Archive for the ‘Promotion Tips and Tricks’ Category
What You Can Learn from Barack Obama
Don’t worry, this isn’t really a political post. So whoever you voted for, if you voted, you’ve done a good thing.
This is about how Barack Obama and his team used technology in a way that was unprecedented and had never been used before. And about how that use of technology seemed to have worked and in fact, may have played a part in his eventual winning of the 2008 U.S. presidential contest.
First and foremost, Obama and his team mobilized people on the web. They reached out not only through their website, but through MySpace and Facebook and Twitter and many other social marketing websites. They used these sites to keep people updated on debate dates and times, to ask for donations, as well as to keep people updated on the latest news about their candidate.
And people responded. Obama has been called a “rock star.” Maybe because he’s used the web in a way to mobilize people that only musicians have seemed to have understood.
But he took it a step further. He stayed in contact with his “fans” and they were always aware of what was going on in his campaign. This made the campaign transparent and everyone who supported him felt they were part of the greater cause. He included his “fans” in nearly every way and kept them engaged.
Text messaging also played a part in the election. Text messages were sent on a regular basis to those who signed up for them to also keep people interested and engaged. And on election day, everyone got messages reminding them to vote, even including details as to when polls opened and closed in their state.
Musicians and bands could learn a lot from a politician. I’m sure that’s the first time that’s been said!
Reach out to your fans… engage them… keep them interested and never stop having conversations with them. Respond to emails, send them messages, update them on every little detail that you can.
The result? You’ll get fans that are more likely to be involved with your act, as well as get fans that are more likely to care enough about you to pay for your music, merchandise and shows.
Do you have a story to tell?
So I’m hooked on this new t.v. show called Z-Rock on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). It’s funny and at times appears to be real. What is it about? Well, it’s about a heavy metal rock band that happens to be a kiddie band by day (it pays the bills, apparently).
It’s funny and endearing and sometimes offensive, but always more or less pretty close to the truth of what it’s like to have a band (although maybe some elements are glorified a bit).
And it’s also based on a true story. The guys in the show? They’re really that band. They spend their nights rocking out in the clubs and their days playing birthday parties for children.
Someone thought their story was compelling enough to give them their own t.v. show.
Do you have an interesting story about your act or band? If so, tell it! You’d be surprised at how interesting it just might be…
Here’s a challenge – take something that’s happened to you as a band and re-enact it for a video. Throw the video up on YouTube and let the fans see into one of your stories. Make it entertaining and it could very well go viral.
Attract Subscribers, Not Visitors
Great article about the importance of building up your mailing lists and using them on Bob Baker’s Site:
Attract Subscribers, Not Visitors
How Not to Promote A Band
There’s this band that I absolutely love. I have both of their albums and I listen to them regularly. I’ve been wanting to see them perform live for a very long time. I discovered about a month and a half ago that they had a date in Atlanta coming up. However, there was never any information posted about the show.
After a few weeks of waiting to see if information would be posted about the show (which is at probably one of the best live venues in the country, the Tabernacle), the date appears on MySpace (it had been on their website for some time) and it says something to the effect that it’s a free show sponsored by Blender Magazine and that more information will follow.
I’m impatient. I’ll admit it. And being that I have to drive 2-1/2 hours to the venue to get there, I wanted more information. Who wouldn’t? So I sent a message to the band’s MySpace, as well as leave a comment. I also track down some contact information for Blender Magazine and e-mail them as well. And finally, after hearing nothing from “the people in charge,” I sent an e-mail to a DJ at an Atlanta radio station. Who did get back to me, but only to tell me that they’d be giving tickets away on-air for the show that week. But I don’t live in Atlanta, I don’t listen to Atlanta radio stations. I did listen from time to time that week over the internet, but my timing must suck – I never heard any info. about the show.
The show is now in two days and the band’s MySpace still says “Info. to come.” And there’s no information on their website (which is down more than it’s up, I might add). I give up. That’s one less band I now need to support.
Did I mention they’re signed to Atlantic Records (major label)? Did I mention the band’s name was Jet?
If the big guys can’t get their proverbial sh** together, they’re setting a very poor example for the little guys.
All I can say is that if someone contacted me about any of the bands we work with, or even bands or musicians we know, I’d have that information to them asap.
There’s a reason the major labels are griping about losing money, and it’s not all due to illegal downloading.
Of course, this WAS a free show and I’m sure neither the label, nor the band, nor Blender Magazine really cared much about it in the first place. Another way to expose people to the band completely and utterly wasted. Why even bother?
The MySpace Mistake
There’s been a lot of talk lately about MySpace and it’s destiny to be yet another corporate lackey. Case in point:
MySpace is starting to delete third party widgets and software that come from competitors. I figure it’s only a matter of time before even YouTube videos will not be allowed to be shown on MySpace, since the rumor mill is stating they’re working on their own competitor to YouTube.
This is yet just another reason that ARTISTS NEED TO HAVE THEIR OWN SPACE ON THE WEB.
MySpace is most certainly NOT the best marketing solution for your band or your music. You need to get yourself a website if you don’t have one. And you need a website that not only collects information from your fans so that you can contact them when you need to, but you also need a website that has all of your information available, should the following occur:
1. MySpace deletes your profile. And it has happened. Many bands have been called spam and have found their profiles gone, with absolutely no warning. Think about it… all those friends you’ve carefully acquired gone. And don’t think that MySpace is going to give you their info. so that you can contact them to let them know what happened.
2. MySpace is going to prevent you from selling your music on its space, unless you use Snocap and Snocap only. If you have your own website, you can sell your music any way you want. It’s yours, after all, shouldn’t you be able to do that?
3. MySpace is going to be having one of its MANY technical glitches and you will be unable to post a bulletin (or even worse, as I can tell you often happens, your important bulletin doesn’t get posted until later… later might mean the difference in getting people to a show that night and not). Or maybe you can’t add last-minute shows to your profile (and as of Thursday, March 22nd at 5:57 p.m. ET – this is DEFINITELY the case). Or maybe you can’t even access MySpace. Or worse, those viewing your page can’t listen to your music because the music players are down. This happens a lot. If you’ve been on MySpace for any amount of time, you know this is the truth.
Also, an important thing to remember is that MySpace owns the information that’s on MySpace. Those friends you’ve collected? They don’t belong to you – they belong to MySpace. The information you’ve posted, whether in blogs, bulletins or otherwise… that’s not yours either. And control? You have none, because MySpace does not belong to you.
But you can have ownership of your information, as well as full control, by doing one simple thing – putting up a website. No, I don’t mean a domain name that points to your MySpace. You need an actual website with all of your show dates, music (heck, even give some away for free and see how people will flock to your page), photos and an online mailing list so that you have permanent access to your fanbase that YOU own.
I’m sure there will still be many of you out there who thinks MySpace is enough. And for those, I suppose, there is no help. Not until you lose your profile or your information or can’t contact fans when you need them the most.
So when that happens, contact us. Or contact us now and save yourself from the MySpace mistake.