Marketing 101: The Brand

Here is a nice blog about branding a band. Branding is so crucial, and many of these points I am full on board with. The effects of good branding can be felt when someone sends me an email and says they saw our logo at the airport or driving down the street, this is what branding should do for you, instantly connecting the viewer or fan with something identifiable, logo or band name is the first step.

Check out this article by Robert Kingston

Also he has a blog related to branding in general that would be very beneficial as well to check out, especially if you treat your music as your art and your product as a business.

For Your Submission : AmsterJammin

A site for internation submission for Internet Radio play and exposure...mostly euro based...

Check it out

amsterjammin.com

Good luck!

Expose Yourself - Unsung Hero Revolution

Another opportunity to get yourself out tot he public. Mystic Nation is being featured on Oct. 4th, 2007 with the song Compromised off the What Makes Rust CD, go check it out and get involved.

Link
Unsung Hero Revolution


Remember every little exposure adds to lots of exposure.

Expose Yourself - Sonicbids Update

We made it to #1, charting right at the top. Guerilla marketing 101 right there.

Expose Yourself - Update

Friends work, we have moved from 36th on the chart on our way out of the charting up to 4th place under George Clinton.

Please keep helping us in grass roots marketing and pass this link along to as many friends as you can.

Sonic Bids EPK

Expose Yourself! - FIZZKICKS.com

So this is a very interesting idea for getting your songs to the masses at your shows or if you are walking down the street talking to someone and they ask what you sound like. Instead of giving away a CD give them a music card they can use to down. Now my take on this is you can use it as a way to peak some curiousity and lead the horse to water. If they like the one track they bought using the card, they might be more likely to purchasde so more. I am thinking great online POS type of concept.


Link

fizzkicks.com

Haven't had the chance to upload songs but our future fizzkicks site went up
Mystic Nation FizzKicks site


Here is there selling point as found on sonicbids.com...some reason that site keeps coming up, wonder why, have a clue yet....and I must repeat I have no association with them :)

For Your Submission - Proof Positive! SonicBids.com

So here I have been jabbering away about all the little things one can do to move forward. One of the many things covered so far was the use of Sonicbids.com. Using sonicbids.com we have managed to get into quite a few opportunities we otherwise would not have had access to. Reviews, podcasts, shows and publishing opportunities all have come our way using this website. If you still haven't checked it out....DO IT!

Reason I bring them up is through persistence and just plain good timing, we have been made the spotlight artist starting August 20th. Go check it out!

Resource of the Day - Music Submit Writer edition

A sister site of the post from a couple days ago. Have someone draw you up some fancy PR text and make yourself look like the shiznit!

Link
Music Submit - Writer Edition

For Your Submission - Music Submit

Here is a very handy tool for promoting your music, do it!

Link
Music Submit

According to there website
"You'll save time & money using our system. We'll save you hundreds of hours tracking down radio stations, music magazines, other music sites - we've already done this work for you! Your music will be delivered directly to their inbox - save money on postage!"

For Your Submission - Gig Masters

It's been a while but thats because i have been busy playing and putting on the second CD, so forgive me, but I will have much to share going forward. As for teh submission today I stumbled upon this website for promoters looking to find bands. Get you band up there and if someone is looking they will find you based on it being a match(as long as you dont lie)

Link
Gig Masters

Just checking In

Been busy implementing everything I mention on the blogs for the next Mystic Nation release, very time consuming but well worth it. I shall be back on blogging about resources very shortly as I have found even more in the process of this new release.

Back to practicing what i preach :)

For Your Submission - podcastnyc

"Podcast NYC encourages the submission of music submission by independent artists who own their material."

Never hurts to get your music out to as many as possible...

Webiste
podcastnyc.net

More podact and webcast stuff to come, as they are far more likely to work with the little guy!

Expose Yourself ! - All Access Magazine

A new highlight of my blog is to research online and print magazines in a new feature called Expose Yourself! Keep your clothes on, it's about music :)

Website
AllAccesMagazine.com

d Live Webcast

A band that I am in d, is going to be on Flashrock, related to yesterdays post...check us out and see what it is about July 13th, 2007.

The Dictatorship...how to conquer...nicely.

While the word Dictatorship sounds harsh, the context in which I am presenting it is more on the level of an owner of a business, not a CEO type, but a true owner of a business. In most of the bands I have been in the most effective method was when the person with the passion behind the project, was the soel voice in final decisions. I have been both the leader and the follower, and as long as everyone knows their role going into it, there is often far less tension and creative differences than the Collective approach (more on that tomorrow).

Briefly some of the up sides

1. Things get done fast
2. Few hands in the creative cooking pot for final decisions
3. Allocating tasks is centralized

Some of the downsides

1. Over time the tendency to want input will arise from the unofficial collective
2. Burden of cost falls on the dictactor
3. A lazy dictactor means a waste of time for everybody

One thing I focus on as a dictator is to value the opinions of the musicians around me. Realizing peoples strengths and using those strengths, while muting the weaknesses by not calling on them, can really help guide a creative process. I have surrounded myself with people I trust to contribute things that I am unable to contribute, and thus my vision becomes stronger by managing the process and guiding the unofficial collective. On the flip side if someone brings their chaos into the mix, it is real easy as a dictator to remove the problem.

This concept really only seems to work when you as a musician really want to drive the project, and everyone else really wants to only be involved as a musician, not a band member.

Resource of the Day - BroadTexter

Keep in mobile communication with your fan base.

Website
http://www.broadtexter.com/?gad=CN2B3ZMDEgg8VvZzIFCqcBjrzZz8AyDJ6aQk

For Your Submission - Music Nation

Music Nation, no relation to Mystic Nation, national online video/talent contest. If you are a band with a video, and want an opportunity to get a deal with Epic Records, here is your chance. Must submit by April 22. If you are a sonicbids member, you can apply for the opportunity here Sonic Bids.

Otherwise visit Music Nation directly online.

Website
Music Nation

Resource of the Day - Disc Makers

This company is a great company for your all around duplication needs. They also offer other great services which include

1. Duplication
2. Posters
3. Tempaltes for CD art booklets
4. Graphic Design for you cover art
5. Mastering.

They are tightly grouped with a couple other resources I have listed in the past like soncibids.com and CD Baby for distribution.

Website
Disc Makers

For Your Submission - Internet Radio Sites

Todays Internet Radio Stations:

Websites
soma FM
AccuRadio

For Your Submission - Internet Radio Sites

Internet radio is a great effective way to get your music out there and be heard. Many stations will accept material directly, others use channels such as sonicbids.com

For Your Submission will be a periodic thread on blog to highlight some internet radio stations and podcasts.

Websites
Iceberg Radio
wablive.com
Marthas Vineyard Radio

Resource of the Day - Friend Bot

This resource is a compliment to the myspace strategy. Essentially it allows you to pull from a certain demographic or a bands page and then send add messages to these lists. Very effective tool for exposing people to your music and your myspace page. It is essentially the equivelent of leaving a flyer on someones door, though some people see it as spam. I am on the side of the flyer philosophy.

Recommendations.

1. Start with the bands list, typically these people are more into music than your average myspace joe.
2. Focus on your local demographic, say within 20 miles of residence or where the band thinks it is centered.
3. Make sure you check the box that makes sure you don't send duplicate adds, this can piss people off pretty quick.
4. For saftey limit add requests to 300 a day, keeps you off the myspace radar.

Disclaimer, don't blame me if you account gets frozen because you got to hyper with the resource!


Website
friendbot.com

Resource of the Day - Music Connection

Great resource for submitting player wanted ads, and also a chance you can get your demo reviewed if they select to review it.

Website
Music Connection

Resource of the Day - News blogs

This is sneaky, but if you feel political or just like to comment on things, find your local news websites and blogs and see if they allow you to post comments to stories. I usually like to sign off a comment with mysticnation.info as my signature

Just another way at getting the name out, of course this assumes that you read a couple of the other blogs and have your website up and running. Otherwise, just leaving the band name as your signature works.

Tip: dont associate you band with hot buttons or if you feel the need to be abrasive, use a different alias than your bands to cause Chaos, unless you are into that kind of thing.

An example of a site that let's you do this:

Website

Resource of the Day - Constant Contact

Todays resource is extremely important if you have a fan base and want to be able to communicate with them via email. Constant Contact is one of the easiest resources to use for managing and adding to your band mailing list.

Constant Contact has a great interface for building both HTML and text based emails and also provides great tracking of what people do once they get the email.

Website
Constant Contact

Resource of the Day - Garageband.com

garageband.com

Another great place to set up shop and promote yourself.

Resource of the Day - lyrics.com

Lyrics.com

The Business Side Part 1 - AllMusic.com

Sending your product to allmusic.com is mandatory. Don't think why, don't ask why, Submit your finished CD to this website. It has many benefits.

1. When you decide to join the Recording Academy as an artist, this is the site they use to validate your existence.

2. Wikipedia editors look here to see if you have the necessary three works of art to be a artist with a bio on wikipedia.

Basically it is one of a thousand sites you will want to put your music on this happens to be a more important one than most. You existence on this website shows that you put a little more effort and thought into your music career and are really trying to be the Little Engine that could.

Major Labels

Major Labels are the answer to all you problems...April Fools!

The Publics First Glimpse - Part V myspace

myspace. It's a blessing and a curse. Regardless, these types of forums are a great way to get ones self out in front of a mass audience. Myspace is the big one, and contrary to popular belief it does not level the playing field between you and everyone else, but it serves its own purpose, cheap exposure.

So if you dont have any idea of myspace.com by now, go to www.myspace.com amd start an account, it is a painless process.

There are quite a few sites out there that do the same thing, but myspace is the most popular right now.

Big warning...you will get a lot of junk messages. Swet your comments sections so that you have to approve comments, otherwise all of your friends will think you are pushing penis and diet pills...trust me.

Some other words of wisdom, be engaged with the people who truly are interested in your music, it makes for great relationships and a closer connection.

There are a few more points to cover with myspace before we move on, this is just a starter.

The Publics First Glimpse - Part IV Branding

Time to put on the marketing cap and bring your checklist to life. Initial step in that process is branding, how are you presenting your name to the world. In the end it is how people are going to recognize and identify an artist or band.

With the Mystic Nation we choose a symbol that had a lot of depth and ancestral meaning and choose a font that related to that history. The Logo on the album is a direct take on our intial marketing push which include a very simple black and white version of the logo with the Band name and website on it. In my opinion it is a very distinct logo and very visible when put in and around the area.

The whole point was to have something that people could quickly make a connection with at a show or when they were driving around town and saw the barrage of stickers everywhere. F54 and Volcom clothing both do an excellent job as well with their logos and a very distintive and I am remind of them constantly everyday because their stickers are everywhere. Others in the music industry whom have had great sucess in using their brand is Metallica, Queensryche, Iron Maiden, Perfect Circle or No Doubt. Those are just the ones that hit my mind as I type.

Ok so sticker aside, as thats an item on the list and not the branding approach I am talking about, choosing your brand is very important so take some level of effort and time to finalize it, because the intention is to stick with it for the life of the project.

A couple paths one can go down is to hire a graphic artist for a couple hundred dollars or use one of those assembly line logo companies. Either way have a general concept sketched otu for them ahead of time so you can better explain your idea. More power to you if can actual design one, saves cash...and we all want to do that.

This branding should be consistent across all your items on the list, from T-Shirts to Hats to the website and your bio. Keep a uniform message as this leads to brand awareness as you force your presence upon the world. Being indy means it's all gurilla marketing warfare, don't be afraid to push your brand.


Some logo resources:
Logo Works
The Logo Co
Good do it yourself article

The Publics First Glimpse - Part III The Checklist

One thing that helped us when the Mystic Nation was getting set release our first CD was to sit down and ponder all the ways we could reach the audience. Regardless of the cost, we listed everything we could think of to help market our cause. Having a CD is great, but if nobodby knows about it, you might as well not make a first run of 2000 CDs.

Everything from matchbooks to a music video. It was amazing at how many ideas this spawned and from that we managed the list down to specific action items to pursue.

Basically it is a wave, once the first set of tasks is taken off, the next phase I pursued, and on and on.

It sounds like a simple idea, but it was an approach I had never seen taken in the 5 or 6 other bands I had been in, and the productivity and focus because of the list proved to me that it was a valuable tool.

Going over the top with organization, I highly recommend Microsoft Project. If you have the patience and organization skills, this is a very powerful tool. At this point you are starting to run your career like a business, with intent and focus, not just hoping you will get discovered playing in a coffee house.

The Publics First Glimpse - Part II - The Demo

Part of the joys, or pains, of the artist/band development process is putting one foot in front of the other and try not to miss a step on the way to achieving ones goals. One such step is trying to go out and book oneself at the local clubs and coffee shops without some proof that the artist or band is actually a good fit for the venue.

From the last post, at this moment there are two choices, the demo and or the full blown piece of work. Getting shows does not require a full blown production, and often times most clubs only want to hear a sample. So unless the end desire is to launch into the public in a blaze of glory, it is extremely time and cost effective to focus on a demo to get the bus on the road.

A demo does not need to be polished master quality, it can help, but it's highly unlikely to cause you to not get a gig, the music itself however probably will. Spending an extra $300 or $400 on a demo package at the local recording studio can save many frustrations and headaches, but if you are a savvy home engineer with a good ear, go for it.

Some key things to consider before the demo is recorded.

1. Whats the focus of the project? What type of club or promoter is getting this demo.
2. Pick the best three songs in the repertoire
3. Take these three songs and rehearse them to death, the tighter they sound the better you will be in the long run
4. Be honest and open about the focus as you go through the process, drop a tune if your gut says something just isn't right

I have never been the engineer on my own demo, so I can't honestly recommend any books, but I am sure there are plenty on amazon.com


Once the demo is recorded...

The Publics First Glimpse - Part I - The Choice

This blog probably should have been written prior to the thoughts on sonicbids.com. sonic bids is a site to promote product. So I thought I would recenter my thoughts and focus on the main attraction of being an artist...the product and moving out of the garage and becoming a professional, with a professional recording.

The process of going from a garage band to professional band is actually simple by definition. Most people think being a professional musician or band means that one is signed to a Major or Minor label. This is just not the case. As an artist or band, once a physical/virtual product is created and is available on the market for purchase, it is at that point one can call themselves a professional. Dream for the big time, in the meantime develop reality towards an end game, a series of goals capable without someone else getting you there.

Which brings me to the debut work, or initial product, the first recording.

A decision for a new band or artist needs to be made at this point. The question to ask after you as an artist or band rehearse enough to feel you can play live is, do we record a demo to get shows, or do we go all out and complete an EP or Full length body of work?

Budget and time, the two worst enemies of an artist or band. This choice is not an easy one and take s a bit of commitment. It will be the first real test of an artists or bands resolve. Regardless of the decision, the next blog will cover

Regardless of the answer, in order to move any further as ones own little engine that could, this step is mandatory and the sooner one has product, the sooner a artist or band can utilize most of the tools and tricks discussed in this blog.

sonicbids.com - Part III. - Selecting Opportunities

Once you get your EPK all set up and dialed in and looking great. It is time to pursue the purpose of using this tool to begin with. The main objective is to set goals based on certain objectives. Do you want press? Are you looking to play festivals? Are you looking to get the attention of A&R? These are questions you should be asking yourself going into the submission process. The big mistake I initially made was to submit to everything all at once without a focus.

Pick a goal and focus on that. Then filter out the opportunities that are relevant. You many want to play a mega festival or a college, but if you are a band just starting out and have not much of a touring history, unless a stroke of luck occurs, chances are you willnot get picked and now you have wasted $5 or $10...this adds up quick when you pick every possible opportunity.

Also, some opportunities ask questions, answer these honestly. It also is a great way to filter yourself out of an opportunity. If you can't answer the opportunity honestly or if the answer looks to be a disadvantage to you, I would suggest that you not submit to the post.

Keep it real, and eventually things start clicking...

sonicbids.com - Part II. - Setting up the EPK

I am going to assume you may have read the first blog on sonicbids.com or that maybe you already had a sonicbids.com account. "Here's the deal" (trademarked by BTLS)...now that you have created an account, what next, so many options, so many choices...

Before you get so excited about the opportunities and spend as little time possible prepping your EPK, SLOW DOWN! The biggest mistake I made once I created an account was to put together a basic EPK with no content and little focus, and then submit to as many offerings as I could afford...THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT! It took me about three weeks to realize that my initial promotional effort was all for nothing because I didn't take the time to "present" the band.

So here are some ground rules that seemed to help my response rate as I learned the system(well I am still learning it).

1. Every aspect of the EPK should be filled in, right down to the Set List and stage requirements. Nothing worse than an EPK with empty links...it's wasting peoples time who are interested in you.

2. Pictures...cram them in, including Hi Rez. They don't allow many, even with the super package, put as many as you can, and make sure they are consistent with the theme or vibe you are trying to present yourself as.

3. Songs. This is frustrating to me, because they have a limit of 5MB for the songs...which sucks, most of my files are 8+ so I ended up dumbing the quality down. There are two tricks here...give a sample and fade it out, or give in and include a complete song at a worse than CD quality. Don't forget lyrics!!!!

4. Keep your elevator pitch consistent with your Band bio...DON'T BE ALL OVER THE MAP! keep your message clear and consistent...on a personal note, I hate bios that sound like a big reach around...be humble and focus on the band mission...get the attitude when 4 million people buy your cd :)

5. Once you have finished your EPK, link to it everywhere you have a website, blog or related link. They have a tool under "Promote My EPK" in the "My Account" section.

That's a good chunk for now...next step will be throwing yourself at the opportunities.

The Band Website. Part I - Beginnings

This is a loaded topic with many sub layers of information. The band website is one of the most key components of representing yourself as a real band, especially if you don't have a million dollars behind you.

The easiest part, and first step, is getting a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), better known as your web address. In most cases your band name, if it isn't a funny spelling of something, is occupied or being used by some spammer/fake search engine hack, don't despair, just means you will have to put on the creativity cap. Go to register.com or godaddy.com and search for the url of your choice (ie ournameband.com, ournameband.info, ournameband.biz) once you find your URL reserve it. This does not commit you to a webhost, but at least you have now gotten one step of a long journey out of the way. godaddy is way cheaper and they provide cheap hosting if you are going to build the site yourself. I like Register from a usability point of view(silly I know).

As a web/software programmer I have gone many routes over the last several years, building very simple band sites to fully loaded sites where I even built my own windows based content tool, which never go used in real time because I decided on the template site by then. What drove me nuts, and this is a personal issue, was how much time I was committing to maintaining websites, versus creating music.

In the end, for Mystic Nation, I found an awesome template driven hosting company that focuses primarily on band websites. Unreal was that once I configured this tool, I have freed up so many extra hours of work now, I actually have free time. Currently we are using Rock-n-Roll Design as our template provider right now and there is so much stuff to cover on this topic it will be a post all by itself...great tool though if your time comes in short order and don't want to rely on a web developer. The end result for us is mysticnation.info

If you want to learn how to actually build your own website, take the first step at W3 Schools and see if it is for you. I recommend going through the HTML tutorial, which is free like all the other tutorials on that site.

A couple of tips for creating your own website that I find helpful

1. Keep the site clean and easy to navigate. Too much can be too much, too little if done right can be intriguing.
2. Make sure your website matches any offline marketing scheme you may have, nothing beats consistency when trying to enforce a message.
3. Create calls to action like signing up for a newsletter, joining the myspace, downloading a song, viewing a picture, posting to a blog...this adds to the experience far more than if you just throw the band bio up with a picture adn say here we are. Constantly involving content is far more effective in bringing people back.

Resources


Books - a list of some books for the HTML beginner
1. HTML for Dummies
2. HTML, XML, CSS

Internet
1. Do it yourself start at W3 Schools
2. Template Driven Sites
    A. Rock-n-Roll Design
    B. BandZoogle
3. Hosting
    A. godaddy.com
    B. Reinvent Inc (Great .NET hosting provider)

sonicbids.com - Part I. - An Introduction

I thought I would finally post something related to getting the wheels of progress turning, rather than another post on the philosophy of being in a band. After all this blog is dedicated to sharing useful information, not just my opinion...though my opinion will still be used as a weapon :)

Of all the tools that has produced the most results in terms of tangible music industry results, http://www.sonicbids.com has been the most effective.

In a nutshell this website allows you to create an eletronic press kit (dubbed "EPK") that not only is great to shoot out to the media, but also to submit to many different opportunities in the industry, as well as make available to your fans, plus it makes you look more organized and professional. The amount of opportunities are staggering. Festivals, Interviews, Licensing, Promoters, Magazines, College promoters...all available for you to submit your band to if you see the fit (hint...that's the key to using the tool).

Part Two of my discussion about Sonicbids will focus on what I have learned in terms of the submitting process and what to expect and basically how to get around the website. They have a ton of useful information and I will share what has been glaringly obvious for me.

Some of the opportunities Mystic Nation has been fortunate to be selected for using this tool:

1. Exposure to 100 college related websites
2. Booked Several large clubs in LA that are difficult to get booked with just their phone number and persistence.
3. Our product shopped in Asia for distribution and promotion
4. Several podcast and internet radio sites putting us into rotation

Some of the things we are under consideration for:

1. Interviews with several online and print publications
2. Licensing for several different film and TV opportunities
3. College Booking
4. A couple different compilations

This will all start to make sense as I explain http://www.sonicbids.com in future posts. For now I would encourage you to check their site out and read their spin on things, cause they know their marketing message better than me.

For an example, check out our EPK... http://www.sonicbids.com/mysticnation

This is what goes out to the industry...so if you do set an EPK up, use every part of the EPK. Even more exciting is the interface they have to interact with the industry...but thats for another time.

A beginning...

This blog will serve a purpose to condense as much infomation about tricks and tips and things that have worked and not worked over the years in the do it yourself music business. I am only an authority on the subject in my own world, so take the info with a level of seriousness or counter with even better information, or we can even be sarcastic all day long.

There are plenty of books out there on the art of being in a band, the key difference here is...I am not trying to make any money off you. The idea to blog this stuff really came to a head when I found myself repeating the same type of info to musicians I know, over and over, so this is a way to place all the info in one central location and let the feedback, if any, roll in and expand on the concepts.

I want this to serve as a communucation point between people who don't expect a label to hand them something, and honestly, don't care if they do. A place to express frustration and triumph with all the excellent tools available to the indy artist or even to the hobby musician looking to at a minimum get their product on the market and in distribution.

Over time I will go through several commercial sites that are beneficial...but I want to make clear I am not endorsing the use of these tools, merely pointing them out. I take no reponsibility for anyones failure or success along the way. Just because it worked for me, does not mean it will work for you...and there are many reasons this may be the case, but I am not one of them.

If you have any links or tools worth mentioning, please feel free to email me at goliath@mysticntion.info , provide me with the basics and I will do some research and report back on the blog.

Now let's go do some discovery!