David and Goliath
Music Marketing:
Turning The Impossible
To Your Advantage In
5 Easy Steps
Okay, so you’ve just made the record of your life. Everyone in
the band knows it, the engineer knows it, even your girlfriend knows
it, and she’s heard those songs one thousand times. Now what?
There are so many CDs being let loose on the market every day
it makes your head swim to think about it. You’ve been around long
enough to know that you’re David in a music business still run by
Goliaths.
Of course it takes a certain amount of dough to get music in
front of press, radio, and fans. Are you able to match the kind of
promo budget that goes behind the latest U2 release? Doubtful. The
little label that’s already made you an offer is little more than a short-
term loan, you don’t have any high-powered lawyers to shop your disc
to the big guys, and the only option is to get it out yourself.
Successfully releasing a record on a on a shoestring budget is a
challenge, but doable once you make the commitment, combine
realism with optimism and take stock of the assets you already
possess, beyond $$$, which are currently in short supply. You’d be
surprised how liberating it can be once you focus on your
resourcefulness rather than lack of resources. This article is about how
to turn the impossible to your advantage.
Step #1 - Human Capital
The starting point. Your band mates and
supporters are a treasure trove of talent and connections that you can
use directly for your bands benefit or barter for outside assistance.
Don’t underestimate the power of letting people help you. There’s a
great line in Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” that always floats around my
head, “May you always do for others and let others do for you.” Right
on. So, build your base of human capital and cut down on necessary
overhead costs and time (which you can spend being creative and
taking care of the rest of the business involved with your new release).
Maybe one of you is adept at web design and can put together
someone’s site in exchange for promo services or studio time. Or your
boss is an ex-musician who admires your chutzpah and lets you use
the color printer for posters and flyers, no charge. The drummer’s
cousin is an aspiring photographer who needs headshots for their
portfolio and all you need to do is pick up the tab on processing costs.
You have a fan that likes you guys so much, they want to help you out
– maintain your database or send out posters to clubs - whatever little
tasks you might not be able to cover. Maybe all you need to do is buy
‘em dinner and let ‘em into shows for free. You get the picture.
Step #2 - Distribution
Like the rest of your music business, you need to be
actively involved in order to net the best results.
There are good distributors and bad distributors, so spend some time
researching who distributes some of your favorite indie bands and how
available those releases are.
Yes, indie friendly distributors are more willing to take on small and
“single act” labels. They do take a cut, but can help you access digital
distribution, get your CD in hip indie stores, do in store performances,
and generally get the word out. But don’t rest there. Once you get
the deal in place, help them help you, by giving them info they can go
to retail with.
First, write up a good one sheet, find out who the reps are, put their
contact information into a data base and send out little updates every
4-6 weeks to let them know what’s happening with reviews, radio and
gigs.
Designate someone on your team as point person to stay in touch with
the reps and make sure they have promo copies, touring updates etc.
It’s a relatively inexpensive and painless procedure.
With new music continually seeping into the marketplace via digital
and promotional means, drop dates are now considered “softer” than
before. But the timing of your street date may still impact the success
of your release so consider this:
If you think your CD will be in your hands November 2, why set a
street date of November 9? That doesn’t that leave much margin for
error, puts you in the Christmas rush and makes the CD outdated in a
month. If you release early in the year, it will appear fresh for the
entire year, to press, radio and retailers.
Step #3 - Radio
Everyone wants to be a radio star despite the medium’s 21st
century woes. Deregulation and new media outlets have resulted in
homogenized programming, compartmentalized musical tastes and
other entertainment options that distract potential fans.
It is difficult for small labels and self-released discs to chart and if they
do, to translate that chart success to sales because many of the
stations that report are in remote markets like Butte Montana and
Abandonment, Idaho with few record shops and touring opportunities.
So, do you skip radio altogether? No, it really comes down to two
choices:
For a hefty weekly fee you can hire a radio promoter to work the
record for 2-3 months at college, AAA or other targeted radio formats.
You should only consider this option if you’re sure your CD will be
available in the markets they target and if the person is accountable to
you.
The second and the real guerilla approach is to take some time to
study the market yourself, find out where you can reasonably be
assured of success and contact the stations on your own.
Assign a band mate or other team member to pour through a
comprehensive contact database like The Musician’s Atlas &
AtlasOnline to easily target stations that are indie friendly and play
your kind of music, have good “specialty shows” (like “Goth in the
Mornings,” if you’re a metal band or “Second-Generation Immigrant
Neo-Folk Band Mix at Midnight” if you’re a shoegazer, for example).
Stations in markets that you’ve toured or are about to tour are more
likely to play you and invite you for an in- studio performance, so they
should be your first targets. If you feel funny about using your own
name when you call and send e-mails, use a pseudonym.
Step #4 - Press
This is probably the easiest thing to do independently, at
least on a local level, because newspapers are always looking for
copy to fill their pages. That said, press is even more prolific than
radio so it’s harder to keep your lists up-to-date.
Hiring a publicist vs. DIY? I think you get more bang for your buck
with a publicist, as opposed to a radio person. They’ll contact some
NPR and major radio shows to arrange interviews, hit national and
regional papers for CD & gig reviews and may even do the mailings for
you. Ask magazine editors and music directors who they like to hear
from and who they respect before you hire someone.
Deciding whether to pay someone for a service or to do it yourself
comes down to this - what is your time worth? Sometimes it makes
sense to bite the bullet on an expense because you trust that it will be
done better and in less time than you can manage.
Step #5 - Touring
The digital age has made it easier for artists to get
there music out there but perhaps even more difficult to actually
get heard above all the noise. So, playing live is more important
than ever.
At a live show, you take your music directly to the people, without
competing for shelf space, airtime, ink, or banner space. Yes you
still have to hustle for gigs and schlepping 12 hours for a $100 may
not sound like it’s worth it. Here’s what I suggest:
Put a map on the wall, mark your hometown with a push pin and draw
a circle with a five hour radius around the center and see where you
can go. Unless you’re in Hawaii, you’d be surprised how much you can
cover.
Consult with your band and use your human capital to cut down on
touring expenses - find places to crash, post PDF press kits and
posters on your website and book your gigs via Myspace, Sonicbids
and other outlets that don’t require spending lots of money for
materials that will probably be lost by the promoter anyways.
At your shows you sell merchandise directly, without a distributor or
retailer taking their cut. Selling more than just CDs will offset your
touring and marketing costs. People walking away with your t-shirt,
widget, and even the postcard you printed on that color printer you
borrowed, gets the word out in a relatively cost-efficient fashion.
There’s an old joke “How do you make a million bucks in the music
business?” The answer: “Start with ten million.” Here I’ve outlined 5
easy ways to compensate for lack of funds, and I haven’t even touched
the nuts and bolts of advertising, touring and other overhead cost
you’ll incur after your CD comes back from the plant.
But, this article is to get you thinking about what you can do to
empower yourself and what you can do with less. There are certainly
long lists of stellar artists that were commercially ignored in their day.
In the end though, the good stuff survives. You have to be as creative
in getting your art out there, as you were creating it. By reassessing
your available resources you’ll “minimize risk,” make things happen,
continue the adventure, and most importantly go on to make your
next best record. Good luck!
Feel free to shoot me a question– doughoekstra@yahoo.com. You can also visit www.doughoekstra.com or www.myspace.com/doughoekstra.
