Rock star dog

Written by Colin Gillman | 15 August 2011

Running and fronting an independent working rock band can be a lot like running a small business. For example, just like any small business there are people to consider such as the members of the band. Contrary to popular belief, many working bands up and down the country usually have one or two members that at one time or another can’t stand the sight of the other and their disputes and niggles can all too often divert your attention from what you set out to do in the first place - which in this instance is the business of making music.

As an independent artist you generally find that you have to do everything yourself (just the same as with a small business). Songs don’t just write themselves and music CD’s don’t get made without an awful lot of work going into their production. For example, songs along with their accompanying lyrics have to be conceived, written, polished, rehearsed, recorded, mixed and mastered. The artwork for your masterpiece needs to be designed, photographed, bar-coded (if planning on a retail release even if only on the Internet for sites such as Amazon etc.), printed, pressed and distributed. Meanwhile there is the business of marketing and promotion. There are t-shirts that want designing, printing and selling, and Email campaigns deployed to keep your followers informed and to attract the attention of agents, A&R men, management, record labels and radio stations.

You will also need a good website, and it helps if you can write and distribute your own press material. Fortunately for me during my brief sojourn as a rock star god I also had a co writer in the band that was a genius at graphic/web design. So where is all of this heading? Well, whenever playing live I would always take a moment or two to introduce the rest of the band. Nobody cared much who we were, but it served to give us a chance to catch our collective breath, grab a drink (or two) and for me to show recognition to the other members of the group. Just like any other line of business it still pays to show mutual respect to your fellow team players, and this neatly leads me towards introducing some of the new categories and contributors here on Graphic Display World.

First up is HP World where you can gain insight to one of the world’s leading graphic arts brands with links to HP’s graphic arts twitter feed and social media follow buttons, its dedicated graphic arts YouTube channel, Facebook page and so forth – all easily accessible on the left hand side of the section. HP World is dedicated to bringing you a range of useful information, and not all of it from HP itself – which is refreshing. We’ll be updating HP World with news of forthcoming HP initiatives and events along with case studies, videos, blogs and information geared towards enhancing your business whether you’re a printer, designer or an end user.

Next to HP World is Wrapping World, a brand new category focussing on everything and anything to do with the world of wrapping, be it cars, vans or buildings. We say if you can wrap it; we’ve got it covered. Next to this is Printing World, a new section written by one of the printing industry’s principal movers and shakers Gareth Ward, an eminent figure in the world of printing and publisher of the excellent Print Business magazine. Gareth promises to provide us with regular insight and observation on developments in the wider world of the printing industry to remind us all that we are indeed part of a global graphic arts industry.

Speaking of principal industry movers and shakers we also welcome Gerry Mulvaney with his ‘Four Day Week’ column, so named after Gerry’s #idontworkmondaysanymore twitter hash tag. Gerry, who was recently elected to the Picon Council, the UK association of print industry manufacturers and suppliers, will be sharing his personal views and opinions which promise to be both insightful as well as practical for print business owners across the industry.

Another new category to keep your eye on is ‘The Thompson Report’, authored by Dr Colin Thompson who specialises in helping businesses to raise their bottom-line and increase cash flow, and last, but by no means least, is Kodak’s social media manager for Europe, Africa and Middle East, Madlen Nicolaus who will be providing regular insight to the world of social media in business.

And that just about wraps things up except for me to say thanks also to our readers. We appreciate your continued support.

Goodnight Wembley!

Colin Gillman
colin@graphicdisplayworld.com