Tom Brookes Music Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 ....aside from here of course. We do the whole Twitter/FB thing, but I can't help but feel that they don't really help to reach a new audience and build a proper following? It's ten years ago since I did an originals band and I'd forgotten how hard it can be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rOB Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Will watch this one with interest. Extra suggestions would be local music press and other web platforms like band camp and soundcloud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Social media is really just noise when it comes to unsigned bands (read "bands with miniscule or no following'). No one is reading and no one cares, not because you're no good but because you're just one of a myriad of bands competing for our attention. Assuming you're using social media [url="http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/category/social-media"]as you should[/url], your best bet for building an audience is by gigging. Old fashioned I know, but do it right and it still works as well as it ever did. After that comes other bands in the same boat - building a scene never hurt anyone. Then look for bloggers who cover your kind of stuff. Not the big boys, just the run of the mill guys who might only have 10's rather than 100's or 1000's of followers. It can help if you start following them first, commenting on their posts with no mention of your band. Then when you hit them up for a review they'll recognise your name, which of course will make it stand out from all the other demos they receive. If they like it they'll likely mention it to others higher in the food chain. Personal recommendation is what it's all about nowadays. Or you could not waste any time with any of this and just write some better songs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) We've gone the Facebook, Reverbnation, Soundcloud etc. route, plus we make all of our music available for free online. It's always useful to have another gig or two booked after the one you're playing and hand out flyers. The thing is that you simply can't rely on building a following through friends; collectively as a band we have around 1,000 FB [i]Fwends[/i], but struggle to get 40-50 anywhere where we play and even then most of the crowd are walkups. It is disappointing and sometimes I genuinely do wonder why we bother. Friends, unfortunately, do want everything for free, but would never consider reciprocating if the occasion arose - I am sick to the back teeth of people/work colleagues asking me for t-shirts, badges, stickers or CDs. Sorry to vent off, but I had one woman at work, a person who rarely spoke to me, saying she'd seen a photo of me gigging through someone else s FB page and I had been wearing a [i]Nancy Johnson[/i] t-shirt. She just said, straight-faced, 'Can I have one of those t-shirts in your photo?' I answered that I'd just had one done for my own use, to which she asked whether I would get one done for her, but it would cost £15-20. Cue some haggling. I eventually just asked her to name one of our songs and I would bring the freshly laundered t-shirt in and that she could use it as a duster if she wanted. Nothing. No interest in the band, just want something for nowt. P Edited March 26, 2014 by NancyJohnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBass Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 The best ways I've found are: Gig. Just go out there and gig, the more people that hear and see your band the more chances you have that people will like you and buy your stuff. Get a manager/promoter that you always use. Having a manager to deal with the majority of the promo and finding you gigs etc is a HUGE help! Everyone says it's do-able on your own but it takes up most of your time and you'll get stressed at not hearing back, getting rejections etc. Finding a good promoter is akin to finding a block of gold on your front door. However if you can find one in your area then stick to him or her like glue! They will know other promoters from other areas and will recommend you to them for future gigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1395786642' post='2406419'] ...your best bet for building an audience is by gigging. Old fashioned I know, but do it right and it still works as well as it ever did. After that comes other bands in the same boat - building a scene never hurt anyone... [/quote] [quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1395827288' post='2406694'] The best ways I've found are: Gig. Just go out there and gig, the more people that hear and see your band the more chances you have that people will like you and buy your stuff. [/quote] I think this is as true as it ever was. People remember you if you're a bit unusual, have good songs, can pace a set properly, not be carrying any passengers and have at least a bit of a pro attitude, even if you're amateurs. Oh yes, you have to be able to play a bit, too. I've tried all the usual online malarkey for promotion. Those stories of acts making it big through YouTube and so on usually turn out to have been carefully financed and organised campaigns by big promoters creating a 'buzz'. It [i]can [/i]be done from scratch I'm sure, but if you can't actually appear in meatspace and entertain people then it's going to be short-lived at best. *Waits for inevitable proof to the contrary* Edited March 27, 2014 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Gigging is more important than ever since these days the live performance rather than the recording is the "product". Make sure that your band are entertaining and are actually producing something at the gigs that people want to watch and listen to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brookes Music Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 Cheers for the replies, the whole, building up a fan base at gigs and giving out flyers to the next gig on the night will be in place for our next gig.....I'm going to look into Twitter more as it seems to be a much more direct way of promoting than Facebook. I'm also going to really look at how to be more savvy with our YouTube channel. ....and carry on gigging too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1395828513' post='2406708'] *Waits for inevitable proof to the contrary* [/quote] I don't think there is any this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBass Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 [quote name='Tom Brookes Music' timestamp='1395842457' post='2406978'] Cheers for the replies, the whole, building up a fan base at gigs and giving out flyers to the next gig on the night will be in place for our next gig.....I'm going to look into Twitter more as it seems to be a much more direct way of promoting than Facebook. I'm also going to really look at how to be more savvy with our YouTube channel. ....and carry on gigging too! [/quote] When you are gigging and tweeting, make friends and contact people! Choose who you follow carefully! You'll get random accounts from LA and The Mid-west add you in America, these while good probably aren't worth a follow back on your part. Twitter shows you exactly what people you're following are saying, so getting the right people appearing on your feed goes a LONG way! Remember to always build relationships, bands are a business and need to be managed with long term goals in mind and not to "make it huge in a year" etc. Good luck though! Check my twitter account out as I post fairly regularly jamesfoxbass and my promotions company is bigwaveports! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low End Bee Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Gigs. I've tried pretty much everything else and it's mostly a waste of time. Presentation helps too. Don't look like the audience and do nice flyers and posters. Write good tunes and entertain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggiesnr Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 It starts with gigging and being good enough that someone will want to sign you. Also the brutal truths that some bands just aren't going to get signed no matter how good they are because they don't fit what anyone wants (or thinks that they might be able to make something of), some "crap" bands will get signed because they do, and there's also a lot of luck in it. Jake Bugg, the Mumfords, are no better than lots of similar acts over the past ten years but they're the ones who got the deals. You have to offer a potential label something and in all honesty the size of your Facebook following probably means very little. What you are offering is sound, an approach, a look, an instrumentation that a label goes "we can make money with that" or "we can mold that into something we can make money with" because labels are in the business of making money. So keep gigging but take a long hard look at yourselves and work out just what you are offering and whether that's good enough. And keep gigging anyway because it all helps (and it's fun). Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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