5. The Eye Candy System
Nicola of Hot Cherry Records (
www.cdbaby.com/nicolanyc) relates that after her live sets, she has two or three attractive girlfriends go out to audience. "One handles the CD sales and one or two circulate the mailing list and get names, addresses and e-mails," she explains. "Not to be sexist, since I am a woman myself, but this marketing strategy works for me."
She continues, "Women seem to be less threatening to both sexes than men, and that is why we have found this approach to work best. It enables us to come off the stage and immediately meet and greet people, without having to worry about selling and dealing with paper and mailing lists. It's a great system!"
How can you boost your mailing list sign-ups or improve your interaction with fans?
6. Print This
For the most part, using the Internet means doing away with paper and printing. Unless you come up with a cool idea like Bob Houlston has. To promote his guitar tips and tabs site, Bob invites visitors to print and distribute small fliers available at
http://www.houlston.freeserve.co.uk/flier.htm
Great idea. In the past, I only considered printing fliers and physically handing them to people. But there is obviously another option: Have your fans print out and distribute the promotional items themselves. Basically, you've just created your own street team.
Considering doing this to promote your CDs or live shows. You can also ask fans to print coupons for discounts on recordings and admission fees.
7. Let Your Fans Help You
"One of the best tips is to appreciate and respect your fans," says singer-songwriter Nyree in an interview on the artistpro.com site. She is also the author of "Booking, Promoting and Marketing Your Music."
Nyree says that much of the good fortune she's enjoyed throughout her career came about because a fan got involved. For example, opening for Crosby, Stills & Nash, Santana and other high-profile artists happened because a fan knew somebody.
"When you try just to sell yourself it never works," she says. "But when somebody's really thrilled about something, they can sell it to anyone."
Nyree says a recent East Coast tour also happened because of her fans. "Some people saw shows I did in Palo Alto, and they asked me when I was coming to their town. My answer is always, 'I'll come to your town when you set something up, or help me set something up, because it's gonna be really hard for me to get something good on my own.'"
EXCUSES TO GET ON RADIO:
You don't have to be talking about your latest e.p. to be on the radio.
* A musician could hook up with a psychologist or music therapist to discuss the stress-reduction benefits of mellow jazz music.
* A traditional blues player who has either lived through or learned a lot about regional music history could pitch himself as an expert on local culture.
* A punk or metal band member could become an advocate for safe mosh-pit etiquette and offer to enlighten kids and their parents on common-sense advice when attending concerts.
* A rap singer might debunk myths about the genre and demonstrate that not all rap is about sex, drugs, violence and life on the streets.
* A country musician could team up with a fitness instructor and espouse the virtues of line dancing as a fun form of exercise.
* Become a music trivia expert. Do you know way too much about the Beatles? Or Elvis? Or the '50s, '60s or '70s? Or some other musical niche? If so, appoint yourself to be your area's media consultant on the topic.
By positioning yourself as an expert, you'll be invited to appear on a number of radio programs. Best yet, while you enlighten listeners on your topic, you can also work in plugs for your band or CD.
Next Issue : A mystery, Im going to spain for 2 weeks on friday, there shall be much delay.