Members Woodcs82 Posted April 19, 2008 Members Share Posted April 19, 2008 Im looking to place an ad in music magazines...which are the best? What indie music magazines are the best? Who has the biggest reach and is the most popular in the industry, Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scafeets Posted April 19, 2008 Members Share Posted April 19, 2008 It depends on what you're selling. Who do you want to reach? Labels, promoters, radio people, fans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 20, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 I want to reach Musicians for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scafeets Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 Ok...we've narrowed it down from 100 mags to maybe 20. Guitar players? Keyboard people? Maybe it would help if you would say what you're selling. Also: Have you considered online advertising in places like H-C, etc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 20, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 Yes def. , i actually just emailed Harmony-Central for their Media kit and we will be looking over it when we receive it. Whats the most popular magazine for bands? Also, if you know a popular magazine for DJ's that would be cool also. Thank you,Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DanielQ Posted April 20, 2008 Members Share Posted April 20, 2008 Do you have a big enough budget? It can get costly to advertise in some high-circulating magazines... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 21, 2008 Yeah i know they can be costly..., i just need to know what my options are , any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diiskrej Posted April 21, 2008 Members Share Posted April 21, 2008 Every magazine has different prices. Just email them and they will send you price sheets. AP magazine is about 3000 for a full page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Instrospection Posted April 21, 2008 Members Share Posted April 21, 2008 I want to reach Musicians for the most part. You need to be much, much more specific than that. Heavy metal guitarists? Polka accordionists? Violinists? Xylophonists? Keep in mind that it's hard to "unify" a bunch of scenes, it's usually best to start out narrower and then if that takes off, slowly add on themes or genres as you see fit. Alot of places try to have "catch all" places, but you need a hook, a specific theme, a niche--and something unique-- to draw people in. For example, Harmony Central has created a really great database of tons of equipment companies, with user reviews. It used to be that the reviews in magazines were just written by the really skilled guys; here, HC put the control in the hands of the average equipment user that can maybe relay a more useable review to others. And HC definetely created a niche, in which people like myself checked out the forums because of the user reviews, and the updates on new gear from the big companies. I'd wager that many other people wandered down to these here forums, just because HC is such a helpful tool in buying and selecting gear.....because I know that there's some really hard to find amps that may have a couple or a few reviews here (sometimes from a few years back), and then I can see what the positives and the negatives are from what people have experienced. Before that, the only way I had to find that out was through friends, and good luck finding anyone that's played nearly every vintage amp to have a definitive opinion on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Instrospection Posted April 21, 2008 Members Share Posted April 21, 2008 Whats the most popular magazine for bands? You need to do alot more research than just asking on here. Alot of groundwork. I mean, what type of bands do you want to reach? I mean, there's Rolling Stone, there's Spin, NME (all if you want more trendy stuff), Pitchfork if you're going the indie/ alternative route, there's magazines like the Big Takeover which have a good cross section of more obscure and indie and punk stuff, Blabbermouth (online) for metal, Maximum Rock n' Roll for punk, etc etc etc. There's tons more, especially if you get into zines (which are cheaper and have less circulation, but more dedicated readers). It's sort of like, "what's the most popular magazine for bands in a certain genre"? Some may say diversify or die, but adspace is very, very costly, so you need to choose wisely and market to one demographic and slowly create a buzz and reputation there, and then expand to where you want to. In other words, you need the trust built up from a certain demographic. If you're not loyal to one, it's pretty hard for them to be loyal to you. However, if you have an ad budget that's in the tens (hundreds?) of thousands, this is all a moot point--but if you're starting on a small budget, there's really no other way than to pick your favorite genre or niche and then build up clout and trust and a reputation there enough so that you have a built in fanbase that you don't have to advertise to (or advertise as much to). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 22, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 Ok lets start with Indie Rock magazines, which is best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Deeprig9 Posted April 22, 2008 Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 I think targeting indie rock bands through the magazine medium is pointless. Indie rock bands don't read magazines about indie rock. Magazines cater to people with expendable income. Indie rock bands don't have it. Perhaps indie rock fans, if that's who you want to reach, but indie rock bands, no way Jose. Your best bet is to advertise in the alternative weeklies. Like Flagpole in Athens GA, Stomp and Stammer in ATL. Advertising can be a tool but it will not accomplish a goal by itself. The best you can hope for is to get your name out there, for name recognition, but it won't get people to sign up. Your thousands of dollars would be better spent paying venues to book through you. As soon as bands know that your free service is actually getting bands booked, you'll have alot of signups. Find 5 big festivals, find the organizer, tell them you'll pay them $5000 to book through your service and hang some banners around the festival. When bands go to submit at the festival website, there's your link, and there's your membership. I hope you can float $25,000 for a year or two. Better results than an ad in a magazine. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scafeets Posted April 22, 2008 Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 I think targeting indie rock bands through the magazine medium is pointless. Indie rock bands don't read magazines about indie rock. Magazines cater to people with expendable income. Indie rock bands don't have it. Perhaps indie rock fans, if that's who you want to reach, but indie rock bands, no way Jose.Your best bet is to advertise in the alternative weeklies. Like Flagpole in Athens GA, Stomp and Stammer in ATL. Advertising can be a tool but it will not accomplish a goal by itself. The best you can hope for is to get your name out there, for name recognition, but it won't get people to sign up. Your thousands of dollars would be better spent paying venues to book through you. As soon as bands know that your free service is actually getting bands booked, you'll have alot of signups. Find 5 big festivals, find the organizer, tell them you'll pay them $5000 to book through your service and hang some banners around the festival. When bands go to submit at the festival website, there's your link, and there's your membership. I hope you can float $25,000 for a year or two. Better results than an ad in a magazine. Good luck! +1 It's kind of frustrating trying to help this guy because extracting every bit of information about his goals is like pulling teeth. What we know: He wants to reach indie bands. Why? What's he selling? The quickest way to go broke in marketing is to use a shotgun when a rifle will do the job. If you're selling guitars, you don't want to pay for drummers. If you want to reach club owners, you don't advertise in the DJ mags, etc. By and large "indie rock bands" have little to no buying power; so why advertise to them? I would recommend online media and viral marketing techniques -- but then, again: We're flying blind here. Recommending marketing options when we don't know what the product is can be a pointless exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Instrospection Posted April 22, 2008 Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 Yeah, even indie rock can mean a wide variety of things--metal, punk, post-punk, art rock, etc. Niche oriented things are a great idea.....nowadays, genres and crowds are so separated that if you go too general and start out too general, you may not have the support of any one scene, instead you split your own vote--which is something that you don't want to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mmmiddle Posted April 22, 2008 Members Share Posted April 22, 2008 If I had to advertise something, like iGigYou.com, for instance, the site looks like a Sonicbids.com competitor. Well, it's a website first of all so I'd adverstise on the web. I'd look into Google AdWords, Myspace and other social networking sites, and musician sites like HC. The advertising would be a lot cheaper online since you could pay-per-click and it hits the demographic much better. People are online these days more than they read magazines, and since iGigYou.com is a website anyway, go advertise online. It only makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted April 23, 2008 Members Share Posted April 23, 2008 There's a "Free Notice" section in the back of "Recording" magazine for promoting careers, making contacts, announcing your demo, etc. It won't cost you a penny. Best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 25, 2008 thanks guys, im sorry i should have been more specific. Perhaps that post was made while i was half alseep. Anyhow, i like the trade show idea and we will be going to a few including NAMM this summer! We are just starting an online ad campaign as well, for igigyou.com Thanks again, Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Deeprig9 Posted April 25, 2008 Members Share Posted April 25, 2008 Like others said, and you have acknowledged here and elsewhere, you are a sonic bids competitor. Musicians are on your side. The problem is that musicians will continue to pay sonicbids for submissions and for profiles as long as sonic bids is getting results. igigyou being free isn't enough. You've got to get results. Sonicbids is the place to submit for festivals, it's basically a monopoly, not technically, but allegorically, and until you can show musicians that you can get results, you get some fests and venues to book through you, even if you have to pay them, you won't get the results you want. People aren't just going to sign up and build a page and go through all that when they've already got myspace and sonic. Spend your money getting results, then advertise the results. Your worst fear needs to be that sonicbids recognizes you and starts doing their stuff free also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sabriel9v Posted April 25, 2008 Members Share Posted April 25, 2008 I think targeting indie rock bands through the magazine medium is pointless. Indie rock bands don't read magazines about indie rock. Magazines cater to people with expendable income. Indie rock bands don't have it. Perhaps indie rock fans, if that's who you want to reach, but indie rock bands, no way Jose. Your best bet is to advertise in the alternative weeklies. Like Flagpole in Athens GA, Stomp and Stammer in ATL. Advertising can be a tool but it will not accomplish a goal by itself. The best you can hope for is to get your name out there, for name recognition, but it won't get people to sign up. Your thousands of dollars would be better spent paying venues to book through you. As soon as bands know that your free service is actually getting bands booked, you'll have alot of signups. Find 5 big festivals, find the organizer, tell them you'll pay them $5000 to book through your service and hang some banners around the festival. When bands go to submit at the festival website, there's your link, and there's your membership. I hope you can float $25,000 for a year or two. Better results than an ad in a magazine. Good luck! +100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 29, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 29, 2008 Yes we do have our work cut out for us! We are here for the long run and plan on being around for quite sometime. If you went to www.igigyou.com, and i asked you to PICK it apart, what would you say it needed coming from an artists point of view. We have the resources to continue and build whatever is necesary with time. So please check it out once again and be hard on the site. Thanks, Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scafeets Posted April 29, 2008 Members Share Posted April 29, 2008 Yes we do have our work cut out for us! We are here for the long run and plan on being around for quite sometime.If you went to www.igigyou.com, and i asked you to PICK it apart, what would you say it needed coming from an artists point of view.We have the resources to continue and build whatever is necesary with time.So please check it out once again and be hard on the site.Thanks,Colin Hi Colin:I visited the site and here's my first impression: Great concept (see Gigmasters.com and Sonicbids.com for ideas) but -- before you spend a nickel on advertising, make sure there are some WORDS on your home page that explain who you are, what you do, and what the benefit of joining will be. Right now, it has the appearance of an empty shell, which is OK, if you explain what's going to be there when it grows up. A mission statement, or statement of benefits, will be your best advertising, because you have ten seconds to get someone's attention after they get to your site. Words that describe what you do will make your site Google-friendly. I work for a growing online operation ($4mil last year) and a majority of our leads come from Google searches.Good luck. And when it's time to advertise (not yet) start with Google ad-words, Yahoo, and here at H-C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Woodcs82 Posted April 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 30, 2008 Thanks for the feedback, i really appreciate it! Sending you a PM now. Im still open for other feedback. Thank you very much. -Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.