Today, I’ve compiled a list of five marketing tips for artists and bands so they can be better self promoters.
In my years in advertising, promoting, and internet marketing I have been involved in over 900 projects professionally. However, that figure doesn’t include all the people that I’ve traded services with. Sometimes it was helping friends or getting myself and a “plus one” on the guest list for concerts.
My college internship was with the former concert and record promoter for major music groups like Chicago, The Beach Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. I learned a lot about advertising and promoting from that internship and over the years have shared that knowledge with friends.
That brings us to Mesa and Ari of the emerging Seattle rock group, “Big High”. While I know quite a few musicians, I wanted to point out that Peter Buck of the iconic 1980s supergroup R.E.M is on this track, as well as Barrett Martin, drummer of Layne Staley’s mid-1990s super group Mad Season.
Several years ago I helped Ari of Big High better understand marketing himself on the internet. He recently created the http://musicfactorynw.com website. Around the same time I helped Davin, from a band that recently played the SXSW festival called the Staxx Brothers to better understand how to make more effective concert posters.
It was a good experience. The only problem with promoting is, that most musicians are struggling. Even famous musicians are struggling with the massive changes in their industry. Often, they run into a problem with understanding that having a good internet marketing expert can be just as important as having a good sound guy at their shows. However, usually it’s a case of being too busy, being satisfied with their current situation, or a lack of funding in hiring a social media and search engine expert.
While you probably won’t get professional results, here is a list of five ways to market your band online:
1. Create a Myspace Page.
2. Create a Facebook Fan Page.
3. Create a Website for your band and sell merchandise on the website.
4. Have a blog for your band, and put up 2 or 3 posts weekly.
5. Get your music on Pandora.com, Youtube.com, and just about every other video and audio site you can find.
These days, a band’s opportunity to make money is from movie and video game soundtracks, live concerts, and merchandise. If music is your career, then you probably understand that your band is a business. If you see your band as a business, and want professional help to get your band more exposure online or offline, contact me for your free consultation today.
Please note that Ari, the lead guitarist on the Youtube.com clip you just watched, is a music teacher and owns a studio. His information is below:
http://musicfactorynw.com
The Music Factory
2832 E. Arthur Place
Seattle, WA 98112
(206) 420-3896