Virgil's Sound Den Podcast

I messed up!
I was out helping my mother in law cut down some OLD DEAD TREES in her yard andddd
BING
BAM
BOOM
...
A piece of wood got stuck in my eye.
Now I'm a 4 eyed FREAK so  I have no clue how it happened.
I ended up going home hoping it would work it's way out and it didn't!
I woke up the next morning and went straight into the eye doctor.
He ended up pulling how a bunch of wood and said I really F'ed up my eye and there was a pretty big hole and scratch in my eye...

This being said I feel pretty good now but at the time I was going to actually record the podcast I was not in the right headspace.

Decided instead of recording a podcast that it would be cool to actually give you guys a "Challenge" for the week!
I hope you all accept this "Challenge" and push your band to that next level and breaking point!

I'll see you next week!
-Steven

-
What’s a Jim-Jam?

A Jim-Jam is the name of whoever I’m making fun of on the podcast.

It could be the drummer.

It could be the guitarist or the singer.

This week it’s ME…

Haha

When a potential fan finally decides to check out your

- Instagram

- YouTube

- Spotify

- etc

What happens?

Are they getting lost in a sea of none clickable links?

Are they "clicking the link in your bio" and getting taken to a link that isn't available?

What's happening?

Can your potential fan smoothly find everything they are looking for?

Are they finding all of your social media because of a awesome link page?

Wherever the end "Landing point" for your band is

(could be a website/link page or even Spotify) are your fans finding it easy?

If they aren’t then you are losing potential fans every day...

Tune into EP. 38 of the Virgil’s Sound Den Podcast and hear how to make your band rock solid and never lose a potential fan again.

I got to set down with the band NRWHL. These dudes are killing it right now and are super good buddies of mine! We talk about a bunch of rad stuff and how they are killing it and they have only played one show. They will show you that it actually doesn't take years and years of building something successful that (even though they are figuring it out still) if you have Drive and Focus, make good decisions and "Want it bad enough" you can actually do this. They blow my mind and im extremely excited to see how the conquer Arizona and the world.
ALSO, they are releasing they're Ep on the 27th and are giving us a taste of it will a single drop on the episode. Make sure to go presave their Ep on all platform link in their bio's!
Enjoy this episode!

Let me ask you this?
How do you work at your job?
Are you always looking for the easy way out?
Are you willing to do whatever it takes?
Are you thinking 5 steps ahead of what you need be doing?

I believe if you don’t work hard at everything
ESPECIALLY at someplace you HATE working at
That will spill over into your DREAM.

Working towards this will be the hardest thing you have ever done
Even harder than your crap job

So if you don’t give a 110% at your crap job
You will end up not giving that when it comes time to buckle down and WORK for your band. Especially the none sexy things.

Think about it?
How is your work ethic?

Honestly, that where your band will thrive when ALL of you buckle down and fight through all of the grit and grime.
Not just one of you.
A lot of bands have that one guy that fights for the whole band and that band wouldn’t be there without them.
I'm here to tell all of you that you all need to buckle down and work hard towards this.

A lot happens when you decided to "Go For This Band Thing"...
There is a lot of excitement yes!
BUT
There are always those people that tear you down.
I wanted to do something a little different this time around and personally encourage you to keep this dream alive!
Keep moving forward and keep pushing towards this ultimate goal of taking over the world with your music.
Don't let people speak negatively into your life and don't let them kill your dreams just because their dreams have been killed...

Ep. 34 The Story of Virgil’s Sound Den

"Who is Virgil?"

"Why did you name your studio Virgil when your name is Steven?"

"Wait where did Virgil's Sound Den come from?"

These are all questions I get daily and I thought to myself that I should FINALLY make a podcast all about it!

Also, I'm moving to AZ right now and I thought it would be cool to take a step back and talk about  "The Dude" behind it all and have more of a relaxed podcast.

I hope you enjoy the podcast and I hope it answers any question you might have. 

I sat down with a good buddy of mine and was blown away about all of the valuable information he gave me by just hanging out and eating some food.

Mentorship is insanely important and WAY over looked.

This podcast is all about the importance of having a mentor and implementing it to your band and your over all success.

Don’t over look this.

Branding your band the correct way is INSANELY important.
This is something that if you don't take seriously it could actually backfire and hurt your band.
Clarity is the name of the game and if a potential fan is confused and they don't understand
- What you stand for
- What genre of music you play
- If they can relate to you
before you get on stage...you might have already lost them.

Your branding is the first thing a potential fan will see and judge you on it.

If your Instagram doesn't flow with your website or that your Spotify looks like a completely different band than from all of your other socials there is something wrong.

A potential fan should be able to look you up while they are in the line of the venue on Instagram/Facebook/Website/Twitter/Youtube and instantly relate to you and should be able to find EVERYTHING about your band instantly. Everything should be clean and clear from your
- Colors
- Font's
- Wording
- Logo
- Mission statement
- and more
So you stand out from the rest.

If you want people to treat you like your a Bigger band.
You need to act and look like a bigger band everywhere.
On stage
Off Stage
On all streaming plate forms
On your Website
...

If you wanna be a "Big Band" you need to put the work that the BIGGER BANDS put in.

Have you ever been into a tattoo shop?
What's the first thing they have?
Its a stack of stickers that are for people to have.
They aren't worried about $$$$ for the stickers they are focused on the value that a dollar sticker brings.

Let me ask you this...would you rather walk up to a merch table and be greeted by a random girlfriend of one of the band members begging you to please buy a sticker because they need gas money to get to the next show (literally happened once...).
orrrrrr 
would you rather walk up to the merch table and be greeted by a member of the band with a smile and a rad conversation while handing you a free sticker?

Who are you going to remember the next day you roll out of bed at 10 am?

I have been hounded by so many bands that are touring (technically living the dream right?!) needing gas money and to please buy something!.

Focusing on always Adding Value and leaning towards making "20-year fans rather than 20-minute fans" or random people to pay for gas money...

Focus on the long game and your long term goal and you will always make wise decision for your band.
Your mindset going into every conversation should never be about a quick $ but about creating forever fans!

Enjoy episode 31 of the Virgil's Sound Den Podcast and think about adding value off stage with a free sticker or a killer friendship bracelet and a friendly conversation!

p.s. ...if I goto a METAL show and a band gives me a friendship bracelet...I would lose my mind and instantly be a 20-year fan!

Content CONtent CONTENT!

Last week I talk about the importance of content and this week is all about implementing it and the mindset/tools you need to do it!

What I love about this stuff it that the "Tools" I talk about you either already have or you can teach your self to implement them!

Not talking about any type of gear but I'm talking about what you as a person need to work through and start posting more content as a band and GROW your fan base.

Enjoy everyone!