gilli moon article

the art of self-promotion

When is it too little, when is it not enough?
How to balance plugging your music and band in the current indie music culture.

In this day and age, learning how to promote yourself is integral. When you’re an independent artist the only way to compete with the Majors and commercial artists who have money, power and major music marketing strategies behind them, is to learn the warrior way on the street. Grass roots, street-wise, guerilla type promotional strategies are the only way. You have to be street savvy, creative, quick, and different in order to compete.

  Why guerilla?

If you can’t simply rent a billboard on the Sunset Strip (like, say Jennifer Lopez or Janet Jackson can), or if you can’t rent wall space for your fancy poster at Tower Records, because you just don’t have the cash... and the ability to do it in every city thereby saturating the market, the only way to do it is by taking on a guerilla approach. That means, you will find every way possible to go through the back door, side door, and maybe, just maybe, different doors all together. You need to be a lateral thinker, able to think ‘outside the box’. You need to find other ways to be heard and seen, that maybe don’t require fast and huge amounts of cash or connections. You need to be ready to build your own teams who love you and your music. Street teams are it! Make a strong plan of attack, and then implement, combat style, smiles a blazing.

Take all the time you need

In the Indie world, know that what might take 6 months for a Major to implement, make take 1, 2, even 3 years to fully realize for you…. And that’s ok. ‘Cause guess what? Being an artist is a lifelong journey. You will not run out of time. In my book, “I AM A Professional Artist – The Key To Survival and Success in the World of the Artist”, I write that it doesn’t matter how old you are. I know it’s an incredible statement in this world of entertainment, but consider this: most Major artists these days have a short career span. They may break 1 record, maybe 2, but in this new “singles” world, if the record companies can’t go Gold on the first song, they really don’t have the patience to develop artists. But you have all your life. If you really love what you do, and you have a passion for it, you will be an artist for life. So why fit into a commercial success definition of having to “make it” by 30, or 25, when you can develop your art, put it out there and create all your life, till 100. There is no reason why you have to succeed by a certain age, unless you have created unrealistic expectations AND you are pushing your music to a market that is not tangible for you. Ani DiFranco is no spring chicken, but she has found her audience… actually they found her. She just does her music and guess what, people have found her! Find your own market, your own audience, and they will stick with you for life. Remember, take all the time you need. Don’t rush, don’t get frustrated, and do things on your own terms.

Fine line between self-promotion and the “me, me, me”.

It’s really important to not overdose your fans or the press with your promotions. It can be taken the wrong way. Firstly, if you saturate everyone, no one will read your emails or promotions. Secondly, find a way to promote yourself but also add cool opportunities or interesting stores along the way. Then people won’t turn off if it’s just all about you. I love to read gig news emails if it starts with some funny anecdote about what the artist has been up to or a story they want to tell. It grabs me in. Then, in a subliminal way, I’m also fed great gig and music news.

 It’s hard to be your own promoter, that’s for sure. But if you don’t have someone to do it for you, or you don’t want to use a pseudonym and write in the third person, then go for intimacy. Speak from you, colloquial, and let us into your world. Fans love to know the “real” artist!

 Don’t’ be afraid to self-promote. It’s a new era, and you can do it. Just watch any language you use that might suggests a focus too much on yourself and please veer away from fancy words like ‘outstanding’, ‘the hottest performer ever’, or ‘ the new Madonna of Studio City’. Try not to compare yourself too much and be your own unique being! Being humble is also important. It’s nice to be glorified, but let others glorify you, not you.

Be Unique

I always suggest to artists to find their competitive advantage, which means, what makes them unique. This could be as simple as a costume, or the image used on packaging. It can be as diverse as their voice, their musical style, or even something they do that’s completely different to someone else. When I first came to the States from Australia just being Australian was unique and my competitive advantage. Then, after a while of developing my artistry, I began to paint on stage while performing with my band, a movement I call “SensuArt”. Find your “edge” what makes you unique. Sometimes this is a cool strength about you. I speak more about this in my book.

TIPS: (Just some. There are SO many ideas!)

 Street Promotion 

• Street teams are it! – gather people in cities you will tour, who are fans of yours to help promote you before you come to town. You’ll find that your fans will work twice as hard for you if you give them and their friends some free passes or maybe even CDs.

• Flyer handouts – hand out gig notices and CD release flyers to people on the street, outside other performances. If you play Brazilian music, find a hot Brazilian music concert and flyer away!

• Posters at venues – put up posters at venues you’re going to play at.

• Rallying fans – entice your fans to help you spread the word and offer cool merch, swag and CDs in return. They like to feel special.

The Internet

• Brand yourself – Get yourself known on the Web. Draw people to your website. Use your name in a cool way. Create logos, banners that use your name, with unique fonts, and great pics. Become a commodity and use mystery to your advantage. 

• Your website, your portal – yourartistname.com is the most important portal for you in this new music industry. People should be able to find you, read about you, see what you look like, hear your music and importantly, buy your CDs from your site. Keep it simple, effective and snazzy. Soon, retail stores will be able to download music and skins from your site to sell in stores, and electronically pay you there and then, with no delays, no distributors, and no inventory. Imagine the concept! Make your website work for you financially by learning web tools that help you create revenue for your music. Build it and they will come…

• Making your online calendar work for you – use gigpage.com or yahoogroups.com to design an online calendar that you can insert into your website and upload your gigs from wherever.

• Link exchange – look for sites that would link your website and always offer a link in return.

• e-newsletter – always collect email addresses at gigs (“Sign my mailing list”) and keep your fans up-to-date with a cool newsletter that is filled with info, news and even opportunities and stories for others. Remember to always have an unsubscribe feature. Don’t get anyone angry! Oh, great way to build fans online and maintain your email lists is www.listrocket.com (promo code GM6671)

Live Performances

• Unique promotional flyers – try and create something a little different to what others do. Use interesting fonts, find a cool catch phrase, or design an interesting logo, cartoon or your photo altered to attract attention. Use different paper, textures, colors, sizes.

• Cool new venues and locations – find new spaces to perform, where others aren’t necessarily saturating. Find the right venue for you! Maybe an old funky café, or an art gallery, or warehouse open to the public, or an old theatre.

• Different performances – Consider only doing effective performances that are promoting a particular thing. If you bombard your neighborhood, you might run out of people wanting to see you! Space out your shows or find new regions. Try changing your performance so it’s a little different. Consider different musicians (harp, electric violin, street rapper) to add flavor to your shows. Wear interesting costumes, masks, or a signature hat. Don’t be afraid to go beyond your comfort zone and risk! That’s what Art is all about!

• Stamp your fans – Give them things to remember you buy at shows like a cool stamp on their hand as their venue entry, with your artist name and website.

Merchandise

• Chatchkies and trinkets – find little toys that would be cool giveaways. When I released my CD “temperamental angel” I found little angels to give away in industry and media packets. I threw out soft squeeze balls (those balls that strengthen your hands by squeezing them) from the stage with my website url on them. Fans loved trying to catch them! Because I sometimes paint onstage, I found paintbrush bubble gum. Go figure! I found it!

• T-shirts – best promotion ever. Have your friends wear your t-shirts and make sure your website is on it so they know where to find you. Come up with cool sayings. For example Songsalive! has “I’m Alive” t-shirts and “Songwriters unite in the new music revolution” t-Shirts. Warrior Girl Music has “I am a Warrior Girl” t-shirts and “It’s all about me/we” t-shirts. Sell t-shirts at your gigs, on your site, and take them on tour with you. Big fact, most Major Artists generate equal to if not more revenue from selling merchandise on tour than they do CD sales or even door takings. That’s why so many promoters and record companies want a piece of that pie. Hint: if you make a deal, watch the fine print on merch in the contract!

• Hats, bags and other swag – make whatever you can afford to sell and also to add to the branding of your artistry.

• Stickers – car bumper stickers, window stickers, any shape, any size. Great for giveaways.

• Posters and postcard factories – What does one do when they receive a postcard? It’s very hard to throw it out because it’s not flimsy.. it’s a solid cardboard, usually glossy card. Research shows that most people have to put the postcard somewhere, usually a fridge, on a pin board or sitting up on a desk. Postcards are very effective for album launches, releases, gigs and website promotion. Flyers are great in all shapes and sizes. The glossier they are, the harder it is for people to throw them out.

CDs

• New packaging ideas – gone are the days when we have to put up with jewel cases that break and shrink wrap that just won’t come off. Why not try new digipacks, in cardboard sleeves. Notice that the more creative Major artists are going this route and it’s all for great reasons: cool creative concepts, environmentally friendly, and easier to transport. Retail stores are catching on and learning to know how to file/store them in their bins. Think also about enhanced cds, DVDs, and business card sized cds for demos.

• The CD cover – like your website, the CD cover is the second thing that people see to know you. It’s all about first impressions so really be creative on your CD cover. We want to know who you are but also mystery works. If you’re a painter, try painting a canvas, take a digital photo of it, scan it in and work it up in photoshop. Sometimes I get a Cd that is so plain and boring, with the worst photo representation of the artist, that I don’t want to even look inside. Be creative. You’re an artist! Capture your essence. Write down 20 words that describe who you are, and what you look like. Sketch images, think layouts, learn art programs, and be the graphic designer that’s hidden inside you. Go on, I dare you!

• Giveaways – think about cool ways to give away your promo Cds, like wrapping the CD in a gift voucher, or a fun little bag, or a box. If you can afford it, have extra promos of dance remixes, or the single in flat cardboard sleeves. Send promos to radio stations in your area, or use them as handouts on the street. Give a few to the retail store chicks and guys and they might just put your poster up! Hey you can even just press CDs on the spindle and fly them into the audience at gigs. “Pick me, pick me!”

New distribution strategies

• Unlikely retail outlets – why compete with the Majors who have completely sown up the retail market (or at least taken the largest bites of the apple while we are left with the crumbs?) Find new places to sell your music. How about cool cafes (have a Cd rack for your music), unique bookstores, women’s spas and beauty places, athletic stores, clubs and associations, etc. Don’t be afraid to investigate setting up a direct account with a retailer, just like a distributor would. Be okay with consignments in your area.

• Micro-marketing – Think one region at a time. Don’t try and blanket promote across the country when you don’t have the money nor the advertising visibility. That also goes for radio promotion. Book your gigs in advance, then contact the media, retail stores and your street teams for that region. Slowly build a fan base and move on. Then return to that market.

• Getting on compilations – Some are dicey, a lot are great. If you can’t afford to make your own CD (and that includes releasing it and promoting it – ‘cause that’s where the real bucks go), think about getting on a compilation that at least gets your name and music out there. Songsalive! and Warrior Girl Music both create compilations that are for industry and promotional purposes. Radio samplers are good, and so are some magazine samplers. Check into them first, ask about their success rates, before you pay any money.

Media

• Contacting the media – either use a pseudonym or call them yourself. Don’t be shy. Again, there’s a fine line in talking yourself up, and being a bulldozer. Radio is easier if you know you are touring to that area. Smaller stations love to interview if you’re one of the few acts playing in town that week. Send effective press releases to street press, and don’t over saturate them or they won’t bother printing it. Also, write press releases succinctly and simply. Not too much flour and keep it brief and to the point.
• 
  Be real – It would be nice to have a full story in Rollingstone but remember that they are also trying to sell Ad space and subscriptions. If you are an unknown, be realistic and start with papers that are in your local area, or support indie music. Build your press kit up with favorable reviews and interviews, and then… as you become more well-known, just watch the media come find you!

Final parting words…

If you were to think like a record company, you would know that promotion is just as important as making the music, in so far as revenue. If they don’t know where to buy the CD, they won’t buy it. Being creative in your promotional strategies will allow you to at least set your own playing field in this music industry. The more visibility, the more they remember and can find you. It takes time to build a name, but if you’re persistent, it will work for you in the long run. Patience! It might take a while, but remember… you have all the time in the world.

Think about my little saying: The Three Os

OPTIMISM + ORGANIZED = OPPORTUNITY

ABOUT GILLI MOON’S BOOK –

I AM A Professional Artist

- The Key To Survival And Success in the World of The Arts

by gilli moon

For artists of all genres, this book will certainly change the thinking of any professional artist who may doubt themselves or their art, who may feel pressured by the industry, or may feel the hardship of the roller coaster ride. "I AM a Professional Artist" combines a self-empowering practical guide in surviving and succeeding in the Arts with key business principles and spiritual nourishment. Whether you are a musician, singer/songwriter. actor, screen writer, author, painter, film director, etc., this book is FOR YOU!

Available as a PDF download (ebook) or paperback

http://www.gillimoon.com/thebook

Helpful resources:

Buy gilli moon’s Book and Cds at http://www.warriorgirlmusic.com/store

Info http://www.gillimoon.com/thebook

Songsalive! http://www.songsalive.org – click on Resources. A non-profit organization supporting and promoting songwriters worldwide

Bob Baker’s websites http://www.bob-baker.com – he masterfully combats the notions of guerilla marketing

Warrior Girl Music http://www.warriorgirlmusic.com – click on Consultancy, for one-on-one and group sessions on all indie music services, artist development and coaching.

Paypal.com https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=KY3HM8PSWKMX4 – sell products from your website.

TheOrchard.com http://songsalive.org/theorchard.html - sell your Cds in retail stores, on the web and get paid for digital downloads.

Cdbaby.com and IndieGate.com – http://warriorgirlmusic.com/store/product-musicSongsalive.htm - sell your Cds on the web and waive set up fees

Great books and resources http://warriorgirlmusic.com/store/product-books.htm

Cafepress.com http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/storeref.aspx?refby=gillimoon – create and sell t-shirts, hats, bags, cups and other swag online

Americasprinter.com – http://www.americasprinter.com – an affordable way to get postcards, flyers and posters.

Listrocket.com – great list management online. use promo code GM6671

Indiebible – awesome press/media and reviews resource book www.indiebible.com/sa

Links where this article is posted

Indie Music Central

© 2004 gilli moon