Music Shows

Bands and solo musicians, promoting your music and visual image are easier than ever using the power of the Internet.

Why not find a free On-line band directory to post your On-line press material?

If you do not want to mess around with HTML, hosting or the Web support issues a nice Internet band directory may save you time and money while still getting you all the exposure you need.

Using an On-line free performer hosting directory, your .mp3, images, bios, and show schedules can receive 24-7 exposure.

1st, you will need to organize your Online materials on your computer or laptop. This will be the basis of your Online press kit.

Images

Start a folder on your PC of images of shows, cd covers and promo shots with band members.

Make sure they are in .jpg or .gif.  A lot of web sites will only guide these two formats so stay away from .png for now or make sure the free directory you upload to will guide.png.

Ensure the images look wonderful at about 400px broad. The image will again and again be compressed into a thumbnail at about 100px broad  on the display page. The thumbnail may be slightly compressed looking but you want the larger “clicked on” version to have the optimum resolution, so starting around 400px ought to ensure pretty wonderful resolution.

furthermore make sure the images are less than 1 megabyte, some free directories limit the size of the upload.

Music Files

A safe bet is .mp3.

Limit the size to less than 1 megabyte which comes out to about a 30 second sample.

Choose the portion of the song that has the the majority impact in a short period – it may get you the gig!

Bio

Write a short (300 -400) word bio about the band or yourself. Include style of music, influences, instrumentation, history of the band as well as members.

Keep this in a word doc on your PC so you might update it as needed.

Shows

Some free band directories will let you list and update your shows. Take advantage of this! For reference keep a list of all the Venues you play in a word doc. Include the Venue name, address, and phone number.

Summary

All performers and solo artists ought to take advantage of free quality On-line promotion. If you are not technical or just don’t want to mess around with HTML, hosting or building a Internet page a wonderful free On-line band directory gets you world broad  24-7 coverage.

You can be a Money-Making Musician in No Time!

Musicians who want to make resources with their music need to consider a few more things than just great riffs and solos - they need to take care of the business side of the music business, too. Here is a quick list of the the majority vital things you could do to take your music career to the next level. (Solo artists could replace the word “band” with “yourself”) How To Market Your Band:

1. Think like a Marketer. Too generally artists get all consumed with the music side of the business and pay little or no attention to the business side. Do not forget, it’s called the music business, so if you want to be able to make resources doing it, you need to learn to market your band. also, if you’re the one watching what’s going on, there’s less opportunity of sharks ripping you off.

2. Produce a Press Kit For Yourself. band promotion starts with a good press kit. This can be a physical folder with the band’s photo, member bios, business cards and demo CD, or an Internet version that you may send via email. Get both if you may afford it. Establish with the “e” version first.

3. Get a World Wide Web Presence. These days to  promote  your band, you simply have to be Web. You ought to have your own Web site, as well as be on other performer marketing website s, such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. Your own website will be where you can keep in touch with fans ad go into greater detail, like music style, genre etc.. The marketing websites are simply to get your performer in front of more individuals and ought to always have some of your song samples and a links back to your own website.

4 Build a Contact List of Your audiences. At least get their email, full address is better. Once you’ve the list, keep in touch with them never ending ly, telling them what you are doing , where you are playing and how much you appreciate them. A wonderful way to collect and manage a fan base is by using Constant Contact. It is an email management tool that also has pre-made templates you could use to send newsletters and email promotions to your audiences.

5 Have Product to Sell to Your audiences. At a minimum have some of your recorded music to sell either on CDs or flash drives. You ought to also get T-shirts, hats and swea tee shirts made that you could sell at your concert and on your Website. You could performance up an Internet retail retailer selling stuff with your band’s logo on it at cafépress.com. The perfect part is, no performance up fee!

Virtually all people would say the first thing to do is to find a name for the band. Lets start from there s venue we??

The auditions are over, you’ve found your bass player and you all seem to get along really well. The excitement is in the air and you’ve had your 1st performer bonding celebration.

Now its time to start your musical journey together.

Personally, I think that locating a band name is THE hardest decision that the band will ever have to make and consequently one of the the majority necessary decisions as well.

A band name is a wonderfully vital part of the performers identity. It is the first point of contact a punter has with the band.

Does this conversation sound familiar to you?

Them: “Hey, I saw this cool performer last night. You gotta check them out”

You: “Cool, what has been the name of the band?”

Them: “Ummmmmm……. I do not know”.

Arrrrrgh!!!! I get that all the time.

I can’t recall how a lot of times individuals have raved about a performer to me but can’t tell me the name when I ask them. Right there is the was ted opportunity for a band. It frustrates me no end.

This is a optimum example of how extremely important a band name is.

The band name is the 1st thing that a punter will recall. They will not address the band by the names of the individuals in it when they talk to their companions (unless they’re individual companions of yours) they will address the band by its name.

The perfect way to find a performer name is through sheer persistance. Locating a performer name that is agreeable by any person isn’t an simple task.

Here are some band name get together suggestions:

1. Get every member to write down their personal list of potential band names

This can be the first task that the performer might do collectively.  set a date for the first performer meeting and between now and then do that task.

2. Make brainstorming band names the topic of your 1st ever band meeting

When everyone gets together put all of the lists out on the table and go through each one keeping to one side the names that’strike a chord’ (sorry about the pun) with all of you and getting rid of the rest.

As a group try brainstorming some ideas. This is a wonderful way to start formulating what the band is all about, what its image is etc, etc.

3. Start a competition among all your friends /family/anyone else via email

This is a great way to start compiling the beginnings of your performers email list. List all of your companions /family/anyone else that you want to include and their email addresses and compile them all into one mailing group. Send out an email outlining the competition and be ready for the tips to come flooding in.

It is vital to have a cut off date for the competition (perhaps by your 1st performer meeting) and to have a prize on offer. Of course the prize is totally up to you.

Make sure that when you do find a performer name that you announce it through your email group. You’ve just started email promotion of your band.

Whatever you do have fun with the process and do not let the quest to find a band name override the other things that you’ve to do such as writing tunes and finding rehearsal space.

I guarantee that once you’ve agreed on a performer name you will all collectively breathe a immense sigh of relief. The hardest part of the journey has been achieved.

Did you know that the Bee Gees were named after the initials of a deejay called Bill Gates? Did you know that the real story behind the origin of the name of the rock band 10cc is much more trivial and boring than the urban legend that surrounds it? Did you ever wonder why the hell would someone select to name his band Chumbawamba? Here you could broad n your knowledge by learning about the origins or rock performers names and pop artists pseudonyms.

10cc: an urban legend claims that the performer who wrote the hit I’m Not in Love has chosen her name as a gesture to the average man ejaculation, which is estimated as 9cc of sperm. As a matter of fact, the performer name is originated in a dream the performer manager, Jonathan King, had in which he has been managing a performer by the name of 10cc

Alice in Chains: Lane Stanley and Jerry Cantrell had intended to form a heavy metal performer that will perform covers of Slayer while wearing dresses. Although there plan did not come out, the name of the performer remained. Alice in Chains is a take off on Alice in Wonderland with an S and M twist.

Bee Gees: The Gibb brothers first had in mind the name The Rattlesnakes as a name of their band.

Later they have come up with the idea of honoring the initials of both Brothers Gibb and their close friend and one of their first assist s, deejay Bill Gates, who has nothing to do with the founder mof Microsoft.

Chumbawaba: evident ly, one of the performer members had a strange dream, in which he could not decide which public toilet door he should enter since the Men and Women signs were replaced with Chumba and Wamba signs.

The Doors: formerly named Psychedelic Ranger, inspired by a William Blake quote: Assuming that the doors of perception were to be cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.

Elvis Costello: has been born as Declan Patrick McManus. When he had started his musical career, he adopted an alias created by a combination of Elvis Presley and Lou Costello, mainly because he represents the exact opposite of the other Elvis.

The Fall: taken from the title of a novel authored by Albert Camus.

Grateful Dead: originally named The Warlocks. The origin of the cult performer  last name was inspired by an old English folk tale, which themed around a traveler who’s saved by the spirit of a dead person who’s grateful for the travelers generosity and his willingness to pay the deads man debts in order for him to be buried.

The Happy Mondays: Shaun Rider has been inspired by the happy Mondays he and the other members of the performer were having as unemployed who were invest ing the day that follows the weekend in sleeping while the other people were off to work.

Ice T: the controversial gangsta rapper has chosen to name himself following Iceberg Slim, a famous pimp who later became an author of books that describe gangsta living.

Johnny Rotten: the Sex Pistols leader was born as John Lydon. He received a stage name that was found more suitable for an anarchist punk with a  set of rotten teeth.

Kraftwerk: the pioneer electronic band adopted the German translation of the term Power Station.

L. LL Cool J: James Todd Smith pseudonym is an Acronym for Ladies Love Cool James.

Marilyn Manson: the bandleader pseudonym mixes two of Americas favorite celebrities: Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson. Other members of the performer are using the pseudonyms Ginger Fish, Twiggy Ramirez and Madonna Wayne Gacy.

Nine Inch Nails: inspired by the nails that attached Jesus to the cross

The Orb: in Woody Allens Sleeper, there is a silver ball that causes individuals who touches it to react in strange ways. This device has been called The Orb.

The Pogues: originally named Pogue Mahone, which is Kiss my Ass in Gaelic, the performer shortened the name to avoid airplay censorship.

Queen: one word that catches both transvestite and royalty connotation has been the best performer name in the eyes of Freddie Mercury.

The Replacements: according to the myth, the punk rock band adapted the name following replacing a missing band in a gig, an incident that made them introduced themselves as The Replacements.

Sex Pistols: Malcolm Mclaren is responsible for the option of the name, partly to stimulate  encourage  the clothes shop called Sex owned by Vivien Westwood who used to be his girlfriend at the time.

TLC: the initials of the band members nicknames T Boz, Left Eye and Chilli. It also suggests the acronym for Tender Loving Care.

UB40: the politically oriented performer was named after a kind of British unemployment form.

Velvet Underground: named after the title of an unknown sex book that one of the performer members has found lying on the sidewalk

Weezer: the performer front man has been nicknamed Weezer in high school since he has been a geek who suffered from asthma that caused him to make wheezing sounds.

XTC: this punk band was formed in 1976 long before the usage of the drug has been popular. The band had change d its original name Star Park following watching a Jimmy Durante clip in which he states: Im in ecstasy!

Yeah Yeah Yeah: according to Karen O, the inspiration to the hip performer name came from the New Yorker phrase, which means something like whatever.

New repositionable vinyl stickers offer bands some excellent new promotional tools.

Promoting your band with vinyl stickers is a new way to get people talking. Vinyl stickers can be custom made with your band logo or life size photos of your band in action and of the band members.

What’s this new vinyl sticker material called? FotoSticks. Repositionable and reusable vinyl stickers that won’t harm walls. You can stick them up just about anywhere and then take them down and move them somewhere else. Assuming that they get dirty, just was h them off with warm water.

You can give away free and inexpensive smaller vinyl stickers while selling life size stickers to create a promotion that funds itself.

Here are a few promotional ideas:

• Give away small vinyl stickers of your band’s logo at the door

• Sell life size wall stickers of your band in action and the members along with very big stickers of your band logo.

• Locate out where agents live and plaster their neighborhood bulletin boards and retailer windows (with permission, of course)

• Place them in jewel cases

• Put them on fan’s cars during a gig

Here are some more detailed promo ideas…

The performer Brew

Thanks to Mike Larrabee for this idea, it’s great. Do you have a Local/Regional micro-brewery? See about getting several cases of beer without front labels. Then establish your own label and order the design as a FotoStick. You may put them on the bottles and your listeners may buy a beer and get a free promotional sticker that may be re-stuck anywhere they prefer.

Steal This Sticker

Put your band stickers on bulletin boards, windows and anywhere else you dare. people can simply peel them off and use them again anywhere they want. They will not harm walls or windows.

Artist Co-Promotion

Locate a wonderful musician or two and have a monthly promotion that includes a limited run of only a specified amount of stickers featuring a certain artist. When they are gone, that is it, they are no longer available. Do this each month and you may  encourage  collecting band memorabilia and produce some buzz.

Bar Graffiti

Put your performer stickers all over the bar or club you’re playing in and let the fans know that they might peel them off and keep them.

Photos of fans with band Members

At each concert have one of the roadies take pictures of your fans with their favorite performer members. Collect their addresses and then send them some FotoSticks a few weeks later to remind them of the night. You may be sure that they will show their friends and family members. Since they are repositionable, they could put them on their notebooks or laptops to show around and then put them on their wall once they are done bragging.

Bands fail all the time. They fail, not through a lack of skill or because of a mutual decision to pursue other interests, but because of a lack of interest, performer recognition and a small fan base. This lack of interest has absolutely little to do with the band’s musical or vocal abilities; rather, it is due to a lack of promotion. without promotion and advertising to generate interest in the band, it will fail. This begs the question, how does a performer promote itself? Is there a single method of promotion that will work, or must it be a multifaceted marketing plan? Promotion is the most necessary aspect of developing into successful in the music business. To accurately  encourage  a band, a accross the board promotion plan must be created. This plan will encompass many different facets of advertising and promotion and each one plays a critical role in the success or failure of the band. without a accross the board promotion plan, a performer cannot expect to garner the kind of fame and recognition necessary to be offer ed a large contract through by a top music business label. without promotion, the only fans you will gain are those who actually get to hear the performer play, with no means of gaining a larger fans.

A inclusive promotion plan will cover a lot of disparate areas:

It will permit listeners to hear a band’s music without actually having to present at a concert event. This may be achieved through two distinct methods. Creating a music cd that may be distributed free of charge is a wonderful way to build a fan base. Members of the performer may be given an allotment to give out through their everyday lives. Custom stickers may be placed within the jewel case, allowing listeners to  promote  the performer on their personal. You could likewise create music MP3’s and host them on the Web for free download. Both of these methods will allow prospective listeners to listen to the band’s music in a comfortable session ting without having to go to a show.

Use the Internet. The Internet is an incredible promotional tool if properly used. Nearly every performer has a presence on social networking websites such as MySpace and FaceBook. You might use these to host your free MP3’s, let audiences request more information and performer stickers and bumper stickers. Stickers and bumper stickers may be custom made to meet a band’s specific needs through custom sticker printing.

Playing any Venue that will book the band, from free shows at a Local/Regional bar to annual Battle of the Bands competitions held in many cities. The more Venues played, the amazing the number of people that are able to listen to the band’s music and see experience their stage show. This allows artists to dramatically increase the amount of buzz generated about the performer and elevate name recognition in the public.

Possibly the single best promotional tool at a bands disposal are custom printed band stickers. These are an incredibly popular way for individuals to display their interests, causes, political statements and more. Through custom made stickers and bumper stickers, bands may use their original artwork, graphics, logos or designs that they may want to use. They are created through custom sticker printing and may be found many places on the Web. Many audiences are more than happy to put stickers of their favorite bands on their notebooks, backpacks, in their cars, on bulletin boards and anywhere else they may think about. This allows a vast number of others to see the band’s name, artwork and logo designs, increasing name recognition by a large amount.

A all-inclusive promotional plan encompasses all this and more. Each aspect listed here dramatically enhances the fame and name recognition of a band and contributes to growing the band’s fame and fan base. In short, the more people that are aware of a band’s presence, the more people are able to listen to and appreciate the band’s music and attend concert s. fans are what the music business is all about, in the end, and the more fans a band has, the greater the opening s that the band will be signed by a music label.

StickerGiant has been founded in 2000 by an unknown mad scientist named John Fischer and world renowned illustrator Mike Brooks. Since then John has made sure that StickerGiant works to source and sell ALL stickers that represent a myriad of views, Freedom of Expression through Stickers is our motto. think of StickerGiant as a non-partisan clear ing house for the 1st Amendment. we don’t write the stickers here, we just offer a place for others to express themselves. Remember, Diversity is what makes America Great!