Martin Atkins, drummer from Public Image, Killing Joke and Nine Inch Nails wrote a book called Tour Smart. He does a good bit of public speaking, and we’re on the same wavelength about a lot of stuff. In fact, people have described him to me as “New Music Strategies with swearing.”
He was on a panel at Un-Convention and I grabbed him for a quick moment for a chat. I put him on the spot a bit, but got him to do a top 5 Tour Smart tips.
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[...] Andrew over at New Music Strategies caught up with our former sage and Columbia faculty member Martin as part of a panel member for Un-Convention. Martin is out promoting Tour Smart right now and gives an impromptu top 5 here. I thought it was interesting to see one of our teachers out in the blogosphere… check the whole post here. [...]
[...] track ‘Lies Like These’. Andrew gives his thoughts on the event and managed to grab a short chat with Martin Atkins. Martin, who after years with Public Image Limited, Killing Joke and Pigface, is rapidly becoming [...]
11 Comments
Great advice from a man who has done it all. I particularly like the bit about T-shirts. If you have two, make the choice for a fan, which am I going to buy, not whether or not to buy!
Ian
That was a rockin’ bit of video. Goes straight into the “save for later (multiple!) views” list.
Thanks!
His last piece of advice regarding albums is bang on for any independent artist.
I second the T-shirts comment. Similarly, when you approach press / radio / club tastemakers with your music, you can offer “Would you prefer a CD or a link to an mp3?”, removing the option of a “no, thank you” ;)
Lee.
on the nose.
out here in the french provinces its hard to find people to agree with you on this kind of subject,
so refreshing to be at unconvention and to hear the likes of M Atkins stating and re-stating the kind of thing that’s been going around my head these last few years, i feel a bit less like a freak now, or is that more like a freak?
this sounds a bit arrogant actually, i mean, i didn’t have all of these ideas beforehand but the attitudes at salford matched in a way that was new and positive for me. it was really good to be there. thanks to all involved.
i love how serious he is when he’s like “…take your album and bake it in a cake! …do whatever it takes!” lol! i understand what he means though. i did something similar when i made 150 cd sleeves out of discarded cereal boxes and whatnot, and decorated each one with sharpies, all by hand. a little more than a year later, they’re almost gone. people really loved them, although i’m not sure i got more sales because of it, and i did end up giving a lot of them away.
it was sooo much work, i wouldn’t recommend that particular task to another artist. my new album definitely getting pressed, no special anything …but i’m trying to keep with the personal feel, as my friend and i did scrapbook art, and scanned it for the cd pages ;)
“New Music Strategies with swearing”
Nah sorry mate, from running a cutting edge underground Industrial label for 20 years, to mortgaging his building in Chicago to tour Europe as Pigface, to jumping on a plane to get in the face of 20 kids and tell them about his book, Martin Atkins is much cooler than you… ;)
Well, that’s a given. Most people I’ve ever met are cooler than me…
Not meaning to claim anything like the guy’s credentials. Just meaning to say – if you like what I have to say, and you haven’t read his stuff – then you NEED to check out Tour Smart.
WTF? Martin was at the Hare and Hounds? How did I miss that?
More of this type of thing PLEASE. Love it.
I love his thoughts, his voice everything, when I watched him I see the man who really know for what he is talking about :)