A Story About Ennui....Comments Welcome

[juststartingout]

I am a friend of the band Ennui. I work with the band leader some to help them get ahead, which we all know is not an easy task. I would like to tell you what has happened so far and see if any of you have any ideas that I may not have thought of. Their website is www.ennuimusic.com if any of you care to listen to them.

So they have been together for about 2 years now. They cut their first CD about 6 months ago and started shows at that point. They got a promoter from sending out samples to a lot of promoters. They got put on a 6 week program and ended up getting 40 airplays on 17 stations, all over the US. 3 out of the 5 songs on the CD got airplay. On week 6, they ended up placing #82 on the speciality charts. The 6 week period ended a few weeks ago and they are still getting about 2-4 plays a week. They bring in about 100-300 people each show that they play. At this point, and feel free to correct me, but I consider where they are at a big success so far.

Now there is still no record contract and they have a great deal of new material to record. There first CD ended up costing about $5,500 to master and produce. The promoter cost $2,400 for the 6 week program.

So where do they go from here is the big question. Any other comments or ideas are welcome.

 

[junplugged]

I am a friend of the band Ennui. I work with the band leader some to help them get ahead, which we all know is not an easy task. I would like to tell you what has happened so far and see if any of you have any ideas that I may not have thought of. Their website is www.ennuimusic.com if any of you care to listen to them.

So they have been together for about 2 years now. They cut their first CD about 6 months ago and started shows at that point. They got a promoter from sending out samples to a lot of promoters. They got put on a 6 week program and ended up getting 40 airplays on 17 stations, all over the US. 3 out of the 5 songs on the CD got airplay. On week 6, they ended up placing #82 on the speciality charts. The 6 week period ended a few weeks ago and they are still getting about 2-4 plays a week. They bring in about 100-300 people each show that they play. At this point, and feel free to correct me, but I consider where they are at a big success so far.

Now there is still no record contract and they have a great deal of new material to record. There first CD ended up costing about $5,500 to master and produce. The promoter cost $2,400 for the 6 week program.

So where do they go from here is the big question. Any other comments or ideas are welcome.

Are they making a profit? What's a specialty chart? What type of stations are they on? Do they want a contract? And if they are already successful on a local level, they will get one, but maybe not a good one, it may be better to hold out and build even more of a following. A very big subject....

 

[juststartingout]

Are they making a profit? What's a specialty chart? What type of stations are they on? Do they want a contract? And if they are already successful on a local level, they will get one, but maybe not a good one, it may be better to hold out and build even more of a following. A very big subject....

Well, they are breaking even at this point at best. They have only sold about 600 CDs so far.

The speciality chart is a group of 100 shows accross the US that don't have to play just what the corporate list is. What is played, is up to the DJ.

Now, the big news, and I just got it an hour ago, is that they have been contacted by Epic. They want a CD from the group (they only listened to what was on their website). So I guess it's working.

 

[glynb]

Seems to me that you've been doing everything right up to now.

Thing is there comes a point where something major happens, or you just keep plodding along at the same level and eventualy end it. To some extent that's not within your control to do much about.

You make good music (presumably), you book shows which are well attended, you send stuff out for review, you get some airplay... all good.

i guess the only thing that might boost things would be to get an experienced manager with contacts - easier said than done?