“Newton’s First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.“
-NASA
Welcome back to another issue of Blackhat Buzz. You might be wondering what the hell Newton has to do with a music studio blog, and you’d be right to do so. This time we wanted to cover a topic that we have personally struggled with as a business that also happens to be a common issue among artists. Momentum. For us, it’s been an uphill battle. A Sisyphusian struggle to maintain an upward trajectory with the weight of the metaphorical boulder we’re trying to push. Starting a business is scary and building it to a point where it is sustainable as the only focus and source of income is challenging to say the least. We bought the gear, we had a good engineer, we networked and got into a local studio, we made a name in the local scene as one of the go-to names in live sound. So what happened? Why does it feel like all that work we did to get there vanished overnight? Simple, we lost momentum and fumbled long enough to need to put in the work all over again.
It is a little different for a business like ours than for a band to manage momentum, but not entirely. So what is momentum in this industry anyway? In the most basic sense it’s the forward movement or growth of your business, project, or band. Your posts on socials are getting more likes, your band is getting consistently booked for gigs, folks are streaming your songs, and the merch is selling at a good pace. And the trick is to maintain this without burning out like I did last year.
Ok, where do we start?
So how do you build momentum in the first place?
The short answer to this is footwork. You get out there and network in your community. You go to venues, you meet other artists, you talk to the people that frequent these places you want to play, and to the local merchants that will eventually become your creative companions in your album and merch releases. AKA building your community. Since we live in a digital age this same thing also needs to be done online. Make social media accounts for your band and make yourself a regular posting schedule. There are apps that can help you with this and if you don’t want extra apps, the Meta Business suite will at least help you schedule posts across their platforms.
Here’s a shortlist of what experts say you should be sharing: events, show fliers, merch sales, reels from shows, reels of band members participating in social media trends, music videos, regular music releases, photos galore, and more reels. Participating in livestreams and Q&A sessions will also help bolster your fanbase participation especially if you enjoy that intimate acoustic performance.
This is a slow and often arduous process friends. You may put in a ton of effort over a year and not see the results you had hoped for. In my case I attempted to herd a clowder of feral cats while my personal life was in turmoil and found out what burnout was. Sure, the blog had it’s days of popularity, but hunting folks down every week for information that I was often not getting was a pain. This is a passion project, not something I make money for and the deadlines I had set for publication were not working with the folks I needed to interview. Why add that extra stress for seemingly no benefit? Well…Let me tell you, it may not have appeared to have made a difference for the business, but the affects of stopping the entire social campaign (not to mention losing our second engineer) actually dramatically affected business all across the board. It does work, and it may be hard to see your progress from the inside, but trust me that it is making a difference.
But then it got hard…
So what happens when you’ve put in that effort to gain momentum and you suddenly find yourselves challenged? A band member is struggling with work/life balance, someone is in a toxic relationship that begins affecting productivity, or the ever-present schedule conflicts that arise when you have a group of people with day jobs partners and kids trying to book gigs or tours. What do you do? Well, frankly more often than not these very struggles lead to conflict between band members up to and including termination of their participation in the band. Then what? Now not only have you lost some momentum but you are down a critical member. That isn’t something groups always recover from. In fact, many do not survive member turnover. Those who still wish to play find new groups and start the cycle all over again. But you don’t have to let it crash.
One way to work around some of these problems is to think of your band like a business with a support structure. Leave your egos at home and be flexible. Is your drummer going through something and keeps cancelling gigs? Have a backup plan, don’t be afraid to bring in an alternative while they sort life out. Don’t penalize them for having a hard time, but keep playing and don’t cancel shows unless it’s completely unavoidable. If you’ve already made a name for yourself locally it’s assured you will know a few good candidates to help you out in a pinch. What a business shouldn’t do is close the doors and cancel appointments each time one employee has something else going on. There are situations where this is not a viable option yeah? That’s ok too, but do your best to get back to business as soon as you can.
But I’m not social…
What about social media? It can be exhausting right? The trick is not to overthink what you’re posting. When you have less time for intricately planned or thoughtful posts use something like Meta Business Suite to help you schedule multiple posts for the whole week so you only have to sit down once for a few minutes. Simple flyers for shows, blurbs about your merch, or if it needs to be extra low effort share old show photos. Doing the occasional livestream can also really help connect you to fans and the best part about those are that only one member really needs to do it. Even if it’s only once a week or even bi-weekly.
Executive dysfunction activated…
What about when everything is just too damn hard? No one has the time, one or more members are going through something, or everyone but you is a luddite and you haven’t got any more bandwidth? Well, hun… This is when you ask for help. You’ve already got yourself a following and chances are you have at least a small crew of close friends or followers. ASK FOR HELP! Talk to people and see if they might be willing to take a bit of video or a few pics at your next show. Consider having them hit the street to put up flyers or QR stickers (where appropriate). Even a small amount of effort can help keep moving you forward. Engaging your friends and followers is a surefire way to keep things rolling even if only slowly. You’d be surprised at what folks will do to help the bands they love. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
In summary:
- Momentum is everything in music and business and it’s easy to lose.
- Burnout is real: learn from setbacks without quitting completely.
- Footwork matters: Show up in your local scene and online.
- Social media doesn’t need to be perfect, consistency beats complexity.
- Think like a business: Have backup plans and systems for when life hits.
- Don’t isolate: ask for help from fans, friends, and fellow artists.
- Progress isn’t always visible, but every small step counts.
- “Semper Gumby” (Always Flexible) is your new motto.
P.S. Here’s a few pics from Matt’s last One Drop Redemption show. See ya next time!
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