Drum It With Brummet

            Answering Your Q's Q: Hi guys... What is the greatest pain point of marketing within the music industry right now?   A: Dave:  My wife Lillian is the one that could answer this better as she is the one that is on top of the marketing end of what we do. She spends a lot of time hunting down the answers to everything we do to market our business, whether it is promotion the books we have written, the drums I build or the teaching studio and anything else – she is amazing and a real go-getter. In fact the book we have published Purple Snowflake Marketing is a guide for self-promoting writers based on all the techniques and means she and I have developed in our own writing career, as business owners and entrepreneurs. Many of the principles in this book are also applied to the music portion of our business. A: Lillian: Networking is probably the greatest tool that any business owner, entrepreneur or artist could embrace. We...

            Answering Your Q's Q: Have you had any notable achievements or hardships? A: We have found that there are a lot of local business support organizations and programs from Innovate to KAST, Factor 5, Basin Business Advisors, KES and a dozen others who helped us focus an action plan. The hardest part here is having the patience to take things slowly, one step at a time. We are not in a position to outsource or hire help and therefore everything is on our shoulders - the weight can sometimes feel quite heavy. COVID of course brought on the greatest hardship because it resulted in shutting down the teaching services and much of the studio for 2 years. Also live gigs dried up for a while.  Now it has once again opened up with a new excitement from the students due to that down time. My band, too, is really busy now that establishments can have live performances again. Sometimes a break from the schedule can inspire a new love for music and r...

          Answering Your Q's Q: Hey Dave it seems like you have a lot going on...   Is there anything you’ve wanted to try but haven’t been able to? A: Lots! I think I've mentioned some of these things already.  Time is always limited: with our 6 books currently on Amazon to promote and a trilogy coming out this year, and a busy teaching studio... I find myself stretched thin.   However, I have always wanted to release recording projects of my own, and our action plan has this goal coming up on the schedule soon. ...Stay tuned. ~~   Find us online via :  https://taplink.cc/brummet  ~~

          Answering Your Q's Q: Dave I'm wondering if in your career there are any notable successes or failures you wouldn't mind sharing today?  A: For me, when I see the joy on a students face when they play, the owner of the djembe that I brought back to life absolutely thrilled with the sound, the student that goes on to make a life of drumming as I did – that is success for me.  I'm not a fan of the term "failure" because I view challenges, obstacles or interruptions as just a bump in the road. When I make an error, I see this as really just a chance to learn how to do it better next time.   ~~   Find us online via :  https://taplink.cc/brummet  ~~

        Answering Your Q's Q: What channels, applications, platforms have you used?  A: I wrote a few dozen music genre articles that we not only publish on our blog, but also release to a wider audience through article distribution outlets. Initially we used EzineArticles.com for article distribution but it seems this site is closing down so we will need to seek out another distribution outlet soon. Those articles are also re-purposed for submissions to friendly blogs across the US, Canada and the UK.  I do have a personal FaceBook page, and the band Tantrum has one too, of course. I have a separate YouTube account that I hope to create music-related content for - but have not yet had time in my schedule to pursue the channel further.  Back in Nov 2020 we joined Google Business listing... and started the Drum It With Brummet blog in January '21.  The blog offers a regular post for recommended resources and there I have shared quite a few on...

       Answering Your Q's Q: Hey Dave... What is your marketing and communications experience within the music industry?  A: My music-related marketing experience started in the mid 80’s as a member of a working  "Top 40" cover band, when it was easy to find gigs. This was before the Internet brought us social networking and social media platforms, and so the band members did most marketing. I have always been the guy in the band that took on the role of marketing.  Back in the mid 80’s there was limited resources for us as self-promoters and most of it was hands-on or direct marketing.  This meant dividing up the task of visiting local stores and putting up posters, giving out t-shirts, distributing business cards, making phone calls, mailing out demo's, building word-of-mouth, attaining media coverage, getting radio attention... and just getting ourselves out there to establishing a presence.  By a presence I mean playing in many diffe...

      Answering Your Q's Q: Through your experience, how has the music industry changed? How has music marketing changed? A: That is an interesting question; I've been in the industry for more than 3 decades and things have changed so much. When I first started out in my late-teens as a professional drummer there were live gigs to be had in almost every bar and pub and a lot of restaurants.  In the 80’s and 90’s, with the invention of the compact disc and emergence of new technology, bands were able to use more robust and affordable equipment to record albums themselves. The compact disc served as the launching pad for the digital age of music, and the next stop would be Peer-To-Peer (P2P) file sharing, also known as “the beginning of the end for record sales.”  As far as the change in marketing - most bands can now record their own CD with software and a bit of recording gear.  They can Photoshop their own graphics for covers and promotional materials...

     Answering Your Q's Q: What are your dreams or goals within the music industry? A: Despite our heavy schedules, my partner and I have been making time to reach out to others in the industry through the Drum It With Brummet blog where I share my experiences as a player, builder, coach, and teacher. The blog accepts article or product review submission queries and we enjoy interviewing others in the industry as well. The purpose of this blog to encourage and empower anyone interested in the vast, wide-ranging world of drums, percussion and rhythm.  My goal within the music industry today is to market and share my line of percussion accessories, which we hope to set up in the next couple years, and to continually add my mark to the world of music.  In order to prepare for this project my wife took a lot of courses over the last few years learning more about online e-commerce and using sites like shopify, amazon, lynda, ebay, and utilizing online Amazon or ...

     Answering Your Q's Q: Hi Dave...What are your current activities within the music industry?  A: I play in a working classic rock cover band. My home-based music studio and workshop allows me to teach drum kit and percussion lessons, and build and repair hand drums and conga accessories.  I also have instigated what I call the Drum it Forward program where I travel to schools around the interior of BC and offer repairs for their drums and percussion at no charge.  I have a large collection of spare parts and pieces (some being donations from other drummers, studios or music stores) and with my fix-it skills I help the teachers that do not necessarily have the time or knowledge, to get their instruments back in working order.  ~~   Find us online via :  https://taplink.cc/brummet  ~~

   Answering Your Q's Q: Dave could you explain what level of involvement do you have in the music industry? (Hobby, side project, part-time or full-time?)  A: In my first 10 years as a musician I played in working, professional bands almost exclusively, filling in the corners with casual non-musical work here and there.  When I caught the hand drum bug 30 years ago there were very few sources of the instruments I was interested in (djembes, talking drums) so I started building plastics, hemp and fiberglass drums for custom order only.  I would say I am still a full timer in the music industry, just not necessarily playing full time.  My days are actually VERY full - I balance teaching drum kit and hand drums through our studio and group workshops, playing in a weekend band (Tantrum), building and repairing hand drums and manufacturing a line of conga accessories.  If I'm not doing these things, I'm presented with a long list from my business partner a...

 Answering Your Q's Q:  Dave - How long have you been working in the music industry? A: I have been working as a professional drummer since the mid 80’s playing both drum kit and percussion in "top 40" and "classic rock" cover bands, a Grateful Dead tribute band, and a few original bands. My world really opened up when I got involved in hand drums and added multi-percussion to my list of skills.   Over the years I have enjoyed playing in many different genres from the blues, salsa, R&B, reggae to country and original projects too.  On the stage, I have had the pleasure of playing alongside some of the best musicians around! Working with recording studios as a freelance percussionist balanced out the times when the bands were not getting bookings. When we had relocated to a smaller town that had fewer gig opportunities, the bands I played in were more challenging to maintain and it meant there was more travel on my part to get to the out-of-town gigs. My teac...

  Dave Answers Your Questions !   *Excerpted from an interview we did with the McFly's Book Bliss blog Q: What is your contribution to society? Dave: As a drum teacher I hope to help the next generation of drummers by passing on the knowledge of drums and percussion I have accumulated in my career.  I run a program called Drum it Forward that I was inspired to create years ago.  I go to the schools and offer my services as a drum doctor armed with all the spare parts I have amassed along the way and fix their gear.  The schools don’t have the budget to pay for this and the poor teachers don’t necessarily have the time or knowledge, so I do it as a donation.  All I ask is that if they have any spare parts or pieces laying around that they consider donating it to the cause to perpetuate the program. Find the full interview:  http://mcflysbookbliss.com/brummet-media-group ~~   Visit the Brummet's   Main Website Find them elsewhere online  H...

    Quote of the Day  *Excerpted from an interview we did with the  Canadian Media E-zine     Q:   What is the main objective of Angle Hill Studio ? A : Dave has a real passion for passing on his knowledge of the industry to other musicians.  He gets so excited when his students achieve something, he enjoys watching them blossom as drummers & gain confidence.  He has the studio set up so that he can run a YouTube channel, create promotional videos, instrument & musical product reviews, photo shoots & pretty much anything we need to do for the future of our business. Find the full interview:  https://www.canadian-media.com/reviewsinterviews/we-focus-on-topics-that-lead-to-proactive-positive-sustainable-culture-lillian-dave-brummet ~~   Visit the Brummet's   Main Website Find them elsewhere online  HERE   ~~

  Quote of the Day  *Excerpted from an interview we did with the  Canadian Media E-zine     Q: Tell us more about AngleHill Studios? What motivated you to do that? A: Dave has been a professional studio & live drummer/percussionist since the late ’80s & has been teaching others since ’98.  He’s a tinkering kind of guy — he’s always building, fixing, maintaining, or inventing something.  When we located this home & re-launched our business under the umbrella name Brummet Media Group we incorporated Dave’s former teaching & repair business. Find the full interview:  https://www.canadian-media.com/reviewsinterviews/we-focus-on-topics-that-lead-to-proactive-positive-sustainable-culture-lillian-dave-brummet ~~   Visit the Brummet's   Main Website Find them elsewhere online  HERE   ~~

If Drums Were Lost * Written by Dave Brummet As a drum teacher I was asked recently by a student, what would it be like if there were no drums? It took me a minute or two to come up with an answer that could possibly explain the loss of what I do for an income/hobby, and more importantly what it would mean to music. It is hard to imagine life with out the rhythm we hear in our popular music. No rock and roll, blues, funk, disco, reggae, jazz as we know it  as they all are rhythm based. It is almost unthinkable what the world itself would be like if the drums were gone… First lets go back to an era where there was actually was an absence of drums in music.   James Blades author of Percussive Instruments and Their History , wrote: “ With the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, percussive music was banned as mischievous and licentious; the drums and cymbals were particularly singled out as evidence of the devil’s pomposity ”.   As B.C. becomes A.D., drums...

  Quote of the Day  *Excerpted from an interview we did on the Mcfly Book Bliss Blog Q : Who, or what, inspired you to pursue a career in writing?  Dave:   " I was inspired by various sci-fi writers at first and felt I would go the fiction route but haven’t yet found the time to develop anything of my own in that genre.  I definitely have some story ideas rattling around in my head. Some day… I was also inspired by Neil Peart, he’s the drummer and lyricist from Rush. He inspired me as a drummer to get songwriting credits whenever I am involved with original music.  Oddly enough, as a drummer, there are no credits for your performance as compared to a guitarist, keyboard player or songwriter.  So I started by writing song lyrics and most of my poetry found in our Rhythm & Rhyme book is also penned in that style ." ~~   Visit the Brummet's   Main Website Find them elsewhere online  HERE   ~~

   Recommended Resources Jeff Beale's The Marketing Strategy Session with DC "The Brain"  (a musician and online marketing specialist) where DC ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbVP77pz7_4 ) explained that as we grow into the business we hope to be, we are planting all these seeds and we never know when they will come to fruition or if they will come to fruition, but we do the work just the same. Those seeds will sprout up in surprising ways, even years after they were sown.  Right after viewing this, I watched another of Jeff's helpful videos ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1alAQy_W4 ).  You will learn: - There's always a new or better way that entrepreneurs can explore, ready for them to discover if they are willing to do the research. - Entrepreneurs must set aside their pride and emotional reactions, and instead - concentrate on finding solutions. - Entrepreneurs need to be flexible and also prepare for eventualities that may happen. ~~   Visit th...

    -- Quote of the Day --  " Most Musicians who are fortunate enough to live to 80 and older are no  longer able to play sports, run races or lift weights.  But most are still able to play their instruments of choice regularly.  Music:  truly  a life-long passion." ~ FaceBook Meme ~~   http://BrummetMedia.ca ~~

Quote of the Day  " To help another musician along on their journey  is a gift to both the student and teacher, Or mentor and young drummer.  None of us would be where we are without the help of others.  Helping others is a way of paying it forward." ~ Dave Brummet ~~   Visit the Brummet's @:  http://BrummetMedia.ca ~~  

   Quote of the Day  Surround yourself with music, Instead of negativity. Every person on earth turns to music  When they are hurting.  And at some point music can  Pull them out of the darkest of times.  Music is right up there with food, water, shelter. It is a basic survival tool,  and should be considered a right. ~ the Brummets' ~~  www.BrummetMedia.ca ~~