Part Poet, Part Shark: How to Promote Your Band's CD

As a rock critic and the self-proclaimed "reverend of rock & roll," I have walked the pop culture beat for over three decades and counting. During this time, I have heard everything and reviewed a lot of it in over 100 publications worldwide. The Reverend has received literally thousands of promo CDs from hopeful musicians through the years, and here are my suggestions on the right way and the wrong way to promote your band's CD.

FACE THE FACTS

Let's be real: it's going to be a challenge, getting your band's CD heard above the din of media overkill. Between hometown heroes, indie rockers and labels large (and small), there are several thousand new CD titles released every single year. Only a handful of these sell more than half-million copies, most CDs won't even sell 10,000 copies. The chances of getting your music heard outside your circle of friends and well-wishers are slim-to-none.

Likewise, music critics are swamped with promotional CDs and will never be able to review, much less even listen to, every disc that comes in the mail. I'm not trying to harsh your buzz, just trying to put your enthusiasm in perspective. You may think that the new CD you recorded in your garage is the second coming of the Beatles, but if you don't do something to set yourself apart from all of the other bands also trying hard to be heard, you'll remain at the bottom of the promo "slush pile."

That being said, although your band may never sell a million CDs, or even see your faces on the cover of Rolling Stone, you can still enjoy a fulfilling career that is every bit as glamorous as your efforts make it out to be. Just be realistic in your expectations.

ART VS. COMMERCE

Since the first caveman began banging two rocks together in rhythm (the earliest roots-rockers, to be sure), there has been the argument of art versus commerce. Artists in some musical genres like to keep their music pure, untainted by such crass considerations as royalty checks or regular meals (punks, I'm pointing my finger at you). Some styles of music are created with one eye on the charts and a finger on the pulse of popular culture, to better extract dollar bills from the consumer's grasp. Truth is, you can't have one without the other, and much of what we consider to be "great art" today was originally "commercial" at the time that it was created.

For those of you still arguing over art versus commerce, get over it....

One of the wisest things ever said by working-class poet Charles Bukowski was that "the myth of the starving artist is exactly that." Buke always claimed (and I'm paraphrasing) that he wrote better after a steak dinner and a bottle of wine than he did after eating a candy bar and drinking a Pepsi. Even the purest of musicians have to put a roof over their heads and find nourishment in something other than rock & roll.

It's not "selling out" to promote your band and try and get your music heard. In today's music business climate, it pays to keep one eye on commerce while you're working on creating your art. These days, you have to be part poet and part shark if you want to survive in the music biz.

1. LOOK SHARP!

Professionalism is something that you can't put a price on. Everything that surrounds your music should be as sharp and creative as the tunes that you've written. I'm talking about CD covers and packaging, promo photos, band biographies - anything that has your name on it should be as good as you can make it. Make plans before you record your first note on how you want to present your music to the outside world.

DO invest in professional-looking packaging.Before anybody hears your music, they'll see your CD cover. Record labels spend thousands of dollars on creating just the right cover art and promotional materials. You don't have to. Even on a budget, you can pair your music with an eye-catching CD cover and professional band photo.

Chances are that someone in your band went to school with an artist or photographer that you can enlist to help capture your vision in print. If all else fails, post a notice at your local arts college that you're looking for a graphic artist to do some work. They might be able to get course credit for whatever they create for your band, making it a win-win situation for everybody.

DO NOT mail out promo discs with handwritten or typed inserts or covers to people that you are asking to write about your band. This is like going to a party with your underwear on your head...you'll get a quick, embarrassed look but then everybody's going to forget about you. Quickly.

DO invest in factory-manufactured CDs. If you've gone to the time and expense of recording an album, spend a little money on the finished product.

DO NOT mail out homemade CD-R copies of your new disc to anybody, for any reason, if you expect to be treated like a real band. Nothing screams "amateur" faster than a promo CD-R with a paper label peeling up from the surface and a handwritten insert. It will end up in the garbage along with your career.

2. CREATE A PRESENCE

It's not enough these days to just have a MySpace page with a few songs posted for new fans to hear. You have to create a larger media presence, and your MySpace page is just one aspect of an overall strategy.

DO create a website, preferably one with your own band domain name (or as close as possible, depending on what is available). Sorry, but in today's market, this is a necessary expense. Domain names only cost a few bucks, however, and discount web hosting companies can provide cheap, reliable web hosting for less than $50 a year.

DO NOT shortchange the creation of your web site. This is every bit as important as your CD packaging, maybe more so in that it serves as the public face of your band. Once you've registered your domain name, ask the graphic artist that you used to create your CD cover if they can do a web site as well. It doesn't have to be fancy, or even have any bells and whistles. A band web site should have just a few elements - the band's bio, a "news" page for you to let fans know what's going on with the band, and a "music" page for new fans to hear mp3 files of your music.

DO create other items featuring your band name and/or logo. The World Wide Web shouldn't be your only path towards "creating a presence," although it's one of the most important ones. Stickers, postcards, t-shirts and such also help you spread the word and get your name in front of people. Stickers are an effective way to do this, and print shops like the Sticker Guy (www.stickerguy.com) have been working with bands for years. Stickers can create a sort of "public art" presence and are cheap enough that you can give them away.

DO NOT forget the merchandise. If your band is at the point where you're playing a lot of "out-of-town" gigs, it would be foolish not to have something to sell your fans. Copies of your new CD are a given, but a "merch" table without t-shirts is just a bare table. Even if it's something as simple as your nifty, professional-looking CD cover or band photo on the front of a grey shirt, be sure to have something to sell. I've known many bands that depended on CD and t-shirt sales to buy food and gas to get to their next show. If you ask me, the promotional value of merchandise is underrated, as it gets your band name out in front of "non-believers."

DO play benefit shows, especially for causes that you and the band support. Yes, you'll be playing for free more often than not, and a lot of people will caution you against this. Rubbish! If you're a new band promoting its first CD, benefit shows can be quite...ahem..."beneficial" in helping you create a presence. A lot of potential fans will see you perform and if it's a large show, you'll also benefit from being included in the corporate-sponsored advertising.

DO NOT spend money on advertising. At least not at first; you'd be better served by investing that money in band t-shirts, your web site and your next CD. After you have two or three CDs under your belt, consider less-expensive ads in local and regional publications and music zines.

3. PROMOTE THYSELF!

DO know your market. When assembling your promotional mailing, it's important to know who you're sending it to, not only for efficiency's sake but also to save money. Before mailing a single CD, check the publication's web site, or look through a copy at the bookstore and make sure that your music will fit with their editorial direction. You increase your chances of getting a review if you send your CD out to the right market. A regional music zine is more likely to review a CD from an unknown band than is, say, Rolling Stone or Spin.

DO NOT mail your CD to the wrong publication. You'll be wasting money on the CD, the envelope and the postage and you're unlikely to get a review. The Reverend's webzine, Alt.Culture.Guide, has regularly received promotional discs in the genres of jazz, New Age, techno dance and Latin music, in spite of the fact that in seven years we have never reviewed anything in these genres, and are unlikely to do so in the future. You might get by sending your heavy metal CD to a punk zine, but you're wasting your time sending it to a country music magazine.

DO follow up on your promotional mailing. Send the publication an email or a postcard and ask that they contact you if they didn't receive your disc and that you'd be glad to send them another copy if they want. Let them know that your band is available for an article or interview, but don't expect an answer and don't follow up more than once. They're either going to cover your disc or they're not, and a high-pressure "sell job" isn't going to sway them one way or another. A single follow-up is more than what 99% of those other bands do, so it might just get you noticed.

DO NOT get insulted if a publication doesn't review your CD. There are a myriad of reasons why your disc may have been overlooked - an abundance of new CDs from "buzz" bands or superstars, a cutting back of editorial pages, a heavy workload on the writer - all can contribute to a lack of interest in your CD. If you have faith in your music and think that it fits within the editorial scope of a publication, send them your second disc and your third and...well, you get the picture. Any one of them might catch somebody's attention and get the review you crave.

DO collect email addresses. Everywhere possible. Set up a cheap spiral notebook and a pen on a string at shows and ask people to sign your "guestbook." Have your web guy or girl set up a form on your website for people to enter their email addresses. These addresses are like money in the bank. You can enter them into a spreadsheet and sort them by state, sending out emails to fans letting them know where you'll be playing. Send out a mass email announcing your new CD. There are dozens of beneficial uses for email addresses, but you can't follow them if you don't have them.

4. EDUCATE YOURSELF!

You've probably spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours practicing your instrument, along with lessons and songbooks and equipment. So why not spend some time and money on an education?

DO spend time learning the music business. You may know major and minor chords and the pentatonic scales, but do you know anything about recoupable accounts or standard contracts? Any book by Moses Avalon will open your eyes to aspects of the business that you never knew existed. This Business Of Music by Krasilovsky, Shemel and Gross is considered the definitive book on the industry and will get you up to speed in no time. The Indie Bible is a great resource book for learning what services, publications and other promotional opportunities exist for getting your music to your potential fans. Written from firsthand experience, Michael Dean's $30 Music School is the only book for the new musician, covering a lot of different aspects of the industry with great insight and humor.

DO NOT sign anything without having a good idea of what it is your signing. This treads closer to business than promotion, but it's always good advice to hear. If you educate yourself, read about the business end of the industry and enlist the help of good advisors, your life in the biz will be better.

5. TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS!

DO invest in your band. A lot of what I've written about above takes some little amount of money to accomplish. Some of it you can achieve for little or nothing through friends and acquaintances. Some of it can be done creatively - you can learn how to silkscreen your own shirts, for instance. Otherwise, you're going to have to put your money where your mouths are and spend some to get some. After all, if you're not willing to invest in your band, how are you going to convince somebody else to?

DO practice good karma. Keep in mind that nobody - and I mean nobody, from rock bands to movie stars, makes it to the top without a lot of help. Remember the people that have helped you. If the guy that created your first CD cover wants to bring his girlfriend to the show, personally make sure that his name is on the guest list. If the photographer that shot your latest 8x10 wants a couple copies of your CD, hand 'em over. Take time to make sure that the girl you drafted into working your merchandise booth has something to drink, and as you travel from town to town, keep a list of your "friends" and touch base with them on a regular basis.

It takes a lot of people to help you to the top of the mountain, and if you step on them on the way up, they're damn sure going to remember your sorry ass when you're on the way back down. But karma works both ways, too - take care of people and they'll take care of you, too, no matter where your career lands. That's probably the best advice that I can give you. Now put it to practice....