Members Chunkaway Posted October 25, 2009 Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 So, a band I play in is self- releasing their debut cd in November, and they are considering trying to push and promote the album. Couple of things about the band. 1.) The band has been positively reviewed in several papers around the Pacific Northwest (these have been mostly the "alternative" or music rags.) 2.) The band has opened for some national acts, as well as played most of the big clubs in town, played some festivals, if that matters at all. 3.) The guys are getting a lot of positive feedback about the cd, although at this point it is just from mixers, producers, engineers, etc...(The mixer worked on Wilco's Summerteeth record, to give you some perspective.) 4). We are all in our thirties, so we aren't necessarily looking to get signed and be the next big thing. We are looking for better shows, regional shows, more dinero, etc... The guys have been thinking about hitting some local papers, regional papers, music mags, websites, as well as some local radio stations. They are also looking at some European music papers/magazines, etc... as well because the kind of music we play (Americana, alt. country) tends to do really well in Europe. ( A friend's band did that and they have been asked to play several European festivals, which would be a blast. Not sure if that can happen for us, so I figured I'd ask the good people of this forum.) Any suggestions, advice, thoughts? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boxofrocks Posted October 25, 2009 Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 I have no advice what so ever man.. Only thing I can think of is.. The world is a big place, there are many many many more markets than America.. You could fill stadiums in south America, and never sell a single MP3 in the USA.. Think globally.. And also.. In your 30's means nothing.. Nothing at all.. That's American entertainment business, trying to sell products to young people who like to blow money on {censored} they don't need.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zildjian@consol Posted October 25, 2009 Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 Make shure all your songs are copyrights. I agree with Box your age means nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chunkaway Posted October 25, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 Make shure all your songs are copyrights. I agree with Box your age means nothing. Good point! I believe the singer/writer is in the process of doing that. Thanks for the suggestion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted October 25, 2009 Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 one word: Agent. For the life of me, I will never understand why so many bands here in Hawaii just do not want to be represented by a professional management agency. Two of the bands I gig with have the potential to do what you are doing (in my opinion), but the leaders insist on doing everything themselves. I've even made the point to one of them that all the local acts that are doing well in the industry have outside management representing them. It falls on deaf ears. Don't make that same mistake. I'm sure you've heard many an actor say the words, "My agent earned his 10% in this gig!!", meaning the management hustled their ass off to make the deal happen. Not saying that you guys have the desire to be a big international band or anything, but why not let the people who do this for a living take care of it? Analogy: If you were catering an extremely important function, and your (day job) professional career were hanging in the balance, would you hire a caterer who has been doing it for years and years, or would you hire some unknown Joe Blow who has virtually no experience? 'nuff said. $0.02. Take it for what it's worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gremson Posted October 25, 2009 Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 My band put together a pretty decent CD self release party in Portland.We got a good deal for a Saturday night at Hawthorne Theater. I strongly recommend an all ages venue. Found three other bands that were friends, played like music, and drew well from their own crowd.We set it up a couple months in advance and blew up every local media.Had an ad in the Mercury, Willie Week, Oregonian, etc... Put together a strreet team and blanketed Hawthorne with a poster on every phonepole. I know it's all tactics that should be used for every good gig, but we ended up with a killer show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chunkaway Posted October 25, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 25, 2009 DW- we actually have talked to two managers/bookers and both said the exact same thing, "We dig the music, but you need to get this started first and then we'll jump in. Right now, you are too small." Okay, I respect the honesty, but what do we need to do to get the ball rolling? One of the managers put us on the bill of a large festival up here, so I know she likes us, evidently we are small potatoes to her. Gremson- the show will be fine. We typically draw about 100-150 people and we are playing venues like the Doug Fir, White Eagle, Lola's Room, etc.. so we're not worried about getting a bunch of people out-that will happen. We are trying to figure out what to do to get the album promoted. Do we contact every music mag/website out there? Do we try to pick and choose certain outlets? College radio? We just don't know. We have talked to some bands here in town and one of them hired a PR firm. (WTF?!?!) It has worked a bit though, since they are playing a ton and getting good slots. (They self released their cd in England, and it has charted on the folk charts, whatever the hell that means.) We don't have the money to hire a friggin' PR firm, so where do we go from here. Seriously, we should know more, but we don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wellhungarian Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 You should rent the movie, Anvil:The Story of Anvil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 All I can add - or detract is there's that 'are you a pro?' thread going on and no I'm not but what drives me is working on getting ACTUALLY good. That blurted;Are you a good product?Any drive to get out and move people?Do you just wanna get on the shelves - and collect??????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chunkaway Posted October 26, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 All I can add - or detract is there's that 'are you a pro?' thread going on and no I'm not but what drives me is working on getting ACTUALLY good. That blurted; Are you a good product? Any drive to get out and move people? Do you just wanna get on the shelves - and collect? ??? ??? Hmm...Am I a pro? Well, I'd quit my day job (a teacher) to become one. Not sure if that counts or not. I think we are a good product and we gets lots of positive feedback, good crowds, get offered good shows. Having said that, I don't think we are inventive in any way. We're doing what many others have done, so that is probably a strike against us. At this point I do think there is some drive to see what this band can do. We have been playing from Bellingham-by the Canadian border- to Ashland -by the CA border trying to build a fan base. For us to do a national tour, we would need some kind of support. Sleeping on people's floors is not going to work for this band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 Meet and talk to as many people as you can. Walk into the headquarters of as many radio stations you can find and hand them your CD. Somewhere along the way you're going to meet someone with connections who wants to help... but be careful. I'm sure you know already that the business of music is just as twisted as any other business, if not more so, and there are a lot of people out there just itching to screw over bands in exactly your position. In this business, especially at the mid level where you seem to be at (and where my band is as well), your success is determined by "who you know, who you're {censored}ing, and who you know you're {censored}ing". It seems you have a good hold on what you have, what you're doing, and where you want to go... you either need to meet someone with connections or make those very connections yourself. Keep in mind that sometimes the most important connections come from the most unlikely places, so don't ignore your roots and pay attention to everyone willing to help. I'm in a position where I have the connections to get me up to a certain place... but that place isn't exactly where I want to go. If you get lucky, some radio station will pick up your {censored} and play it on the radio... and if someone there likes your sound they'll probably do everything they can to make sure everyone knows about you. That's if you're lucky, though. Certain people will get you to certain places, and other people will get you others. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 Well 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. While that may be the only thing I know about it, those managers you talked to are the writing on the wall. All in or nuthin' IOW.I'd say what you can do, realistically and under budget, is take your act up a notch. Work on your video presence - have you tried public access TV? Get as liked as possible then managers will solicit you. :end rhetoric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Longfuse Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 We just don't know. We have talked to some bands here in town and one of them hired a PR firm. (WTF?!?!) In this day and age, that is exactly what I would do. Something similar to this discussion came up on another forum. It was about how the music industry is changing with the internet. I remember suggesting using a PR company over singing to a record company, because that's pretty much what all the majors do these days: promote (anyone can produce the music themselves). At least with hiring your own team, you know you're not in debt to them; or going to get f*cked over (you're paying their wages). If might seem like an expense, but it's in their interests to promote you so that they continue to get payed. Good investment if you ask me. Can't afford it? Do you know any creative bull{censored}ters?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wellhungarian Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 I would contact these people www.sirius.com/outlawcountry and see how you can get your music to them. MoJo Nixon and Don Was both have their own shows on there and they play new music all the time. What I don't know is if an A & R guy is padding their pockets to play tunes or not. They also have a Facebook page, something like Outlaw Country rocks? I would also think that those guys would know who's promoting alt country across the U.S. I would also send your CD to current alt country bands, if they like you they might ask you to tour with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members suet6534 Posted October 26, 2009 Members Share Posted October 26, 2009 Music is most certainly changing these days especially with the force of the Internet. With places like Youtube and Myspace are ways in which to promote your new releases. The music video sites such as youtube can be a great stepping stone in promoting your music and this is because there are a lot of people visiting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chunkaway Posted October 27, 2009 Author Members Share Posted October 27, 2009 I would contact these people www.sirius.com/outlawcountry and see how you can get your music to them. MoJo Nixon and Don Was both have their own shows on there and they play new music all the time. What I don't know is if an A & R guy is padding their pockets to play tunes or not. They also have a Facebook page, something like Outlaw Country rocks? I would also think that those guys would know who's promoting alt country across the U.S. I would also send your CD to current alt country bands, if they like you they might ask you to tour with them? That is a great suggestion. Hadn't even thought of going that route. Thanks for the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.