Recently I’ve been looking into the complexities of writing literature for bands, in fact, I’ve been investigating the whole publicity aspect, so this includes everything from graphics, such as a bands logo, posters to advertise concerts and record releases, and of course the graphics for the CD covers and associated merchandising such as t-shirts. Then there is the whole written aspect too, so the wording for CD’s and posters, but also any publicity which needs to be submitted to various internet and print publishers to support tours and album releases.

Of course this is something which is all done by the band, or their manager (who is often a band member in newer non-established groups), but as they become slightly bigger this kind of work is often outsourced to an agency, what I’m looking at is does being a designer or a writer who has a genuine interest in the music industry qualify one to start an agency doing this kind of work?

I’m not going to come to any absolute conclusions in this first post, but hope to update again soon with either the reasons I am or am not going to take this to the next step and start with some market research to see if the project/business is a viable one. Who knows I could be working with Girls Aloud this time next year! (or does that sound a bit like Dell Trotters millionaire statement?)

So I need to consider who I would want to do this for, would I specialise by Genre? I could look at rock bands, hip-hop, pop or wedding bands and uk party bands who play lots of covers and classics. Of course I suppose regionally is no longer an issue as even though I live in Wiltshire there is nothing to stop me from working with bands in Somerset or a band in Wales for that matter. With the use of technology and the internet, location is no longer an issue. Although I must admit, I do like to meet the people I’m working with from time to time, so reasonably local would be handy.

I suppose it really depends what they need and how long they will need it for, after all it’s all well and good specialising in album design, but how many bands bring out even one album, let alone getting repeat work and I think signing up Dr Dre or the Rolling Stones is probably a little optimistic for a start-up business.

Anyway, I need to go and see a few more bands playing live, and probably try to get a bit more of a feel for the type of music the kids are listening to these days before I even try to make a decision on direction, so I shall be back to report on my findings and think about my next step.