Getting The Most Out Of Your Band Website

If you're an experienced music promoter, you know how powerful a strong web presence can be. For those that aren't experienced at promoting, there are certain elements every band website must have in order to get the most out of every visit. Read on to find out how each of these elements can impact your web presence:

Home Page: This is your main page. You don't want to waste this prime real estate by placing mundane or non interesting items on it. The goal with your home page is to draw the viewer deeper into some of your other pages. This can be done by putting some interesting "hooks" in an attention getting way such as "Party of the century coming your way! Check out our calendar for more information on this event you cannot miss!" You can also place small news clips from your page dedicated to news about your band. Of course, on the news page, you would draw the reader to your event schedule or page where you want them to buy your music. You will also want to place booking information here. Don't just put down an email address and call it good. You need all your information since each viewer is comfortable contacting you in a different way. If you're concerned about your address, get a post office box.

Event Schedule: This should be an organized and updated list of all your shows. Stick to a list format rather than a calendar since you will want to put small "hooks" under each event that allows the reader to think the event is going to be worth attending. Don't forget the location, address, and cover charge.

Band Info: You will want to put a short history of your band and a bio of each one of the members on this page including attractive photos. You can also place testimonials and achievements on this page. Your viewers want to know you've been involved with some surprisingly big shows and have shared the stage with some possibly well known artists. There are also "hooks" you can place here as well, for instance if your guitarist is very good at a certain style of riff, you may want to reference a song download that features that member doing something exceedingly well.

Samples: This page, which could be integrated into your home page, needs to have some or all of your work. You will also need to provide the user a way of downloading each song so you can maximize music sales.

There are also several other pages you could consider adding such as an online store to buy music and merchandise, a contact page for those who just want to inquire about your work or booking, and a photo gallery. As far as band art and other items go, you can integrate this throughout your entire site. Another very important element is having a band blog. This should be updated a minimum of every week to keep readers coming back to your site for entertainment value.

For more helpful tips on the music industry and music knowledge, visit http://www.phoenixarticles.com/. You can also visit http://www.phoenixparkproductions.com/ for additional resources for artists.

Jason Cook, Phoenix Park Productions - Music Promotion, Management, and Booking

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Getting Gigs As a Professional Band

Everyone has dreamed at some point of being in a band. But playing Wembley Stadium to 1000s of screaming fans and travelling around in chauffeur driven limousines unfortunately isn't the reality of your average professional band.

Every successful band is treated as a 'business model'.

The internet is usually the place that every band starts, using social websites such as Facebook, Twitter and most recently, Linked In are increasingly accommodating to bands & Musicians. It is often free for bands to join, upload MP3s, videos, gig dates and biographies. By doing this you are keeping your fans up to date with what your band is up to and reaching a wider audience.

Websites such as Bandcamp have also cropped up in recent years. These sites allow users to design a profile, which they can upload songs and artwork to. In addition to this users are able to keep track of fans email addresses, which can be downloaded to an Excel document, making it easy to send newsletters to your all important fans! To top it all off Bandcamp only takes a small commission from its users sales, meaning it is a cost effective way of getting your music out there. For this reason it has become a bands best friend.

Musician Directory websites are also very popular, although it is often very difficult to be found as potential customers have to sift through a never-ending list of mediocre bands in order to find the diamond in the rough. There are often hundreds of profiles so make sure that you include as much information as possible in order to make your profile stand out from the rest! Adding videos of your band playing is a great start to show people what to expect from a live show (assuming the videos are good quality!). It's also a good idea to get people to write a review of your gig on your profile page. The more great reviews, the more gigs!

Busking isn't something everyone has tried. However, it's undoubtedly a great way of making some money and promoting your talent. Contemporary and function bands have taken to the streets countless times in order to entertain the masses. If you're any good you're bound to be offered a gig somewhere, if not at least you'll make some money!

Another option is to offer yourself as an acoustic act as well as a full band to accommodate everyone's needs. Being a Jack of all trades' isn't a bad thing in music.

Last, but definitely not least are house bands. House bands regularly play in a venue 2-3 times a week and become very popular with the locals usually having a standard repertoire of 20-30 songs. This exposure results in the bands receiving more bookings from their ever-growing audience. The practice doesn't do any harm either!

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Indie Music Publicity - 4 Vital Tips to Getting Your Own Effective Music PR

Ever wonder why it's so difficult to advance your career to the next level? Why some artists are getting media coverage, radio play, digital plays, and gaining Facebook fans, drastically increasing their fan base day by day, and selling records and digital downloads like they're going out of style with the ultimate result being... serious expansion of your fan base, creating awareness for your project, selling CDs and digital downloads, and gaining the attention of the record labels and professional artist management companies?

So What's the Answer? Well it's really a no-brainer...

The Answer Is -- "MUSIC PUBLICITY"!!

Pretty much nothing happens without it - no matter what level of the music business you have obtained. Every artist must have it.

Understanding the "guidelines to publicity in the music business" can be a difficult task for the independent artist. A well connected music publicist or indie music publicist creating a buzz, a story, a history... getting your record reviewed, writing and distributing press releases, and feature articles and interviews will increase your chances of getting noticed. Simplified; a good media relations expert generating the music publicity awareness you need to get noticed among the massive sea of artists all striving for the same end goal. It can be very difficult to do your own independent music PR as a relatively unknown indie artist. This is how the help of an effective music publicist can help. A good indie music publicist, that has built all the relationships for you can greatly expedite the process and increase results if you have the budget and can afford the fees of a music PR professional. If you can't, there are ways to do your own music publicity.

1. Do Your Due Diligence -

Do the necessary online research to uncover the media portals that may be appropriate for you to submit to on your own.

2. Follow The Media Outlets Submission Guidelines -

Make sure to follow their submission guidelines closely. Nothing aggravates a music journalist more than being bombarded with inappropriate submissions.

3. Do Not Follow Up -

Once you have submitted your CD for review, feature, or interview - Be Patient. These portals receive 100's of submissions weekly. It may take months before you are considered. (This is where a veteran music publicist can help - their relationship can supersede the process.) Don't follow up - If the music journalist wants to do the review he or she will let you know.

4. Simplify and Expedite the Process for Faster Results -

Cut down on all that research and media outlet documentation - It can take you months to put together and continually update your music media database. Purchase a comprehensive indie music publicity resource guide (very inexpensive) that has the database already laid out for you and formatted for immediate use. There are a few out there but hands down the most effective DIY Music Publicity resource is the Indie Bible. It is updated monthly and contains the most comprehensive lists of music media outlets that will review your CD and provide radio play.

All and all - getting effective media coverage for your project is not an easy task to do on your own. I recommend if you have any budget at all for music promotion and music marketing that you consider hiring a good indie music publicity company. If they are a reliable PR firm, they will get the job done faster and far more effectively - and ultimately get the results you are looking for.

©2011 Ken Cavalier All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Ken Cavalier is an Indie Music Publicist, Music Marketing Consultant, and founder of Allure Media Entertainment Group, Inc. (New York - Philadelphia) a fast growing music publicity and indie music marketing company. As a former artist, his passion for helping indie musicians realize their career goals has enabled him to launch and manage extremely successful indie music publicity campaigns for hundreds of independent artists over the years. He is a voting member of many distinguished music industry organizations including The National Academy of Recording Arts and Science (™The Grammy Association).

For more details and information on his company and his services visit:
http://www.indiemusicconsultant.com/musicpublicity.html

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The Difficulties of Getting Your Music Noticed Online

Hi Guys,

Today I am going to talk to you about getting your music noticed online. Everyone shares free songs online and I am going to explain why it is so difficult and how you can boost the number of people it reaches.

Over the years we've seen some talented people getting noticed through sharing their music online, through social media platforms, such as, Lily Allen and Sean Kingston. Obviously, both of these acts have gone on to great success with their music being played worldwide. These two artists, clearly talented, were lucky when they were sharing free songs during the early days when there was not so much material being batted about through social media and personal websites.

With so many free songs being shared online from every different genre and every corner of the world, standing out is a much more difficult prospect. Everybody, whether they are current UK number 1 or playing in a local pub with 5 people, including the barmen, are offering free songs for you, me and everyone to listen to. When a market is like this, it becomes saturated, people always want to listen to music, but you need to make sure it's your music that they listen to.

To stand out from the crowd, you need to make your music as accessible as possible. Having your own personal website for your band is great, but the only people that visit it are people who have already heard of you. By restricting yourself to one or two sites you a reducing your exposure, you need to put you material in as many places as possible. There are free social media and free dedicated music sites around the internet that have been created to help you, if they are not costing anything then use them, why not? There is no reason not to. Even if they are new and do not have a massive member list, it makes sense to use it as you are more likely to stand out from the crowd. By placing free songs on more platforms you are not just gaining a wider passing trade, but you are also gaining the regular visitors of the site that you have put your music on.

So get out there and get your music heard by as many ears as possible. Placing it in more places and promoting it with social media sites, such as, Twitter, will only gain you more fans, or at least some great feedback.

Cheers for reading and good luck.

Jack Hillaby
CEO of bustars.com
http://bustars.com/

bustars.com is a brand new creative community for upcoming and unsigned bands, dj's, musicians, artists, singer/songwriters, rappers, photographers and more. We are a platform that allows members to upload their music, pictures and videos so that they can gain feedback and exposure. So, become a bustar and see your music reach a wider audience.

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