MySpace
myspace music my music  featured playlists  top artists  music videos  karaoke  shows  forums 


MySpace.com | rss | sign in
Kurb Online Promo



Last Updated: 7/15/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Status: Single
Country: AU
Signup Date: 4/15/2007

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Thursday, February 21, 2008 
1:33 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 

Category: Music


Did you know Spam was named after a monty python skit where everything on the menu was spam? Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Bebo, Blogs and more – Kurb helps musicians around the world build and manage networks the smart way with new and exclusive techniques.

Just remember to spread your links! Look: this link says "kurb promotion is really good for low cost CD/ DVD's, online promotion and posters too" and that tells google to put us up the top of its searches for all those words.

There's lots of advice on the Kurb blogs on what smart musicians should know about using the internet to promote your music, so subscribe here on myspace oh and leave a comment with a link to your site on our official blog it'll help to get better google search results.

So whats new @ Kurb?

Still the cheapest CD and DVD duplication on runs under 500, with free posters and free graphic set up costs!

But now we've released digital coaching packages to help musicians and artists build income online. And we're doing video production as well as promotion, making it easy for musicians we work with to make videos and promote them online real cheap!

Check out our youtube

Remember our Kurb site is full of articles, videos and ideas for promoting bands and brands.

12:13 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, February 18, 2008 
4:22 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Sunday, February 17, 2008 

Category: Music



New video from me introducing our new "artist packages" as . . . DIGITAL COACHING FOR ARTISTS.

Working alongside artists to build international exposure and develop and open up revenue streams online. Build your social networks, distribute content and gain traction, build a website to generate revenue, pursue new income streams with your music and content. STRICTLY LIMITED PLACES @ $A200 P/month.



DIGITAL COACHING AND CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING ARTISTS AND GENERATING INCOME ONLINE

Digital Coaching is a brand new artist development concept released in 2008 by Kurb to help artists develop their online presence and digital assets into exposure, access and revenue generating income streams.

KURB DIGITAL COACHING IS YOUR ONE STOP SERVICE FOR ALL YOUR EXPANDING ARTIST NEEDS ONLINE - CONTACT US NOW PLACES ARE STRICLTY LIMITED!!!!


- Build your following and presence on social networks such as Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, Bebo etc. using powerful automation - avoid mistakes and use all the hidden advantages.


- Develop your website into a powerful tool to attract and develop a fanbase - then create online revenue streams from a variety of sources


- Get your digital content (songs, videos etc.) earning money online through Itunes, storefronts, ad supported revenue and more


- Use blogging tools and youtube techniques to create powerful distribution networks and feeds for your content - attract more fans and revenue from your expanding presence


- Use both search engine optimisation, search engine marketing and dedicated online campaigns to build your all important google traffic


- creative support developing dynamic concepts and content (video, blogs) to drive your viral campaign - design and production services


- Explore media campaigns that create publicity and licensing options - Develop cutting edge and forward looking campaign strategies using untapped technology such as P2P and new software techniques exclusively available to kurb.

VIDEO MARKETING:




Kurb Promo on Youtube
HOW I APPROACH A NEW CLIENT FOR PROMOTION@ KURB
how digital promotion and social marketing works
more indie self promotion articles hub
Our packages - "digital coaching" and online promotion packages for artists
Overview of online promotion strategies
Real cheap CD/DVD duplication

Official Kurb Blog

6:26 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Sunday, February 17, 2008 

From the Audible Hype blog of Justin Boland. Smart guy. You don't have to be into Hip Hop to pick up on what this guys saying, but i find it all the more interesting because Hip Hop is baring the brunt of the current music industry downturn.


But it's true. You're not going to see any decent money from CD sales OR gigs these days until you've used the internet to give yourself a leg up in your niche. I've been refining my digital coaching services for artists which I will be talking about soon. 


http://www.audiblehype.com


Here's a refrain I've heard several thousand times since I started researching this series: "Nothing beats a live show for connecting to the audience—you have to actually be there with them, sweating and rocking out, to get anyone's attention."


Yeah, bullshit. I would wager that 99% of the artists I buy tickets to see live, I've never seen live before. For instance, Tinariwen, the desert nomad Afroblues-rock band from Mali, have been on constant rotation for about 2 years straight, and I never saw them perform until December of last year.  On the other hand, if I had seen Ghostface Killah perform live before, I sure as hell never would have paid out $25 to watch him do karaoke versions of his own material, berate the crowd, and occasionaly step out in front of his 20+ hypeman entourage to rap a damn verse.


I would wager that 99% of the music I listen to, I discovered because a friend of mine had to tell me about this new album. Don't worry—this is not another article about social networking, word-of-mouth, or viral marketing.  I just want to point out that doing shows and touring has less to do with reaching new listeners than most people think. Believe me, I just did quite a number of shows in towns where nobody had ever heard of me—not surprisingly, nobody showed up.  Before you sell tickets, you need to get people listening to your music and curious to know more about you.


So here's a much more valuable and realistic question: how do artists get your attention like that in the first place?


The Core Elements



1. Great Music
2. Easily Accessable
3. Prolific Output
4. Evangelist Fans
5. Low Overhead


That's it.  I could have put the "secret formula" at the end of the post, but there it is.  Feel free to stop reading.


1. Great Music. I'm never going to stop repeating this: most of you make mediocre music and that's your main problem. Not your MySpace strategy, not your website layout, not your SEO score, not your mailing list, not your lack of sponsorships and placement on iTunes.  Seek objective feedback from as many people as possible—be as honest with yourself as you possibly can. 


2. Easily Accessable. I am an outspoken and habitual advocate of giving music away for free.  I believe the benefits exponentially outweigh the potential loss of revenue.  Of course, in 2008, pretty much everything is "easily accessable"—from software to albums to movies.  I often have new artists ask me: "If everything is going to get pirated anyway, why should we give our music away?"


My simple answer: because right now, nobody cares about you enough to pirate your music.  You're not on filesharing networks and you're not listed on torrent sites, because nobody has heard of you, and unless you start putting your music out there yourself, that won't be changing this year.


3. Prolific Output. This is definitely a topic for an entire article, and that article will definitely happen.  I've already had a few interesting email exchanges with musicians (and listeners) who disagree with me on the importance of making lots of music. I'll explain my bulletproof, single-sentence logic a couple paragraphs from now.


4. Evangelist Fans. No faking the funk on this one.  Your music either authentically moves people or you're making interchangeable background noise crap.  I feel very fortunate to have the fans I do—World-Around Records has "street teams" in several cities and we've never organized any of them. 


5. Low Overhead. Ah, yes...the money. Remember, the single most reliable method for increasing profits is reducing overhead.  No matter what business you're in.  All the changes and upheavals that the music industry has seen in the past decade are going to accelerate in the future.  You need to keep your operation flexible in order to experiment with new approaches and adapt to new trends.


The creation of music is a production chain—and the more points on that chain you can control, or better yet own, the lower your costs will be.  David Byrne recently dropped a much-discussed manifesto on the new music business for Wired magazine, and a number of artists questioned his claim that the costs of recording were approaching zero.  You can find the discussion over on Byrne's website—it's worth chewing over no matter what genre you're working in.


Remember Pareto's Law...and remember The Mantra: Engage in no expansion until you have eliminated all the mistakes from your current operation.


Underground Famous


C Rayz Walz live


Now here's the synthesis.  Consider an artist like C-Rayz Walz, who made his first impression on the world with a truly remarkable song: Great Voices, a 10 minute long tribute to dozens of rappers, with constantly shifting beats and vocal styles.  Sure, it was just an imitation track—but it was so energetic and polished that people had to pass it on.


If anything beats "being there" in front of people, it's a truly remarkable song.  I believe that a great mp3 beats the greatest live show you'll ever play, in terms of reach, longevity and impact. Hip Hop is full of artists who made a name for themselves off a single great concept, and failed to deliver anything worthwhile for the rest of their career.  They might not be breaking new artistic ground, but what they are doing is making money off music.


Don't underestimate the importance of the single.  This is a major reason why I advocate "Prolific Output"—you never know what's going to catch with people.  Bruce Warila has written some excellent and visionary material about the song-testing algorithms of Hit Song Science, but the fact remains that random chance is the primary cause of more or less everything in this Universe.  Music is no different.  Speaking from personal experience, I never would have thought that a sloppy joke instructional song about anal sex would have taken off—but it sure as hell did, and now I've got a very promising side gig as Humpasaur Jones. 


You can devote years of work to your masterpiece, but that doesn't mean people are going to like it.  You could just as easily make a few goofy "throwaway" tracks that everyone but you falls in love with.  The more music you produce, the greater your chances for reaching new audience. If anyone seriously disagrees with that formula, I would love to know why.


Best of all, it's easy to produce.  As music genres go, it's impossible to beat hip hop for "Low Overhead." Beats can be created on easily stolen software and you only need an improvised vocal booth to record lyrics—get some decent levels, do minimal mixing, treat the finished product with some VST mastering software, and boom: you've got a new asset for your portfolio.  Purely "electronic" music is easier still: that's how Richard James, popularly known as Aphex Twin, became so prolific in the late 90s that he was signed to over a dozen different labels, all under different names, all constantly releasing new material.


...wait a second...


I'm sure a few people will raise the question: doesn't your list of 5 ingredients contradict itself? Can you maintain a prolific output and still have the quality control to be making great music?


Yes, you can.  Most of the effort and work involved with the production chain isn't from making music—it's from making mistakes. Once you get your studio signal chain set up properly, you don't need to change the settings and recording becomes a smoother process.  Once you realize that you actually need to practice your material before you record it, you'll be wasting less time on doing shitty takes, over and over.  Once you get a visceral sense of the elements a song needs to be "finished," even your casual experiments will sound more polished and album-ready.


Experience is the only qualification that matters.  Don't worry about making mistakes—plan on making mistakes, lots of them, constantly.  If you don't get them out of the way now, they'll show up and cause more damage down the line.

5:55 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Sunday, February 17, 2008 

Category: Music

 

From Bruce Warila at http://www.unsprungmedia.com

A - Illegal File Sharing
In spite of all the chatter on the Internet about governments forcing ISPs to crack down on file sharing, I remain as convinced as ever that stopping illegal sharing is like playing Whac-A-Mole.  Every time something is invented or some new law is passed to prevent, something new and simple will pop up that enables people to share stolen music.  If a song can be played through a speaker, it can be simply captured and clipped.  Nothing is going to change that fact.  File sharing, as we know it may be throttled, but a new form of sharing will appear and explode.  It can't be stopped.  

You can find this sentence all over the Internet: "When the cost of reproduction drops to zero, the price will drop to zero."  Sadly enough, that's what's happening to recorded music.

B - The Three Bright Spots For Recorded Music Artists.
1) Paid downloads are on the rise.  More and more people are buying digital downloads.  File stealing and sharing is inconvenient for 50% of the population.  The time-starved segment of the world finds it more convenient to buy music instead of pinching it.  So, people are actually buying convenience.

2) Streams of Convenience are popping onto the scene.  I believe downloading and transporting a peck of MP3s is going to be replaced by personal streams of music that can be accessed from any device anywhere.  Over time interactive streams will replace paid downloads.  Once again, the product is convenience.

3) Personalized Packages (coming soon).  Bundled packages of music combined with other relevant digital assets that are so personalized that people will not share them.  These securely bundled packages will include things within like points, scores and details that people will not want to share.  The music may be sharable, but the package will have sharing disincentives baked into the product.  Other variations of this concept will also exist.

C - a Five-Year Transition
For 99% of the artists on earth the three bright spots I just mentioned are just pins of light.  It will take another five years for these three bright spots to exceed the revenue that was once produced by CDs.

What's My Point?
You already know about the file-sharing problem; if you read this blog you know about the bright spots on the horizon; and you could have guessed it will take at least five years for the new technologies to replace the CD.

When I add A, B and C together I come to the following conclusions: (I am using "my" figuratively here.)

Fling open the doors and take my MP3s.  It does not matter.  My MP3s will be on iTunes and Amazon for those honest soles that are purchasing convenience.  For everyone else - come to my shows, traffic my site, buy my merchandise - and when you get too old to dedicate time to stealing, please buy the convenience I offer.

If I bust my hump now building a business that does not rely on selling recorded music - then in five years - Streams of Convenience and Personalized Packages will be the icing on my cake.  It will be like found money; like finding money in the washing machine.  It will be reoccurring revenue that I can count on someday.

What's My Point?
If you can build a business over the next five years that minimally relies on the sale of recorded music then within five years new streams of revenue will fill your pockets.  The need to be known (sprung) will still exist, but you should believe that your efforts would not be for nothing.  Furthermore, this "business" that you may build over the next five years may stand on it's own as a profitable entity.

--------->

HOW I APPROACH A NEW CLIENT FOR PROMOTION@ KURB
how digital promotion and social marketing works
more indie self promotion articles hub
Our artist packages
Overview of online promotion strategies
Real cheap CD/DVD reproduction in NZ
postering – placement in Auckland / Free delivery in NZ

 

4:45 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, December 10, 2007 

Category: Web, HTML, Tech
My commitment to marketing and promotion has seen my range of clients grow from a base specialising in the music industry, to media campaigns involved with environmental organisations, educational institutes and working alongside small business owners to grow their businesses

With every client I deal with there's gonna have to be a tailored strategy given the character of the proposition, especially given the range of options we provide - street media, disc media, social media, online media, search optimisation, online advertising and more.

But the same methodologies can be applied as any enterprise must develop in a certain logical way. An enterprise must develop content to showcase what it is they offer, they must develop a cohesive brand, and value can be created through many different types of messages that result in exposure, credibility and revenue.

Now most often Kurb is involved at only one part of this crucial development. But I tend to make suggestions based not on the options, the effectiveness and our ability to get results and return on investment.

For example, Posters is not a big earn for us, but we continue to offer this service because it brings people to us, and the artists we support need access to this service without it costing them an arm and a leg. So we keep doing it.

But after 5 years it is my gut feeling that posters are useless for "breaking" anything. If the proposition that the poster is making to the "user" is not familiar, it's not going to get processed.

But okay. You're my new client and you've got a few hundred bucks and you want to get started. This is what I say:

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN:

If you don't have a website this is going to become a big mid term priority for reasons which I shouldn't have to explain. The reason that it's not top priority is because mean time we'll run HQ from a social site but we want to get something half decent up there from the get go and we want it sorted out right so there's no hassles later on.

For example - if you already have a website I'm going to need to be able to interact with the "webmaster" - whoever administers the site. Not in principal to make changes to the way it looks but most importantly it's "searchability".

if making basic and regular changes to your website every week is a hassle, then it's going to become a problem, so when starting from scratch we try and anticipate that.

ADWORDS:

Has to be done. This level of personal customisation and targeting is the future of advertising. This is advertising 2.0. You make your ad, decide who sees it deteremined by location and search query, and how much you want to spend, per day, per month, per lead. You see you only pay when someone actually comes to your site through the ad. Basically, if you don't understand adwords completely, that's cool, we can sort everything out for you. I would suggest a budget of $20-$100 p/month.

Otherwise for creatives on the self promotion tip who've got a credit card. Get in there. Start targeting. Get your aim down real good for the optimum. This is the future. Facebook have already introduced a similar system, Myspace will soon too.

Like your web site, these campaigns will grow as they are groomed and tweaked to optimised perfection.

SEO / SEM - Search Engine Optimisation / Search Engine Marketing

I guess just put simply, SEO, search engine optimisation, or the art of making you 1 on Google, is a massive part of online marketing. Luckily in this are I have magical powers. If you go to www.google.CO.NZ and search "online promotion" guess who's number 1? Don't ask me how but I'm good. Just be aware it will take months for me to do this for you, but that's something people usually pay a whole lot more than we charge for. Google will inevitably account for no less than half the traffic to your site, which makes it pretty much the most important part of your marketing.

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION + VIDEO

Much like adwords I will pretty much walk you through your best options to get your music and other primary content distributed for online revenue (itunes etc.) if you are an artist. Starting with retail and moving to publishing and licensing of content.

Whether you're in the entertainment business or not, there is a strong need to develop secondary content for the purpose of promotions, branding and viral opportunities to generate exposure. "Secondary content" is a broad phrase I use to cover a range of media from blog copy, podcasts and video on social networking platforms (Facebook etc.) all the way to blogging platforms (Blogger, Wordpress) podcasts and video platforms (Youtube etc.)

Video obviously requires more attention than we have time for now, but we're currently creating packages to get new talent and branding promoted through video, not only through marketing services and automated distribution saving hours of time, but in producing clean, effective and inexpensive video content. If next year you're not using video, you'll be behind the times.

Watch for my videos coming soon!

But fundamentally, using all these content platforms not only gives you access to millions of worldwide users but also forms a powerful cumulative effect - techniques of which I have barely begun to apply in achieveing what I feel is responsible for the traction I'm now getting with kurb, I mean don't even have an ad in the yellow pages!!!

There are many ideas that I have cleverly worked in making the most of networks and commercial possibilities that exist online, many of which are rather too anecdotal to go into now. But have you honestly really thought about how you could be using NZ's most popular website? I've pulled out some crazy propositions to stay within the rules.


SOCIAL

Well I'm not going to go into the finer details of my deft expertise in this area but it really depends how aggressive you want to be. If you're still developing your content, there's no point in spending a lot of money aggressively promoting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about album releases and hyping, I'm about a slow building rhythm, you got well recorded songs, videos, photography, design, retailing platforms sorted . . . then lets get stuck in already.

Similarly, social platforms present massive untapped opportunities for brands, products and services to create awareness and access. But New Zealanders are savvy and both artists and businesses have to be creative and innovative with the propositioning conducted in these communities. Do you want to be associated with contributing to the community or leeching off it?

Sure I get flak for being a spammer. But I get far more support from rando's who follow my blogs, and that goodwill is great marketing. If you genuinely offer value, those who are conscious of it will overlook the spam.

POSTERS

Obviously I mentioned my feelings about our poster services early in the post.

Musicians need to have posters, while other clients may be interested in trying this practical strategy out, and we continue to do it simply because it adds value to our all over service, despite the fact it doesn't add much value to my bank account!

More people still end up asking for posters and getting nothing more than posters than don't, but it's a start. I guess in marketing, posters do provide instant gratification but again, without a quality proposition, really it's just more ads.

DISCS

Obviously if you use disc media (CD or DVDs) in your business or you are a musician or visual performer/artist then you'll be pleased to take advantage of the very generous pricing of our various reproduction packages.

But it is also worth considering for non audio/visual clients to consider the ways in which distributing free information or content on CD or DVD can create value as a marketing message or as a free gift.

CONCLUSION

So that just about covers it, but of course the aim is to get results. The nature of modern marketing - especially in grooming an act for the entertainment industry, or making a new small business profitable - suggests long term results are the only way to achieve lasting profitability, and Kurb provides in response such a range of strategies that create value and exposure and different points without breaking the bank, and most of all, I have personally used these techniques to build the leads generated by my own marketing efforts to a point I'm sure most of you would be happy with.



You've got to realise you didn't find me by accident. I'm starting to get real good at making things easy to find, especially to those all important targeted consumers who are most likely to be looking for it. I've also learnt how to slowly turn that into sales. So it's time for you to consider the value of the proposition I'm making you.

For $NZ200 for talent and $NZ350 for businesses we'll get under way with the first month of your campaign, once we've gauged which of these strategies, either separately or working together, will provide you with the best value for your money.

Despite one month being unlikely to create significant exposure, you might want to try one month before commiting to a 3 month package starting at $500 for talent and $950 for businesses.

Please contact me, Matt Turner either by email: kurbpromo@gmail.com
Or reach me on my mobile - +64 (0)27 684 8250



Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

We're supporting musicians with successful promotion strategies for a budget. Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you're interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD's, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and video marketing program.

All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo


.....................
.
6:53 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, November 19, 2007 
It's always good to take a "working backwards" perspective on things to get a clearer perspective on the journey from where you are to where you want to be.

That is, in my case, I create services out of successful strategies. I think in observing these strategies in both form and content, you can reflect on opportunities to adapt these techniques to your own uses promoting your music.

A lot of musicians are frustrated about not getting paid, and I understand. All I can do is provide concepts that have proven successful in my own web 2.0 kind of way and draw from that.

And basically I'm still promoting two major concepts: Content and Trust.

I don't think you can be a musician any more. You are a provider of entertainment content. Content is contact. Contact is access. Access is value, and value is revenue.

Secondary content is blogs, videos, and podcasts, you're covering your main social platforms, Myspace, Bebo, You've already signed up for a Facebook band page HAVEN'T YOU?, your blogs are on Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal maybe you're paying for Typepad, but if you're rancid on it, you're on Stumbleupon, Digg and Del.icio.us. You're on Last.fm, you use Ilike. You wanna kick out free mp3's? Of course you're on Mp3.com, Download.com, Soundclick.

You have to provide this content consistently to build and maintain your audience. This whole album release hype shit is nonsense. Look at youtube: you literally have to become a "channel". Fans tune in. They want to be updated. They want fresh content. Producing an "album" is a distinctly arbitrary form of delivery.

My blogs are already kicking off quite nicely and I'm still just tooling around. At the end of the day I've at least got a couple of Page Rank 3's under my belt, and most of my key content pages on www.kurb.co.nz has gone to PR3 too. I'm into the habit of posting regularly so things will only build.

As I said this summer I'm finishing our studio set in the garage. My goal is when working with bands, at LEAST fortnightly, we want them in front of the camera, reporting to fans, we want the fans to find out who the musicians are. We want to build relationships.

Presentation is a massive part of content, all this branding stuff, your aesthetic signatures, this IS important. You just can't afford to spend money on this stuff!

I'm already making connections - obviously we're living in the 21st century and India is well, it's basically the done thing. That's why what I'm doing is finding workers in India who can deliver to an expected standard design and web services on the more techy side of things where I am less adept, at a price that's affordable for artists.

Which comes round to my second point. Trust.

Honesty and credibility are often in short supply on the internet and that's why it's becoming so valuable.


You wouldn't really trust some Indian on the other side of the world to deliver a high standard of presentation encapsulating the finely nuanced visual message of your music. That is why it is my job to find trustworthy workers working within a quality regulated environment in this area to do so, provide trusted services, and profit from it.

What can I say about trust? How about this? If you're music isn't that good, don't hide from it. Don't pretend you're the greatest band in the world if you're not. This is the internet! People are looking to connect with something that's honest, that they can understand, that they can relate to, identify with . . . and trust!!!

Trust is a commitment to providing access to valuable content. Useful content. You can gain trust and credibility just by being a source of valuable information – theres nothing to say you cant promote other peoples credited content that you feel has value to your online following.

That's why I write these damn blogs, and I repost heaps of sourced articles. To most people the kind of stuff I do is way off the map, so it's up to me to draw potential clients a picture, with them in it, just like I'm doing right now. So are you and your music. You gotta open your mouth and start talking, start a conversation with your fans, get them talking back, staying for a cuppa, and picking up something they can take away, share . . . and a reason to come back!

You don't have to be the best band in the world in order for people to connect with what you're doing but you've got to show them what your about, you've got to tell a story . . . or no one will really care.

Just another bunch of guys with a bunch of songs . . .


Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

We're supporting musicians with successful promotion strategies for a budget. Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you're interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD's, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and videomarketing program.

All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo


.....................
Kurb Myspace
4:51 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Friday, November 16, 2007 

Category: Music
Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

We're supporting musicians with successful promotion strategies for a budget. Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you're interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD's, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and videomarketing program.

All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo


.....................
Kurb Myspace


Never leave promotion to the other guy. Depending on your point of view don't count on the label, band or publicist to do their jobs. Do it yourself or it may not get done.
Know your niche market(s) or hire/befriend someone who does.
Always think of the fans first when making decisions.
Start early. Pre-promote. It allows time for viral buzz (aka free promotion) to build and ensures you'll get you a larger share of a discretionary spending.
Take the time and spend the money to get a great publicist to get free media.
Produce great promotional material and send it out early and often. Don't wait until they need it.
Email lists must be your new religion. Make sign up simple and easy to find. Put it visibly on the top half of the front page and watch it grow.
Segment your email lists (genre, location) to fight email burnout.
Produce and send great e-cards. The best ones get forwarded to others
Make your web site a destination by keeping it updated and including news, giveaways, polls and things to make it worth visiting.
Put your promo online in downloadable form for easy access by the media and your fans.
Enable and encourage others to do your promo for you. Ask fans to put up flyers and send out emails. Put a poster online as a free downloadable PDF for fans to use.
Create, utilize and reward a street team. Here's a short article on the subject.
Talk to people and take informal polls. Have they seen your ads? Where? Did they grab them and provide useful information? Survey your audience via email, on the web and at shows.
Add a free poll to your web site or blog via http://www.yourfreepoll.com.
Get every free listing everywhere you can no matter how obscure or far away. Maintain an extensive "listings" email list and use it.
Enhance the value of press releases by always attaching a photo or graphic file or a link to one.
Aggressively seek sponsorships. Big sponsorships are great, but no sponsorship is too small to consider even if its just cross promotion in ads or free give aways.
Always think yourself as a brand that needs to be defined, marketed, and protected.
Try local cable TV. Some local spots on Fuse or other targeted channels go for as little as $7 each. Check out Spotrunner, dMarc or your local cable company.
Try local internet advertising via Google Adsense, Facebook or local web sites. MySpace is adding targeted advertising early 2008.
Advertise on internet radio and blogs that serve your market.
Create consistency by creating ad mats and radio spots beds.
Sponsor non-commercial radio and get mentions. NPR is great, but don't forget college radio.
Think out of the box with radio tie-ins. Rry talk radio for a classic rock or jazz radio for a fusion. Radio stations want to expand their audience too.
Co-brand. Celtic Music with an Irish bar or specialty shop or metal with a tattoo parlor. Worry less about money and think more about exposure.
Sponsor somebody else's event. Consider trading sponsorships.
Create your own affordable net radio station on Live 365.
Add a blog to your website to keep content fresh. Blogger.com has free tools.
Go viral and post on related list-servers and discussion groups.
Can't find the right discussion group? Start your own discussion group for free at Yahoo or Google Groups.
Get on both MySpace and Facebook and stay active. Don't just set it up and forget it. Update it and promote it. Make it worth visiting. iLike and others are creating services to help you keep track and update more than one site at a time.
Make everything you do an event. What holiday is near? Is it a band member birthday? An anniversary near?
Consider the internet your new best friend. Study it, learn from it, explore it and use it
Run contests for best poster design or homemade video. Share all the entries on the web.
Produce monthly or even weekly podcasts. Consider having it produced cheaply or in trade for tickets, etc, by a local college DJ.
Do anything you can think of to enhance the consumer experience.
Give stuff away – backstage passes, seat upgrades, seats on stage, tix to the sound check, mp3's of live songs.
In the entertainment business perception can be reality. Is your show the biggest, best, loudest, "most talked about"? Then be sure to tell the world that it is.
Enhance and monetize the hard core fan experience with a Platinum level fan club that offers exclusive downloads, pre-orders, insider news, preferred seating at shows, etc.
Go old school and cut through email overload by also faxing calendars and press releases. Use a free computer based fax broadcast service.
Don't just send announcements to the main stream press but include bloggers, internet radio, record stores, colleges and even large offices.
Make your faxes look like mini-posters worth hanging up.
Fly a plane with a banner over someone else's event.P
Park a van or truck with a banner on a main street or across from a show by a similar act.
Buy a billboard for an event or series of shows. Place it strategically near a competitor or across from a college campus.
Use one of the cheap automated phone answering services advertised in the classifieds to set up a special phone line for your schedule.
Pass a clipboard(s) around before a show to capture emails or do a survey.
Meet your fans face to face and ask them for feedback but how you can serve them better.
Try the good old fashioned US mail occasionally. It actually gets peoples attention.
Promote "After Parties" that are cheap or free with a concert ticket. This allows you to extend your brand or even tag onto someone else's at low cost.
Hand out flyers on the way out of the live shows.
Capture info from any one who make a purchase particularly ticket buyers.
Ask your web visitors questions. Polls are free and easy to set up with sites like PollDaddy.
Sell merchandise at affordable prices. It's branding that someone else pays for.
Get creative with your merchandise – don't just sell shirts. Try flip books, for example
You can add variety to your merchandise with no upfront costs using CafePress or Zazzle.
In this age of too much info and media, work to make yourself a trusted gatekeeper for your genre(s) of music. Use newsletters, blogs, tips, links, internet radio, and more. Don't just write about yourself. Write about things people who care about you also care about.
Carry a video camera everywhere and post short videos on YouTube.com and elsewhere of live shows, interviews, backstage, etc.
Create your own related niche blogs or web sites (for example MidWestmetal.com or NightlifeDetroit.com or FansOf____.com). You can make yourself the only (or primary) advertiser, but keep it real with info and news from others.
Send thank-you notes. Not emails; written notes. No one says thank-you anymore. It will be remembered.
Ask for the purchase. Never forget that you are in sales.
Market to the niches. Market to bartenders in Irish pubs for a Celtic or motorcycle shops for a heavy metal. Try tattoo parlors, coffee shops, book stores, niche clothing shops.
Make your emails and web site useful to the reader. Add info and links to things your audience might find interesting or useful that you have nothing to do with.
Share your best promo ideas and avenues of promotion with other stakeholders: bands, promoters, labels, publicists, and sponsors.
Share media lists with others highlighting things you think will work best for each project.
Sell a series or combo. This works for recorded music and live tickets.
Surprise people. Give them something for free that they did not expect.
Create and use banners. Don't have time or $ for Kinkos? Try Avery Banner Maker.
Trade others occasionally for targeted email lists, but don't overuse them.
Hire or befriend a geek who will help you keep up on new technologies and internet promo opportunities.
Partner with a charity. Build good will and get more free media. Maybe you're giving a small % or maybe it's auctioning off or selling the seats on stage or tickets to the sound check.
Consider unusual places on the internet like Craigslist, sBay and StubHub as promotional tools…Try selling tickets and other stuff there.
Musicians want to be actors and actors and athletes want to be musicians. Think about how you can cross promote so everyone wins.
Always make available a hi-resolution color photo available for easy download and you'll get much better placement in print Sunday editions and calendar sections.
Some fans travel so try cross–promoting with another show (by the same band or just a similar band) in another city 50 or 100 miles away.
Create a special "Insider" email list fof a few fans, key media, tastemakers and bloggers for pre-announcements who love to know things first…and like to tell others.
If the there is going to be a meet and greet after show make sure that it's advertised. Fans always want a chance to meet the musicians.
Consider offering a student discount or senior discount.
List all your tour dates online on Pollstar, CelebrityAccess. MusicToday, Live Nation and elsewhere. You never know where people will go looking for a show.
Work to make it easier and cheaper for fans to buy tickets online. There are always going to have to be some fees, but some services like InTicketing charge much smaller fees than Ticketmaster.
Find ways to your regular ticket buyers.
Enhance your gatekeeper status by creating your own free Pandora or Last.FM "radio station" and linking to it from your site.
Create free custom Pandora or Last.FM for each concert event…"Get in the mood for the Al Green concert with this classic soul stream…". It's a free way to make the concert an event and keep them talking about it to others.
Start a short term blog for every big show or series. Post when it goes it go on sale, when an opener is added, when the front rows are sold out, news about the bands, everything.Link to it from our wen site.
Produce and sponsor a cable access show.
Utilize free interns. Try to make sure they are getting college credit so they are motivated to work.
Use cell text messaging to communicate instantly. Try Nightlifetexting.com or Google to find other companies.
Flyer - It's the cheapest form of advertising. Clubflyers.com even offers free flyers every month or a try local printer.
A good flyer promotes more than one show and is also worth of being hung as a mini poster.
Flyer someone else's show in a related genre.
Make sure all important info is on the front page of your site: new gigs, news, latest photos/songs/videos, etc. Make it easy as possible for fans to see the site is update and to get to stuff quickly.
Make sure everywhere you are mentioned (club listings, others bands you are playing with, etc) links back to your site. If they aren't linking, ask.
Encourage fans to "tag" you and your content on other sites like flickr, blogs, etc. Then aggregate that data on your site.
Do the same using recommendation sites like Digg and Stumble. See example links at the bottom of every Hypebot post.
As Tip 7 stated, email lists should be your new religion. A few sites like scriggleit.com offer free mailing list and text messaging solutions. There's no excuse.
Finding the time to keep up with all of this is hard but essential. Take advantage of new free services that offer the ability to manage content across platforms: > Nimbit enables mp3, CD, ticket and merchandise sales on MySpace, Facebook and elsewhere from a single integrated widget. > ReverbNation provides email sign-up, street teams and web promotion tools. A new addition allows multi-artist tracking. > iLike has made its fan communication and community building tools instantly compatible on both its site and Facebook and provides tracking tools and stats.
If you hear about a good promo idea, go online and research it RIGHT NOW. Try it before it becomes over used. You can drop it if it doesn't work.
Up your promotion Karma. If you try something and it's a hit, tell others. Then they will be more likely to share ideas with you.
Read Hypebot regularly. We'll help you keep on top of what's hot in music marketing.
7:42 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Monday, October 22, 2007 

Category: Music

LIKE THESE BLOGS??? DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE!!!

How to get gigs


Here's another article I grabbed this time from about.com (music.about.com) they got a few good ones! People are always asking me how to get gigs, but I don't touch that stuff!

Posters I do, press kits I do, CD promos I do, gig promotion on and networking on myspace, bebo, facebook I do. My role I see as a happy helper who makes sure your gig doesn't go completely to shit and become a lasting scar on your psyche. Not a bad deal for a couple of hundy.

I know all about gigging, touring, promoting gigs, I've done plenty of it, made all the mistakes.

If you're an unknown, you're going to have to spend a couple of years playing gigs to no one and it coming out of your own pocket and there's no cut in that for me! If you're not an unknown, then you'll already have a manager. Poor sod.

Fortunately, online promotion and networking gives you a chance to at least generate some interest before you hit the stage, but being a manager is not a glamourous or thankful job - that's why I charge $500 p/month to do it on top of a full promotions package.

OH ALSO: one day I will have to write about why it's important to be nice.  Pay your debts, don't be rude or demanding, don't get into "beef" on the "scene" with other musicians. Trust me. Or 6 months from now you'll be sitting in your room wondering why you never get any gigs. Of course it wasn't to do with you dissing that band on the message boards.


HOW TO GET GIGS:

One of the best ways to build up a fan base for your band is to get out there and play live, as often as your can. But often bands find themselves between a rock and hard place - to get a gig, you need an audience, but to get an audience, you need a gig. You can rise above that, however, and get your band in front of the crowd if you follow the right steps. This how-to guide will cover getting a single show, but many of these steps can be built upon to book your band an entire tour.


1. Think Locally - The best place to start looking for gigs is in your own backyard. Get to know the music scene in your area. What venues and promoters are willing to give up and coming bands a chance? What bands in your area play live often and might need a support act? What venues in your area put on touring bands, who might need a local opening act? To get a gig, all of these factors can come into play. Approaching the right venues will open doors to you, and there is strength in numbers, so working together will the other bands in the area will increase the opportunities for everyone. (Plus, you can share gear!)

2. Get your Promo Package Together - [or "media kit"] Have a standard package ready to introduce yourself to venues and promoters. Much like the package you use when you send a demo to a label , this promo package should be short and sweet. Include a short demo CD, a short bio or one sheet to introduce the band, and some press clippings, if you have any (especially ones that review live performances). If you're going to approach people by email instead, cut and paste the info into the body of an email and include a link to a site where your music can be heard. Don't send attachments - most people won't open them.

3. Approach the Venue - To get a gig directly with a venue, call and find out who is in charge of booking bands and send them your promo package. They may tell when to contact them again. If not, give them about a week, and follow up by phone or email. Keep trying until you get an answer. If you've haven't played live much, your best bet is try to get on an existing bill with a band that already has a bit of a following. Keep in mind that if you book with a venue, you may be in charge of promoting the show yourself and paying venue rental fees, unless you are invited on to an existing concert bill.

4. Approach the Promoter - If you'd rather not self promote and take on venue fees, you can approach a promoter to get a gig. Send your promo pack to the promoter and follow up in the same way you would with a venue. If a promoter agrees to get you a show, they will book the venue and promote the show for you, but you may need to send them posters you have made yourself to do so.

If the promoter doesn't want to put you on by yourself yet, ask them if they have any shows you could play as an opening act. If they say no, check in from time to time to remind them you are always available as a support act.

[Matt - lets not pussyfoot about. If you're not established and there's a big promoter guy who's running game in your scene, you'll have to offer to play for free. Rememeber, promoters are often people who like to feel important. work with that.]


5. Understand the Deal - This is the trickiest part for most bands. First, understand that when you are just getting started, you often will not make money on your shows. In fact, you may even end up out of pocket. That doesn't mean it was all for nothing - building up your fan base will mean you do make money on future gigs.

If you do make money, you will either have a deal where you get paid a pre-agreed amount no matter how many people turn up, or you will have a door split deal . Either deal is fine and fair. Focus on building your audience and not the money right now.

6. Play the Gig - Sounds obvious, I know, but the way you handle the gig can have a lasting impact on your ability to get future shows. Show up on time for the soundcheck and if there are other bands playing, remember everyone needs time for their soundcheck. Be professional - there is likely to be free drinks around, but remember everyone is there to hear your music, not to see if you can handle your beer. Don't sell yourself short by getting on stage in anything but your top shape, ready to play a great show. Play a good show, be courteous and professional, and you'll soon be getting more show offers!

[Matt - this is a big one. If you're just starting out, don't be all anal about soundcheck and free drinks!!! You're just there to fill in the gap before the guys everyones coming to see plays. The promoter will look at you like the amateur you are if you stat getting huffy and making demands.]

Tips:

1. Don't Get Caught Up on the Deal - This is worth repeating. Your goal is build up your audience. Promoters and venues are taking a chance on you when you are just getting started - they will be more willing to give you a chance if you don't have a lot of financial demands.

2. But Don't Pay to Play - If you're putting on your own show, of course you may have to pay a venue hire fee and you may to pay some promotional costs. However, don't pay money simply to get on a bill, and don't trust anyone who asks you to.

3. Invite the Press - Keep the entertainment writers at your local papers informed about your activities and always invite them to the show. Also, keep your local radio stations up to date on what's happening with your band and when you're playing.

4. Respect the Guest List - Guests lists have a way of getting out of hand, fast. Don't push it with promoters with the guest list when you are trying to build up a name for yourself. If you're part of a larger bill, you may not even have any guest list spaces. If you do, use what you have and be done with it. Don't try to get 50 of your closest cheapskate friends into every show for free. You'll get a bad name for yourself.

More How To's from your Guide To Music Careers

Playing live may be the most important thing a band can do. If your band is unsigned, playing live is a great way to build up a loyal fan base, get some media attention and attract record label interest. For signed bands, gigs are the means by which you can keep building your audience while promoting your new releases. Booking a gig can seem like an overwhelming process, however, especially when a band is doing all of the booking themselves. If you're in a cold sweat, wondering how to get some shows for your band, never fear. Take a deep breath, relax and follow these steps that are sure to get your band on stage.

The Basics - Let's go right back to the beginning. Before you even can think about booking a gig, there are a few things you will need to have in place:

• A demo or a finished CD, or a website on which people can listen to your music

• A press pack, including information about your band and clippings of any press coverage you may have had.


You should also have an idea of when you want to play a show - approaching a venue or promoter and asking for a gig "whenever" isn't very helpful. Come up with a window of preferred dates and make sure everyone in the band has their calendar clear for those days.

Find the Right People - So, you've got the promo package and demo ready to go - now, who should you send it to? There are two ways you can go about booking a gig:

• Book directly with the venue, in which case you as a band take on the costs and responsibilities of promoting the show

• Book with a promoter, who takes charge of promoting the show

Sometimes, venues work with a specific promoter, and sometimes they don't. Give your venue of choice a call to find out how they do things. If you don't know any promoters, ask the venue for advice, or ask around to find out with whom other bands in your area work. If possible, get the names of a few different promoters and venue booking agents and send them all promo packages - nothing wrong with people fighting to give you a chance to play, right?

Tired of booking gigs for yourself? Try getting a manager or agent on board who can help you get the shows you want.

The Deal - A good deal is part and parcel of a good gig. You should prepare yourself, however, for the fact that many shows lose money. If you're just getting started and don't have much of a following yet, you should think of your gigs as promotional opportunities for your band rather than money making opportunities. Your willingness to work with a promoter and/or a venue to try and minimize the financial risk involved in a show will only help you convince people to work with you.

Your deal should detail how any income for the show will be divided, as well as confirming information about things like accommodation for the band, riders, backline, and soundchecks. If there is something you're unsure about or you don't think is fair, speak up well in advance of the show.
• Door Split Deals
• Before you Sign a Music Promoter Contract
• Backline
• Rider
• Should I Pay to Play a Gig?

Show Up and Play - Now all you have to do is show up and play a good show. Be professional, treat the promoter and the people at the venue with respect, and if you can't handle drinking all of the rider before going on stage, then for goodness sake, don't do it. If you happen to have an off night, but you have treated people well, most promoters will want to work with you again. If you've given everyone working to put on the show a night of utter chaos and stress, well, then, you'll probably be looking for a new place to play.

Make sure you take full advantage of the audience at the show and promote any releases, new websites, or any other news the band may have. Encourage everyone who enjoyed your set to sign your mailing list, so you can let them know when you're playing again.


Cheers for the connection with Kurb.

Supporting musicians with successful strategies on a budget.


Come by our page, theres plenty to pick up about new developments in the music industry in our blogs and theres a whole lot of free info and articles at our self promotions hub. Get some scope checking out our overview of online promotion strategies and if you're interested our artist packages or brand new campaign packages including CD's, posters and a dedicated online distribution, promotion and videomarketing program.


All the best with your music, from Kurb
For direct enquiries get us on gmail as kurbpromo


.....................
Kurb Myspace
3:23 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate