October 27th, 2010

8 ways to get your music licensed for TV,Games and Films

A recent article in Word magazine made the point that TV, Film and Game music placements are the new radio in terms of exposing your band to a mainstream audience. Top US TV shows like Greys Anatomy and House can expose bands to a new audience very quickly, making Music Supervisors very powerful within the industry. Muse built a following in the US through a song placement in one of the Twilight films and I heard a story of an 8 year old boy who was a huge fan of 70′s rock band Mountain thanks to Rock Band. Even the more credible artists are licensing tracks as this income stream can replace lost revenue from record sales. Before licensing your music to anything, its worth taking legal advice and remember to join the relevant performing rights organisations for your area.

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

Here are some ways of getting into licensing:

1 – Make friends with film makers – Contact short film makers on Youtube. Make an effort to connect with film students and animators at local collages and universities, often they are looking for royalty free music and you can get some experience. A show reel of your music synced to film is useful for your website and previous credited work is good for your reputation.

2 – Create instrumental versions of your songs – Vocals can often be intrusive for licensing opportunities, making an instrumental version of your song will open more doors. If possible have stems available of your song as certain parts may need to looped for a particular section of a film or game.

3 – The games industry is expanding every year. From flash games and apps for Android and iPhone to the big console titles. Small companies making apps are the easiest to approach as they tend to be working under tighter budgets, there seems to be the most need for electronic stuff but worth a go for other styles. Approach developers in the same way as you would any other industry people, don’t spam! Email the company and talk to them about their company and games and explain what you have done and that you would like to have your music considered for their games. Find out what games they already produce and if they use music similar to yours . These initial connections in the industry are vital, make sure you show enthusiasm and respect.

4 – Use a commercial service – Many services are available from Taxi, Sonic Bids, Rumblefish to You License connect bands with licensing opportunities. They often charge you to submit music to the various licensing opportunities and some charge a membership fee. The best thing that can happen is you build a relationship with a publisher and eventually bypass these middleman, as usual its all about who you know and these companies can improve your contacts, for a price.

5- Contact publishers directly – Using an online listing service or your local library find and contact some publishers. Often they will be looking for new acts, see if they already have acts in your genre . If you already have things happening with your band through social media, gigs and press this opens doors. As usual being proactive is the key, but be careful not sign an exclusive deal with any one company.

6 – Be Different – Publishers are drowning in identical stuff, often being unusual and interesting can really help. They have constant submissions of stuff that sounds exactly like Yann Tiersen, John Williams or Oasis/Jay Z/Gaga etc  Your reggae/death metal/dubstep song could be just the thing their client is looking for to make their advert unique.

7 – Try writing some library music and submitting it – Library or production music is normally owned by the company rather than you as an artist. The idea is it is licensed and ready to go when a media production wants to use it.  You have to be careful what you sign away but its a good way to gain experience of creating music for TV. Often you have to say they can use the music for any purpose they choose. Approach with caution, but there is money to be made that you could use to fund more artistically worthwhile endeavors.

8 – Use Rock Band – Rock Band is huge across the world. Using Tunecore you can get your track coded especially for the game and take a royalty on every sale you make just like an mp3 album, it could be good it if you think you have the audience to make it worthwhile. Coding your songs yourself is apparently very difficult and is best left to experts. If this all sounds a bit too complicated Jam Legend is an online game similar to Rock Band. You can upload your own tracks and the users on the site can play a game based on your song using the same controllers as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Some bands have developed a large audience through having their music featured in these games.

As long as you are careful about what you sign and your music is used in areas that are appropriate to your band’s overall image, licensing is a great opportunity to both raise funds and exposure your music to a new audience.

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October 20th, 2010

How to use free music to grow your fanbase

One of the key things for bands in the early stages of their career is to develop an audience. Giving away some free music is a great way to connect with people and develop a relationship. For some bands giving away music that they have taken time and money to write and produce is a difficult concept. Free music can be looked at as free advertising.

free music

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

We live in an age where there are many demands on our time, to even get people listening to your music is a good result. As CD Baby founder Derek Sivers said:

“Obscurity is the enemy, not piracy”

Recently I saw a new band who were providing only 30 second snippets of songs online, because of fear of piracy! If you were signed to a major label wouldn’t they give away lots of promotional music (that you’d ultimately pay for out of royalties/your advance)? How much would advertising cost to get the equivalent amount of email addresses you can get in exchange for free music? You need to think of giving away music as a worthwhile investment in your long term career. Building a loyal fan base is a long process, if you are looking to make money quickly you are in the wrong industry. The advantage of this method is that if you gain an audience this way, they are more likely to be with you for years.

Some bands let fans torrent music, some let them record and swop live bootlegs (as long as its non commercial), some even give all the music away free and make a living from playing live. People sharing your music can quickly grow your fan base and if you have any level of success people will most likely torrent your music anyway. To some bands having an audience is enough. The amount of free music you want to give away is up to you (and for some people its not for them, perhaps if they want to be a very high ticket act selling high price goods to a tiny audience). Always try to get an email address in exchange for the free download, Bandcamp does an excellent service where you can let fans download free music in exchange for an email. Tweet For A Track lets you give away your music in exchange for the fan posting on Twitter, really useful if the person has 20,000 followers.

The value of an email address that you collect in exchange for your music depends on the fan. Some people aren’t going to ever spend any money with you, some will become hardcore fans. Hardcore fans are worth hundreds if not thousands. These are people who will buy everything you do (T-Shirts, Gigs, Vinyl, Box Sets etc) and tell their friends and drag them along to the concert. They can make your career, provide you with a growing audience and a living.

The amount you give away is up to you. Pay what you want is a model used by many artists, often people will get one album then come back and pay for another album by the same band. Getting the email address and starting an ongoing conversation is the key. Some people give away an MP3 and charge for a high quality download, or box set (like Radiohead), or signed item or live concert. Chris Anderson (author of Free:The Future Of A Radical Price) made his book available as a free audio download then charged for a physical book and speaking appearances. You could even do free UStream concerts and charge for bootlegs of them. Try charging for music and giving away a free PDF download of guitar TAB or recipes. The way you use free content in building an audience is up to you, be creative.

No one is saying just give things away and don’t get anything back, use free to gain attention and open channels of communication, then you can think about making money. Its very hard to make money from an audience you don’t have.

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October 15th, 2010

How to get the most from open mic nights

Some people think open mic nights are a waste of time, some say its close to karaoke, but they can be really useful to gain experience of live performance and make new contacts.  Check the Liveunsigned.com listings for open mics in your area, its well worth giving it a go. Most people think of open mics as being just for acoustic/singer-songwriter types but you can can strip down to an acoustic set, be inventive and create something original in your own style. Acoustic versions of metal/punk/electro tracks could be very interesting and will certainly stand out from the usual singer-songwriter types.

Open Mic

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

Open mics are a great place to connect with the local community. Musicians who play open mics are music fans themselves, talk to people and build your real world social network. You’ll be amazed at the amount of opportunities you get just from people you know. Make friends, compliment people if you think they are good (be honest, but tactful) and develop connections.  In a short while one of these acts could be playing bigger venues and want a support act.

A low profile open mic night may be a great place to get confident with new songs and to see what works (and what doesn’t) in front of a real world audience.  Confidence in front of a live audience can only be gained by playing lots of gigs. The more you do the better you get and no amount of rehearsal room practice will do that. Think about how you speak to the audience, think about making it a conversation rather than you talking at them, ask questions of the crowd and get them involved. Keep the way you present your overall performance in line with your overall artistic vision. Everything you do on stage is performance, not just the music including how you dress and what you say.

Watch the other performers and learn from them. If you see 10 acts performing in a night you are bound to see people who do things that are great and others that are less so. Learn lessons from both, great live performers are always looking to improve and watching others is a great way to do this. Sometimes you can take away a lot from people who go down really badly, although as the audience at open mics tends to be other musicians you will most likely find people to be very supportive.

Take along CD’s and some cards or flyers with your website and contact details.  A friend of mine sells CD’s at open mics by allowing people to pay any amount they want for them, he finds he makes more than if he sets the price. You never know who is going to be there. Often promoters check out open mic acts for better slots in the same venue. If you play well and make the effort to bring a few people you can find yourself playing on better nights and decent support slots. Its a good way of opening doors.

Don’t forget this is another opportunity to create web content – videos, blogs about what happened and photos on Flickr. Why not take a photo of the audience and tell them its going to be on your website or Facebook fan page the next day (don’t forget to mention your website when playing)? Try and get the email addresses of people you meet that like your music, build your email list. There are loads more ideas for using live performances to create web content here.

Open mics are a great opportunity to connect with people and tell your story. It should be a case of the music is all that matters but building real world relationships with people is vital. Make connections!

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October 8th, 2010

10 ideas for gigs in unusual places

Are you bored of playing the same local venues as everybody else? Looking for a way of getting press by doing something special? Here are some places you can play that are unusual and interesting both for musicians and audiences. Get people talking and make things interesting (some of these ideas may require approval by authorities/local councils!) and remember to put a listing on Liveunsigned.com so people know about it :

1 – House Concerts – a big thing in the US and growing around the world, house concerts involve having a band play in your home. Hosts invite guests and ask them to make a donation for the artist, often the host provides a bed and food for the musicians. Many bands use house concerts as a way of filling days off between gigs and connecting with their most loyal fans. Why not email out to the people on your mailing list and ask if anyone is interested in hosting a concert in their home?

2 – Skate Parks – Skaters are often into music and skate parks are brilliant places to play for punk and metal bands (and others). Hire a PA and make it an event, collaborate with the skate park owners.

3 – Guerilla Gigs/Busking – Many artists started their career busking but many well known artists still like to play live on the streets, its often referred to as a guerilla gig. Laws on busking and what you can get away with vary from place to place. Tweet about it and get people down, even if it is at the last minute. Amanda Palmer from the Dresdon Dolls does this on her solo tours and it gives her a great chance to connect with fans (especially younger ones who can’t get into over 18′s clubs).

4 – The Launderette – London band Real Fur have converted their local launderette into a pop up venue – great idea and it got them a lot of press. Innovation gets people talking.

5 – Art Galleries – Great for ambient/acoustic artists and a chance to play to an audience you otherwise may not get a chance to play to. You’ll be amazed at the response from the art community if you just ask – offer to play for free and sell CD’s.

6 – Squats – In many cities there are whole squat scenes that attract an exciting art punk crowd. Watch out for an upcoming post on the Live Unsigned blog about squat scenes in more detail.

7 – Shops  – Oxfam hold regular charity events in their shops called Oxjam, sometimes having well known bands play. Record shops and book shops often have live gigs. I once saw The Buzzcocks play in Selfridges!

8 – Museums – A friend of mine does regular gigs at the V & A museum in London as an experimental soundtrack to silent films. Museums often hold events, approach them and see if you can provide some appropriate and interesting music. Build relationships with people and see what happens.

9 – Bandstands and the great outdoors – Have you got a generator (or can hire one)? Then head out to the forest, park, bandstand or any open space and play. In London Bandstand Busking organise regular events in the bandstands in the squares of Central London (apparently the council turn a blind eye). Its even easier if you are an acoustic act. Doom metal band Kyuss used to play in the local desert in the early days.

Of Montreal – Bandstand Busking, Regents Park, London:

10 – In the back of a cab  – OK you’re not going get a big crowd into a cab but the Black Cab Sessions is a great example of people doing something interesting and developing an online following. The idea is people play live in the back of a cab and its recorded and posted on the internet. There are loads of other interesting ideas for “microgigs” from sheds to offices to cellars.  Think of something personal that ties in with your vision as a band.

The point is you can play live anywhere there is a space – some acts may need more equipment than others (and its a good idea to keep an eye out for what the local council might say). The more interesting the better as this gets people talking on Twitter and Facebook and makes a great story for the press and bloggers. Ustream and video the event so you can share it with your online audience. Its got to be more fun than another gig at the same pub that everyone is playing at hasn’t it?

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October 5th, 2010

Fan funding your next recording project

Recently there has been a lot of talk about fan/crowd funding for bands, this is essentially the idea of getting fans to pay in advance for the recording and production costs to make albums. This allows you to be free of record company/bank debt. There are sites like Pledge Music, Kickstarter or Rocket-Hub that can run the whole thing for you or you can do it fairly easily yourself.  Its an idea that is becoming more and more popular. It really gets fans involved from the beginning, even some of the bigger acts are starting to use this model from Gang Of Four to The Duke Special to Public Enemy!

Fan Funding

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

When planning a fan-funding campaign the first thing to do is work out how much money you need to raise for your project. Don’t go too high with your target and always try and keep your costs low, on many of the fan funding sites if you don’t raise the full amount within the alloted time you get nothing. One of the advantages of doing it yourself is if you don’t make the full amount you still get to keep what you have made.

You need to think realistically, do you really have a committed enough fan base/friends and family to make it work? Its not really about how big your mailing list is, its more about how connected your audience feels to you. You may have a few really loyal fans that want to spend hundreds of pounds on you because they are really excited about hearing your next record   Make sure you explain what you are raising the money for – post some demos of tracks you are working on and some video explanations, really make the effort to involve your audience. Make it so its you and them against the world.

Once you have a target consider whether to use a site which specializes in fan funding or to just have a page on your website for the project and do it yourself.  The advantages of using an already set up crowd funding site is that there may well be people on their looking for artists/projects to fund and these sites lend your fan funding project some legitimacy. On the other side some fan funding sites have had financial problems (i.e. Sellaband) and have caused problems with bands not getting paid and fans not getting refunds. If you do it yourself you will get to keep a larger percentage of the money you make.

To set up a fan funding page is fairly simple using Paypal purchase buttons, these services are available to everyone with a Paypal account. Jason Parker has Paypal buttons on his site for different pricing tiers of his CD from $10 to $100. This allows people to buy into a project at any level they want. An interesting point is that many artists say the most popular price point tends to be around £20. This is much higher than the average price of a CD and proves fans want to support music when they are passionate about it. With this method they know the money is going to the artist, not some faceless record company or retailer.

Fan funding payment tiers can range from a single CD for £5 to a Deluxe CD/House Concert for £1000 or more. Here are some examples for products and pricing tiers.

£10 – A basic CD
£15 – A signed CD
£25 – Signed CD and T-Shirt
£50 – CD plus handwritten lyric sheet
£100 – CD plus Skype Guitar Lesson
£200 – The band will send you postcards while on tour
£500 – A helicopter trip with the band
£700 – A personalised song
£1000 – House concert acoustic gig

With the products the more unusual and unique to the artists the better. Make it all about the personality of the band involved and be honest to your overall artistic vision. Limit the numbers of the top end packages to make them special. Some artists also like to give a percentage of the money they raise to a charity.

Of course this all depends on how much support you have from your friends/fans. Use all your social media channels from Facebook to Twitter to Youtube to engage your fans with the project.  Make sure you keep your audience involved along the way. Let them know how much money has been raised and make short videos/blogs/podcasts talking about the process of funding and making the record. Why not do a special gig with a Live Unsigned listing and Facebook event to start the project off?

Crowd funding is a great way for making people feel part of a project and really engage with your fan base in an honest way without having to sell the rights to the music business. Its a wonderful thing to make an album knowing that there is an audience already waiting for it.

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October 1st, 2010

What do promoters really want from bands?

What are promoters looking for in a band? From a promoters perspective the bottom line is they want a full venue. The way they achieve this is by booking bands that are proactive in getting people to the gigs. You could argue (quite fairly) that its the promoters job to get people to the gig but this happens very rarely, so its better for everyone for you to make sure you have an audience to play to. A proactive effort is beneficial to all concerned, promoters talk to each other and your reputation can grow.

Picture by Paul Linus Claassen

Before booking a gig:

  • It has to be a given that the you have a tight well rehearsed set. Ensure when you approach a promoter that you have a good press kit with blog quotes and a really good recording of your music and mention venues you have played before. The traditional method is to start local and work outwards to places further from where you live(and don’t play the same place too often). Think about how you can make the gig a special event – perhaps a CD release party, a seasonal tie-in, a one night must be there event. Band plus support isn’t good enough, who’s going to talk about that?
  • If its your first gig get some friends down to practice and really perform in the practice room. You need to walk on stage with complete self belief. Think not only about the songs, think about how you will perform them. Think about the set list and the overall dynamic curve of the set as one coherent piece of music. Start big and noisy, drop down to a few quieter songs and finish even bigger is a proven winner.

6-8 Weeks before the gig:

  • If you want the gig to be featured in the local print press and radio now is the time to get in touch. If you are making the gig an event try and get a chance to speak to someone in the local press about it. Send them chocolates, remember their name and be remarkable. What can you do to stand out from thousands of other bands? What is your story? It should be all about the music but people need a story to hang it on.

4 Weeks before the gig:

  • The first step to building a following is getting your friends to the gig.  Use a listing on Live Unsigned and a Facebook event initially. See if you can Ustream the event (make sure you add this to your Live Unsigned listing if you can) to allow your web audience to see the gig. Make sure all the people in the band invite their friends and ideally try and get your friends to invite their friends. Mail out to your mailing list about the gig. Invite any local bloggers and press and sort out your guest list with the promoter.

1 week before the gig:

  • A week or so before send out a message to all potential guests on the Facebook event . Post a blog about your preparations for the the gig, the stage outfits, the set list and keep people in the loop. Post a video of your rehearsals. If there are any gigs on in the area by bands similar to yourself try handing out flyers to the people going in and out. When Black Flag toured in the 80′s they constantly used these Guerrilla Marketing techniques to build a following. Henry Rollins’ Black Flag tour diaries are full of this stuff. Ask your fans to help spread the word on Twitter and Facebook and on their blogs – you will get better results if you they spread the word for you, rather than trying to push it yourself and coming across as spam.

On the day before the gig:

  • Tweet about the gig and update your Facebook status about it – do a last minute blog about the event. Make sure you are musically ready and all your equipment is good to go (use a check list of what you need to take).

The day of the gig:

  • Turn up early and make sure you are friendly to the sound engineer, the promoter, the venue staff, other bands and crowd. You are there to make friends and build a reputation, not wander on and play a half hour set. This is a great real world social networking opportunity. Are there any friends you can text to remind them about the gig? Ensure you are using your Twitter and Facebook status to talk about the gig, you can probably get away with tweeting about it more than you can Facebook status updates. Remember to tell people about your mailing list/website when you play and get the email address of people who enjoy your set and sell them a CD.

After the gig:

  • Email the promoter to say thanks and make contact with the other bands who played. Email and message your friends and fans to say thank you for the support. Make contact with any new people who have joined your mailing list. Write a blog about the gig and tell the world how great it was (or wasn’t), be honest!

Focus on really looking after a small fanbase rather than spamming others, so they will tell their friends. This will lead to long term organic growth, building up as you go.

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