Get Your Small Band Famous for No Money

Promoting your band is not as simple as selling t-shirts or playing shows. You might not immediately see the benefits of this work. However, promotion is significant because it allows for your band to be noticed by a large amount of people. Using social media, you can communicate with a large amount of people if you use the internet in an innovative fashion. Of course, you shouldn’t just focus your efforts on the internet - you need to be involved with the music scene in your community. If you start by connecting with your local scene, then move to other means of promotion and try to get signed, you may be able to build a larger audience for free, or at least for very little money.

Steps

Connecting with Your Local Scene

  1. Hang up flyers. This may seem obvious but there is a reason this is effective. Think about how many times you have seen a flyer on a telephone pole or bulletin board. You notice them, because they stand out. So, create a simple but distinct looking flyer that states when you and your band will perform. You can put a flyer in your local café, for example. This is a great way to get noticed.[1]
    • Throw a link to your Twitter handle or Facebook profile on the flyer. This shows that you have a digital presence as well as a physical one.
  2. Be featured on the radio. This won’t be easy, but it is doable. To succeed at this, you should contact radio shows that play music in your particular genre. Send links to plenty of radio shows and internet radio shows as well. You might be surprised by the interest!
    • Send your songs to music podcasts online! There are people who create podcasts every week that cover new music. Use the internet to find these podcasts and send songs to the people who run them.
    • Find a local radio station and see if they want to hear your music. Perhaps your town has a university, see if they have a radio station. Student radio stations exist to play new music. You should see if they will even let you play a gig in the station![2]
  3. Play at a community space. Go to a talent show held at the community center. Play an acoustic set in the park. These are all great ways for people in your community to see and hear your band. For example, playing at a carnival in your community is a great way to get noticed. You can also see if you can play birthday parties or weddings.
    • If your town has a record store, you might try seeing if you can play a gig there. Go to a record store that you often frequent, and ask the manager if they have had bands play in-store. They will generally be excited to have your band play because you will be bringing people into their store. You will be targeting people who are interested in hearing new music. You might even be able to sell a few copies of your album there.[3]
  4. DJ at parties and clubs. You don’t have to be amazing to dj a party. See if there are any events in your area that need a DJ. Not only will you be able to play music you like, but you can mention that you play in a band as well. You will be able to expose people to new music, and you can even drop in a tune that your band made.

Drawing a Larger Audience

  1. Get interviewed. Start sending out press releases to local music zines in your area. At first you might not get a lot of attention, but as time goes on you might find a journalist who wants to speak to you. See if any of your bandmates have friends or relatives who are journalists. When they agree to talk to you, be ready to tell them about any new projects that the band is working on. An interview will allow people to learn more about the band.
    • You don't need to directly ask a journalist to interview your band. You can simply ask a question like "Are you doing any features on local bands?" If they say yes, you can tell them that you are in a band. They might ask you to be in the feature!
    • Use this opportunity to promote your shows. You want people to know where and when you are going to be playing. Talk about your influences and music that you like. Someone who reads an interview and sees that you like a band that they like will definitely be interested in your music.
    • You should try to spread this interview in any way possible. Make sure that you get a link to it when it appears online. After you get that link, throw it on any social media page you have and your website.
  2. Get reviewed. Send out demos to music journals, magazines, and blogs. You should do this no matter how confident you are about the work you have produced. Sure, taste is subjective, and it may seem frightening to have what you worked on judged by someone you have never met. However, even if your work is massively panned, then you still will have name recognition. There is also the chance that whoever gets your record will actually love it. You should try to contact people in your local scene first because they will be more likely to review your album.[4]
    • Send as much music as possible to online venues; blogs are a good place to start. There are hundreds of blogs dedicated to music out there. You should target blogs that focus on your genre of music.[4]
  3. Release your music for free. Try giving away an album on the internet. If people don’t have to pay for your tunes, then they are more likely to listen to them.[5] Giving your music away allows people to test your band, before they commit to purchasing anything that you have to sell. Set up a Bandcamp page and list your album. You can set the price to zero. If you want to go the analog route, you can try burning forty CDs, decorating them, and laying them around places that people frequent.
    • You can also post your music on Youtube, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
  4. Create a web presence.This is not easy, but it can be done. You, of course, need to decide which venue is best for promoting your band’s content. Facebook is often chosen because of its familiarity and ubiquity. In that case, you should make a page for your band. You can also use Instagram and Twitter as well. Try to get all your band-members to link to this page as much as possible. Maybe your band members have blogs, ask them to write about the band. You want to spread your band’s narrative as much as possible.[3]
    • You might want to go through the route of creating your own website.[6] On the website, you can put your band’s biographical details, place of origin, and genre of music. It does not to need to be flashy, but it should tell people what your band is about.
  5. Do a “covers” album. Record covers of popular songs that you enjoy. People enjoy new interpretations of their favorite songs. You should upload your covers online. Try putting them on Youtube or SoundCloud. When people search for these songs, they will also see your cover versions as well.[7]
  6. Let people remix you. You’ve probably heard plenty of songs that have been remixed. If you have a friend who knows how to do this, then allow them to remix one of your band’s songs. This is a great way to get more listeners because it shows that you are willing to experiment. You may find a new audience for your music by doing this. Once your song is remixed, ask that friend to post it online.[8]

Getting Signed

  1. Talk to small labels. You might know a few different bands that have been signed by small labels in your area. Getting signed to a small label is a great way of shifting the promotional burden, so to speak. A label will do promotional work for some bands on its roster and might incubate others. Independent labels are always on the lookout for interesting new sounds.
  2. Send music to labels. You should be very careful about how you go about doing this. Make list of about fifteen labels. Order the list from most desired to least desired. After you do this, make sure that start researching your top five or six labels. Don't just bombard them with music. Follow their social media pages and talk to their representatives. You need to build a connection these labels before you start sending them music. Once you have built a connection, you should start sending your music out.
  3. Create your own label. This is not as impossible as this sounds. In fact, hundreds of labels have been started because their creators wanted to release their own music. If you create a specific plan of how you plan to do business, then you are already on your way. The next step is obtaining money. You and your band members should save up as much money as you can. After you do this, choose a cheap medium to release your music with. Cassette and compact disc are both relatively inexpensive formats. If you do a release like this, then you will have complete control over your music.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://blog.sonicbids.com/10-free-or-insanely-cheap-marketing-strategies-your-band-should-use
  2. ↑ http://blog.sonicbids.com/a-musicians-guide-to-community-radio-stations-that-will-actually-play-your-music
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://blog.sonicbids.com/10-free-or-insanely-cheap-marketing-strategies-your-band-should-use
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-promotion/get-your-music-reviewed/
  5. ↑ http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/why-you-should-give-your-music-away-for-free.html
  6. ↑ http://www.seeksocialmedia.com/ways-to-grow-your-bands-fan-base/
  7. ↑ https://tradiio.com/blog/6-tips-for-getting-noticed-by-music-bloggers
  8. ↑ http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/06/28/the-professional-way-to-promote-your-music/
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