juergen reiter

Entries categorized as ‘music biz’

bestechung im showbusiness – bribery and showbusiness

February 23, 2010 · 1 Comment

this article is in german because I’d like to reach out to fans and future fans around munich, whom I’m going to bribe to come see my show. english translation is below the german text!

ich werde euch hier öffentlich bestechen, um zu meinem Virtual Reality Circus am 12. März ins i-camp Theater zu kommen und/oder um die show als produzent zu unterstützen. dafür gibt es 2 pakete, das

VRC Collective Ticket” und den “VRC Collective Producer“. mit beiden paketen könnt ihr den eintrittspreis und den produzentenpreis um 40-50% senken!

wie das geht? so gehts:

VRC COLLECTIVE TICKET

wenn ein minimum von 20 leuten bis 10.März tickets zur show kauft, zahlen alle nur €8,40 statt €14.- eintritt!

wenn das minimum von 20 leuten nicht zustande kommt, gibt es keinen rabatt, dafür aber das geld zurück!

das handbuch zum VRC Collective Ticket:

1. kaufe eine karte: überweise €8,40 via paypal an info@orkaan.com (betreff: VRC Collective Ticket)

2. kaufen bis 10.märz 20 leute oder mehr karten via paypal, so setze ich alle eure namen auf die gästeliste und ihr seid für €8,40 in der show.

3. kaufen weniger als 20 leute bis 10.märz tickets, so überweise ich euch umgehend am 11.märz die €8,40 zurück!

keiner verliert. ihr kommt entweder billiger rein, oder ihr bekommt euer geld zurück.

VRC COLLECTIVE PRODUCER

dieses paket funktioniert ebenso wie das VRC Collective Ticket. nur mit dem unterschied, dass ihr nicht nur eintrittskarten bekommt, sondern die show als produzent finanziell unterstützt, so dass alle beteiligten künstler und techniker gebührend bezahlt werden können.

vergiss nicht: die show ist für dich 1,5 stunden bestes entertainment und spass, für die künstler sind es ca. 10000 stunden harter arbeit und disziplin, denn so lange braucht ein mensch im durchschnitt, um eine kunst zu meistern.

und so funktionierts:

wenn bis 10.märz 10 leute oder firmen das VRC Collective Producer Paket kaufen, senke ich den preis für das paket für alle beteiligten um 50%, von €400.- auf €200.-

wenn das minimum von 10 leuten nicht zustande kommt zahle ich das geld umgehend an euch zurück!

Inhalt des VRC Collective Producer Pakets:

1. jeweils 2 vip-freikarten (von allen künstlern handsigniert) zum Virtual Reality Circus am 12.3. im i-camp theater in muenchen.

2. ich setze eure namen als produzenten der show auf alle meine websites und social networks (www.orkaan.com, www.juergenreiter.com, facebook, twitter und myspace), ausser ihr wollt anonym bleiben.

3. ich nehme eure namen als produzenten/sponsoren auf in meine pressemitteilungen und in mitteilungen all meiner medienpartner. (ausser ihr wollt anonym bleiben)

4. wenn ihr eine website habt (und wer hat wohl heute keine mehr), gebe ich euch ein widget (powered by peoplezapping), mit dem ihr die show live auf eurer website übertragen könnt und so noch mehr zugriffe auf eure seite generieren könnt.

5. ihr erhaltet ein persönliches video (ca. 3-5 minuten) der show für eure website oder euer protfolio. (das video wird nach der postproduction an euch gesendet. ca. 1 woche nach der show)

Handbuch zum VRC Collective Producer:

1. überweise €200.- via paypal an info@orkaan.com (betreff: VRC Collective Producer)

2. wenn am 10.märz das minimum von 10 leuten erreicht ist, setze ich alles in bewegung, um euch zu featuren. wurde das minimum nicht erreicht, überweise ich das geld ohne abzüge am 11.märz wieder an euch zurück.

………………..

Virtual Reality Circus ist eine veranstaltung von ORkAaN Music+Art Productions und muenchen852

………………………………………………….

ENGLISH VERSION

I’m going to openly bribe you to come to the Virtual Reality Circus on March 12th at i-camp theater in munich and/or sponsor the show. there are two packages to collectively drop the prices to the show and sponsorship 40-50%.

1. VRC Collective Ticket

2. VRC Collective Producer

here’s how it works:

VRC COLLECTIVE TICKET

if a minimum of 20 people sign up to buy tickets for the show by March 10th, all who signed up get a 40% discount on the ticket price. (€8,40 instead of €14)

if less than 20 sign up, no one gets the deal, instead you get your money back!

VRC Collective Ticket handbook:

1. sign up: make paypal payment of €8,40 to info@orkaan.com (ref: VRC Collective Ticket)

2. if the minimum 20 has been reached on March 10th your name will be on the guestlist and you’re in at €8,40. (if the minimum 20 has not been reached you’ll get the full payment back on march 11th!)

VRC COLLECTIVE PRODUCER

you’d like to help produce my Virtual Reality Circus, so artists can get paid for their hard work and dedication to give you 1,5 hours of high scale entertainment? (remember, 1,5 hours of high class entertainment for you is about 10000 hours of hard work and study for each individual artist to master his craft!)

thank you for understanding and for being great!

here’s how it works:

if a minimum of 10 people/companies sign up to buy the VRC Collective Producer package by March 10th, all who signed up get a 50% discount on the package price. (€200 instead of €400)

if less than 10 sign up, no one gets the deal, but you’ll get your money back!

the VRC Collective Producer Package includes:

1. free tickets (2 each) for the show on March 12th.

2. Credit of your name on exposed positions on all our websites and social networks (www.orkaan.com, www.juergenreiter.com, facebook, twitter, myspace)

3. we’ll communicate you as our producer/sponsor to the press, so you’ll get extra exposure on our connected networks and partners.

4. if you have a website (well, who doesn’t) we’ll give you a widget to stream the show live on your website and drive extra traffic to your site.

5. you’ll receive a personalized video (about 3-5 minutes) of the show to put on your website or portfolio. (we’ll send the video after postproduction, about 1 week after the show)

sign up instructions:

1. make paypal payment of €200 to info@orkaan.com (ref: VRC Collective Producer)

2. if the minimum 10 has been reached on march 10th we’ll work our butts off to get you the exposure you deserve! (if the minimum 10 has not been reached you’ll get the full €200 back on march 11th)

Categories: music biz · virtual reality circus
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music business upside down

December 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

juergen reiter at feinspeiserei

musicians used to write songs and play them live over and over again, go on tour, play as many gigs as possible, get a feel for the songs, rearrange them a hundred times until they worked best with the audience. eventually, after having worked on the songs for a long time, they would record them. the record was a tool, a side effect of the live music.

now, musicians record an album, put all the effort and a lot of money into it , then learn the songs from their own recording and play them live the way they are on the record. it doesn’t work. first, you can never sound as polished live as on the record, second: you shouldn’t!

the live music industry is a total different ballgame than the record business. an audience wants to be engaged in what’s going on on stage. if you just play your songs the way they are on the album without taking the audience into account you’ve lost.

they came out for you so give them something to take home, something to remember, something to tell their friends about.

Categories: music biz
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ORkAaN Music – just another label in town?

December 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I just went through a couple of things of my label ORkAaN Music+Art Productions to send a short info sheet to a possible promotion partner.

while sifting through things I found a long forgotton passage I wrote for the label’s catalogue back in 2007. I think it’s still fun to read and, most importantly, still true.

download ORkAaN Music cut-up

Categories: music biz · projects 2007
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musician’s to-do list

December 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I got asked recently about what a musician’s to-do list should contain?

short answer: practice, compose/produce, manage.

practice is obvious. work on your skill, improve your talent. this is so obvious, it should not even be on a to-do list at all. if it’s on your to-do list, there’s something wrong with your view on musicianship. so scrap it off the list! this is your profession. you do it every day. obvious.

compose/produce: for me those two are actually pretty much the same thing. I produce while I compose and vice versa. anyway, this is just as obvious as practice. produce as much music as you can and get it out there. this, too, is so obvious it shouldn’t be on the list.

manage: ah now we’re getting somewhere. manage your career. what does it mean? it means: don’t spend time on twitter or facebook! don’t look to get signed! don’t work on a website for hours, days, weeks! don’t look for distribution (use tunecore or cd-baby and do it yourself in minutes!), don’t beg “important” people to come see your show!

it really means: work on your music, your show and play gigs to create your tribe. just focus on the music and how you present it live. the rest will follow, they’ll come to you: fans, important people, press, labels, fame, etc…

here’s a great free to-do list application that allows you to put down the basic things that need to be done to play your next gig. make it a remarkable one!

Categories: music biz · performance booster
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94.5 interview with juergen

June 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment

94.5 interviewI’ve been asked to come in for an interview by dirk wagner from 94.5  just one day after launching my theme song “naked in the street of 851″ here.

muenchen 851 is an initiative by zehra spindler to give munich’s subculture a kick start and bring together artists of all genres to create work, which will be shown and performed all through the summer in munich. it’s one of the greatest actions of this kind I’ve seen happening in this city. it shines a light on the great munich subculture!

my song was positively regocnized by many of the involved partners of muenchen 851, which lead to the interview invitation.

in the interview there was a lot of talk about GEMA, the royalty collecting agency in germany, with which a lot of artists are not happy. unlike the usa (where there is ascap, sesac and other institutions to choose from), in germany there is no alternative  to GEMA. running a label and music publishing operation as well, I tried to give an overview of the situation.

the interview also included the lead singer of picobello hollywood hotel and christina (sorry I can’t remember your last name!) from on3, a platform which helps start-up bands from munich to get a foot into the music industry.

you can listen to parts of the one hour long radio broadcast here.

95.4 gematalk with pico

95.4 gematalk with juergen

94.5 gematalk with juergen and pico

94.5 juergen talk

94.5 talk about muenchen 851

94.5 juergen talk 2

Categories: dead on arrival · music biz
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music-pin downloadcards

April 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

downloadcard-web-sml

I used these music-pin downloadcards as tickets for my last show “dead on arrival”.

the idea is to give my audience more than just a concert. mp3’s are multipliable without having to stack shelves either here at my house or at the distributor or store. I give the cards to people who come to the show so they can download a bit of my music for free. plus, when I go on tour, I don’t have to bring boxes full of heavy CD’s. the pin-cards are small (500 cards fill up half a shoebox!) and they can hold up to 20 songs.

reactions at the concert were superb. people liked the idea and, of course, everyone likes a free treat. plus, music-pin pays royalties for every download-transaction.

Next show (may 23rd) I’ll start an experiment: Everyone who buys 10 cards (€15) and gives them to 10 friends will receive free entrance to my shows in 09.

see you at the show

Categories: dead on arrival · music biz
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benefits vs. product challenge!

March 28, 2009 · 1 Comment

I recently read an interesting article about “economics of free” and the scarce and infinite components of a company’s offering. I find this an extremely interesting subject, because I’ve been thinking about this concept for a while, but haven’t had the nerve to implement it into my business (being a musician).
I experience that voicing the thought alone can result in heavy discussions and accusations from both musicians and music industry professionals, who instantly think that that’s the reason why the music industry is failing.
well, researching and re-thinking the matter over and over I come to the conclusion that the main reason why I get these reactions is because the biggest part of the music industry and musicians haven’t taken the step of redefining their offering in broader terms.
let me explain, what I’m talking about:
the question I get most in this matter is “how do the artists make money if their music is legally free for consumers?”
the answer is simple:
define the market based on the benefit’s we’re providing (as musicians and/or record companies) rather than on the product we’re selling. as a musician I no longer want to sell songs, I want to sell the experience of musical enjoyment. or, as seth godin puts it, “sell shows, not CD’s!”
benefits – infinite vs. scarse
the benefits can be broken down into infinite and scarce components. infinite components are those that cost nothing to give away, e.g. the music itself. scarce components are everything else, from concerts to backstage passes to people’s time and attention.
set infinite components free – charge for scarce components
step one is to set the infinite components free and make them easy to get. the benefit is the increase of value of the scarce components. make it as easy as possible for people to listen and get to your songs and they’ll be much more likely to get interested in you as an artist, in your concerts or merchandise. the word spreads wider faster and access to the artist becomes more valuable.
step two is to charge for the scarce components that are tied to infinite components. e.g. concerts, merchandise, VIP tickets, printed scores (which e.g. maria schneider trades very successfully!), or any other scarce offering you can think of.

bottom line
I think most musicians and music companies don’t even go as far as step one – redefining themselves in respect of providing benefits vs. selling products.
with my upcoming shows this year, I’ll experiment with the re-definition of my business as a musician. I call it the “benefits vs. product challenge!”
step one I have already taken. I decided to not press up physical product of my new album “dead on arrival” but to go online exclusively and free as much as possible.
e.g. if you’ll be attending any of my upcoming show, you’ll get three songs for free with the ticket . that’s not all, there’s more in the pipeline and I’ll post it all here.
my next show is on april 11th 2009, at rationaltheater in munich, germany. tickets are €12, plus three free songs and a joyful night of excentric sound and lucid fun!
please, readers, offer your oppinion and join me in the challenge! participation is welcome!

Categories: music biz
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