ORIGINAL MUSIC REVIEWS
Music Business Advice - Getting Your Music Brand Name Known
The music business is a business about music. In business, it is all about making GREEN (U.S. Dollars). How you can measure how much more popular you are vs your competition is market share. Market share is the percentage of the market a product owns. Market share is driven directly by knowledge of a product. A BRAND NAME is something that describes the product.
Before you fall asleep thinking that you are not on the Original Music Reviews blog site, let me put this in focus for you. Your area/region is your market and your product is your music. How many people in your area know your name or your music ? The more people that do, the better chances you have of increasing you audience. When you increase your market share you pack larger venues. When you pack venues with your Brand Name alone, you not only get bigger bucks but the label sharks will circle looking for their piece of the pie. They too want to increase their market share but on a larger scale. Could you be the label's pot of gold ? If you don't care about putting out a CD to a major label, you at least want your music heard by more people, don't you ? If you really don't care about any of this, leave this blog at once and keep playing in your parent's basement. Later on, I will send over a Leprechaun to punch you in your privates.
You have a Brand Name that you use for doing music. It doesn't matter if you are in a band, use a stage name, or even your real name. Think of your name as a Brand Name. When you think of successful original music artists, the department store where you shop, or even your favorite drink; they all have Brand Names. They have spent years of marketing & advertising to get you to know about their Brand Name. Advertisement, taste tests, and even give-aways have help build knowledge of their Brand Name. You, and your management team, should think of your music name as a Brand Name. If you are starting a new band or naming an album, you should think wisely about the name. It should have meaning, be catchy and original. The Greatful Rolling Led Gaga Brooks & Dunn Ice Project Orchestra, may be a name you want to use, but it just doesn't work on many levels. Search the name you choose, on the Internet, to make sure nobody else is using the same name or a similar name. If you want to name a band "You Too" the Internet will remind you about one of the greatest band from Ireland, U2. (Some of the other great IRISH talents beside U2 are Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, The Cranberries, as well as the Shoegazing masters My Bloody Valentine.)
Picking a logo or font for your name also helps you stand out from all of the other bands in your area. Your logo should look cool, but the average person should be able to read your name. Hippie Bands in the 60's sometimes hid their name in artwork. Some old school Hip-Hop artists in the 80's use to hide their name in graffiti. Black and Death Metal bands of today hide their name in their logos. While a style of logo may appeal to a certain audience, being too artsy may hurt expanding your brand name to people outside of your circle of friends.
Once you have a name, how are you going to create a buzz for more people to notice your Brand ? Print ads in the paper, flyers in music stores, and even a billboard on a major highway will get your brand name some exposure. Playing a ton of gigs is the easiest thing for any band, group, musician, or singer to do. It is easier than finding a four leaf clover. If your music is good and your performance is entertaining, more people besides your friends will take notice of your Brand Name. Nobody is going to know how good your sound is until they hear your sounds.
Here are a few suggestions to increase your chances of getting people to HEAR your product and get to know your Brand Name :
1) Band Camp, Facebook, MySpace, Reverb Nation, You Tube, or a band web site are all good things to do as long as you have a sample of your music for others to hear. These all can add to your visibility but that is IF you can get some traffic there. Unless someone is searching for you directly, they are limited tools.
3) Get on the Radio. Inter net Radio Stations like www.GasHouseRadio.com play original music, most college radio stations like CJLO Concordia U, WKDU Drexel U (Philly), KZSC University of California (Santa Cruz) play original music, and even "mainstream" Radio stations schedule an hour or two show which will play Original Music by Local Unsigned & Inde Artists some of the better examples are : WZZO "Backyard Bands" KYSR "Close to Home" KEGL "Loud and Local" WZLX "Radio Mojo."
4) Play Fairs & Carnivals. Here is a tip for you: try not have the stage next to the "Spin and Spill Your Guts" ride. You may be tempted because you want others to think that the screams are because your music, like the Beatles at Shea Stadium. In reality, people will see others spewing next to the stage and think that your music made them sick and not the ride mixed with an under cooked greasy sausage.
5) Play Music Festivals. CMJ Music Marathon, SXSW, CMA Music Fest, Philly Film & Music Festival are just a few examples of places you can play to get others who don't usually come to your shows to hear you. It only takes you to register with them, a small fee, and you submitting your music. This is a great way not only to get your name out there but also network with other musicians as well as folks in the music business. You can learn alot and have some fun, too.
6) Donate a set to a charity. Ok, maybe you won't play in Vegas for Jerry and his kids. But they do break to local talent. Contact the local station (months in advance) and see if you can volunteer or play another event for a good cause where newspapers and maybe even T.V. will talk about or even promote your Brand Name. Their are plenty of charities that have events that would love to have you play a song or two. Some of them are even televised in your area. What better way to get you seen and heard by many people who have never heard your music ?
7) Get a gig opening for a nationally know Original Artist. Ok, this is theeeee best way to get people to check out your music. I know that it is easier said than being done. If you can open up for a national known artist, you can open up many ears to your music. Get in touch with your local promoter and convince them that you will do alot to help promote the gig to bring people in. Believe it or not a hot new guitar player named Jimi Hendrix featured in The Jimi Hendrix Experience opened up for The Monkees (R.I.P. Davy Jones). As odd as it seems, this tour help make Jimi Hendrix an house hold name, today.
The bottom line is the more the general public see or hear about your Brand Name the more chances you have for them to want to check you out and HEAR your Music, this can also pump up your Bio. The more people that check you out and like you, the more chance you have for you to start a buzz for the music industry to hear about you. You never want an A&R rep to say "I never heard of them."
5) Play Music Festivals. CMJ Music Marathon, SXSW, CMA Music Fest, Philly Film & Music Festival are just a few examples of places you can play to get others who don't usually come to your shows to hear you. It only takes you to register with them, a small fee, and you submitting your music. This is a great way not only to get your name out there but also network with other musicians as well as folks in the music business. You can learn alot and have some fun, too.
6) Donate a set to a charity. Ok, maybe you won't play in Vegas for Jerry and his kids. But they do break to local talent. Contact the local station (months in advance) and see if you can volunteer or play another event for a good cause where newspapers and maybe even T.V. will talk about or even promote your Brand Name. Their are plenty of charities that have events that would love to have you play a song or two. Some of them are even televised in your area. What better way to get you seen and heard by many people who have never heard your music ?
7) Get a gig opening for a nationally know Original Artist. Ok, this is theeeee best way to get people to check out your music. I know that it is easier said than being done. If you can open up for a national known artist, you can open up many ears to your music. Get in touch with your local promoter and convince them that you will do alot to help promote the gig to bring people in. Believe it or not a hot new guitar player named Jimi Hendrix featured in The Jimi Hendrix Experience opened up for The Monkees (R.I.P. Davy Jones). As odd as it seems, this tour help make Jimi Hendrix an house hold name, today.
The bottom line is the more the general public see or hear about your Brand Name the more chances you have for them to want to check you out and HEAR your Music, this can also pump up your Bio. The more people that check you out and like you, the more chance you have for you to start a buzz for the music industry to hear about you. You never want an A&R rep to say "I never heard of them."
Being an ORIGINAL beats being in a Karaoke Clown Band or an Milli Vanilli Band. It also beats getting punched in the private parts by an pissed off short guy wearing a green suit.
Happy Saint Patrick's Day, Everyone ! Don't eat too many Irish Potatoes. Stay away from the GREEN Beer, Pork & Cabage (that mix could give you GAS). I am on my way out to see some Original Bands play Live... You may read about them here soon.
-Alex
ORIGINAL MUSIC REVIEWS
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