Once you have a band, have music, etc how do you go about promoting it? What variables do you think come in to play when you promote your band? Logos, band name, song titles, Facebook/Myspace layouts, contacts, potential management, booking gigs, merchandise, image, etc... I know a lot of bands here do a decent job of promotion, and my little project is at absolute ground one. We're pretty close to having a couple of tracks to put up on a Facespacecloudthing, but that's the extent of it. We don't even have a name yet . So before we hop into existence, are there any steps we can take to assure a safer road? We don't expect to get huge by any means, but it'd be cool to go somewhere as well. That's the thing, we really haven't discussed this at all. But should we worry about logos, website layouts, how aesthetically pleasing/the nature of our band name and how it reflects on us before people hear us, etc?
Don't over-think stuff like the band name as long as it isn't blatantly fucking stupid and you're somewhat content with it yourselves. The music will grow into the name. Don't ask me how, but after a while it usually just starts to feel right. Unless you have a decent visual artist in the band already, it's worth spending a bit of coin to get logos and stuff made by someone. This becomes much easier once you have some recorded music to show them, and more so if you already have an idea of the kind of image you'd like to portray visually as a band. This is something worth discussing beforehand over a few beers.
Make sure its really easy for people to find your music, get root music for your facebook page and link it to your soundcloud when you've uploaded your songs. Then set it so the root music app is the main page people see when they first go to your facebook page. That makes it really quick and easy for people to check your stuff and also links facebook to your soundcloud stats. Once you have a release fucking bandcamp that shit so people have a place to download it or donate, it links to your paypal account. Its fucking boss Apart from that you don't really need anything else, myspace is practically extinct now the only other place is youtube to help promote play through videos, general bollox and free nude videos.
Facebook, bandcamp, reverbnation. Get shit on all of those. Have some sort of logo or at least visual association with the band & the music. Could be as simple as a band photo, make it legit. When you have shit you need to start getting shows. It's highly unlikely anyone will give two shits about your music if they don't hear you live unless the material you're putting out is already extremely crisp and relevant to some niche metal subgenre that people actively seek out. If your recordings sound like dick it's even more important that you try to gain a fanbase live, because if someone is listening to a bad recording they will most likely not give it a chance. All the metalfaggots here like Shattered Skies/Dan's band who produce their own shit do fine because it actually sounds good and people will want to listen to because it sounds like a final product - not a crummy demo. So if you don't have the skill to produce your own stuff consider getting studio time to get a few of your good songs recorded so you have some media that's worth listening to. An actual website isn't essential and is becoming less relevant with all of the options on other websites that have band options.
Interesting. Thanks for the ideas...I'm a little lost on the band name/logo, though. The tracks will be done by Tuesday, there should be two. The production quality should be pretty decent, it's being mixed by a guy that knows what he's doing I think.
Yeah. I think we pretty much have one chosen, it's just that band names seem fucking retarded without any sort of backdrop I think.
It's incredibly difficult to come up with a bandname that isn't retarded, so if you are unable to do this, go with something that is at least memorable.
Protip: Don't use a thesaurus and pick some gay ass one word band name that is typical for almost every shit metal band ever. NEFARIOUS AVARICE OBLIVION
The most helpful thing I have had by far is a tumblr account with a decent amount of followers. Provided your music is good, people will reblog and spread the word. Tumblr users like hipster shit though, so depending on your genre, it might not be that helpful. I also have everything on soundcloud and bandcamp and I release everything for free. Releasing stuff for free probably helps a ton. Until you get a real following, don't charge money.
How do you guys go about getting logos? I know that FoM has Nik(TH), who can draw extremely well but neither of us can draw. We have a name (well half, it's two words and we can't choose on the second, we have like 7 names I guess) and we have everything ready to record, ready to go. Should be recording this Sunday and then another song and probably my leads on Thursday, and we agreed August first would be a reasonable date to release our demo tracks to the world. Before that, though, I'd like to get a logo. I'm assuming the majority of you just ask an artist and pay them? He goes to art school, so that shouldn't be a problem. I just more want to blog about it cos I'm pretty excited.
I'm just excited. It's not a bad sort of over thought, it's a fun one. Any of the names we have will work, I just need to get his text back saying which ones he likes in particular, and go with it. He's just busy atm. I would like a cool logo, though. I know it's not necessary right now, we haven't even auditioned for a bassist/drummer/singer yet. But it'd be nice to look professional.
Most important thing about a band name is to pick something completely unique. Since the main way of searching for a band to listen to is through Google and the like, it would be difficult to find a band whose name is a common word/phrase like '3' or 'Glass Half Empty'... You're better off making up a ridiculous phrase (see: Failure of Milk) or making up a word (see: Tetrafusion). Both terrible band names, but almost completely unmistakable. Although I've always liked Failure of Milk :3
hmm. I should try this with my band. Recently we've decided were going to start regularly updating our youtube channel with stuff like videos of us playing, covers, reviews for music, gear, thoughts on music related news, etc. we're hoping that gets our videos appearing on people's "recommended videos" and such, which will get us some subscribers and such. Other than that, it's really tough getting a live following since our friends are dicks and people who come for other bands on the bill just come see that band, and ONLY that band. Most people just leave after the band's set and dont bother staying for the other acts. Hell, we played a show where this one band brought a huge crowd. They actually told everyone to come early for the other bands. They did. Except they just stood outside the venue hanging out until that band went on.
