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David Wimble
Author/Founder of The Indie Contact
Bible
1.
Please tell us a little bit about your background and
why got you into the music business.
I’d been writing and recording
songs for about 20 years at home, but never really found the
courage or responsibility that was required make a career of
it in the music business. I guess you could say I was a little
messed up. I was more interested with partying, and then
fantasizing about what it would be like to be famous, rather
than taking the actual steps needed to build a career. I
remember TELLING a lot of people about how famous I was going
to become, but never really taking any steps in that
direction.
After I got my life kind of
sorted out, I finally got the nerve to play live (about 7
years ago). The people I was playing with really liked my
songs and suggested that if I could ever get the funds
together, I should record a CD. About 4 years ago, I came up
with enough money to record a CD and did just that. I was also
playing live two nights a week (for free) at a small drinking
hole in Ottawa, Ontario. It was a lot of fun just to be out
there and finally playing live. We were a two piece band
called “Big Meteor” and the album we recorded was entitled
“Wild River”. http://www.bigmeteor.com/bmr
2.
How did you come up with the idea for The Indie
Bible?
The Indie Bible was created
totally by accident.
It took us about 8 months to
record the “Wild River”. At the end of the 8 month session,
the wear and tear on the nerves had taken its toll, and by the
time the CD was shrink-wrapped and ready to roll, the band had
broken up (the band was to include the producer on bass, and
our session drummer on drums). The tension had boiled to a
point where we could no longer co-exist. So that was the ugly
end to that plan.
Everyone went back to what
they were previously doing, except me. I was deeply in debt
without a band to help me promote my CD. I figured I could try
and form another band, but there were no guarantees that any
band that was formed would
stay together long enough for a decent promotion of the “Wild
River” CD.
Luckily, during the many
months of recording, I spent a few hours a day poking around
on the Internet, looking for places to promote the CD. I knew
nothing about the Internet when I first started out. The more
I surfed around, the more I discovered about this new
dimension of music marketing. A whole new world was
opening up to me. There were hundreds of radio stations I
found that would play the music of Independent musicians. I
also found lots of review sites. There were also quite a few
places that would help me to sell my music, as well as a large
number of sites where I could upload my MP3 and Real Audio
files. By the time the band had broken up, I had accumulated
quite a large list of places that I had contacted, and planned
to send a copy of my CD to.
After the band breakup, I was
in deep financial trouble, with no hope in sight. Then, a
thought occurred to me about the list I had created. I
recalled that during the endless hours of research that I had
put in, one thing that I was looking for the whole time, was a
single resource that would list the types of places that I was
looking for. I would have paid anything for a handy directory
that would list places where Independent musicians could gain
exposure for their music. I had sent away for a couple of
resources that said they had all sorts of helpful sites
listed, but I was very disappointed when I received them. In
both cases it looked like something the author had put
together in a few days.
I wondered if my list was
something that other musicians would find helpful? I ran the
idea past a few other musicians and they loved the idea. It
was that moment that the list I accumulated was christened
“The Indie Contact Bible”.
With fear as my motivator, I
began consciously building my list. The research went on for
months. I made sure that the new sites I added to the book
were something that a recording musician would find helpful. I
didn’t want the Indie Bible to become just another mish-mash
of music sites.
I also did my best not to
censor any of the sites because I wanted the Indie Bible to be
a list of places that anyone with any style of music, and any
sort of religious or philosophical belief would find helpful.
After researching 3000 sites
or so, I finally published the 1st Edition. It
wasn’t pretty, and was in fact photocopied, not printed…but it
WAS useful, and the feedback was incredible!
3.
How long has the publication been in existence and how
may copies have been sold?
That 1st Edition
came out in the fall of 1999, followed by the 2nd
Edition in the fall of 2000. In the fall of 2001 the
3rd Edition was released.
A few hundred copies of the
1st Edition were sold. A few thousand of the
2nd Edition were sold. The 3rd Edition
is off to a great start, and is available in most book and
music stores throughout North America (I began a distribution
partnership with Music-Sales early last year). The Indie Bible is
also now available through over 100 sites online.
4.
What has been the greatest testimonial to
the
importance/success of The Indie
Bible?
I think that the “quality” of
the people that have supported the Indie Bible is what helped
it to become a trusted resource, and certainly helped me to
keep going, even when things looked bleak.
I sent Daylle Deanna Schwartz,
author of the Indie classics “Real Deal” and “Start and Run
Your Own Record Label”, a copy of the 1st Edition,
and she stated that it was the most comprehensive resource she
had ever come across. Shortly after, Jeri Goldstein, author of
“How To Be Your Own Booking Agent” wrote that the Indie Bible
is the “ultimate” resource for the independent musician. That
was awesome, and gave me a lot of hope.
The fact that these two people
loved the book was a huge motivator for me. It helped me to
keep pressing on. I knew that I was onto something, and if I
kept at it, things would work out. Since those early days,
high praise for the Indie Bible continues to roll in from
every area of the music community.
5.
Tell us about your band?
Officially there is no band at
the moment. I did patch things up with Larry Church this past
summer, and we planned on getting out and playing live again,
but it hasn’t happened yet. The truth is that the work
involved with the Indie Bible takes up all of my time. I’d
love to get out and play, and record and all that fun and
creative stuff, but I can’t afford to do it at this point
without the quality of the Indie Bible being affected
6.
Great cover! Share with us the story of how Bob Masse
came aboard to give you such great artwork.
A friend of mine name Geneva
World runs a site called GirlMedia.com. She
contacted me one day, and was very excited about the fact that
she had met Bob Masse the famous poster artist. She said in
her e-mail that if I could get him to do the cover if the
Indie Bible, I would sell thousands of copies of the book,
based on that alone.
I checked out his website, and
recognized his style right away. He’s one of those artists
that you don’t quite know where you’ve seen his work before,
but you definitely know you’ve seen it.
A lot of the posters were
captivating, some even hauntingly beautiful, and the type of
art I would have definitely loved to have on a future cover of
the Indie Bible.
After I checked out Bob’s site
(http://www.bmasse.com/)
I deleted the e-mail that Geneva sent, figuring a) he’s got
better things to do than the cover for my book, and b) I could
never afford his asking price.
Later that night I had a
thought. I figured the worst that could happen is that he
would say “No”. I asked Geneva to contact him and ask him if
he would be interested in designing a cover for me. She got
back to me the next day and said he’s VERY interested. I got
in touch with Bob, and we talked about doing the cover. I was
still quite confused as to why he had interest in doing a
cover for the Indie Bible? I asked him if he was busy these
days, figuring that maybe his career had gone into the tank.
He told me that he was swamped; in fact he was working on
posters for the “Guess Who” and “Joe Cocker” North American
tour.
It was something that
interested him, for some unknown reason. We worked out the
details, and developed what is now the cover of the
3rd Edition. We have a great working relationship,
so I expect that all future editions of the Indie Bible will
feature Bob’s work.
I just talked with him today
as a matter of fact. He’s just moved to a small
Island off the coast of British
Columbia, and is living next door to Randy Bachman (The Guess
Who/ Bachman Turner Overdrive).
7.
You have a lot going on besides The Indie Bible, give
us some insight about your newsletters and
website.
A person that runs an online
music site told me when I was first starting out ,that my
success will be based on 20% content and 80% marketing.
I though that was kind of
crazy statement, until it came time to market the
1st Edition of the Indie Bible. I found out quickly
that only a fraction of the people that visit your website
actually buy the product (and to get them there in the first
place is a major chore in itself). There is a ratio that
becomes apparent after awhile (I think mine was 1 sale for
every 50 visitors). The key at this point is to get more
visitors to your site. It was pretty simple math. If I could
get 100 visitors a day, I’d sell two copies, if I could get
400 visitors a day, I’d sell 8 copies.
What I did at this point was
dive head-first into the world of Internet marketing. I
downloaded everything I could find about how to generate more
traffic to my site and make sales. I bought several resources,
and subscribed to many services. I looked for proven methods
that I could apply to my site. I also found out that every con
artist on the Internet has a unique “secret” plan that they
guarantee will bring thousands of visitors to your site.
This “education” went on for a
couple of years. I found that the majority of the techniques
didn’t work. In most cases it cost me quite a bit of time and
money to find this out.
I did find out a few things
that did work, and were almost always mentioned many articles
I read.
1.
“You must give people more than one reason to visit
your site”. This
principle spawned the Indie Link Exchange, bestmusiczines.com,
and INDIE RESOURCELAND. All are “free” resources for
musicians, or music related sites.
Out of all the resource
sites I created, I’m most proud of the Indie Link Exchange.
One of the most frustrating things to deal with when I was
looking to generate traffic, was all the crazy rules the
various link exchanges had. I built the Indie Link Exchange
because I felt that it was something that was badly needed,
especially for those just starting out. It’s a simple way to
gain some free exposure for your site. All anyone has to do
is contact someone else on the list, and arrange the link
swap. It’s all based on the honor system I think we’re up to
about 550 sites listed now?
2.
A newsletter will be your most powerful tool.
I didn’t really have the
time to pump out a monthly newsletter in the first few years
of production. It just wasn’t a priority.
Last year, I thought that it
would be nice to have articles included in the 3rd
Edition of the Indie Bible. The articles would cover the
basics, such as how to submit your music for review, create a
bio, market your music etc. (basically, all the things I did
wrong promoting my music). I had met hundreds of knowledgeable
people from all areas of the industry. What I planned on
doing, was getting a couple articles a month from various
experts, and put them into a newsletter. I would then take the
best articles of the bunch and put them into the Indie Bible.
To make the newsletter even
more appealing to Indie artists, I also added in all the Indie
Bible submissions I would get over the previous month (I get
most of the listings by doing research, but I do have a
submission form at the Indie Bible site). Therefore, each
newsletter also has a healthy list of places to send music for
review, radio airplay etc. It also gives artists that don’t
have a copy of the Indie Bible, a good feeling of what the
book is all about.
Hopefully the sampling each
month will prompt them to purchase a copy of the book.
8.
What is your greatest criticism of the music industry
today?
It’s the same old story. The
most talented artists are usually not the ones we hear on the
radio, see on TV etc.
9.
Any Suggestions for artists who have been in the
business for a long time whose careers have yet to
break?
My advice to anyone that is
still struggling to find solid ground in the music business is
to “keep going!” If you have talent (meaning, you’re not your
only fan…. you are in fact told by others that you do have
talent) then you CAN succeed. The catch is that you have to
put in an incredible amount of work, and that involves making
some sacrifices. This is where the majority of artists fall
off the train – thinking that their talent alone will take
them to the top. It will never happen.
10.
How do you feel the Indie Bible has affected the
Independent Music Community and where do you think it will
take us?
The Indie Bible certainly has
helped a lot of individuals, but it’s still in its infancy.
Not enough people know about it yet to say that an actual
community has been affected. I think the value of the Indie
Bible will increase as more musicians get online and discover
that the Internet offers an amazing number of new ways to get
your music out to the rest of the world.
I hope someday soon that the
Indie Bible will be considered an “Industry Standard”.
Something that recording musicians will know is a proven
resource, and will purchase without question, once their music
is ready to be marketed.
We thank
David for taking the time and sharing with us his
experiences. Be here next month for another great
interview with industry professionals. Upcoming
interviews include: Taxi's Michael Laskow, Producer, Phil
Nicolo, and many Label & A&R
Executives!
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