June 30th, 2011

How to promote your music using QR codes

You see QR (Quick Response) codes in lots of places now, from supermarkets to posters to signs to business cards. This is an example of a QR code for Live Unsigned‘s front page. If you’ve not seen them before they are the checkered boxes with a complicated pattern and they are becoming more and more common. You scan them with a reader on your smartphone and you will get some sort of specific information sent to your phone. You may be directed to a specific website or receive a text. For bands they are a really useful way of getting fans to your website. You can download the free QR scanner apps for most smart phones including Blackberries and iPhones.

QR Codes are quick, easy and free to create. You can get them free from sites including Bitly, Kaywa, Google and Kimtag. To create a QR code with Bitly go to the Bitly site and enter and shorten a URL. Once you have your shortened URL add .qr to the end of your shortened link. Post this new link (ending in .qr) into your web browser and you’ll see your scannable QR code. You can now copy this QR code and use it wherever you need it. Often the best URL to use is your website unless you are using your QR code to promote something specific like a gig or a free download. QR codes are convenient for fans, saving them the hassle of typing in the full URL of a website.

Once you have your QR code you can add it to wherever you would add your website URL. You can add it to your blog, posters, T-shirts, CD covers, flyers and all your merchandise. You can use specific QR codes to send fans to parts of your website that are only available through a QR scan, perhaps giving a free download or a secret gig or more details about a special event using a QR code on a poster. If it gets people to pay a bit more attention to a poster or flyer it has got to be a good thing. What if you gave out a flyer at a gig with a QR code for a free track/album or EP? You can even customise your QR code if you are more artistically inclined, full information on that here.

QR codes aren’t totally mainstream at the moment, but they are likely to become more and more popular. They are really big in Japan already. Like most new technology the bands that will do the best with QR codes will be the early adopters and innovators. Think about Youtube and the social media platforms, it is often the artists who get there first that get the best results. No one knows how popular QR codes will become, but they may become crucial to the marketing plan for your band in the future.

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June 29th, 2011

Why should bands start their own podcast?

For musicians it is always difficult to stand out and build an audience. One of the most effective ways to build a fan base is to focus on building a community by helping others within your genre online. Once you have built a community they can become your initial audience and the start of your fan base. It is like the internet equivalent of a local music scene. Maybe you are thinking at this point that you “just want be a musician” but if you want to be a success online you need to build a community around your music. Podcasts are a great way of doing that.

If you have your own podcast you can offer to play other bands music and tap into their audience. If you focus on serving a particular niche relevant to your band, maybe Ska-Core, Jazz-Rock, Underground Hip-Hop or something else, you can position yourself at the centre of that community. Yes there is an audience for your Prog/Death/Raga cross-over project, you just need to bring all the bands in that genre together. There is an audience for every niche, you just need to find that community online and tap into it.

Podcasts are free to produce using software like Audacity, Reaper or Garageband. You record the spoken links and simply drop in the MP3s of the music between them, you can even record interviews via Skype with the other bands. The important thing is to ask the other bands featured, to share your podcast (which features your music also) across their social networks with their fans and in forums and blogs relevant to your music. Your podcast will not build an audience over night, it will grow gradually. Once you have a loyal bunch of subscribers it will get easier as you can ask them to tell there friends – even if it’s only 10 people, if they each tell a couple of people it will soon grow. We know of people who have grown a following of several thousand people using this method, slowly over time (generally years not months).

To get your podcast on iTunes you can use various services like Podbean or Podomatic. You just upload your audio file and they do the rest, be careful though as some companies charge for having larger files on their server. Once it is on iTunes you need to put some effort in to promote the podcast, post a blog about it (with links to the other bands sites) and tweet about it. You may even wish to set up a specific Twitter feed and Facebook site for your podcast. As usual the more effort you put in to promotion the more you will get out, but avoid spamming. Only promote in places online you have a real relationship with, forums where you post regularly for example.

Eventually you can even host a live gig based on your podcast, get the acts you feature on your podcast and put them together for a live “(insert name of your podcast) presents” night. Promote it via a Live Unsigned listing, your blog, across social media and of course via your podcast. Once you can bring your podcast community together in the real world you will start to see things happen more quickly.

Another approach is to focus on doing a podcast about your own music, like an audio blog. Feature live tracks and demos and tell your story, it is a great way of building relationships with your audience. Any way you can build connections with fans has to be a good thing.

Once you start building these relationships with other bands and fans you’ll see things start to happen for your own band. People will be more willing to buy your music (if your music is good!) if they feel they have a relationship with you and bands will be more likely to give support slots to that band that offered them more exposure via a podcast. Goodwill goes a long way in the music industry and podcasting is another interesting way of building relationships with fans, bands and the industry.

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June 23rd, 2011

How to use Live Unsigned to get gigs in other towns

It can be difficult to get out of only gigging in your own local scene because promoters are often unwilling to put on bands they haven’t heard of in areas where they have no real fan base. Thanks to Live Unsigned there is a way around this.  When you’re promoting your own gigs by adding your gig listings to Live Unsigned, all over the world other bands are doing the same thing. If you change the location in the “Pick A Place” part of the site to one that you want to play at you’ll see listings for gigs by other acts playing it that area. By looking at the Live Unsigned listings and profiles you’ll soon find interesting bands who play in a similar style to you and who you can play with. Have a look where they are based via their website (they may be gigging away from home) and contact them and ask them if they would be interested in doing a gig swop. Website details for many bands are listed on their Live Unsigned profile.

In a gig swop you go and play in another bands area as a support slot and they play with you in your area in the same way. You both benefit by playing to each others fans and expanding your gigging network. Often bands also offer somewhere to sleep and help with contacts in their local scene. As we have said before on this blog building a community around your band, whether it’s in person or online is vital. This is where the fan base starts to happen by shaking hands with people, sleeping on floors, playing to a small amount of people and working hard so that it grows over time. Just hanging out with fans after shows makes a big difference, especially if you want someone to sleep on your next tour.

Make sure you are approaching bands with an individual email (not generic spam) and if you like their music tell them. Even if bands can’t help with a gig swop they may know promoters and other influential figures in their area who may be interested in your music. You never know how well connected people are. The band you are approaching may even end up becoming fans of your music. Don’t forget some band members are also promoters, podcasters, bloggers and in some cases even work for labels and the mass media.

Once you have set up some joint gigs promote them via listing in Live Unsigned, social media, flyering, local press etc. If you can get a few bands involved you can even set up a little mini tour of all the places you come from. As this is fairly unusual it is something that may be remarkable enough to get you press in itself so don’t forget to approach magazines/press/bloggers/local radio/newspapers etc. There are more ideas for ways to promote your gig here.

Don’t forget this can work across the world, not just within your own country. It just depends on the bands you meet and the relationships you make, reaching out to other bands within your genre is always a worthwhile thing to do. Think of the effort bands like Black Flag and Husker Du had to put in to gain a fan base in the 80′s, thanks to sites like Live Unsigned it is so much easier now.

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June 16th, 2011

Offline promotion ideas for bands (part 2)

In part 2 of this post we look at how working with charities, word of mouth, fanzines and much more can help to grow your audience outside of your efforts online.

Volunteer to help at charity events – Get involved with your local community. Whether it is a meeting at the local squat or an Amnesty benefit, getting out into the real world and meeting people is a great way of promoting your band and doing some good at the same time. You often get interesting people at charity events and you never know who you will meet, we know of a band who ended up playing in front of many well know celebrities at a charity gig and making some friends in high places.

Word of mouth – Marketing works best when it’s from a trusted source. If your fans tell their friends in the pub about your band you’ll soon build your audience, always ask if your fans will spread the word! Think of the amount of times you’ve discovered a new band from a friend. Word of mouth is vital.

Arrange to meet up with fans – Arrange to meet up with some of your most enthusiastic fans somewhere other than at a gig. It will help the connection with your audience and you can ask them about what they would like to see from you in terms of gigs, merchandise and any other things you are considering doing. Looking after your fans is really important, especially when there are only a few of them in the the early stages of your career.

Print Fanzines – Blogs and web have really reduced the amount of print fanzines but as there are less about it makes them more unusual and makes it easier for you to stand out if you have your own. It doesn’t take long to put together an 8 or 16 page A5 fanzine and if you make one not just about your band but about the local scene you can create something that may well be embraced by the local community. Featuring other bands will get them talking about your band and if you go to their gigs and hand out your free fanzine you’ll soon meet people and make friends.

Offer to DJ at other events – Even if you are not in a genre that is known for its DJ culture DJ’ing at an event is a good way of showing your skills and excellent taste in music. You never know who you’ll meet and it is often a way of getting some contacts with a venue, especially if you offer to do it free. With an iPad you can even DJ without a big pile of CDs or vinyl.

Gigs – The most important place to connect with fans, hand out your flyers, print fanzines and CD samplers. Shake hands and meet people, say thanks and get people’s email addresses. Build bridges with other bands, fans, promoters, sound people and bar staff. You never know who you’ll bump into. Gigs aren’t just about playing, they are a great chance to meet people.

Local Newspapers and Magazines – Build relationships with journalists by being remarkable, send them gifts, remember their names and treat them with respect. Print press in local papers can be really useful in the run up to gigs and can be handy for quotes on your flyers and website. You’ll have to give them something interesting to write about, local band releases CD isn’t good enough.

Print ads – Print ads can be expensive so focus your advertising spend on niche publications within your genre. A small add over the course of several months is better than one big splash, remember that the fans need to see the name multiple times for it to log in their mind. Use quotes from credible sources in your add, for example magazines or blogs or from a Live Unsigned review of your band. Keep it simple and focus on the message you want to get across to your potential fans. When purchasing ads make sure you never take the first price given as the actual amount you’ll pay, always ask for the best price. Magazines have a ratecard of deals but very rarely does anyone pay that price, for example you can often get ads that are £700 for £300 if you wait around for a last minute deal when the magazine is looking to fill space.

The way these methods work best are in combination with web activity and the other items listed. For example if someone picks up a flyer at a gig then reads about you in a magazine then sees your gig listing on Live Unsigned eventually they will take notice of your band. Some marketing experts say that people need to see a message nine times before they take notice of it, so every time you do one of the above you are getting one of those 9. If you focus your efforts on your niche audience specific to your band your marketing will be most effective.  Think about the clubs, gigs and shops your fans hangs out at and make sure your offline promotion is focused there. Make sure your website URL is prominent on all of your marketing and get all promotional materials checked and double checked for grammar and spelling errors. Mistakes can prove expensive!

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June 14th, 2011

Offline promotion ideas for bands (part 1)

The internet is a wonderful way for musicians to spread the word about their music. You can put your live videos on Youtube, post your gigs on Live Unsigned and spread the word via social media. What bands often overlook is that there are many other ways of getting yourself known. Often getting out there and meeting people in the real world can make all the difference. Giving someone a flyer outside a gig can often lead to a conversation that can result in a support slot or magazine feature. You never know who you will meet. Every time you are out and about you are representing your band so make sure you are always thinking about ways you can grow your audience and advance your career. Always remember that for any of the tactics below to work you’ll need to have amazing music in the first place, otherwise it is very hard to get a buzz going about your band. Here are some ideas for ways you can grow your audience other than using the web:

Flyers – This works best when you focus on handing out flyers outside a gig of an artist similar to you when they play in your local area, so you can steal their audience. Also try handing out flyers outside relevant club nights and ask if you can leave some in shops where your fans may hang out (offer to tweet about their shops if they aren’t keen on letting you leave flyers). Make sure you get multiple quotes on the price of flyers, if you hunt around you can get some good deals. They need to feature a photo, your website URL, some sort of offer for free downloads on your website and some quotes from bloggers/podcasters and the press about how amazing your band is. It is better and more cost effective to get flyers for your website rather than a specific event, the important thing is to get fans on to your website and get their email addresses (in exchange for a free download) so that you can build a relationship with them over time. If you don’t have the Photoshop skills to make it look great ask a friend to help, it is important they look really good and reflect the image of your band (which should be consistent across your website, social media and your CD release). You can even post a printable version of your flyer on your website for fans to print off if they want to spread the word about your music, you’ll never know if they will do it unless you ask them.

T-Shirts and merchandise – Last week we talked about merch as a way of raising funds for your bands but they are also a great promotional opportunity, so make sure your website URL is printed clearly on them. If you get 30 t-shirts done keep back 5 and give them to the journalists, bloggers and podcasters that you most want to build a relationship with. Small items like guitar picks and lighters with your logo and website on are also useful as promotional items to give away, if you can get them cheap enough and aren’t too cheesy.

CD Samplers – Like flyers you can give these away at gigs and at clubs. Burn your best four tracks onto some blank CDs using your computer and put them in a promo sleeve that you can print yourself and hand some out where you would hand out flyers. If you have some spare cash get a hundred duplicated and hand them out at a gig. This is a sure way of building your fan base, as long as the gig you hand them out at is of a band whose music is similar to yours and that your music is really exceptional. Keep a few on you at all times, you never who you will meet…..

Posters for gigs – Sometimes it is most cost effective to have some glossy posters printed with a space to add the details of specific gigs in pen. Focus on music equipment shops, shops where fans buy clothes, comic shops and anywhere you think your fans hang out. Offer to send them to fans in other parts of the world/country in advance of when you are touring, their local knowledge may ensure they get put in the best places.

Text messages – Most people are online now but often people get so bombarded with messages through social media that it may be a good idea to send out a text to friends in the run up to a gig to remind them when and where you are playing. It may just be a way of getting through the digital static!

In part 2 of this blog we’ll look at how working with charities, word of mouth and fanzines can help to grow your audience outside of your efforts online. When you are out flyering and meeting people you’ll often find yourself having interesting adventures that will make good blog posts!

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June 9th, 2011

20 ways to make money when music is free online

Have you ever been to the circus? Seen the high wire act and the clowns? How do they make most of their money?

Candy floss.

Candy floss is cheap to make (essentially just sugar) and massively profitable. For a band your music and live performance is the circus show, so what is the equivalent of candy floss? What can you sell when people download music from the web for free? You need to find another way of making money that allows your fans to support you once they have discovered you through free music via torrents. You need to create items that the superfan will want, the fan who sees every tweet, every blog post and waits for you to post the latest gigs on Live Unsigned. Items smart bands can sell include:

Guitar Lessons (either in person or via Skype).

Limited access Ustream gigs.

Clothing.

Backstage access.

Live concert downloads/limited CDs (especially if they tie in with an event that people were at).

Stems for your songs to remix.

Fan Clubs.

Signed stuff.

Limited edition numbered DVDs/CDs/Box Sets.

Posters and individual one off pieces of artwork.

One off hand stenciled items.

Signed hand written lyrics .

Endorsements.

House concerts.

Tour Scenery.

Personal items.

Numbered items.

Access to the band.

Tour Junk.

Instruments (signed).

And many other things that are specific to your band alone.

You need to sell souvenirs, things that remind them of the experience of seeing you live. You need to ask yourself, what can you do to earn an extra £5 from each person in your audience. Some of the merchandise KISS sells is very cheesy but it has made them millions. If you are in the early stages of your career you may only have a few hundred fans so you need to think about how you can earn the most income from each fan, but without ruining the relationship with them by exploiting them. Remember it is better to keep fans in the long run, better to earn thousands over years than try and push it in the short term. Once you have loyal fans you can have an income for years to come. Amanda Palmer made $19000 in 10 hours selling personal items on Twitter. Items Included:

Ukulele used on the European tour: $640

Guitar hero plastic guitar controller used in album promo shoot: $250

A copy of Neo2 magazine, plus two post-war trade slap-bracelets & a crime-photo set: $230

Glass dildo, with subtly-sordid back story: $560

Hipsters Ruin Everything t-shirt, $155.55

A Bill Bryson book, A Short History of Nearly Everything: $280

Huge metal “the establishment” sign, used at Rothbury festival for the circus tent: $450

Vintage stockings used in a video: $200

Basically fairly random stuff. The point is that they bought the above because they wanted to feel a connection to the artist and to support her. Those loyal fans allow her to keep going and play across the world.

Think about what you’d like to get from your favorite band and make that available for your fans. If you are not sure what to offer, ask the fans. Now is a great time to be in a band thanks to sites like Live Unsigned, Youtube and Twitter. At least now you have access to your audience.  Remember to treat the fans well or you can easily lose them, if it looks like you are only in it for the money that will soon happen.

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June 7th, 2011

When should you quit the band?

It is always sad when a band comes to the end but sometimes it can be a positive thing as well, if you can stay friends with the people you’ve been in the band with. Leaving one band can lead to great new opportunities with other musicians. Sometimes you just have to move on, but it is always difficult to know when that point is. So when should you quit the band?

When you’re doing it for “a music industry career” – Money is not a good reason to be doing music. The bands that tend to do well in the long term are ones who really connect to a loyal fan base. It is a long haul of many years of either losing money or earning very little to get to that point. Years not months. Yes there is money to be made but it’s not a quick or easy thing to do and there are no guarantees. To get to that point will take a lot of work, if you don’t love what you’re doing you won’t get there.

When you no longer love the music – If you are not enjoying it the audience will be able to tell. The music will become less interesting to all concerned and you will find it harder to gain an audience because the music decreases in quality. If you’re in a punk band but really enjoy your jazz project more, do that. Follow what you love and you have more chance of success. It’s easier to motivate yourself to do all the stuff you don’t like if you love the music.

When you can’t commit to it – If you find it gets to the point where you can’t find time to get to practice it’s probably better to quit than annoy the other people in the band. If you want to get anywhere it will take a lot of hard work, not just playing music. You have to do interviews, book gigs, drive to venues, do social media stuff, make friends with fans and a thousand other things. If you think it is about turning up once a week to band practice it is time to stop now.

When you can’t stand the people – If you walk into the room and the bass player walks out then there is a problem. Some bands get so annoyed with each other they end up fighting on stage, which is very exciting for the audience but probably not a good idea for a long term career. Could you be in a van for 30 days with these people without killing each other? Many well know bands experience a lot of creative tension and it is down to the individuals in the band to decide how much you can stand.

When you don’t fit together musically – Have you ever seen that band where they are playing an indie rock bit then it goes into a death metal section? Now sometimes that can be a very exciting thing to hear but if you don’t share the same musical influences it can be a bit of battle within the band and in the end no one ends up happy with the music you are making. There is always an element of compromise when creating music with others but when no one is happy it is best to split up.

Sometimes it is better to split a band up than keep going and fall out with the other people in the band, especially if they are people you consider to be friends. Leaving a band is often a worrying thing to do but you’ll never get anywhere without taking some risks and if the band you are with isn’t making you happy it is time to move on. Wouldn’t you rather be out there playing gigs (listed on Live Unsigned) and doing the music you really love?

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June 2nd, 2011

Why now is the best time ever to be a musician

Recently there was a less than well known musician online complaining about how he can’t make a living and no one cares about his music and blaming it on online sharing of music. It is a very bad idea to be seen as negative by your own fans in the first place but it’s also very unlikely that people sharing your music would be having a detrimental effect on your sales if no one has even heard of you. People only share the music they like, if your music is being shared you’ll notice it having other effects like more people coming to gigs, watching your videos and getting more press.

Now is a great time to be a musician because while it’s harder to become a major act you can at least build a small audience online that will support your music. Through word of mouth you can continue to grow your audience, one person at a time. It won’t happen quickly but at least you have more of a chance than when you had to go to record labels before you could even start to distribute your music. In the old music business only a chosen few had the chance to record and make albums but now we are moving to a time when lots of people have a small audience. Here are a few more reasons why now is the best time to be a musician:

Creative freedom – The only people you need worry about are the fans and you no longer need the approval of labels before you can get your music heard. Now the only limit is your musical imagination, you are free to create new music without label pressures.

You have a greater chance of getting paid – The more middle people you remove between you and the fans the more chance you have of getting paid. A typical label royalty is 10-15% (even on a good deal) but with sites like Bandcamp you can keep 85% (minus Paypal fees). So at least you have a chance to get paid. Many record label deals never recoup as recording, marketing and production fees are never repaid and bands never see a penny in royalties. Now you can sell 100 copies of your album and make more than you would if you had sold thousands, you can always reinvest the money in marketing and PR to grow your audience and you can see where every penny is being spent.

Fans can discover and share your music through torrents and social media – as Martin Atkins (former PIL drummer) said “It’s not a problem if 20,000 people ‘illegally’ download your music. It’s a problem if they don’t.”. The hard bit is breaking though the static and getting people to listen, fans posting your music through their social media channels and torrents means you can grow your audience through word of mouth. When you have an audience you can make a living by playing live and selling high value items such as box sets and limited edition items.

Supportive sites for musicians – You can list your gigs on Live Unsigned, post your videos on Youtube, research anything you need to learn on Google and stream your gigs on UStream. These resources are there, you just need to work out how to use them in a way that is best for your band. Each band will do things differently and some sites work better for some bands than others. For example OK Go make amazing videos so their logical focal point is Youtube, but this won’t work for everyone. Play to your strengths as a band. So if you are a great live act make sure you post your gigs on Live Unsigned and then make videos of your performances. Experiment and see what works best for you.

Blogs and podcasts – Bloggers and podcasters are often looking to break new and exciting acts and can through word of mouth really help to build your audience. It is often difficult to get the most popular music blog to write about your band so start small with less popular blogs. There is more information on building a following through blogs here.

Cheap technology – Studio time used to be very expensive but now you can make an album on your computer or even your phone if you know what you are doing. You can design the CD artwork at home on your laptop, burn your own CDs and sell your music online digitally. Technology has liberated musicians, now the only thing holding you back is the technical skills which you can learn or pay for professional help with, but at least you have the choice now. It’s getting easier all the time.

Access to the industry – The days when artists had to go to labels and beg to get signed are long gone. Now artists can build an online audience to the point where labels can find them. If you lived in the middle of nowhere 20 years ago it was very difficult to build a following but now wherever you are if you work hard enough and have great music you can build an audience.

The only problem is that everyone has access to the same tools and only those who are truly great musicians with an amazing live act who work incredibly hard will make it. A lucky break like a film soundtrack can make all the difference but you still need to be able to back it up with quality music and a strong work ethic. The challenge is to break through the static by being truly exceptional and whether you’re The Damned, Iron Maiden or Lady Gaga only the strongest, most hard working and remarkable acts will survive.

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