Why Promoting Your Band Online Alone Won't Work

Musicians and artists seeking to promote an up-and-coming act often turn to the internet to reach new and eager ears, promote live music events online on social networks and network with other performers. Websites like ReverbNation, Localsonline.com, and of course MySpace Music have great potential for online music promotion, even sometimes becoming quite lucrative.

That said, spending hours and hours promoting your band online without following traditional pavement-level music promotion tactics is a serious error in time and energy management.

A well-rounded promotion approach using both new media and traditional outlets is best for a few key reasons. Repeatedly hitting reload on MySpace Music to see how many song plays you have received while sending unsolicited friend requests to people who aren't your friends is downright cowardly, not to mention a gigantic waste of time. At the end of the day, if you want to build buzz for your band online and offline, you need to hit the streets.

Personal networking music promotion tips - Cut the cord and hit the street!

The best way to quickly improve as a musician and live perform7er, and a great way to promote a band, is to hit the clubs yourself and make some friends. Have a drink, shake some hands and have business cards at the ready that includes your website or MySpace page, phone number, email and primary instrument.

Think of online versus offline music promotion like a telemarketer. The quickest way to earn enough money to keep your act afloat is through playing live shows, but to get paid well and build a reputation you need to get your fans off their own computers, into their cars, out of their cash and to your gig.

What percentage of online "friends" are likely going to make it out to your show because they saw a bulletin or online flier, or received an "invitation", even if many of them have actually heard your music? 1 percent? Only if you're extremely good, hot and/or lucky. Now, what percentage of people who you have at least a basic offline relationship with will come out and support your music if you have invited them personally, face to face? Maybe only 10 or 15 percent, as everyone's broke and people have busy lives. Don't be offended if someone can't make your gig. Crunch some numbers, though, and suddenly your band's 3,000 MySpace friends you know nothing about and all those mutual online backscratchings begin to seem rather insignificant.

Don't forget to have fun while promoting your band online and offline

Sometimes online and offline band promotion can seem like a terrible chore. To quote British MC Mike Skinner of The Streets, "it's the hardest way to make an easy living. Put aside the money aspect for a second, and think about offline and online music promotion from a standpoint of pure satisfaction and the advancement of creativity in all its forms. That's why you got into this in the first place, right? Please say yes.

You will indoubitably have a way better time meeting other musicians, getting phone numbers, and hosting or attending some jam sessions in the garages and basements of your community. Professional working musicians, and their crews and friends, often make up the bulk of the crowd, especially at smaller venues.

The groups able to earn a living playing music out have done so organically, slowly becoming more skilled at moving a crowd. People spend their dollars on live concerts because they are waiting to be blown away. Even if you manage to spam enough people online to earn a big draw, without a few cheerleaders in the house the set will be more likely to lose its energy.

Integrating offline and online artist promotion

The key to maintaining that energy as your group progresses and begins to face greater tests and larger venues is to combine offline and online artist promotion such that they feed off each other.

Some quick band promotion tips:

-Throw out some free CDs at a show, but link them to your band's website where exclusive tracks not on the disc are available.
-Sell t-shirts and other merch on the site, thereby translating online into offline buzz. Try to put your band's website URL discretely on your merch where appropriate, for example in small print on stickers.
Instead of mass event invitations, send personal messages, texts or emails to people you actually want at your show. Use your guest list if you have one, but don't disrespect the club and go guest list crazy.
-Enter some of the many contests or online battle-of-the-bands available. You might earn cash or free gear, and by encouraging people at the gig to vote for your band online you can make them feel like part of something. This is the perfect way to introduce them to your online presence.

Whether you need the money or not, gigging to a full house is way more fun. Creating and implementing a multifaceted online and offline music promotion plan can be something to get excited over. What are you waiting for? Go print some flyers!