scoff at being marketable, but they should think of marketing as finding the people who love their music and learning how to communicate with them. You wouldn’t take a hard-rock or hip-hop tour to senior care homes. Find your market, learn what they want to hear, then craft your art and messaging to better appeal to them. Don’t be afraid to let your music evolve. Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons wrote acoustic singersongwriter music and even dabbled in hip hop before forming Imagine Dragons and developing their sound.

Artists are often too concerned with how to get a record deal, but not all music needs a record deal. I have helped many clients who have been able to make good livings having their self-produced music sold to film and TV by indie publishers. Making a living in music no longer requires a major label and widespread fame.

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Making it in the music industry is much like making it in any other business: you need a quality product, a solid team, good marketing, and “ good business fundamentals.

Mr. Pruitt is an attorney in Kirton McConkie’s St. George office. He provides representation for business and entertainment clients and assists them with contracts, negotiations, corporate governance, formation, strategic planning, compliance, and litigation. Contact him at mpruitt@kmclaw.com. If you’re focused on the mainstream, work on marketing yourself first, and then the record labels will come to you. As an agent at one of Imagine Dragons’ early booking agencies, the Hungry Tiger Agency, I watched them develop their sound and then build their audience step by step, starting first in northern Utah before expanding into nearby regions, such as Las Vegas and California. If you can pack shows locally and regionally, the industry will take notice. Southern Utah is a prime geographic location for building and branching out into nearby markets, such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City. If you can generate significant buzz in each of those markets, the labels and publishers will find you.

When it comes to building a good team, an artist typically needs an agent, a manager, and a lawyer. As the artist’s business grows, that team will grow and will often include a tour manager, business manager, record label representatives, publishers, and others. An early artist may self-manage, self-book, and self-lawyer, but the artist will typically be better off with a team. Some artists may choose relatives or friends to handle these positions, but eventually an artist will be better off finding a well-networked team that knows the industry and can help make introductions.

Oftentimes, it’s advisable that an artist obtain a lawyer before anyone else, as the artist will need help forming contracts with the agent and manager. Some agent and manager relationships can begin informally and be memorialized later, but getting key terms out of the way from the beginning can help reduce tension and eliminate future problems. Artists should look to limit the term, or timeframe, of initial contracts with agents and managers so the artist can back out of the relationship if it’s not working out. The Killers experienced an issue like this when a prior manager sued them for early termination of their agreement when they found him to be unresponsive and ineffective as a manager.

In addition to management and agency agreements, artists are destined to encounter a large breadth of agreements during their careers, including production agreements, publishing agreements, licensing agreements, recording agreements, band partnership agreements, co-writer agreements, songwriting agreements, name and likeness releases, venue agreements, and others. Getting each of these right is critical to the overall success of an artist’s career. Many great musical artists have had fantastic music stymied by failed contracts resulting in their music never seeing the light of day.

So if you want to be a rock star, perfect your craft, build your following, and then get yourself a rock star team that includes experienced legal counsel. If you build it, they (the record labels and publishers) will come.

Mr. Pruitt is licensed in Nevada and is currently pursuing licensure in Utah.