It all started with a used equipment sale in Somerville. Aerosmith had just come off the road after their Permanent Vacation tour, and the warehouse they'd been using for the past 5 years was up for sale. All their equipment had to be moved into a new storage facility. First, they had to get rid of the gear they weren't moving.
You can't sell off gear until you know what you have, and what you want to keep. And right then and there, our introduction to Band Gear Inventory and Creative Output Archiving began.
We developed an intricate database for managing band gear. All of a sudden, not only could we sell off what we didn't want, we could also keep track of what we had! A place for every thing, and everything in its place. Suddenly, it was easy to apply for insurance. Customs manifests were a snap. Bills of lading and shipping estimates were, for the first time, accurate. And, gear stopped walking off.
Archiving a band's output is more important than it might seem, especially at the dawn of a group's career. Even though everyone knows that keeping a room clean is easier than cleaning a mess, band after band lets their creative output amount to little more than a pile of stuff.
As part of my work in assembling Pandora's Box and Box of Fire, and assisting in the research for Walk This Way, I took control of Aerosmith's pile of stuff. After developing a coding system and integrated database, we were able to keep track of every T-shirt, CD, magazine article, and scrap of paper that was relevant to a 30+ year career.
We can help you take account of your band's equipment, and show you how to take control of and exploit your archive.
There's gold in them thar piles!