BY MIKEY MIGO
You don't need to be signed by a major label, played on the radio during rush hour, nor have your CDs sold at Best Buy to be a rockstar. In today's modern world, a band can survive and thrive on its own. It's not an easy process and is a lot of work, but if you're serious about your art and prospective music career then it won't be work at all.
I'm not an expert by any means, but I do have experience in promotions, marketing, and business. If it's not professional wrestling, it's been independent movies. I've toyed with the idea of starting my own independent music label, but with all on my plate right now, I don't see that happening until the next decade.
If this helps one band get one more fan out there then I consider this column a success. I'm sure there are more steps to this process, but these are the ones that I think are obvious.
1.) Put the "EP" in "Don't Waste Your Time With Too Much Crap"
I'm always impressed when I come across a newly formed unsigned band that has a full length LP. It's ballsy of them to put out an album when in fact they've not even played in front of a thousand people total. What I mean by that is that they've played for the same friends and family with the scattered different faces who are probably just the friends and family of the other bands on the bill. STILL, the band is confident enough to release an 18 track epic album. There is NO REASON for this. Well, except for the selling point of "Dude, buy this album! There's EIGHTTEEN TRACKS! YEAH!". Most of the bands we all love started off small with a few songs, maybe 10 at most on EP. They sell these copies, give them away, send them to local radio, local press, and just get their "sound" out there. A good EP is the bait that most fans, press, and record labels will bite on. Unless you have material that you've played for live crowds that has crowds and crowds asking, begging, and harassing for it on CD then you should stick to what you feel are your best six or so tracks and put it out there. Have enough music to play a full 25 or so minute set, but you're not Pink Floyd. Quality over quantity is always true in art. If you're not treating your music as art then you're in the wrong line of work.
2.) What's In a Name?
What's in a name? EVERYTHING. Would you give a shit about Nirvana if they were called "Poo-Stained Puppy"? Well, that'd probably be worth a listen so that's a bad example. You DO get what I mean. The name of your band will precede your music. The flyer, the marquee, the album cover, and just about everything visually connected to your band will be represented by the name of the band. Most people will see your name on the flyer before they hear your music. Be it catchy, ironic, bad ass, or random make sure it's something you'd want to hear a crowd chanting over and over again. The double sided sword is that if your music blows up, your name will become catchy purely based on the the repeated use of it. Still, you want something that'll represent your band and look cool on a poster. You don't want to be in your early 50's and doing a reunion tour for a band called "Poo-Stained Puppy". Or do you?
3.) Visual Awareness: Logos, Colors, and Branding.
You have music and a name. You now need visual awareness. You band needs a distinct logo to make it stand out. Think of bands like Nirvana, The Beatles, Rage against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails' "NIN", or even Korn's backwards "r". It's not necessarily some big fancy logo like Nike, NBC, or Budweiser. It's just a certain font or letter design that when you see it, you know it. Find one that represents your band and stick to it. Your music is a brand and I don't mean that in a cold and corporate way. Brands are something that's recognized and that people are comfortable with. In that regards, why not have a logo or specific visual style that stands out and that your fans and potential fans can instantly respond to? There are many independent artists out there. Everyone knows someone who can draw. Tap your sources and give credit where it's due.
4.) Merchandising: Let Them Pay to be Your Human Billboard
At this very moment, I'm wearing a shirt the band Dope on it. I don't even like the band THAT much, but I like the shirt and whoever sees me today will see it/ I have a closet full of band shirts from bands I love, concerts I've been too, and ones that I really don't know why I own. These shirts looked so cool hanging up behind the merch stand and at the time were totally worth the $35 they raped me for. Unless the shirt is full color or a "must have", I hate spending more than $25 for a band shirt. So a lot of times I'll get shirts on sale and rock it that way. From the band point of view, you're getting to sell a shirt to someone with your logo and hand picked artwork on it. You're being paid by your already loyal fans to have the honor of promoting your band to the rest of the world. The same goes for hats, hoodies, and any other clothing. On the same level, a poster on a visible wall is another form of free advertisement that you're getting paid for. It's crazy if you think about it!
5.) Be a Cyber Whore: MySpace, Facebook, and Other Forms of Prostitution.
If you're in a band and you don't have a MySpace page then you're NOT in a band. Facebook is catching up too and seems to be "hipper" than MySpace now in some circles. Either way, if you're not utilizing the greatest form of band promotion to come since the creation of a "flier" then you are not serious about getting your music heard. Mostly everyone has a MySpace page, Facebook, or something else like a Vampirefreaks account. Sure, there's still some "too cool for school" people out there who don't, but when it comes to modern music fans, those who do outweigh those who don't. There's gotta be literally over a billion people on MySpace. Consider those potential fans. Sure you'll have to take some time to make sure your logo, image, and music is organized on the page, but you'll be able to find fans in your area and across the world. The unsigned and independent label world of music is run through MySpace. Unless you want to be the next American Idol, you're not going to be able to skip this step. Social networking sites provide a place to let people hear your music, promote your shows, and sell your merchandise. It's evil, it's superficial, and it's everything we all hate about it. But on a musician stand point, it's a goldmine.
6.) Rock The World: Playing Dives, Arenas, and Everywhere In Between.
Unless you're band consists of animated characters like Gorillaz, then you gotta have shows. You need to have shows to perform your music, prove you're a real band, score groupies and free drugs, and build your fan base. Uh, scratch that about groupies and free drugs. That'll come later if you do all of this right. You're not going to book the House of Blues your first time out. If so, then you're already well connected and should continue to blow whoever you're blowing. Odds are you're going to play a small dive bar, a local American Legion, or in some parking lot with another half dozen bands who all think they know more about the music business and life in general than you do. You play the smaller place for awhile and build up good terms with the owners. You then branch out to a bigger place and maybe even opening up for a third tier band at your local club. As your talent, professionalism, and fan base grows so will the capacity of the venues you play. If you're just starting out, you'll want to play as many places as possible, but as you become more established you'll want to space out your shows. Maybe play one big show every month or two a month. I've learned a lot of things from professional wrestling that's similar to the music business. One thing is that you don't want to oversaturate your market. If you do all of this and your music is good enough, you'll eventually tour in support of a third tier band and then second and then maybe headline your own. One thing many don't know is that a lot of times you'll have to PAY TO PLAY on these tours. Most bands have to buy on to Ozzfest. I've heard numbers as crazy as six figures to be able to tour and play their second stage. Hell, there's a really shitty band out of Chicago that BUYS ON to third tier metal tours like they're the shit but can't draw 50 on their own in their hometown. Have some self realization and even more importantly self respect.
7.) Be a PRO at PROMOTING (and At Pimp Yourself Out)!
You have to promote. You have to get on those social networking sites I already mentioned and talk to fans, put up banners, and get the word out there as much as possible. You're going to have to ask your fans to put the banners up, promote, and show their support. If someone likes your music even a small little bit, you're going to want them to have that banner of yours on their page for all their "friends" to see. On the same front, you MUST get old school with your promotions. You'll want to be passing out flyers anywhere and everywhere. You'll want to have posters up advertising your next show, newest album, or just the existence of your band in as many windows as possible. Assemble a street team of loyal fans and friends who'll help you, but you can't purely rely on others. You have to be the person outside of like-sounding concerts passing out your flyers and demos. To me, promoting is telling a story of selling points that'll paint a positive picture of whatever product you're pushing. The best to do that is the creator of what you're pushing.
8.) "Extra! Extra! Read All About It!"
Most radio stations and television stations only play signed artists by major labels. I'm sure there's legalities there or just them having a stick up their ass. Who knows? Still, most radio stations will have a slot or even an hour or two program dedicated to the local music scene. This is because most radio stations want YOU to think they're cutting edge and are on the cusp of what's hot and what's not. The truth is, is that a lot of people are local music fans on some level and this put the evil corporate radio station in a better light with them. There are some local access shows that still show unsigned music videos, but not many. The only one I know if is JBTV out of Chicago. Many MANY awesome artists got their start on the station thanks to its creator Jerry Bryant. There's also the occasional write up in the newspaper that'll cover some fluffy questions, an album review, or a show preview. I just read one this past week about a local band and it did nothing to make me want to check them out. THEN there's sites like 411mania.com where it's all internet and all truth. We're not paid so it's all passion. I'm sure we all take pride in our writing efforts, but in the general public we're not as respected as other mediums. Still, it's press. You WANT press. Be it the local music show on your local station, a local access TV show, or an interview with any magazine possible. Press gets word out about whatever you're promoting and looks really good to venues you want to play at and to record labels.
9.) D.I.Y. Distribution: Music in the ears = Money in the pocket.
There are plenty of bands who want to be just like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails musically and as a business. They are currently famous for giving their music away for free. YOU really can't do that at this point if you want to make any money from your work. In the bigger picture of it, they're self distributing their music to the people be it for free, five bucks, or for a donation. You too can self distribute your music. The old school way is making the CDs yourself or getting them printed up somewhere like discmakers.com or oasis.com and then selling them at your shows and from your car. You can still do that and it's highly encouraged, but you can also attack the internet. You can of course handle it yourself and set up a Paypal account and just go from there. I'd suggest dishing out the $40 and signing up with cdbaby.com. You pay the money, send them 10 copies of the album, and they sell it and give you the net profit. You can do that yourself, sure, but what they do is put your music on places like itunes, rhapsody, and other well known, respected, and trusted websites. To me and many others "itunes" equals some level of respectability among unsigned acts.
10.) Drive: Work Today, Sell Out Tomorrow.
There are too many weekend warriors out there, too many cover bands who pretend to be rockstars, and too many people who want to be famous without earning it. I've seen and have known so many people who'll be in a band and not care at all. They'll be lazy and not want to work at improving themselves. The whole fact of being able to say "I'm in a band" is all they want and they eventually move on to something else once they get bored with it. If you really love music and making music then odds are you're already doing these things. There are bands out there who are old men who continue to keep pushing and reaching for their dreams. It could have been just one or two of these steps or other factors for them not of reached their goals, but at least they're still reaching. Some bands take ten years before getting a single on the radio. The endurance of a good band isn't measured by how much they party, but how much they yearn for success. To them, success to getting their art in as many ears as possible. Next time your favorite unsigned act gets signed, tours arenas with that band you hate, or puts out a radio edit please realize they're not selling out. You can't sell out when you're goals are world domination.
Ultimately, you need to make good music, love what you do, and keep your day job.
What are some other DIY methods and steps am I forgetting?
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