Business Series Keynote

MARTIN ATKINS

Martin Atkins is the definition of entrepreneurial activity in cultural arts endeavors. His three decades in the music business spans across genres, borders and industries. Having experience in nearly every aspect of record production and promotion has given Martin a unique perspective not only on where the music industry is currently, but where it is going in the future.

After playing drums in a variety of English bands, Martin auditioned for and subsequently joined Johnny Rotten’s Public Image Limited in 1979. His first contribution to the band was co-writing and performing on the song “Bad Baby” for the revered Metal Box LP.

After touring the world with P.i.L and contributing to several more studio albums Martin left the group in 1985.   Over the next five years, he played with and managed Killing Joke and toured with Ministry.  In 1990, while on tour with Ministry, he formed his own band, Pigface. He also worked with Nine Inch Nails, performing on the Grammy award winning “Wish” and appearing in the “Head like a Hole” video.

Martin began working on the business side of music in 1988 when he formed Invisible Records and then Mattress Factory Studios in 1996.  Over two decades Invisible has released over 350 albums and has had placements spanning from the original Miami Vice to Showtime’s Queer as Folk to Robert Altman’s The Company.

In 2003, Martin began teaching “The Business of Touring” at Columbia College in Chicago.  Martin wrote his book Tour:Smart in 2007 and has since spoken around the world at the Midi Institute in China, Drumtech in London, NAMM, SXSW, and By:Larm in Oslo, and many more.  He spent significant time in China over the last two years recording, signing, and producing bands.  His 2006 visit spawned his first documentary 16 Days in China which documents his experience.  He is a father of four boys and lives with his wife, Katrina, in Chicago.

“Four Stars! The ultimate touring manual. Tackles every conceivable aspect of getting the show on the road in a highly readable style.”
                        Kris Needs – MOJO Magazine

“Finally, a book that’s the real f***ing story and not some fairy tale.”
                        Jim Cuomo – President, Ryko Distribution

About Tour:Smart

"ATTENTION ROCK BANDS: THIS IS YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL" – Joel Selvin (Senior Pop Critic, San Francisco Chronicle)

Tour:Smart is a different kind of book. A distillation of Martin's 30+ years in the music business, from backing strippers at age 11 at the Newcastle Labour Club, to appearing on American Bandstand, to touring the world with PiL, Killing Joke, Ministry, Pigface, Murder Inc, and The Damage Manual. He is the owner of Invisible Records and The Mattress Factory recording studio, and has been organizing, booking, and managing multi-band package tours for over a decade. The book contains not only valuable insight into his methods, but an unusually candid discussion of mistakes and failures. All of this is reinforced by contributions from over a hundred industry professionals who are out there doing it. Touring musicians, band managers, booking agents, publicists, venue owners, attorneys, promoters, sponsors, sex advisors, cops, radio personalities, and even Al Gore's Deputy National Campaign Scheduler, and more luminaries and lunatics.

The world of touring musicians is filled with dangers, obstacles, and roadblocks, both literal and metaphorical. As Martin would say, you should fail because your band is shit or because you don't have the balls. You shouldn't fail because of lack of some basic advice, or a bit of planning. In the end it rarely comes down to one huge thing you could have done to save your show, your tour, or your band. It's not because you didn't hire Justin Timberlake to co-produce your album... it's the hundreds of small things compounded, every one of which costs you money, time, energy, and heart. It's paying attention to the gas mileage of your vehicle, the routing of your tour, your merchandising strategies, and your fans. It's not about trying to skyrocket from your garage to sold out shows in front of thousands of people. It's about religiously making smart decisions to build on the successes you have had, and to set yourself up for more and bigger successes. If you're playing for 10 people now, then it's not about trying to play for 1000, it about trying to play for 20... and when it is 20, then it becomes about how to play for 40. This is the 'grains of wheat on a chess board', and this book is full of strategies that can help you to do just that.

When Martin began teaching The Business of Touring at Columbia College Chicago in 2003, he found that there were no textbooks out there that covered the material his students needed to be exposed to. As he began traveling across the country doing guest lectures and seminars, what he discovered made the need for this book more and more apparent. There are professors with degrees in music business who have never been in a band, teaching classes on touring. There are books on the music business written by lawyers, where their primary advice is to 'get a good lawyer'. Everyone is scrambling to get their book endorsed by David Geffen, even though he hasn't had to worry about the cost of gas in 30 years (except maybe the cost of gas for his private helicopter). The business is changing too fast for college degrees to back up advice, and when is the last time you heard about a band breaking up because they did not select the right attorney?

Read our blog: www.tstouring.com
Listen to our music: www.invisiblerecords.com
See Martin lecture: http://www.artistshousemusic.org/node/5369/5585