Self Promotion - Any artists out there have tips to share?

Maggie calls it "brag and gag."


I've been pretty self-righteous about folks who do it until I began doing it myself. Somehow, we've had a pretty good career in music and writing novels without a lot of work until recently. We released our latest CD last Fall, and I re-released my first novel as an eBook at the same time.


Since then, we've (mostly me) become a self-promotion machine. I've gone from hours a week to hours a day at the computer, talking about myself.


Do you self-promote? Do you find it possible to be both salesman and musician? Is the dark side of the new Indy movement the fight for time to play music for the fun of it?


For the first time in a busy life, I'm starting to wish I had a label, an organization behind me doing all the hard stuff.


If you play music for a living, how have you dealt with this?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Will James on January 2, 2012 at 1:38pm

As the admin for Buffalo Heard... that's what it's there for! I have to get down to Sportsman's and ck you guys out.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Kowalewski on January 2, 2012 at 4:10pm
This Friday! 5:30
Permalink Reply by Roy Peak on December 31, 2011 at 6:14am

Self-promotion is THE hardest thing for a person like me to get a handle on. Recording songs and putting them on a website or on a CD and hoping people notice them isn't enough. You need social media (Facebook and this site as well as others) which takes a lot of time out of the day where I feel I should be writing or rehearsing. 

 

When "talking about yourself" getting friends involved can help. Have a friend or a fan write a bio or interview for your website. It's difficult to write about yourself without gagging on the hyperboles, but it's easier to read what someone else has written about you. 

 

Videos are a good way to put yourself out there, even if it's from a iPhone on open mic night.  

Permalink Reply by Will James on December 31, 2011 at 8:09am

With my marketing and web background, I've toyed with doing this for bands (and have with some GIN bands), but I run into the same problem. I can't charge them anything because they're not making anything...

Permalink Reply by Roy Peak on December 31, 2011 at 12:56pm
Permalink Reply by Kimberely Grant on January 3, 2012 at 6:18am

This is a great website for indie/grass roots musicians.  It covers a broad range of topics including promotion and performing:  http://www.musicthinktank.com/

Permalink Reply by Joe Conley on January 3, 2012 at 6:44am

I'm releasing my first CD, the acoustic Americana/alt-country Sad Songs For Happy People, TODAY, January 2, 2012.  I have an advertising slogan--"Because you can be too happy"--and an up to date page on Bandcamp, www.joeconley.bandcamp.com, where the CD can be streamed and purchased as a CD and/or as a download.  I'll do some advertising on this fine site.  I'll send CDs and one-sheets to music blogs and print reviewers (to the extent any still exist) and DJs with Americana-type shows on independent stations.  I'll play out--the best self-advertising I know of.  Quality is the real key, of course, so mine is a studio-recorded effort with pros engineering and producing and solid players fiddling and picking and strumming.  And my stuff, like it or not, is quirkier than most (I get Fred Eaglesmith comparisons), with more irony than bald self-expression.  So it's somewhat unique.

 

What more can I do? 

Permalink Reply by Ronald Kowalewski on January 3, 2012 at 8:19am
I like what I heard. I shared / liked site on the book. your doin it! Accordion,fiddle,banjo, great writing.. If you ever come to buffalo let me know.

Ron
Permalink Reply by Lucky Mud on January 3, 2012 at 8:02am

Will,
     Under the aegis of ‘Musician, heal thyself', I went on Reverb Nation for the first time in months and updated it some. New music and information. Damn....I let things like this slip by me all the time. Maybe that explains some of my difficulties.
     Looks like I'll be updating RN and the rest for the next few days. I know I should keep things up to date, but there are so many places to go, so many reasons to run away. And, then, I bitch and complain. Musicians. What're you gonna do?
     (By the way, it's good to see such positive input here. I'll be checking out all these sites as soon as I get my homework done)

     And thanks for the splash of cold water. Maybe I woke up, at last.      Mike

Permalink Reply by Will James on January 3, 2012 at 8:13am

No problem. I could use a splash of cold water (not air, it's 11 out there) too. Don't forget to put a ReverbNation widget on your Facebook when RN is updated. Maybe Monday is RN, Tuesday is Bandcamp, etc. Just in case, I still have a MySpace with longer term generic stuff; I was surprised when looking north of the border that a lot of them still use it, and for a promoter, I can still hear stuff there (when annoyingly I can't on some bands' regular sites, or just 30 seconds on others). That's why getting the RN app on FB is good; you can put any videos there too. Also, on the "writeup" side (good for grabbing testimonials), do the occasional community thing, like a farmer's market. A nice writeup in the local blat is better than from a friend! Cheers, Will

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Created by No Depression Feb 17, 2009 at 9:06pm. Last updated by No Depression Apr 9.