This is probably one of the most powerful things you can do for your musical career, and for yourself. I don’t mean that “we are all unique snowflakes on god’s tongue” unique. Humans share many traits with one another. We are a social species. But if you can’t figure out what makes you stand out, what makes you more powerful than the next guy, then you should quit. Or get to working on what your core strength is, and start to share that with everyone you meet. This can be found in your passion for your projects. It may have to be dug out from under the rocks of fear, no confidence, or any other manner of excuses that make you stop in life, and halt your progress, and dusted off.
We tell our artists this all the time, and have developed and are developing programs that do just this: Help Them Recognize Their Uniqueness. Once you can stand in that, then nothing can stop you but you. Do not limit your success with fear of failure. Increase your success by owning who you are in the world, what your music does and can do for people, and then TELL THEM ALL ABOUT IT.
If you don’t… Who will?
Now before you go running off telling everyone how great you are, take a second and reflect… is that really how you are going to get them to pay attention? By bragging? It’s verbal spam. Don’t do it. Don’t be that guy.
You see, Self-Promotion is not about tooting your own horn, and comparing yourself to sliced bread… if you catch my metaphor. Instead, you want to operate in such a way that has people RECOGNIZE for THEMSELVES Your Uniqueness. This is what they pay attention to. It’s your job to inspire them to see your greatness. Don’t fall into the trap of fighting for the public to recognize you as musicians. They already do, and do that my making music. That part is a given. It’s about connecting with the music fans that makes all the difference. These are the music fans that will be totally stoked to find you, because you are making the music that they would make themselves if they could. And to connect with them, you’ve got to be able to rise above the white noise.
You won’t be able to rise above all the noise, if you don’t have YOU figured out. That is, if you don’t own, understand, and totally grok your own uniqueness, how you can expect to communicate this to anyone else? If you can figure you out, you can then begin to tell the story of your music in a way that allows music lovers to get what you’re all about. This means clear descriptions of the music, and what the benefit for the listener is.
Remember, you’re not selling music, but emotional head-spaces for your users to journey to. If you can’t tell them where you’re going to take them in a way that excites them, how do you expect them to go with you?
inspired by a post in Bob Baker’s Buzz Factory newsletter
originally published on dr.xnlb.com
Tag Archive for 'A & R'
This post is a response to the avalanche of half-baked requests we get from our record label’s website, our myspace, and in our email. However, this advice applies to anybody trying to make in the music industry.
Ever since we launched our record label, the number of come-ons we receive from new artists (as opposed to artists we know and already have our eye on) has steadily increased. The avalanche of appeals from both talented and not-so-talented artists is both overwhelming and exciting. However, a pattern has emerged lately that I feel needs to get addressed. This pattern is largely made up of a mix of bad habits and laziness, coupled with a lack of knowledge about what it takes to properly promote yourself. In response, Polyvibe
Entertainment Group offers up the following tips for how to approach us (and anyone) about your creative project with more effectiveness.
- Formulate a full message. In other words, don’t send something out until you’ve spent sufficient time actually formulating what you want to say and ensuring that what you are saying is landing for the other person the way you intend. This means that you should craft a message that clearly states who you are, what kind of music (or other art) you create, what’s special about it, and why they should care. Write and Re-write it until it’s right. It will never be perfect, but if you’ve covered all your bases you’ll be in good shape.
- Stay On Topic. Take a page from political play books, and always stay on message. In other words, put together a total package. Every footprint you leave in the world should be reinforcing the same message. By all means tailor your message for your audience, but it should have a common theme running through it. This also applies to your visual communications as well. Everything you put out should have a similar look and feel, and include your logo or other unique graphics. Re-use and Re-mix the same colors, layouts and other distinct elements, whether you’re designing your web site, a newsletter to your fans, or a One Sheet you’re sending out to the press and promoters.
- Define Your Message. In order to stay on topic, first you need to figure out what your message is. One of the things that we do internally for our artists, and is provide them a worksheet in which to figure out what the message is. We adopted this worksheet from questions we wanted answered, and from information we got from Bob Baker’s “Guerrilla Music Marketing”. It’s an interesting process but what it brings to light is even more useful. It’s an exploration of what drives you as an artist, and forces you to connect with your fans by discovering what it is about you that inspires them to support what you’re up to in the world.
- Get a One Sheet. If this list was numbered, this would be #1. Think of a One Sheet as your musical resume. In one or two pages, you should be able to clearly state what your music sounds like, why your are unique, and why I should pay attention. List your biggest successes so far. Include links to your best tracks, and to your websites. In short, it should summarize your message and present that information in such a way that it literally turns heads, and motivates the reader to want to learn more. Here’s a decent template you can start with, that explains all the basics and has spots for everything that you’ll want to include. You should create a One Sheet for various purposes – including but not limited to: Seeking Distribution (the example provided above), Booking and Gigs (concentrate on what’s special about your live shows, and de-emphasize, but include information about any of your releases), and General Purpose (expand the info on your sound as well as you, and your accomplishments).
- Educate yourself about music marketing. You’ve already started doing that by reading this blog, and subscribing to our RSS feed and/or Newsletter. There are tons of books out there, so you need to start diving in and buying some of these books. Also, sites like Rhino’s R-Zine, Bob Baker’s Buzz Factor, and The Indie Bible newsletter, will also help get your marketing chops up to where they need to be. Marketing is an art, not a science, so be prepared for lots of trial and error, but if you present yourself in a clear, concise and professional manner, you will get noticed.
- Respect your self, and your audience. This can’t be stressed enough. All the bad habits, missing or misinformation, and laziness add up to a lack of respect. This is just how it comes across, even if it’s not intentional. If you don’t have enough respect for yourself to tell me about your project in a way that gets me excited, then how do you expect to have any results? You took the time to craft the music, arrange all of the elements, and get your master just how you like it… so don’t skimp on the time required to promote yourself. Remember, you’re not selling yourself, or even your music. You’re selling the experience, the headspace you and your music puts the listener in. If you’re inspired enough to make it, then take the time to put together a strong message that moves the reader to want to listen to your music. Plain and simple.
In the day and age of a 1:1 ratio of Content Maker to Content Consumer, you’ve got to do more than write a catchy hook to get noticed. If you’re approaching Record Labels to get signed, propositioning Press Contacts for reviews, or contacting Promoters and Club Owners to book you for gigs, then you obviously want to be taken seriously. And if that’s the case, then put on your game face, and suit up. Making music is only half the battle.
If after reading this you are still interested in submitting your music to be considered for release on Polyvibe Records, then put the above advice to work, and send us a One Sheet (PDF preferred), with links to your 5 best tracks and your websites, to press@polyvi.be. We’ll reply to each one of them, but you better come
correct if you want us to take notice. We look forward to your submissions!
MySpace can make you big. Fast. Suppossedly this is how the Artic Monkeys did it. This was also lauded by the Jupiter Research report I tore apart recently. And now it’s worked for Hope against Hope. There’s just one problem… The band is fake.
Hope against Hope was a sham-rock/indie band “with no talent whatsoever” made up by british magazine Q. Their intention was to expose the Rupert Murdoch-owned site for what it is… just another method for Big Music to hype crap music.
What’s even funnier is that in just 4 weeks they fooled Alan McGee, the guy who broke Oasis, into offering them a gig at his famed Death Disco club night. “Shoot me an email and I’ll sort you out with a gig” said his myspace message. Talk about drinking the kool-aid.
Read the whole article on the Guardian Unlimited site, as the article tidily devolves into a history of other bands and the PR that tried to pull one over on us.
Brings new meaning to “The Great Rock ‘N Roll Swindle”, doesn’t it?
digg this story
From the not-so-obvious-places-to-promote-your-music-department:
A new website, The Trip Wire, has emerged that aggregates the week’s top posts in the Music Blogosphere. While it has more of an idie-rock leaning, the articles it posts and re-posts are funny and insightful. Take this tidbit of wisdom:
The Rules Of Indie Rock Success:
Rule #1: Put a hot girl on keyboard or bass.
Rule #2: Cover Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
The quote, which comes from Music Blog ‘My Old Kentucky Blog‘ is like many of the music bloggers out there. Most are just documenting their own experience in the musical landscape. A quick read of his sidebar lists such diverse artists as Amon Tobin, Modest Mouse, El-P, Ben Folds and Gang of Four. These are excellent opportunities for independent artists and labels to get their music out to the new taste makers. Most of the blogs have contact information (including mailing addresses) to send music to, and if they’re anything like every music lover on the planet, welcome receiving free music. Obviously you want to pair the music with their tastes, and give them shout outs and back links on your site, but other than that, treating these bloggers like your other press contacts is in your best interest. This means don’t just drop ship them a box of CDs, introduce yourself (by email), include one-sheets and other info they can use in their write ups, and then send them the CDs if they show interest. Only by building a relationship with them can you expect to create a report that will carry over in to how well they receive your music.
Music fans are reading these blogs for clues on what’s hot and worth checking out. By browsing these sites yourself, and using The Trip Wire site as a jumping off point, you are sure to find a literal treasure trove of people hungry for new music.
originally published on dr.xnlb.com
