Advice on promoting a folk-fusion band online for local gigs?
May 20, 2013 7:39 PM Subscribe
I am a member of a largish (7 folk-fusion ensemble. We've been gigging on and off using traditional forms of promotion and we'd like to look into online promotion.
I've dand found Sonic Bids and Gig Masters (along with a few other regional things). Do you have any experience with this type of music promotion? My research so far has turned up a lot of sales pitches, but not much from actual bands actually using the sites. Does your band have an electronic press kit? Do you use a site that you love? Is there a site we should steer clear of?
We're entirely self represented. We produced a CD a couple years ago, though our lineup has changed a lot since then.
I've dand found Sonic Bids and Gig Masters (along with a few other regional things). Do you have any experience with this type of music promotion? My research so far has turned up a lot of sales pitches, but not much from actual bands actually using the sites. Does your band have an electronic press kit? Do you use a site that you love? Is there a site we should steer clear of?
We're entirely self represented. We produced a CD a couple years ago, though our lineup has changed a lot since then.
Best answer: I'd suggest locking down a tumblr site with your band's name as well. Sonic Bids is great but honestly, I don't know of a lot of promoters and bookers that really use it (at least where I'm at, YMMV).
I'm assuming you have a facebook page and twitter account for the band already, yes? If not, get on that, too. Get that album up on bandcamp and if it's no longer representative of your sound, get something else up. It doesn't have to be slickly produced -- some of my favorite albums that I've bought, wrote about, and listened to incessantly over the past couple years were basically just really good demos.
On twitter and facebook follow your favorite blogs.
An EPK is great for this sort of thing but put together a draft email that includes soundcloud / bandcamp links, a video, a short bio, and a plea to folk blogs to listen and write about your band. Press is your friend here! If you can get a sweet piece on a good sized blog or one that's trusted regionally in your area, that'll go a long way towards helping you book gigs. Being able to say "Hey, we were just featured on Muzzle of Bees, let's talk about booking a show!" will go a lot farther than just saying "Here's a link to our old album on Sonic Bids". Make that email you're going to be sending out short and sweet -- take a minute to note the blog author's name and address the email personally. Send them out individually, too, don't cc or bcc that shit. Bloggers have egos, too, you know. Address me personally, make it look like I'm the only one getting your album, and if it's good and you've provided me all the links I need to write up a piece, I'll be writing about it in a second.
Further, if you get something up on bandcamp, make it free for a minute, at least until it picks up some steam. My most favorite album this year so far was by a band called Whetherman -- found the album on bandcamp and it was free early this year. Downloaded it, played it over and over, and when it picked up steam they asked $10 for it and I went back and paid for another album download I didn't need simply because it had brought me so much joy I felt the band deserved my money. It's easier to peak interest in the fickle indie folk field if you GIVE people something first. If you can afford to do that you'll end up better off in the long run.
And when sending out your emails to blogs, please for the love of God, know your audience. Bands will often blanket EVERY BLOG EVER with email pleas for press and there is no quicker way to get thrown out of the game than by wasting your valuable time sending your folk fusion EPK to Rollo & Grady. He doesn't do folk fusion and you don't have time to mess around with that shit. Hit up hypem and sort out the folk blog by using the tags. THERE'S your target.
tl;dr: Get yoself some press!
posted by youandiandaflame at 4:26 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm assuming you have a facebook page and twitter account for the band already, yes? If not, get on that, too. Get that album up on bandcamp and if it's no longer representative of your sound, get something else up. It doesn't have to be slickly produced -- some of my favorite albums that I've bought, wrote about, and listened to incessantly over the past couple years were basically just really good demos.
On twitter and facebook follow your favorite blogs.
An EPK is great for this sort of thing but put together a draft email that includes soundcloud / bandcamp links, a video, a short bio, and a plea to folk blogs to listen and write about your band. Press is your friend here! If you can get a sweet piece on a good sized blog or one that's trusted regionally in your area, that'll go a long way towards helping you book gigs. Being able to say "Hey, we were just featured on Muzzle of Bees, let's talk about booking a show!" will go a lot farther than just saying "Here's a link to our old album on Sonic Bids". Make that email you're going to be sending out short and sweet -- take a minute to note the blog author's name and address the email personally. Send them out individually, too, don't cc or bcc that shit. Bloggers have egos, too, you know. Address me personally, make it look like I'm the only one getting your album, and if it's good and you've provided me all the links I need to write up a piece, I'll be writing about it in a second.
Further, if you get something up on bandcamp, make it free for a minute, at least until it picks up some steam. My most favorite album this year so far was by a band called Whetherman -- found the album on bandcamp and it was free early this year. Downloaded it, played it over and over, and when it picked up steam they asked $10 for it and I went back and paid for another album download I didn't need simply because it had brought me so much joy I felt the band deserved my money. It's easier to peak interest in the fickle indie folk field if you GIVE people something first. If you can afford to do that you'll end up better off in the long run.
And when sending out your emails to blogs, please for the love of God, know your audience. Bands will often blanket EVERY BLOG EVER with email pleas for press and there is no quicker way to get thrown out of the game than by wasting your valuable time sending your folk fusion EPK to Rollo & Grady. He doesn't do folk fusion and you don't have time to mess around with that shit. Hit up hypem and sort out the folk blog by using the tags. THERE'S your target.
tl;dr: Get yoself some press!
posted by youandiandaflame at 4:26 AM on May 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
« Older Desert garden plant I.D. help, please | How to say "au revoir mon professeure" in a... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
As far as online promotion goes, I'm not familiar with either Sonic Bids or Gig Masters. I can tell you to make yourself as google friendly as possible. Your band name should not be paper or rock. Choose something original. When you have a show, promote it on every site possible (this depends on your area). It really doesn't take much time to do this for yourself. FB, right now, reaches the largest audience. Build your fan base and link your events to the venues fb pages.
posted by myselfasme at 9:14 PM on May 20, 2013