Band Promotion 101

I have gotten the sense lately that there are many discouraged indie bands/artists out there that aren't getting the exposure they need or haven't gotten the response they expected. I want to encourage you to persevere! If you have vision and aren't just doing music to do it...Then press on! I encourage you to develop your songwriting and live performance. You may never be a " celebrity," but do you really want that anyway? Success isn't measured by dollars and cents or number of records sold etc.
Consider this... Would you truly be at peace with just recording 10 songs that you were really proud of? I hope so...but now this is where passion needs to kick in! Passion to find a following of people who are as into your music as you are. How do you find them? Who are they? I guess your mom can count as one, but you need a lot more than that. So go and book a few shows, start a mailing list, burn some discs and GIVE your music away (at least for a little while), start a blog

Blogspot

, post your info on

Pure Volume

,

Starpolish

and

My Space

. All of these tools are just the beginning of Marketing your music!

Pay to Play in LA

Just an FYI for those of you who carry around the idea that you must be in NY or LA to "make it"... you don't need to be here.
There is more value in gaining a regional following in Madison, WI than working yourself to the bone in Los Angeles trying to get a following.

An industry friend of mine told me that on any given Saturday Night there are over 500 bands in the Los Angles area playing out. That is what we call "saturated." Most all of those clubs are pay to play. Bands must front the money for 60 tickets and guarantee at least that many people will show up. If tickets are 10 bucks a pop times 60...that is $600 bones you have to front just to get a gig at some of these places. If you can only get 30 of your friends to commit and you gave away the other 30 tickets you just ate $300 bucks to play your music for 45 minutes. What a deal.

If you live in LA and are pushing your career...lets work together and find some places where you can play for free and start gaining some exposure. Post in the comments section coffee houses, clubs, street corners etc. Also give your thoughts on pay to play.

If you live outside of LA and have questions about live performance here...just ask!

We've Got Vision

Many of you have heard of Underground Mix and our vision for the independent music community and Film/TV Music. Briefly, our vision is to bring 10 bands (2 songs each) together every three months and press a promotional compilation (10,000 copies). Each band on the disc would then be given 1000 discs to distribute for free thus creating some great cross promotion. I had originally envisioned the bands sharing the cost of the pressing. You know, the whole “community” thing!! That cost was estimated at $850 per band. A total cost of $8500.00. This same compilation would then be pitched to Film/TV for placement.

NEW APPROACH TO THE SAME VISION!!!
We are keeping this vision for a compilation for cross promotion. It is key to the success of the bands and that is truly what we want. However, I understand the hesitation to participate due to the cost. UM is now going to find several corporate sponsors to fund this venture every 3 months. We are going out and gaining sponsors so that YOU gain exposure and placements in Film/TV. We believe in this vision and we believe in the music we support and represent. So…now every 3 months we will pull 10 bands from our growing pool of band/artists that we represent to be on the mass produced compilation for FREE!!!

WHAT NEXT?
Submit Your Music for representation by Underground Mix.

email mp3's to: info@underground-mix.com

Upon musical approval from UM, bands may have up to 4 songs chosen by UM to be represented for licensing. The Criteria is that the songs have to be great or unique and must be broadcast quality. There will be an administration fee of $25 per song to burn discs, press labels and ship your music all over the country. Every three months we will then choose 10 bands with the MOST amazing songs to go on this compilation that will be sponsored by different corporate entities. It will garner some amazing exposure for the bands involved. If you know of a corporate entity that would be interested in sponsoring please let me know who to contact with our presentation.

Artist Development??

I was talking with a good friend the other day about artist development. Specifically, the lack thereof. It saddens me to see so many independent bands/artists spending their money creating a product that is less than satifactory only to see their project die in the uphill battle to promote it.

Believe me, I do think that young bands/artists need to work through thier creative process, however I don't believe that just because they wrote a song that they need to spend the money to record and promote it. An indie band will have a better chance to be sucessful if they are patient enough to weed through their good stuff to get to their GREAT stuff. There is a big difference between good and great. In my opinion this is what separates a successful indie band/artist and a mediocre one. When the GREAT material presents itself... spend the money to record a short EP that is broadcast quality and find a company like Underground Mix to push it to Film/TV and cross promote it while still retaining ALL of your ownership and gleaning 100% of your backend royalties.

Now...go write a hit song, record it, and send it to me!

A New Approach

It’s time for a new vision in the music industry!! Specifically a vision designed for independent artists fighting that familiar uphill battle to gain exposure and fans. It usually ends up as the 80/20 rule…spend 80% of your money only to gain 20% of it back, never getting the exposure or fans that you expected. Well, through much planning the vision of exposure, music business education and potential income is becoming reality!!

Don't get me wrong, if a bit of money isn’t invested to gain exposure then indie artists/ bands will continue to struggle along wondering why they don’t have fans. Wondering why they don’t draw enough people to their shows. If you have great music and nobody hears it…then you are just another band who “thinks” they are great. You very well may be… but if the masses do not know who you are, then you are sunk.

How many people are considered masses? I personally believe that if you aren’t reaching at least 10,000 within a 4-6 month period that you aren’t hitting the music industry/consumer hard enough. Record labels want to see exposure and mailing lists before they will seriously consider a band. Once again…if you have great music and nobody knows who you are, how do you expect an A&R executive to find you. It just won’t happen.

I personally believe that the blending of co-oped indie promotion and Film/TV placement a bands can essentially gain great exposure and potentially make all of thier money back and more. How do you get your songs placed you may ask without getting ripped off? The answer to that question will come in the following entries into this blog. I am excited to share my knowledge of the music industry in this format and hear your input as well.