It kinda sucks, and I've even been guilty of this sin as well, but when most musicians and music business "experts" discuss how to market a band, they tend to turn into corporate slinging business monsters. I'm sure you've heard it before - and probably more than once or twice from me - you've got to treat your music like a business. It's the only way you'll find any success in the incredibly competitive music industry.
The bottom line is that although this can sometimes take the fun out of being a musician, it's 100% bang-on true. But... the good news is the methods you use to market your music don't necessarily have to be boring and they're certainly not difficult to put into action.
Event Listings: I Read The News Today... Oh Boy!
A great way to get the word out on your music is to pick up a paper or flip through a magazine and inside you'll generally find little blurbs on events happening locally and even internationally. All newspapers and magazines have these buried in their wall of pages somewhere. You might think no one takes the time to read these but you couldn't be more wrong.
These little tidbits of news are read by a ton of folks every day. In fact in our "news thirsty" fast paced lives we tend to read these little easy to digest "short takes" more often than those full page articles.
The point is, even though music reviews and featured stories in prominent media are a huge blessing for your music business career and there's no doubt you should be trying to get your music covered in them as often as you can, don't make the mistake of overlooking the "little blurbs" you find in newspapers and magazines.
Gossip columns, industry updates, local scene events and many other "smaller" bits of coverage in these media outlets are often overlooked by most bands and music industry marketers. Plus, these sections are often used to fill gaps in magazines and newspapers so if your event is handy for an editor to simply plug in to "fill space", you might get your band some free press coverage.
It's important to at least try to take advantage of these lesser known news coverage avenues and score your band some valuable ink. Remember, you never know who'll be reading.
Be Newsworthy: Find Ways To Spin Your Stories Into Newsworthy Editorials
Now picture this. You submit a press release on how you and your band found yourselves stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire, ended up being picked up by a school bus full of young-blood new generation type hippies, which then turned out to be the campaign bus for the Green Party, and somehow you ended up playing a full set for their campaign rally...
Do you think this might be the kind of news that'll catch the attention of a radio station or a music magazine editor? Heck I know I'd bite.
The point is this stuff happens! Not often... but we all know things like this DO happen sometimes. And just how you choose to get the news out is what makes the difference in whether or not your music marketing ends up working for you, or taking a nose dive into the editor's waste bin.
It's simply a matter of taking those mundane every day events that happen and finding an interesting twist that'll help to make them newsworthy. Be on the lookout for a fresh new spin on events that happen to your band and slam 'em home to the media as often as you can. Any one of those awful things that can and DO happen to bands in the course of a music career can be spun and twisted into a positive newsworthy story. It's all about creativity my friend. And I'm willing to bet you've got a ton of that to go around.
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