HOW TO MARKET THE BAND guitar lessons in Dallas guitar teacher instructor guitar Dallas Mesquite Garland guitar instruction teacher bass
1. Come up with a good name. Not an easy task! Apparently it is easy to come up with a very bad name and hard to find a good name that has not been taken! Remember the opening scene in SPINAL TAP ? After you find a name you like you may want to look it up in the dictionary to make sure you understand the meaning. Then GOOGLE the name to see if anyone else is using it. Also make sure your name is unique. If you Google MOM you will get a million pages of links. If you Googled THE ROLLING STONES every link would be to that band. Or a unique spelling like OUTKAST is also a good way to go. The Beatles did that.
2. Get a website. Not a http://www.someserver.com/edu/your bands name/mail.net but a real YourBandsName.com web site. It needs to have sound capabilities so you can have MP3s of your band.
Website categories might include:
Home Page with best band photo and background music
GET ON OUR E MAILING LIST page
GIG CALENDAR
ABOUT THE BAND with a breakdown of each individual band member
BAND RECORDINGS
BAND GEAR FOR SALE (t shirts, buttons, picks, posters, photos, cds)
BAND PHOTOS (live gigs and promo shots)
BAND NEWS
BAND BOOKING INFORMATION
3. On your website you need a way to collect email addresses from fans so that you can send out mass emails on a regular basis. You can add a form to collect the addresses. Keep your fans updated on where you are playing.
4. Get good band photos. Make them professional looking. Every time you do a gig hand out disposable flash cameras to your friends to take live photos of performances and crowds. Keep updating photos on the web site.
5. Record a cd. There is no excuse not to have a cd now days. You can not compete in today's market without a cd.
6. Think of stuff to sell on your website to fans that want anything you got! Custom made guitar picks, signed band photos, band posters (that you can print on your computer), buttons, t shirts, and of course cds. Get a Pay Pal account so you can offer fans a "BUY IT NOW" option on your website.
This is A LOT of work so you will need to delegate authority. Everyone knows a photography buff that would be happy to take photos. Everyone knows an artist that can design cd covers or web site art. Find someone to help you build the website. It is easy. This website was made with FRONTPAGE 2003.
7. Once you have a PROMO PACKAGE consisting of CD, band photo, band bio you can send it out to prospective gigs. I like booking my band myself. For instance; you could call a large hotel and ask to speak to the person in charge of party planning or convention bookings. Ask them if they book the bands themselves or do they use an agency. If they use an agency ask which one. Most hotels book directly without a booking agent. Be polite and offer to send a promo package. Send out enough and you will get calls. One gig leads to others. Do not work too cheap. By cutting your price you are setting a new low standard for bands. Do not cut another bands price to beat them out of a gig. If you are good enough you can name your price. If you are not that great, you may have to take what you can get. The experience is worth something. But REAL gigs pay money. Think of your market. If you are a band of teen age boys that want to play heavy metal rock then do not bother sending out a promo pack to the Hotels. Hard rock bands would do better sending your promo pack to fraternities on the local college campus. If you are a country band then hotels are the first place to try. The best way to work steadily is to be able to play all kinds of music so that you do not miss any good gigs.
I am not much into playing in small smoke filled dives late at night that do not pay anything and do not have a great crowd other than the 'regulars'. Keep in mind that there is about two hours of loading equipment, driving to the gig, unloading equipment, setting up the equipment, running a sound check before the performance. At the end of the gig another two hours of tearing down equipment, loading up equipment, driving back from the gig, unloading equipment, and setting it back in the house. That is four hours of heavy lifting for each gig. So if you are playing for $50 each, and the gig lasts four hours, you are only earning $6.25 per hour minus the cost of your guitar strings, gas, food and drinks (eight hours of work you will want sustenance). If you have cds, t shirts, posters, and such to sell at the gig you can bring that number up. Make sure your website address is on all merchandise.
8. Promote that band! Load your original songs up to MP3.com , CDBaby.com, and other independent sites on the Internet. Thanks to the Internet you could run your band from the house yourself. Enlist the help of others! Your friends would love to help you with this stuff.
9. Do high visibility gigs if possible. Even if they do not pay much you can still make money with your merchandise. Do not play for free without merchandise. That is charity work. Easy to get no pay gigs.
10. Get use to rejection. People can be so cold sometimes. Not much you can do about their unhappiness. Move on to the happy folks. Someone will love you. Believe me.
Some of my favorite bands websites: