Music Promo Blog: 2006/04

Do you have some music marketing and promotion business news that you think musicians should know about? If so, submit your music promotion news.

Top 13 Music Marketing Articles of March 2006

It is always a good idea to know what people are searching for when they want music marketing and music promotion tips. I decent number of music marketing articles though I've been negligent over the past few months. With any luck that will change.

Why? I plan to mentor bands in the Austin area via the Austin Music Foundation. It is always good to give back to your community. My band does that by playing gigs that benefit non-profit organizations or we put together a compilation CD benefitting Hurricane Katrina victims.

Another way to do it is to share my music marketing and promotion skills with others. So mentoring and of course LOTS of music marketing articles. Here are some of the most-popular:

If you have any music marketing ideas that YOU would like to share with me, drop me a line.

Slainte!

Bard Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000's of musicians save and make money with their musical groups through his monthly newsletter, Bards Crier Music Marketing and Promotion Ezine. Now you can get FREE "how-to" music marketing and promotion advice by visiting www.bardscrier.com. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the Bards Crier Ezine for Free. Just email subscribe@bardscrier.com

--posted by Marc Gunn at Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Free republishing rights are available to all articles written by Marc Gunn. You can find a complete list of such music marketing articles here. You must contact individual authors to get their permission to republish their articles.

My Favorite Music Business Podcasts

Are you listening to podcasts? I love 'em. Not only are they fun to listen to and a great promotional tool (thanks to the Podsafe Music Network), but now they are also a great educational tool.

Here's a couple music business podcasts that I listen to.

Musicians Cooler by Dave Jackson
It's a bit longer than I'd like, but the content is fantastic. So I continue to find myself Making time to listen every week!

Artist Empowerment Radio by Bob Baker
My favorite online music marketer has his own podcast filled with hot and tasty promo ideas in a short sweet show. He also did a feature on me a couple weeks back.

Speaking of Bob Baker, he has a new book out on how to market yourself on Myspace. More about that coming in the future.

I've listened to a couple others, but these are my favorite. If you have a suggestion for a music business podcast, drop me an email and let me know why you like it.

--posted by Marc Gunn at Saturday, April 15, 2006
Free republishing rights are available to all articles written by Marc Gunn. You can find a complete list of such music marketing articles here. You must contact individual authors to get their permission to republish their articles.

Are You Wasting Your Fans' Time?

On Thursday, I went to the Alamo Drafthouse's bi-monthly Movies in the Park series when my phone rang. It was a fellow Celtic musician who moved to Austin a few months ago. She was going to see a band. I was dying to meet her at last and to hear this band she raved about, so I decided to tag along.

In October, she was at the Saxon Pub and saw an amazing singer who was playing to an empty room. She said he was cross between Chris Cornell and Radio Head. When he arrived at Momo's, she immediately pointed out how well he worked the room. He talked to every person who came to see him.

At 11pm, we found out that his actual show time was 12:30am. It was a small inconvenience which turned into a great thing because we got to see The Drawing Board. They put on a stellar show.

At 12:30am, the show started for the band we came to see... sorta. It was a slow start. The singer messed around with his amp settings for ten minutes before they played their first song. The rest of the band waited. Then the band played a song. Afterward, the singer screwed around with the settings some more. We must've waited 5-10 minutes between each the first five songs.

"Is it me? Or does it sound like I have a fuzz box?" he asked?

Ho hum! Do I care? No.

WHEN he played, it sounded decent.

He finally realized he blew a speaker. So he finally relaxed into performing... sorta. His stage banter was boring. The music was mediocre. His song endings were sloppy. My friend said it seemed like he was taking this gig for granted and blowing off the audience. And she was right.

The show ended, and we left with my friend livid. This guy wasted our time. She wanted to see that amazing musician she remembered, someone who was there for us. Instead, we got someone who didn't give a spit for who came to see him. He deserved an empty room.

Most amusing of all was that this guy planned to move to L.A. because he had been in Austin 13 years and gone nowhere. Ye think?!

There will always be problems that arise at gigs. But a professional musician knows how to put on a great show despite these problems.

Elvis Presley once said, "You gotta put on a show to draw a crowd."

There are many ways to put on a great performance. But when you take your fans for granted, and you give them an amateur show, the best you can expect is an amateur fan base.