Attention the Independent Artist
NOBODY CARES SHOW Jay and Dirty Bob Show
For musicians that want to use Twitter in order to promote your albums and shows, here’s one very important tip that often gets overlooked: stick with it!
Picture this– an album is finished– YOUR album– you’ve been recording in the studio for months, wrestling each note into its right place, sweating over every detail; in short, you’ve created a masterpiece and it’s ready for the world!
Ten cardboard boxes arrive in the mail containing a thousand shrink-wrapped CDs. You’re feeling pretty proud. All those precious hours writing, practicing, scrimping & saving, recording…
All for NOTHING!!!
… unless, of course, you can get other folks to take an interest in your music and actually LISTEN. But how?
Guest post by Bob Baker, www.TheBuzzFactor.comBy Chris R. at CD Baby
Don’t feed the sharks. Be a majority stakeholder in your own career!In the “olden days,” musicians only had to worry about 10% of their careers. It was a simpler formula for success– get good, get discovered, get signed; that was about all you COULD do. A few gatekeepers controlled ALL the outlets for production, distribution, and promotion. You had to impress one of these gatekeepers and sign your life away in order to present your music to the world. Even then, you were a carefully managed product, from your style to your sound to your artwork. Sure, someone else was worrying about this stuff FOR YOU, but they held the reins tight and kept most or all of the profit.
Over the last decade, the music industry has done a complete 180. Now 90% of your career is in your hands, and you have all the tools you need to make it happen (from affordable recording and video production technology, to simple physical and digital distribution solutions, to easy social media/blog/marketing solutions).
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In his music business career, David Sherbow has managed and booked major regional and national Rock, R&B, and Hip Hop artists, owned and operated a Rock-n-Roll booking agency, and put out over 25 releases. The list below is an except from one of his articles explaining revenue streams for rappers and musicians in general.
1. Publishing
2. Digital Sales (Individual Or By Combination)
3. Merchandise (Clothes, USB Packs, Posters, etc.)
4. Live Performances
5. Sponsorships and Endorsements
6. Advertising
7. Fan Clubs
8. Selling Fan Created Products Like Videos And Mashups
9. YouTube Subscription Channel
10. Artist Programmed Internet Radio Station
11. Financial Contributions of Support (Tip Jar or Direct Donations)
12. Artist Fan Exclusives
14. Affiliate Sales For Other Artists and Sites
15. Artist Specific Custom Products
16. Music Teaching (Lessons and Workshops)
17. Music Employment (Get A Job In The Music Business)
18. Music Production (Produce Records For Other Artists)
19. Any Job Available To Survive And Keep Making Music
20. Helping Other Artists
Being a musician is awesome. It’s almost a crime that people are allowed to play music for a living. But like crime, music doesn’t usually pay. To get the gigs that pay, and keep getting them, musicians need to exude a high level of professionalism that is often a lot less glamorous than the sexy life of a rock star. While these qualities might seem obvious, you’d be surprised at how many prima donnas out there don’t get it.
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A well written press release is the first step in getting some attention for your new album. Use this template to help you organize your information. Note that this template was written with bands and indie labels in mind as the writers and the media in mind as the readers. PR folks and radio pluggers will want to take a slightly different approach with their press releases, and one sheets for distributors and stores should also be slightly different.
Are you hurting your music career by making these mistakes?1) Sending all your traffic to social networks.
Promoters, bookers, venues and fans – they all know the difference between a free web page (MySpace, Facebook, Bandcamp, Tumblr) and a professional artist website (www.YOU.com). Social media sites are super-important, but they’re not your home base on the web. To have complete control, you’ll need your own domain name where you can build a website. It should be one of the first steps you take to become a pro-musician.
2) Constantly spamming your fans.
You can scream “Buy my album!” from a rooftop all day long, but you’d have better luck politely knocking on doors with a piping-hot apple pie and a smile. Every time you approach someone online and say, “Buy my album” or “Check out my music,” you are essentially spamming them. On the other hand, if you first build a relationship with your online followers by offering something of value (friendship, information, free stuff, apple pie) then you establish a relationship–a relationship that will lead to many selling opportunities down the line.
Letting your website collect cobwebs.
The quickest way to get ignored online is to let your website gather dust. Nothing says, “My band broke up, or I don’t care about self-promotion” like an out-of-date website. Make sure your last blog post wasn’t in 2006. Make sure your gig calendar is up-to-date, and make sure your photo gallery is filled with recent pictures. This way your fans can get to know you and your music better. Stay current!
Not Maintaining a Fan List
Your fans want to connect with you. They want the inside scoop. They want special offers and they want to feel a part of something. Give them a chance to sign up to your newsletter on your website. A Facebook post might only reach 2-5% of your Facebook fans, but an email newsletter will land in almost every email box you send it to. Email will always be the most personal way you can communicate with your fans.
by Chris R. at CD Baby
Build the bill yourself.When booking tours, so many bands begin the process backwards. They start by writing to the talent buyers at all the coolest clubs (or the only clubs) in the towns they’ll be traveling through. If you’ve never played in a particular town before, your press quotes and your contacts might help you get a slot on a bill you have no control over, but it probably won’t be a great night. Here’s why:
1) Most bands with a decent draw in their hometown take more than just a passing interest in who else is on the bill. So if you’re being added to a bill by the booker without ever talking to the other bands, chances are those other bands are being thrown on the bill the same way you are.
2) Meaning,… that all the bands that evening have small draws. Plus, you might be mismatched in terms of genre, style, appeal, etc.
3) Since you went through the booker/talent-buyer directly, you’ve probably not built up any kind of relationship with the other bands. They’ll have little interest or investment in encouraging their fans and friends to stay for your set.
So, what is the moral of the story?
So, for example, pretend you live in Portland and you want to play a gig in Seattle that is worth the 3 hour drive and gas money. First, you want to find who the local Seattle bands are that you want to play with. Check out the websites for the Seattle weekly papers. Use Google searches, Facebook, Twitter, and yes, even MySpace, to discover similar Seattle bands. Then contact them.
At this point, you’ll have to use your own common sense when approaching bands. There is strategy and politics involved in booking. If you don’t have a huge draw in Portland, then you probably shouldn’t be writing the most popular bands in Seattle with gig-swapping offers. Opening for a big band in Seattle is a huge opportunity, and that band will want something in return. If you can’t provide it, they’ll ignore your email. Conversely, if you DO have a decent draw in your own hometown but are completely unknown in Seattle, some bigger Seattle acts may be willing to take a chance on you.
If you’re still building your local audience and approach Seattle acts who are doing the same, there is still value in constructing a bill this way. First, you’re ensuring that you’ll be sharing the evening with similar (or at least sympathetic) musical acts. Second, since you’ve formed relationships with the Seattle bands directly, there will be more of that good old social pressure on them to support you, stick around for your set, get their fans out early, etc.
So, next time you’re booking an out-of-town show, consider writing to a few bands first before you email Tina Talent-Buyer at the Cool Club.
ATTN Mag
O Squared
Attn Correspondent