Recording - November 2013 - 32

getting your music out there, particularly to markets such as college radio,
if they have the right contacts. This simply requires a good amount of research
on your part. Press and radio inclusion is
an important part of your release, if for
no other reason to get feedback and
reviews from respected people and publications.
I recently had a meeting with a lady from
a management company in Europe. She wanted to see us play,
but since that wasn’t an option at the time, she asked me to send
her some live footage and press reviews. This is not uncommon.
If you get a thumbs-up from someone in the industry, others in
the industry will be more willing to answer your emails and
potentially work with you.
This flows into another aspect of your release: online presence. Artists must be able to connect with their fans and
prospective fans digitally. Get your Facebook page going, and
post to it frequently. Build a website that doesn’t look like you
did it in class. Get Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, Tumblr—go to
where your fans are, and interact
with them. It really is that simple.
This is where the business of
marketing becomes a creative outlet—the fun side comes with how
you connect with the fans and the
prospective fans, and how you
present
yourself
to
them.
Marketing gurus will tell you that
content is king, but it’s impossible
to predict what exactly will rule
your release, your niche, your
fans. For my band, I find that
images from live shows and
“behind-the-scenes” with good
descriptions perform the best.
When I share a meme, an article,
an upcoming show without an
image, the response is not as
good. So, I’ve started attaching
important messages to images
taken of the band. I post greetings
and musings to those images as
well, sometimes adding a link
beneath the picture.
Oh, and it should be obvious,
but: Facebook has analytics for
every page. Go there, research,
investigate.
Now, this is a lot of trial and error, but it can be a lot of fun
and, eventually, very rewarding. Get to know your fans and let
them get to know you. Ask questions, post inside info, get their
opinion on things.
As for how you present yourself, your image, your brand...
well, that is an article unto itself. However, the basic gist of it is
figuring out where your music fits in the spectrum of genres and
who you can see being “your fan.” The first part isn’t that difficult, and you probably already know, but the second part can
be tricky.
For example, my band is a female-fronted hard rock band
with a political message. Our bio includes comparisons to other
hard rock bands so as to give fans of those bands an in, something to work off of when they hit Play. We market ourselves
heavily on the two key points of being female-fronted and having a political message.
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RECORDING November 2013

Why? Because “a hard rock band”
isn’t interesting, it isn’t unique. “Femalefronted” is more unusual and has a
defined niche. Political bands are even
more unusual these days and also
have a defined market. It sets us apart.
Not everyone will be your fan, and you want the
ones who will want to really be your fan, to be one of the
1000 “true fans” that music marketing always mentions.
So, figure out what it is that sets you apart and make that your
battle cry, your flag that you raise. It will allow prospective fans
and industry to find you amidst the sea of sameness. And
always, always make yourself easy to find! This last point highlights the importance of being in several digital places at once.
Be in several digital places at once
I recently started working with people at both Spotify and
Soundrop, which is a digital music app available on Spotify (not to
be confused with the fun—but useless for your career—game of the
same name on iOS). I reached out to them because I know the
future of the music industry lies in the shadowy expanses of the digital realm. As an artist, I take issue
with Spotify’s lack of artist payouts,
but instead of sticking my head in
the sand, I approached them.
I brought them ideas “from the
trenches”, so to speak, in order to
build up artist and Spotify interaction and set a clear path to make
Spotify the preferred platform for
artists, fans and industry. I created a
local LA Unsigned hard rock room
in Soundrop, essentially building a
space for hard rock fans to enjoy a
quality-controlled hard rock environment. From there, I have booked
shows with those bands to parallel
the digital realm to real live shows.
I cross-promote and tell everyone
about this, just as I am doing here.
Rooftop Revolutionaries is all over
the internet and never hard to find.
One YouTube video can be watched
on Facebook, our website, Reverb
Nation and of course, YouTube.
Once you have your image, your
brand, your product, plaster it on
every digital space you can find. Be
creative, think outside of the box
inside of the box, so to speak. Align
yourself with other bands, other businesses inside the industry or
genre you’re a part of. Reach out, go out, connect and network.
Get going!
Think of yourself as the artist you want to be, compare the
quality of your work to those more successful, work with those
around you while you connect with those above you.
Be two-faced: the artist and the businessman.
Remember that no one will ever care more about your art than
you. Lead with this mentality and fans and industry will follow.
Happy writing, recording, releasing... and rocking!
Eleanor Goldfield (goldfield@recordingmag.com) is a writer,
tech, studio manager and performing artist currently working in
the Los Angeles area. You can learn more about her current
music project at rooftoprevolutionaries.com.

http://www.rooftoprevolutionaries.com

Recording - November 2013

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