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Gig sharing is one of the best ways to begin to increase your local or regional audience. Gig sharing works because there are a lot of other bands out there just like you, who are willing to help out in order to get some of your help in return. Two heads are better than one. All you have to do is make the contacts. The Press Release Begin small - It can be
just a mention in your community's calendar of Press releases should be typed not hand-written. Use wide margins so
editors can write notes or instructions. Make it look as
professional as possible. Use great looking paper with your band's logo,
if possible Your Band's Biography
Mention any record company interest or publishing
deals. Once you've sent out your press releases(s), you may decide to follow up with a phone call to check whether there is any further interest of whether more information is needed. Don't over sell your self. Follow up initial press releases with 'updates' if appropriate. Remember to have follow-up material such as photos and demos to hand out whenever you're asked to The Promo Package A promo package is a package of
materials used to
promote your band. A good promo package includes: business cards
A recent survey by Nielsen/Netratings says that
the Internet All artists should have their own web site. Fans want to know their favorite band better.. and they want to meet new bands. They want to know where to get their blues fix on the weekend, who's playing at festivals and what they do. And a website lets you get personal with your present and potential fans. The more personal and friendly it is, the more likely the fans are to go wild over it and you and revisit for your schedule and cd sales. Websites work hand-in-hand with advertising, whether it's on biz cards, by word-of-mouth, on the air, in the air, printed ads and articles, etc. Networking is also the key - trading links and banners with music-related sites and driving more visitors to your site and fans to your shows. Take advantage of today's technology. If you want to prevent people from pirating your music on the web from one of the downloading services, sell cd's on your website. By selling it on-line you're just making it easier to legally buy it and give you the money. You can also sell books and posters and other neat music-related things on your site. Helps to pay the hosting bills! Websites are not cheap, but they really are worth the time and money if you hire the right designer and promote it after it's launched. You can't sit on it when it's done, or it will be a waste of money and time. You can include great graphics - memorabilia related to your style, photos, MP3's, biography, gig dates (no matter how small and low key) and any other information you can think of. The Right Designer Nowadays, it seems like you can't walk down the street without tripping over a so-called web designer. Hang out anywhere and you'll hear "my nephew/son/brother-in-law is a website designer, i'll hook you up with him". Developing a website is a very expensive, though necessary, proposition. If you don't get seen on the web with the other bands, you won't be noticed, regardless of what other advertising people might tell you. The web is where we're all going for information, rather than running to the corner for a paper, turning on the t.v., whatever. It's also about superficiality - internet cruisers are a fickle bunch. If you don't look good out there, they just don't go to your site anymore. If you don't keep up with your updating or add new things once in a while - nothing big, just neat stuff now and then, they get bored and wait for you to email them with your updated schedule. Creating a website is serious business, for both the qualified and professional designer and you. It doesn't happen without teamwork. Choose your designer carefully. Find one who sees the world as you do. Don't get mr. or ms. showbiz if you want class and understated elegance. And vice-versa. You have to see the same vision. Never hire a web designer without doing your homework, and don't go with someone who is a friend of a friend of a friend of someone's cousin - unless you check them out thoroughly and trust them to do what you want them to do. When contacting a designer, ask questions, lots of them. We like that! It tells us that you're as serious about your site as we are about designing it. Let the designer know exactly what you want. When someone hires me and says "i don't know what i want, i don't know anything about computers, it's a sign that it's not going to be an easy task for either one of us. Sit down and figure out exactly what you want on your site, as far as content goes. You can leave the designing to the designer, that's what you're paying them for. Before hiring the designer, be sure you're on the same wavelength and he or she understands EXACTLY what you want and what your budget is - and agrees to stick to that budget. An honest designer will not only offer references, but pretty much expect you to ask for them. Choose a designer who is either an artist and familiar with designing or formatting web pages, if you can. Better yet, choose one who is experienced or referred to you by someone who had a site done. Cruise the web - if you see a site that hits you as the style and feel of what you're looking for, contact the designer directly. There's usually a copyright or email address for the designer at the bottom of that web page. Don't discount an inexperienced designer if you spot his or her artwork somewhere or is referred to you. If that were the case, i would never have gotten my first job! Your instincts are probably correct, but still do some thinking. Try to choose a designer with an online portfolio. This is a bigger deal than you think. The online portfolio is risky for a fly-by-night designer or one who is not as professional as you'd like. k The client is the boss. So if something minor looks kind of strange and not what you like, look at the big picture. The designer might not have wanted to do that particular thing on that particular site, but as a professional, was bound to create what the client asked for, even against his or her better judgment. Choose someone who you think you'll get along with. A good designer will also maintain and edit your site when it's done, help provide a hosting service, etc. You should be confident that you and the designer will remain in touch for anything that needs doing later on. The designer who remains with the client long after the site is completed is the one you want, unless you're editing your site yourself. Even then, you might need that person to create a new page or do some type of work on your site that you are not knowledgeable about. If you know what you want (or don't want) on your site, be sure to tell your designer right away. Nothing drives me crazier than being told "i don't know what i want, no particular colors, it's up to you". And then fifty hours later hear "i don't like that color, let's do something else". What do you want, i don't know but it's not that. Not the way to go. Ask for an estimate and let the designer know what your budget is. Site costs vary wildly. It always depends on how much info, how many separate "pages", what you want added to your site (for example, "send this site to a friend", bookmark this site, sign up for our newsletter, feedback forms, password areas, etc. are more work). If a designer knows your budget, he or she can give you a better estimate. Keep in mind that an estimate is just that. An estimate. It is not known exactly what the cost is until all the content and information is gathered, the designer figures out how many pages and what scripting, if any, needs doing, etc. But a professional will tell you after the agreement is made when you're at the limit for the pages you requested. You can go ahead or not, up to you. But the designer should not go ahead and go over your budget without permission to do so. Choose a designer with ideas. A designer that says "yes i can do that" and doesn't offer other suggestions doesn't enjoy the job. k Develop and Promote Your Site and Your Band These suggestions are
specifically for bands and musicians, but the same Launching a site is just a
part of it. List it into as many
search engines as you can. Its amazing how many people will look at your website
simply by stumbling across it. A website is always a worthy
investment if you're serious about advertising. Your competitors are out there.
BB King is out there, and if it's good enough for him (as if he needs
advertising!) it's certainly good enough for you. Howl about it in
your little local Pennysaver or bulletin, wherever. It doesn't cost a lot. The purpose of having a website is to allow fans to come in contact with any information at all about your band that you want them to have. And to have them purchase your band's services, or a product you offer. What you include on the page is up to you, but you will want to make the website easy to navigate, attractive, and most of all interesting. I recommend including the following categories to be covered within the information of the site: MP3's or cd sales page if you want one, or tell them how to get your cd.
About the band: The most important thing is to give fans a quick look at the
band. Be sure to include the names of the members, the instruments
they play, where they were raised, where they live now. Fans love this stuff Photographs: Lots of cool photos of you and your
band and fans throughout your site, or in a special section or gallery of photos you have
collected. Be sure to insert and format these as professionally on your page as
possible. Just slapping them in here and there without framing or some type of
plan looks pretty bad. Include photos of your fans having a blast. They
love to see themselves having fun and they send their friends to your site for a
peek. Potential booking venues like to see people having fun at your shows, too.
So they know that nobody's gonna be throwing tomatoes at you on their way out
the door after your first set. Anti-Flash, Bells and Whistles - Sounds radical, but stay away from flash, blinking things, anything that makes noise, spins around and distracts. Visitors don't care how cool you think your site is, they want info, not a light show. Do you really want larger, national venues, people booking private parties and weddings, large festival promoters to see all that stuff? It's annoying and distracting, and if there's enough of it, damn cheesy. Most casual computer users do not have the sophisticated broadband to view jumping java even if you do. Don't use them. And i don't care that there's a "skip flash introduction" link on the flash entry page. It's still annoying to wait for it and the page to load up. Keep it elegant, stick to darker, moodier but classy colors to suit the blues. Use a few animated email buttons if you like, but stay away from it for the most part. Remember that animations and sounds add download time to your page. Something else that annoys and scares people off. Get your designer to find you some cool music/blues related artwork, get permissions to use it, and spread it around. Use your own band's photos for some of the backdrops or centerpieces of your pages. Set the right atmosphere and make your visitors want to stay a while or come back to it again because it's fun. get a Chatroom for your fans, maybe a discussion forum sell books, posters, whatever. It helps pay the bills and it
keeps visitors coming back. Also puts you into an additional area of search
engine keywords: Art and Reading, Blues CD's, Books, Music Posters, Blues Art, etc. How Blues 101 Can Help You
Succeed With a Knockout Website Successfully
Promote Your Band
Play as many shows as possible Demo Tapes
More
Promotion Ideas on this Page
The Stuff You Gotta Do To Get Ahead Go to the places where they play the
blues. Talk to people - make friends with owners, employees 1. Be passionate about your music Your pride will help you survive the hassles, heartbreak and stress that a performer lives with, but it is your humility, generosity and good-nature that will make you a good performer. It's healthy for you to keep thinking that there is ALWAYS someone out there better than you are. Some bands' heads get so big that it's amazing they can still fit through the doorway. Work hard on what you do until it's something you can be proud of no matter what anyone says. Skip the ego and strutting around like a peacock. Accept the well-deserved pats on the back with grace. But don't go crowing about how you're the best or better than such-and-such-a-band. Never bad-mouth another band. Your fans don't like to hear that, either. And you may need to network or perform with those guys somewhere down the road. So you're good and you know it - most likely, so's the next band to play there. Be realistic about your slim chances at becoming big and realize that playing your music and using your God-given talent to make others happy is more important than anything else. If you’re happy making music, keep doing it. You need the clubs and bars - most bands believe that the club is responsible for getting people in the door. All clubs and bars say it’s the band’s responsibility, and when the band doesn’t draw a crowd after a couple gigs, the band isn’t asked back. Remember this and be sure to promote your band and get your friends and potential fans to those venues. Send out emails, newsletters, and your website link with your schedule. Small bars and clubs, and even the larger ones, do not have the money to pay the band for four hours with four people sitting at the bar. Even with a cover. And there's ALWAYS someone eager to play cheap or free to get their foot in the door at least once. Interact with Your Fans - They're the Key To Your Success When you come off the stage for a break, don’t go out to the car, the parking lot, or hide by the bar. If you're with people, don't hang out at that table and forget the rest of the folks who came out to see you. Greet and chat with the people who are there to see you. Some of them came a long way. If you don’t meet people, say hi, or look like you're glad they came out in the snow, they're not coming back. Those who don’t know you probably won’t go out again see you no matter how much they liked your music. If they come out to see you and think (true or not) that you're an a**hole, when they get back to their crowds to tell them about the weekend - potential fans who have never seen or heard you -they will be of the same opinion. And word-of-mouth is as powerful a tool against you as it can be for you. If they like you, they tell their friends. If they hate you, they still tell their friends, but with a little embellishment Get to know as many fans as you can on a first name basis,
thanking them for attending and finding out who they are and where they are
from. Do not think that you can fake your way through this one. A fan can see
through you if you're being phony or putting on a show to look cool. Do not give
out your band's business cards at this point, it's tacky. Do it at the
next break, or at the next show, but not while meeting and talking with these
fans for the first time. Give out a playlist
Things you need to Remember: sent by email
Like it or not, you ARE a business.
Talent will only get you so far. There's a lot of luck involved and hard work,
too.
Some Wise Advice
Promote Your Band or Blues
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