How do you guys attract more people and a bigger audience for your projects/bands?

[Black neon bob]

I see a lot of bands and projects on this website, question for those who are in one:

How do you obtain more attention for your projects?
What are the best ways to get more people to listen to your music? any tips and tricks on that?

Music speaks for itself, yes.. but marketing and strategy are key as well i think, anyone have some tips?

 

[abyssofdreams]

generally, or through the internet?

 

[Black neon bob]

generally, or through the internet?

Both really... offcourse having myspace and soundclick is pretty much logic, but what else could one do more, in general, to get more people to listen to your stuff?

 

[Damian B]

Well... this isn't helpful advice for 1 man projects, but playing live is a really essential part, I think. People tend to remember you a lot more when they've seen you play, interacted with you, and spoken to you after a performance. When people surf the internet all night long and find 10 new bands, they tend not to remember even the best ones, but if they see someone live, they remember even the shittiest performance.

Aside from that, having an active myspace, good recordings, etc etc etc.

Oh, the one other thing that helps is having a really professional "looking" internet presence. That means pro-looking pictures, a designed logo, and a nice looking myspace.

I'm by no means an expert, but hopefully that helps lol!

 

[Black neon bob]

Well... this isn't helpful advice for 1 man projects, but playing live is a really essential part, I think. People tend to remember you a lot more when they've seen you play, interacted with you, and spoken to you after a performance. When people surf the internet all night long and find 10 new bands, they tend not to remember even the best ones, but if they see someone live, they remember even the shittiest performance.

Aside from that, having an active myspace, good recordings, etc etc etc.

Oh, the one other thing that helps is having a really professional "looking" internet presence. That means pro-looking pictures, a designed logo, and a nice looking myspace.

I'm by no means an expert, but hopefully that helps lol!

Very true Sphykik, especially the playing live part, which indeed is hard to realise for most internet projects...

 

[Trevor Marks]

Hey Bob...I haven't asked you yet, but I was going to ask if I could professionally re-design our myspace. I did all the photoshop and html for the unrest myspace (even though things look wacky now due to all the mass upgrading), so it would be cool to remodify the layout to a high caliber in the future...once we have a small collection of good songs w/ vox of course

 

[Mulder]

I once played in a band called 'free beer'.

 

[Black neon bob]

Hey Bob...I haven't asked you yet, but I was going to ask if I could professionally re-design our myspace. I did all the photoshop and html for the unrest myspace (even though things look wacky now due to all the mass upgrading), so it would be cool to remodify the layout to a high caliber in the future...once we have a small collection of good songs w/ vox of course

Yeah Trev, go for it dude!!

I once played in a band called 'free beer'.

Now that HAS to be succes story!

 

[smy1]

Here's how it goes:

1) Make up a record label "Neon Bob Records" and set up a small but professional looking website. That way you are "signed" and immediately a "proper" band and not some dumbass with a myspace page.

2) The trick is to take 2-3000 Euros and buy an ad for 500 euros each in the most prominent metal magazines over 2 months. That will give you - in turn - an interview in each of the magazines. Magazines all work like this. Anyone can get featured if they pay ads. Make sure you have your record reviewed in the same issue (usually they do deals like that). Try to get into the August/September issue when there is still summer slowness and they are willing to cut good deals.

3) Possibly make a cool looking video (hire a film student) and pimp the shit out of it.

4) Have your 15yo brother add every metalhead on myspace and link them to your awesome video.

Thats basically all you can do if you cant play live ...

 

[Notuern]

My old band kinda "reqruited" fans by playing alot at local hangouts for kids(Small places that dont pay in cash.), because no matter what you want to think about music, its actually the annoying little asswads with Iron Maiden shirts and short hair(Colored really badly to a black color.).
These kids, if they find you good(Yes, you might have to party alot with them.), they might also promote you alot.

There was actually one guy who promoted us like hell during one period, that we actually beat Ozzy and Metallica in the bandvotes for Hultsfredsfestivalen(Too bad we didnt have a demo.).

An other thing that is REALLY important is to have a good catchy name that really sticks out, and looks nice as a logo.

This is our old logo(I know some people on this forum actually saw us @ Sjuhäradsfestivalen 2007 - Sweden.).

Im sorry for the bad quality, but I couldnt find the original file.

Any how, in ~5 gigs we went from being the typical garageband, to being invited to numerous festivals and being contacted by the "discoverer" of Hammerfall.

So basically, get a streetcrew!

Edit:

If you are doing this as a 1 man project, and over the internet, you are pretty much screwed, unless Smy1's tips works out.

 

[Black neon bob]

Cheers Smy! looks like tips i could use for TGM, have you done this yourself?

Im sorry for the bad quality, but I couldnt find the original file.

Any how, in ~5 gigs we went from being the typical garageband, to being invited to numerous festivals and being contacted by the "discoverer" of Hammerfall.

So basically, get a streetcrew!

Edit:

If you are doing this as a 1 man project, and over the internet, you are pretty much screwed, unless Smy1's tips works out.

Hey, cool logo indeed!

It's a two man project.. and if splatt88 can still deliver the bass tracks, a 3 man project
Thanks for your explanation.

 

[JeffTD]

Use one of those MySpace adders!

 

[devouredremains]

Use one of those MySpace adders!

+1

Seemed to help JFAC quite a bit.

 

[smy1]

I opened my own record label with a friend (www.l-tracks.com) to have some "legitimate" backing after getting off of my old label.

It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun also. And much more expensive than you originally think. You also realize once again that everyone is making money, except for the beginner/lower-level bands - regardless of what people are telling everyone.

Payola is alive and well and really, ANY band with a little money in their pockets can just buy their way into the mags. That's what the record labels do. It's has nothing to do with quality. They'll simply find someone to review you and interview you who will like your music. In your case that will be easy because it is actually good.

Then again, good music never helped anyone, really it's all about who you know and who you are "buddy-buddy" with so they will help you out down the line. If you keep sitting in your home and not going out to the clubs and gigs and meeting people and drinking with them and making a good impression, no one will ever do anything for you. Studio projects only work if you already have a name and people are looking for your stuff.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Hey man I forgot to tell you that your stuff is being played on the radio in town.

I gave it to the college (after editing it for content )

 

[seditz740novaprospect]

myspace it up and do what everyonce else said... we went from like 20 plays a day 2 years ago to 500-1500 a day now

 

[nwright]

For our band, we've had the most "large" successes playing with national acts. We've secured a lot of these shows either through the band (or members of a band), or through the booking agencies of said bands...If they dig your music, usually they will help you out in some way. With the amount of success we've had in front of national band audiences, we've strived to focus on fewer "big" shows rather than multiple smaller ones. We can sell 100 CD's and a bunch of shirts at 1 national show, but struggle to sell 5-10 CD's and 2-3 shirts at smaller local shows...So IMO it's easily seen that focusing on 1 big show and getting out there in promo for that outwieghs playing small local haunts every weekend. Also, with the national acts that pass through, the chance of playing in front of someone who's opinion and help can really do wonders for a band increase...And, it's helped tremendously in terms of getting artist pricing and endorsement deals for us as an unsigned/regional band.

For "recording only" projects, it's a tougher task by far, but getting the music into as many outlets as possible helps. We've been able to sell quite a number of CD's to people who have had no way of seeing us live. Actually, I'd say that about 75% of our total sales have come from buyers outside our gigging area thus far. A surprising amount have gone to the UK and Japan.

We have our merchandise for sale directly on our Myspace page, and we have our CD's for sale at CdBaby and digital downloads through iTunes, Rhapsody, Verizon V Cast, etc.

IMO having stuff available for people to buy WHEN they first hear you is important...So, finding ways to get people to initially find out about TGM is one thing, giving them a fast, easy way to get something tangible by your band is just as if not more important for longevity. To get off on a tangent, we often hear about the death of the CD, or moving away from hard copies of music, but in my bands personal experience, our CD sales vs. our gigging/online exposure is pretty good. We don't play a ton of shows, especially over the last year (since our latest CD has been released), but we've sold through 2 pressings of the disc, as well as 2 pressings of our debut. A lot of that credit goes to having it as easily available as an unsigned band can.

Reviews in Terrorizer and an appearance on one of their unsigned comps has helped as well. Perhaps submit your music to as many outlets for review as you can find.

 

[Machinated]

Myspace is a big thing, show that you have people interested in you and your band. Make sure you look the part (like a real band), and actively show that you are selling merch CD's etc.

 

[MetallyGuitarded]

Boobies. Hands down. Guaranteed to double your popularity.

 

[HeadCrusher]

ROFLCOPTER!

Here's the logo of the last band I played in:

Any similarities?