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Promote Your Band On Twitter

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:49:40 +0000

Twitter is a great social networking site for bands that allows you to let your followers know what you are currently up to. Just like Myspace and Facebook I would suggest targeting somewhat local followers. If you want to gain and keep your followers you are going to want to post a lot of tweets and make them interesting and creative. A great way to gain your followers fast is to find local labels, bands and other people in the music industry and start following everone they are following. Give it 24 hours or so, stop following everyone who isn’t following you, and do the process over again. Friend Or Follow is a great site that allows you to view who you are following that isn’t following you back.

Tweet Adder (Friend Blaster Pro of twitter) was just recently released and you can check it out here

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Band Website Theme is a great way to get your band a website up and running even if you have little or no programming experience. This is an inexpensive way to get a fully functional professional website up and running in an instant rather than paying a programmer hundreds of dollars and waiting weeks or months for your website. If you promote your site right and get some merch and songs available for download then your Band Website Theme will quickly pay for itself.

Promote Your Band On You Tube

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:44:46 +0000

You Tube is a great site for your band if you have a music video or some live footage to put up. You subscribe to peoples channels much like you would follow someone on Twitter. I would also suggest targeting local members and subscribing to their channel and unsubscribing to people who don’t subscribe back like Twitter.

You Tube even has Tube Blaster Pro. Check it out here

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Promote Your Band On Myspace

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:40:13 +0000

Myspace is by far the best site to get your bands name (and more importantly, your songs) out there. At one point %90 of my bands gigs were coming from Myspace. That is because we worked hard to build our network of fans and some of those fans happened to be booking agents.

Building your network just means building your friends list. The more friends you have, the more visits to your bands profile page. If you send people requests, comments or messages, then you are going to have some of those people check you out. If you have a nice page with no friends, then who is ever going to check it out? A&R reps also surf myspace to find the “next big thing” so increasing your friends list increases your chance of one of them finding you.

A good way to build your network is to figure out what kind of audience you want to target and search for them on the myspace search page. The resulsts are the people you want to send requests to. Make up a short note to send with the request telling them something about your band. Try to be interesting and original as this will increase the amount of people who will view your bands page.

Another way is to use a friend adding sites like Adder Demon . These sites have made it faster and easier to add friends, which give you points. The more points you have, the more friend requests you get from other people. The only thing I don’t like about this is that you have no way of targeting your potential friends.

If you would like a quicker and easier way to grow and target your bands network of friends I would suggest using Friend Blaster Pro. This tool will do all of the work for you giving you more time work on more important things going on with your band.

Friend Blaster Pro is a software that allows you to gather mass amounts of friend ID’s (your targeted audience) and instantly send out requests, comments, and messages to them at an extremely fast rate. Once you have gathered your ID’s you put it on auto pilot and let the software do the rest. I have easily sent out 200 messages in 10 – 15 minutes with this program. The only thing you have to worry about are filling out the captcha codes that come up every once in a while.

Numbers Matter – The more plays and profile views you have, the more “popular” you are deemed by potential visitors/listeners. Being seen as “popular” increases your chance of somebody viewing your page, listening to your songs, and even buying your cd’s and mp3’s. A&R reps and booking agents won’t take the time to view your site unless you have atleast 100,000 views because they want bands that can bring a crowd to there shows because after all, they are putting on the show to make money. So with that said get your network going and socialize on myspace, because the more people you add and talk to, the more your numbers increase.

Plays Increaser? Now this is something that I would not use myself, but so many people are using them that I must talk about them. Plays increasers are a program that will actually use a bot to increase your song plays and profile views on your myspace page. They even allow you to select which songs get plays, how many plays they get, and you can use different proxy servers through their program to mimic visits from around the world. It also works with Youtube and Soundclick. If you have any interest in that then you can check it out at Band Plays .

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Promote Your Band On Facebook

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:26:37 +0000

Now when it comes to networking on Facebook things aren’t much different than Myspace. You are going to want to choose who you target and let them know who you are and why they should take the time to listen to you. There are a few ways you can get your name out there on Facebook.

Fan Page – Fan pages are great because it lets people know how many other people are really into your music. Again, the higher your numbers the more likely the person is going to check you out. You are definitely going to want to add a link to your Myspace page on your fan page. You’ll also want to add apps to your fan page like My Band by Reverbnation. You must join Reverbnation to use them, it is free. The My Band app allows you to upload songs and put a “join band’s mailing list” on your fan page. The Mailing List is a great tool I will talk about later. Now I’d definitely say that it is a lot harder to get a fan on Facebook than it is to get a friend on Myspace so I’d suggest what my band has done. Create a personal profile for your band.

Profile – With a band profile you add friends like you do with myspace which makes it much easier to grow your network. I’d grow my network for our profile and send people messages with a link to my fan page asking them to join. Sure enough some people did, and they listened to us and loved us. You can also add the My Band Reverbnation app to your bands (and your band members personal) profiles. Always keep your status up to date and let everyone know what is going on with your band and what you are currently working on. Participating in groups and getting social will drive more traffic to your profile and fan page.

Events – Creating a Facebook event for your shows is a must because it will be the only way that the majority of your friends and fans will know you have a show going on. This is also another reason why you are going to want to target friends/fans who live somewhat close to you (where you play most of your shows). If your band isn’t already huge then fans who live in the city of the venues you play at are going to be more valuble to you than a fan half way across the world. Get your bands friend list full of potential fans who live close to you, then let them know you have a fan page. Everytime you have an event make your fan page the host of it, so you can easily invite all of the members of your page. As your fan page grows, so does the number of people you bring to your shows (confirmed guests).

The Facebook email list invite trick – Now this trick is great for getting a ton of friends on your bands profile page, but like adder demon there is no way of targeting who adds you.

This trick is simple. I’d suggest making a separate email for your bands facebook account that you don’t really care about since your email address will be posted on groups discussion boards and could get into the hands of spammers. So all you have to do is search facebook groups for something like “add lots of friends fast” or “mass email list” and find groups that are made just for growing your network. Now I’d say most of these groups have a topic called email list on their discussion board. Click on it and you will see a list of emails that progressively gets bigger. What you are going to do is go to the last page of the topic (where the most emails will be) and copy the whole list. Now in the comment box paste the list, add your email and post your comment.

Now go to friends at the top of your page beside your inbox link and hover the mouse over it and click invite friends. Paste the list you got from the group and invite them to join facebook. Since they are already members Facebook sends a friend request to them and since they put their email up willingly on a friend adding group they are going to accept. You are also going to get a bunch of requests coming in because everyone after you who does the same copy/paste invite trick is going to copy the list with your email in it. And since you are already a member of facebook, you are going to get a friend request from them.

Facebook also has a friend adder similar to Adder Demon. You can check it out here.

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What Your Band Needs To Do To Put On A Killer Show

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:14:44 +0000

This is where all the magic happens! Nothing promotes your band better than a live show. This is your chance to shows everyone exactly what you are about. Here is what I do to get the most out of my shows.

Get to know the other bands/sound guy/promoter before the show. Meet everyone and introduce your self. Get a feel for the place and just get comfortable with your surroundings. Meet the other bands and get their details. Meet the sound guy and let him know if there is anything particular you are going to need from him/her during your set. Meet the promoters and thank them for putting on the show.

Hand out your business cards to everyone and take any cards they have in return. KEEP THEM! They might be extremely valuble to you in the future. Create a contact (black) book of all your aquired contacts so you can easily access them when desired. If you want your band to go anywhere then keeping in contact with your important “contacts” is a must.

Getting to know everybody prior to your set will definitely help getting their attention at the beginning of your set. After that it is up to you to keep them interested.

Once you are playing you must remember one thing. Stage presence is key! Playing tight and being a good musician are a must, but no matter how good you are standing in one spot trying to bob your head a bit isn’t going to do it. If you want the crowd to get into your stuff and have a fun time then you are going to have to have fun yourself. Why would anybody dance and grove to a song that the band doesn’t seem to enjoy. You need to move around,enjoy yourself and create energy that the whole crowd feels. You are supposed to be the center of attention while playing so do what it takes to keep the crowd watching and waiting for more. If you can’t play and move or jump around at the same time without looking awkward then you are going to have to practise until you can basically run laps around the stage without missing a beat. Head banging is always recommended.

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What Your Band Needs To Put In Your Press Kit

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:09:49 +0000

A press kit is something that you will use to hand out to Venues/Booking agents/music industry pro’s. It shows them all of your work (songs) plus shows them all the work you’ve put into your band. Your press kit should contain these things:

Bio – A bio about your band telling people who you are, where you come from, what you’ve accomplished and why you are different from the rest.

Demo Cd – atleast 3 of your best songs.

Photos – You will need one 8 x 10 photo. Other photos in your kit are recommened.

Contact/Booking Info – Email and/or phone number where you can be reached. Your website info as well.

Venues You’ve Played In – The booking agent will be a lot more likely to book you if you have this spot filled up with prior shows.

Press – Press is anything that anybody media related has said about your band. Tv, radio, news papers and magazines would all fall into this category.

Things You’ve Accomplised – Anything your band has done that is going to make you stand out from the rest of the bands out there. Could be a big band you opened up for, or radio play on a big radio station.

Setlist – How long do you usually play for? How long can you play for? How many sets? What is your set usually like?

Discography – If your band has more than one album out.

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Band Photos Are Important

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 06:05:24 +0000

Photos are extremely important as they help your band show off your infamous “image.” They put a face to the name for somebody who hasn’t seen you or your live act before. They tell people something about who you are and what you are about. One of the worst things your band can do is have poor quality photos on your website or myspace page. It look very unprofessional and will do nothing but drive your visitors away.

The best thing would be to hire a professional photographer to use their extremely expensive camera with their knowledge to create well thought out high quality photos. Unfortunately this can be expensive and some bands won’t want to spend the cash. The good thing though is that technology has made it easier for us to take quality photos ourselves.

If you are going to take photos yourself then a digital camera worth a few hundred will do just fine. I’d suggest getting somebody with some sort of photography experience to help you out with ideas and angles and such. Try and be creative and professional when taking photos. Good color and light are essential.

Editing Photos – You wonder why professional photographers photos look so good? Well aside from having great equipment they edit their photos using a photo editor like Adobe Photoshop . Photoshop has an unbelievable amount of tools and tricks to enhance your photos. I’ll usually get more creative in Photoshop then I would while taking the actual photos.

Now there is free program out to edit photos which is much like photoshop and it’s free! GIMP is a great alternative to photoshop. Check it out at Gimp.org

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Why You Need Merch For Your Band

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:55:27 +0000

Merch is crucial to your band because it helps you in so many ways. First off, every piece of merch you sell gets your name out. Not just once, but every time that person wears or listens to the merch you sold them. Merch is also going to be your bands biggest source of income. If you network right, get your name out and create a buzz then selling your merch won’t be a problem. Just remember, the more you promote your merch the more you are going to sell it. Merch is anything with your band name / logo on it. The most common forms of merchandise would be cd’s, t-shirts and hats, but you could get a little creative and get anything from lighters to your own line of shoes. What ever you get, just make sure you are getting quality items because nobody is going to want to buy something that they aren’t going to wear. Shirt City and Design A Shirt are great online sources for high quality merch. Wherever you go just make sure you are getting something people are going to enjoy.

Your bands website is a great way to sell your merch. It is also a great way to get your name out there in between your gigs. Promote your merch with your URL to your fans on your social networking sites.

Another great tip is to put your link (website or Myspace page) on all of your merch. This is a great way to increase and maintain a good flow of traffic.

If you network right, bring people to your shows, and then put on a kick ass performance you are going to sell most of your mech at your live shows. Putting on a high energy show gets the crowd pumped and when that is mixed with some alcohol it can create a line up of people waiting to buy whatever you have to sell them. Make sure you let the crowd know about everything they can buy a couple of times during your set. Just don’t over do it. Another great idea would be to set up a merch table and have somebody sell your stuff while you are playing.

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Making A Demo For Your Band

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:50:34 +0000

Lets face it. Your band isn’t going to get very far at accomplishing the goal of getting your name out without a demo. You may be able to grow your network of friends on your social network sites, but you aren’t going to gain any fans if they can’t hear what you are all about. With the technology today you are going to want a professional sounding demo whether you pay someone to do it or you do it yourself.

If you go to a studio you could be paying anywhere from $300 – $3000 to record your demo and that might not even include mixing or mastering. If nobody in your band has any engineering/editing experience then paying somebody who knows what they are doing to help you is worth the money. There is so much detail involved that if you don’t know what you are doing your recording will sound amateur and that is exactly what you don’t want.

If you decide to do it yourself then you are going to want to use software like Sonar,Pro Tools or some sort of digital recorder. If you want a good sound then you are going to have to use good mics, pre-amps and software. When it comes to recording and the equipment you use you get what you pay for. Musicians Friend and Music 123 are great sites if you are in need of some equipment to complete your home recording studio.

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What Your Band Needs In Your EPK – Electronic Press Kit

Gino — Mon, 03 May 2010 05:45:42 +0000

EPK stands for Electronic Press Kit and is just an online version of a press kit. Sending a link to and EPK can be much easier than having to send your press kit out to everyone. Sonic Bids is a great site to create and host your EPK.

It shows them all of your work (songs) plus shows them all the work you’ve put into your band. Your EPK should contain the same details as your press kit which are:

Bio – A bio about your band telling people who you are, where you come from, what you’ve accomplished and why you are different from the rest.

MP3’s – atleast 3 of your best songs.

Photos – You will need one 8 x 10 photo. Other photos in your kit are recommened.

Contact/Booking Info – Email and/or phone number where you can be reached. Your website info as well.

Venues You’ve Played In – The booking agent will be a lot more likely to book you if you have this spot filled up with prior shows.

Press – Press is anything that anybody media related has said about your band. Tv, radio, news papers and magazines would all fall into this category.

Setlist – How long do you usually play for? How long can you play for? How many sets? What is your set usually like?

Discography – If your band has more than one album out.

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