Monetizing your Music or Art part 2

(note: For those of you who are DJ’s or solo producers, don’t let the word “band” discourage you. Many of these techniques can be applied by anyone)

Monetizing with social media.

I’ve seen far too many people misuse social media in promoting their bands. Probably the most popular Social media outlet for bands is MySpace.com. In fact MySpace has become so misused that is has become almost useless in selling your music and bringing people to your shows.

Some poor promotional strategies include:

Randomly adding as many friends as you can.  This used to give others the impression that you had a lot of people into your band, but these days people know that the amount of friends you have on MySpace doesn’t translate to people who buy your music or come to your shows. It simply shows how more often than not, people accept your friend requests out of politeness or in interest of promoting themselves. Everyone is trying to play the same game and no one is succeeding.

Leaving Spam comments, fliers, links and other promotional jargon on on your “friends” pages. Leaving these “comments” is just rude and it’s also a complete waste of time. Do you have any idea how many comments people get from bands they’ve never heard of? Unless you have had conversations back and forth and have determined that they are indeed a fan and are actually local enough to be able to make your event, you are wasting your time, and theirs. Think about it.. have you tried this and actually had succeess with this lame strategy? I didn’t think so. For unsigned bands, the only people who will support you are those who know you personally, or has heard great things about you through friends. If you are going to leave a comment, make it about them, not about you. The whole “I think you’re great, check out my band too” doesn’t cut it.

Spam bulletins. In the early days, bulletins were a pretty good way to let your friends know what was happening with you. Unfortunately now there is just too much traffic with bulletins once you have 500 or more friends. They are most likely going to miss your post. On top of that, most or your “friends” are in bands as well and are too busy trying to promote themselves to pay any attention to you or your bulletins. The “what are you doing” features in Facebook and Twitter are far more effective. It’s also not considered spam to write on your own wall so it comes across much less intrusive. Don’t write a book though. It’s better to keep it text with possibly a link with more information or pictures. Post pictures on your own page, and your friends will see it as well. The 140 character limit on twitter is a very good guideline as it makes you get to the point.

Sending invites to everyone you know in hopes that you will land 10 people who are interested in trading their money for your music or performances. This is another waste of time. For every 1 person you get (if you actually get 1 person from this strategy) you will annoy or piss off 100′s or even 1000′s more. Is this how you want to treat your potential fans? Is this how your favorite bands get you to buy their music or come to their shows? Have you actually given some random band your time and money through any of these tactics? I didn’t think so.

So am I saying you should delete your MySpace page if you are a band? Absolutely not. MySpace is still an incredibly good way for people to find you. It’s a great way for actual fans to check your show schedules or new music releases. It’s a great way to create new friendships by common interests. I have met a number of people that I keep in touch with although I usually spend most of my time deleting irrelevant friend requests, irrelevant comments and irrelevant emails. Fun huh?

What should you do then?

From personal experience I’ll tell you what worked for me and my band. Although several of these are tactics I used as many as 20 years ago, they worked so effectively that we are planning a reunion show that already looks like it’s going to sell out and it’s still a year away!

1. Don’t suck – This might seem obvious, but some people get so into the idea of self promotion that the actual music takes a backseat. Whatever your sound is, refine it and play it well. You need a great product and you need it to stand out. Don’t settle for sloppy half-assed music with no hook. If you are going to go through the work of getting people to your shows and buying your music, you are going to want them to have an amazing time and keep coming back… with more friends.

2. Make a list – Every person in your band is going to want to make a list of every friend you can think of. Really take the time to do this, don’t leave anyone out unless it’s clear that they aren’t interested in what you do. Tally up all of these people and hunt down their phone numbers. It’s time to get yourself SO pumped about your own music that it’s completely infectious. You don’t want a conversation to leave anyone you talk to on the fence. You want to convince them that your band is going to be the next band to break out of the scene and go huge! It is not time to be humble but then again, it’s also never time to lie to yourself and others. If you don’t really feel that what you are doing is great stuff and worthy of interest nobody else is. Remember, this is going to become your core audience and they are going to be your biggest fans and advertisers. If you can’t get your friends excited about your music, they will never promote you to their friends and you may end up with a handful of friends who will come and see your shows out of pity. Everyone wants to be the first person to discover a great band. It makes them even more proud when they know you personally. This all starts with you and your band. Make sure when you make your calls that you ask your friends for their help in contacting their friends. Have them give you names so you can follow up. Make sure to add all of these people to your MySpace, Facebook and Twitter accounts. I think you should have all three and don’t let a week go by without something to say, new pictures uploaded and of course new music (Just don’t leave this stuff on other peoples comment page without their permission) . Within a few months, you should have at least 50-75 people that you can count on to come to your shows and help your promote. If you can’t muster that up at the moment, you’re going to want to start meeting more people both online and off.

3. Don’t play locally every week – You don’t want to give people the same show week by week. I’d suggest 1 show every 3 months. This gives you time to change up your performance and add new songs. This also gives you time to promote and get everyone pumped again. Playing every week will make each individual show less important and your attendance will suffer. Better to play less and make each show a real event.

4. Flyers – Get the band out of the house and into the clubs. Your band should be going out once or twice a week handing out fliers, talking to people and getting people to listen to your music and become a fan. The flyer should have a place they can hear your music. It’s not a bad idea to bring some burned CD’s with 1 or 2 or your best songs to give away Don’t go overboard. it’s better for each member of the band to bring 1 or 2 CD’s and give them away very selectively. This will create much more value to the people you choose to share your music with.

5. Get the clubs playing your music.  If you can get in tight with the DJ’s, give him/her the most club friendly song you’ve got (If your song isn’t club friendly, find someone to remix one of your tunes). There is nothing cooler than having everyone in your favorite clubs know your songs. This is a no brainer when it comes to recruiting new fans. If the clubs have video screens or TV’s you can become instant celebrities with a good video. Find an art student who’s good with a video camera and knows how to edit it in a cool way and you’re golden.

6. Look unique, stand out – You are going to want your band to have a look. I know a lot of you want to make it all about the music and I would agree that is of utmost importance but it certainly won’t hurt you if your band has a style that sets you apart from your fans. It’s much more appealing than having a bunch of average Joes in jeans on a flyer. Think of your idea of what a “star” looks like and go with that. If you can stimulate the eyes and the ears, you’re in pretty good shape.

7. Take all negative comments as a challenge for any truly successful band to endure. When you take yourself and your music seriously, it will initially make some people uncomfortable. Nearly ALL successful people tend to get a backlash from the people around them when they attempt to make a dream or goal reality. The drive you have will make others feel like slackers. They might try to bring you down by saying “You’re being ridiculous, you’re acting like your going to be a big star”. Don’t worry, just keep doing what you’re doing and they will soon come around and realize that in fact you seem to be going places and when they DO come around, they will influence and turn other doubters into fans. It’s also important though to not mistake some helpful critiques for negativity. There are some people that want you to succeed and want to help you improve. Try to distinguish between the 2 before writing it all off as negativity.

8. Open for bands who are more popular than you. Of course you want to be sure that the band you are opening for is similar enough to attract the same type of people that might be into your band. This is probably the best way to get new fans as long as you are great live.

9. Know your environment. Some Artists or bands fit perfectly in a coffee shop environment while others have a much bigger sound that requires more space, better lights and a bigger soundsystem. If you are trying to uphold a certain image, don’t settle for a place that can’t offer the type of show you would like to deliver. Obviously you aren’t going to start off in stadiums (if that is your goal) but you should be doing the most you can with what you have to work with. If the club you are considering can’t meet your minimum requirements, pass on it. You are not desperate to play live. Live venues are desperate for good bands that can bring a lot of people. Be that band and the doors will open. When you DO play a good venue, make sure you get a couple camera guys to video it from different angles. You may want to record your mix to a laptop or DAT machine (anyone use those anymore?), that way you have good sound to sync to the video. This can make a great promotional tool to get more shows.

10. Make and manage a mailing list. Yet another forum for keeping in touch with your fans. More about that below.

11. Blogs and Radio Shows. Find music bloggers in your music genre. Chances are they are searching for new bands to talk about and share. What’s great about this is that you have someone who has built him/herself up as an authority on the subject. This is great to have a trusted voice putting your name out to all their readers. The same goes for online radio shows. Getting your music on a genre specific radio show can definitely get you new fans as long as they post their setlist and talk about the artists they are playing.

12. Join forums. This probably goes without saying, but getting your band into conversations (and not strictly self promotional stuff) can definitely put off a good vibe with the online community. Having a name people recognize in regular conversation can make people actually care when you’ve made a new song or have an upcoming show. One warning though is to not get involved with a lot of negative talk that has become a bit of the norm on most forums. Keep it positive and don’t freak out if someone says you suck. I’ve honestly turned many of those people into friends or followers by just keeping positive. Those who don’t come around will just start to look like an embarrassment to the rest of the community in due time.

Free Stuff

As I said in the last blog, don’t give away your music and get stuck in the “Free” zone. I said that and I meant it. However, giving things away for free can certainly lead to you selling more in the long run or getting more people to your shows. You just want to make sure to be wise about what you make available for free. A great example of Free might be to plan and promote the heck out of a Free concert. This will obviously expose you to more people who wouldn’t have otherwise paid to see you. A good performance can then lead to selling your music, shirts or other merchandise. Also don’t lose this opportunity to collect emails at the door. Don’t be forceful but definitely have someone asking if they would like to join your mailing list.

Although you certainly want your music to hold value, the “try before you buy” approach can be very effective. One technique I use is to offer a 6 song EP for free download in lower quality mp3 format and offer a high quality version with bonus tracks. Sure most people will just keep the free stuff, but at least they will be listening to your music, sharing it with others and possibly coming to your shows. Otherwise these people would have skipped over you and never been exposed to your music.

You can also trade free music for emails. This is a great way to build your mailing list and keep in touch with new potential fans. Personally, I would give away a few songs for free and then offer more in trade for an email. It comes across less “business-y”. Make sure not to give everything away for free as your goal is to build value, not remove it. As you make more music, you should get yourself out of the habit of making it available for free download and rather allow people to stream the songs at your webpage or on YouTube with a simple graphic or picture Make sure to put a link to where they can purchase your music in the info section and make an annotation pointing to it. Also be sure to use “http://” in front of links on YouTube or they won’t become links. YouTube has become a major “go to” place for finding music. Joining this community opens you up to a whole lot more people. Soundcloud.com is another site to check out. It’s a pretty innovative way to share music.

I hope this has given you some ideas that can take you from a starving artist to an empowered one.

Happy music (and money) Making!

Jason

_______________________________________

www.musicsoftwaretraining.com

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Monetizing your Music (or Art) part 1

For anyone with a creative skill whether it be music or art of some kind, there seems to be one thing that eludes many if not most of us. That is attempting to make a living doing something we love. Especially since many of us already gladly do it for free. I have a few opinions on this subject as I’ve been on both sides of the fence that I’d like to share..

For any of you who have followed me for any length of time, you know that I am a Blogger, Producer, Ableton training guy, Mastering engineer and DJ. These are all things that I love to do(some things more than others). and here is the big kicker….

I get paid for these things!

But, it wasn’t always the case. I struggled for years..decades in fact.

From my personal experience, nothing really changed much for me until I began to shift my attitude about money and about the people who have it. Of course I am speaking pretty generally, but I do believe you would be surprised with the results you can attain with a simple shift in your perspective.

How does this make you feel when someone like me asks to get paid for some of the services I provide? Does it bother you that I would put a value on something that others might give away for free? Does it bother you that you aren’t making money doing what you love or do you think think monetizing your art is a big no-no?

I want to explore these thoughts deeper in this blog.

I notice there is quite a backlash from small group of people with anything I do that involves an exchange of currency. I have had this attitude in the past myself. It looks a bit like this..

“Who does this guy think he IS trying to trick me into buying products when I only joined this newsletter to get free information.”

Of course there are others that send emails all the time asking when the next product is going to come out, making suggestions on the subject matter and letting the me know how much they have enjoyed what they have already purchased. These people would be pretty disappointed I you didn’t let them know about new promotions and products. Of course if they don’t find what you have to offer useful, they can simply delete the email and wait for more of the free stuff. That is totally fine.

What I really want to explore is what these different statements say about your attitude about money. One says:
“I barely have enough myself and I’ll be damned if I’m going to offer any to you.”,

while another says:
“Hmm.. interesting, what can I gain from this? Does this seem like it will deliver more value than the asking price? What is the ultimate cost if I Don’t purchase this”.

Remember.. Money is nothing until it is exchanged for something that benefits your life in one way or another. Why would you only allow yourself the experience of absolute necessities and deny yourself the things you actually WANT? This leads to a cycle of lower quality life experiences which in turn leads to less creative inspiration
and finally very little value to offer back to the world.

When you trade your money for things you actually want and think will give you enjoyment, your life experience becomes much more open and expansive.

It really comes down to:

Give more, receive more
Give less, receive less

Which do you value more? Money or Experiences?

I am not trying to put my services up on a pedestal here but rather coming at this subject from my own personal experience. By exploring the way you might feel about my services, perhaps we can uncover the very reason you struggle making an income from your own form of art.

You hear it everywhere… Do what you love and the money will follow. Although I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, this statement makes no comment on the necessity for you to have a healthy attitude about giving and receiving money.

Many people get stuck in this zone because if they DO move toward that thing they love, more often than not they are doing it as a hobby for free. When you spend too much time in the “FREE zone”, you create a mental block toward generating income from it. On top of that, you think others who ARE making a living doing what they love are probably full of crap sellout’s. If they hadn’t sold their soul to the dark side, they would be struggling just like the rest of us.

This is a pretty serious mental block. This actually makes you feel guilty for supporting yourself doing what you love. It also keeps your mind closed to all the opportunities that may be right in front of you.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that the people who complain about other people’s success seem to be the same people that are struggling themselves? When you frown on others success, you almost guarantee your own struggle with success.

As you certainly know, I give a lot of things away for free and I really do my best to answer all my emails and offer my time to those who need help. This is not something that I will stop doing as I enjoy helping people through their creative struggles. Of course I benefit from the free content I give away in that I am exposed to more people. For the most part, I don’t ask for anything in return besides maybe sharing my videos and blogs with a friend if you think they might like it. I also share relevant product releases that I create (or ones that others create that I find to be fantastic).

Some people get quite huffy when they find that I have a product available that actually costs money. They actually refer to these products as “spam” even though the products are directly related to the same subjects that attract the person to my newsletter in the first place!

Now I don’t know about you, but I personally get excited about new products that I can learn from. I would be upset if I WASN’T told about these products! I’m a firm believer in supporting the people I learn most from. I may start out as a bit of a skeptic when I come across somebody new, so I may check out the person’s free blog or maybe a viral ebook, newsletter or a collection of free videos. Once I give this person a stamp of approval, I am thrilled to consider paying for products they make available. It’s like when Mac releases a new product. I never get mad about it, I get excited. I don’t think “no i can’t afford this, who do they think they are charging this much!”. Instead I think “is it worth it?Will this deliver more value then they are asking?”  If the answer is yes, it’s not a question of affording it. It’s a question of figuring out  HOW to afford it. I am by no means rich and I can’t do anything thing I want any time I want, but I do enjoy creative freedom and a wealth of time that I try to use wisely(with varying levels of success).

I think the only difference between me making a small living from my creative endeavors and those who struggle with it is that I have allowed myself to receive value in return for the value I give. I don’t feel guilt about it because I know I’ve worked hard to create whatever I am selling. I know the transition from giving your creative services away for free to asking for something in return can be uncomfortable but I want you to really pay attention to those feelings.

Lets do a little experiment:

Think of a service you offer that you either don’t get paid for, or get paid very little for…

Now think of the time that goes into that service…

Think about someone paying you $5 an hour for that service.

Now $20 per hour for the same service.

$100 an hour…..

How about $500 per hour?

What you might notice is that as the number goes up, so does your discomfort. This is important to look at because it tells you something insightful.

It is YOU, not anyone else, that creates your own financial limits.

If you can’t say that you are worth $500 an hour with a straight face and MEAN it, you can guarantee not to ever see it (Don’t worry, I’m not yet their either).

Now this is where it gets interesting.

When and if you DO come to terms with making this kind of money, you will also notice that you really step up the value you are offering (I’m assuming you aren’t a con artist here, but then again, con artists con people because they don’t truly believe they have the value that they are asking for).

I guess what I am trying to say is that money is a mental game. You ultimately don’t earn more than you feel you are worth.

Now what really ticks people off who have low financial self esteem is when somebody comes along and puts a higher price tag on their services than you would be comfortable with yourself. This is a serious challenge to your own belief system and that can be a blow to the ego. Many of these people, instead of being happy and excited for these people prefer to knock these people down and rip apart their imperfections (as if perfection is a prerequisite for financial success).  Again, I am not suggesting that you give your services a high price tag and then deliver little to no value in return. I am simply suggesting you know what you are worth and that you don’t have any hangups in asking for it.

I urge you to attempt to take on a different perspective, if only for 30 days, to see if you can not only be happy for successful people, but to learn from them. Everybody is going to have their own style and I certainly have my opinions about certain types of music. I’ve decided to embrace it anyway, as an experiment and see what nuggets I can pull from it. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to find those nuggets, but when i do, they can be pretty valuable.

I’m certainly not suggesting you try to make your art as commercial as possible in the name of the almighty dollar. Far from it. But, you may find a technique in presentation or marketing, or perhaps a trend that you can tweak that can take your results to a whole new level.

In the next Blog I’ll get into some practical ways to monetize your art… stay tuned..

Happy Music (and Art) Making,

Jason

www.musicsoftwaretraining.com

Follow me: http://twitter.com/AbletonVids

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Spend less time on your music for more creative output
If you are anything like me you have gone through (or are going through) some creative struggles. You simply aren’t carving out the time you need to get any real music done. Does the idea of starting a new project seem like a waste, since you feel you never have the time to dive in deep enough to get anything accomplished?
I know exactly how you feel.
About 6 months back I made a 30 day commitment to myself to work on music 2 hours a day, everyday. It didn’t matter what I was doing as long as I was creating. I figured this type of discipline would be exactly what I needed to start purging through all of my unfinished ideas.

This went well for the first 5 days and I was pretty motivated the first 3 days of them. Then “life” happened and something kept me from meeting my day’s goal. From there I felt much less committed to my goal of 30 days. I had a couple spurts of creative action,  but felt like I had already failed on my committment. From there, I really dropped the ball for most of the month.

Although I would consider revisiting this goal perhaps later in the year, I feel this original goal just wasn’t very realistic for me (I say “for me” because some of you may feel this is pretty reasonable. If that is the case, go for it!).
This year I have a different approach for pretty much any goal.

Think of it like exercise. The idea is to set a habit first instead of thinking about maximum production and output. My new idea is to set a goal simple enough that it would be ridiculous to not be able to accomplish it everyday. The key here is EVERYDAY, not 5 days a week, not every other day..EVERYDAY. This is so important in habit forming.

When I decided I wanted to get in better shape, I decided that I would commit to 20 push ups and 50 situps. Nothing less, nothing more. This was pretty easy to accomplish and only took up a few minutes of my time everyday. Although I wasn’t noticing much if any difference in my strength, the strength of my daily habit was quite noticeable.
As the habit became a no brainer, I decided to start challenging myself to do more situps and push up, and then added a fairly easy weight routine. Soon enough I was not only noticing a difference, I couldn’t even think of skipping a day.
The point here is creating the habit first, and once that is in place, Then slowly build your resistance in small enough increments that it is challenging, but not so challenging that you would be tempted to skip a day…..
So back to music making..
My proposal to you is to devote yourself to just 15 minutes a day, everyday,  to music making. It doesn’t matter what it is you do, but make sure you are creating in some way.

If you are away from your computer or away from home, perhaps you can pick up a friends acoustic guitar, write some lyrics or hum a melody into a portable recorder. Whatever the situation, wherever you are.. no more excuses…. 15 minutes. that’s all.

As you build up the habit and you start to look forward to the process a few things will likely happen.

1. Your mind will start tuning into being creative and more ideas will start popping in your head.
2. You will actually become more productive in 15 minutes than most people are in an hour… this is the benefit of habits. Habits lead to greater efficiency.
3. You may find yourself going way past your 15 minute goal more and more often, but don’t let yourself slide on the 15 minutes you have to spend tomorrow.

I’m certain that if you follow this habit forming technique in your musical life as well as other aspects of your life, you’ll find yourself with many more accomplishments than you likely thought possible for you!
Here’s a Slightly different creative approach you can feel free to try
Once you have your habit in place, you may want to create more urgency in your creativity. This can be done by putting a limit on your creativity each day. Yes, I said to limit your time.

“I will only allow myself 30 minutes of music making today”.
This is a good way to keep your analytical left brain from second guessing everything you do and create enough urgency to accomplish much more in less time.

Isn’t THAT why death was created in the first place? If there was no death, very few of us would do much of anything because there would always be tomorrow.

Don’t wait until tomorrow, get started today and everyday. Start small to form a habit, then build resistance once you have the habit in place. Best of luck!
happy music making
Jason

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Ultimate Ableton Collection part 1

Ultimate Ableton Collection part 2

Advanced Warping Video Collection

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The listener’s perspective:

Before you show off your new songs to your friends and acquaintances there are a few things you might want to consider. ..

There tend to be a few different ways of listening to something..

From the critiquing point of view.. This is where many many “would be” fans end up because of how you present your work. When you ask for somebodies opinion on your song, don’t expect them to get as excited as you are about your music. They are going to be listening for mistakes instead of for content.

From the student’s point of view.. This is similar to the critique point of view, but from a high level of respect. As opposed to listening to the music for the joy of it, they are more likely picking it apart and taking notes so they can apply it to their own work. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. This may be true but just remember, they are learning from you so they can be your competition in the future instead of your biggest fan.  This is fine and healthy and shouldn’t be frowned upon, but just remember who you are dealing with when you are sharing your work.

From the fans point of view.. Obviously this is the optimal perspective. These are the people who are hooked and pretty much will like anything you do, go to ll your shows and buy your merchandise. You did something right to gain these people as fans. This is the pattern you want to study and repeat as often as possible. Just remember that these are not the people who will tell you when your art has gone to crap. Sometimes an honest critic isn’t a terrible thing.

I didn’t take into account the importance of perspective on the listener until I had a couple of experiences. From there my whole view changed….

Experience #1

Years back I was making music in more of a Big Beat style and I handed out cassette copies to a few of my friends at the time. I  Don’t recall much excitement in their initial reaction. It was more like “hey that’s pretty good but you make want to (fill in the blank)”,  sound familiar? About a year later one of these friends found this cassette with no label on it and popped it in to his stereo. When the music popped on he thought it was some rare Chemical Brothers track and was really digging it. He was amazed at how gutsy of them it was to go for a bit of a low-fi sound and how punk rock it was that they didn’t over finesse the mix.  Later I made him aware that it was a track I had done and gave to him a year before.  That got us talking about our perception when listening to music.  By simply shifting who he thought the artist was, his perception changed from the critic (Hey, you know if you REALLY want this song to be big, you should consider this) to the Student/Fan mentality (wow, once again they are pushing the boundries, I wonder what I can learn from this. Is THIS where the sound is going?)

Experience #2

Just recently I was passing along a cheeky mash-up I did of Nine Inch Nails – Closer with AC/DC – Back in Black to a friend. We were on an instant messenger and my buddy said “That’s already been done, I’ve got a great version right here”.  I said, “no, I’m pretty sure you’ve got mine” and he didn’t believe me because he had downloaded the song on limewire. He had the track in his collection for a number of years (I did that mash-up in ’99) and never had a clue it was mine. So finally I show him the video I posted on YouTube, and sure enough, he realized it was mine. For a moment I was treated like the most famous guy in the room just because he had always viewed that tune as professionally done (your friends will rarely think of YOU as a professional).

Another angle to look at is the:

“here’s my song, but it’s not yet finished. What do you think”?

When somebody says this with you, how do you listen to the track? I would tend to bet that you are thinking “what is wrong with this song and what advice can i offer about it”? instead of  ” Man, I’m so pumped to hear this new tune, can’t wait until the new album is finished”! Make sure that you aren’t asking for advice from your biggest fans and friends. It’s better to ask someone who is not really connected to your fanbase and who can offer REAL advice instead of just opinions. If you want to know how the average listener will react, slip your song into a playlist or mix and don’t announce that it is you. Just let it play and observe. If the mood doesn’t take a downward turn, then you are in the status quo with the other familiar artists. If someone asks who did that great song, your golden!

If you have a song that you are proud of, don’t get over excited and start giving it away to everybody you know. It’s good to keep secrets sometimes.. build the mystery. Let them know that you just finished your biggest song yet. If you are a DJ, you may want to tell them that if they want to be the first to hear the song, that they better listen to your broadcast. If you are in a band, tell them you are giving away the song free to all the people who purchase a ticket to your next show. Put together a teaser video on youtube announcing an official release date (or just say that details will follow soon).

Do you see where I’m going with this? Now you are showing real confidence in your work and you are building excitement. Do you think they are going to listen you your new song from the same mindset that they would have before? Do you think they might share that excitement with friends? How much value do you think you built by just holding back a little?

The important thing to really consider when you are a smaller unsigned band is that your reputation during this stage is largely word of mouth from your closest friends and acquaintances. This means that if you aren’t getting THEM excited about everything you are doing, that lack of enthusiasm is going to be passed on from them to others.  Pretty soon you will wonder why all your friends aren’t coming out to show shows.

Make sense?

Most people listen to music as some form of fantasy and escape. Are YOU that fantasy, or is it the other producer/DJ/Band that is getting all the attention?

What I suggest is that you build value in everything you do:  music, performances, merchandise, etc.  Never present yourself as an average Joe.  Nobody buys or becomes a fan of something that doesn’t excite them or stir up alot of emotion. If you can create the magic, you are going to become a much bigger deal in alot less time.

So..

Stop selling yourself short, Stop desperately begging for fans on MySpace. How many of your 5000 friends are REALLY your fans? How many will show up to your gigs? 50? 10? 5 if you buy them beer all nite? Stop giving yourself away without any return. People value things more if they have to pay for it, so anything you give away should just be a teaser to a bigger and better product.

Start with the people you know and get them excited. Don’t unload all your secrets and mystery at once. Make them wait and then deliver something great! They will thank you for it by coming to your shows, buying all your music and telling all their friends. Then you can thank me for it later

Happy music making!

Jason

on a sidenote:

In the late 80′s I was in a goth/new wave band that was pretty popular in southern California called Negative Image (no we don’t all still look like that, but thanks for asking..hehe). We used these techniques  to grow a pretty huge devoted following without really understanding how we were doin it. With a planned Reunion show in 2010, we are  putting to use current technology to our advantage but we haven’t lost site of what really creates excitement in people. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome!

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