Promo going very well

[twil]

My band started a radio promotion earlier this month. So far we've been played in 10 states and many more stations have committed.

 

Some of the radio stations that have been playing our material include:

 

KTEG (Albuquerque)

Waitt Radio Networks (syndicated)

WAVF (Charleston, SC)

WBCN (Boston)

WDYL (Richmond)

KPNT (St Louis)

KFTE (Lafayette, LA)

KPFT (Houston)

WARQ (Columbia, SC)

 

New York is scheduled for Sunday:

http://www.q1043.com/outofbox/thisweek.html

 

We're doing an album-level promotion, which means the whole CD (a 6-song EP in our case) is being promoted rather than 1 single. It's interesting because the stations pick what song they play.. interesting way to get a feel for what might be a good single.

 

Our EP has debuted at:

 

#13 on The Network's “UNDERGROUND” Specialty Show Chart

#15 on FMQB's Modern Rock Specialty Spins Weekly

#13 on the R&R Alt Specialty Chart

 

These are "Specialty" charts that represent those independent music shows you hear.. (ex: Rodney's show on KROQ, Los Angeles). All the bands on those charts have labels (many of them major labels) except us.

 

The reason I'm posting this is because we are TOTALLY INDEPENDENT and thought some of my fellow musicians might find it interesting.

 

Anyone else have any success with some type of promotion?

[6am eternal]

That sounds great! Congrats on your charts positions and airplay. That must be exciting!

 

Now what about CD sales? Have you seen a proportional increase with that much exposure? Or do you think this is something that will come later? Are you touring in the same time?

 

I've always thought an album promo should be done all at one time, like the majors do. You know, you already have airplay and charting, why not coupling it with interviews, playing a couple acoustic songs on the radio, touring, newspaper article..... what's your plan?

 

Oh and one last question I have for you: how did you find out about your chart positions? Where are those reported?

 

Thanks for sharing your story! And congrats to you.

[finger]

ill just throw this in here but i think the charts are on most radio stations websites if they have em. congrats on the success man! how did you find the stations that would play independent stuff?

[twil]

6am eternal:

 

Thanks for the congratz! Yeah, we are very happy.. sort of in shock I guess. About CD sales: we do have a small distribution deal set up with Tower Records in SoCal and Vegas. We don't have any reports of sales yet, though our bass player did call a Tower and asked if they had our CD. They said they had it but it was out of stock. I don't know if that means it's just in their computer or if someone actually bought it... I doubt it was bought, because 80% of our airplay has been back East so far. I'll post if I hear anything about it. I'm definitely hoping album sales come later

 

We aren't touring right now, though we are playing a bunch of shows in the LA area. (noticed you're in Hollywood - check out if you are interested in coming to one). We are still waiting for a response from the SXSW festival in Austin. One label contacted us and is interested in checking us out in Austin, so we may just set up a show and go anyway even if we're not accepted. I'd love to do it on our own, but for now we need to keep labels in the picture because of their access to distribution channels and much better promotion through opening-act slots, etc.

 

Some interviews and some sort of video documentary are being discussed.. it's too early to know anything. Sometimes I feel like everyone involved in the music industry has some kind of disorder that makes them extremely flaky

 

Cheers and thanks again!

[twil]

 

Originally posted by finger ill just throw this in here but i think the charts are on most radio stations websites if they have em. congrats on the success man! how did you find the stations that would play independent stuff?

 

 

Thanks finger. You're right about the charts being on the web. I don't have links to the other ones readily available, but here's the FMQB one:

 

Note that these aren't for individual stations.. these are national lists that represent "specialty" radio shows throughout the US.

 

(look at the Albums section to see us)

http://www.fmqb.com/site/FormatRooms/modern_specialty.html

 

Seeing artists on Capitol and Chrysalis below us is pretty mind-blowing.

 

 

Hope that helps!

[GuitarDude]

Oh cool! You're on 96 Wave here in charleston. Congrats!

[twil]

Thanks GuitarDude! Support from fellow musicians is very cool.

 

If anyone is interested, we're playing a show tonight that will be webcast from Mr. T's Bowl in LA, CA. Go here to check it out:

 

http://www.liveclubs.net/

 

We go on at 12am David Lovering (drummer from the Pixies) will be doing a magic show and will MC the night. The guitarist from the Breeders is DJing. One of the bands features members of Brian Jonestown Massacre. The band after us (1am) is some "mystery touring band".. no idea what that means.

 

Should be interesting

 

Guess I'll post this in the guitar area too.

[scubyfan]

congrats man!

 

if you don't mind me asking, who are your promoters?

 

i might check out your shows in hollywood

[BlueStrat]

If you don't have one already, grab a copy of the Musician's Atlas for 2003. They cost 30 or 40 bucks and should be available at most major book stores, or online. Anyway, they have tons of resources for musicians nationwide including gigs (and whether or not the house has a PA/Lights/soundman/, who to contact, size of the room, etc) agents, production companies, record companies, etc. Some independent labels have distribution companies. My first CD got distributed by a small company and was being sold to sub-distributors in California, Texas, Illinois, and in some town in new England. They also got me on Amazon.com, CDNow, and into several Tower Records stores as well as a few others. If you're getting the kind of airplay you are now, you might want to strike while the iron is hot and approach a major distributor. Sounds great, man, and I'm glad when ANYONE doing ANYTHING in this business gets anywhere. We're pullin' for ya! Keep it up.

[twil]

Originally posted by scubyfan congrats man! if you don't mind me asking, who are your promoters? i might check out your shows in hollywood

 

The radio promo is through Notorious Radio (linked above). We also worked with a few show/venue promoters including Mike Galaxy and Sash from Mr. T's Bowl.

 

Thanks!

[twil]

Originally posted by BlueStrat If you don't have one already, grab a copy of the Musician's Atlas for 2003. They cost 30 or 40 bucks and should be available at most major book stores, or online. Anyway, they have tons of resources for musicians nationwide including gigs (and whether or not the house has a PA/Lights/soundman/, who to contact, size of the room, etc) agents, production companies, record companies, etc. Some independent labels have distribution companies. My first CD got distributed by a small company and was being sold to sub-distributors in California, Texas, Illinois, and in some town in new England. They also got me on Amazon.com, CDNow, and into several Tower Records stores as well as a few others. If you're getting the kind of airplay you are now, you might want to strike while the iron is hot and approach a major distributor. Sounds great, man, and I'm glad when ANYONE doing ANYTHING in this business gets anywhere. We're pullin' for ya! Keep it up.

 

Thanks BlueStrat! I think one of our members has an older copy of that Atlas.. but now that you mention it, we definitely need an updated one. Right now we're trying to book a show in Austin (hoping for South by Southwest, but haven't been confirmed). That atlas would help.

 

Your posts are always full of good advice. Nice to see experienced peoples' opinions.

 

Cheers!