Made an EP now how to promote it

Winny_Pooh

So I've spent the best part of a year on weekends etc working on a 5 track EP thats kinda folk-rock-country. Wrote 3 songs on it, played guitars, bass, double bass on everything, recorded and mixed it too (even did the artwork ) and it's the most polished music project I've done to date. Naturally it'd be great to connect to an audience and use it to get better gigs.

Now how does one get people to listen to it????

Myself and my musical partner (who's just had a baby) haven't progressed far doing shitty open mics as promotion. How do we bridge that gap to more fans and better gigs? We're hoping a decent EP is a start and it would be great to hear from those with more experience. 

Here's the direct link for spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/2NAwBCsZlOcuddS1Vj7ba1
YouTube music (free):
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GKmeEw6VGQM&list=OLAK5uy_lPGWy6cHe7AKS1NNlQM0ey6hjBdCkvW3E

If anyone on here is on FB or insta
https://www.instagram.com/ifnotnow.music
https://www.facebook.com/ifnotnow.music

Cheers,
Winton

Teyeplayer

The artist I play guitar for, has used BBC introducing and up until covid a relentless assault of festivals (big and small). We were lucky to play some cool gigs, some cool stages and to meet a few of our heroes. Covid blunted all of our energy for it, which to be honest has happened at the right time for me as I’ve a young family. I’d add that we never made a penny beyond covering expenses and often not even that, but we did have a great time.

oh_pollo

Why not set up a bandcamp page? That's how I mostly hear new music these days.

Winny_Pooh

Teyeplayer said:

The artist I play guitar for, has used BBC introducing and up until covid a relentless assault of festivals (big and small). We were lucky to play some cool gigs, some cool stages and to meet a few of our heroes. Covid blunted all of our energy for it, which to be honest has happened at the right time for me as I’ve a young family. I’d add that we never made a penny beyond covering expenses and often not even that, but we did have a great time.

@Teyeplayer cheers, I forgot about that. Mind mentioning the artist you player for? 

Teyeplayer

Winny_Pooh said:

Teyeplayer said:

The artist I play guitar for, has used BBC introducing and up until covid a relentless assault of festivals (big and small). We were lucky to play some cool gigs, some cool stages and to meet a few of our heroes. Covid blunted all of our energy for it, which to be honest has happened at the right time for me as I’ve a young family. I’d add that we never made a penny beyond covering expenses and often not even that, but we did have a great time.

@Teyeplayer cheers, I forgot about that. Mind mentioning the artist you player for? 

Of course, Kenneth J Nash: https://www.kennethjnash.com/

thecolourbox

Congrats on completing that, don't lose sight of that being an achievement in itself especially given how much of it was your own handiwork.

No idea how to promote as I'm useless at that myself but looking forward to giving it a listen throughout today at work.

Good luck to you

AntonHunter

Worth sending it to anyone you think might review it, where do you read about music you're into? Check out the journalists and bloggers covering similar music, put together a press release (one sheet of A4 explaining who you are, how to contact you, maybe a couple of paragraphs about the music specifically and the group more generally) and send it to blogs etc. Every time you get a decent quote, add that to the press release next time you send it out, gig promoters and festivals want to see that you can generate some interest, and press quotes (even if it's your mates blogs) give this impression.

And do what Teyeplayer says too.

Snags

Bandcamp, send appropriately mastered versions to a shedload of t'Internet radio stations, find out who does the promo stuff for some of the better local venues and get on their support acts list etc.

Around this way there are one or two people in each local town who are pivotal for the local music scene, and getting in with them opens up various (small, local) doors. There's a definite open mic circuit, and some are better than others for making connections. Then there's the step up venues where you probably still won't get paid, but you get a better audience and it's not just a free-for-all against people who are excellent all the way down to people murdering Wonderwall each week.

One of the local places does a kind of local artists night thing, and you just email them and say you want to play. They agree a day and do a bit of light promo, but you do the leg work. It's ticketed, and you'll only get paid based on how many tickets you shift (the also record who the walk-ins have come to see) so you'll make fuck all money, but will be on a bill with other bands, which will expose you to different audiences. Once you're on the list the promoter includes you on a mailing list for all their venues, so you get a stab at other support slots etc.

It was slightly weird going to watch Toyah play the same stage I'd played as a very amateur wanker two weeks previously.