Following on from last post, this one is for those musicians with an extra level of thick skinned perseverance, precisely what it takes to get anywhere in this industry.

So let's begin with a few websites you need to make use of. If you've followed the earlier advice about spreading your music far and wide on facebook, soundcloud etc., you may be struggling to fit all those web addresses into your email signatures or the bottom of your business cards (?). And that's where an aggregator such as Onesheet comes in. A simple and quick way to bring all your web presence together into one handy place - could also be good while you're waiting on that elusive 'official band website' getting completed.

Once your onesheet is ready to go, why not use it like a press pack? Get it tidied up and ready for approaching all the influencers in your musical genre. Get the correct and most appropriate email address for every promoter, radio DJ, blogger you think might be interested. Do not spam, do not ask your fans to spam on your behalf. Email someone new every day (or delegate this task).

Take a look at websites and radio stations willing to accept dropbox submissions of new music, for example check out freshonthenet (in association with the legendary Tom Robinson.) Lots of additional music marketing tips on there too.

Networking isn't a bad word, it's not so much about who you know, but about who can hear you. For my Scottish readers, events such as Born to be Wide and goNORTH could be valuable places to meet people who can help you get heard and get gigs.

Finally, I address the issue of being put in a box. Any true, talented musician full of integrity will naturally crave to stand out, be different, be new and unique. And you should be, no matter what influences you have or bands you've been inspired by, no-one likes to labelled, or treated like a copycat. But remember the Search Engine Optimisation lessons of before, if you want to be FOUND then you might just have to climb into a box or two. At the very least you should aim to be genre specific (even if it means making up a new genre name of your own in the hope it will catch on.. eg. I once created the genre ApocolypticPop but alas it just never seemed to go far...) You should also consider your local fanbase, and make your location clear, not to limit your reach but to give a clear starter for those music fans out there just dying to find the next 'jazz punk' hero from Fife...

Good luck my friends, onwards and upwards.



Leave a Reply.