Promote Your Music
Not many musicians have the blessing of a large recording company to support them in their musical ventures. Neither do they have the money power to advertise, hire talented promoters or PR guys to take them to places. Knowing how to promote your music the DIY way is always beneficial, though the start up process may seem a bit challenging in the beginning. Here are some tips to get the basics of self-promoting your music, aimed to take much of the stress out of the job:
- Goal setting: It is impossible to succeed if you have your fingers in several pies. Choose one at a time, regarding what you want to promote. Decide to promote a single or a show or even a website that the band owns. This primary task can set your future course of action in a far methodical way, rather than attempting everything at the same time.
- Decide on the target media for promotion: Once your goal is clear, your choice of media for promotion also falls in place. If there is a gig coming up, the right choice would be the local press, radio stations, and coffee shops and so on. In case you are promoting a single, your band mailing list could be a better option. Deciding on the right media for the right product can save you time, energy and more importantly lots of money.
- To self-promote your music it makes sense to have a promo package containing a press release, a short bio of the band, a sample CD, some press clips, contact info including e mail address and an attractive color photo of the band could be of great help.
- When disseminating information about your band and your music, do not give out everything in one go. Let people wonder about what you are going to come up with, next. This can keep the level of interest alive amongst your target group. Remember, like you, there are hundreds of artistes vying with each other to get a share of the audience mind space. So you have to carve out a niche for your music to make an impression.
- There is nobody in the world that can refuse a free gift. This includes your audience, recording labels, press personnel and everyone in between. Think of giving away free gifts to promote your music. This could range from free drink coupons for press people at the pub to attractive merchandise.
- Give adequate importance to branding, to make your name memorable and recognizable. Think of merchandise including stickers, badges, posters and so on where your band’s name (including the album name you are promoting) appear repeatedly to remain on top of mind of your target audience.
- The entire process of promoting your own music the DIY way would also result in generating loads of contacts. These contacts are important and you must keep a regular tab on them. Keep the list updated as these are the people you would need for your next promo campaign!
- One of the most relevant tips when getting started is to do your best at the local level. You may dream big, but your starting venue is always playing at local gigs especially when you are really not that well known outside your city or State.
- However you could plan a huge campaign when you have something big happening like a tour, releasing an album, winning a contract or an award and so on. This is big news which you would want to share with other labels, agents, music managers, and impresarios and so on.
- Be yourself. You cannot last for too long if you fake performances or try to cheat in some way. Remember you have to be remembered for the right reasons.
- Keep a smart data base. There may be many people who you would like to get involved with professionally, like managers, etc. You need to constantly update your database with such contact information.
- Finally, remember that it takes all kinds to make this world. There are some who are nice and many who are not. In stead of getting hurt by a couple of ‘no’s’ during your journey to stardom, be ready to hear that famous ‘yes’ which could be just round the corner.
If you are a musician and looking for band space to practice,
contact Empire Rehearsal Studios for more information.