Live Music Blog

We’ve located quite a few ways to promote our independent record label, new released music and new artists. Having your business information available to your targeted audiences is the central key. There has to be visibility!

One of the perfect ways to make your business information visible and available, is to connect with others who are already visible and available! That is right, seek and search out other websites that will allow you to become linked to their website …it works! For every individual who comes in contact with a website you’re connected to, will definitely elevate the occasions of your website being viewed additionally.

I found that by asking various web site owners permission to link their web site to yours will ofttimes time cause a web site link ex change to take place… wonderful deal huh? You bet it is! Just remember this, it is all about visibility! You will be surprised how a lot of other web site owners are willing to ex change links.

So let’s get on board and start seeking out friendly website owners who want the same accomplishments for their website as you want for yours. But make sure you be careful of those who will ex change links and then remove your link from their website. Go back and check their website every so again and again.

The rewards of creating music range from the deep satisfaction of writing a new song to the glowing pride of a successful performance. These feelings bolster our confidence, but do little to compensate for the financial investment frequently tied to making music. While selling your music via CDs and downloads is a nice start, you ought to likewise think about investing in performer merchandise to encourage your performer and cover the fee of instruments, rehearsal spaces, recording equipment and more.

In a Rolling Stone article (7/04), Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba spoke about the importance of merchandise: “Merch sales are what kept us going. Even now, we are still not making our living from playing the shows. Merch is where we make our profit.” In that same story, John might er commented on merchandise sales and the current state of the recording industry: ” You’re not making that much resources off records anymore, so until people might figure out how to make a re-writable Hanes Beefy-T, merch is one of the final bastions of individuality, commerce and style that an musician has left.”

Echoing those sentiments, Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls related N Public Relations (1/17/07): “We make al the majority no money off our recordings themselves.” To earn a steady income, N Public Relations interviewer Chris Arnold noted that “The Dresden Dolls can take in more than $1,000 a night selling merchandise, which makes the ‘merch table’ a major source of income why they’re on the road.”

While generating money is the most evident worth of performer merchandise, the valuable impressions made from exposure to potential listeners is just as vital. Arming your current fan base with a fashionable marketing tool will only stimulate to encourage your performer and raise your profile. To this end, performers should take wonderful care in creating logos and images that accurately reflects their sound and image while appealing to consumers. For inspiration, turn to Threadless.com for a wide range of arresting designs. If you do not have the skills to establish the design, try cutting expenses by recruiting a graphic arts student to handle the project for you.

Once the perfect design is approved, identify the medium that will give you the greatest return. A quick Google search found a wealth of businesses dedicated to meeting the merchandise needs of independent musicians. Here are just several of the deals out there: 100 printed t shirts for $405 at WeNeedMerch.com,

500 1″ buttons for $100 at BusyBeaver.net, 250 5.5″ x 1.42″ stickers for $25 at StickerGuy.com and 100 posters for $175 at BandWear.com.

Selling your band merchandise can be done at live shows or Web via your Web site. Start links at social music web sites like Echoboost.com to draw more traffic and use capture payment services, such as PayPal, to handle the monetary transactions. Email fan club members when new products become available and try provide ing special packages, bundling your CDs or downloads with t shirts, buttons and/or stickers to drive sales and spread the word about your music.

You shouldn’t let expenses drain your passion for music. Put your music to work for you with your own merchandise and keep making the music you love.

Even if you do not have a million dollar record deal with a well known label, there are plenty of effective marketing plans that you can get to work for you. Marketing does involve a fair amount of work, and you can easily lose money if you do not do it properly — money you can not even have in the 1st place. Here are some easy and inexpensive ways to encourage your music.

Business cards — they’re not just for men and women in suits! oftentimes inexpensive to print, they’re easy to pass out for individuals to tuck away and look at later. Make a few hundred or a few thousand, and always have a handful with you to pass out. Music conferences, seminars, trade shows, and even music concert are all excellent places to pass out business cards. Plus, any time you send out a demo CD or press kit you ought to tuck in a few so that the recipient will always know how to reach you.

EPs or demo CD s, about five to seven tracks long, area amazing way to get samples of your music out there. Put your optimum or the majority popular tunes on them, and pass them out to fans or interested fans as a free sample. This allows them to find pleasure in your tunes, share them with friends, and build up excitement for upcoming shows and albums. You may additionally select to sell these CDs at your shows to make a profit, and you will want to include them in press kits.

Email lists take some time to session up, but can be a exceptional way to reach your listeners. There are plenty of free sources Internet that might advocate you manage your list. To grow a list, use your member’s other lists and then use them to invite those members to join your list as well. Just do this carefully so that you do not get labeled as a spammer. Once you’ve a list, use it to send out a newsletter, concert and show up dates, or let any person know when your newest compact disc will be released. You might likewise use it as a way to get feedback from your listeners and find out what they like and don’t like.

MySpace.com is another easy to use tool to market your band, and many performers already do it. However, you want to make sure that you use all of the tools that are available to you to make it the most effective. Target your friend adds as well as those in your demographics. Plus, do not forget about all the interest you might generate about your page with blogs, videos, bulletins, and more. There are millions of people on MySpace.com every day, so you want to make sure that your pages have a reason for them to come back frequently.

These are just four things that you might do that are free or nearly so. Using them separately or in a mixture might stimulate your band’s image and popularity take off. As you start to sign bigger and bigger deals, you might then put these back into marketing with larger and flashier campaigns.

Music promotion isn’t such an simple task to master. In fact it is one of the biggest barrier present for an indie musician. There are literally tons of wonderful musicians out there, but what is stopping them from success and fame? It’s their promotion. Don’t think for a second just because you are signed to a ample record label, you will be next Justin Timberlake. Even ample record labels may at times struggle to promote certain musicians and there have been many cases where musicians voluntarily select to go independent so they may solely promote their music and be free of any contract.
Stop dreaming about getting “signed” – it is time to put the power in your hands. Independent music distribution is the wave of the future. And here is the nice news, you are in total control. Do not think for one second that have to have 100’s of thousands of dollars to drop your CD if you are independent? Think again. There are lots of organizations that will get you started for next to virtually nothing. You only pay for what you sell and they do all the leg work for you.

There are web sites that you might visit today that takes your music Web – turns it into a professional compact disc – and even takes your orders. They likewise ship, they print, they process orders … – heck, everything but making your song and cooking your breakfast. There are places Web which let’s you upload your song once and gets you listed in the top digital distribution web sites in seconds. The point is Web music promotion and distribution is much easier than you think. And iTunes is far from the only game out there – there are dozens of places to list your music that you’ve probably never heard of.

Social networking is another a Club you might use to establish amazing determinations. Armed with a little knowledge, you might propel your Internet presence within a matter of days and get tons of free publicity and traffic coming through to your web site. Not only has the Internet begun to dominate the promotion of music, it has additionally begun to dominate its distribution as well. iTunes, by 2006, reportedly have more than a million song downloads per DAY. That has been back in 2006. (Hint: Its 2008 now).

On-line downloads are projected to surpass CD sales some time in 2010. This is just brilliant news for independent musicians. For you all aspiring musicians out there, jump On-line, ride this 100-ton marketing guerrilla and take use of the amazing chance Web presents to everybody.

No wonder we all seek to express ourselves in some way. To achieve success in music we need a band, as a solo career is no longer popular. And now you are amidst decisions how to choose the performer members to share you dazzling ups.

Well, there are two ways out:

1.To involve professional performers into the project and to divide obligations in advance. The only thing acquired is your own professional skills.

2.To surround yourself with deer companions and start following the path of studying altogether.

No matter which way you’ll go, just don’t haste. It can happen the guitarist will tear a strip off or the drummer will misfit a drum performance. It’s no use shouting on them. we all make mistakes every now and then.

first of all try studying few simple songs, prefer My Girl by Nirvana. But do not jump into mastering jazz or grind core, as the Suicidal Tendencies, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Slipknot represent.

For joint work to be fruitful enough, you should organize rehearsals into two parts, the way, one will be devoted to revising already studied tunes and the other one will be used for improvisation, which is of a excellent value, as the performer members study to predict every next step of each other. Its’ you feeling every sense of music in the result. You could feel it is aliveness by letting it through your mind. But the central thing is not to feel down in case everything is not as excellent as you have imagined. It’s much worse to loose pleasure in playing and creating music.

What concerns recommendations of experienced musicians, they are value listen to, however, keep it in mind, it’s up to you, which of them to choose to follow.

If your band is in rehearsals, either planning for gigging, or practising new songs to add to your repertoire, the opening s are you’ll have to hire a rehearsal room. The costs of engaging a room can soon mount up if you don’t organize your time effectively. You can be was ting time and money going around in circles, with a rising frustration that your band doesn’t seem to be making any progress.

The answer is to set a Schedule for your rehearsals. in the absence of a schedule it is c hall enging to monitor progress if in fact any is made. Disorganized rehearsals can soon turn into chaos, with everybody throwing in pointers and playing varying things at the same time. The rehearsal is not the time for your guitarist to hone his right hand tapping skills, or your drummer to optimum his lightning fast paradiddles, it is valuable time for working together as a band, and ought to be used as such. performer members ought to have their personal private schedules for practising instruments and learning new techniques. During a rehearsal you ought to all be working towards the same goal and making each other sound as wonderful as possible. The rehearsal ought to never turn into a ‘who can play the loudest‘ competition.

What should your schedule consist of?

Set goals for your rehearsal times and WRITE THEM DOWN! You should know which tunes you are going to rehearse in advance. If you have planned your strategy, you’ll avoid getting stuck in a rut and your time will be used constructively. tunes you already know can be perfected and the little nuances worked on, stamping your own identity on cover tunes and putting the finishing touches to originals.

You ought to make a list of ‘finished’ tunes, ‘work in progress‘ tunes, and ‘new ideas’. As each one progresses, move it up into the next category, thereby revising the schedule for your next rehearsal.

I would suggest starting with 2 or 3 tunes you are happy and comfortable with, simply to give the band a positive vibe to build on, and then start work on new numbers. session aside a certain amount of time for each song, and then move on! Don’t was te time trying to best something that just isn’t working, you may come back to it later or at the next rehearsal. best the numbers that do work, and you will see positive results as your repertoire builds up considerably.

Always take regular breaks. Coming back to a number that has been n’t going too well with fresh ears might usually be all it needs to make a distinct improvement. If that doesn’t help, there’s no point in flogging a dead horse, so move it to the bottom of the list or contemplate dropping the song altogether and concentrating on another one.

Work on performer dynamics and expression, i.e. fast, slow, loud, and quiet. Get your fills as tight and as fluent as possible. What you’re working on is that elusive ‘feel’ that’s the club mark of a wonderful band. Everybody should not only be playing his/her own instrument, but additionally actively listening to the rest of the band.

Tape your rehearsal. You do not need any fancy recording equipment – a simple tape deck and mic will be sufficient. The idea is simply for the performer to be able to listen to their endeavors after wards. Listening to a song while you are not playing means you may listen more subjectively and discuss the merits. Take notes while you listen, that way you are already forming the schedule for the next rehearsal.

And finally, recall ; you are in a band! As such, the sum of the parts ought to be greater than the individual contribution.

You’ve brought together three or four of the optimum musicians in town, and they’re jamming to your tunes. You’ve spent days and evenings writing and rewriting lyrics, and you’ve been working hard to optimum your sound. Lastly, after a lot of months of practice, you are ready to reap the advantages of your hard work. But how do you begin?

As a new band, the idea of booking your 1st gig might prove to be a daunting task. Still, it does not have to be. By following these simple steps, you might turn a externally overwhelming process into a productive one.

Making sure that the members of the band are all on the same page is an essential 1st step in the booking process. Agree on a number of gigs per month that anybody at all will play. Put together a set of your best tunes and make a demo. Your demo ought to not include full-length tunes ; a few short snippets of your strongest material will showcase your band’s strengths and will sell your band to potential Venues with little or no resolution. With your demo, include a photo of the band, a short statement about the music or type of that the band plays, and your contact information, including the band’s web site. Decide what Venues you’re interested in playing and how much you’ll charge them for playing, if anything. Getting these details out of the way early will produce wonderful communication among the band members, thus avoiding misunderstandings in the future.

Next, do your research. Scope out the Local scene; find out who your competition is, which performers performance where, what Clubs cater to your specific sound, and who your target listeners is. Talk to seasoned Local acts; a number of times times, your fellow musicians will be your perfect sources of information. Getting to know your competition, your listeners and your Local scene will prove to be an indispensable tool when you are selling yourself to venue owners and booking agents. furthermore, be open to anything. Limiting yourself to clubs and bars will hinder your chances of booking your band. Find out about open-mic nights in your area, offer to open for other performers for free and find out about Local fairs and festivals where your band might get some exposure.

When you’re out and about checking out potential Clubs, ask for the names of the people responsible for booking artists at that location. Get their contact information and keep track. Use all of your contacts and, when calling them, be brief and to the point. Ask them If they have time to talk, and if not, when it would be a good time to contact them. Ask for permission before submitting your demo. Be persistent, but not pushy, and realize that it will take some time to get that job. Once you do get the gig, be sure to discuss payment, if any, as well as what you’ll need to bring as opposed to what the Club will provide. Be professional and be honest.

With determination, a little know-how, and some clever self-promotion, you could land that first show and be on your way to success in no time.

To the majority performers, the enduring image of an artist manager is a caricature of a heavy-set, unkempt slob of a man, stuffed into a 2-sizes-too-small, off-the-rack department retailer suit, chomping on a cheap smelly cigar while sliding a gr easy hand unceremoniously into the back pocket of a starving artist. Undoubtedly, somewhere in the vast landscape of the music universe, such malice exists. The vast majority of artist managers, however, are a motley collection of well-meaning, hardworking, selfless individuals struggling to make the dreams of an individual they believe in come true.

For the legion of dedicated unbelievers out there, this is an article that attempts to shed light on the true worth of an artist manager. Below are 8 reasons why a performer or artist needs a wonderful manager:

1. Career Guidance – It is oftentimes extremely c venue enging for artists to step back from the day-to-day activities and see the big picture (you know – the old ‘forest-for-the-trees’ thing). A knowledgeable manager may see how everything in the big picture fits together, and may help the performer navigate through the oftentimes -confusing maze of activities that seem unrelated yet are all part of a massive jigsaw puzzle. The manager offers career guidance and helps to set the overall game plan for the performer and the artists’ team to follow.

2. Cheerleading – Even though listeners are the main cheerleaders for an artist, an individual has to communicate the same enthusiasm to the music business community. an artist manager will trumpet the artist’s message to record labels, booking agents, promoters, media person nel, venue bookers, independent retail accounts, etc., in order to keep them all engaged and enthusiastic.

3. Prestige – According to the majority record industry professionals, there is something to be said about an artist that has a manager. The logic is that if an artist is good enough to attract management, there must be something of worth present. In fact, the majority major labels refuse to sign an artist unless they have solid team (manager, attorney and publicist) in place. an artist in the absence of management is just too much drama! Labels would rather deal with a person who knows how the music business works and could make decisions on a non-emotional basis.

4. Buffer – A manager could act as an effective screening buffer between the artist and people that want to do business with the artist. This buffer tends to attract legitimate industry players while at the same time scaring away scam musicians. There are no scarier words to a scam artist than “please talk to my manager”.

5. Time management – There simply is not enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done in order to further the career of an artist. In among writing songs, conducting interviews, designing artwork for compact disc’s and merchandise, managing a mailing list, filling out copyright paperwork, rehearsing with the band, engaging and firing musicians, updating performer websites and MySpace.com profiles, getting pictures taken, shooting and editing DVD’s and YouTube videos, sending out packages and/or updating EPK’s, researching, repairing and buying equipment, etc., there isn’t time to furthermore craft a master game plan, solicit potential sponsorship partners, handle licensing requests, reach out to industry gatekeepers, attend industry networking events, harass labels for tour help, and so on. Some tasks may be delegated to the performer while others may be handled by the manager.

6. Accountability – Part of a manager’s job is to hold people accountable. What happens when the financial tour guide that has been promised by the label fails to materialize? Or the check from the booking agent bounces? Or the FOH engineer at the show is MIA? Or the licensee fails to sign and return the contract but is using the artist’s songs anyway? Or the beer in the tour van vanishes? Somebody has to keep people honest, and that is the majority appropriately the manager’s job.

7. Good Cop / Bad Cop – Need to fire the bass player but do not want to create an enemy? Let the manager play bad cop and do the firing. Need to re-negotiate your contract and request more of a promotion budget? Let the manager play wonderful cop and keep a positive spin on the proceedings. There are plenty of chances when the artist and manager may trade off playing wonderful cop / bad cop.

8. Sounding board – A manager, even though basic ally an “honorary member of the band”, is a number of times on the outside looking in. Managers a number of times see things diverse ly than the artist, and may a number of times offer diverse perspectives, insights and solutions to problems the artist is encountering. Running pointers by a knowledgeable manager prior to making decisions a number of times allows for wonderful pointers to become better and bad pointers to be removed altogether from the to-do list.

Now,there you have it! 8 nice reasons why an artist needs a manager. Having said all this, however, it is vital to note that having a bad manager is worse than having no manager at all. A lot of wannabe managers think they could just “wing-it” with an artist, and continue to operate with the “lets-record-a-3-song-demo-and-shop-it-for-a-record-deal” mentality, even though the music industry continues to undergo serious vary s. New business models are emerging, and only those managers that stay at the leading edge of the learning curve will create successful strategies and offer serious counsel to their clients.

New repositionable vinyl stickers offer bands some excellent new promotional tools.

Promoting your band with vinyl stickers is a new way to get people talking. Vinyl stickers may be custom made with your band logo or life size photos of your band in action and of the band members.

What’s this new vinyl sticker material called? FotoSticks. Repositionable and reusable vinyl stickers that won’t harm walls. You can stick them up just about anywhere and then take them down and move them somewhere else. Assuming that they get dirty, just was h them off with warm water.

You might give away free and inexpensive smaller vinyl stickers while selling life size stickers to create a promotion that funds itself.

Here are several promotional ideas:

• Give away small vinyl stickers of your band’s logo at the door

• Sell life size wall stickers of your band in action and the members along with very large stickers of your band logo.

• Locate out where agents live and plaster their neighborhood bulletin boards and store windows (with permission, of course)

• Place them in jewel cases

• Put them on fan’s cars during a gig

Here are some more detailed promo ideas…

The band Brew

Thanks to Mike Larrabee for this idea, it’s great. Do you have a Regional micro-brewery? See about getting a few cases of beer in the absence of front labels. Then create your own label and order the design as a FotoStick. You may put them on the bottles and your fans may buy a beer and get a free promotional sticker that may be re-stuck anywhere they like.

Steal This Sticker

Put your band stickers on bulletin boards, windows and anywhere else you dare. people may simply peel them off and use them again anywhere they want. They won’t harm walls or windows.

Artist Co-Promotion

Locate a good performer or two and have a monthly promotion that includes a limited run of only a specified amount of stickers featuring a certain artist. When they are gone, that is it, they are no longer available. Do this each month and you might promote collecting performer memorabilia and create some buzz.

Bar Graffiti

Put your performer stickers all over the bar or club you are playing in and let the listeners know that they may peel them off and keep them.

Photos of fans with performer Members

At each performance have one of the roadies take pictures of your fans with their favorite performer members. Collect their addresses and then send them some FotoSticks several weeks later to remind them of the night. You may be sure that they will show their friends and family. Since they are repositionable, they might put them on their notebooks or laptops to show around and then put them on their wall once they are done bragging.

Summary

Repositionable vinyl stickers are new and they get people talking. Not only are they a way to get your band image known, they establish a buzz just because they’re novel. So,do not hesitate, be the 1st band to show this new promotional tool to your fans. It is an inexpensive way to get the word out. Plus, if you sell the larger six and seven foot wall size stickers it can pay for itself and you can even profit from it in more ways than one.

FotoStick is a 5 mil vinyl material that has a sticky back that may be moved and removed in the absence of harming the surface they’re placed upon. Un prefer static cling, traditional stickers and custom magnets, FotoSticks are tough, durable and more versatile. They are prefer stickers but they may be used and re-used over and over again. They are prefer magnets except that they stick on al the majority any smooth surface. They are inexpensive and you could produce one custom sticker to one hundred thousand affordably. Stay up to date with new trends by reading the FotoStick Blog

Bands fail all the time. They fail, not through a lack of skill or because of a mutual decision to pursue other interests, but because of a lack of interest, band recognition and a small fan base. This lack of interest has absolutely nothing to do with the band’s musical or vocal abilities; rather, it’s due to a lack of promotion. without promotion and advertising to generate interest in the band, it will fail. This begs the question, how does a band promote itself? Is there a single method of promotion that will work, or must it be a multifaceted marketing plan? Promotion is the the majority vital aspect of becoming successful in the music industry. To accurately encourage a band, a accross the board promotion plan must be created. This plan will encompass many diverse aspects of advertising and promotion and each one plays a critical role in the success or failure of the band. without a accross the board promotion plan, a band cannot expect to garner the kind of fame and recognition vital to be provide ed a large contract through by a top music industry label. without promotion, the only listeners you’ll obtain are those who actually get to hear the band play, with no means of gaining a larger listeners.

A all-inclusive promotion plan will cover many varying areas:

It will permit listeners to hear a band’s music in the absence of actually having to present at a performance event. This may be achieved through two distinct methods. Creating a music cd that may be distributed free of charge is a exceptional way to build a fan base. Members of the band may be given an allotment to give out through their everyday lives. Custom stickers may be placed within the jewel case, allowing listeners to promote the band on their personal. You may likewise produce music MP3’s and host them on the Web for free download. Both of these methods will allow prospective listeners to listen to the band’s music in a comfortable performance ting in the absence of having to go to a show.

Use the Web. The Web is an incredible promotional tool if properly used. Virtually every performer has a presence on social networking websites such as MySpace.com and FaceBook. You may use these to host your free MP3’s, let listeners request more information and performer stickers and bumper stickers. Stickers and bumper stickers may be custom made to meet a band’s specific needs through custom sticker printing.

Playing any Venue that will book the band, from free shows at a Local/Regional bar to annual Battle of the Bands competitions held in many cities. The more Venues played, the wonderful the number of people that are able to listen to the band’s music and see experience their stage show. This allows bands to dramatically increase the amount of buzz generated about the performer and increase name recognition in the public.

Possibly the single best promotional tool at a performers disposal are custom printed band stickers. These are an incredibly popular way for individuals to display their interests, causes, political statements and more. Through custom made stickers and bumper stickers, performers might use their original artwork, graphics, logos or designs that they might want to use. They are created through custom sticker printing and can be found many places on the Web. Many listeners are more than happy to put stickers of their favorite performers on their notebooks, backpacks, in their cars, on bulletin boards and anywhere else they might imagine. This allows a vast number of others to see the band’s name, artwork and logo designs, growing name recognition by a large amount.

A all-inclusive promotional plan encompasses all this and more. Each aspect listed here dramatically enhances the fame and name recognition of a performer and contributes to rising the band’s fame and fan base. In short, the more individuals that are aware of a band’s presence, the more individuals are able to listen to and appreciate the band’s music and attend concert s. listeners are what the music business is all about, in the end, and the more listeners a performer has, the greater the opening s that the performer will be signed by a music label.

StickerGiant was founded in 2000 by an unknown mad scientist named John Fischer and world renowned illustrator Mike Brooks. Since then John has made sure that StickerGiant works to source and sell ALL stickers that represent a myriad of views, Freedom of Expression through Stickers is our motto. imagine StickerGiant as a non-partisan obvious ing house for the 1st Amendment. all of us don’t write the stickers here, all of us just provide a place for others to express themselves. Do not forget, Diversity is what makes USA Great!

In case you are wondering, the StickerGiant community consists of Liberals, Conservatives, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Atheist. all of us are a slice of the American pulse and all of us like it that way. So,stand up for who you are and pick out a sticker that represents who you are. Say it with stickers!