It takes a lot of work. I don’t have to tell you what I’m referring to because if it’s truly what you want to be doing with your life then you already know what I’m talking about. Maybe you haven’t admitted this to yourself yet, but it’s true.
I recently got into cooking, so for the purpose of this I’m going to use cooking as my prime example because there are few too many unique paths in music to choose just one. We all cook or know of cooking so it’s a fairly common ground to build from. If you cook, you may or may not think you’re any good at it. If you don’t cook then you already know where you stand.
All cooking is as much an act of artistic expression as it is an experiment. Learning the basics, from ensuring your chicken is thoroughly cooked to baking cookies, is relatively simple, but to become proficient at any single recipe or dish requires endlessly repeating trials made with the smallest of changes between each batch. A little extra salt here, a dash of cinnamon there. You make tiny, incremental changes over and over again until you find a mix that tastes better than the rest then you set to besting that.
There is no ceiling for success in cooking, just like there is no ceiling in music, writing, painting, designing, marketing, or a million other fields. The possibilities are limitless, and you have the unique ability to express yourself through your work in a way that others cannot. Others may stumble upon similar ideas or expressions, but none of them can be exactly likes yours. It may sound corny, but it’s true, and you won’t know just how powerful your ideas can be until you apply them to whatever it is you wish to do.
Let me be frank: Chasing any passion is a process that never ends. Even the best of the best — the people you look to as ‘trendsetters’ or ‘icons’ — in any field have nights when the greatness we all strive toward is out of reach. It happens more often than you think, in fact, and every time they fall short it still hurts just as much as it does for you or me.
And really, the greatness we seek will always be out of reach. There is no one way to do anything just like there is no way to please everyone. If you put your efforts into finding perfection in any way you will always come up short. Your goal should not be perfection, but rather constant progress in a direction that makes you feel happy and fulfilled. If you feel you’re grinding away and getting nowhere there may be good reason for that. You have to listen to yourself, and you have to heed the advice that little voice inside your soul is yearning to get across.
To work towards something is to accept the inevitability of failure. You can control your progress to an extent, but that control will only get you so far. Success is the cousin of risk. It lives and breathes on the back of chances taken, but to take a chance is to risk failure. It’s okay though, because everyone fails far more often than they succeed. What will separate you from others is your ability to get back up whenever you fall down and try again. That’s all you need to do: Keep getting back up. Keep trying new things. Keep believing.
You might think you want to reach some pinnacle of success, but that’s not really the truth. What you want is to be recognizes as the best of the best, or at least one of the best. If you really reached the peak — if such a thing existed — you would become so bored with existence that you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself. Embrace the process and learn to love it. That is the only way to stay sane in this crazy, crazy thing we call life.
James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and host of the Inside Music podcast. You should follow him on Twitter.
I have a spent a decade of my life writing about music. A lot has changed in that time, far more than I could ever tell you about in a single post, but one thing that always remains the same is the December drought. Every twelve months the year ends with a whisper instead of a band as far as new releases are concerned because a good portion of the industry takes close to half the month off and the other-half is too busy trying to garner ‘best of’ coverage for what was released in the preceding eleven months to busy themselves with something new.
You may be thinking, “If a big chunk of the industry is on vacation for part of the month, why would I even think about releasing something new now?” While it’s true the likelihood of every submission label receive being heard this month there are literally millions of music fans all over the world whose thirst for new and exciting music can never be fulfilled. While the labels are pushing their best releases on holiday shoppers you can make a splash by offering hungry music fans something to satisfy their cravings. Your music could be the record that saves Christmas (or Chanukah or Kwanzaa or…you get the idea).
And it’s not just music listeners who are looking for great content this month. Every music publication with a website – otherwise known as ALL music publications – are doing their best to keep a steady stream of news and streams flowing to their audience. A drop in the amount of music being promoted by notable artists and labels creates a space where up and coming acts can jump in and thrive far quicker than at any other point in the calendar year. If leveraged correctly, that momentum can be carried into the new year, and by summer you could be the next big thing in your scene.
James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and host of the Inside Music podcast. Follow him on Twitter.
I feel like musicals are one area of music that receives a great deal of hate and disrespect for no legitimate reason whatsoever. There are random hits every now and then, like Hamilton, but the vast majority of musicals are lucky if they receive one-tenth of the praise and recognition given to Lin Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway show.
Why is this? I swear to you I have spent many sleepless nights pondering how so many can feels such a close connection to the world of musicals while so many more feel utter disdain when even the idea of such creative endeavors is mention and have come to no conclusions that feel worthy of mention here. It seems you’re either born into a world where musicals are viewed as legitimate works of art capable of conveying a great amount of story and detail through song or you’re brought up not thinking about them at all. There is very little middle ground, and if for some reason you feel you are one of those on the fence I hope this week you will give musicals, as well as musical theaters, another chance because it is probably the most incredible form of musical expression possible.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend an early press screening for Damien Chazelle’s latest film, La La Land. Set against a brilliantly imagined and ever-so-slightly different Los Angeles, the film follows two hopeless romantics (Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling) who meet just as they are both beginning to worry that their dreams will always be out of reach. The pair finds the strength to keep going in one another, but as they begin to find success in their individual endeavors their relationship is put to the ultimate test.
La La Land is a musical, but not in the classic sense. There are a handful of song and dance numbers, including an elaborate performance on a crowded freeway, but the majority of the musical moments don’t involve singing at all. Instead, the people on screen express themselves through movement, which can sometimes bend reality. It’s the kind of thing you either go with from the beginning or hate altogether and I, for one, went all in with a smile on my
The film asks two very important questions: If love is all we need to achieve our goals, then is giving up our goals in order to preserve our connection to love the smart choice? If achieving our goals means losing love, then what is the point of having those goals?
I could spend several hundred words discussing how the film does and does not answer these questions, but to do so would be to rob you of the incredibly unique experience of seeing it done firsthand without any idea what comes next. There is a feeling inherent in all musicals that anything could happen at any moment. Maybe people will stand up and sing in a diner, or maybe they will take a long hard look at their life while singing to themselves in front of a mirror. The presence of song isn’t always necessary, but it does allow for deep emotions and complex feelings to be put on display in a way that is fairly easy for most people to understand.
Expressing the human experience through song is a tradition as old as time itself. As long as we have had music there have been people working to relay their experiences on this planet to others through song, and musicals are simply the latest evolution of that experience. I would argue now is perhaps the best time to be a fan of musicals since the Golden Age of Hollywood came to an end in the early 1960s, and there is a chance it will be even better in the years to come. La La Land is just one great example of how the genre is still able to encapsulate the feeling of being human like no other medium, but there are many recent releases to choose from. Sing Street, which was released in mid-2016, accomplishes a similar feat while playing to those who have never lost their love of the 1980s. Check it out:
Looks pretty good, right? The movie is actually great, and again it’s just one of many recent musicals to be made available to audiences around the globe.
This week, take a break from your Spotify playlists and give a few cast recordings your time instead. I don’t care if you pick a serious show or something silly, just make time to lose yourself in a world of song that is similar, but ultimately far more free than our own. Your soul will thank you.
James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also the Film Editor for Substream Magazine and host of the Inside Music podcast. You should follow him on Twitter.
The following is the latest in our ongoing content collaboration series with SonicBids. Enjoy!
With 500 million active users, Instagram is a great visual social media platform to build your online community. Instagram allows you to give your fans a peek into your world through your photos and videos. While funny memes, quotes, and viral videos may get attention, building a community of fans for you and your music requires the right strategies. Here are six tips to grow your fanbase on Instagram.
1. Tell your story
Think of your Instagram feed as your personal online magazine. Use your photos and videos to visually tell your story. Pick main content themes that show who you are as an artist, and build a consistent feed. Some example of content themes are performing, recording, your musical interests, fashion/style, and religion/spirituality.
2. Decide on the overall look of your photos
When someone visits your profile, your first nine photos should have a consistent look. Decide if you want your Instagram feed to feature photos with an array of bold, eye-catching colors or if you want your photos to have a more minimalist, monochromatic look. You also need decide to whether you want your photos to have cool undertones or warm undertones.
Use a photo-editing app like VSCOCam to edit your photos to match your theme.
3. Post consistently
Along with having a consistent theme, you also need to be consistent in your posting. Consistency is key in building your followers over time. Sporadic posting could actually cause you to lose followers.
Post to your page one to three times a day to build your following. Create some of your posts and schedule them ahead of time with apps such as Hootsuite and Later to stay on top of your social game.
4. Use the right hashtags
Think of hashtags that both represent your brand and what your fans are searching for on Instagram. Use an analytics tool such as Iconosquare to see which hashtags are popular among your fans. Switch out your hashtags every few months to keep them fresh and correlate with your fans’ interests.
5. Spark engagement
You have to give in order to receive likes and comments on your Instagram content. Ask your followers questions, and post call-to-action photos to engage them. Like other peeple’s photos, and leave genuine comments on their content. Commit to engaging with a specific number of people per week to grow your following.
6. Post at the right times
In order to receive the most engagement, you must post your content at the right times. Post your content morning, afternoon, and evening to reach your fans in different time zones. Use Iconosquareto analyze when your followers are online. Study your followers’ behavior for at least a month and make adjustments to your posting times based on your findings.
Lauren Gill is the founder and chief power specialist at Power Publicity, a marketing, branding, and public relations firm that empowers entertainment, nonprofit, and lifestyle brands. She has executed several successful marketing and PR campaigns for major and indie recording artists. You can follow her on Twitter @IamLaurenGill and @_powerpublicity.
In my decade of experience in music writing I have found that contributors, especially those working for little to no money, are incredibly flexible as business professionals. The way people are able to find the energy to create brilliant observations before or after committing their time to a job or other interests that often provide much more fruitful returns is something that has never ceased to amaze me. Your favorite writer has probably been one of these people at one or more point in their life, scraping together whatever they can from the volumes of work they create in hopes of one day finding regular pay that is good enough to support themselves (or, for the real dreamers, a family). I know I’ve been there my fair share of times, and I am almost certain I will find myself there again before my time in this business has come to an end.
While it is true most contributors are able to put up with a lot when it comes to developing their careers in this business, the one thing no one has time for are false promises of payment that never result in writers actually being paid. This goes for everyone in writing, by the way, and not just those who have only recently begun their journey in music. Publications of all sizes have been called out online by frustrated writers looking to be given the compensation they were promised for words already written, but despite a consistent outcry from writers everywhere the amount of hurdles that often need to be left over in order to actually see the money owed to a writer can be substantial.
And make no mistake: Writers understand that finding money to pay for creative writing is harder and harder to come by in the modern age. Social media and the splintering of consumer behavior in regards to new consumption in the digital age has created hundreds of niche audiences that are served by a wide variety of sites and blogs who are all competitions for the same shares of an often quite small market. The only publications able to make real money are those who are able to cultivate a community around their content offerings, and even then convincing a major brand to advertise takes business skills few in the world of music journalism possess. Still, we (contributors) need to be paid.
When you promise to pay a writer, or even better sign a contract guaranteeing payment, it is your responsibility to make good on that deal. Not when it’s convenient. Not after they have asked for it for weeks or months on end with little to no response. You need to pay them when you agreed to pay them, and if some reason that is beyond your means you need to be open with them about this fact. You may have other bills and costs piling up, but a deal is a deal. You need contributors as much, if not more, than they need you, and rest assured they will be vocal about any wrong doing on your part. There may be thousands of aspiring writers in the world, but only a couple hundred are doing it in any real capacity, the cream of the crop – the ones who really matter and maintain some semblance of influence in a time where ‘everyone’ has been given a voice online – only work for the places that make good on promises. They not only talk to one another, but they have an audience of writers at every level following their every thought on Twitter.
It’s simple: You are trying to build something – a site, zine, magazine, etc. – and you are looking to others to help you accomplish that goal. Bringing on writers is no different than hiring on a construction crew. Both work when the money is good, and they stop when it’s not. Make good on your agreements and everything will be fine.
In March of 2017 I will celebrate a decade of music writing. I will also be just 8 months from my 30th birthday. In all that time I have written literally thousands of articles related to artists from all over the world and the art they have felt compelled to share. I’m sure when the time comes I will reflect on the highs and lows of it all, but right now all I can consider is just how many promising artists I have engaged with and where their careers ultimately went. Some became huge stars, but the vast majority ended up in obscurity. Still, I wouldn’t change a minute of time spent writing because every post was tied to a story and relationship that I have felt lucky to have in my life.
I say this because music promotion in the digital age is just as much about building relationships as it is knowing how to sell yourself. There are more artists and more music blogs than ever before, but there are still roughly the same amount of people walking the Earth who are passionate about discovering new music To get in front of them, especially in a meaningful way, you need to stand out from an untold number of competitors who are all vying for the same amount of digital space you are, and you have no way of knowing what they bring to the table.
There is nothing I can write that will give you a guaranteed path to recognition, but having worked in both journalism and publicity I have learned a few tricks that, over time, will allow you to get your music in front of the people who need to hear it. This is not an overnight recipe for success. In fact, it’s going to take some time to do what I have laid out below correctly. If you work hard at it though, the rewards will be huge.
READ THE WEBSITES YOU WANT TO BE FEATURED ON. FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH WHAT THEY COVER
Few things frustrate music writers more than being bombarded by artists who clearly know nothing of their work of their site. While practically everyone claims to be open to any and all music as long as it’s good most websites have a very specific focus for their editorial coverage. You need to make sure you fit in with the site’s focus before you can even consider asking to be included in upcoming features. This may sound like common sense, but trust me – it’s not.
BECOME A PART OF THE CONVERSATION BEFORE YOU TRY TO MAKE THE CONVERSATION ABOUT YOURSELF
A lot of sites are doing away with their comment sections right now, but most sites still rely on social media to spread the word about their latest posts. After you find a site you believe would work well with your music you should set your sights on becoming a part of that site’s digital community. Retweet posts that interest you, ‘Like’ stories on Facebook, and whenever possible go out of your way to tell a specific writer or group of writers that you enjoy their work. You would be shocked to learn how few people ever receive compliments for their writing, especially in the world of music discovery. Your ticket to frequent coverage could be as simple as telling the person you want to write about you that you enjoy the writing they’ve done. Don’t be suck-up, though. Be honest. “Real recognize real,” as they say.
THE BEST TIME TO MAKE FIRST CONTACT REGARDING YOUR UPCOMING RELEASE IS AFTER THE WRITER KNOWS WHO YOU ARE
This may seem a little backwards to some of you. After all, how can someone know you if you haven’t reached out yet? That is exactly why the two previous tips exist. Between your engagement with the writer’s work, as well as your normal self-promotion online, it should not take too long for a writer to take notice of who you are. If you start swapping tweets one day, or perhaps they like something you tweet about their site, then consider yourself in. Success in this industry is built atop the relationships you make.
FOLLOW-UP, BUT DON’T OVERDO IT
With the amount of artists in competition for coverage right now it’s easy to understand why most bloggers are unable to reply to all their emails. For this reason, never take a lack of a immediate reply as a sign your art is somehow bad, unacceptable, or not that interesting. The truth of the matter is more likely a lack of time on the writer’s part than anything concerning you directly. After a few days have passed, email again. Don’t be forceful, but do revisit the points you made in your initial email. If a few more days pass and you still haven’t heard anything, send one final email. If you still hear nothing it’s probably time to try another site/writer. The writer may come around in time or they may not, but at least you put forth your best effort.
HARD SELLS NEVER WORK.
Good music sells itself. It seems oversimplified, but it’s true. Good music, like all good art, can speak for itself. All you need to be worried about is making sure people have the right information regarding your art, including where to buy it, where to stream it, and where to hear it live. If you feel like a salesperson when writing a journalist it is safe to assume your message will read like a sales pitch. Believe that you music is good enough to sell itself and the rest will fall into place (as long as you follow the other tips in this feature).
If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.
If there was ever a perfect time for a band to make an impression on me it had to be the summer when Yellowcard’s now timeless pop-punk anthem “Ocean Avenue” was first released. I had heard rumblings about the band in the then loosely populated alternative music forums I frequented online, but as a citizen of a rural farming community in a time before social media there wasn’t much in terms of hype on the streets. Heck, there were barely even cars on the streets, let alone buzz about a new film or artist. That’s just not how life worked where I came from, but as soon as I heard those opening chords I knew something special had been created. What I didn’t know, and what I still struggle to define all these years later, is how obsessing over those chords and the people who created them would change my life.
When “Ocean Avenue” first made its way into the new music arena there was not a soul in my hometown who knew it existed. Everyone I knew only listened to what was big at radio, and until “Ocean Avenue” was playing on every Top 40 station within reach (3-4 total depending on the weather) the name Yellowcard meant nothing to anyone in a ten mile radius of my parents’ house except me. Even then, I didn’t really know what Yellowcard meant, or what they would go on to mean for me in the years to come. All I knew was that “Ocean Avenue” was (and is) incredibly catchy, and that was more than enough to convince me to convince my parents they should buy me a copy of the record.
“Ocean Avenue” wasn’t even the best song on the album of the same name from which it hails. In fact, I would argue it’s the third, fourth, or maybe even fifth best song on that record. Still, it’s the song that made people, including myself, give a damn about Yellowcard, and that is more than enough to earn the track a place in the pop-punk hall of fame. It could be argued the band never again had a song as successful as “Ocean Avenue,” but to say they never wrote another song as good as “Ocean Avenue” would be an outright lie. Every Yellowcard album has songs that are better than “Ocean Avenue,” and some of those songs were even released as singles with proper videos and promotional campaigns. Mainstream audiences may not have embraced those songs as much as the band’s first hit, but that is hardly an experience limited to the members of Yellowcard. The same thing could be said about Blink-182 after “What’s My Age Again” or Sum 41 after “Fat Lip.”
The truth of the matter is the nothing beats the feeling of young love, and that idea applies as much to the art we encounter as it does the people we meet. Your first kiss is more memorable than you hundredth kiss primarily because it was the first, just like your love for a band is typically strongest after you first fall for a particular song or album than it is when you’re still listening to the same group two or six albums later. The trick for artists is to remember that every song and/or album may be someone’s first encounter with their art, and because of this every new creation could be the thing that defines your artistic output for that person moving forward. You can play the hits that gave you a platform to reach people for as long as you’re able to perform, but in order to progress you have to continue creating new experiences for people to encounter whenever they discover your music.
And really, that is exactly what Yellowcard did. In the years and albums that followed “Ocean Avenue” the band progressed in ways both thrilling and unpredictable. They experimented harder and softer sounds, wrote songs about growing older as well as clinging to the whatever fleeting feeling of youth may be left, and they always made sure to leave their all on stage. Fans came and fans went, but the band made sure to stay true to themselves in every move they made. They never attempted to repeat what they did on their breakout, but they also were now shy about recognizing how that material had enabled them to be more active in the world of music. The band always knew they were lucky to have had a moment like the one “Ocean Avenue” provided, and unlike many before (and after) them they did not fall into the trap of believing such moments were going to happen again and again throughout their careers. They hoped they would, sure, but deep down they knew the likelihood of having a hit as big as “Ocean Avenue” was as rare as being eaten by a shark while simultaneously being struck by lightning.
When I learned of Yellowcard’s plans to breakup earlier this year there was a part of me that felt as if I understood the reasoning for the group’s exit even before reading their open letter to fans. After twenty years it’s easy to understand why anyone in any career would feel as if they had explored all the possibilities that interested them and said all they had to say. Retirement on one’s own terms is kind of a beautiful thing. It says to the fans that the artistic expression they once admired has been conveyed in full, and that the artist realizes any future contributions may not live up to the high standards they themselves set through previous works. It’s as admirable an exit as anyone in entertainment can make, and it’s one that probably should happen more often than it does.
Having now heard the band’s final album, which <em>I think</em> I am able to discuss now, I have to say that Yellowcard have once again left everything they have on the recording. Anyone saddened by the loss of the band will have this collection of material to comfort them, and those who may have been happy about the group’s exit may find themselves catching feelings of regret should they ever encounter the material that fills this recording. There is an element of honesty to everything Yellowcard does that speaks to the truth they have experienced in their long and undeniably unique adventure through the world of music, and anything listeners may have felt went unsaid in the past is laid bare on this album. This is the kind of final bow we all hope to make when our time in our current fields comes to a close, and I, for one, am happy Yellowcard put in the work needed to make sure it was just right.
This week, I want to urge you to spend time with Yellowcard’s discography. Whether you’re a diehard fan or someone who only knows the hits, dig into each record and lose yourself in the band’s own journey through life. Experience their highs and lows right alongside them and then, when Friday rolls around, set aside time to enjoy their final recordings in full. Pay attention to their attention to detail, and use the feelings of joy their music gives to begin plotting your next creative endeavor. As far as I am concerned, hearing what this incredible band has to say on an album they know is their last is the best motivation you’re going to find this week. If you can top it, please let me know.
James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Manager for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records (RIP). Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.
The following post is a guest editorial from Ian Baldwin of See & Hear Design. Ian is one of our absolutely favorite designers and an all-round good guy with deeply rooted ties to the music business. Heed his advice.
You Have To Check-In and Post Weekly
It is easy to be missed or ignored on social media news feeds. The question is: how can a band or solo artist in 2016 not get lost in a world of noise? In this article, you will find some suggestions that have worked for me and my bands in the past.
For the best results, I recommend you show up at all of these places constantly. Having a weekly output of content or interaction with fans is the best way to stay at the front of people’s minds. We all run on weekly schedules — weekly meetings, meet ups, classes, coffee dates, rehearsals, tv shows, sporting events, etc.
The same goes for our behavior online. We show up to see what is going on over on Facebook. We check Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Most of us check our email at least once a week. We check the news on our favorite websites. We listen to podcasts. There are many more that I could list, but let’s get to the good and profitable stuff.
One thing I did need to mention is you will connect with your fans the most during your live performances. This is where you and your fans are the most vulnerable and will connect on a more personal level. Use what resources you have online to maximum your reach and attract people to your shows. Entertain them and give them something to talk about the next day.
Here are 5 places that you can find and connect with other musicians and music fans on a deeper level. These are in no particular order — just the order I thought of them.
1. Chorus.fm
Chorus.fm is everything you loved about Absolute Punk but much, much better. You can check up on the latest news on the homepage of the website and leave your thoughts on the forums side of the site. Jason Tate has cultivated a growing community (15,359 members) of passionate music fans who not only love talking about music but many other things as well (sports, entertainment, politics, technology, and more).
You can post about your band in a thread that you start yourself as well as post anything new you have released in the Self-Promotion Thread. It’s a great place to interact and make new friends that could turn into some of your most loyal fans. In my use of this site, I noticed that a lot of musicians are a part of the site and stay pretty active.
You can find me mostly in the Graphic Design Thread that I started and theSelf-Promotion Thread. My profile on Chorus can be found here. I plan on being more active on Chorus once I transition into a part-time day job.
2. Facebook Groups
I’m sure that if you are on Facebook you are a part of a Facebook Group. The nice thing about Facebook Groups is that your groups can be open or closed. You could have a private group just for your band to help keep everyone on the same page. On the flip side, having an open group for your fans to talk to and interact with you helps you stay more connected and in the know about what your band is up to.
Notifications from a group go right to a person’snotifications so they won’t miss a single thing you post within the group.
This is one way to beat the Facebook algorithm we have all come to loathe so much. Ask your fans to like and share anything important you post on your band’s Facebook wall to help spread your message. Doing this will also let their friends and family know about your band.
One other bonus to having a Facebook Group for your band is that all of your fans can connect and talk to each other about you and why they love your band so much. How cool is that?! Get creative about how you involve your fans in what you are working on.
3. Contests
Alright, so contests aren’t really a place. But you could have a contest online that will help more potential fans discover you — and the prize for that contest could be two tickets to your upcoming concert with that well-known headliner you are playing with! Just an idea. I won’t charge you for that one. 😉
I’m sure many of you have ran contests before but I wanted to remind you that they still work. Here are some ideas.
You could have your current fans submit fan art and you vote on which you think is the best.
Give your fans the stems to a single you put out and have them create a remix.
Partner with your local venues, restaurants, coffee shops or brands and see if they can throw in anything as a prize. (What business doesn’t love some inexpensive marketing where they have to do little to no work?!)
Cross promotion works and you’ll be surprised by how many brands are willing to work with a band if your music fits in with their marketing or customers lives. You just need to ask — the worst they can say is no.
4. Email Newsletters
So you are probably thinking this right now, “Ian, email is ancient. Why would anyone read or subscribe to a newsletter from my band?” Well, I have news for you: Everyone still uses email and it is one of the best ways to stay connected with your fans. Sites like Bandcamp and NoiseTrade can help you start building your email list to stay in touch with your fans. The trade off is when that new fan gives you their email and zip code you give them something in return — normally a free song.
Having a person’s email and zip code does two things for you.
You can email that person the band has a new release or tour announcement.
You have their zip code so you know if you have a 50 or more fans within the same are that it might be worth taking a trip to their city and playing a gig. (You have proof that you can show the venue that X number of people liked your music enough to download it and give you their email.)
That isn’t guaranteed attendance to a concert but it is data worth having to make calculated risk on where to play out of town shows. Plus you could take a poll on your new Facebook Group to see how many people would be interested in coming out to a show if you came to their city.
Once you have all of your emails, you can import them into MailChimp and send your fans weekly newsletters just like I am doing with you. MailChimpis free for up to 2,000 subscribers. It is what I use to send my newsletter to you every week.
5. Podcasts
I talked about podcasts in a previous newsletter and blog post. They are so great because a podcast makes you feel like you are in the room with that person or group and are part of the conversation. You can refer to your fans as the audience and give them the inside scoop about what is going on with the band. Hawthorne Heights is currently doing this and it working out very well for them. They talk about current events, tour stories, upcoming shows, answer fan questions and much more. I personally love hearing about the behind the scenes of how my favorite bands operate and I’m sure many others do as well.
On top of having your own podcast you could ask to be a guest on an already established podcast and share your story or discuss a topic you find interesting. Here are some podcasts that I would recommend reaching out to be a guest. Don’t forget to do your research and listen to one or two episodes and make yourself familiar with the style of each podcast. The hosts will thank you for it!
Just tell them a bit about your band and what you would like to talk about. This would be good to do around the time of an upcoming release or tour so that their audience has time to check out what you are plugging.
Remember the worst anyone can say is no. If that happens, just move on and ask someone else.
Podcasting is huge now and you can definitely find someone to have you on their show. I recommend listening to The Podcast Dude to learn how to be a guest on a podcast or start your own — if that is something you decide to do. I personally use a Blue Microphones Snowball USB Microphone whenever I am on a podcast and it works great. I’m not a podcasting expert, thoughAaron Dowd is and if you reach to him on Twitter to ask a question about podcasting, tell him I sent you his way.
LAUNCH Music Conference 2017
This isn’t connecting with bands or fans online but it is something much better — a conference. I went to LAUNCH last year and had a blast! No pun intended. Meeting people face-to-face is the best way to connect and let people know what you are about. My mission at LAUNCH last year was to meet new people in the music industry, discover new bands, and just be a part of the community at the conference.
Of course, I printed business cards and promoted Hear&See, but that was just a bonus. I would ask the person I was talking to what they were doing at the conference first and what they were trying to get out of it. I made a lot of new friends and finally met some people I had been following on Twitter for a few years. You know who you are!
If you’re in a band you can register to play a LAUNCH right now. The conference is April 13th-16th, 2017. This is something that can enhance your career and expand your network. The more people that know about you and your band the better. Even if they aren’t buying your music, booking a show for you, or signing you to a label; them knowing you just adds to your reach and you being ubiquitous (seeming to be seen or talked about everywhere). I plan on going again in 2017 and I hope to see some of you there. 😃
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If you enjoyed reading this and want to talk about music, growing your fanbase or want to hire Ian to work on a project you can email, or reach out to him on Twitter or Instagram.
If you’re anything like me, you probably started the day by recognizing that the start of a new work week had indeed arrived and then immediately began shaking your fists at the sky in anger. Monday is rarely anyone’s favorite day, and from what I have seen firsthand it feels safe to say it’s the one day of the week some people outright hate. I guess to them the arrival of the work week symbolizes the end of their quote/unquote freedom, and as a result they head into the office/factory/restaurant/store with a negative outlook already on their mind. This leads to bad attitudes, which only makes the experience of being at work worse, and for some reason it also seems to make time slow to a crawl. We’re not about that life, and we hope this post can do the same you that the song contained within it did for us.
Steinbeck’s The Catcher in the Rye is a timeless piece of American literature that has no doubt influenced generations of people. To this day there are schools all over the country assigning students to read the story of Holden Caufield, and in places where it is not considered required reading it is still being discovered by people searching for something that understands feelings of teenage angst and alienation. It would be easy for most to spend hours debating the best passages from the book, but as I was listening to Tidal Wave, the latest album from Long Island based rock band Taking Back Sunday, one quote in particular came to mind:
“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
Thinking back to the band’s landmark debut album, Tell All Your Friends, it’s hard to believe how far Taking Back Sunday have come. That record, which was lyrically born from heartache, angst, alienation, and the feeling of never being quite good enough, introduced Taking Back Sunday to the world as a group of passionate young men unsure of their place in the world. The use of violent imagery and brash honesty helped to emphasize their willingness to do anything in their power to find somewhere they could call home, despite the fact they seemingly had no idea what such a place would look like.
I was fourteen when Tell All Your Friends was released, and like countless youth across the globe I found myself feeling a connection to the band’s longing for peace and stability in this often turbulent world. I did not completely grasp all the stories of heartache or how they had unfolded, but I (thought I) knew the feeling of being brokenhearted enough to appreciate the sentiment of their lyricism. So much so, in fact, that I could often by found scribbling my favorite over-emotional lyrics onto notebook covers during class or referencing various song titles with a customized screen name on the once popular social networking site known as MySpace. For myself and others like me there had never been enough band that had so completely and uniquely captured the feeling of youthful discomfort as Taking Back Sunday, and as a result we became devoted followers of their message who would flock to shows far and wide to sing-a-long with our newfound heroes.
Time passed, and with each new album Taking Back Sunday continued to evolve without fully abandoning the concepts and sound that initially launched their career. The band documented new struggles with the same one of a kind perspective that had helped set their adolescent problems apart, but the wildfire of hype for each new creation was nothing like the first wave of praise the band had received. Some would claim Taking Back Sunday had a problem developing their sound in a way that was continually interesting, while others felt the decision to focus on problems beyond angst and bad relationships caused the band to lose some intangible edge. I never agreed with these critiques myself, but I did feel the band struggled to maintain the forward momentum of their first two records as the third, fourth, and fifth were shared with the world.
Then came Tidal Wave, which I was fortunate enough to hear for the first time about a month ago. It only took about three songs off the new record for me to realize that Taking Back Sunday had finally reached whatever creative pinnacle they had been striving towards since the release of ‘Tell All Your Friends.’ The boys who were willing to die as long as they could first prove themselves as gentleman have grown into the men who have willingly sacrificed their freedom for a life spent connecting with people all over the globe through their art. What they were once willing to die for has become the reason they continue living, and everyone – from the band to their fans – is better off as a result.
The thing no one ever tells you about growing up is how the loss of naivety through experience will impact the way you view every aspect of your life. The big things that once felt so important often take a backseat to simpler concepts like family and self-acceptance when one finally has a clear grasp of the finality of death. Whether realized through your own skirmishes or the struggles of those around you, most people do not fully appreciate the futility of life until they’ve felt the loss of one. Even then, finding how to push forward when you know full well you too will one day expire takes an immeasurable amount of strength that billions around the globe struggle to find on a daily basis. It’s a tough truth, but one that must be accepted in order to move forward, and you must move forward. If not, you are as good as dead.
This, and other ideas related to the constant passing of time and our inability to stop or slow it are what makes Tidal Wave something truly spectacular. Taking Back Sunday has created an album that can and will stand alongside Tom Petty’s Wildflowers and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA as albums that perfectly capture the relentless enthusiasm of the human spirit. It’s the realization of what the group has been working toward for the better part of two decades, and it marks an ever-so-slight pivot in sound that should help the band to engage a larger share of the modern rock audience than their previous albums.
I believe Tidal Wave is the album Taking Back Sunday was put on this Earth to make, and hearing it gives me the strength to keep working towards my own goals. I might not know where I am headed, but I know I am doing what my soul tells me I need to be doing, and that’s good enough for now.
James Shotwell is the Digital Marketing Manager for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records (RIP). Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.
As much as you may like to believe your career in music is infallible, or that you have a gift for songwriting no one will be able to deny, I can guarantee you there will always be days when your best efforts come up short. Failure is an unavoidable byproduct of any creative endeavor, and regardless of what level of fame you reach in this business there will always bad days. The point of continuing to create is not to work towards perfection, but to take into consideration everything that has happened, both good and bad, and apply it to whatever comes next. Art, like life, is a constant progression, and the best you can do is learn how to frame each failure as something other that is ultimately beneficial to your career.
The number of ways you can screw up in music are numerous, and they range from writing a bad single, to performing in a such way that disappoints your fans. We cannot begin to breakdown every single instance of failure and how it can be viewed as a positive, but we can offer tips to help you deal with any instance where things do not go as planned. The advice that follows may seem fairly basic to some, but if applied to your next misstep we guarantee growth will occur. It might not be easy, but it will be beneficial to your creativity in the long run, and at the end of the day that is what matters most.
Start with the truth. Accept the situation for what it is, and be prepared to face it head-on.
Everyone has heard that line about how the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and the reason we’ve all heard it is because it’s absolutely true. You might have written the best song you believe yourself possible of creating, but for one reason or another it might not connect with listeners. Likewise, you may give what you feel is the performance of a lifetime, only to look at Twitter after the gig and read tweet after tweet complaining about the sound. In times like this it’s incredibly easy to take a defensive stance, but to do so would be an error. Accept that not everyone will experience things the way you do and try to see things from the outsider’s perspective. Be humbled by the fact you received any response at all, as most never do, and ask yourself how you could improve or change what you’re doing in the future.
The key to this step is honesty. It’s okay to say you love something that your fans do no, but do not blame them for not feeling the same. Art is subjective, but if you listen to your audience you should be able to find a way to do what you want while still playing to their demands. You don’t have to, of course, but most great artists find a way to compromise that satisfies everyone.
Look for the positive, no matter how small it may be.
Let’s say your new album was expected to sell ten thousand copies its first week and only sold fifteen-hundred. That disappointment would be quite a sting, especially from a financial standpoint, but considering the fact less than 1% of all the albums released in any given year sell more than a thousand copies you’re still among the most popular musicians in the world. You may not have ten thousand people clamoring to purchase your new album, but fifteen-hundred consumers is certainly nothing to scoff at. There are towns and villages all over the world that have populations far below fifteen-hundred people, and even less people outside those communities know they exist. You may not be where you want to be, but you are farther along than most, and that is something you should never take for granted.
The point is, there is also an upside. Your new demo may have gone over worse than Jar Jar Binks, but at least by sharing it with fans you learned something new about what they expect from you and what they hope to hear from future material. This knowledge can and should inform future recordings which, in theory, will be received better than whatever came before.
Do not be afraid to take time away from the internet
We are convinced there are at least two negative comments for every positive one on pretty much every song, video, or think piece posted online. People are far quicker to complain than they are to compliment, especially in a public forum, which is why you should consider taking time away from the constant barrage of commentary social media provides when things take a turn for the worse. If you know the incoming messages are going to be riddled with negativity there is no reason to wallow in the hurt feelings such commentary can cause. Absorb enough to understand why people are upset, then step away and take time to reflect on how you can improve your efforts in the future. You do not need the internet to do this, and in our opinion you shouldn’t use it. Stay offline until you have something new to share, and if that doesn’t go over then feel free to take more time away. In fact, take as much time as you need. The internet will still be here when you return.
Whatever you do, keep creating
No matter how you initially react to failure you cannot let the ensuing negativity defeat you. Keep creating, always, and do not stop until you decide you are finished. There will always be someone in the world who thinks you are not good enough, but you cannot let the opinions of a select few stop you from expressing yourself through art. Creativity is a gift that is all too rare in this world, and it should be expressed at every opportunity. Don’t let the haters win.
