How to get noticed!

I've been posting a lot of these videos from TruSound because they are compiled from interviews with people who've made it in the music biz.

That doesn't mean that what they say is gospel but it does mean you should listen to what they say and give it a chance before deciding whether to act on their advice or discard it.

This one's great - all about getting noticed. A lot of it is old school and not about online profile, but that aside, what they do talk about is really good.

The one thing many of them ARE talking about is how they created their own scene, starting local and building their visibility in that little niche. This creates the start of a following and fanbase which itslf can become the foundation to build from.

Listen to the guy from Godsmack at 4.30 saying that he and his band focused on a 60 mile area around their home town and they would be at every show (local band or national band passing through) that fit their genre and they'd network and flyer like crazy. Old school networking and promotion that works.

Bottom line - get your music straight, then work your ass off, play shows, flyer, network and build a buzz locally. That buzz will be noticed. Go from there!

6 ways to fail promoting music online

I have spent well over an hour today reading the two posts that this post on Hypebot links to. Re-reading, in fact, in the case of the first one as I'd seen it when Chris De Line posted it in April.

It was time well spent.

And then I left a 500 word comment on the latest one, which I have reproduced below as I don't want it lost in the mists of time. I think it's important.

The post on Culture Bully is excellent and points out some extremely important things that musicians do wrong when promoting themselves online.

I think everyone should read it.

How to fail at promoting music online

And here's the link to the first post.

Music bloggers are nice people if you give us a chance.

And, lastly, here's my long comment that sums up my view.

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Chris

I disagree about your point on the effectiveness of artists promoting themselves to blogs.

I recommend it to artists but with significant caveats, most of which line up with your points.

I've been on both sides of the fence as a blogger, and a manager and someone looking for PR for my artists.

In my experience the modern online marketing of music can be enhanced by intelligent promotion to music blogs.

But, the key is to have great music!

The problem you and every other blogger has is that 99% of what you are sent is crap. People don't tell these 'artists' that they are not 'good enough' and that they need to spend time perfecting their art before spamming every blog known to man looking for a break.

When their music is worth a moment of someone's attention and then a positive emotional response, they will find it easy to attract online attention.

This can and should be done in a systematic way with targeted blog promotion being one strand.

I encourage artists who do have material that is ready for wider attention to start with lower traffic blogs and ones that are not just about music (local sites, what's on, demographically related - e.g. skate sites if you make skater music).

DO personalize as you said.

But, often, don't email at all. Just read the blog, leave comments and be part of the community around that blog.

Every blogger I know reads their comments and so notices those from an artist and checks out their site (if they've linked it in the comment). If the music is good, often a blogger then approaches the artists and offers to cover them.

Do you have this experience?

Why focus on low traffic blogs? - because it's all incremental.

For the DIY musician the journey to sustainability of a career or superstardom (whichever is their aim) is about a growing process done in public which attracts fans over time.

To target high traffic 'name' blogs with your first EP is to welcome rejection and feelings of failure.

Start small and leverage your presence on a raft of smaller niche blogs over the time that you and your career develop.

This is a strategy that does work and is a very good reason why artists should bother to spend time cultivating a select band of blogs who may form a supportive base for the next step in their efforts.

How many? I'd look at any stage of an artist's career to be interacting on 100 or so tightly focused blogs (i.e. that are musically, genre and demographic appropriate). Some might think that's hard to do in terms of time or too much.

But, if you're a musician and in a scene, shouldn't you want to be involved in it, online and offline? I don't see why people would see contributing to their scene and getting promotion from it and within it as a chore.

Done right, reaching out to blogs works for musicians.

 

How to promote your event

Image by TheArches

I just came across this great site - Digital DJ Tips - written by a British DJ with years of experience.

A lot of the posts are technical and about making club records, DJ'ing and the like, but equally lots are about wider music making and music promoting issues - and the content is really good.

I spent hours wandering about reading stuff and you probably will too.

I could've chosen anything about music promotion but decided to list this 4 part series on hosting and promoting your own events. Of course, this works especially well for dance music and running a club night, but it can be applied to any genre with some tweaking.

Plus a lot of the promotional principles apply to anything!

How to Promote Events - Part 1

How to Promote Events - Part 2

How to Promote Events - Part 3

How to Promote Events - Part 4

 

 

How and where to flyer your show

If you don't want your flyers to end up all over the street like the guys above and to actually bring some people to your shows, then you need to learn the best way to use them.

Chris 'Seth' Jackson has some great ideas in this post.

Usually, bands scatter their fliers across the city. This is wasted paper and money. If you’re going to scatter fliers across the city, don’t do it for a show. Instead, just do it to promote your band’s website and your band’s name. That will get you more mileage.

For maximum effect, you should put the fliers in places close to the club with a lot of foot traffic. Better yet, pick spots where people have to wait like the bus stop. Try outside of other clubs where people smoke. Ask businesses if you can put fliers up in their shop where people have to wait in line.

Read it all here.

Also, you might find Amanda's post about getting a gig useful here.

A twist on free music for email

Just go and read this post because it fits with the one earlier about using iTunes playlists to promote your music. Sort of.

It simply made me think that you don't need to always trade an email address for a free track.

I am a big fan of giving away a lot more than one track anyway, but the little twist here is that you club together with a load of bands and give away a mixtape or live recordings featuring all of you.

Great - it gives your music context and you can all promote for each other.

And give the mixtape away for free when you can - not even for an email - and test out how it does!

One way an artist can enhance the free download is to provide context and package it with free downloads from other popular artists that are related in style or aesthetic. We do this with free roster-wide Family mixtapes and playlists. One of the most satisfying aspects of what we do is seeing people come into our store through one particular artist they’re a fan of, and then come back a few weeks later to pick up an album by another artist they learned about through the free mixtape that came with their previous order.

Read the piece here.

Indie advice for the DIY band

Had to post this since the manager of this band is an old mate of mine and I jumped when he appeared on my screen giving advice!

Attack! Attack! are building a following all over the world using the web as a main thoroughfare to their music but it all started with building a local scene.

Well worth ten minutes of your time, covering how a band can come togther from various members in a local scene, how the internet is central to all promotional effort, and, most importantly how concerted effort will get you noticed!

 

1 killer networking tip for musicians

Image by Richard-G

We wrote a little piece about the need for networking offline as well as online a few months ago.

And then I had a bit of a revelation this morning because of a few gigs and events that I'd been to over the last month.

In the UK, there's a publication that will tell you where all the players in the music industry will be on any given night - there might be one for the US and other countries but I don't know it (Anyone?).

It's very London-centric, but then so is the UK mainstream music busines.

Even if you're a committed DIY musician, you can benefit from networking with people in the music business. If major label A&R men aren't your target, if you hang out in the right places, you'll run into PR people, music bloggers, journos, agents, promoters, producers and more.

It's well worth it.

Go to Record of the Day and right there in the middle of the screen is their 'Gig of the Day'.

It's a given that it'll be in London, but if it's a new band in small venue, you can be sure that it will be teeming with industry bods. Be there. Meet people.

Don't overdo it and shove CD's at everyone. Just be normal and ask questions. Don't immediately tell everyone that you're in a band. Maybe don't tell them at all. Once they've seen you around a bit, they'll ask you!

BTW, you might fancy signing up for their two week free trial as well. The daily email that you then get sent lists the gigs and a lot of their in-depth features are good too. It's paid, after that at £150 per year. Steep, but if you're a UK musician, it's probably worth it.

Another one that is well worth being at is Music Week's Breakout at the Proud Galleries, monthly. Much bigger than most of the RoD tips - 900 plus people - but, generally what is termed an 'A&R fest'!

Of course, wherever you are in the world, if you hear that a local band is attracting attention from industry players, be at that gig - blag the support slot if you can!

Another great article on networking can be found on the ever excellent We All Make Music blog.

I don't agree with it wholesale, but I do agree with it's conclusions about using networking opportunities to ask questions and learn from those in the know.

 

Grow organically from a niche

Love this video from the BBC interviewing the Gossip.

It's a simple message and one that we've touched on many times before.

Focus on a niche - whether that's local or based on an interest or style - and grow from there. Create interest in the whole scene in which you can stand out.

This video has some great points from people who've done it.

 

Or, watch it here if the embed goes iffy!

Use Foursquare to promote your music....how?

There seems to be a deathly silence amongst artists in finding ways to use Foursquare to promote their music.

This post on Hypebot has 5 ways to use it as an artist.

I'm almost as intrigued though by the comments at the bottom - that Facebook and Twitter do the same thing better, and by the discovery of a site called Aka Music. I'd never heard of it and it seems to be doing well as a place that fans can fund artist's projects and the comment by the band, Dallas, about how they used it and Foursquare may inspire you.

Foursquare describes its goal as "getting users out of the house," and one way in which they do this is by offering local businesses a Merchant Platform to attract and retain customers.

Through this platform, a user checks in at a specific venue and is presented with a special offer – usually a mobile coupon, small prize or discount – to entice them to keep coming back. In addition, brands (either with physical locations or without) can create their own profiles to further interact with customers. 

Just this past year, brands such as MTV, Vh1, Bravo, Huffington Post, and Zagat, among many others, have all signed on to integrate Foursquare into their social networking activity.

But I can't help but wonder: where are the bands, artists, and labels? 

I see Foursquare as a great potential here – especially for those looking to build a loyal fanbase.

Read the piece on Hypebot - and don't ignore the comments!

Don't over play your local scene - or is that bullshit?

 

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles first gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

It's got me thinking.

They played that venue 292 times in just over two years. (That's actually a little misleading as I'm pretty sure that multiple sets on the same day are counted more than once.) You can see their full live dates here. And you can see how they correlate to their releases here.

But, whichever way you cut it, they played at the same venue....a lot. 9 times a month by my reckoning. And, that wasn't even the only place they played in Liverpool. In fact, they played more at the other venues combined than they did at the Cavern. So they were playing their scene as often as 20 times a month.

Nobody would expect a band to survive if they tried that today.

OK, so it was a different era and kids had less to do so were more drawn to the good things that they could go out and do and all sorts of different social and cultural forces were in play.

BUT, the Beatles were drawing a crowd and creating a buzz that would drive their breakout from that niche.

And they did it (in part) by and whilst massively over-playing their local scene.

The elephant in the room here is that they were revolutionary, brilliant and creating a level of excitement that you can't hope to match.

BUT, if you're truly good and putting on a great show, all the arguments that I've ever heard about over-playing your area are bollocks. People won't come and see the same show; they can't afford to keep coming out etc.

Well, that's because you aren't doing it right and you're not good enough.

I accept that there are some truths in the arguments against playing week in and week out in the modern day with all the other attractions vying for the attention of your fans and potential fans.

My point is that great bands with a great live show can draw a new crowd, a repeating crowd, a crowd that can't get in because it's sold out - all in the same town at that crucial time in their breaking career. If they're really good enough to make it.

If your shows are empty and your fans aren't coming out, maybe you've over-played your current set.....or maybe you just aren't good enough yet.

You know when it's going off, when people are queuing up and begging for the next show. Make that your aim, not some notion that is in itself an admission that you aren't enough of a draw.

Focus on your local scene first

Image by superfem

I wrote about the need to focus on your local scene for online and offline networking in the 5th part of our Twitter series on the main site - Twitter for musicians. It's point 23 and I think it's REALLY important.

Although that piece talks about using Twitter and interacting on that service with players in your local scene, I also talked a little about transferring that to the real world. The venue owner, the sound guy, the local guitar shop, record store, local paper journo - these are all people you need to get to know in your local scene.

But, there's also a whole load of very niche focused small local blogs that cover 'what's on' or music in your town, state, area - whatever.

This article / interview on Hypebot about the importance of hyperlocal music blogging made me think about this relatively recent addition to the ranks of players that you need to be talking to.

Hyperlocal music blogs are important because they encourage fans to become active participants in their cultural lives; document the happenings in local ecologies of music culture; foster communities that support creativity; and raise awareness for regional artists among like-minded fans with similar tastes in music. In what ways do hyperlocal blogs encourage fans to become active participants in their cultural lives? How does blogging benefit regional artists and help to create a healthy and sustainable ecosystem of local music culture?

You can read that piece here.

A simple Google Blog search for 'your area / town + music (or live music)' should throw up a bunch of people that you ought to reach out to.

And for a superb 'how to' on reaching out to bloggers to promote your music - get this free pdf from Chris Bracco at the Tight Mix Blog.

 

 

 

5 lessons to learn from local bands

Image by Morningstarphoto

The dudes at Ultimate Guitar have cooked up this list of tips on what you can learn from bands in your local scene.

Looking at music promotion on this local level is important. If you have any live performance element to your act, you need two things in the modern music business. A great online presence to help build a virtual fanbase, and a great local following built up from your live shows which you can then add to as your physical area of influence expands - i.e the distance you can travel from home and still draw a crowd.

This piece has some great advice on making it work in your local area first.

Are you like the majority of musicians trying to move your career forward and 'make it?' If you are, you're probably already spending lots of time and effort researching and doing things that will propel you to the next level. Finding the correct things to do for your music career is easy, have you ever thought about what things you shouldn't do to hurt your chances? This is an often overlooked, but very important, aspect of building and maintaining a career in music.

Lucky for you, I'm sure you have a bucketload of examples of what not to do in your own hometown. Local bands who are stuck on the local level, when their goal is to move forward (yes, some bands do want to stay at a local level, which is perfectly fine), can be perfect examples of what you should not do if you want to move your music career forward.

Let's take a look at five lessons to be learned from local bands and give yourself a hand up on the local scene or, if you're suffering these problems, fix them!

Read the piece here.

Getting your music played in stores

I was asked by @volarymusic what I thought of this new service, TuneTailers, yesterday.

"A new way to promote, or just another way to be parted with money?"

I like to think highly of people unless given evidence to the contrary - that despite working in the music business for 20 years!

I think this company have a good idea and we ought to give them a chance to see if it works.

The idea is that you pay (starting price seems to be $50 for 1 month's rotation per store) to have your songs included on a playlist that gets played in selected retail stores.

Maybe that's too steep for a very hard to track return.

BUT, I have defintiely found and locked on to new music when hearing it in a store, hairdressers, bars, dentists, hotels or other retail space.

You know - you hear it, you ask them what it is and often you look it up later and might even become a fan. Have a look at this site that is from the British PRS and PPL (they collect fees from public venues that play music), which talks about the benefit of letting people hear your music in public places.

When we ran a suite of indie labels we always targeted these kind of places with all our new releases and built up a very useful list. Back then we'd mail them CD's and hope that they got played - but it was worth it, even if very unscientific. I'd recommend this still as a way to promote your music - at least on a local level.

Check out TuneTailers here. The verdict's out on whether it's financially viable for a DIY musician, but the idea should be used and added to your promotional efforts.