Pricing and Competition

     In the Christian music industry, your pricing really reflects a lot on your brand. We try to not book shows for $500, because, while it may pay the bills, it also sends the message that we're not worth more. If someone books Thousand Foot Krutch, they're expecting to pay a lot of money because that name is expected to draw a large crowd. Because of the association of price and prestige, we really have to be conscious about how much we charge. We need to be a cheaper alternative to, say, Disciple, but we can't send the message that they're not getting quality.
     I think our answer is in the founding of our worship project, called Long Live The King. Since both Long Live The King and Nine Lashes are the same physical people, yet separate projects, we are able to offer promoters excellent prices while not sacrificing quality. No promoter would argue with getting a rock band, a worship act, and full, top-quality sound and lighting provided for over $1,000 cheaper. Even with things like food, they're essentially only having to feed one band while getting the performance and music of two.
     This, I believe, is what will separate us from our competition, and I really believe it will propel us forward tremendously.

Celebrity Branding

     I don't know about a second career, but Donald Trump definitely capitalized on his reputation for successful business to brand the shows "The Apprentice" and then "The Celebrity Apprentice." The show was a hit for a few years. Now, even more so, his name is pretty much synonymous with business success.
     As far as us using a celebrity, it's a no brainer. If we had someone ultra famous tweet about our album, we'd see a major spike in sales. Maybe we should start some drama about a celebrity on our Facebook! lol
     In all seriousness, the music industry is built on this idea. Smaller bands buy onto larger tours. To the consumer, it looks as if the larger band approves of the opener, when in actuality the opener just paid enough money to win the spot. It's how you grow your brand in this industry.

Product Positioning

     I was intrigued by the talk of positioning in one of the videos, and it's not something I've thought much about with our brand, Nine Lashes. If you really stop and think, we're a Christian Rock band. What hurts this market isn't the demand for it, but it's the exposure for it. Christian radio doesn't bring in advertising dollars when their station plays more edgy music. What really generates revenue in the Christian industry is the more conservative music.
     So I would imagine that we face some choices. Either we make our music less edgy, or we find a different method to get our product before the eyes (or ears, rather) of those that want it. With bands larger than us, we can't really position ourselves as the "best" rock band. That's too subjective. But what I do think we can do is position ourselves as one of the most ministry oriented Christian Rock bands there are. This would resonate with youth pastors. And if we coupled worship music with our brand by branching out with a sort of side project (almost like Beats is a headphone company that exists under Apple since they bought it) that plays worship, we could be the best bargain for youth pastors wanting both a good time for their kids and a night of worship after.
     We need to find ways that we add value that no one else adds, and then we need to make sure our target audience knows what exactly it is that we bring to the table.