A) Sure fire way to become an instant star.

&

B) Earn enough money to retire on in one simple hit.

Therefore I suggest everyone read some wise words from the ever reliable Simon from Sentric Music.

Cynical Syncs « Sentric Music’s Blog by sP.

If you don’t already subscribe to this blog then do it because the posts are always great and if your an artist wanting a good company to work on your behalf  then check Sentric out.

The idea was to offer fans at the party digital download cards as merchandise in place of the delayed CDs, the promise being that if you bought a card you’d get a copy of the CD forwarded to you within the next few weeks. Each card would have an individual download code printed on it that would be good for a one time use, once entered at the web address (also printed on the card) the fan would be able to download the album in full in the format of their choice. Any left over cards could then be sold at future gigs as a digital alternative to the physical products.

The Mini Moo Card we designed for Lindsey

After getting the tracks sent over I set up a free account for her at Bandcamp and within half an hour had customised it with some of her own artwork, colour scheme etc. Once the tracks were uploaded it was easy to get them all in the right order and add all of the necessary track information. Then came the process of getting the cards printed up, this should have also of been easy but sadly this is where we hit our one big problem! Bandcamp have a partnership with Moo Cards who deal with all of their printing. Basically the way the system works is that Bandcamp’s website lets you upload your artwork for the front of the cards, magically in the background it then creates all of the individually numbered codes for you and produces artwork for the back of each card containing the individual codes. It then transfers all of that across to Moo Cards via their API and allows you to then complete your order via their website by choosing quantities to print, delivery options etc. It’s a lot like the way Flickr uses a similar system to allow you to print your Flickr pictures on a variety of Moo Cards products.

The problem came when during this last step we were transferred to the American rather than the UK Moo Cards website which meant that the cards would be printed in the US and then shipped over. Not only was that more expensive but it would also have taken too long and we’d of missed the party. I contacted Bandcamp and they said that it was a problem with the Moo Cards API and unfortunately there was currently no way around it.

Undeterred we used another of Bandcamp’s features which allows you to download the single use download codes as an Excel spreadsheet file. Ordinarily this would be used for mail merging into promo emails to fans or for selling codes via your own online store but we decided to do things the long way around and just copy and paste the codes into our own artwork and make a couple of hundred .jpegs all with the individual codes on. It was then just a matter of uploading the files into Moo Card’s UK website to get the minicards printed up.

The cards arrived a couple of days before the launch party, they looked great and the idea worked a treat. Fans bought them and others were used as free promos to give to the press and reviewers.The party was saved!

I think the most important lesson I’d take away from this experience is to ask any independent artist who is just starting off on their career “Why is it important for you to make physical CDs?” The cost of making a standard run of 1000 CDs can costs hundreds, if not thousands of pounds when you include your artwork costs. Why spend that money when you don’t have to? Sites like Bandcamp now offer such fantastic solutions for next to nothing (the total cost of this project was under £20 and allowed us to get the email of every person who downloaded), it’s worth thinking outside of the box to see what alternatives you can come up with. Producing large runs of physical products is an old skool major label way of thinking which is out of step with being an independent artist in the digital age. Independent artists need to keep their costs down and maximize the return on their investments. Selling professionally manufactured glass mastered CDs at a gig for £10 each may look good but I think we’ll find that selling things like digital download cards at a fraction of that cost will be the way of the future.

UPDATE: Since I drafted this Bandcamp have now announced that you can sell physical products through their website along with digital downloads. Similar to our idea it means that the fan can access the digital music files straight away and have the rest of the products (eg. posters, vinyls, CDs) posted out to them. If you don’t already sell your merchandise directly through your own website shop then I’d highly recommend having a look at what Bandcamp has to offer you as it continues to go from strength to strength.

Too Much Joy- My Hilarious Warner Bros. Royalty Statement.

Part One: An Introduction

Part Two: Getting A PR Company.

Part Three : Do It Yourself

The top blogs are a joy to read and a great source of superb indie music that you would otherwise never get a hold of. There is no one set way to get your music to them because each site will do it differently. It’s a matter of surfing round and finding the blogs that fit with your genre and then contacting them to see if they’d be interested in hearing your stuff. One thing is certain though, there is a lot of cross pollination between the blogs as writers read each other’s entries. Getting as many people as possible blogging about your release is key to creating the internet ‘buzz’ that can lead to a successful indie release or attracting a good indie label. Giving them a couple of tracks to give away on the blogs as well is a strewd promotional tool because, like a radio station, it’ll give a whole new audience a chance to hear your tracks. Check out the blog roll on our blog for a list of our favoriate sites here and in the US.

Keeping a Blog yourself is also an excellent way of engaging with your fans and supporters. The most important thing is to keep it updated with interesting content otherwise people just won’t bother checking back!

Podcasts

Podcasts are a mixture of internet radio and a blog. A quick surf around the web and around the iTunes store will bring up thousands of podcasts ranging from instructions for fixing a computer to media shows. In a similar way to blogs, music podcasts are usually put together like a radio show by enthusiasts who just have a passion for music and want to share it. Unlike internet radio which is streamed (meaning you have to be online to listen) you can download podcasts to your MP3 player and once a link is set up in iTunes or another similar program all new episodes are automatically downloaded.

In a similar way to bloging the audience usually shares the tastes and passions of the podcaster – no matter now niche! Just like radio it is well worth building relationships with podcasters who actually have audiences who might be into your music. At least initially the more places and opportunities you can give the public to hear your songs – the better.

Check out the blog roll of our blog for a list of the blogs we love, many of these we are building relationships with, if you want us to consider sending out your releases to them then register with us.

SEND US YOUR MUSIC –>

It was also a way to build relationships with your fan base, regular blogs about day to day life made fans feel like they were part of the band, replying to mails and comments make the fans feel like they are part of a community that believe in the same music and support it by publicising it for you. The spoiler is that these days many artists’ Myspace sites are run by interns at the record label but still the illusion remains that you have a direct line to the star.

 The other coup was it gave you lists of people who might be interested in your music, online friends can see which bands other friends are friends with and knowing that their friends have similar musical tastes to them they then go and check out that band and probably sign up. Technology savvy artists began to use automated unofficial Myspace ‘bots’ that automatically went through other similar band’s friend lists sending out friend requests to all the users signed up to that band. Even though Myspace have gone to great lengths to stop this practice now it has in many ways invalidated a user’s friend count as an indication of how popular they actually are.

It remains to be seen if Facebook will replicate the completely indispensable quality that Myspace pages have attained within the music industry, especially in the US. There is definitely a school of thought that says it’s worth having a presence on as many online sites as you can. Other examples include Bebo.com and Imeem.com (which actually allows you to build play lists from all the music on the site and embed a player on other sites) and are well worth looking at but remember it’s a two way process. Social network marketing only works if you have the time and resources to put into it. Friends need to be made, messages need to be sent and replied to, blogs need to be updated and other people’s blogs need to be commented on, you have to be very proactive about getting yourself and your music out there. For some independent artists I’ve spoken to this amounts to anything up to several hours work a day but the payoff has been features on websites, press reviews, song placements in independent films, record contracts and of course sales of their records.

Blogs & Podcasts–>

How to take advantage of these new tools is still being explored within the industry and interestingly different things seem to work well for different artists. Just because one idea or gimmick worked for one band doesn’t mean it’ll work for another. However in the following pages we’ve gone through some of the things to explore.

Online Radio

There are simply thousands of online radio stations now ranging from the 15 year old in his bedroom to the huge multinationals. At the moment most users listen through their static computers but new technology like the iPhone with it’s 3G connection is now allowing people to listen to it on the move as well. One important thing to note is that few online radio stations currently report to or pay copyright royalties on the music they air but if all your after is promotional opportunities then this won’t matter to you.

As with all promotional work it’s essential to target where you’re sending your music to make sure it’s suitable. There is simply no point sending your beautifully crafted acoustic singer/songwriter piece to a Hip Hop station, you’re wasting your time and theirs! Research the stations and shows who play your genre of music and then try and target the DJs and producers of those shows.

It’s also worth really thinking about if the radio station has a bona fide audience or not. There are millions of radio stations available who literally no one listens to and so it’s again important to target your efforts to make sure they aren’t wasted. Websites like live365.com host hundreds of independent radio stations and rate them which can be a helpful guide to their audience size. You can send music to each station by a link on their page or live365 also offer a paid service where they make your music available to all their DJs.

MySpace & Facebook–>

Learn To Describe the Crap Out of Your Music | Music Marketing – Gen-Y Rock Stars.

One of the keys to good press release is finding a ‘hook’ for the story. There is nothing unique about a unknown band releasing a record but if there is some sort of back story to go with it it suddenly becomes more interesting to media outlets. For example an unusual album launch, unique recording venue/process or personal story behind the record can make it seem infinitely more newsworthy. Another great tip is to always keep press releases short and concise, standard industry practice when sending out music for promotional or review purposes is to include a ‘one sheet’ which usually contains all the relevant band and release info with a photo on one side of A4. If you can’t fit all the information onto that one sheet then it’s too much information!

The music press are also essential in your mission of introducing your music to a new audience. The larger national press are again very difficult to break if you haven’t already got an established relationship with them but that shouldn’t stop you from trying. More importantly local or regional press should always be a large part of any release plan because they are more likely to take an interest. Get creative and brain storm any papers of magazines you’ve seen that have a music section and might be read by the audience your aiming for. Try and make sure that any reviews or coverage you can get coincides with live gigs or tours so that people have an opportunity to hear you in the flesh.

Online Music Marketing –>

The touring circuit can be a hard one to crack and it’s surprising how many artists and bands seem to think that they can just walk straight onto it. It’s also surprising how many bands (thanks to the help of digital editing) record great albums but really REALLY suck live! Our advice is always to start recording your rehearsals and gigs on to CD or mini-disc and have a critical listening session afterwards, if it doesn’t sound as tight, punchy and ‘vibey’ as the album then go back and rehearse harder until it does. Legend has it that James Brown used to religiously listen back to all his concerts and then fine each musician for each mistake he heard, if he heard 3 mistakes in the same gig then the musician was out and replaced within 24hours! A little bit harsh maybe but you can’t argue with the fact that he always had a super tight band on the top of their game for every gig he played.

When your on a bill with 3 or 4 other bands the aim is always to be the stand out act of the night. If your out shone then it’s back to the drawing board, tweak the songs and improve the playing until you genuinely are the act that everyone leaves the gig talking about. A lot of artists and bands, maybe fuelled by the overnight success stories of shows like Pop Idol, don’t seem to realise that nearly every successful music career has been built on the foundation of tireless touring. When Pulp headlined Glastonbury in 1995 the media wrote huge stories about this overnight sensation, Jarvis Cocker ruefully retorted by describing himself as a 12 year long overnight success story. There are nearly always years worth of hard slog playing up and down the country and around Europe before a big enough fan base has been built up to push an artist into the mainstream.

There are several things to consider when booking up shows to promote your music, firstly – as always – you’ve got to target your efforts so you end up playing to people who will be into your music. Choose the venues and promoters you approach carefully to make sure that you’ll fit in with the vibe of the nights they put on. If you don’t know the local scene that well just go through the local gig listings, and check out the websites of some of the bands listed to get an idea of what venues book which genres. Then it’s a matter of making phone calls and visiting places to get the names and contact details of the promoters who book the bands and passing them your demo and biography with a pitch for a slot on the bill.

On a local level, the main concern that nearly all venues have is that you bring in the punters so they spend money on the door and at the bar. You can be the worst musician in the world but if you bring in 100 of your friends each time you can almost be guaranteed another booking. As a business savvy artist you need to really take a hold of this fact and use it to your advantage. When making your pitch make sure that you emphasize things like the size of your mailing list and how many fans usually turn up to your shows. When you get the booking, make sure you deliver by promoting it to your fans via email, your myspace page or by handing out the venue’s flyers.

Most venues usually have 3 or 4 bands on during a night and it’s this cross-pollination of fans that’s essential to building up your own fan base. Trying to get onto the bill of other bands and artists with a similar sound or vibe is essential because it gives you a chance to play to people who you know are into your musical sound. Playing such a gig is a great opportunity to expand your mailing list so make sure to announce from the stage where people can sign up and have friends or yourself work the room afterwards with clipboards and sign up sheets.

On a larger scale, the big touring bands often look for a local support act in each city that they visit to bring in the local crowds. Keeping an eye on the local gig listings and then contacting the relevant record labels can land you a killer opportunity.

When it comes to start doing your own tours you’ll need some support behind you. You’ll be counting on either the venues or a promoter to do all your local promotion for you and if you haven’t got a booking agent then you’ll be approaching and booking all the venues yourself which can be time consuming and frustrating. This is where the support, experience and contacts of a good manager can pay dividends. A good manager should be able to open doors to you that would otherwise have remained closed and help you find the breaks you need to progress up the live music circuit food chain into the decent larger venues. Finding a good manager can be difficult but they can be a huge asset and well worth their percentage cut. 

One last thing to mention is to always remember to push your merchandising when your onstage. As we said at the start, you’ll have no better opportunity to sell a record than after you’ve just wowed someone with an awesome live set. Make sure that your merch is prominently displayed – preferably near the exit so that everyone has to walk past it – and that it is sensibly priced. After the gig try and make sure you are around to meet fans, talk to them about the music and even sign stuff if they want you to. Anything you can do to build a relationship with fans will reap benefits. Someone is much more likely to go home and tell all their mates about this incredible band they heard play last night if they also have a story about how they met the lead guitarist afterwards, chatted away and ended getting their arm signed by him or something. 

Promoting in the mainstream–>