YOU DON’T HAVE TO “BRING IT ALL BACK HOME” ANYMORE

The only problem with creative inspiration is that you never know when it is going to strike. Sometimes you’re driving, sometimes you’re waiting for a bus, sometimes you’re out with friends, or worst of all, you’re at work. This is part of why those who can afford to be unemployed for a while often take advantage of their privilege.

The advances offered by rapidly developing technology over the past 5 or 6 years have not only provided multiple platforms for an artist to she their music, but also new ways to make it. There are various apps available including Evernote and H2n from Zoom, for writing, recording, and producing your music wherever you are and wherever you have to be.

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Video Killed The Radio Star...Next, It Comes For Your Budget

One of the best ways for a new artist to establish legitimacy, excite and engage fans, and generate interest is to make a music video. The dream and prestige of being on MTV dominated the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. This dream has become an everyday reality, due to widespread access to YouTube and the fact that MTV has nothing to do with music anymore.  One of the most important part of making a music video, outside of the creative elements, is making sure that you do it for cheap. You need to let your creativity shine, not just in the content, but in the production process as well. Rather than starting with an idea that may involve elaborate props, professional camera men, special effects and so on; start with what you already have and build your idea from there. You probably don’t really need to hire an established professional to take the video. Instead, use someone you know (who may be comparably skilled) and develop the idea based on what you know they can do. Instead of spending money on costumes, try to think of costumes you can use/make our of clothes and materials you already have.  

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Know Your Metrics

An effective marketing strategy cannot succeed on ideas and mimicry alone. Not every tactic is going to work for every band. The best thing you can do to make sure that every move you make is as effective as possible, is to have and study the metrics of what you are doing and focus on the things that are working for you. For example, maybe your fans don’t use Twitter. If have a way of seeing that they don’t, maybe you’d want to get less aggressive with it. Another possibility is that your style of Tweeting just isn’t effective in reaching and exciting your fans. Before you give up on something altogether, you may want to try a few different approaches and see which ones get the best response. 

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Make Your Merch Table Count

I have recently mentioned on a few occasions that artists should focus on selling merchandise during less obvious period (i.e., not on tour). However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t make the most of your merch table when you are at a gig. The first thing you should focus on is really making it your own. If you’re not going to design it yourself, the next best thing is to have it done by someone who knows you, knows your music, and understands what your fans are most likely to respond to. Many established bands can get away with generic and sterile “design” but that is either because they are so big that being identified as a fan is more important than having a cool t-shirt, or there fans just have terrible taste which explains why they are more famous than you.

You should also make sure to keep a very close eye on what sizes and designs are most popular and keep the metrics in mind when you reorder, or print new design.  It also helps to make sure that your merch table is friendly, both in terms of price and personality. Don’t be selling your shirts for 30 bucks when the band you played with is selling theirs for 10, and whether it’s you, a band member or a roadie, make sure that who ever is at the merch table is personable. The ideal candidate will be so nice and charismatic that your fans will feel guilty if they don’t buy anything from you.

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How to Approach a Record Label

Very few musicians are able to make it to the career level without the eventual help of a record label. This is perhaps the most intuitive fact in the history of the record industry. When you are contacting a record label, it is important to at least appear modest and polite. Record labels don’t want to deal with someone they have never heard of, who is expecting superstar-treatment. Artist who act out and boastfully talk trash to and about their record label have already their label millions of dollars.  You are yet to make them a dime so don’t get any big ideas about what you’re entitled to.

But possibly the MOST important things is to remember to keep trying! 

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The Other Kind Of College Money

Any musician with extensive touring experience can tell you that the best money for an up and comers is in booking college shows. The best way to get these gigs is by building a fan base at the college(s). The best way to do that is to break onto their limited reach airwaves. Even the ultra-uppity students who preach against the monotony of pop-culture and monopoly of corporations over mainstream radio tune in to find out what their fellow students are listening to and what’s going on around campus. With a good deal of work and luck, your band can be “what’s going on around campus”. 

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Easy (On The) Writer

One would be forgiven for rolling your eyes and turning your nose up at the mere mention of ‘blogging’.  Yet forming relationships with bloggers is arguably the most important thing you can do to advance your career in a hurry. Believe or not, no matter how amateurish (almost by definition) their field may seem, they are tastemakers. Not necessarily in the same way they might like to think, but most people who actively pursue new music with some kind of regularity decide on what music might be worth their time by reading about it. This doesn’t mean that people follow and live by the opinions of college dropouts writing bitterly with most of the lights off in their parent’s basement. But when you see a band post a review from Rolling Stone, or Spin, or Pitchfork, they are almost always posting a review from a blogger. It doesn’t appear that way to the casual observer since these bloggers in particular have opinions (tacitly) endorsed by the biggest music publications in the world. However the vast majority of these reviews are not going to print, so what are they if not blogs?

Another reason that being “blogged about” should be a very high priority, is that it is great for SEO and legitimizing yourself as band. If some types your band’s name into a search engine and all they see is a Facebook and maybe a Bandcamp page or worse yet, you don’t even come up in the first batch of results, it doesn’t look good to potential fans and much, much worse to booking agents, record labels, venues, blogger, or anyone even more important who might go looking. You may be thinking; “Well of course I would talk to someone who writes for Rolling Stone.” But what you should be thinking is that the blog-o-sphere is the pool from which publications find most of their online writers. You never know which one of those dropouts writing in the dark is going to be the next editor of Rolling Stone. And then who has the last laugh? Some douchebag who is currently living with their parents.

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