I feel like the striking majority of musicians these days are not embracing their creativity – not in the music itself (there are some phenomenal independent artists and bands breaking these days), but the marketing strategies used to promote their music. To be more specific, I’ve noticed quite a bit of resorting to the now-standard social media networks, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Using these tools presents a band that is completely transparent to its fan base and the media, but in doing so, you have to ask yourself:

1)     Is publicizing your every move what you really want to do?
2)     Is it going to help you stand out?

I am not saying that having a connection to the public through social media is not advisable, because it’s clearly a tried-and-true promotional strategy and measure of a musician’s popularity. However, I am calling for a renaissance of creative music marketing, utilizing new technology and innovation in conjunction with social media tools. One of the problems I see with using social media using the popular model is over-transparency without interactivity: you’re keeping your fans in the loop with your every move, while they aren’t given the opportunity to respond except for a MySpace comment that probably won’t actually be read by the artist, for instance. If fans get bored of your tweets, they start to fall off the map, like Kayne West’s respect after this year’s MTV VMAs. Finally, by restricting yourself to social media, you’re inherently restricting yourself to those who use those respective social networks. (How can you share your tweets with British youth if they don’t use Twitter at all, according to this article?)

Developing an innovative concept or strategy for marketing yourself is not only significant in allowing you to stand out amongst your musical peers, but also allows your fans to maintain their interest in the band with new, cool ideas. Here are a few great examples I’ve come across recently, and you may be able to take some ideas and make them your own. I’ve also got some ideas up my sleeve, which I’ll discuss further in the Lounge.

Technology and guerilla marketing at its finest: Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero alternate reality game
Trent Reznor is one of my absolute heroes, and this idea supported that. For the band’s 2007 release, Year Zero, Reznor worked with 42 Entertainment, an innovative marketing firm, to create an alternate reality campaign to promote the album. The album had an overriding concept of a dystopian society 15 years into an alternate future, and 42’s campaign sought to create an entire environment in the real world, using web technology and viral marketing strategies. This included projects ranging from creating fake websites to hiding USB drives with new songs in the bathrooms of random NIN gigs across the globe. This example was an absolutely massive project, but think of the possibilities of creating some sort of alternate concept to follow your music and keep your fans constantly begging for more.

True interaction with fans: Remix contests, etc.
Nine Inch Nails has done quite a bit of this too, as well as artists like Radiohead, Mariah Carey, Depeche Mode and Boston locals Passion Pit. This is a great way to get fans to actively reinterpret your music – not only will this give them something fun & exciting to take on, but it can give you a good idea of what kinds of musical ideas your fans are looking for in your music.

Free content for your fans is always a good thing, too, as many bands have figured out. Sharing early demos of new songs, live performance videos, or your favorites list with your fans is a no-brainer these days; a step further than that makes you stand out. While the Gorillaz aren’t made up of real people, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the masterminds behind the project, created a fully-interactive website portraying the “home” of the virtual band. Everything from the hidden crevasse in the garage to the Napoleon Dynamite poster in 2D’s bedroom is interactive, and you can spend hours on the site just exploring the house. It clearly took a lot of creative work and man-hours, but it’s incredibly cool.

Some good, clean (or not) notoriety
In this industry, new bands and artists seem to be coming and going fast. One of the reasons that pop artists like Lady Gaga can survive today’s harsh major-label climate is her wardrobe. Fans and haters alike can agree that Gaga’s wide variety of clothing (if that’s what you want to call it) has given a fresh new approach to visual style in music.

The point I’m getting at is this: her outlandish attire is what allows her to stand out. This isn’t the first time a band has gone from mild success to celebrity due to some notoriety or mystery surrounding him; look at artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Manson, or even Lindsay Lohan. Led Zeppelin fans are constantly intrigued by stories of satanic messages in band’s recordings.

There’s dozens more examples I could mention here. You totally don’t need to become a recurring subject of the tabloids, but creating a sense of mystery surrounding your band may be a good way to spark the interest of new fans looking for a new band to follow.

This marks the end of my rant-of-sorts; I’ve continued this discussion at the Lounge to post some tips, ideas and other thoughts about creative ways to market a band there.

Brandon

Check out the Virgin Air Radio Show Here!

If you’re not familiar, the link above is the most recent Virgin America In-Flight Airplay ‘New Music Discovered’ session, courtesy of the Sky Radio Network!  I think it’s pretty cool to listen to some Sonicbids artists tunes and interviews that is currently airing on Virgin America Air Radio.  Much better than the typical elevator-type music you tend to hear on airplanes; that’s never going to make a 5 hour red eye from LA to NYC go fast.

If you like what you hear and you want to check out more, artists interviewed in the session are….

Mike from Carlon: http://www.sonicbids.com/carlon
Justin Levinson: http://www.sonicbids.com/justinlevinson
Dennis from Sentinel: http://www.sonicbids.com/sentinelmusic
Jennifer from Una: http://www.sonicbids.com/Una

Enjoy!
Tess

So Many Dynamos sold their new CD “The Loud Wars” on their website for $10. However, for just $12, you could get the CD as well as a ticket to the show of your choice on their album release tour. Not a bad deal, right? I was too lazy to jump on this in time for the package to make it to Boston before the show at Great Scott, so I ended up downloading the album for free and paying $15 at the door for the show. There’s a lose-lose…

The Cool Kids were selling flash drives on their tour from the merch table at a fraction of the price of a CD. Also, if you’re touring in a sedan, take note. You can fit about a couple hundred of these in a box that would hold 10 or 20 CDs.

Family of the Year is selling their new EP Where’s the Sun on their website in two different ways. First, you can buy the physical CD for a very reasonable price of $7. Also, they employed the Radiohead model and offered a download of the CD in exchange for your email address and whatever you want to pay for the CD. This will definitely help to expand their email list, as well as get them the gas to make it from point A to point B. I’m seeing these guys open for Ben Folds with the Boston Pops, a gig they booked through Sonicbids! Very excited…

Antiques wrapped a copy of their record in a 12” x 39” poster. You can download the music for free from their site by providing an email address and a zip code (valuable fan data), then enjoy the record and poster as the physical product. Check out the video on their page; the whole package wraps up nicely. The whole idea of coupling your music with another piece of merch is intriguing to me and the rest of the Member Relations team here. Just toss a download card in with a t-shirt and sell it for $2 more, or create your own combination of merch and music. Even if you only make $2, it’s more than if someone were to steal it.

Josh Freese’s recent stunt was closely enough related here that I had to include it. He sold different packages with his CD, each level of payment adding something more and more ridiculous. Packages started at $7 for just a digital download of the CD, and peaked at $75,000, which included going on tour with Josh, him writing and recording a 5 song EP about you, he joined your band for a month, and so on. You really have to check this one out. It’s worth the read.

During the family events, we booked a really awesome local duo called Anna & Milovan to perform a few live tunes at our house. My parents had heard the father-daughter team a number of times around town. My mother especially had such high praises for Anna’s voice, and thought they would be a great fit for all ages at our family gathering. Although it was a fairly small event with around 20 people, Anna’s voice filled the room with excitement and liveliness. Milovan’s velvety guitar perfectly complemented her voice.

After an hour of solid performance, everyone in the room had an ear-to-ear grin on their face. I stepped up to talk with them a bit. While we were chatting, I asked if they had ever heard of Sonicbids. As it turns out, they had just joined the Sonicbids community a few weeks earlier to help expand their craft and book more gigs. As Midpoint music festival is an annual favorite in the area, the group heard about the Sonicbids network from friends at the fest.

Although they were relatively new to our site, they were excited to see the extensive opportunities available to bands across the globe. Like many artists, Anna told me she’s working toward being a fulltime performer while also managing another career. After talking to them about Sonicbids and giving them a one-on-one with some tips and tricks on the site, they were even more excited to put their account to work identifying the right gigs in their area and abroad.

What a small world it really is! We have an open door policy at Sonicbids for all our members, and even out of the office, it’s a pleasure meeting Sonicbids bands face to face and sharing their experiences. Check out Anna & Milovan’s EPK here: http://www.sonicbids.com/AnnaAndMilovan

I quit my band a few months ago. That’s a great conversation starter.

To be honest, my heart wasn’t really into it, I was writing songs myself that didn’t really fit our ‘sound’ (we played all-instrumental progressive rock), and it was just too much of a commitment that I didn’t feel was making me happy in the long run.

So what now? I’ve decided to take my creative independence to heart and start a solo project. I’ve been toying with the idea for some time now and have been recording material myself for an EP or two, as well as a full-length record. And, while I’m not technically playing live (since I don’t have a band, yet) or have any great publicity for myself yet, I’ve still got a Sonicbids EPK.  Why would it make any sense for me to have an EPK? A couple of reasons (and not just because I work here!)

A great press kit. A common misconception is that the Sonicbids press kit is a paid version of internet presence, something like a MySpace page. I’ve got a MySpace and a Facebook page for my music, but one must consider who exactly will be viewing each page. Sonicbids press kits are just that — promoters, publicists, judges and others are viewing this to determine if your band is right to work with them. I use my other sites to interact with my friends and small fanbase, provide them with demos of new tunes and updates from my life. Sonicbids’ clear, concise EPK format allows me to organize all of my information into a neat little package for these people to view, because I want to focus this type of viewer on my 4-5 best songs.

Some sections of the EPK that I feel many artists do not take advantage of are the Set List, Basic Requirements, and Calendar pages. These are crucial for informing promoters about what you require and can provide live. The EPK Calendar is especially useful, even as a non-performing musician. Take the time to include any past gigs you’ve played, to demonstrate your live show experience (think of it as a resume of sorts). I’m going to use my calendar to inform about my music releases once I have more clear-cut dates on these.

Gigs before I start looking for gigs. Sonicbids has literally hundreds of gig listings that artists, bands and agencies can submit their EPKs to for consideration. Yes, many of these are live gigs, but we are constantly growing in the vein of opportunities for non-performing musicians, and non-musical acts as well. One type of gig I’ve been checking out recently is the category of online radio and other forms of publicity, which is a way to get my music out there before an album is released or much is done in terms of publicity. Once my music is copyrighted I plan on moving into the realm of licensing and hopefully getting my tunes into some films and TV, or at least in a placement library.

An artist always needs to be careful and make sure they check out the station (or any gig for that matter) to make sure it is truly right for them. We’ve implemented some great tools to help you out with this: the Advanced Gig Search, Pick-o-Meter, Rate/Reviewing of Gig Listings, and the Success Stories page (feel free to check out MR rep Tony’s article on these tools  here). You can also check out other areas of site for more information on that promoter — some of our promoters leave phenomenal tips and info about their gigs elsewhere in the Lounge that is great to know at any point in your career.

A chance to network and practice my industry etiquette. When you’re working on your own, or starting something new, it’s imperative that you leave your ego out of the picture. While my old band was not a household name, we had some great press in the prog-rock community and sold some records here and there. But my new project has nothing to do with the original band — I may send my EPK to some contacts I made while in that band, and I’ve got a good amount of industry experience under my belt, but that does not guarantee success.

It’s a little sad to get that “Not Selected” status update. But if I don’t get selected for a gig, I try hard to use that as an opportunity to follow up with the promoter and perhaps change that to a potential gig, or even get feedback as to why I wasn’t selected. Maybe a relationship can be started in just a couple of emails. Lastly, while Sonicbids does a pretty good job at allowing you to submit and receive a response, it doesn’t just end there — many gigs require some sort of follow-up, and again, it’s a great way to establish a relationship with that promoter or gig.

Some other cool ideas! The EPK Hits Tracker tracks individual hits to each section of the EPK and I’m going to use that info to my advantage; once I have all the material recorded and mastered for my album, I had this idea to set up a “virtual listening party” on my EPK. I’m going to upload my entire album (it should fit within the boundaries of a Supersonic EPK) to my EPK and use Email My EPK to target some industry contacts I have, fans, friends and others who may take interest and direct them to my songs, which they’ll be able to listen to. I’ll then be able to track the hits to each song, to see what songs are played most. Also, I’ll be able to see what information they take most interest in — this is a great way to not only show me what parts of the EPK are most compelling, but also lets me see what they are looking for in an artist by which pages are viewed most frequently.

It might sound strange, but you can also use the EPK format to present yourself as a musician looking for work or a band — fill up your Audio page with music you’ve worked on in the past, add some press reviews to emphasize your skill as a musician. Even add a video of yourself playing with one of your old bands (if they’re cool with it). You can still use the EPK to promote to other artists, bands, songwriters, producers and more with Email My EPK and the Artist Search tool within your account.

You can check out my new EPK if you want here. It’s nothing special right now, as I’m just starting out anew, but it’s good to share. Also, feel free to send us any feedback you have about the site, or any little idea you might have for making this site better or more useful for you — comment on this post, write to our Support Center, give us a call.

Also, how do you use your EPK? Feel free to comment with some ideas you might come up with. I’ll do that too – these days it’s all about creativity anyway.

Brandon

Well, it’s now April 1st and Benjy won handily.  His prize was to be the first to own the new USB Powered Air-Conditioned Sonicbids T-shirt.

He even let Tony borrow it for a bit to keep cool when answering support emails:

It’s not on sale to the general public just yet, because there are still some kinks to be worked out.

But if you follow me on Twitter I’ll let you know as soon as they’re available to purchase!

Only you can save us from this fate by following us on Twitter.

Benjy	Lou	Tess	Tony