Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with promotion and music

Need creative ways to promote live bands upcoming appearances.

foodybat — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:27:47 -0800

I need some 'out of the box' thinking on some different ideas to promote a local (to Clearwater) band's upcoming live performances. They have myspace & most of the band members have Facebook. They also have a website as well.

They are The Black Honkey's... They play funk, soul, & rock. Amazing live band & have been doing it (performing) either together or in other bands ... for many years...

They have 1 album...but they aren't too interested in 'doing albums'... but rather ongoing live performances at some venues they play at regularly.

They are a spectacular live band, and 2-3 songs into their first set, people dance through the rest of the night....

Any thoughts on different ways to spread the word?

Ideas for promoting a band at SXSW?

malocchio — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:29:18 -0800

The singer I've been working with is travelling to the US from Europe in March, and I'm submitting an application to SXSW. I'm stuck on this question: "How do you plan to promote your show if selected?" We have a very short window to book some shows, and it happens to coincide with SXSW. I know it's a long shot and I don't expect to be selected, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

So of course there is MySpace, Facebook, etc. Flyers seem fairly useless for this. What else could we do? What kind of marketing ideas might make the organizers take a chance on an unknown band?

Bonus points to anyone that has successfully gone through the SXSW selection process!

Help us add music to our video show!

MeetCleaverTheatre — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:41:22 -0800

Where can we get our hands on some music videos for use in a non-profit college-style media show? Hi Gang, We've been knocking around the idea of creating free, online/closed-campus variety show and were wondering if anyone knew of any sources for music videos to use as fillers and for band promotion?
We have already put out feelers to the indie/no-label scene and asked for submissions, so we're wondering if there is some company or entity out there that can send us small bundles of signed bands and/or big label acts. Ephemera or interview footage of bands, celebrities and other things of interest to the college demographic is a plus.
Back in the halcyon days of DJ-ing, I remember the station getting boat loads of demos and tapes from a variety of sources.... is there a visual media source we should look into? Do we need to seek membership with one of the large music entities to legally acquire/promote these things (ASCAP, BMI etc.)?
This is still in the pre-pro phase, so we can ditch it if it turns out to be a huge hassle or if there may be legal repercussions.

Thanks for your advice and input!

What indie labels should my band pursue?

thedaniel — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:20:58 -0800

What indie labels should my band pursue? My band just finished an EP, and we're trying to figure out promotion / licensing. There are a million and ten labels out there, and it's hard to know just which ones to send copies of the record to. I won't link directly to the band in the question, because I don't want this to seem like a post to promote the band, but if you want a link, you can mefi mail me (or do minimal sleuthing).

Our sound is pop-rock, very slightly proggy, and fun. Some people have compared our sound to The Faint, Muse, The Killers, etc. If you have any suggestions for small indie labels that I should court, please share.

How to network with other musicians and get feedback on my music?

wastelands — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:33:42 -0800

Advice for a beginning musician in terms of networking and promotion? Thanks to all of you for recommending software in my earlier Ask Mefi post (Getting started producing electronic music?), I gave it a shot and I started cranking out tracks.

Now I'm wondering if any of you had ideas in terms of getting my music out there? I'm not asking because I expect to or even want to make money or get famous. Mostly I want to network with like-minded experimental musicians and fans of such music to get their feedback, tips and tricks, etc. It would be nice to know a few people who actually know what VST is or who love tweaking synthesizer settings into the wee hours. Right now I feel pretty isolated.

I will be putting up my own website this weekend to make my tracks more accessible, but it takes a while to build traffic on any new site. I've sent MP3s to friends and family, and all but a couple of them had comments limited to something like, "That's cool."

Of course, I posted to music.mefi. :-) But it seems a dead in there for some reason.

Bonus points if you can tell me how to avoid using MySpace to do this. That site scares me. But, ya know, I will use it if I have to.

How I do I turn my audience into loyal fans?

barmaljova — Sun, 20 May 2007 01:46:05 -0800

How I do I turn my audience into loyal fans? We have several concerts coming up, and though we've got a handle on promoting shows (getting people to come out), our questions are: (1) how do we get them to run home and tell their friends to go to our next show? (2) and how do we learn more about people who come? Looking for personal experiences from concert-goers and tips from musicians and other industries - Here's where I'm coming from: many times we play shows to packed enthusiastic crowds. We do all the typical things to get and retain the contact with those people - we have them sign a mailing list and buy our CDs. But I always wonder what more I could be doing - I always wonder how these people who did come out hear about us, what made them check it out, and what would make them help spread the word.

I realize that some of the answer lies in the quality of the show, the energy, intensity, and integrity of the artist. That's the obvious part of the answer, but I know there is more - people are just too busy and too caught up in their own lives, and it is something beyond the sheer quality that makes them go an extra mile. Very often, even if I'm blown away by a performer, I just don't make the time to look up the artist's next show, and it's rare that I forward friends event listings or CD recommendations.

So I am looking for ideas from any industry (not just music), and your personal experiences.
---How do we make everyone who comes to our show make that extra step to help us spread our music - buy a CD, tell their friends to buy a CD, call up their radio station, host a house concert, etc etc etc?
--Ideas for stuff to hand out/sell at shows (beyond t-shirts :) , other ways to engage the audience
--In your experience, what are some ways an indie artist has encouraged you to help them spread the word?
--On the other hand, what turns you off when artist attempt to self-promote?

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences!

South by Southwest

ludwig_van — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 10:31:05 -0800

Will it be worthwhile to attend SXSW in order to promote my album? I'll be visiting a friend in Austin in March, and while I'm sure it'll be cool to catch the performances at the festival, the tickets are quite expensive. With any luck I'll have an album finished by then which I will be sending around to labels and press and whatnot. SXSW seems to be promoted as a music-industry-insider sort of event, so I figure I'd feel like I could justify the cost if I thought I might get some value on that end by putting my CD in some people's hands, doing some networking, etc.

Is that a reasonable thought, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

How do I cheaply promote a compilation CD?

cortex — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 07:05:26 -0800

How can I promote a small CD release on the extremely cheap? For those playing along at home, yes, I'm talking about meficomp.

Initial disclaimer: I know nothing, nothing, about promotion. It is not my forte. It is possibly my antiforte, even.

This CD isn't a for-profit release, which puts me in a different boat than if I were trying to, say, self-release my own album. Profits from the project are going to charity, so I'm disinclined to cut deeply into that by spending any significant money on promotion. At the same time, selling all 1000 units, less a bit of promotional spending, will raise more money for the charity than selling 200 units and sitting on the rest.

Selling all the units would also be much more exciting for the two dozen musicians/bands involved.

And it's a compilation album—the notable feature is not a specific genre or or sound, but the excellent variety of sounds and artists and the specific compilation hook (in this case, the Metafilterness).

So: what sort of things can I do to promote this release on the cheap? To whom? How? When? Educate me.

Come join the Youth and Beauty Brigade

ludwig_van — Wed, 03 May 2006 10:03:06 -0800

I'm looking for advice on effective live music promotion and building a following. Also: flyers? I read these threads, and while they contained some good advice I feel like my situation is a little different.

This question was prompted because I got an e-mail from a promoter today saying that she'd try to get me a slot because she likes my music, but that I should be able to bring in at least 30 people, and for me that isn't usually the case.

I've been getting gigs steadily lately, but I've always had a hard time getting people in the door. I play indie-popish tunes, and though I've been performing with a rotating cast, I do all of the promoting. I concentrate mostly on word-of-mouth, in person and via myspace. I also usually make simple flyers (I can use InDesign, but I'm far from a design guru) and put them wherever I can, but I don't feel like they tend to do much good, despite sporting an attractive name and clever catchphrases. Lots of people say they'll come and generally it's only the same small group of my friends that shows up.

So what can/should I do? Help me expand my following (primarily in Pittsburgh, where I'll soon be returning, but I'd like to start doing things in nearby cities as well). I'm a college student there, as are most of my friends. I've got a myspace as well as my own domain with lots of mp3s that I think represent me quite well. At recent shows I've felt confident in my sound and people who didn't already know me have been sticking around and sometimes buying CDs. But I need to get these people to come see me again.

And with regard to flyers in particular - what makes a good flyer? What do you like to see on a flyer that sometimes isn't there? What size is the most effective? What locations? What adhesives? Where should I avoid flyering? And anything else that might help.

How to organise a music tour?

semmi — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 18:13:39 -0800

How to become a music promoter? How would I organize a European tour for a well established modern jazz quintet? Where to find contacts, and how set up gigs?

How do I get people to my clubnight?

godawful — Fri, 13 May 2005 06:07:06 -0800

I just started up a clubnight in my university town. Everybody who's been has had a good time, but they are far too few. I need ideas... I have come to the end of my inspiration on ways to promote this night, and ideas of what could happen on the night itself to generate excitement and hence good word of mouth. What happens at great indie nights near you? What's the coolest thing you've ever seen at a nightclub? How do your local clubs promote?

The night itself is simple: indie/eighties/punk, as poppy as necessary to keep people dancing 'til 2am. The drinks are fairly cheap, and we project a few cool films in the club. Our main problems are that 95% of our potential customers have never been to the club before, and are more than willing to go where everyone else goes i.e. the established, central clubs.

Promoting a Garage Band

phrontist — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:44:41 -0800

I'm the webmaster (well, host is more like it) for a band of talented young men with whom I attend high school. They're having a concert in an auditorium with seating for over 500 and I'd like to see it filled. How do you go about promoting a small local band's concert? [mi] Concert is in 8 days, genre is funk/rock, band is doing it's first recording at this show (which restricts promotional oppurtunity, I know).

MusicianFilter: What should I do with my recordings?

ludwig_van — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 08:42:32 -0800

MusicianFilter: What should I do with my recordings? [MI]

How do I go about finding how many different number/letter combinations are possible with the 10-digit codes on the iTunes Pepsi bottles?

emelenjr — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 23:07:29 -0800

How do I go about finding how many different number/letter combinations are possible with the 10-digit codes on the iTunes Pepsi bottles? [more] Is it 10^36? The code is made up of ten letters or number which, in my experience, don't have to only appear once in the code. 0-9 and A-Z makes that 36 possible letters or numbers in each of the ten spaces.
If I haven't just answered my own question, should I instead be thinking about factorials? Or am I simply remembering something from Algebra II that's useless in this case?

There could be as many as 100 million winning codes, assuming Pepsi and Apple planned for that many winners. I just wanted to figure out in the grand scheme of things how many codes were theoretically possible.