Whenever I used to work with bands with their music, these were my rules. I mostly just did promotions work so I'd do this work for them, but it was something I ran into over and over:
- Listening - Make your music as easy to hear as possible. At minimum, make a lower quality version available free for download.
- Genre - No artist likes being relegated to this but I promise you fall into a genre. You get like 3 words to spend here, choose them wisely. You are not folk-newwave-hybrid-salsa-jack-o'-lantern-metal. Totally ok to list influences. If you sound like the Dandy Warhols, say right up front you sound like a synth version of Dandy Warhols. If you're all over the place, that's cross-genre or experimental.
- Shows - If you are playing somewhere, make it as easy as possible for someone to find out where and when that is.
- Fan engagement - setup an email list but only send something out for events and try hard to only send something out every 2 months. Plan ahead because otherwise you'll end up in spam folders.
- Website - put the critical information right up front ... put your music and where your next concert is right on the front page. I would regularly spend 10 minutes on some big name artist's page trying to navigate their stupid interface to find locations. The "shows" page was frequently broken. Where you want your fans to buy tickets also helps.
- Reviews - If you find a review about your music or shows, post it on your site. Again, I know you feel like you're being defined or setting expectations but a 3rd party is so hugely necessary when you you're into music your friends don't like.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment