PROMOTION / MARKETING - discuss

thomasross20

I just contacted a raft of magazines and radio stations.... Hopefully one will at least write back to me....!

Plan to do some YouTube videos at some point.

Reddit AMAs are gaining in popularity?

thomasross20

I wrote to a bunch of websites/stations etc. Got one reply, they asked for a link to the album (even though I said it wasn't complete yet) and never heard back. 

Just wondering, after zero interest (from a guitarist's forum for Christ sake) here, what other forums might be good in order to raise awareness of an album launch? Maybe something less instrumental based and more focused toward the actual listening of music (not playing it)? 

mike257

thomasross20;779946" said:

I wrote to a bunch of websites/stations etc. Got one reply, they asked for a link to the album (even though I said it wasn't complete yet) and never heard back. 

Just wondering, after zero interest (from a guitarist's forum for Christ sake) here, what other forums might be good in order to raise awareness of an album launch? Maybe something less instrumental based and more focused toward the actual listening of music (not playing it)? 

Places where musicians gather are the worst places to promote things because a majority will be there to push their own stuff, not to listen to other people's. It's a shame, and it's often not even intentional but it's often how the reality of it pans out.

thomasross20

I've sort of experienced that already...

markv

Here's a long but (I think) relevant & very interesting post on the subject: http://www.indelicates.com/worthless/

thomasross20

Wow looks like a good read - will go through that soon!

thomasross20

6 months later and hundreds of hours of drum programming (ugh!!!!!!!) and it's coming together. Need to tidy up drums & bass for two songs... then add a sprinkling of vox/FX ... get it properly mixed/mastered and then that's it. 2017 might be the year. 


Which brings me back to this thread. How on Earth will I market it. And what channels will I distribute on? CDBaby and its affiliates (large exposure, least income?) or through in-website purchases? Hmmm, hardest thing will be getting people to know about it. And to be honest, I think the market will be pretty small, anyway. 

This album isn't a myth, either... @DLM, @ICBM and a few others have had the "pleasure" of advance listenings of a few tracks

thomasross20

Shit I just noticed this thread started June 2015!! So it's been 18 months, not 6. I need to complete it this year.

mellowsun

If you don't have a YouTube channel, you need one and you need subscribers as these will be your customers.

Post some covers to help get people in, who will then be more likely to buy original material.

An alternative, if you are really good, is via Candyrat records. They started out as a Shrapnel-type label for acoustic percussive guitarists but have branched out much more widely now.

thomasross20

I'd love to get on that label but I've zero plans to gig the material and don't know their "rules"

TimmyO

That's 18 months you could have been building a Youtube / social audience in some way.

Levi Clay similarly did a guitar-based album, doesn't gig, but had a bit of a following from doing tuition/review/rant videos on Youtube so when he released the Hellcat Molly album he got interest. 

thomasross20

Yeah his album is great!
Thing is, I have a YouTube channel... there's just not much on it! It takes a lot of time and this year my girlfriend's had cancer, I was gigging in a band, add work on top of that and the actual recording of the album itself and you can see how my time ran out quickly. 

thomasross20

How do I edit my sig on here so I can put my YouTube channel link in...? 
EDIT: done!

monquixote

Is your intention to make money out of this album or to get people to listen to it and enjoy it?

I ask because if you want to make some extra money just design a couple of PCBs on the side. 

You will end up working your balls off doing tedious marketing work and struggle to make enough money that it wouldn't have been better to give it away and work a couple of shifts in a supermarket. 

I don't like to be negative, but I found myself in the same position and realised that given that established acts make bugger all money off selling music what I really wanted was just to get people to listen and enjoy.

thomasross20

Bit of both - it'd be cool if it got a mention in any sort of publication, and hopefully people would like it. I just don't want to release it and have it sink into oblivion, known to nobody. 

Once it's done, I have enough material for another 2-3 albums (48 songs in total with 11 going on this one) but it's been so much work I can't see myself doing it again. Like you say there... I'd do something else to make money if that's what I wanted after this. 

Deijavoo

monquixote said:

Is your intention to make money out of this album or to get people to listen to it and enjoy it?

I ask because if you want to make some extra money just design a couple of PCBs on the side. 

You will end up working your balls off doing tedious marketing work and struggle to make enough money that it wouldn't have been better to give it away and work a couple of shifts in a supermarket. 

I don't like to be negative, but I found myself in the same position and realised that given that established acts make bugger all money off selling music what I really wanted was just to get people to listen and enjoy.

Wiz

thomasross20

I was thinking about a trailer lasting a couple of mins to put on YouTube.. I could put clips of the songs on it and get somebody off Fiverr or somebody else to do the video (as I haven't the time / skills)

octatonic

thomasross20 said:

Bit of both - it'd be cool if it got a mention in any sort of publication, and hopefully people would like it. I just don't want to release it and have it sink into oblivion, known to nobody. 

If this is the case then you need to get yourself a manager.
You concentrate on the music, they can do the business/promotion/marketing side of things.

How long have you been recording this album for?
If you start stacking more obstacles in your way (like promotion/marketing) then it is just going to delay you further.

thomasross20

That's why I've been hammering the drums & bass and not been working on YouTube videos or website much. Must focus on completing the music...
 
It's been almost two years... 

I plan to get a sound engineer to do the mastering as that's a step beyond me and I've not got the time.

I'm dying to just get it done now, honestly. It's largely guitar instrumental and even then I don't "follow the rules" so it will have a limited audience. At least I can say I did it my way and it's not some big rip-off

LeeCassidy

If you want to get your music out to people and you're a solo guitarist, YouTube is pretty much the only gig in town, I think. You can bolster it by having the music available elsewhere, like Bandcamp and Soundcloud, but I think YT is where you get people happening upon you. 

I've got something like 150 videos on YT, and the ones that get the most traffic either have gear mentioned in the title, or are covers of some sort. Original music is very hard to get traffic to if you're unknown.