Marketing without gigging

[Warhall]

Hey guys, I am new to this forum and I have a question. I havent really seen much on this topic, so i figured i would post it here. I am a recording artist with no band. I do everything my self (guitars, vocals, drums). I record music fit for an entire band, though I do not have a band. I live in a small town, and noone here has the talent or motivation to be serious about making music. plus, they all steal rap beats off the internet and record some words that rhyme, and call it music.

Anyways, im searching to ways to get better exposure without having to play shows right now. I have my tunes all over the internet, but im having a hard time getting serious fans. Any tips or pointers are greatly appreciated!


check out revernation.com/warhallmusic to hear what i have to work with

 

[kidkage]

Sounds just like one of my first posts on this site back in the 2010.

Here's a random rambling assortment of things. Maybe you can pick out something useful.

Honestly, in todays time, gigging won't do an incredible amount to help. A lot of people that have been gigging for years don't really have a legitimate "following". There are however plenty of people that have a "following" and don't play shows. After all that is what all those idiot YouTube stars are.

I've been in business my entire life and know that marketing is for a product. (In your case the product just happens to be music.)
And when marketing that product you want to make sure it's the best it can be. So, although this might sound obvious- make sure you music is good. Nicely written music with production that doesn't scream "amateur".
I also know that marketing takes money. After all, that is why "up and coming artists" dream of getting managers and marketing and record labels behind them-- because they have the dollars.

Word of mouth is important and a musicians best friend. Example: Your best friend likes your music. Posts a status on facebook. 6 of his friends follow and like it too. Then 6 of their friends like it. Then 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 * 6 = 46 656. Well, you get the point.

Also, don't be a spammer. People are more likely to check you out due to a sense of mystery rather than a sense of "STFU".

Most importantly, don't get caught up in empty numbers. I learned this valuable lesson from MySpace back in the day. My old music page had thousands of friends on there, tens of thousands of listens, all that stuff, (not sure how they got there. I didn't personally know any of them really. most of that was probably due to spammers, actually) and I thought it actually mattered for something. "I've got 37,000 listens on MySpace ok".
Lol @ me being fucking stupid. MySpace collapsed. You been there lately? I saw something that said it's like a scene from those movies where there are no humans left but the structures are still standing.
Do any of those friends or listens matter now? No. Did they even matter then?
My 54 likes on facebook feels much better and much more organic than 8,000 friends on myspace ever did.

//

 

[Warhall]

Thanks alot for your input. You make alot of sense, but you see, I used to do the whole facebook thing, but came to realize many people dont care for me or my music. Perhaps its just my 'friends', But it seems like they only care about themselves, and only want other people to notice them. Facebook is flooded with stupid quotes and lame, sappy status's. Therefore, i recently deleted my account and have been trying to focus on promoting with other online mediums, such as reverbnation, and my bandcamp page. I dont know if youve ever heard of him, but Cloudkicker is an artist without a band, like me, who creates music fit for an entire band. i dont think he really uses facebook much for promoting, but seems to have a huge following via his bandcamp page. He seems to have alot of buyers of his music and merch, and really seems to know what he's doing. I have created a ton of music in the last few years, and have been trying to make the most out of tagging my songs. I know there is an audience out there for my music, but its quite hard to find that audience, and develop a legitimate following.

 

[kidkage]

It really feels like I'm talking to myself .

I haven't heard of the guy you mentioned, but I have noticed that a lot of musicians today are essentially one man bands.
The technology has allowed us to do so. That's what those guys like deadMau5, and those other people that get labeled as "DJ's" even though they're actually "producers" are- one man bands, they're just different types of bands. There's no reason "rock" producers/one man bands can't use the technology to perform their music like that.

The chances of someone just stumbling upon whatever internet pages you have in the start are slim to none. That's why it's important to direct some people to it somehow. That part I'm afraid you'll have to figure out. But for the most part it'll start with people you know that are in to your music helping you spread the word.

It's a great time and a horrible time to be a musician. It's great, because recording technology is so available and anyone can make great recordings if they put the time in to study. It's horrible because it seems that 3 out of 5 people are musicians due to said recording technology. It's all so crowded. That's why it's important that the reason people make music is because they need to wanting to is not enough anymore. People have to enjoy it and love it for what it is not for what it can be.

On a personal note, I do enjoy your music. I'll even admit that I wasn't expecting to due to everything I've ran into through six years of homerecordings. But I do. Really refreshing to hear that some people still get it.

 

[kidkage]

I've sort of dropped off promoting my stuff for now . I was really caught up in it for a while until I realized that it was taking over the music and the fun. I became infatuated with promoting it and I didnt even know why until one day I realized how fucked it was that I was pushing myself to finish writing and recording so I could "put it out there".
I spent about a month earlier last year doing that stuff, but since then once I woke up and said "what the fuck am i doing? what is wrong with me?" I've just been writing recording practicing and learning. And much happier. I've got to do the stuff that matters first because I want to

 

[TheComposer]

Same story here, I think one "must" thing to do is a website, besides you can sell directly from there avoiding Itunes to earn more money.

The good thing about gigging is, that a million of awesome amateurs player are like us, trying to perform but live in a city of no musicians, so they'll move in order to play, that's my plan, i'm moving eventually.