Promotion

[Tancred]

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...

it depends on the budget you have on promos, if i have a limited amount of money (which is the case) for postaging/packing, i would very carefully consider/choose where to send my stuff... i'm very far away from the whole commercially way of thinking, don't get me wrong, it's not about that, usually being an underground band you can get more positive feedback from that kinda people, you're right... but everyone should think also about the possible boundaries of the exposure which one can get.

 

[Oak Knoll]

I definately want to hit up every place.. but I think if we prioritize then we should have to worry about dropping off lesser known places. We'll just get to the lesser important zines, websites after we have targeted some important onces. I'm sure everyone has an opinion on this. Ok, So I'm getting started. Eric and I are doing up a banner ad in metalreview soon. I need to get rates from Metal Maniacs next for the above ad. Anyone else like to put forth the next ideas/projects?

 

[Eric Harvest]

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.

Will you skip thousands of meals to send a promo to the thousands of random fledgling zines out there?

Sorry for the sarcasm, but just making the point (that others have echoed) that though you're right in spirit, you need to be realistic with your boundaries and that means prioritizing is unavoidable.

As I posted earlier in this thread, there is a tradeoff. Blabbermouth.net gets almost a million visitors a day, but will likely not cover low-profile releases like Oak Knoll (no offense Jeremy!). Malysianmetalzine.net draws only a few readers (friends of the guy who runs it) but will kiss your ass for a free promo and is almost guaranteed to give you an enthusiastic review. Then there's everything in between.

I'd say the best bet is to send it to the relatively established zines that claim to review everything they receive (like metalreview.com) and also hit up any zines that take the initiative to ask for a promo copy, promising to review it.

 

[Eric Harvest]

oh, and if you personally know someone at a particular zine, that should get priority as well (obviously)

 

[Withersoul]

Another idea..that I thought of.. it might bring some attention or revenue to Oak-Knoll is releasing a tribute album of some band. Granted, i know there are a good amount of OKP bands on the Skepticism tribute. But if we picked a band that is a bit more universal than Skepticism is, because the only people that are going to buy a Skepticism covers album, is doom metal fans...which is good, but it's a very limited audience.

But if we did something more widespread and well known, it might bring in some new people to buy stuff from our label and added attention to it's bands. Especially since OKP has some KILLER bands on it's roster...we could really impress some folks..

example..my death vocalist Jeremy (who hopefully will be posting here one day) has been begging us to do a Sentenced cover.. Now I'm not a huge fan of doing cover songs..especially of music from semi-current bands, but if it's for a tribute cd..i might be inclined to do it. Another idea would be like..Anathema, or i dunno.. My Dying Bride? Any suggestions, opinions, insults?

 

[Eric Harvest]

Katatonia

 

[Tancred]

i would love to participate in tribute of the band This Mortal Coil, but i don't think it's appropriate for OKP

 

[Dead Wish]

Katatonia

Yeah Katatonia would be cool.

And that's a good idea in my opinion. We can invite other bands to this record beside Oak Knoll bands as well. I wonder what Jeremy will think about it. Bill's approach could be very useful.

 

[Calmsite]

about doing a tribute album. label has to pay the band. the copyright thingy. guys from skepticism asked about the money thing cause their music is copyrighted. if the label hasnt got the rights to release it, theycould get sued..

 

[Oak Knoll]

supposively Aruzz from Foreshadow and Patrick from Redstream has this all worked out

 

[WarriorOfMetal]

the guys from MetalStorm are going to give me an address where we can send a promo cd to a reviewer for the site....basically, we send the cd and ask them to add songs (of our choice) to one of the MS comps, which they can do in addition to the "classic" forms of promo, such as reviews and interviews, etc. no more than 2-3 songs from one label on each MS comp though.

 

[Oak Knoll]

I sent metal storm a compilation cd and will send them cds to review (if it's the same mailing address - can anyone confirm that?)

Also the BH banner is now up on MetalReview.com and the Calmsite banner on returntothepit.com

 

[WarriorOfMetal]

I sent metal storm a compilation cd and will send them cds to review (if it's the same mailing address - can anyone confirm that?)

i emailed jeff again about it but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.

 

[Oak Knoll]

Did I post the ad for Metal Maniacs? Ok, if not then I should have them ready for later tonite.

 

[Oak Knoll]

I need to mail Metal Storm some promo cds.. Plus email them to use the new Calmsite song on their mp3 site thingy. Also I will post links to the Metal Maniacs, Miasma and Zor ads like today I hope!

 

[Oak Knoll]

HEY PEEPS! If you want more control and reporting over the cds that are sent out by Oak Knoll (your releases!) then PLEASE register on http://www.oakknollmetal.com . I will make you a staff member and you'll get access to the staff page that lets you enter contacts to have me mail cds to and also a task list and more! so umm like do it now!

 

[Oak Knoll]

I finally have up on www.oakknollmetal.com a submission form to add contacts - labels, stores, zines.. it's only available to the staff right now but soon to the public. Feel free to register on my site I plan of adding alot of info/resources.

I just made the link into Http://submit.oak-knoll.com for those who don't care to register on the site. This will get you direct to the contacts form.

 

[WarriorOfMetal]

Calmsite is on the new Metalstorm.ee compilation \mm/

 

[Oak Knoll]

very very nice! thanks Ari!! now if i just remember to send the rest of the cds out to them for review. Ari - you going to the show sat? Nile/Hypocrisy? Wanna take on more OKP projects?

 

[WarriorOfMetal]

i wasn't planning on going to that show, no.....i would probably be willing to take on some more projects though.