#rita fevraleva

[doomedandstoned]

What To Do After Your Band Releases an Album

~Bacon's Blog~

Photograph by Rita Fevraleva

So lets say you put a record out. Maybe it did what you wanted it too, maybe you feel like it could have gotten more attention. The point being – it’s out there. What can you do to help maximize it even though it’s already been released?

Well first and foremost you need to realize what is and is not possible. Then you need to take some time to do a post mortem of how your release went and be willing to dissect a bit from there. Then of course you need to take the time to grow for the next record. Let’s break this down.

3. Realizing What Is And Is Not Possible

This is a big one and a place where I think that a lot of people fall down. Realize ultimately that the odds of a label wanting to put your record out after release dramatically decrease. Also realize that most journalists do not want to cover an already released album. It’s rare that an album gets a ton of traction post release.

But also all is not lost! There’s a lot you can do to help push your release! First and foremost – understand that doing a re-release and doing it "right" is completely doable and no one will call you out on it. If you didn’t do any of the customary steps to release an album – this might be the best move. Of course, there’s other stuff you can do – which we are about to dig into.

2. Do A Deep Post Mortem Of Your Album Release

What’s amazing to me is how many bands release an album, it doesn’t go how they want and then they don’t bother to try to fix it or do it better in the future. They just release the next thing the exact same way and it blows up in their face again.

Do a post mortem. Talk to your guys about what went well and what didn’t. Try to figure out what goals you had you didn’t get and ask why. Hit up the people who bought your record and ask them how they felt about it, how they felt about the product and experience. What convinced them to buy the record. When you do these things and analyze you would be amazed at the growth that comes through.

1. Plot Your Next Steps

Once you’ve figured out what went wrong and what you need to do next build out a plan for your next record. On top of that though there’s so much more you can do. Start hitting sites to do interviews, which are not as reliant on the album cycle. Start engaging with people. Offer out download codes or streaming links so people can get a taste of what you are about.

The point being is now you have a product, show it to people and realize that while attention will decrease the further you are from album release you can still garner up attention. You just have to focus on using the record to build your network and then go from there.

So yes, your record being out does diminish your ability to get as much attention, but it is by no means the end of the line! You just need to think about what is feasible, do a post mortem and then plan from there!

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. You can read other articles in the series by clicking the "Bacon's Blog" hashtag below. Matt can also be heard on the Dumb & Dumbest podcast, which he co-hosts with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.

[doomedandstoned]

Your Band and Advertising

~Bacon's Blog~

Featuring Photographs of Russian band TSYGUN by Rita Fevraleva

Here's a big topic that I don’t address nearly enough. I’m going to tell you how to target your ads on social media. Understanding the core concepts behind advertisements on Facebook and Instagram is one of the most fundamentally important skills that you can teach yourself in 2019. Now, I know as well as many of you that this might not seem cool. I get it. Social media ads are sort of the devil. They are the reason Trump is president. They are the reason that you always see ads for made to order shirts for "Tough Guys who like Vikings born in November." I get it. It’s frustrating.

However, there are a lot of easy ways to target your ads that are actually going to pay off for you in the long run, and that’s what we’re going to get into in this post. Moreover, we’re going to delve into something more fundamental: the logic that you need to deploy when figuring out how exactly you want to target your ads. We’re going to dig deep into why you should be hyper-targeting, and then guide you through the process of how to grow your advertising strategy in a meaningful way that will actually pay off. It’s gonna be a helluva ride.

The key to understanding all ads on Instagram and Facebook is that they are looking to find the cheapest possible click. In layman’s terms, this refers to your lowest common denominator fan. So, if you are trying to push ‘kvlt black metal’ you shouldn’t use the term ‘black metal’ as part of your targeting settings in Ads Manager. If you put ‘black metal’ in the targeting settings, you will get Cradle of Filth fans, when you were actually hoping to get the same people who like Darkthrone. Your ability to hyper-target is incredibly important when trying to reach that next level. At the end of the day, you can’t be marketing to who you want your fans to be. You need to be marketing to who your fans are. Yes, you may want all black metal fans to like your project, but right now, you’re a lot more likely to get clicks out of the dudes who are already in your niche.

The thing is, you’re not going for just the cheapest possible click -- you’re going for the cheapest possible sale. It’s the conversion you should be focused on. This is why smart ad buyers employ a tailored approach towards how they target their audiences. For example, if you have a really big German audience, then go and run an ad in German. People like to feel catered to. They will feel especially catered to if you’re not a German-speaking band, but you make that effort anyway. The ads you run everywhere else in the world can be in English, but running the right one to that core fanbase is going to win. You need to be looking at the analytics, because you have those numbers available and aren’t taking as much advantage of them as you should be. I know this, because I have them available and I don’t do it as much as I should.

ТЛЕН (TLEN) by TSYGUN

Another big part of hyper-targeting is getting granular on geographic and personal levels that are contextually relevant to your promotional campaign. For instance, let’s say you’re a band about to embark on a 30-show tour of Europe. You could do what foolish bands do, which is just run one big $150 ad and say “Hey, Europe, we’re coming for you.” Or, you could get the most bang for your buck, and run individualized ads targeted to each city you are playing. You could say, “Hey, Paris, we’re coming for you!”, “Hey Belgium, we’re coming for you”, and so on and so forth. You get it. Yet you don’t. Why? Because it’s a pain in the ass and you’re lazy. I get it, but here’s the thing. If fucking Kreator can shoot individualized advertisements for each and every of their dates on the Decibel tour, then you can run the same ad slightly edited across 30 different markets. It’s not hard. You genuinely care about this stuff, right? Right?!

Now, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass. This shit can be super fucking hard. Not only can it be super fucking hard, but it’s also going to take a lot of work on your end. Constant experimentation and refinement of your target audiences is inherent to the process of making sure things are performing nicely. As a general rule, you want to be paying around 75 cents per click for audiences you are targeting on Facebook, and under a dollar per click on Instagram. A little higher is okay. Those numbers are by no means precise, and in a few months they might be wrong again – but I know a lot of you guys like having detailed info like this, so I’m doing my best to give it to you.

This is also part of why I like to run lots of smaller ads before I run bigger ones, and why I run a lot of smaller ads in general. It not only gives you the ability to target more effectively, but I’ve found that the sheer power that you get from constantly optimizing pays off more in the long run rather than taking a bunch of $50 shots in the dark. There are two kinds of people who take $50 shots in the dark: people who are bad at targeting ads, and people who actually buy their own drinks in Vegas. Both of these people are the result of bad planning, so don’t be like them.

I hope this makes sense as a general primer on targeting your social content. I know that it’s some pretty complex stuff, and I’ve experienced firsthand how overwhelming Ads Manager can be. That being said, once you know what you’re doing, it’s easy to run effective ads that are going to get you traction. Once you understand some of the basic concepts behind how these ads work, then you’re going to get a whole hell of a lot further. If you guys like this article, I can get even deeper since obviously this is only the beginning. Just realize that social media ads need to be targeted not at who you want your audience to be, but rather who your audience actually is. Because when it comes down to it, that audience is a lot bigger than you might expect.

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Matt also co-hosts the Dumb & Dumbest podcast with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.

[doomedandstoned]

Small Changes Can Lead to Big Growth for Your Band

~Bacon's Blog~

Photographs by Rita Fevraleva

☿

What’s 5 times 5 times 5?   125.   Easy right? Cool, so what’s 6 times 6 times 6?   216.   Did you notice how each number only increased by 1 (or 20%), but the number it multiplied out to was 57% larger? I know you aren't here for a remedial math lesson, but hang tight! This all ties into something very interesting related to the music business.

In this week's article, I want to focus on three key ways to grow your band, then show you how minor growth in any of these three categories can lead to massive growth in the end. I know this sounds a little "pie in the sky" right now, but I promise I'm going to bring it back down to the nitty gritty in a minute, so stay with me. Prepare to discover how DIY bands can make a living off their music through incremental growth...it’s a doozy!

Let's get right into it then, shall we? The three ways you can increase your band's income are fairly simple: you can increase (1) the number of fans who spend money on your music (not just stream it), (2) the amount of money your fans spend, and (3) the number of times your engaged fans come back to spend more. Sounds simple enough, right?

When you sort all of your band's activities into these three buckets, suddenly everything becomes a lot easier to process. I think I’m safe in assuming we can all help our bands at least a little bit in each of these categories. So now that you understand the basis of my argument, I want to get into how we're going to use this insight to help your band grow almost exponentially within a remarkably short timeframe. And yes, before you ask, I cribbed this from legendary marketer Jay Abraham -- the man knows what’s up.

Say you have 100 fans who spend about 20 bucks on merch every time you play their town and you play there twice a year. Your formula for growth would be: 100 (number of fans) x 20 (average spent on merch) x 2 (number of shows played) and your total income would equal $4000. Not bad, right? This is where it gets interesting. What if you figure out how to advance each of these numbers by 10%? If you do that, suddenly your $4000 turns into $5234, more than 30% growth!

The best part is that moving each of these numbers individually isn’t actually that hard. In fact, a few minor tweaks will turn this game of inches into one where suddenly you're gaining feet and yards on your competition. It’s not a question of blowing them away; it’s a question of being just a little bit better. Breaking each category down into its component parts takes you a step closer to figuring out how to optimize it.

I want to take a minute to clarify some details surrounding the three ways of growing your band's finances. The number of fans is obviously a fairly easy one to process, you simply grow one fan at a time. Growing the amount spent at the merch table can also be pretty easy to size up. As with fans, you grow this by one dollar per transaction.

Think about what would happen if you had 10% growth in merch sales alongside the other growth we outlined. You don’t need to worry about selling one in ten people another shirt to boost your average (although that would be cool). Instead, try to raise each sale by 10% by pushing a small, cool upsell-- maybe a bunch of stickers, a koozie, or a patch. It don't need to be highfalutin.

Similarly, you can increase the amount of times your average fan buys from you -- not solely by playing their city more often, but by expanding the channels your products are available on (online or otherwise). It’s going to propel you in an actionable way to get you that extra little 10%.

Okay, now I’m going to ask you to do an exercise that really helped me and my own business when I did it. Of course, I’m adapting it to your world as a band, but believe me, the principles remain reliably the same. Ready? I want you to grab pen and paper right now and jot down all the things your band does. Everything. This might include recording, gigs, social media, merch, and so on.

Next, start breaking these things down into as many component parts as possible. For a typical show, this might include such aspects as loading in, soundchecking, setting up merch, talking to fans before the show, performing, tearing down, talking to fans after the show and, of course, selling merch.

Once you've fleshed out your list, I want you to set a timer for a half-hour and see how many ideas you can come up with to help make all of these band-related processes more efficient, more profitable, and more engaging to fans. I think you’ll be surprised at the results in the just the brief period of time you dedicate to this brainstorming activity.

I know this article was pretty dense and it might take a few go-throughs to get everything I’ve tried to explain (I might follow this with another article or two, further expounding on these thoughts). There’s a lot to go over with stuff like this and I'm not nearly articulate enough to claim the ability to perfectly communicate it. It’s an interesting set of twists and turns, though. Just think about the numbers and apply them to your own band's reality. Trust me, I know the exercise I suggested sounds kind of corny, but guess what? It actually works on a level that freaked me out a little. Whaddya got to lose?

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Matt also co-hosts the Dumb & Dumbest podcast with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.

[doomedandstoned]

BLOWUP FESTIVAL VOLUME 4

~Doomed & Stoned Festival Scrapbook~

The fourth edition of Blowup Festival took place in Helsinki, Finland, October 12th through the 14th, with another stellar line-up that included: Acid King, Amenra, Author & Punisher, Bongripper, Conan, Crowbar, Dark Buddha Rising, Demonic Death Judge, Dopethrone, Godflesh, Hällas, Kauan, King Dude, Lingua Ignota, Okkultokrati, and Whores. Following are the recollections of Russian photographer, Rita Fevraleva, whom Doomed & Stoned dispatched to cover the heavy music event. This was her first trip to Helsinki.

By Rita Fevraleva

IG: @fevraleva_concerts

Where do I begin?

Hello. My name is Rita, I’m a photographer from Moscow. I’ve been taking photos of the local underground scene for about three years. I met Billy Goate, Editor of Doomed & Stoned, online on the Russian social net Vkontakte. He liked my photos from gigs and sometimes he was even published them in his blog.

I’d always dreamed about doing a photo report from a foreign festival, and at the beginning of this year, Billy and I started discussing the acquisition of press credentials for Nordic festivals. I received a really big list of events happening in 2018 and ultimately chose to cover Blowup Festival Volume 4 in Helsinki.

I applied for my visa and bought tickets (it's really cheap from Moscow, about 25-30 euro one-way). My boyfriend accompanied me and we stayed at a friend’s apartment, who I met through at couchsurfing app.

So here I was in Finland, ready to make great photo report and...

WHHHATTT!!!???

I found out that my camera was broken. I was really shocked and upset. My dream appeared to be shattered.

To my happiness, my boyfriend gave me his travel camera. I had no idea how to use it, but I told myself, "Rita, don’t panic. You’re already in Helsinki, so go to the club and make photos while you can!"

After an hour of crying and screaming I’ve decided to do my business.

DAY ONE

We arrived in Helsinki on Friday at about 14:00, so after checking in we had some hours to walk and sightsee in the city. It turned out to be a really warm weekend and we visited Sibelius Park, then some local bars. When I finally arrived to Club Korjaamo, I saw a damnshit big line near the entry. Since I'd taken the trouble to get my wristband ahead of time, it was a little easier to bear.

At first, I was surprised because the staff of Korjaamo asked me to pay a fee for club’s service (3 euro!).   Guys, but I’m photo reporter from Russia!   Okay...

For the two days, I stayed near the main stage (Vaunusali), because I couldn’t get to the second stage (Kulmasali) because of the crowd.

OMG. So many people!

Dark Buddha Rising

Finland's own Dark Buddha Rising was very mystical, like some ancient Shamanic ritual. I heard crazy screaming and a lot of noise. WOW. I really liked this band and when I first came back to Moscow, I’d listen their albums over and over.

Film by Astral Zone

Acid King

Having seen Acid King in Moscow just last year, I was really glad to see them again (though, to be honest, I liked their show in Russia more).

Crowbar

At great last, I saw the mighty Crowbar. Wow, it was so fucking low and heavy. ssssludge...oh yeah!

Film by MasaTheSlayer

Unfortunately, I didn’t hear the last band, Bongripper, because I was afraid to miss the bus back to our lodging. On the positive side, that evening I met someone from my city, named Sergey. It was really nice to encounter someone who had also traveled to the fest from Russia.

DAY TWO

I want to tell you a little about atmosphere at the venue, Korjaamo. It's an unusual club, based in a museum of trams. There were two stages, a separate bar with kitchen, and a merchandise zone. Also, there was a smoking zone between the two stages in a tunnel (full of weed smoke!) and, of course, outside.

Conan

I know that Conan had to come to Russia about two times, but there were some problems keeping me from seeing them. Not tonight! Tonight, I would be blown away by their classic, crisp caveman sound. It was really good.

Godflesh

Next up: Godflesh. I was surprised hearing this fantastic wall of sound from just two guys. All I can say is, again: wow! It was a truly inspired performance.

Film by Razor D.T.

After the Godflesh show, I went to merch zone and really wanted someone to talk to! Just then, I heard someone speaking Russian -- two people, in fact.

"Oh, hi guys. Where are you from?"

"Hi! We’re from Kiev, Ukraine. And you?"

"Moscow."

"Ohhhh, and which band you’d come to watch?"

"Actually, all of them, I’m making a photo report, and what about you?"

"I'm here to see Kauan."

"Oh, you must really like this band to come all the way here to see it."

"Yep, cause we play there."

"Ahhh!"

It was really funny and we both shared a laugh. Later, I met all members of Kauan and we had to talk a little. They told me that they’d spent two days getting here. As for their performance, it really impressed. They write lyrics in the Suomi language and it was their first show in Finland. After our conversation, we went together with Kauan’s violin player Anatoly to Amenra’s show.

Amenra

Amenra was perfect! I think, the best show at the festival. Dark atmosphere, bodies in trance, really beautiful.

Films by MasaTheSlayer

Overall, I found Helsinki to be very clean and nice on the streets and the weather was beautiful. I will say there are high prices in Finland. Regular beer in supermarket costs 3 or 4 euros, and in Russia it’s about 80 cents! You can exchange empty bottles or cans for money, so that at least helps.

Oh, and city WC is free! That's water closet, or toilet, for those on the other side of the earth.

Now you can see whether I succeed in making a photo report or not.

Stayed Doomed and Stoned!

More From Blowup

Films by Juho Rinne

Films by MasaTheSlayer

[doomedandstoned]

TUNE LOW, PLAY SLOW

A Scrapbook

~Pics: Rita Fevraleva | Films: Occult Worship Productions~

Since last year, we've been bringing you on-scene photo reports from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, thanks to the the lens of Rita Favreleva and other locals. We covered the Sludge Convention and received first-hand accounts from Acid King and Elder about their trips to the Russian Federation.

Tune Low, Play Slow IV was an all-dayer held in Moscow on September 30th, 2017. A companion event, Slow Now Mercy, took place the day before in nearby Saint Petersburg. Last go 'round, Salem's Pot headlined Tune Low, Play Slow. This year, the mighty Dopelord commanded the stage, joined by Dutch dark rockers Gold. The Russian support did not disappoint. Long time doomers will recognize names like Without God and Crypt Jaintor, but bands like ИЛ and Electric Jezus (who shared a split last year, released new records of their own this year) are well worth adding to your playlist. For those of us an ocean away who couldn't attend this riffapocalypse, we can certainly live vicariously through the beautifully chaotic visuals that follow. Enjoy the show...

DOPELORD

GOLD

ИЛ

WITHOUT GOD

ELECTRIC JEZUS

CRYPT JAINTOR

[doomedandstoned]

MOSCOW SLUDGE FEST!

Words by Billy Goate

Pics by Rita Fevraleva (IG: ritafevraleva)

Films by Anton Rodionov

We've been here before. One year ago, we journeyed deep into the forbidden zone, peering through the lens of Moscow photojournalist Rita Fevraleva into the dank world of the Russian heavy underground. When I heard there was something called a Sludge Convention, I was mad with curiosity. Rita's photos of last year's double header, Sludge Convention III in Saint Petersburg and Sludge Fest in Moscow introduced us all to a thriving community of metalheads, happily lost in the hypnotic swirl of downtuned riffs, crackling amps, and a deafening wall of sound. I think those unforgettable images of possessed souls will forever haunt me.

Now the 2017 gathering of the damned returns! Saint Sludge Convention IV was held once again on Friday May 26th in Saint Petersburg, followed by Sludge Fest in Moscow on Saturday May 27th, held in a club called Model T. I think you will agree, Rita's snaps this time around are indeed stellar, giving us a trippy eyeful of regional heavyweights 609, C.X., ElectricJezus, Illegal Ones, Montezuma's Revenge, and Remote.

Lovable Freaks!

I have a feeling I'd fit in just fine in this mess of misfits.

Strong Drink!

Handcrafted by Riffs 'n' Beers Brewery.

Groovy Merch!

Plenty of doomed discoveries right here.

Ghostly Images!

Rita's masterful lens transports us a world away to experience memories of mayhem frozen in time.

609 (BOG/60g)

C.X.

ELECTRICJEZUS

And the crowd goes wild...

ILLEGAL ONES

MONTEZUMA’S REVENGE

REMOTE

Thus ends another successful synod of the dirging denizens of doom! No doubt we will have a chance to visit the rumbling Russian scene in the months ahead. Until then, I highly recommend diving into the cracks and fissures of the concrete and discovering the treasure trove of street doom that has made Moscow and the cities beyond such a thriving scene.

[doomedandstoned]

Posting To Create Authenticity

~Bacon's Blog~

Photograph by Rita Fevraleva

So this is a big one that a lot of people struggle with. How do you broadcast authenticity? How do you set it up in a way that is meaningful and helpful? We all can tell when someone is being fake, so how do you show someone that you are real. How do you make a point of creating an online persona people can meaningfully relate to?

Well it’s pretty simple. It requires you to realize how humans interact. Part of this means accepting that you are not special, but some of your interests will make you special to other people. Finally comes the hard part – actually talking and creating content that shows you are authentic. Ready to take the ride?

3. How Humans Interact

This is the big thing to understand. Humans are pack animals, and they are attracted to what is familiar, especially right now in the middle of COVID while we try to figure out what the future of the species even is going to look like.

What does this mean for you? Well it means that if you create content that people can relate too then they are going to like you more. It’s like that old chestnut about how viral content is just something familiar plus something unique. You just need to build on what people now so that they connect and then work to build on that.

2. You’re Not Special – But Your Interests Are

And this is where your interests come in. The thing is no one cares about you, they only care about themselves. But they also want to add people to their ‘pack.’ The way that people do this is often by seeing who is interested in the same thing as them. It creates a point of connection between two random people.

This is where your interests gain value. If people see ‘Oh this person is also very nerdy about a very specific thing’ they will often like you more. They might even reach out to you. The best part is that if you’re doing this in the music space, well odds are if you play, I don’t know – sludge-doom - you probably have a similar set of interests to many of your peers! So if you talk about those interests people will connect.

1. Posting To Create Authenticity

This is where the rubber really hits the road. When you make posts that show you are authentic. This is so much deeper than ‘Wow I love Slayer’ (Although something as simple as that can actually help start opening doors!) What we’re talking about is stuff like, "Wow, I love Slayer. The first time I saw them I was 17 years old at Mayhem Fest with a bunch of other awesome bands including King Diamond who is another long time favorite. I went with my brother and it was great."

Suddenly, a pretty standard opinion in metal became one a lot of people could connect too, that was a lot more interesting. That showed an intimate understanding of the music and the culture. When you do this, when you show you understand and care about something, other people will see that and do the same. That’s the whole basis of human interaction – talking about shit. So just show people what you like to talk about and then you’re going to grow from there!

I know that some of this can feel like an oversimplification. But it’s really that easy. Think about how people interact, realize what interests you have that others share, and then talk about it. That’s how you build authenticity easily!

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. You can read other articles in the series by clicking the "Bacon's Blog" hashtag below. Matt can also be heard on the Dumb & Dumbest podcast, which he co-hosts with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.

[doomedandstoned]

Influencer Marketing and Your Band

~Bacon's Blog~

Photograph by Rita Fevraleva

So I’ve been investing a lot of time these past few weeks in deepening my understanding of influencer advertising. Why? Well because it’s a really effective way to grow accounts and get attention in a world where Facebook and Instagram make increasingly dystopian choices. I wanted to break down some best practices for engaging with influencer marketing.

Obviously this is an inexact science, and that’s honestly the first thing you need to understand about hiring influencers. Furthermore, when you hire them you need to be clear and direct about what you want and make sure they understand and can meet your expectations. Then of course you need to make sure that you are giving something cool to post – their social followings are their livelihoods after all!

3. Influencers Are Kind Of A Crapshoot

This is the thing that makes influencer marketing really scary. While you can get a lot more reach and definitely turn around some sales, it’s definitely not as clean cut as the world of Facebook Ads Manager where everything is nicely coordinated.

On top of that, not every influencer is a match for every band. If you are an art doom band but go to a more stoner rock oriented influencer that could definitely blow up in your face since the fans won’t really get it. You’ve got to do a lot of research because of this.

2. You Need To Be Clear About What You Want!

If people aren’t clear on what you want theyt are more likely to do nothing than anything at all because they don’t want to screw up. So you need to make a point of telling people what you are about and why you are interested in getting it done in a particular way. Most people are relatively easy to work with, but they need some instruction.

If you’re unsure what’s reasonable – look at some of their other posts and ask them. Usually you can tell if someone is trying to rip you off. Generally speaking though, getting set up to have someone feature a clip of your band, or themselves wearing your shirt or LP can be an effective way to move the needle.

1. Give Them Something Cool To Post!

This is why a lot of people get turned down from influencer marketing – they don’t have content that’s cool to post. And the thing is something that’s cool can be as easy as a t shirt that’s well designed and fits them well!

However, if you just expect people to post your album cover, or run a shot of your band thats not really compelling in some way it just won’t happen, and if it does you won’t get great results from it. You’re much better off collaborating with the influencer on getting some creative that makes sense with their feed since that will ensure you get more content.

So yes, there is a good reason everyone is talking about the value of influencer marketing. But it’s still really hard to do right and really requires you to do some research, realize it’s a crapshoot, have clear desires and have something meaningful to share. If you don’t, you’re shooting yourself in the foot!

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. You can read other articles in the series by clicking the "Bacon's Blog" hashtag below. Matt can also be heard on the Dumb & Dumbest podcast, which he co-hosts with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.