Promotion

Eric Harvest said:
I hope someone can put together a list of print and web zines that are more likely to review Oak Knoll CD's--I am not aware of which places review everything they get and which places Oak Knoll already has a rapport with...and I know there are a lot of zines that will not only review everything they get, but will request bands/labels to send them stuff, but these are the ones that are not as established and won't get you much exposure. So it's a tradeoff.

I work on a promo list and plan to contact each of the zines about reviews of Oak Knoll releases. When I complete the list, I guess we can organize something about it. Actually we "should" organize it.

And cool banner between. ;)
 
Hey Jason and other webzine/zine writers. How can I get my bands on your sites/pages.. interviews and any reviews (if I didn't send you cds already).
I'm willing to work giveways, trades etc. hehe bribes? I KNOW some of my bands are definately worthy of being on your front pages.. they are ready for interviews. Let's do it :)
 
Oak Knoll said:
Hey Jason and other webzine/zine writers. How can I get my bands on your sites/pages.. interviews and any reviews (if I didn't send you cds already).
I'm willing to work giveways, trades etc. hehe bribes? I KNOW some of my bands are definately worthy of being on your front pages.. they are ready for interviews. Let's do it :)

Cool! Well, let's see.

- Have you talked to Deron about advertising here, yet? He stated above that he'd be willing to work with ya. That Black Harvest banner looks good, and could go some places. I'd also suggest a general banner for Oak Knoll itself...

- I haven't received any CD's as of now, but if they're in the mail I should get them.

- Once I get them, I'll start reviewing them, and then I'll contact you for some band interviews. :)
 
hi, Evan from The Green Evening Requiem here. i was reading everyone's posts, and i had a few ideas.

the more reviews the better:
www.metalreview.com
www.chroniclesofchaos.com
www.live4metal.com
www.absolutemetal.com
www.metallian.com
www.seedsofevil.com
www.darksoul7.com
Bogus Rendition print zine: www.bogusrendition.com

also, i think that cd promos are a good way to get the most out of your money, because it puts the music into people's hands, and if they like certain songs, they'll upload them to the internet for file sharing. every band can pass them out at shows or include them with regular mailings, etc.
Jeremy-maybe a compilation of the month or single of the month club would be a good idea. people send you $15 or $20 bucks and they recieve a CD-R in the mail every month, plus free stickers and promos that they'll end up passing around anyway, kinda like an unofficial street team.
 
I was working on a database for all these places. For sending cds to, zine ads, banner ads. I have it in excel but wanted to make it available on the web then we can also use it to say where cds were sent to. I have the web version almost build and I can link it this weekend. I need to resume sending out the cds to places but also would encourage bands to help me , track them, contribute the mailing info, help with PROMO KITS (need your flyers etc).

Eric, can you help make a withersoul banner animated with oak knoll showing up like the BH one you did? i have the WS banner on my site I can send you.
Also I'm hoping Green Evening joins us and we can do the same for them.. bannering , promotion etc. I'd like to really start pushing TGER's cd in my distribution resources (CM, The End Records, etc).

by the way - check out the latest ad going in ZOR metal zine in turkey (thanks to Ulas!):
http://mail.baskent.edu.tr/~20294119/oak-final.jpg
2 corrections that were made since this:
1 ) melodic is spelled wrong for TGER
2) the word distro will appear under the end records

one other question- how silly/feasible would it be to have one banner with alot of bands on it.. animated.. with oak knoll on it also. maybe that would make it easier to have on many sites? then again the link would need to go to a page where they can select from the bands.. maybe a special oak knoll page? just an idea to get more bands promoted (that are on oak knoll) in all the places we banner?
 
Oak Knoll said:
by the way - check out the latest ad going in ZOR metal zine in turkey (thanks to Ulas!):
http://mail.baskent.edu.tr/~20294119/oak-final.jpg
2 corrections that were made since this:
1 ) melodic is spelled wrong for TGER
2) the word distro will appear under the end records

All corrections were made and the ad is finally ready. ;) Also three reviews of Oak Knoll Bands (Black Harvest, Shroud of Bereavement, Warblade) will be published in the zine. I guess it will be out in 2 weeks.
 
zor-oakknoll-ad.jpg
 
Eric and I came up with our first Oak Knoll/Black Harvest compaign. Starting in December we'll put the banner posted by Eric above in MetalReview using some satellite feature thingy :) How about the other bands? I think Eric can help us make animated cosponsored banners like above. What websites do you want to hit up? Also I'd like to get the above ad (1/4 page or 1/2 page) into some printed zines. Also I think the bands are ok with helping me cofund these ads. 1/4 page was like 300, 1/2 must be alot more. So maybe Ulas can turn this into a 1/4 page 8.5 x 11 version. Also I mailed out cds to the people mentioned in the postings (Metal Maniacs, a guy from here and one other).
 
I'm now looking up rates for Metal Maniacs 1/4 page ad or 1/2 page ad. What bands want in? i'll pay half and perhaps we can get the bands to pitch in part of the other half. So example, 300 for a 1/4 page b&w ad in MM. I pay 150$ and if you get 5 bands they pay $30. Or if they want to pay more - we can do a larger ad. Raise your horns if you want in so I can figure out what ad size and date we can target.
 
I think these Ads will be great...but I think the most important thing we could do to get more attention for the label is REVIEWS.. We need to go absolutely fucking crazy with sending out the material is EVERY SINGLE website, magazine, internet reviews, that we can think of.. The more reviews we get, the more "reputation" we get...

Does anyone do P2P sort of file sharing? Maybe we can start getting exposure on there with people getting SOME songs off of the album..hopefully it'd be a good taste test and they'll bite on buying cds..
 
Dead Wish said:
three reviews of Oak Knoll Bands (Black Harvest, Shroud of Bereavement, Warblade) will be published in the zine. I guess it will be out in 2 weeks.

What zine?

ad looks great, btw...great job, Ulas.
 
I'm in for the MM ad. I'm open to chipping in for whatever size everyone else wants to do, but it seems that the ad will have to be re-formatted a bit to fit different size ads, i.e. it's not vertical enough for 1/4 page and not horizontal enough for 1/2 page, and the text size will have to be adjusted for legibility.

Jeremy - I wish I could do up a nice banner for Oak Knoll and other bands, but I don't think I have enough time =( I already reject a lot of NYC bands asking for my Graphic Design services as it is (that's what I do for a living, 40 hrs/week). The best I can do is contribute my ideas and money.
 
Withersoul said:
...REVIEWS.. We need to go absolutely fucking crazy with sending out the material is EVERY SINGLE website, magazine, internet reviews, that we can think of.. The more reviews we get, the more "reputation" we get...
you're right about the reviews, but i'm still a bit sceptical about the website reviews and all these new formed webzines with "semi-pro" journalists :))) which barely have any traffic... i think printed mags are best...and actually as i said before, the guys who buy printed mags also buy cds... sending stuff to "every single" one is just a waste of time and money, at least i think so...
 
Tancred said:
you're right about the reviews, but i'm still a bit sceptical about the website reviews and all these new formed webzines with "semi-pro" journalists :))) which barely have any traffic... i think printed mags are best...and actually as i said before, the guys who buy printed mags also buy cds... sending stuff to "every single" one is just a waste of time and money, at least i think so...

I think some of the "semi pro" sites should still be sent albums to be reviewed..at least the bigger ones.. Like Maximummetal.com, etc. They might not get the traffic of what Blabbermouth.net gets (who i think we definately need to send albums to) but it's still good exposure. But I agree with you Ivo, that the teeeny tiny ones should be avoided right now..just a waste of money..
 
maybe i'm over-stepping some boundaries here, but i disagree. no webzine is too small. if someone half-way across the globe is willing to take the time to listen to your cd, and is willing to put in the effort to write a good review, then the postage is worth paying. everything starts small: every band, every label, every venue, and every zine. progress requires sacrifice of time, energy, and money. i'll skip a meal if it means that some "semi-pro" journalist is going to promote our cd. at the very least, one new fan is made, but more than likely a small circle of new fans is born, and that adds up over time. mp3's are uploaded, cd's are traded, and then out of the blue someone is e-mailing you with a cd order. how do you think Green Evening met Jeremy? besides, the more websites that you can get your bands's name on, the more search results that appear the next time some promoter or professional journalist "googles" you...
 
greenevening said:
maybe i'm over-stepping some boundaries here, but i disagree. no webzine is too small. if someone half-way across the globe is willing to take the time to listen to your cd, and is willing to put in the effort to write a good review, then the postage is worth paying. everything starts small: every band, every label, every venue, and every zine. progress requires sacrifice of time, energy, and money. i'll skip a meal if it means that some "semi-pro" journalist is going to promote our cd. at the very least, one new fan is made, but more than likely a small circle of new fans is born, and that adds up over time. mp3's are uploaded, cd's are traded, and then out of the blue someone is e-mailing you with a cd order. how do you think Green Evening met Jeremy? besides, the more websites that you can get your bands's name on, the more search results that appear the next time some promoter or professional journalist "googles" you...

I COMPLETELY agree with you.
 
greenevening said:
maybe i'm over-stepping some boundaries here, but i disagree. no webzine is too small. if someone half-way across the globe is willing to take the time to listen to your cd, and is willing to put in the effort to write a good review, then the postage is worth paying. everything starts small: every band, every label, every venue, and every zine. progress requires sacrifice of time, energy, and money. i'll skip a meal if it means that some "semi-pro" journalist is going to promote our cd. at the very least, one new fan is made, but more than likely a small circle of new fans is born, and that adds up over time. mp3's are uploaded, cd's are traded, and then out of the blue someone is e-mailing you with a cd order. how do you think Green Evening met Jeremy? besides, the more websites that you can get your bands's name on, the more search results that appear the next time some promoter or professional journalist "googles" you...

Yeah, plus it's not as if Oak Knoll can't make a priority list, y'know? :Spin: