Learn How to Self-Promote Your Music

Learn How to Self-Promote Your MusicLearn How to Self-Promote Your MusicUnless you have major label money behind you, the ability to self-promote your music is one of the most important skills you can have. When you dont have money to hire PR people to run media campaigns for you, it is up to you to make sure people know about the music you are making. Getting started can be a little overwhelming, however. These steps will help you start out on the right foot, to make sure all of the right people are standing up and taking notice of you. Identify Your Goals When you platzplatzdeckchen out to promote your music, dont try to cover too much ground at once. Look at the way larger artists are promoted- they have specific campaigns that promote specific things, like a new album or a tour. Choose one thing to promote, like A singleA showA website Once you know what to promote, you will be able to make clear goals for yourself, i.e. if you want to promote your website, then your goal is to bring traffic to the site. With these goals in mind, youll find it easier to come up with promotion ideas, and youll be better able to judge the success of your promotions. Target the Right Audience With your promotional goal in mind, figure out who the right audience for your campaign is. If you have a gig comingup, then the channel to reach the right audience for your promotion is the local print publications and radio stations in the town in which your show is happening. If you have a limited edition single coming out, your primary audience is your band mailing list, plus the media. Going for the right audience is especially important if youre on a budget. Dont waste time and money letting town X knowing about an upcoming show in town Y or a folk magazine about your new zum guten ton gehren hop album. Have a Promo Package Just like when you send a demo to a label, to self-promote your music, you need a good promo package. Your package should have A press release detail ing your newsA short (one page) band bioA CD (a demo recording is ok, or an advance copy of an upcoming release)A package of any press coverage you have had so far- press coverage begets press coverageYour contact information (make sure to include an email address - people may hesitate to call you)A color photo, or a link to a site where a photo can be downloaded. The press is more likely to run a photo if they dont have to chase it. Find Your Niche The sad truth is, every writer, radio station, website, or fan for that matter, you are trying to reach is likely being bombarded with info from other music hopefuls. You need a reason to stand out. Try to find something that will make people more curious about you- give them a reason to want to know more. Being elusive worked wonders for Belle Sebastian at the start of their career and people wrote about Marilyn Manson for being, well, Marilyn Manson. You dont have to devise a huge, calculated persona, but giving people a reason to check out your show or your CD before the others can only help. Bribe Em Another way to stand out from the crowd is plain old free stuff. Even press people and label bosses love getting something for nothing, and youll whip your fans into a frenzy (and get new fans) by giving stuff away. Some ideas Put some money behind the bar at a show and give free drink passes to all the industry people who come to check you out.Give people on your mailing list an exclusive download once a month (be it a new song or an alternate version of a song)At gigs, raffle (for free) mix CDs made by the band- everyone who signs up to your mailing list at the show gets entered in the drawing. Branding Get your anthroponym out there. Make up some stickers, badges, posters, lighters or anything else you can think of that include your bands name. Then, leave the stuff anywhere you can. Pass them out at your favorite clubs, leave them on the record shop counter, poster the light posts- go for it. Soon, y our name will be familiar to people even if they dont know why, and when they see your name in the paper advertising an upcoming show, theyll think hey...I know that name, I wonder what thats all about.. Keep Track of Your Contacts As you go through all of these steps, chances are that you are going to pick up a lot of new contacts along the way. Some of these contacts will be industry people and some will be fans. Never lose track of a contact. Keep a database on your computer for the industry people you have met and another database of fan contacts. These databases should be your first port of call for your next promotional campaign - and these databases should always be growing. Dont write anyone off, even if you dont get much feedback from them. You never know who is going to give you the break you need. Know When to Act Small This step ties in with targeting the right audience and identifying your goals - you can save a lot of time spinning your wheels by keeping the s mall stuff small. While its always useful to keep other people up to date with whats happening in your career, that guy from Rolling Stone doesnt really need to know every time your band is playing a half hour set at the local club, especially if the local press really hasnt given you much coverage yet. When youre getting started, the easiest place to start a buzz is your local area. Build up the small stuff to get to the bigger stuff. But Know When to Act Large Sometimes, a larger campaign really is in order. Go full speed ahead when you have something big brewing, like A new albumA tourAn important piece of news, like an award or a new record deal This kind of news warrants contacting both the media and people you want to work with, like labels, agents, managers and so on. Find the RIGHT Niche As mentioned, finding your niche is helpful in getting noticed. There is one caveat, however - make sure you get noticed for the right reasons. You certainly will get some attention for bad, unprofessional behavior, but the problem is that your music wont be what everyone is talking about - and isnt that what you really want to be recognized for? Dont do yourself the disservice of self-promoting a bad rep for yourself. Make sure you get noticed for your talent instead. Also, dont be fake. If youre not sure what your niche is yet, dont push it. Stay true to yourself and your music. Grow your Database In plus-rechnen to keeping tracks of the contacts you have, dont be afraid to help your database grow by adding some dream contacts to your list. Is there an agent you want to take notice of you? Then include them on your press release mailing list or promo mailing list when you have big news to share. Let them know youre still working and still building your career- pretty soon, they may be knocking on your door. Take a Deep Breath For many people, the idea of self-promoting their music to their fans is easy, but the idea of calling up the press is downri ght terrifying. Relax. Heres the truth- some people you call will be nice, some people wont be. Some people will never return your calls or emails. Some will. You shouldnt take any of it personally. You definitely shouldnt be afraid to try. Covering bands is the job of the music media - they expect to hear from you. Dont be discouraged by someone who is rude, or someone who is polite, but still says no. Dont write them off, either. Next time, you may hear yes.