Archive | April, 2011

29 April 2011

Building your unsigned artist support network (part 1)

Being an independent musician doesn’t mean doing everything yourself, nobody has all the skills that you’ll need to build a fan base. In the early stages of your career you won’t be able to pay people so you’ll need to rally friends and band members to fill these roles. You may find you have a [...]

26 April 2011

How to get booked for festivals

Festivals are a great way for an unsigned band to get in front of a decent sized audience, but they aren’t easy to get to play, as everyone wants to do it. From the Benicassim Festival in Spain and the wonderful Strawberry Fair in Cambridge to the local folk festival, there are opportunities for artists [...]

21 April 2011

Planning a DIY album release (part 2)

In the second part of our post on planning an album release we look at the final few months before the album comes out:     2 months before the release: Work out and allocate your advertising budget and place ads. Remember to focus on a small niche audience, ideally of a few thousand people. [...]

15 April 2011

Planning a DIY album release (part 1)

It is a big job putting out a new album and every release is different, with its own problems. Working to a very specific plan will allow you to ensure everything gets done. What follows is our step by step guide to putting out a DIY album. 6 months before the release date: Work out [...]

13 April 2011

Acts wanted for artsfest

Artsfest is the UK’s largest free arts festival and they are currently looking for performers. From indie rock to bhangra to hip-hop all styles are represented, but you’ll have to be quick if you want to apply, the deadline for entries is the 18th of April at 5pm. Artsfest takes place in Birmingham (UK) 10-11th [...]

12 April 2011

Online collaboration for DIY musicians

Up until recently the only musicians you could work with were the ones in your local area, but thanks to the web this is no longer a problem. With the correct software and connections you can make records with musicians from around the world. Never again will you be unable to find a drummer for [...]

11 April 2011

New online music awards – for unsigned bands

The St. Helier Cider Online Music Awards is an new online event for unsigned bands, now in its second year. It is only open to unsigned acts. There are seven categories: Best Urban Act Best Rock Act Best Pop Act Best Dance Act Best Music Website Best International Unsigned Act Best Music Video You can [...]

08 April 2011

Do you need to get your music mastered?

Mastering is a subject that most bands find confusing and one that’s a lot easier to explain by demonstrating the effect it has on a recording. Once you hear the difference you’ll hear how important it is. The mastering process will allow your recordings to stand out and give them that final professional sound (and [...]

05 April 2011

Putting together a great press kit

Last week we wrote about how to get journalists interested in your band. So when you have their attention what do you send them? You need a press kit, a standard pack you can send to journalists or anyone interested in your band (including promoters/podcasters etc). A press kit can be electronic or sent  as [...]

01 April 2011

6 reasons social media doesn’t work for some bands

Often musicians complain that social media doesn’t work, that they aren’t making any money and that marketing shouldn’t be their concern. They think its the job of the industry to market their music and they want to delegate updating their blog/Twitter/social media to others. This attitude won’t inspire much confidence from anybody (especially not managers [...]