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Posted on June 5, 2009 by Stan Oldman | Posted under Music
Fresh ideas for marketing your music and band
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There’s an old saying that goessomething like “build it and they will come”. It’s an old sayingbecause in today’s world it should read “build it, MARKET IT… and theywill come”. If you don’t believe me than think about how many talentedpeople have you come across that made incredible music in theirbasement. Music that never made it out of their house. It’s likethey’re waiting for somebody to knock on their door and say “I was juststrolling through the neighborhood with a briefcase full of money andwanted to see if you have a great song available”. It’s not reallygoing to happen. However there are things you can do to get your musicand band marketed and we will be discussing this in the followingarticle. First, let’s establish what we’re looking to do. Weneed to market the band while at the same time making some money or atleast not losing much on the marketing costs, all this while makingsure that our efforts will be rewarded in things are done right. Traditional Marketing Methods Underthis guise we have t-shirts, buttons, stickers and any other solidtangible good that represents the band or artist. Obviously CDs enterthe picture and so do DVDs. With the arrival of Zazzle and othersimilar merchandize services you can sell your stuff without everseeing it or stocking it. You simply create your design online and whensomebody orders it they will print the design onto the shirt and shipit out. The quality is great, but as with anything that helps make yourlife a bit easier, it cuts into your profits. These items earnyou money back while promoting your music/band. After all, some girldressed with your t-shirt is like having a walking billboard. Try tokeep in mind these simple rules as you design your products: 1. Very easy to read, clear and relatively big logo. If you’re a fan ofwarped letters and squiggly lines you should try to stay away fromthat. It doesn’t mean that your design has to be plain or boring, butstay away from stuff that you need to spend time and effort to makeout. If you’ve ever seen a shirt for a death metal band you’ll knowwhat I’m talking about. You want people to be able to read your namefast and easy. Same goes for logos. McDonalds is famous for it’s yellowarches. Adidas, Nike and Mercedes are well known for their logos.You’ll notice that their logos are based on simple forms/graphics. 2. Make sure to put your contact info on just about anything. The morecontact details the better. Your phone number is good and so is ane-mail address. Some things, like t-shirts for example, do not lendthemselves easily to this end, but there’s no reason in the world whythe website address can’t be present on everything. 3. Entice people to give you their e-mail address in any way shape or formso that you can start to build your own e-mail list. Non-Traditional methods Here are some ideas for non-traditional promotion that will give you the most bang for your buck. 1. Postcards are good but before you run out and do these yourself try andsee if you can get a sponsorship to pay for the cards. Here’s how itworks: Find a business that is somehow linked to the scene you’retrying to reach. If, for example, you’re a rock band, a tattoo parloror a thrift clothing store might do the trick. Five thousand cards willcost you about 200 bucks. Pitch the idea as five thousand cardsdistributed as promo at your show for $200, with your band on one sideand their business on the other. Avoid saying stuff like you’reoffering the back of the card, because in all reality the card has NOback, it has two faces. They get five thousand cards printed anddistributed to people that are in their market and you get your cardFREE! Works great for everybody. 2. If you know otheractive bands or artists releasing albums then work together and printsmall footers on each other’s posters. Your poster will have a smallfooter with gigs/releases of 5 other artists let’s say… Each of thoseartists will in turn feature a small note of your release/gig on theirposter. You will reach about five times more people without any extraexpense. 3. Sponsorships may be a bit hard to come byuntil you are better known in your market. Most sponsors look forartists/bands with a following. If you have started to build afollowing then you can try to approach companies for a sponsorship.Offer space on all your marketing materials as well as promotion of thesponsor at your gig. I hope this has given you some ideas about how to promote your band. About The Author: With experience from playing in bands to producing alternative rock music and managing artists, Stan Oldman has always been thoroughly involved in the music business. The current nyc band he manages is RED i CLAN. |
Tags: MUSIC, MARKETING, BAND, PROMOTION, NYC BAND, MUSIC BUSINESS, ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC
