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How
to Promote Your Band
There
are plenty of ways to promote your band, both good
and bad. Listed
below (in no particular order) are the methods we
have determined to be the most
effective
at getting
your
band noticed. But don't panic or spend too much time
trying to figure out how to get started.
Just choose something (for example a battle of the
bands) and then grow from there.
1. Get a Press Kit
See How
to Create a Press Kit
2.
Play Open Mics
Great for experience, plus you'll have an instant
audience. And the audience part is important.
If you book a show and all the promotion is up
to you and nobody knows your band yet.... well,
let's just say you're setting yourself up for
an audience in the single digits (Yes, that can
and does happen). You'll get lots of feedback
and promotion, and be on your way to building
a fan base.
3.
Open for other Bands
Get in touch with other local bands that are more
established. Offer/ask to open for them (for
free, at least at first). You'll get a built
in audience and promotion is what it's all about
at this point. But make sure you pick a band
with fans and music similar to yours or you'll
be falling on deaf ears. Plus, it's a great way
to learn the ropes from the established local
indie bands.
4.
Festivals, Battle of the Bands
Big
audiences, which is both good and bad. If this
is your first show and some people in your
band are a little sketchy on where the changes
are in a few songs... well, you don't want
to let several hundred or thousand people know
that you're just starting out. Practice a lot,
make sure you're tight on every song, and have
your set list ready. And put on a good show.
Be fun to watch on stage (practice this part,
too). Yeah, your music might be great, but
if your lead singer just stands there and you
don't make a huge impression, then you've wasted
a great opportunity. And again, don't play
festivals with a crowd that's wrong for your
band. Pick shows that make sense, not just
the first thing that's available.
5.
Play for Free
If
you're in this to make money right away, start
playing weddings (seriously). Otherwise, realize
that clubs and bars have no idea who you are,
and
assume that
you can't draw anyone to your shows (which
is probably true). If the club or bar owner
is trying to make a profit, they want people
to come pay a cover charge and drink/eat. With
no draw, just booking you is a risk. Are they
really going to want to pay you to play as
well? Most will give you a percentage of the
cover (if there's a cover). But once you do
start drawing people make sure to mention this
to the club/bar owners. Then you have some
room to negotiate (and if you're drawing, most
likely they've heard of you by now). Be honest.
Don't say you normally draw 50 when your best
draw was 40 and all the rest were 10. You might
get that first show, but you won't get any
more.
6.
Booking Agent / Band Managers
If
you live in a larger city you can consider
getting a booking agent. Of course they will
take a percentage, but that's the good part.
More money for them by getting more shows for
you. If you live in a smaller town be wary.
Your choice of agents (if you can locate any)
will be pretty slim and their credentials may
be non-existant. Judge based on their past
results and make a detailed timeline of expected
results over the next month, six months, and
year. Without letting your agent know your
goals, you won't get the outcome or the agent
you want. Re-evaluate your agent periodically.
Are you currently playing as many shows and
are you as well known as you want to be? Does
this match what the agent said 6 months ago?
7.
Get a Website
Make
sure your domain name is easy to remember.
If it has more than one slash (/) in it, it's
too complicated. Include a list of your upcoming
shows, and update this part regularly. How
can you expect fans to show up if they don't
know when you're playing next. And include
details (the location of the show, directions
if it's hard to find, time your band is expected
to go on stage - especially useful if it's
an all day festival). Check your e-mail and
answer it. The last thing you want is to send
out a buch of presskits and not respond to
an e-mail from a label until 2 weeks later.
Or get a last minute offer to play a big show
and miss out because you didn't read your e-mail.
And don't forget blogging, which is a great
way to get feedback from fans. (Check out .mac
for easy website design and blogging setup).
Don't overcomplicate your site. If you know
you don't have time to update the site every
day, don't make a daily news section.
8.
Get Promo Merchandise
Mention
your website at your shows and have promo
material with your web address on it. Stickers are a great tool - they're cheap and a great
giveaway at shows. Yes, give them away. Would
you rather charge $1 or $2 to try and make
up the cost of the stickers, or would you
rather have hundreds of people visiting your
site and advertising your band on the back
of their car, bookbag, etc.? T-shirts are
a great way to promote your band and website,
too. For these you do want to charge, so
make sure you get a good graphic
designer to come up with an awesome design. Be objective.
If you wouldn't pay $15 for your shirt, why
should someone else? Because they like you?
You're not that famous, yet. Charge enough
to cover the cost of the shirt with maybe
a small profit. And always give away a few
shirts to some lucky fans in the crowd. Makes
the crowd like you plus it lets you promote
the fact that you have merchandise for sale.
See Also:
All of the information presented is based upon input
and feedback from our contacts and resources in the
music industry, including labels, agents, A&R representatives,
screeners, managers, signed bands, indie bands, etc.
If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion
for additional topics, contact us at monster.feedback@bandmonster.com
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