When Clear Channel controls the radio and the monopoly newspaper doesn’t like you, how do you win over new audiences?

The good news: there are many, many ways. Here are ten of my favorites.

1. Approach a local college or alternative radio station or community access cable TV station with a programming idea, like a live songwriter showcase. Other musicians will want to be a part of your show, and you’ll build an audience for your own music–and theirs.

2. Write CD or concert reviews for a local alternative (or mainstream) paper.

3. Give copies of your CD away to public radio and TV stations for their fund drive premiums.

4. Organize, publicize, and perform at charity events for your favorite causes.

5. Lead songwriting or performing workshops in the schools (these are usually paying gigs, and all the parents hear your name). Invite some of the kids to perform with you; they’re sure to bring a bunch of relatives along who will pay for their tickets and maybe buy a CD.

6. Announce your gigs in every community calendar. Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, community web sites, cable TV stations–they all run event listings. Type out one paragraph that includes a tag line about what you do, such as Sandy Songwriter, River City’s ‘Homegrown Bono,’ will perform labor songs and love ballads at The Trombone Shop, 444 4th Street in Downtown River City, Wednesday, January 15, 7 p.m. If admission is free or there’s a charity connection, say so. Include contact phone number and e-mail.

7. Find Internet discussion groups related to your cause. Whether it’s immigration, voting reform, peace, safe energy, the right to choose…there will be discussion groups online. Post responses and include a sig–a short on-line business card. Use different sigs for different purposes. Here’s one of mine (in a real e-mail, it would be single-spaced):

Shel Horowitz, mailto:shel@frugalfun.com, 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388

I make the world INSIST on learning why YOU’RE special

News releases, brochures, newsletters, ad copy, web copy, resumes, etc.

http://www.frugalmarketing.com * http://www.principledprofits.com

8. Set up a simple low-cost website. Include a couple of sound clips, pictures of you performing, a place for people to sign up for your fan newsletter, a link to your favorite musicians, and, of course, your tour schedule and gig availability.

9. Get exposure on other people’s websites. Write CD reviews, endorse their music with a blurb, submit articles on the local music scene…and always include your contact information and a statement that encourages people to visit your site.

10. Use the letters columns. Call in to talk shows. Post messages to Web forums…in short, use every feedback tool you have to spread the word.

Copywriter, marketing consultant, and speaker Shel Horowitz is the author of six books and publisher of five websites, five webzines and three ezines. His two most recent, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (http://www.principledprofits.com) and Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (http://www.frugalmarketing.com) have both won awards. He’s currently engaged in a campaign to get 25,000 people to sign–and spread–the Business Ethics Pledge: http://www.principledprofits.com/25000influencers.html

When it comes to promoting their new music releases, I have found that most musicians only consider radio as the vehicle for exposing their music to the public.

Rarely do they consider publicity, in the form of print media, i.e., music magazines, weekly arts and entertainment publications and newspapers as support tools to help support their radio airplay (another subject I shall address shortly).

But, even rarer, is their consideration of the importance of having videos for their singles. A video of your single, which was once considered an optional luxury, is now a standard, vital and necessary tool if you are going to compete with fellow independent recording artists for media and consumer attention.

And, a video is even more important if you are going to compete with major label artists. In fact, since having a video for your single, particularly, your very first single from a new release, is so vitally important, why would you even release a recording without one in today’s music climate?

To me, that is like a soldier going to war with only a handgun while leaving his automatic weapon behind in his barracks.

But, perhaps, in your mind, you believe that it is still very expensive to produce videos for your singles. Even more, while you are likely an expert on producing music, you probably feel like an amateur when it comes to video production. However, that need not be the case any longer.

So, I am going to show you a no-brainer approach to easily getting a video produced for, at least, your first single from your new release, if not all of your singles.

* Steps to Getting Your Video Singles Produced Cheaply *

1. After you have your mastered soundtrack, and have selected your first single, you should then contact an area college, university or art institute.

2. Tell the school’s administration department that you need to get in touch with its broadcast journalism department.

3. When you reach the broadcast journalism department, ask to speak to an advisor or department head.

4. Tell the advisor or department head that you are an artist interested in getting a music video produced, and that you would like to be put in touch with either a senior student or graduate student who is majoring in broadcast journalism with, perhaps, a concentration on production or direction.

You may also want to stress your preference for a student who has experience with having produced music videos already. Depending on the size of the school, there will likely be several highly qualified student candidates.

In most cases, you will find video producers or directors who will want to work from a script, which includes a story line, for your video single. If that is the case, and you are in need of a script, I would like to direct you to MuBiz.com, which can produce a video script from your single. See the below link:

http://www.mubiz.com/services.html#VideoScripting

You can also see a sample video script that I created for a client at the below link.

http://www.mubiz.com/vdoscript.html

5. As for the low cost of getting broadcast journalism students to produce your video, in quite a few cases, these particular students are already in need of videos for their class projects, and yours just may be the one that will pique their interest. This is a no-cost method, and you will often need to arrange this setup one semester in advance.

In other cases, students may either own their film equipment, or be able to borrow school equipment for production. And, in this case, there may be nominal charges, however, these charges will be very affordable.

The best thing about this particular scenario is that, while you will get the best production knowledge from the student, as well as your video produced with the latest technology, you cannot be charged commercial rates, such as if you used a videographer or related service that officially operated in a commercial status.

But, perhaps, the best thing about this avenue to take for producing your video singles is that, not only will you be able to bring your marketing and artist status up a notch by having a video, you will now also have another product that can be used two-fold:

1. For further promotion of your single

2. Able to sell another product on online music sales sites as well as in retail outlets.

In some cases, you may also wish to offer it as a package deal with your CD. Additionally, why not go a step farther by incorporating it within your CD, placing it on DVD, as well as making it available on video cassette for retailers and consumer?

Note: Depending on the extensiveness of your production, most videos can be produced and edited within two weeks, if not sooner.

Kenny Love is president of http://www.MuBiz.com, a radio promotion and media publicity firm that also provides business and career services to musicians.

When Clear Channel controls the radio and the monopoly newspaper doesn’t like you, how do you win over new audiences?

The good news: there are many, many ways. Here are ten of my favorites.

1. Approach a local college or alternative radio station or community access cable TV station with a programming idea, like a live songwriter showcase. Other musicians will want to be a part of your show, and you’ll build an audience for your own music–and theirs.

2. Write CD or concert reviews for a local alternative (or mainstream) paper.

3. Give copies of your CD away to public radio and TV stations for their fund drive premiums.

4. Organize, publicize, and perform at charity events for your favorite causes.

5. Lead songwriting or performing workshops in the schools (these are usually paying gigs, and all the parents hear your name). Invite some of the kids to perform with you; they’re sure to bring a bunch of relatives along who will pay for their tickets and maybe buy a CD.

6. Announce your gigs in every community calendar. Newspapers, magazines, radio stations, community web sites, cable TV stations–they all run event listings. Type out one paragraph that includes a tag line about what you do, such as Sandy Songwriter, River City’s ‘Homegrown Bono,’ will perform labor songs and love ballads at The Trombone Shop, 444 4th Street in Downtown River City, Wednesday, January 15, 7 p.m. If admission is free or there’s a charity connection, say so. Include contact phone number and e-mail.

7. Find Internet discussion groups related to your cause. Whether it’s immigration, voting reform, peace, safe energy, the right to choose…there will be discussion groups online. Post responses and include a sig–a short on-line business card. Use different sigs for different purposes. Here’s one of mine (in a real e-mail, it would be single-spaced):

Shel Horowitz, mailto:shel@frugalfun.com, 800-683-WORD/413-586-2388

I make the world INSIST on learning why YOU’RE special

News releases, brochures, newsletters, ad copy, web copy, resumes, etc.

http://www.frugalmarketing.com * http://www.principledprofits.com

8. Set up a simple low-cost website. Include a couple of sound clips, pictures of you performing, a place for people to sign up for your fan newsletter, a link to your favorite musicians, and, of course, your tour schedule and gig availability.

9. Get exposure on other people’s websites. Write CD reviews, endorse their music with a blurb, submit articles on the local music scene…and always include your contact information and a statement that encourages people to visit your site.

10. Use the letters columns. Call in to talk shows. Post messages to Web forums…in short, use every feedback tool you have to spread the word.

Copywriter, marketing consultant, and speaker Shel Horowitz is the author of six books and publisher of five websites, five webzines and three ezines. His two most recent, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (http://www.principledprofits.com) and Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (http://www.frugalmarketing.com) have both won awards. He’s currently engaged in a campaign to get 25,000 people to sign–and spread–the Business Ethics Pledge: http://www.principledprofits.com/25000influencers.html

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