Love Smells Video – Financial details

So, The Mustache Club just released a music video for “Love Smells”.

It’s a short music video that barely lasts 1 min 13 seconds. Simple concept: Pantaloon Descendo drags a fish around and brings it back to the sea.

The video was shot over the span of two days (March 23-24, 2013) in Trenton, Ontario (2 hours east of Toronto).

We chose this location because it’s an industrial town, which means barren and desolate landscapes would be plenty. That’s exactly what we were going for; we wanted to be able to shoot the video guerrilla-style without having extra people in the background. Set up quickly, shoot, then move on to the next location.

An isolated and desolate industrial city seemed like the perfect setting for this.

We also chose Trenton because if drove south for 1 hour, we’d have access to a remote shore by Lake Ontario, which was needed for some key scenes in the video.

So, how much did it cost?

Well, let’s break it down…

Gas bill – $150
Friday night: Drove from Toronto to Trenton. 200km

Saturday: Drove around Trenton: 50km

Sunday: From Trenton to Point Petre (sea side shots): 75km
From Point Petre to Trenton: 75km
From Trenton to Toronto: 200km

Total: 600km, $150

Food – $130
Ok, that one’s easy: we had to eat over the course of those few days.

Because we were very focused during the shoot, we skipped lunch on Saturday and Sunday. 

So we only ate out four times:

Saturday night and Sunday night: $100
Saturday and Sunday breakfast: $30

Hotel - $200
We slept at the hotel both Friday and Saturday night, which allowed us to get up early Saturday morning and start filming without having to drive from Toronto to Trenton. All in all, $200 wasn’t too bad for two nights, but it’s the one single expense that was the highest.

Props - $65
-Fish – $55 (7x 8$)

The whole concept of the video revolves around a fish, strapped to a chain, being dragged all across town and back to the sea. Choosing which species to go for was based on size and color. I’m no fish expert, but if memory serves me right, it was some sort of bass.

With all the dragging around, I had no idea how the fish would be able to withstand the constant friction and abrasion (turns out I was able to do it using only one fish).

One of the key scenes of the video features Pantaloon Descendo throwing the fish back into the sea. This is probably the expense that annoyed me the most. Only buying 1 fish would’ve been risky: it’s way too easy to miss a throw, and then that would’ve left me empty handed. Once the fish is thrown into the ocean, it’s not coming back. Back to nature!

So, just to make sure we caught enough good throws on camera, I bought 7 fish, at $8 each. Every time I threw a fish in the water I thought “well that’s 8$ I’ll never see again” – not the best feeling.

-Soap, 10 $
For a specific scene, Pantaloon Descendo needed to wash the fish with soap. You’d think 1 bar would’ve been enough, but I had to buy several different soaps just to be able to run camera tests, because soap comes in different colors. Bought some blue, green and white bars. Turns out the green one was the best.

Hardware – 97 $
In order to drag the fish around, I needed to get a suitable chain (12 $). I had to choose between silver and gold colours. In the end, I went for gold because I feared silver would’ve been lost over rocks and asphalt. I could’ve bought both types, but I felt pretty confident gold would be the best. Turns out I was right.

The chain was tightly wrapped around the fish to make sure it wouldn’t slip off (fish tend to do that), but it would’ve become loose quickly from all the walking around. In order to strengthen the chain’s grip around the fish, I also got thin wire (8$) that allowed me to weave it between the links. However, to make sure I’d be able to cut and twist the wire to my liking, I also needed to get pliers (12$). 

Since the shoot lasted 2 days, I absolutely needed a cooler (50$), ice-packs (10$) and hard ice (5$) in order to keep the fish fresh. Otherwise it would’ve stunk up the car real quick.

Clothes – 140 $

I bought all the clothes from Zara in January 2013 during their end-of-year sale. I wanted something that looked kind of badass yet wouldn’t be too flashy, without overpaying.

Sneakers: 30$ (orig. 80$)
Since the video involved a lot of walking, I wanted to wear something comfortable yet didn’t look too relaxed. That’s why I chose black sneakers with a white sole. They didn’t look too youthful, and the white soles attract the eye and help emphasize the feet’s motions as they slowly move forward.

Jacket: 50$ (orig. 120 $)
A mix-n-match between leather and jeans, with golden studs. The idea was for the gold studs to match the gold chain and have some kind of visual unity.

Jeans  30$ (orig. 80$)
To be honest, there wasn’t too much thought behind the jeans I chose, aside from a black pair that would create a seamless black effect from the sneakers to the pants.

Sweater: 30$ (orig. 80$)
Chose a black and green camo sweater that would complement the jacket without being too visually overpowering. 

In the end
All in all, I spent $782 on “Love Smells”. Pretty expensive weekend.

However, let’s put things in context here:

Food-wise, we would’ve needed to eat anyways had we been home, so I can’t calculate that as a true expense. I also kept the clothes, as well as the cooler, pliers, icepacks and soap so I can’t fully count those as expenses. Two years after the shoot, I still use these items.

Once we take those out of the equation, the video ended up costing me $440.

Not too bad for a 1 min 13 seconds video.

Do I expect to make my money back? Hell no. It’s an expense.

But it’s a pretty cool expense.

Dealing with haters

Pantaloon Descendo is not for everyone.

I know that; I’m the one who has to market it. As the artist creating it, and as a label owner whose task is to move the copies, I’m fully aware that Pantaloon Descendo is definitely not for everyone. Not the easiest act to market.

It’s a “love it or hate it” kind of an act. Which makes it both easy and hard to market at the same time:
a) Those who love it are easy to convert into true fans.
b) Those who hate it tend to be pretty vocal about it. It’s a part of the game, I’ve accepted that.

The love part is great. My ego loves to be stroked. Who would have thought?

The hate part is even better! The lyrics are confrontational, the humor is off-color… If you hate it, it just shows me I’m doing something right. 

Take this situation here. One Reddit user, "JunkFace", who purchased a copy of 7 inches of bliss, posted pictures of the vinyl – a gesture that’s always appreciated.

In the comments thread, “mawnck” gave his endorsement to the product, which is really cool. Then, this other user, “rusy”, saw fit to write a thorough point-by-point analysis explaining why Pantaloon Descendo sucks. 

That comment was extremely confrontational. But it’s the kind of feedback I have to be willing to face if I’m putting out confrontational material. I could have easily been affected or hurt by the comment, but the fact is, it’s just not for him.  

This is how I handled the situation:

I find that adopting a classy attitude is the best way to deal with haters. 

Be the better man, get the upper hand.

Creating a promo campaign for The Candyman video

Due to the recent spike in visits and interest sparked by unexpected attention on /r/vinyl due to this post, I had to improvise a lot. I wasn’t ready to take orders for Pantaloon Descendo's upcoming 7-inch EP, I was even further away from releasing it.

So, I had to rush everything and figure things out on the fly: I need to capitalize on this surge otherwise I'm going to miss out on this opportunity.

As a result:

• The official release date for 7 inches of bliss has been set for November 15, 2014.
• In order to support the release, The Mustache Club will be releasing the music video for The Candyman, a song featured on 7 inches of bliss. This has been set for October 27, 2014. 

Because the video will be released so damn soon (10 days from now) -- and I tend to be kind of clueless when it comes down to marketing my own art -- I had to figure shit out reeeeallllyy quickly… So many questions…

• How would I get organic engagement?
• Would I annoy the crap out of my friends and family asking them to share the video on social media the release day? I always hate it when people I haven’t talked to in years try to do that.
• Would I go for paid advertising? That can be a bit overwhelming when your advertising budget isn't super high...

In the end, this is what I ended up going for:

In order to figure shit out, I went on /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers and asked the following question: Bands/Artists who tried paid advertising through Facebook, what was the experience like?

I’m extremely grateful for everyone who took the time to answer me back, it really allowed me to figure out what I need to do. The feedback went from “Waste of time and money” to “It really works well if you do it properly”

I understand some people's campaigns didn't work properly. But I feel like maybe the value they provided didn't

Based on redditors’ comments, I was able to identify these few key points:

• Do not fish for likes.
• Targeting is key: interests, location. Not doing so will attract click-farms and devalue your Facebook page’s worth. 
• Creating engaging posts 
• Testing over a few days helps understanding/identifying what variables work and which ones don't
• “Boosting” posts (paying to make Facebook push your post to more of your organic “fans”, since it automatically ) is what works the best, as long as it provides good value. Ads and “sponsored posts” do not work as much
• “Boosting” to “friends and family” instead of targeting people by interest/location provides engagement through peer validation

As a result, I will run different campaigns over 5 days that will help me identify what works best (if it ends up working at all) for all future releases.

The last few days have been extremely intense, everything is moving at lightning speed. 

But it’s very exciting!

A personable approach to sales is key

10 years ago, I was very active in the music business, both as an artist and a label owner. My music-related activities greatly helped me pay my way through university. However, after university, I drifted away from it. Climbing up the corporate ladder and establishing a good career can be extremely time-consuming.

I tried to keep on playing and recording, but I didn’t have enough time. In fact, setting up everything for my new label, The Mustache Club, took me over 4 years.

4 years of working here and there on Pantaloon Descendo: recording a ukulele track one night after work, recording a vocal track on a Sunday afternoon while the spousal unit is out to get her make up done... All in all, a lot of isolated efforts here and there, but nothing concrete.

I’ve been working on it alone for 4 years. It gets lonely, and it’s ridden with huge moments of self-doubt… “Is it worth it?” “Will people like it?” “Will it just be a forgettable product?”

Despite the self-doubt, I kept on going forward. Fighting in isolation against procrastination.

However, over the last few days, Pantaloon Descendo and The Mustache Club have gained a lot of unattracted traction thanks to a recent reddit post.

It's been generating unexpected volume of traffic and sales, which is really nice.

Sales are great.

Ultimately, sales are the oil that fuels the engine.

I love making a sale. It’s the ultimate form of validation. It’s someone saying “I’m willing to give you my hard-earned money for something you did”.

I’ve been away from music for 10 years. I’ve been away from music sales for 10 years. I’ve missed it.

But most of all, I’m realizing that I really missed the one-on-one contact with customers, and the relationship that evolves through every sale. An e-mail inquiry often turns into threads of 5 to 20 replies that have nothing to do with the sale in the end.

I really missed that.

Let’s be honest, Pantaloon Descendo is not the type of band that will massive amounts of copies: I can handle a one-on-one approach.

I’ll definitely make it a part of The Mustache Club’s business model.

The product: 7 inches of bliss

I realize I’ve been talking about building marketing strategies and release plans, but I haven’t exactly explained what the product will be.

That would probably be quite helpful; it would definitely help you understand what I’m attempting as a label.

So…

The release I’m currently gearing up for is “7 Inches of Bliss” by Pantaloon Descendo.

“7 inches of bliss”, because it’s on 7-inch vinyl, but also because it refers to … uhm… the male apparatus. So, there’s a cool double-entendre there which I consider to be rather novel; I've decided to exploit this in the artwork:

It’s a short release: only 3 songs. Funny light-hearted songs. And there will only be 100 copies, all of them hand-drawn, hand-coloured and hand-numbered in order to increase collector appeal. It was a painstakingly long operation involving drawing 100 copies, colouring 100 copies, hand-writing 100 copies. It took me countless hours to get it done. Months. MONTHS!!!

In order to help promote the release, The Mustache Club will be releasing two official music videos.

I already shot and edited both of them, I’m just waiting to build my promotional plan for the release and for the music videos before I roll them out.

Essentially, until it’s released, all promotional initiatives described in this blog refer to “7 inches of bliss”.

Creating a brand identity – Band

Yesterday, I laid out the key points to The Mustache Club’s Brand Identity.

First and foremost, Pantaloon Descendo’s music is the product. Without Pantaloon Descendo, there is no need for The Mustache Club.

Yet, the branding strategy for Pantaloon Descendo isn’t that different from the one I laid out for The Mustache Club. 

It revolves around three key principles:

1) A good name : Pantaloon Descendo

I like the name.

It’s unique (which makes it Google-exclusive, a very important aspect today).

The name is a personal creation, which comes from the French “Pantalon Descendu”. It translates into “dropped down pants”.

It sounds like it could be a magical formula or something.

But it definitely foreshadows something naughty.

Which is great, because I like to brand my style as “Naughty folk!”

2) A strong logo

The logo combines a heart and an inverted cross. It’s a different spin on something universal, the heart symbol. It is easily recognizable. 

It is easy to reproduce by hand, and easy to slap everywhere as a watermark. 

3) Visual image: make up

I chose to hide my face under black and white make up for one reason: plausible deniability. I have a good career and don’t want to fuck it up (yet) by having colleagues dig up some dirt on me.

At the same time, I enjoy the ‘mystique’ of hiding one’s face.

In an age where everyone’s super accessible all the time via social media, posting selfies and all, I like the idea of maintaining some sort of distance between my personal life and my artistic endeavours.

Fear of failure

In early January, I had an interview with an ad agency.

Turns out they were complete dinks who were looking for someone who’d be willing to do the job for half of what I currently make, yet work twice as much.

Not interested.

They were absolute pricks. Very entitled. And I never would’ve wanted to work for that company, I disagreed with their corporate culture.

Ultimately, I left the interview frustrated, because they asked the world of their employees and offered a shit pay. I thought it was a complete waste of my time and mentally wrote the whole experience off.

However, during the interview, one of the executives said something that stuck with me.

“Here, at the agency, we have a motto: Fail often, fail quick!”

I didn’t really reflect on it right away… It took a while to sink in.

“Fail often, fail quick!”

Over the years, I’ve developed a lot of angst over Pantaloon Descendo and The Mustache Club.

It’s a project that’s been in the works for years – I wrote the first Pantaloon Descendo songs back in 2004 and have yet to release anything. We’re in 2014 for fuck’s sake.

But I’ve been too afraid to try. Because I wanted everything to be perfect.

I haven’t been failing; I haven’t been doing anything!

Sure, over 10 years, I’ve built a good back catalogue of songs waiting to be recorded. But this project could be way ahead already instead of still being in its infancy.

Turns out I haven’t been failing or succeeding with Pantaloon Descendo and The Mustache Club, because I haven’t been trying.

I’ve been stuck in a cycle where I simply didn’t want to release anything until I was absolutely satisfied with the strategy.

Didn’t want one of Pantaloon Descendo’s releases to go into limbo because of a poor PR campaign. Didn’t want a video to go unnoticed because of a bad release strategy.

Haven’t been trying, and I’ve been using “perfectionism” as an excuse.

But “Fail often, fail quick!” has been echoing through my mind.

Fuck it. I’m ready to fail. No more exhaustive planning with no action.

Let’s fail often, let's fail quick.

It’s better than stressing out.

The Mustache Club, Phase 2 : Music videos

Yesterday, I tackled the customized vinyl component of The Mustache Club, let's tackle another aspect today, music videos.

While I love everything there is about Pantaloon Descendo, (the music, the lyrics), I do have one major challenge:

I don’t play live shows.

• I don’t play live because of stage fright issues.
• I don’t play live because I don’t have the discipline to practice frequently enough.
• I don’t play live because I can’t even remember my own songs by heart.

That’s a hell of a challenge when the best way to get known is to get out there and play on a stage.

So, being an artist that only records music and releases it without ever playing live is quite a challenge.

How do you get people to know about your art?

The solution: music videos

I might not be able to play live for now, but it doesn’t mean Pantaloon Descendo can’t have a strong visual image.

So, I decided the releases should be backed up by music videos.

It allows to create a visual branding for the band all while bypassing my stage fright issues.

Produce the videos in-house

However, good quality music videos cost a lot of money. It will run anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000, depending on the technical difficulty and reputation of the production company.

Given that number, when I crunched the numbers, I realized it’s actually possible to buy your own material for the cost of hiring an agency to create a mid-tier quality music video.

I might not be very good at self-promotion, but I understand numbers. If I can own the material and shoot everything myself for the price of one video, I’d be dumb not to do it!

So, instead of hiring a team to produce videos for Pantaloon Descendo and The Mustache Club, I purchased my own video production equipment.

As a result, not only will The Mustache Club be a music label, it’s also going to be producing music videos.

Only for Pantaloon Descendo to begin with, then we'll see along the way if it's possible to branch out and shoot videos for other bands.

And I intend for Pantaloon Descendo to grow organically with the medium. 

The Mustache Club, Phase 1 : Customized vinyl

The music industry is in shambles. 

I know that. You know that. Everybody knows that!

Why purchase a CD when you can get the mp3 for free? 

That’s the dilemma the industry is facing.

So, what's the answer?

I don't claim to have THE answer. But I have one that works for me.

I like to think in today’s world, one thing that makes a release valuable is its packaging; how unique the presentation is.

As I’m establishing The Mustache Club as a label, I could completely bypass physical releases and go for strictly-mp3 releases.

But I’m still attached to physical releases; I still enjoy them. There’s something sensual when you hold a release from an artist you enjoy. There’s something more engaging about holding an album versus downloading an album in two clicks.

My solution: customized vinyl

For The Mustache Club's first release, I decided to go with a vinyl release.

Vinyls look great.

I only printed 100 copies because, let’s be honest, Pantaloon Descendo is a no name band. And 100 copies is the lowest amount of copies I could print.

However, with the 100 copy limitation, an opportunity arose: the amount is low enough to allow for customization. Instead of having 100 jackets pressed, I decided to order 100 blank jackets and hand-draw all of them. 

To make it more of a “collector’s item”. To make every single copy unique.

So, that's why the intial release on The Mustache Club will be Pantaloon Descendo’s recording debut on vinyl:100 hand-drawn and hand-numbered 7-inch vinyls.

A beginning

For the last decade, I’ve been creating music under the name of Pantaloon Descendo, as a genre one could label as “comedy music”.

It revolves around a ukulele backbone for confrontational lyrics. Or, kid music with adult-themed lyrics.

No subjects taboo: murder, prostitution, rape... Anything goes!

If there’s human misery, I like to think there’s comedy in it.

It’s not for everyone, I’m aware.

It’s more of a novelty thing.

But I like to think there’s an audience for it. I’ve been struggling with coming up with an audience.

I’ve reached the point where I’ve been writing music for decades, now is the time to release some of it.

So, I founded my own label, The Mustache Club, as a means to back Pantaloon Descendo’s releases.

This is a label that’s in its infancy.

This blog will attempt to make sense of establishing a very low-key music label in today’s ever-evolving fast-paced music world.