So when are the issues coming out?

[QUOTE=KKKKKocaine]We're not really looking to take too much of a profit out of it, It's mostly for promotion and to get something out, We may be upping it to £3 if we fit another track or so on it, Which would give us about £60 profit if we sell 50, (£1.85 manufacturing each CD) It will still leave us about £60 short of recouping our recording costs, but we're going to hope to compensate for this with merch sales, e.g. 100 5x10 patches, costing £23, Selling at £1.50+p&p will require about 15 sales to break even, then we have another potential £127 of sales.

Also, In Jan, We are going to be experimenting with some new recording equipment I'm getting, So we may be producing an album on that, which will cut down on costs.[/QUOTE]

a freinds band ocvered recording and manufacturing costs with a large gig, so that sales from their EP would be 100% profit. Not a bad idea, actually. Patches is a good idea actually, is it just your band logo?

<awaits episode with tips on how to make a proffessional looking logo with PSP and a digital camera>

speaking of psp....is there a place where I can get a free download?

[QUOTE=XemoXmoshXpitX]speaking of psp....is there a place where I can get a free download?[/QUOTE]

Just download the demo from their site and keep turning your clock back. It works. I've used it like that for a year before I got Photoshop. But you didn't hear it from me.

[QUOTE=Itwasthatwas]Just download the demo from their site and keep turning your clock back. It works. I've used it like that for a year before I got Photoshop. But you didn't hear it from me.[/QUOTE]

even more efficient:

set your clock to 2025.

Install demo, set it up. You have 30 days remaining.

Set clock back to correct time. You have 30 days remaining. You still have 30 days remaining. Still. Yup.

They may have fixed this now everyone has broadband and it can check the date online. worth a try.

I'm just currently working on visual examples for the article.

ooo going all out on this one? I'm looking forward to it :D

Just got ahold of this article from an emergenza tour website. I thought it might be fit for this thread.



The support of media is an essential tool in marketing music. For this reason, it is essential that an artist has a presentation package ready, that is basically a demo and a press kit.
Here you may find listed the 10 rules (or ingredients) of a good press kit.
1 - CONTACT INFORMATION has to be clearly visible on EVERY PART of the kit. Be sure that the band’s logo is place on the front cover. The promotional material must be neatly written and laid out.
2 – COVER LETTER: when you send your press kit to a specific persons, never forget a specific introductory letter.
3 – BREVITY is the rule! Each section of the press kit should not be more than 1 page long.
4 - BIO/FACT SHEET: Point out key info on the musician(s): name, genre, brief statement, background of the band, background of each member, accomplishments, current projects. Make your bio informative and stimulating, and remember who you are writing for. Music professionals are very busy persons, and may deal with dozens of press kits like yours every week. Make them want to listen to your music!
5 – PRESS CUTS: reviews of records and concerts. Be sure to collect as many of them as possible, but do not exaggerate filling your press kit with dozens of them.
6 – ‘WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT US’: quote sheets written by professionals. (producers, bookers, other respected musicians), with positive comments about your music.
7 – CD INSERT with song titles (and lyrics - optional), copyright info, credits.
8 – OFFICIAL PUBLICITY PHOTO: like the cover of your CD, your official publicity photo is one of the most effective part of the press kit, because sets your visual image, and the impact on your ‘future’ fans. Remember that your photo must look good when reduced for printing on the media. It is usually black&white, glossy.
9 – OTHER PHOTOS: insert in the press kit a selection of studio shots, location shots and venue shots. Make sure the photographer you choose has experience in the music field.
10 – Be sure that your press kits reflects an image that is appropriate for your music.

should the vocal amp be placed behind or in front of the guitar amps when playing live?

a USD to £ conversion would be EXTREMELY helpful, as i have no idea what dollar figures we're talking about here. The compilation album idea is genius, and my bandmates and I have decided to do just that, rather than recording a 5 track cd. Some of this stuff has helped tremendously!

An article (or at least mini-article) idea: cool things to do in concert
this could include pyrotechnics, competitions for who can moan the best (your idea kkkkkocain), story of the year style acrobatics, wrapping the bassist completely up in cellophane etc.

[QUOTE]competitions for who can moan the best (your idea kkkkkocain)[/QUOTE]

I'm there!

"You stupid kids today <grumble>, in my day there was talent is music <mumble> none of this "New Metal" rubbish, oh no... It was 100% hard work in my day, and you actually had to be able to sing an' all. <grumble> kids today..."

I so win.

[url]http://pages.ebay.co.uk/services/buyandsell/currencyconverter.html[/url]

Well everything has been on hold in Band 101 for a while whilst I have been trying to help make Jam Session a bit more popular, getting a mod in to sticky and unsticky, and just generally trying to help make the forum better :)
I am working on the next issue though :)

I think the jam session is popular enough if we're in it.

*grasshoppers chirping*

the marketing of music often throws people off and think this is the real reason that people need to hear stuff like this...my advice, make music for the ****ing sake of music, and look at it as a language and a way to communicate and youll do just fine. If your in it for the right reasons youll know it

[QUOTE=ernestguiseppe]the marketing of music often throws people off and think this is the real reason that people need to hear stuff like this...my advice, make music for the ****ing sake of music, and look at it as a language and a way to communicate and youll do just fine. If your in it for the right reasons youll know it[/QUOTE]
I think that's kinda why I'm in a band. Well, there's several reasons, I'll try to explain them now...

1) Mainly because I love playing guitar, and making music.
2) Because I really want to play live. (We haven't yet.)
3) Because I'd love to have an album out, with songs that I helped write on it.

Bit random, but hey.

*goes along with randomness*

Its the same with me, if our band ever did make it (hey look, theres a flying pig!), we'd be making music that we loved, not because we wanted to get rich fast. Money is only a bonus in my view, its the music that comes first.

[QUOTE=DruMMeR_BoY14]*goes along with randomness*

Its the same with me, if our band ever did make it (hey look, theres a flying pig!), we'd be making music that we loved, not because we wanted to get rich fast. Money is only a bonus in my view, its the music that comes first.[/QUOTE]
And money is a good way of getting some nice guitars, as well.....

You could always do a bank job...

[QUOTE=DruMMeR_BoY14]*goes along with randomness*

Its the same with me, if our band ever did make it (hey look, theres a flying pig!), we'd be making music that we loved, not because we wanted to get rich fast. Money is only a bonus in my view, its the music that comes first.[/QUOTE]

I agreewith what you're saying, but if you're going to be in a band, what's the point of not marketing yourself with flyers and everything? Play the music you want to play but make sure you get yourself gigs, that's what I say.

Whilst everyone is in it or should be in it for the music, You will find that when you leave home and tour around the country that you cannot feed yourself, pay your pills, or fill your petrol tank with passion, As miserable and pointless the capitalist monetary system makes our lives, We still have to remember that the only way to play the game is to go by the rules.
Playing for passion will be fine until you hit uni, You won't be able to rely on parents as much as you could before, If your amp breaks, Your funds are limited to repairs.
You need to keep your eyes to the horizon, nothing is wrong with making enough money to survive in the business, If any of you (and hopefully you will :)) reach near breaking point level, i.e. touring, an album out on a label, nearing the big time, you will realise truly how painful the mp3 business can be and how you really don't want people taking your money.
No-one is expecting or asking you to bleed every fan dry of every penny they have Kiss stylee, because having enough money to survive and do what we love means we will be better off than a good 80% of the worlds population, probably more.
If you are in a serious band writing your own songs and getting ready to gig, you need to plan, whilst in college and high school you can afford to think of nothing but the fun side of things, if you wish to go further the reality of the world is going to hurt.
You won't have parents to bail you out with extra money anymore, You will be forced to fend for yourself, You can't spend all your money on beer and go home to a warm bed, wake up with food on the table.
The best place to start a financial future for yourself is now, whilst you are in high school with your band, or in your first year of college.
Organise, ignore the covers and go for it with every last thing you've got, use all that passion you have and the drive to succeed.
Take the oppertunities of parenting, have your parents pay for lessons, have your parents help to invest in your future.
Gig with everyband you can, in every little pub you can.
Use the people in school to network with, make sure you know every kid in every band in school, and make sure they know what you are about.
Networking is an amazing thing to do, We supported a band called Bleeding Pink on our first gig, the Vocalist contacted me for a simple link swap on websites, In mid Jan I'll be taking them into a studio to record their demo for them with £200+ condenser mics, a £14,000 mixer and master recorder set up e.t.c.

Drop your name to every promotion company you know, most are non-profit groups run by bands who want a list of bands they can use to support them at gigs.
Use every bit of creativity availible to you to get your name out.
Practice regulary at a rehearsal room?
Talk to the owner, put the idea in his head about a "Rehearsal room sponsered gig", always remember, "What's in it for me"
That's what the owner will want to know, Let him know before he has even asked, that it will get the rooms more promotion, showcase the good bands that use it, and establish a mark of quality with the rooms.
Naturally, they will provide some form of P.A. soundhelp, organisation and promotion help.
From this you get a free gig, extra promotion e.t.c.

There are a hundred copies of you doing the exact same thing, with the same goals, You have to stand out from the other 99 and get noticed, you can't afford to be conventional, you have to be an innovator.
Ignore all that "Why don't you do this course in case music doesn't work out?"
Sure there is nothing wrong with a backup plan, I myself am training to be a producer if my band doesn't make it, but there is a big difference between a backup plan and sabotaging yourself.
Go ask any musician who had to give up their job for something non music related.
It's the same old story, "A part of my died on the day I walked into that office"
Don't let anyone tell you what job you should be doing, don't allow yourself to be cannonballed into a job you hate until you eventually subcumb to all the misconstrued logic.

"Only 20 bands a year make it in the UK blah blah blah"
This is not a reason to stop trying, It is a reason to try harder.
Ignoring the definition of 'make it', 20 bands HAVE to make it a year if that statistic is correct, If you try hard and have the passion, Why can't your band be one of those elite 20?
In the words of Cypress Hill
"It's a fun job, but it's still a job"

[QUOTE=unclebobscircus]I agreewith what you're saying, but if you're going to be in a band, what's the point of not marketing yourself with flyers and everything? Play the music you want to play but make sure you get yourself gigs, that's what I say.[/QUOTE]

I coulnd't agree more. Unfortunately, all famous bands get pretty rich, and integruty will get you nowhere in the music business. Sell yourself rotten (in all but the literal sense) (unless you REALLY need money for gear) and you'll go far, and proably make money.

I couldn't agree more with what you said KKKKKocaine.
Someone told me that a band nowadays is just like a company.
You have to work for the profit of your product -which is the music you make- you have to promote yourself, play as often as possible and earn money for gear or a CD.

I'm quite happy that i'm in a band right now, where every member is obsessed by music but totally understands that you have to work for success.
We also agreed that we want to try to get as big as possible.
The band is complete since a month but it feels like we have played together for several years and we achieved a lot during this time, mainly because we practice four times a week and work our butts off for the band ;)
We have own songs, the first gigs are in sight, website will be up soon (check [url]www.forcequad.com[/url] in probably 2 weeks ;) ),demorecording is planned for the start of next year. We have connections to professional graphic designers, photographers, a studioowner and several other people who can and want to help us to achieve our goals - which is very important i think, because you can't do anything by yourself.

.. so we recorded a 4 song demo last year.
.. at the moment we are working on our first album, wich will have 10 - 12 songs on it.

.. if i send out press info. do i include the entire album, or should i send a cd with 2-3 stand-out songs...

(since i like all our songs, id like to send all, but i assume no one feels like listening to the whole 50 minutes of it, right?)

[QUOTE=FatherKeeL].. so we recorded a 4 song demo last year.
.. at the moment we are working on our first album, wich will have 10 - 12 songs on it.

.. if i send out press info. do i include the entire album, or should i send a cd with 2-3 stand-out songs...

(since i like all our songs, id like to send all, but i assume no one feels like listening to the whole 50 minutes of it, right?)[/QUOTE]

Send the 2-3 standout songs, They have very little time to spend on submissions so you need to make sure they spend that little time on your best pieces of work, If they like your work you will get the oppertunity to play them the whole album :)

Should we do a demo or an E.P for our first release? I think we have could write enough material for an E.P but for a first cd would a demo be better? (for press kits etc..)

Demos are always first. Send the demos to record labels. And if you have enough $$$ for studio time, then go ahead and do an EP, but don't expect it to make too more money than what you put into it.

I wasn't planning on it. my dad did some electrical work for a guy with a recording studio so I was going to ask him about it and see if we could get in there cheaper than he would usally charge.

if your are unexpirienced, id do a demo first, just to learn about recording....

if youve got the know-how, time and money for an ep, go ahead though.

just id start small if i where you...