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Jul 9, 2009 11:17 pm US/Central
Good Question: How Do Bands Make It Big?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
Almost every night, at bars and clubs around the state, there are people in bands trying to make it. A tiny percentage break through, leaving the local stage for a national audience. How do bands hit it big?
"If I knew exactly what it was, I would be writing a book, because I'd make a lot more money doing that," said Josh Grier, singer and guitarist with Tapes 'N Tapes.
Grier and his band started in 2002. They played local gigs, recorded a CD in 2006, but according to Sonia Grover, who books bands at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Tapes 'N Tapes was barely playing in front of a crowd of 40 in the music club's 7th Street Entry.
"We released [the CD] locally ourselves. A couple days later there were people on blogs in Texas saying, 'I like this song,'" remembered Grier. "Holy crap there's people not in Minneapolis that like these songs! That's cool!" he said.
As word spread online, the band started touring relentlessly, especially on the East Coast.
"One day a national booking agent called me asking, 'Who's this Tapes 'N Tapes band,'" remembered Grover. She said this band success was fueled by online buzz and enthusiasm, along with the hard work of touring.
"With Tapes 'N Tapes, hard work came in the fact they were constantly touring. The luck came in the people who saw them," said Grover. People in the crowds blogged about the show, which got others interested in the music, and it's spiraled.
Influential online music reviewing site Pitchfork.com gave the band's debut CD "The Loon" a very high rating, stamping it with the "Best New Music" of 2006 label. That happened in February of 2006.
"I think it definitely helped," said Grier.
The next month they played for nine days at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. By April, the band was inside the pages of Rolling Stone magazine. In June, they appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman.
"I think we still haven't stopped to think about it or analyze it too much," said keyboardist Matt Kretzmann.
Tapes 'N Tapes signed with XL Recordings, an indie music record label, although Grier said that being connected with a label wasn't the career breakthrough that many expect it to be.
"Like all our problems were solved. We actually we were doing just as well before we signed with the label financially. Being involved with the label came out of necessity; we had too much work to take on the things we needed to do," said Grier.
Distributing their CDs from the back of their van, and trying to send out music and keep contacts with club booking people was overwhelming, he explained.
Today, the music industry has many different routes to fame, said Grover. Some people come through reality shows, like American Idol or America's Got Talent. Others come through touring, some make it because of the internet. But the ones who succeed right now? "I think persistence and patience are key," said Grover. "It can be discouraging playing in front of twenty people," she noted, but in this economy, making it in a live venue is difficult.
Tapes 'N Tapes is playing Saturday night at the Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis. After that, it's back to writing the music for their third CD. "We made music we really liked and got lucky enough that other people really liked it too," said Grier.
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