Another thought is branding, working in SEO and online marketing i am constantly aware of how companies need a good branding to stand out from the crowd – that can sometimes even over shadow the quality of the product (which is not always good for the consumer but very good for the company). Music seems to work in a similar manner, but how do you go about ‘branding’ your product. I have a few ideas im kicking around for my own band, making not just the music – but the brand a viable commodity and product so I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on things they think could / should be a potential selling point (good songs / image aside) for a musician / band.

many thanks again for the wonderful work and contributions to the community.

Kind Regards

Jay

Jordan – there’s a post that covers this here – http://makeitinmusic.com/do-you-know-how-to-get-gigs-and-play-live, but we are also going to look at that Catch 22 as soon as we can too.

Jay – That’s my speciality, so we’re covering that as soon as we can too.

Ian

Can you speak to getting gigs to develope buzz and a local following? I’m finding alot of “venue” owners don’t want to book people (especially original songwriters) unless they already have a following. It also seems difficult to get a following without gigs…bit of a catch 22.

Thanks,

Jordan

For example, if a member quits a band what rights do they have over songs/lyrics, how are royaties agreed on and best way to do this, why sign up to the PRS and MCSPS? – I know some of these are basics and are talked about a lot but it would be nice to see a simple but detailed guide to reference from someone with so much experience in the music industry and especialy from the law perspective.

Many thanks again for a great site – i have enjoyed reading through all the articles so far and appreciate the effort you are all going to in helping out our industry.

Jay

I would like to add that the advice you give is most appreciated as you guys are taking time out of your industry jobs and giving this advice FREE! of charge. I think its great what you are doing.

Keep em Coming!

Best wishes,

Linda

I think it also depends on what genre of music you want to promote/perform. For me, since I am promoting a Renaissance Festival, I’m trying to get on as many Renaissance Faire/Festival sites and other free sites in order to promote.

I also do like http://www.whofish.org in the New England area, as you can post there for free. http://www.guidespot.com is pretty new, but I like it as they really did help me promote my faire as well. I also like http://www.goboston.com and http://www.livejournal.com to promote things and make friends along the way.

I am glad I found this site as well, great tips all around!

Looking at a contract done it the 90′s is not the best example. With the onset of what has been referred to as ’360 deals’, agreements currently look quite different. Here’s an example of why you might want to ignore whatever a label has to offer anyway.
http://ow.ly/5Lan

As silly as it sounds, some people do actually need help learning about MySpace. Mainly because they think the work is done once you’ve created a profile and customised it with your artwork/bio/music etc. The reality is that that’s when the real work begins.

@ Molly

Don’t ignore any profile. You either have a good one or delete it – otherwise you’re going to look lazy and uncommitted when that may not be the case. Ensure all your profiles look similar – having the same artwork and colour scheme helps build your brand. Have as many profiles as you can manage – the more you have, the more opportunities there are to be discovered by a new fan. Link them all back to your website where they can buy your products and join your fan club – i.e. treat each profile as a doorway back to your own website. If you can’t create your own website, then MySpace is fine… but Bandcamp seems to be really hot right now.

Essential sites for a decent online presence currently include:
Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp
MySpace

The real work starts once you’ve got the sites – leave comments on the sites being read by your target fans. Molly, as you didn’t post a link to your website/MySpace, it’s unclear which genre you fit into and that subsequently restricts the advice I can offer. Yes, EVERYONE (even @Kitty) can and should be pigeon-holed into a genre to begin with, it focuses your attention on the highest density of people most likely to support you and reduces your exposure to the risk of time wasting / failure (i.e. posting a link to your metal band on a pop website = waste of time).

@ Cheryl Hill

Have you thought about stripping it down and just going out with an acoustic?
Weird as that may sound, great songs have the uncanny ability to still sound as great when they’re done acoustically. It would enable you to do more gigs in total. Stop playing at the clubs that don’t pay. Billy Childish made some interesting and very positive points about putting your best tracks together as an album (not necessarily a physical one) and playing under a pseudonym etc. – worth a try if you’re really feeling stuck in a rut.

Kindest regards,
http://DIYMusicians.com
http://Twitter.com/@DIY_Musicians

We’ll try and tackle all the questions raised as soon as possible.

In short:

Molly – yes MySpace is still vital. You need to have an active profile but it MUST be about building active and committed fans, not just pointless friend adding.

D – we’ll do something in detail about record deals. My speciality – I used to be a music lawyer!. Lou is right though, that Albini article is fantastic.

Cheryl – that’s a tough one and is more about a whole approach to how you market your music and about thinking sideways to create opportunities. I think Billy makes some good points about your kind of situation, but we’ll see if we an come up with a ‘Career rejuvenation’ set of ideas.

Billy – I like the idea of Do’s and Don’ts.

Ian