Monday 8 February 2010

New jimgellatly.com website now live!!!

I'm not ditching this blog completely, but I'm now online at www.jimgellatly.com.

Check it out.

Jim

Thursday 21 January 2010

Wanna hire me?


Just the other day while sipping a pint of WEST's St Mungo (product placement in a blog - is that allowed?), it dawned on me that half my day is spent interacting with musicians and bands via email and the social networks. Even then, time doesn't permit getting back to everybody that contacts me, though if they send music I will do my damnedest to check it out.

I do know that most of the time they're angling for some exposure, but more often than not I may pass on some of the knowledge I've amassed in over 20 years of playing new music on the radio.

I've lost count of the times folk have asked me about managing their band, but if the truth be told I can't even manage my own affairs… but I've certainly interacted with many a manager. Same goes with A&R, radio and press (though I have actually done radio & press).

The idea is to hire myself out to up and coming musicians, in a consultancy role. For a fee, the band/act will get my services for a minimum of 3 hours/half a day. A couple of bands may even like to club together and share the costs.

They might choose for me to come along to a rehearsal, and see what they are all about, or just at their local hang-out. I could also do a bit of media training, including interview techniques and writing press releases. It's up to the act what they get out of me, and the sort of advice they are looking for.

Rather than preaching how things should be done, it would be more of an informal discussion… and hopefully they would come away feeling that they'd learnt something and that their money had been wisely spent.

Thanks for reading this. I'd be hoping to roll it out in the next couple of weeks, but would much appreciate any thoughts, so please do get in touch either via email or by leaving a comment below.

Does it sound like a good idea, or am I wasting my time?

Jim