The music scene depends on the musicians as much as musicians depend on the scene.
Above all else - #gotoashow
In order for you to succeed in the music scene, there must first be a scene. The more bands that leech on the hard work and camaraderie of this scene, the more the scene will become impersonal and unattractive. You and your bandmates must be willing to go to shows (apart and/or together), not just to check-the-box for the week, but truly discover - over time - the venues, bands, and fans, that are willing to make the music scene personal and attractive. Only then will there be a reason for “new fans” to have a scene to buy into.
PR/“gigging” - make it memorable.
When you play a show, it must be memorable. Audiences don’t want to go out to watch you practice and stare at your own instruments and at each other. They want to see something they can’t see in their regular life. Lemmy said it best: “ If you're going to be a fucking rock star, go be one. People don't want to see the guy next door on stage; they want to see a being from another planet.” That can’t be a template, can’t be a checklist, it can only come from your own creativity as a performing artist. It’s why the greats are the greats. Everything they are is put on that stage, and you love to see it - every time.
Social Network Promotion: personalize each platform.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram... they are different. Yes, it saves time to post a picture on Instagram and have it link to Twitter which then links to Facebook, but your friends and fans don’t want to get three notifications with the exact same image. Even worse, having your Instagram link to both Twitter and Facebook only to have Twitter also link to Facebook and have two identical Facebook posts - how annoyingly lazy! Also, captions do not translate well between each other and minimizes the effect of the post.
Each social media platform has its strengths that you need to use in specific ways. Facebook is currently the best way to interact with fans and share what’s going on. Twitter is great for businesses and media networking and is the best platform for hashtags. Instagram is definitely a great photo editor on the fly and it links well with facebook if you are willing to edit the post caption to tag people.
Post twice a day on facebook, more on twitter, and use instagram as an image diary and visual branding tool more than a network (harder to interact on instagram) - quality over quantity is always a good rule of thumb. Be smart about paying to promote on these networks - it can attract new fans and can reintroduce old fans that have unfollowed, but can drain your funds much faster. YouTube is great for video promos - keep them short, fun, interesting. A youtube page with two good videos amidst twenty boring videos is a turnoff. You are an artist and *performer* - promote that.
As for crowdfund campaigning, use it once, maybe twice, each year if you have a new product, or product line, you need help funding. The other benefit is it’s a great word-of-mouth sharing tool to show people quickly what you have in store for them. This can create buzz for the next series of live shows. It’s almost better to get a lot of small bids with the promise of live show attendance.
Blogging can be helpful but does take a lot of time and commitment. You may have a bandmate in charge of blogging with a particular direction in mind that can help build the music scene. Reblog, comment, be part of that community, and you will be more known among other bloggers which is definitely part of the music scene today.
Your website must have a “landing page” with everything somebody might want to see or hear from you. Avoid having to click to too many pages.
SEM standards for Search Engine Marketing. Creating a webpage is one thing, having it appear at the top of search engines is another. Bottom line: hire a professional graphic designer and webpage developer to ensure your metadata and page content is appearing correctly on all Google, Yahoo, and social media searches.
It costs money to advertise. Period. Word-of-mouth will get you started, but unless you know thousands of people across the country, you’ll have to rely on experts and services to get you in front of larger audiences. Use your word-of-mouth networks to find reputable companies that can help you do what you need to get done. IMPORTANT: First impressions can make or break your career. Be sure you are as ready as you and your bandmates can be to go all in when you take that step.
The goal of the band that writes and performs music is to continue being a band that writes and performs music. All the money you spend getting yourself further out into the music scene must be at least being brought back in.
CD Sales. Merch Sales. Classic revenue items. It’s not enough.
Streaming. There are many online streaming services that pay per play if you are registered with ASCAP or BMI. There are companies you can pay each year to file all that paperwork and make sure you are compensated for radio play.
Gig Pay. When you start bringing in 25... 50... 100 people to your shows locally, you will begin seeing revenue from these shows. Of course, how will you do this? see above #gotoashow
There are other creative ways to bring in self-sustaining revenue to the project, but these are the most popular and demonstrate the levels of success you can target as you move yourselves forward.
It all comes back to this... #gotoashow
Everything written here depends on the music scene being something people want to be part of. If you are not contributing to the scene, it shouldn’t be a surprise when the scene isn’t as glorious when you find yourself on the same stages. Keep the scene alive. Go to a show. If not for the good of the culture and allowing new music to move up through the ranks, but for your own benefit as a musician that will rely on this same culture for revenue.
Remember: The musicians depend on the music scene as much as the music scene depends on the musicians.
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