General Music Chat

Hey there,

Me and my band are in the peculiar position of having of music getting better and better, in my opinion, but we don't have a fanbase. It just isn't viable for us to play gigs, or headline, from the bars/clubs perspective.

So I need to come up with a plan of action. ( Which follows )

Marketing Plan

- Practice, practice, practice. Easiest way to gain fans is through your live show, and for that
to be truly stellar, one must practise, and play often, to develop a suitable stage persona,and
play the songs fully.

- Gig often. Shows crowd reaction to the songs, gauges tightness, and gets the name out there.
It's also why you become a band.

- Create Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace accounts. Moniter social media and be involved with the
fanbase. Create mailing lists etc.

- Get USB drives and store your best music, and a short biography of the band on them. Fans, and
local music celebrities are not stand off-ish. they are out and about. Instead of just drunkardly
saying "Hey" do some marketing. Hand out your sh*t. Worst case, they lose it/dump it. Best case,
you have a new fan/connection.

- Do flyer/sticker campaign going. Create some hype via it, be it through improbable placement, or
smart gimmicks. Use smart gimmicks wherever possible to stand out from the crowd.
(I'll wait for the band to be more prepared, musically, to take that step.)

- Constantly e-mail/foster contact with other acts and their managements. It cannot harm your band,
and it can help gain musical knowledge/gigs/getting the name out there.

- Get a flat bed truck, some generators, and hit the town, playing your tunes. Outside packed clubs.
The better kind of driveby. Create on the spot gigs.

- Make your passion and love for your craft palpable.


Any critique ? Any other ideas?

Thanks guys.

There is a guy in our area that does blues jams. He advertises many the upcoming gigs for many of the local acts, too, in a weekly news release. Ya don't necessarily hafta play blues at these things, either, I've found.

Do you have anything like that in your area? If not, perhaps you should start one of your own.

The usual free ads in the local newspapers & penny savers can;t hurt, either.

Radio is still your friend, too.

Hit up band-friendly open mics, & get your name out that way.

Get on a festival circuit as soon as you can. They are gearing up for the 2011 season right now, so talk to everyone you can about it, including your local Chamber Of Commerce. They are often an invaluable resource for possible gigs & upcoming events, & can refer you to the ppl to talk to.

Keep a professional, upbeat appearance & attitude with everyone you meet, no matter how jerky or uninterested they may appear to be.

Talk to JW123 on here, cuz he has a slew of great ideas!

Any critique ? Any other ideas?

See the thread "Wonna be famous"?

That's getting REALLY out there!

Check out Indaba Music.

http://www.indabamusic.com/#!/logged_out/home

I don't know your situation as to why you can't gig. But frankly I think it's essential to get yourself in front of people when you play. Even if you have to open up your rehearsals to get people in to see you play so they can tell other people about you.
IMO no amount of internet press will give you the boost playing in public will, there are just too many bands fighting for recognition.

It's also honestly what separates the men from the boys....

I've wanted to do the generator thing for awhile.

One band I was in, we did a mini "parking lot tour." We pulled into various parking lots and jammed from the back of my van, usually plugging into the nearby club or music store for juice. Busking is an old tradition.

I don't know your situation as to why you can't gig. But frankly I think it's essential to get yourself in front of people when you play. Even if you have to open up your rehearsals to get people in to see you play so they can tell other people about you.
IMO no amount of internet press will give you the boost playing in public will, there are just too many bands fighting for recognition.

It's also honestly what separates the men from the boys....

I concur.

Though I like the USB driver idea. Labeling / packaging ?
An over all campaign to get your face in other peoples faces, and your music on their minds.
( the greatest complement to my mind, is when someone tells me they have had one of our tunes stuck in their head )
All out advertising campaigns sound good, look good on paper, and in band meetings.
But they are costly in both currency and energy / time expenditure.
Unless you just have more dollars than sense laying around to spend, you will have to pick smaller doable goals in a series to complete the larger task.

Get out and play, break down your ad campaign into smaller doable tasks, and get busy !!

Yes, you definitely want to gig, but you don't want to tire out your fanbase. Once a month, changing up your show, playing in different areas to reach different people. Gigging once a month is a good way to go.

Stickers and cards are great to give to people who you connect with like standing in line at the grocery store - I yak a lot (as if you couldn't tell), so I'm always meeting people.

T-shirts are the bomb. They're expensive, but people loooooove shirts. If you do a gig and you got a killer t-shirt to sell along with your CD, you will do good sales. I watched my friends sell out of shirts last weekend. People bought more shirts than CD's.

Just my two cents.

Chaeya

I hear what you're saying Chaeya, but you don't have to limit yourself to playing once a month.

I was lucky enough to play weekly right in town Seattle. They were mostly Irish Bars but all were places that had a built in audience. Most times the audience would turn over 4 to 5 times a night.
But you also have to remember that the gigs were 4 hours long. I was the only entertainment each night, so it didn't matter to the club owner, he just wanted his crowd entertained by someone who wouldn't chase people out.

I know this wouldn't work for everyone, but my point is to play as much as you possibly can. Get out of town if you can. Because you can practice in your garage as much as you like but playing in front of people changes you. It makes you much better in a much shorter period of time IMO.

Think of this. What will happen if by some chance the clouds part and some record company signs you? The first thing they'll do is push you out on the road playing 250+ dates a year. You better be ready......

Yes, you definitely want to gig, but you don't want to tire out your fanbase. Once a month, changing up your show, playing in different areas to reach different people. Gigging once a month is a good way to go.

Stickers and cards are great to give to people who you connect with like standing in line at the grocery store - I yak a lot (as if you couldn't tell), so I'm always meeting people.

T-shirts are the bomb. They're expensive, but people loooooove shirts. If you do a gig and you got a killer t-shirt to sell along with your CD, you will do good sales. I watched my friends sell out of shirts last weekend. People bought more shirts than CD's.

Just my two cents.

Chaeya

My recordings sold best in Japan. I sold a lot of shirts in the states to people who never heard me. Weird.