Promotion Resources

This section contains a combination of tried-and-true promotional strategies that many acts have already heard about and employ, as well as some newer, less conventional promotional strategies that have also been proven effective by today's most successful acts. Although many acts have already mastered the tried-and-true promotion basics covered below, unfortunately many more have not. The good news is, regardless of where your act is right now in terms of promotion success, there is always an opportunity to improve and build on your existing efforts. It is our hope that you find the information below useful in this regard.

Networking

This probably sounds like a no-brainer (or at least it should), but when you're first starting out, no matter how good your music is, or how electrifying your performance, you arn't going to have an enormous number of fans. Even after you have acquired an initial sphere of fans, but have yet to 'make it big,' most of your fans will be 'first-tier' - that is, your immediate family and friends. The solution to growing your fanbase beyond the first-tier lies in many factors, but perhaps none is more important than networking. Yes, having a fantastic sound, rockin' performance, and a sexy website helps a lot, but without employing basic networking strategies your fanbase will not grow nearly as fast as it could.

By networking we mean three general things: initiating, strengthening and maintaining personal connections with potential and existing fans. Initiating connections with potential fans entails everything you do to make that first impression - to get a potential fan interested in your act for the first time, and on the path to being an actual fan. Strengthening your connections is the next component of networking, and entails, obviously, building stronger relationships with existing fans so that they are more tuned in to what your act is doing, and more likely to spread the word about this awesome band they know. Maintaining personal connections after they are made is very similar to, and in many ways overlaps with, strengthening personal connections. However, maintaining connections with your fans differs slightly in that it's all about keeping the fans you already have, as opposed to helping them to become more dedicated. Yes these two concepts overlap a bit, but in the strategies section below you'll see what we mean.

 Strategies for Initiating Connections with Potential Fans

1) Performing at well-attended gigs with multiple acts in your musical genre: again a borderline no-brainer. But why is this so important? And how can an act that's just starting out play shows like these? Well, the critical element is not just playing as many shows as possible in front of anyone who will listen, but playing shows in front of the right audience. That means audiences that enjoy the general genre of music that you create. For example, it's probably not the best idea to play your house/trance set at a coffee shop on open mic night, even if there are a lot of people there. Nor is it a good idea to lay down your rap set at a heavy metal showcase.