No Band- Good Album- What Next?

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plainrat

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What Could An Album(good Songs And Mix, Good Singer...) Accomplish With No Band To Start With? Lots Of Promo Dollars.. Radio Promo? I'm Thinking A Distribution Deal.. And Sirrius- Xm- Dmx Etc. Opinions???
 
live shows are the best promotion... you can do solo acoustic act, or hire a few people to back you up... or you can just promote it as your solo album and promote it on the radio, internet, newspaper, tv... but a live performance is the best promotion
 
The approach I'm going to take is the following:

1. Finish my CD.
2. Finish my website and submit it to search engines.
3. Figure out where I want to sell my CD.
4. Find creative ways to market the CD (advertise wherever you can, including setting up a signature on message boards and in your email. Don't spend tons of money. There are creative and inexpensive ways to market/promote. Check out www.musicbizacademy.com for some ideas).
5. Put sound clips on your website.
6. Put a song on CD as a single. Make sure the artwork is eye-catching and attractive on both the jewel insert and the CD. Make a bunch of copies. Hand it out to anyone you think may be interested.
7. Maybe get some business cards to promote your CD. You can get some nice looking ones (for free!) from www.vistaprint.com.
8. Create some nice fliers. Develop some relationships with local businesses, or just go in and ask them if you can leave a few fliers. Better yet, take some of those CD singles you made, and leave them at local businesses that you know people frequent (Starbucks, etc.), but get their permission first. Just put a little card in front that says "Free" or "Please take one".
9. Maybe advertise some type of contest on your website. Winner gets a free CD, or an autographed photo, or a t-shirt, or a meet-n-greet, or something.

Whatever you do, on all of your marketing/promotional materials, ALWAYS put your name, your web address (make sure you have your own domain, don't use Yahoo or Geocities or whatever), your email address, and any other information you may think is necessary on EVERYTHING you use to promote/market.

Find that "fine line" where you're aggressive, but not too aggressive.

That's what I've got to offer.
 
nothing is going to beat gettting out there and playing places, developing friendships, and word of mouth. people trust hearing from their friends that a band is good more than they trust a local newspaper blurb.
 
That's true, playing, shaking hands, etc. is the absolute best way. My situation, though, is such that I'm going to have to take the steps I outlined in my previous post.
 
you won't sell very many unless you happen to have the best music in the world, and even then most people will ignore you... got to play shows
 
...

if not shows, you need events

I've done all of those things for promotion, free cds, stickers, flyers, business cards, cross promotion with local businesses, tv, radio, and much more... let me tell you... you need to get word of mouth going

and there is no such thing as too aggressive
 
Radio is a crap shoot. You'll spend a lot of money and, assuming you can get play, probably won't sell a lot because of it.

I'd use your money to hire a band and start playing live.
 
:) Thanks for the good advice guys. I guess I thought radio play and internet would do more for sales.
 
grn said:
if not shows, you need events

I've done all of those things for promotion, free cds, stickers, flyers, business cards, cross promotion with local businesses, tv, radio, and much more... let me tell you... you need to get word of mouth going

and there is no such thing as too aggressive
Click to expand...

That's true. I was hoping, however, that by doing the things I outlined, I could get word of mouth going. Were any of those things effective for you in any way?

I know it seems like a lot of work, but I am hoping with the things I'm doing I can generate a few sales and get some marketing/promotion done without spending a lot of money.

I realize that my sales will be affected since I don't have a band and don't tour, but right now that isn't my focus.
 
they were only effective when we followed them up with live events - TV and radio only get you name/brand recognition, they don't equal sales. you're going to have to work doubly hard to make sure all you stuff has the same theme so a buzz is created. I doubt you will get word of mouth going using the radio... maybe the internet if you get some dedicated fans and start a street team and maybe some in store promotions like free samplers.
 
If you have a niche, such as www.cribrock.com, you can sometimes do well just online. Something to think about if you're starting an album from scratch.
 
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