outlandish ideas to promote yourself and your music

[grn]

• record covers and infiltrate the p2p networks with your blasphemy
• two words: sidewalk chalk

your turn! <3

[grn]

... you guys suck

[Fieva]

Send chicks out on the streets wearing only human billboards with your band's info and pics on it.

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by grn

... you guys suck

I always thought the "Primus Sucks" campaign was a good one. It made you want to check them out just to decide for yourself.


Skywriters
Jellybeans (or candied hearts) with your band name printed in tiny letters on them
Print fake money with your picture & band name on it

[dwillis45]

Lay in bed naked with your girlfriend protesting the war in Iraq and invite the media to visit. Or perhaps take over a radio station by force of arms until they play your demo.

[grn]

make hair product named after your band

[bigwillz24]

Get into a high speed chase with the law and write the band name on the rear window. Keep the chase going till the news helicopters show up...

[Fieva]

Film a low budget porn with some of your slutty friends and then play your music in the background....Also put a commercial in the beginning and end. If that doesn't work then kidnap that weak club dj at the popular club in your city and replace him with yourself, then play your music all night and advertise on the mic when you take alcohol breaks.

[Fieva]

Originally Posted by grn

make hair product named after your band

Make condoms with your band's logo and website on it.

[smashngrab]

write your band name and website on shit paper in truckstops on I-95

[Fireal402]

Tattoo your band name on sleeping bums?

[Fieva]

Hijack a major television station....take it over like you were trying to deliver a "I'm taking over the world and I am your new ruler" speech....only to tell them about your band. Run before the armed forces show up.

If that's too harsh....find people who look like dead celebrities like Elvis, Jimmy Hoffa, Richard Nixon, Tupac, Michael Jackson (well his career will soon be dead anyway), Biggie Smalls, Richard Pryor...wait he really isn't dead is he...and have them start a fake celebrity march in the main streets of your town....with all of them wearing a shirt with your band's logo and website on it.

[Kasey]

Originally Posted by Fieva

Make condoms with your band's logo and website on it.

thats already been done by my friends band, femme fatality

[johnsuitcase]

I think you have to do something outrageous at your show, something that might piss some people off, get the media's attention, etc.

I remember when I was in high school, there was a band at my school called "Boom and the Legion of Doom." They played a Humane Society benefit, and halfway through the set, started throwing huge bloody chunks of raw meat into the crowd.

Needless to say, the Humane Society people were upset, but BATLOD became legendary in our local punk scene. One of the guys went on to write for Maximum Rock'n'Roll, blah, blah, blah...



My point is that if you do something outrageous, people tell everybody they meet about the crazy band they saw the other night.

I still tell people about seeing the Godbullies in Kalamazoo, with the singer up there with a little Jesus on a cross telling the crowd, "It's not really him, you know, he was much bigger than this, it's just a doll!"


Read "The Anatomy of Buzz", or "The Meme Machine". Both have lots of idea starters...

[Kasey]

Originally Posted by johnsuitcase

I think you have to do something outrageous at your show, something that might piss some people off, get the media's attention, etc.

agreed 100%. at the same time though, i think you need to maintain your bands image. the throwing meat into a crowd thing would fit in perfect for a punk rock band, but not a jazz group or some other genre thats not so... for lack of a better word, reckless. I'm in a folk group and for our shows i just try to come up with things to get the audience involved. it's not the greatest example in the world, but for our last show i had the light guys turn off everylight in the place, then i gave all the people in the first row flashlights and asked them to be our new light crew. it wasnt much, but it strengthened that audience-stage relationship, and well, it was really fun.
i went to a show once where the guy playing sort of made the show into a half play half music thing. he played himself, entering a a makeshift cave (it was painted cardboard) with his backpack and his flashlight (we're on a flashlight theme for this post). As we entered, out of the cave came "death" who was a girl dressed in a bear costume. at this point it became improv. She took his flashlight and backback, and told him (and the audience) that the only way she'd give him back his flashlight and backpack would be if he could levitate above everyone and sing a song with his guitar, and everyone would have to sing along. In the story, we were givin the idea that this guy was nothing without his flashlight, and as goofy as it was, people actually started to get serious about it, trying to figure out how we'd do this. Then, someone in the back found some rope. So we tied him upside down from the ceiling with his guitar and he sang above us upside down, and we sang along with him even though we really didnt know the words. It was the coolest show i've ever been too.

[Fieva]

Originally Posted by Kasey

thats already been done by my friends band, femme fatality

Kasey did it work? We never said it had to be unthought of....just outlandish...so did it work?

[Kasey]

it did (plus 10 characters)

[Toonsmith]

Do Paris Hilton and become famous.