We talk shop with Vittek PR principal Josh Vittek
What's a misconception builders have about getting their products in the hands of artists?
One of the biggest challenges I face is when a company comes to me and says, “Hey, we need to grow our business. What do we do? Advertise? Can you start talking to rockstars about my product because if we can get them playing our product tomorrow, we’re gonna sell a ton of gear?”
And so the first obstacle is to bring new ideas to the table. Instead of disrupting the story, I want my clients to become the story. Artists and influencers still have weight, but it's not the way it used to be.
I can go back as far as the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was first in the industry and most often, you gave an artist a product in exchange for a photo. In some cases, the artist would then sell that product the very next day and you could use that photo for the next five years, aligning yourself with such artist without any further consideration for the artist or the consumer. But social media has changed that. Social media has made all of us more transparent. Plus, being a working musician is now a business. There must be a value for both the artist and the brand in a relationship.
A lot of people think that if they can just get that one big rock star to play their product, that product will fly off the shelves. But just like every other overnight success, those relationships take time to develop.
How can you develop a strong PR strategy for your brand?
I don't care what (a client’s) budget is. If they come to me and say, "Look, I got five hundred bucks. This is all I got," then I'll figure out what we can do for five hundred bucks to help them get the bang for their dollar.
The most important thing to spend your money on would be public relations: your press releases, product reviews, and social media campaigns. That's your best bang for your buck. Again, if someone comes to me with five hundred bucks, we're gonna be targeting those audiences first. That's what we're gonna grow.
If you are builder of guitars or amplifiers or cables, there's no better time than right now to be making your stuff and trying to sell it. I mean, you can reach those three hundred people in the world that will just love your product. You can reach them directly on social media wherever they are. I don't care if they're in Antarctica. I don't care if they're in Colombia. You can find those people who love your product and not only sell to them, but grow your business when they share it with their network as well.
At the end of the day, if I don't make my client happy, he or she's gonna tell other people. Everybody I work with has been referred by a previous client.
So especially in my game, it's the relationships. I mean, you gotta hustle out there. You can't miss any opportunity.
That’s why I chose to call myself a PR firm as opposed to an ad agency or marketing firm – at the end of the day, I realize that everything I've done is based on my relationships.
Josh with Dean Markley and Seymour Duncan
What's the key to keep moving forward in a changing industry?
Well let's first acknowledge that our industry can be very dated in a lot of things that we do, not only in advertising, but in marketing, in public relations, in manufacturing, to technology and anything and everything else... but it's also what makes this industry absolutely wonderful.
We are still by majority, a mom and pop kind of industry. Compared to the rest of the world, we are a cottage industry. We're still mom and pop shops and we're here because of a passion. For those who aspire to make a ton of money, this is not the place for you.
Just focus on your business and the people around you, that's how you're gonna move forward. Now we're all human, don't get me wrong, we're gonna worry about something. But you gotta figure out a way to derail that and just keep focusing on what you do. Odds are, if you think something is cool, there's a couple hundred people out there in the world who will think it's cool too.
Josh Vittek is the founder of Vittek PR, an independent firm providing companies with publicity, advertising, PR, marketing, sales, branding and celebrity relation services.
There’s so much more that goes into building a pedal—but you do need to get your workstation in order first.
Think that price tag on that pedal is a bit high? There’s a lot more that goes into it than just what’s in the box.
The inspiration for this topic comes from a recent video published by JHS Pedals. The video consists of Josh Scott giving an honest breakdown and rebuttal to a video posted to YouTube by John Nathan Cordy. In Cordy’s clip, he disassembles a JHS pedal while asking if the general consumer is getting “ripped off” because the cost of the parts isn’t very exorbitant. (Cordy later issued an apology.) I’ve often lived by the motto, “You’re not paying for the parts; you’re paying for how they’re put together.” So, what goes into making a pedal, and are they overpriced? There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dig in.
It can be easy for a consumer to get bogged down by the cost of the end product in relation to the value of raw materials. This is made even more evident given that we have access to the value of the raw materials. A quick web search for a Fuzz Face schematic, followed by some research on where to purchase those components, along with their value, might leave you scratching your head as to why a boutique manufacturer might be selling a Fuzz Face-style pedal for $199 and up. I’d immediately point out that your head isn’t the only thing that we’ve scratched in this example—we’ve only scratched the surface of the cost.
Let’s say I’m a contractor, and you want me to put up a fence on your property, and I buy $100 worth of wood and nails and put it up in 10 hours. Is that job worth $100? No. I don’t think anyone reading this would think that. People understand costs when they go past the tangible. We’re talking about labor. The very thing that employees are reimbursed for. That’s still not the aspect that I think the common consumer struggles to grasp. I think that they have a disconnect when it comes to the ancillary. In this example, it would be the cost of the tools, the insurance and fuel for the work truck, and the advertising cost for the page where you found the contractor in the first place. Let’s bring this back to pedals and unpack this a little bit more.
I’m going to attempt to outline bringing a pedal to life, from the inception of the idea to the selling of the final product—all while trying to expose the costs that I think people forget or simply don’t know about. I feel like a magician right now. “I’m going to attempt to make 15 buses appear on this skyscraper. All while hanging upside down and blindfolded.” Anyway, let’s give it a try.
“You’re not paying for the parts; you’re paying for how they’re put together.”
We know that the cost of the parts for a fuzz pedal is on the low side. Residing here in America (and for me in New England), we know that labor costs are on the higher side. But let’s keep digging up and exposing those forgotten or unknown running costs. After the idea of making the product, it starts with having the space to design and work on it. That would be rent, business insurance, liability insurance if there are employees, and common utilities bills. You need a bench to work at with adequate lighting, storage for the parts, and the parts themselves. These parts are only in our possession after hours of research on which parts we want to use. This includes specs like tolerance, material construction, component size, lead pitch, voltage ratings, and so on. But let’s not jump the gun. We need to order a variety of parts so that we can assemble the circuit on a breadboard, test it, make changes and additions, and record the results onto a schematic. That is, of course, after we purchase and learn how to work on a breadboard, and connect it to an instrument and amplifier. Then we need to learn how to read and write in the language that is electronics schematics. This is something that 95 percent of pedalbuilders learn on their own. So there’s no formal education cost here, but it’s hours and hours of learning.
Let’s say we’ve made it this far and we know what we want to use in the fuzz circuit. Next, we order the parts (most likely from several suppliers and pay separate shipping costs for all). Once they arrive, we stock them in their appropriate locations. Now we’ve arrived at a big step: turning what we have on the breadboard and schematic into a circuit board that mates with an enclosure. Oh, dear!
Join me for part two as I break down the next steps in this journey from idea to final product—and final price.
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There’s no disputing the influence B.B. King has had on the history of electric guitar music. We’re talking about his sound, his best records, his guitars, his showmanship, and his collabs, from an all-star jam at the 2010 Crossroads festival to, yes, even his 1988 U2 collab, “When Love Comes to Town.”
There’s no disputing the influence B.B. King has had on the history of electric guitar music.
With Lucille in hand—as well as other guitars—he carved out his sound by developing a signature one-of-a-kind vibrato and pick attack. His note choice, phrasing, and feel have basically become the fundamental vocabulary of electric blues. Even more than any other of his blues peers, his playing shaped blues and rock guitar. And that’s not to mention his singing.
So, on this episode of 100 Guitarists, we’re celebrating the King. We’re talking about his sound, his best records, his guitars, his showmanship, and his collabs, from an all-star jam at the 2010 Crossroads festival to, yes, even his 1988 U2 collab, “When Love Comes to Town.”
In our current listening segment, we’re talking about Brian John McBrearty’s recent meditation-jazz release Remembering Repeating and Julian Lage’s latest, Apple Music Nashville Sessions.