How to launch a rock super group
Chris 
There is a new rock super group on the horizon made up of drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age & other bands) and bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin).
They are calling themselves Them Crooked Vultures and have started creating a bit of stir without an album, without a record label and mainly just using the internet!
You can read more about this story at WebInkNow.com
Book Review: Music Success In Nine Weeks by Ariel Hyatt
I found this ‘Music Success In Nine Weeks‘ to be quite an informative and valuable read.
The author Ariel Hyatt runs her own business Cyber PR that specialises in providing online PR services for independent artists so she knows a thing or two about promoting an artist online.
Each ‘week’ in this book really is an aspect that you should look into and incorporate as part of your overall online promotion and marketing strategy as an artist.
The first week is about getting you to think why you are an artist and about setting tangible goals for you to always aim for and hit.
The second week gets you to think about and craft your elevator pitch for your music. This was one of the most insightful sections of the book for me as most musicians always struggle to convincingly answer the question “So what does your music sound like?”
You need to be able to concisely describe what you do to someone who may never have heard you before, make it sound compelling and pique interest.
Week three is about optimising your website so it is actually useful and not just a pointless use of webspace ie. capturing the details of visitors
In week four, Ariel explains four web 2.0 resources that finds invaluable for cyber promotion.
Week five is about how to effectively use your mailing list that you should be building and encourages the use of a regular newsletter rather than random email every once in a while.
In Week six, we learn of some effective methods to help build your mailing list.
Week seven is about other creative ways you can get people onto mailing list through some offline methods.
Now week eight was a very informative section for myself too. Most of the time, we think the only things we can sell are cds and tickets to live shows to our fans. This section is about expanding the products you can potentially sell to boost your income as an artist, where you provide various products and services of higher increasing value to your fans.
Last but not least, week nine contains some valuable tips on traditional PR, how to create a good press kit and how to format a proper press release. Ariel also provides tips on how to be your own publicist.
There is a lot of useful content in this book targeted towards the musician who wishes to take control of their promotional activities specialising in online methods.
Yet another useful resource for the artist that wishes to take control of their own music career and not have to rely on a record label to pick them up and do everything for them!
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Are You Using Twitter For Band Promotion?
Twitter is one of those newer web 2.0 things that a lot of people don’t know about or unsure of as compared to say something like Myspace or Facebook.
I’ve also heard from other people that Twitter should definitely be looked into as another useful promotional tool.
I came across this really interesting blogpost the other day about using Twitter for Music Promotion.
Check it out, it’s a good read!
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Discover More About Music, Websites & Marketing
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Music Marketing Your Band Using Google
You should always be building a mail list of people interested in your music.
In Using Google as a Marketing Tool, Bob Baker shares a couple of ideas how you can use Google’s services to help promote your band and they’re totally free!
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Discover More About Music, Websites & Marketing
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Have You Sorted Out Your Band Press Kit?
A really valuable tip I picked from the music marketing workshop I attended the other week was the need to have a press kit available 24/7.
You should have both an online and offline version available for press, promoters, booking agents, etc.
The press kit would include things like:
- Band bio
- Press photos
- Music samples
- EPK or video bio
By having both an online and offline version, if you don’t happen to have any physical press kits on hand for whatever reason to give to someone, you can direct them to your website where they can get all the necessary information they require.
Your website is available 24/7 so put it to work!
Keep your bio concise
Also try and keep all your information current and concise, a bio that’s 10 pages won’t get read. Trim the fluff and just present the most compelling facts you can.
Image thumbnails
When you upload hi-res press pictures, make sure you create thumbnail images for people to preview.
EPK (Electronic Press Kit)
It’s worth the little effort needed to create a 2 or 3 minute video where you can present what the band is all about.
Anything that can help make life easier for the person seeking information on you is a plus and a video can present a bit of personality that won’t come across on a written bio.
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