Ready for world domination!

Since 2002 Rock n Roll Highschool can best be described as a steady steamship, cleaving the tides of national and international rock music. Rock 'n' Roll Highschool primarily offers promotion and bookings, but they’ve been spotted doing many more different projects. They’ve organised festivals, set up a music quiz dating site and they’ve released a glossy magazine, to name just a few. The fair, dark-haired lady behind this unstoppable force of a company is Minke Weeda. Time for a little behind the scene chit-chat.

Why do rock music and Rotterdam go together?

Rock goes together with every city.

You brought out an English mag about the music industry. How is the response?

So far the response has been great. We had people from over 26 countries ordering it which is rather mind-blowing to us, considering we had virtually no marketing budget. It has also brought us some new opportunities. For example, we were asked to write an article about the European music industry for an American music magazine. Great exposure.

Any plans for a next edition?

We’re not going to do another hard copy in the near future. It took a while, but I finally realised that there’s something out there called the internet. And it’s far easier and cheaper to publish a magazine online, so we recently launched www.readingrocks.eu It’s basically the online sequel to our magazine and we publish new stories about the music industry every other week.

You started Rock n Roll Highschool with guerrilla style promotions with streetteams stickering the streets with signs of their favourite bands. What is the most ludicrous action you set up to gain attention?

Our promotional activities aren’t that ludicrous generally. Once we worked for a record company that wanted our Streetteam members to dress up as monkeys and hand out candy. That was pretty weird...And probably not very effective. People associated that band with candy-eating monkeys, not with great musicians, so I would never advise a band to do something like that. But if a record company pays us to find some people who are willing to play dress-up...No problem. Our job is usually more supportive. Just a bunch of posters plastered all over the city won’t make you famous. If you combine them with a music video, extensive touring and media attention, they turn into an extra reminder of your (band) name.

What, do you reckon, is the next step in promoting music, or art, in general?

I don’t know anything about promoting art, but for music the personal touch is going to be even more important than it already is. There is so much music out there nowadays, you need to convince people on a personal level to listen to your stuff.

On the website, you claim that your mission is to bring the right song to the right person. bringing that one  song to the right person. What’s the song that makes you ‘tick’?

Bloodbath in Burger King by Teenage Bottlerocket. For some strange reason I can totally relate to a frustrated hamburger restaurant employee.

How do you measure success in your line of business?

Success comes in many shapes and forms and it’s different for every band or artists. Some are happy if they can make a modest living with their music, others only consider themselves successful if they have a number one hit record. Personally I think success is being able to do whatever you want to do. 

What’s your advice for a musician seeking audience?

Get off  your lazy butt and get to work! Musicians tend to think their only job is to make great music. Only in an ideal world it is. If you don’t have a big record company with big promo budgets working for you, you need to do it yourself. And if you’re creative enough to make music, you ought to be creative enough to come up with great ways to promote your music. Find a way that suits you and your music. It might be something different for every artist. The only straightforward advice I can give musicians is to be genuinely friendly to each and everyone you meet. It’s the best way to make fans.

What’s on the horizon of the Rock n Roll Highschool steamer?

In May we’re organising a music quiz marathon in Rotterdam, with music quizzes on 10 different locations. After that…no idea! There’s no master plan, we’ll just keep on doing what we’re doing now. Somewhere along the way I’m sure I’ll come up with some new project for Rock ‘n’ Roll Highschool…

What is your own rock n roll cliché?

Whenever I hear The Ace of Spades, I’ll shout along the “And don’t forget the joker” part. Even when I’m in the middle of a conversation. Everybody I know does...A horrible cliché thing to do, but apparently we just can’t help it.

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