Two Easy Steps To Describing Your Band For Greater Web Traffic And More Fans
It continues to boggle my mind how many bands don't take the time to come up with a decent description of their music. It's extremely important, and when you're marketing yourself online, it's essential.So grab some paper, we're gonna create two simple band descriptions that will help you earn you web traffic and help you with all aspects of your music promotion. Whether you're looking to promote your band to someone in an elevator, on the phone or submitting to a directory, these two descriptio...
Confessions Of A Master CD Sales Woman Part 2
Well a great performance and an interactive sales crew is just the start to seling more CDs at gigs. The Rogues also employ other salespeople.Our sellers work off of a commission, with bonuses built in when an individual's sales total reaches a certain amount. Giving a salesperson a commission motivates them to sell more product than just giving them a flat rate. We do have minimum pay for a day's work when the sales are not good. In that case the band usually pays $50 day, or a 10% commission o...
I’d Be Happy To Scratch Your Back
I remember when I first put the Brobdingnagian Bards on MP3.com and started to learn the ropes. I would listen daily to music there, but I never listened to bands that were higher in the charts than we were because I didn't want to boost their ratings any more than they already were.I guess greedy. It totally dog-eat-dog. But it wasn't until I started to listen to my own advice that I started to make some changes and helping my fellow musicians. And it wasn't until I started to help you that our...
Promoting Your Music At Amazon.com
I remember a while back reading David Nevue's book, How to Successfully Promote Your Music the the Internet. In it he threw out a cool suggestion for increasing the searchability of your band.His suggestion was to write a review of CDs that you feel are similar to your style of music or CDs that inspired your music. The idea is if you promote traffic to this webpage, visitors will also see a review of your band, and check out your music.I loved that idea so much that I was psyched when I learned...
How To Effectively Sell Your CDs
The recent changes in the payback formula at MP3.com had catastophic results to indie artists everywhere. My band, the Brobdingnagian Bards, was making over $100 per day when the system dropped out from beneath us. But you know, it didn't hit us as hard as many artists.The reasons is that about two months ago, I saw the changes that were happening and decided to make a change in my own marketing procedures. Vivendi was taking charge. They want to hinder free downloads and keep CDs viable for as ...
Italy Lesson: Venice
Two weeks ago, I went to Italy to visit family and see the country. I was a military brat, so I've been there plenty of times before, but nevertheless, it was a magnificent and learning experience, both artistically and as a guerrilla marketer. So for the next few weeks, I'm gonna take you on a brief tour of Italy, and show you what I learned from my trips. I'll take you from Venice to Florence, Pisa and Rome, plus few places thrown in. The travel industry is an outstanding resource for learning...
4 Ways To Get Top Beat Instrumentals
Good beat instrumentals are an essential part of any budding artist's toolkit. For many, getting lyrics and a basic melody down is one thing, but it's not until you have some great beats holding the tune together and driving it forward that you really feel you've made a quality track.Adding or changing your rhythm bed can make an average track exceptional.So, now the sixty four thousand dollar question...How do I get myself quality beat instrumentals?Well, you have several options.Hire a drummer...
14 Ways Musicians Can Increase Their Tips
I was listening to NPR the other day when they did a report on tipping in the restaurant industry. One they had a list of tips on how wait staff can increase their tips.That got me brainstorming and surfing the net for other ideas to boost tips. That combined with lots of performances at Renaissance Festivals helped me to develop my own list of ways musicians can improve their tips.1. Introduce yourself by nameToo often musicians forget to introduce themselves on stage. Make sure you tell the au...
Your CD Cover To Advertise Your Music Another Opinion
One of the Brobdingnagian Bards' early CDs, Songs of the Muse is going into it's second pressing. When I saw Christopher Knab's article Your CD Cover is Your Best Ad For Your Music, I decided this was the perfect inspiration I needed to update the CD graphics.I've been a fan of Christopher Knab for about as long as I've been a fan of Bob Baker. He is without a doubt one of the top Top 10 music marketers in my book.Well, whenever I create graphics, I find too often that I forget a bunch of stuff....
(Don’t) Play By The Rules
I was walking on campus today back from our weekly gig at the University of Texas' South Mall, when I heard a member of the Young Conservatives of Texas speak. March 2nd is Texas Independence Day and so this fellow was preaching that if you work hard and play by the rules you too can lead a good life.Maybe it's the skeptic in me, but it made me think, What a bunch of crock! Most people, including most musicians, work hard and play by the rules, but did you know that Americans carry, on average, ...