Martin Atkins Interview

A Forward by Rachel Webb

I had waited all evening, sitting patiently at my computer. The final few jazz tunes played, and a few thank-you’s to the sponsors who “make it possible to have programs like these.”
Then the announcer welcomed me (well, the listeners, too) to All Things Considered. She introduced her guest for the evening, Mr. Martin Atkins. She gave a brief description of Martin, and the quadrillion hats he wears, thanking him for coming to speak. Asking a few questions-primarily discussing his new and upcoming book, Tour:Smart. Martin gave a short synopsis of what the general focus and message he wanted to reach out to convey to fellow musicians that would help give them the knowledge to actually succeed in this crazy industry of music.
I listened intently, hungering for more and more ideas and no sooner than it had started, it seemed I heard, “Well, thank you, Martin for being on our show!”
I sat there and could not imagine why he only was on for such a brief time.
I was drawn to know more about this amazing person and decided to check to see if Martin Atikins had a Myspace account. Yep! Everyone has one. Thinking about it in hindsight, people of that caliber have assistants that have assistants who check something as frivolous as Myspace, right? Despite that thought, I shot a short note to him and complained about how I had hoped he would have spoken longer, I was annoyed with that show, I was disappointed to not have gotten what I was looking and hoping for.
The next day, low and behold, Martin Atkins shot me back a friendly email saying, “Well, Rachel, get me down there and I’ll talk all about my book”
Ah!! I was elated and worked to see where and when it would work out to get him here.
We found a venue, planned a date, everyone that attended was taking in every morsel he offered. He gave us all so many amazing ideas, things I had never thought of, as a solo artist, or in a band. He had a killer presentation, and then the poor guy, who had just driven in and had to immediately buzz to Atlanta that same night, sat and just answered question after question from all these musicians, with no end in sight! Every time you thought the Q&A was finished, up popped a hand. Great questions, great answers.
After this visit, Martin became someone with whom I looked up to a great deal. His book is, in my opinion, the most important thing I have read for a career in music. I firmly feel every single musician should own it. (and I am not getting commission, FYI)
He has become someone in my life that answers anything I wonder about. I am POSITIVE I must annoy the hell out of him, but this guy takes a page of maybe 30 questions, and shoots answers to each one. He genuinely wants to aid and to help. He has done it all, and wants to show musicians the ups and the downs of the music lifestyle.
Martin amazes me. I was so grateful to be able to meet him in person and give him a big hug to him at NAMM this past year.
I cannot thank him enough for the insight and the motivation he has given me. I am inspired in so many different angles in the industry of music. I have been studying music since the age of 4 and he has had the most impact on my esteem.
In closing, I want to give one example that meant a lot to me, and I have taken it to heart.
I posted some song that I recorded one night, bored..just played guitar, laid some vocal tracks, and played some strings over it.
A buddy of mine sent an email saying he would “advise me to take it off… the strings were way out of tune, and it sounded pretty bad.”
Next in my inbox was a message that was so ironic it kills me. My shattered little esteem hits “next” and there was a message from Martin, subject “Rachel!” I opened it, and he said “I had no idea you sang so well!” I shot him one right back, sharing the irony of the previous message, and said I was going to take it down. He literally immediately sent a reply with a story of his own that would help me learn to believe in myself.
He said that he had purchased a piece of furniture for one of his sons. It was an old art-deco piece with old paint that he planned to strip and fix up. As he removed layer after layer of the old, chipped up paint, he finally stopped. He said that he took all the roughness, authentic charm of what was once a pretty cool piece of furniture, he stood back and realized that old weathered and worn paint was holding it together, and now all he was left with was..”a piece of shit”. “Rachel, your friend is an idiot. Don’t listen to people that put you down. Sure, it could have strings out of tune. All I was paying attention to was the gravelly coolness (I will NEVER forget that one!!! Bragging rights galore!) of my voice.”
And that was it for me. I am not perfect, I have weathered and chipping paint, but man, I am a good musician, and a wiser and more confident one because of Martin Atkins.
He has been a supporter, a teacher, and an inspiration to me. I really hope that most all musicians will have a “Martin” in their lives. I consider mine better because of him.

-Rachel Webb

Interview with Martin Atkins by barbee cain


I recently had the honor of interviewing Martin Atkins and have to say I felt as though I could have spent hours engaged in conversation with him with out ever a moment of boredom. He is a true entrepreneur with a desire to share what he has learned with other people. He is currently lecturing on his Tour Smart Tour and will be here in Orlando at Taste October 18th at 7pm. It is a free show for all ages and I encourage all to make it. The book, Tour Smart And Break The Band is a compilation of several industry professionals that offer their advice on the business of touring. It has been out 18 months and still remains on the top ten music books on Amazon. It’s a covers many of the mistakes and revelations collectively that they have had and how you can learn from them. Why should this be of interest? In Martin’s words,“ I don’t teach independent record label management because I think people need to know about that stuff, I teach it because it is a brainwork for business and entrepreneurial activity that translates into other fields.” He continues, “If a bunch of kids are excited about how to run their own record label and be on the tour bus with flat screen TV’s, if that creates a back drop where I can teach them about geography, mileage, logistics, strategies, planning, Exel spreadsheets…. whatever it takes to plant that seed.”

Martin lectures all over the world and designs those lectures to fit the audience he is speaking to. He said that they are more like a stand up comedy act and networking event than going over his book. He decided to write the Tour Smart book after teaching a class at Columbia College who’s curriculum was based from a book that was written in 1962. He felt it was completely unacceptable to be teaching from such and archaic source unless it was on Shakespeare or The Roman Empire. So he dedicated a year and a half to writing a book that was current with not only his experiences but many others that had valuable experience to share as well. While Martin is touring, he collects marketing from all different bands and shares them at his lectures to inspire others. During his lectures he finds that he spends much of the time engaged in the active process of helping people hook up with people they should know or helping people make connections with others that they can benefit from. One of his strong beliefs is that relationships need to be made in order to survive. He believes one of the problems in the music industry is that people are hesitant to help one another due to ego or fear of competition. He tries to instill the concept that in order to move forward one must let their guard down, open up and help other bands out. In his words, “ If one band helps 10 other bands, then one of those bands is going to end up doing ok somewhere and that band that helped them will end up opening up for them or going on the road with them, whatever, someone will return the favor.” He reiterates that for those who really want to succeed that it is time to retool, helping other bands is the way to begin. He adds that playing for free, using negotiating skills, building relationships are what will bring the money. If people like you, the money will follow. He also made the important point that money alone will not make you successful, it cannot buy momentum. You need to play, do the work, build your relationships and fan base from the ground up, creating a solid foundation in order to be successful. He states that if you were to build a fan a day, over two years you would have 730 fans, whereas if you where to try and create 730 fans in a day, it would not be possible.

I found him to be quite inspiring and know I will certainly be buying his book and staying in touch. He is a wealth of information with the genuine desire to share it with others. The best news is, You can meet the man himself @ Taste in college park at 7pm on October 18th. FREE!
Tell him barbee sent you, cause I think he is rad!

namaste
barbee cain