I recently visited The Real School of Music in Burlington, MA to speak to their students about how bands get gigs. The Real School has a week long summer music camp for Middle School and High School kids that groups them into bands and teaches them how to rock. They also spend some time learning about the business side of being in a band which is where I came in.

I talked about what a press kit was, walked them through a Sonicbids EPK and finally had the kids build an EPK for a few of the student bands. You can check them out here:

http://www.sonicbids.com/TheDragonsReal

http://www.sonicbids.com/CCBlackTrain

I learned a few things myself by talking to these young musicians:

• They have no memory of life without the internet.
• When I asked about the social networks they use a few were on MySpace, about half were on Facebook and no one was on Twitter (they said it was for stalkers).
• They told me I was an adult.

Any of these music students that decide to eventually make music their career to will be entering a music industry that’s completely different from any generation that’s come before. Where no one mails physical press kits, album sales are driven by YouTube videos instead of radio airplay and upcoming bands don’t need an insider booking agent to get great gigs opening for major artists at amphitheaters and stadiums.

One more thing, if you’re a stalker you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SonicbidsLou.

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