Category: Building a Fan Base

Battle of the Bands: What You Should Know About Contests

Battle of Bands: What You Should Know About Contests

By NationWide Source - Jan 17, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

In a time when grabbing a fan’s attention gets harder each day, when people’s attachment to their smart phones, tablets and computers makes it simultaneously easier and harder to connect with them, when you’re competing against a flood of content and noise from other artists, how is a band supposed to stand out and get actual attention? One way to gain increased exposure and recognition is by entering band contests, which are becoming increasingly common.

Battle of the Bands—Contest Formats

There are a few different ways a contest can be held. The most common are web-based or live. In a web-based contest, you’ll be asked to upload a song (or more commonly, a video) and promote yourself, in effect promoting the contest. In a live contest setting, the setup is very similar to a live show. You’ll be asked to perform a shorter set, and there will be judges that will be watching for the best performance, crowd interaction, song quality, and so on.

Benefits of Band Contests

In addition to reaching new fans, contests can have other benefits. Winning or placing in a contest looks good on your band’s bio. Quite often, the judges are people from the industry with proven track records and lots of pull. Sometimes, contests award recording sessions, the chance to play a big show or on a big tour, or just a substantial amount of cash. All of these things are helpful and useful and good… so why wouldn’t someone want to participate in a contest?

Drawbacks to Band Contests

Contests can have their downfalls as well. If you spent a lot of money on the contest and don’t win, you may feel like you have wasted money that could have been spent on recording a new song, buying newer equipment, or getting better gigs. Additionally, not all contests are as legitimate as they seem; triple check the contest to be sure you’re not walking into a scam.

Where To Find Contests

The Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands is one of the most popular ways to get involved in contests. Their current opportunities including playing at Warped Tour, Epiccenter, Aftershock, Uproar Festival, Crossroads, and Showdown at Cedar Street. The Hard Rock Cafe also hosts a battle of the bands. On a smaller scale, look for local battle of the bands at cities and venues near you. Even if you lose, these can help you gain a local following.

The ball is in your court; keep an open mind about contests when moving forward.

Have you entered a Battle of the Bands or other contest before? How did it affect your fan base? How did you do?

Music and Social Media: Twitter

By NationWide Source - Jan 17, 2014 Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

While Facebook is great for turning friends into fans (and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends…), finding fans outside that network can be difficult. On the other hand, Twitter and its hashtag feature allow you to find and connect with complete strangers around the world with similar interests—be it musical style, television shows, politics, or food photography.

So how do you use Twitter to find more fans and market your events? Here are a few ideas:

Follow To Be Followed

There are thousands of musicians on Twitter. Follow established bands in your genre and look at their followers; then follow them, too. You can search for specific bands that you believe you sound similar to or for venues in your area. You can also search others’ tweets for keywords (like “folk punk”) to find people most likely to become your fans. Follow only those accounts that are active and relevant to your act.

Be Active

Post your thoughts or what you’re doing, announce upcoming releases, share posters for your next gig, link to your blog posts, favorite tweets you find particularly amusing, reply to mentions, and re-tweet shout-outs from fans. Be sure to read others’ tweets, especially those of your fans and fellow musicians, and reply to some. Remember that you’re connecting with fans, not just talking to them.

Provide Incentive

Contests and free give-always are a great way to encourage your followers to interact with you or share your tweets. Offer a free piece of merchandise to anyone who can come up with the most creative way to use your band’s name in a sentence, for example. Crowdsource your followers for your new album artwork. Or, when someone shares your tweets, videos, or music with their followers, thank them with a mention and a free download code.

Plan An After Party

Shows can be a dime a dozen, and making yours stand out can be hard. However, as many musicians on Twitter have already discovered, planning an exclusive after party during which your band will perform is a sure way to get the crowds talking. Tweet a time and place, then wait for the party to begin.

Tweet on the Go

Because of it’s 140-character limit, Twitter is an ideal on-the-go social media platform. Tweet on the way to a gig or between sets, or snap and share a pic from the stage. Remember to mention fans and venues, too.

These steps can help you create and maintain a dedicated fan base. Remember, sometimes, the best way to a fan’s heart is not a perfect ballad—sometimes it’s a witty tweet.

Do you use Twitter to connect with fans and market your music? How did you build and maintain your fan base?

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Music and Social Media: Facebook

By NationWide Source - Jan 16, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

There are many social media platforms through which you can promote your music. By far, the most popular is Facebook. To reach that potential fan base, you need a Facebook page.

Developing a strong fan base and promoting your music is more complicated than simply adding a slew of friends and strangers to your profile. If you want to see your number of fans grow to it’s full potential, then you need to correctly use Facebook to promote your band. These tips will help get you there:

Create a Fan Page

This gives fans (friends, family, and strangers alike) a central place to go for information, and lets you keep your personal life off separate from your music career. Since it gives a unified front, it’s especially helpful when your act consists of more than one member. It also lets you track your posts’ exposure rates, share special offers, or create events. Be sure to brand it with your logos, album artwork, or band pictures, and keep it up to date.

Catch Fans’ Eyes

A picture will capture the audience’s attention much quicker than a lengthy piece of text ever could. If you have a story, promotion, or announcement, glam it up with an relevant, quality image.

Keep It Brief

Don’t post chapters of your memoir to Facebook. Fans will tire of reading lengthy posts and begin ignoring you. Try to keep posts to a few lines, or put the lengthy content on your band’s website and link to it with a brief description.

Stay Active

Don’t invest your entire day into posting on your band’s page; in fact, doing so may actually get you deleted. You should post regularly, though. Also, be sure to check in and respond to your fans’ comments. Since popular posts with high activity are more likely to show up in news feeds’ (thanks to Facebook’s algorithms), responding to comments in a timely manner ensures that your posts are showing up in fans’ news feeds. It will also show your fans how much you appreciate them.

Pay Attention To Geography

If you’re touring, geo-targeting is a great way to get your info in front of relevant audiences. Use the names of cities or regions near your tour locations to ensure that your posts get to the right audience.

Great bands play at great venues, and in the world of social media, Facebook is one of the greatest. Don’t let your band miss out on the incredible marketing opportunity Facebook offers.

Do you use Facebook to promote your music and connect with fans? What are your favorite features? Are there any drawbacks?

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Increase Your Exposure: Streaming Music

By NationWide Source - Jan 15, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

A confession: I like physical media. I back up sessions on hard drives. I have an extensive CD collection. When I’m near a record player, you can bet it will be in use. That said, I’m not stuck in the past. I’ve grown quite fond of backing up to cloud drives, and as a consumer I often use music-streaming sites like Spotify.

As a professional artist, you have to keep up on industry trends to get your music out there. You could have the best songs and the tightest band, but if no one hears your songs, none of that will matter.

One of the biggest trends right now is streaming music. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a quick overview:

When you sell your music, whether in physical distribution or in online sales and downloads, you get the profits and the consumer keeps the music. Streaming is different; the most common sites are closer to traditional radio play, just online and tailored to each listener. Listeners use a service, free or paid, to access the music but do not own the music. This means that they can listen to the artists and songs they like, discover related artists, retain valuable hard drive space, and not spend (much) money on music.

If you want access to these listeners, you must make your songs available on these streaming sites. On the plus side, there is usually a small amount of money paid to the you each time someone streams your song. While the profits from streaming services are not as ideal as album sales, the streaming services can offer increased exposure. As a user of streaming sites, I often check out similar artists suggested by the service. Some services automatically play similar artists. If these listeners like your music, they might regularly listen to you (more money) or might look up where to buy your music and do so (more money).

The major streaming outlets right now are Spotify, Pandora, and ReverbNation. There have been and will be others; be sure to keep updated on which is rising or falling in popularity.

If you’re still a fan of physical media and live performances like I am, that’s great. There’s still an audience for that, but it’s no longer the whole story. Now that you know about streaming music, you can decide whether or not this type of music distribution is a good fit for you.

Have you put your music on a streaming service? Has doing so resulted in increased sales or fans? Which service would you recommend?

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Music and Social Media: Promoting Your Act

By NationWide Source - Jan 14, 2014 Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Music promotion has come a long way since the days of handing out fliers and free beers to get attention. The internet has changed how to promote your music, offering a variety of tools and a potentially-global fan base, all from the computer or mobile device at hand.

Knowing how to promote your music is important. While you could use a fan page or profile on a certain social media platform as your main page, the world of social media is constantly changing and growing. It might be best to have a dedicated site for your band, then use the social media outlets as tools to support that site.

Social sites are not one and the same, however. Each site has different strengths that the others do not have. Some of the most common sites are:

Facebook – This popular social media site is ideal for telling brief stories, sharing photos and videos, and creating events; lets you reach friends, family, fans and their networks.
Twitter – Twitter is perfect for announcements, shout-outs, and networking; utilize the hashtag tool for cross-referencing.
Google+ – Google+ is great for sorting connections into arbitrary circles such as bands, venues, label and fans.
YouTube – Get your music heard even without a record by posting videos on YouTube.
MySpace – MySpace is highly customizable, allowing you to promote your music while matching your personality and style.
Instagram – Create a video/photo diary of your band’s progress and easily share on your other social media platforms. Again, utilize the hashtag tool.
LinkedIn – This networking tool can be great for making industry contacts and joining groups for artists.

Now that you know some of your options, create your strategy. Some points to consider:

Be present – We don’t mean post every day at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., but do post often. This keeps your fans from forgetting about you. Absence does not make the fan grow fonder. That said, don’t flood your fans with too many posts.
Get involved – One of the biggest differences between a great show and a terrible one is the level of interaction between the bands and the fans. The same goes for social media. If you want your fans to stick around, pull them into a conversation by ending posts with a question. Just don’t forget to respond.
Don’t get pushy – If all of your posts sound like sales pitches, your fans will lose interest. Keep your posts to promotions, stories, and videos.
Use multiple sites – Don’t rely on just one site. If you post an image on Instagram of last night’s concert or uploaded a new music video on YouTube, share it on your website, Facebook, and Twitter. Sites like HooteSuite make managing multiple accounts easier.
Join forces – If you make friends with other talented bands in your genre or have upcoming gigs with other bands, you can combine efforts to reach more people.

If you know how to use the different types of social media, then you know how to promote your music. Because you need to do more than just practice to get noticed.

Which social media tools do you use? Which have you found to be most effective?

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Follow Your Muse: Music Industry Success

By NationWide Source - Jan 14, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Following your muse may be the toughest thing for any artist to come to terms with. Why? On the one hand, you like the artists you like; you want to emulate their work as an homage. At the same time, you want to create your own distinct voice and persona.

For new artists trying to get gigs, the balancing act can be tough. You don’t want to call yourself the second coming of Mick Jagger… but if you’ve got the moves like him, why not compare, sing, and strut?

Determine Your Muse

As cutting edge and new and fresh sounding as you think your music is going to be, there’s no question that as soon as you put it out into the world, comparisons are going to be drawn. So get a head start and figure it out yourself. Determining your muse is relatively simple. Who do you like? Whose music does yours sound like? If there’s no exact match (bravo!), then draw comparisons to multiple artists, but be specific.

If you need help with this part, ask trusted others who they think your work is similar to. Then, for a more balanced opinion, tell them who you think you sound like. They’ll either agree, or they will point out why you don’t sound like that artist.

Use This to Your Advantage

If you’re really ready to promote yourself, don’t be afraid to compare. Even Adam Levine, who it’s safe to say is well-established, isn’t too big to compare his moves to his muse, Jagger.

Linking your sound to your muse’s gives venues an idea of who they are booking and the target audience. It lets other bands know if you’d fill out their tour listing well or if you’d just be the same as the other acts. Lastly, if fans of your muse artist see your names linked, they might be willing to give your work a listen, giving you access to an established audience of like-minded fans.

Whether your sound is folk or blues, metal or reggae, pop or skat, rap or instrumental you are going down a road which has been trod before. The best you can do as an artist is follow your muse, honor their inspiring force in your work, and try to carve out your own unique sound from there.

What artists have inspired and influenced your career as a musician? Have you used this to your advantage, or has it hindered you?

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Don’t Fake It To Succeed as a Musician

By NationWide Source - Jan 14, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

When you are a musician trying to get gigs or be heard by a larger audience, you need to remember to just be yourself. There are several reasons why remaining genuine is the best path for a musician to take.

Mystery Does Not Equal Trust

If you think that hiding behind lies and contradictory statements and actions creates a sense of mystery about you as an artist, you’re half right. What you’re missing is that band mates and venues won’t want to work with someone who they don’t know and can’t count on. When there are no alternate truths, there is no confusion as to who you are or what you’re really trying to say.

Your Reputation

The label of “phony” can be devastating and difficult to shake, especially if given publicly. While the struggle to rebuild your reputation can be frustrating, try looking at it from their side: when you have been lied to by someone, it’s difficult for you to take them at their word going forward. Your fans, band mates, and critics will all need time to trust you again. Save yourself the struggle and be genuine from the beginning.

Critical Eye

As a musician, you want to sell a consistent image of yourself and your group, then back that up with your actions. If you are going to contradict that image—whether with your actions or by speaking out on a subject—be prepared to take the fall for it. On the flip side, if your actions and words consistently reinforce your image, you might gain some acclaim. Remember: critics are a musician’s best friend and worst enemy.

Emotional Connection

Being genuine is also vital in performing and connecting with fans. Performances should be an emotional ride for fans, but that means you feeling and showing the emotion of the songs you’re performing. Don’t fake it and go to exaggerated extremes, but you should be feeling your own music and sharing those feelings with fans. If you don’t feel your music… you have other problems.

Rather than trying to win your fans or band mates after being less-than-genuine, it’s important for you keep your message as genuine as possible.

In your music career, have you struggled to stay genuine and true to yourself? What has helped you through that struggle?

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4 Steps to Getting Better Gigs

By NationWide Source - Jan 13, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Raise your hand if you aren’t getting the gigs you want, or aren’t getting enough gigs. Raise your hand if you know a way (cliche or not) to fix it?

I do. In one word? Networking.

Still with me? Good. The right types of networking can really help you to get better gigs.

The Fine Line of Friend/Fan

There will naturally be some crossover between your friends and fans. Ideally, your friends will be supportive, coming to shows and buying your products. Make time for them outside of rehearsals and gigs. At gigs, though, focus on the fans. Fans will buy your CDs, come to all your shows, pay their own way, bring their friends, and ask for more of what you’re dishing out. Fans are the reason you’re there and your ticket to coming back, so appreciate your fans; be friendly, genuine and down-to-earth when interacting with them… and do interact with them! Get their names and email, thank them for coming, and follow up later.

Promote Like It’s Your Job

As an independent artist or band, you might feel like it’s the job of the promoter to promote or market your event. Thus, their title. Take it from someone who has been both promoter and promoted: it is true that promoters are a really important part of the process, but this isn’t their career and passion on the line. It’s yours. I always recommend bring your own crowd, and that means networking: build a fan base, connect with them, and communicate.

Be Where You Want to Be

You want fans to drive to a venue, pay for a ticket, hang out, and pay attention to you at a show? You need to do the same… but do it to genuinely meet people. Go to venues that you want to play. Don’t talk through performances. Introduce yourself to other bands; let them know you like their sound (only if you really do like it). Introduce yourself to the bartender; he might influence who the venue books. Go again, and again. And hey—being nice to everyone isn’t going to hurt your chances to get gigs, so get out there and get mingling.

Make Friends, Not Competition

If you’re performing, you will have to interact with other bands and artists. These people can be seen as your friends or your competition, but it will make things a lot easier if you are friends. Friends ask you to play shows with them; competition trashes you to venues. Friends will share gear when yours breaks and tips on upcoming opportunities; competition won’t.

Are you getting the types of gigs you want? Have you tried the above steps to get better gigs? What has helped you achieve that goal?

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Do Free Downloads Increase Your Exposure?

By NationWide Source - Jan 13, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As a musician, when you are trying to get your product out there to the masses, every little bit helps. However, radio play, CD sales, and music videos are increasingly being eschewed in favor of music downloads. This has become today’s staple metric for how successful a music act is.

But what is the preferred method for music downloads? Some would argue that the only type of download is the free one, while others hold fast to the idea that sales is a far better metric of who takes your music seriously. There are pros and cons to both sides.

Sold Downloads

The first “pro” to sales is obviously that you make some money. This is the dream of every artist of any stripe: to have a public who says, “your product is worth enough to me to pay you for it.” Additionally, these invested fans are more likely to listen, promote, and return for more. What’s not to like?

On the negative side of things, everyone likes to get something for nothing. If you are only selling your music, you will likely have fewer downloads, even if the fans are better.

Free Downloads

Offering your music downloads for free opens up a whole other can of worms. Yes, you likely will get more downloads. But, how many of these people are actively listening to your music? How many will share your band with their friends, or come back to buy your other products? For all you know, your song gets absorbed into their vast music catalog and will only come up once a year on shuffle.

At the same time that you’re getting more downloads, you could be stigmatizing yourself as unworthy of any money from consumers later on in your career. Why should they pay in now when you used to give it away? The transition there is not an easy one.

So Which Do You Go With?

The best answer might be a mix of both. You could offer new singles for free for a limited time or to a limited audience (such as previous paying customers) then charge for the single downloads or album downloads later. This conveys that your product has value but that you appreciate the fans that keep up with and support you.

Ultimately, the choice is yours, and we’d love to hear what you choose!

Have you offered free downloads of your music? Was it for a limited time only or to a limited audience? Did those fans come back and purchase other music?

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Getting Bloggers and Magazines to Review Your Music

By NationWide Source - Jan 13, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As an up-and-coming musician, you may have no idea where to begin when it comes to how to market your music. Anyone who has been successful in creative endeavors can tell you it’s no longer enough to put out a quality product and wait for attention. Your audience has to hear about that product, and they have to hear about it from a trusted, established source. While this source can be someone they know and trust, it can also be professional writers and bloggers in the music industry.

Here are some tips for reaching that group:

Do your homework

Find out which outlets fit your niche, who the contact people are, and whether or not they accept submissions. Subscribe to those magazines, read those blogs, or follow those writers.

Make contact

Send out copies of your music, press packets, and so forth. Tailor each submission to the recipient, too.

***Check their submission guidelines…* *Twice***

The press or person might require certain formats or pieces of information, or they might only communicate with managers and record labels. Don’t let a procedural mistake cost you this opportunity.

Focus on quality

Be sure that what you’re sending is as polished and professional as your budget allows, both in sound and appearance. If you want to be taken seriously as an artist, make sure your product reflects that.

Be relevant

Only send your product to appropriate people. Asking a magazine that focuses on heavy metal to review your jazz flute album probably won’t be an effective use of anyone’s time or money.

Follow up

If you haven’t heard back within a couple weeks, a polite letter, email, or (perhaps most impressively) phone call or two is acceptable. However, do NOT let this turn into nagging or begging.

Be thankful

If the press does feature you, by all means, do a happy dance. Then, send a thank you note. Be sure to share the feature on your website and social media platforms. Even if you’re not featured, thank them for their time and ask if they know of anyone in the industry who may be interested.

If you’re not sure where to start, try the music blog scene. Read and interact with music blogs like Hypebot, Digital Music News, and Ditto Music. They might answer questions you didn’t know you had, or they could simply point you on to the next link.

Have you been featured? If so, where, and how did you make this happen?

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