Is self releasing the way forward....yes and no?
Hello
Well im new to this site (not the magazine though....obviously)
Im a musician..... ive been doing it a few years.... gigging, writing, recording at home....and trying to gather label interest.
Things have changed a lot though in such a short amount of time... im now getting to a stage where looking for a label doesn't feel so important and i have recently uploaded all my music (3 albums) to itunes as well as sporadic self released cd eps... and more recently a full self released album.
Now, whilst im more than happy doing this... i dont actually like itunes so much (feels wrong selling a bit of data) but at least its available to the world.
I released my cd album through one shop (www.piccadillyrecords.com)in Manchester and the first week was great (over 100 sales) but now its slowed down again (obviously) so im thinking maybe this is where a decent label would come up.... whilst i can plug away on myspace etc.... it never really hits the masses... so promotion is the biggest thing im missing.
How do other people (bands on here?) go about really promoting themselves.... gigs are fine... and sending stuff to radio stations etc but more often than not it amounts to very little.
Its a strange time for music
x
oh im at www.myspace.com/stickboyuk if you want to say hi
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Fnarr
fnarr.
Self releasing indeed.
Self-publicity
A difficult question, as a lot depends on your fanbase, type of music, opinion on formats (I dislike anything that doesn't come with lavish artwork), and wilingness to put the hours in.
All I know from my own experience, and that of friends, is that record labels are even less charitable than they used to be, unless they're a tiny you're-mates-with-the-owner setup. The most succesful people I know have done the tried and trusted method of selling CDs at gigs (and the right merchandise is a useful money spinner), giving away bits of music on the internet to stimulate interest, and relying on word of mouth. This may take years to get a label interested, but a) by then, the business will probably have changed beyond recognition and b) it's all about the journey, right?
Question
Why are you making music?
Is it because,
a) You just like singing songs?
b) You want to make a living out of it?
c) You want to be famous?
If the answer is a then why does it matter how many people hear you? If the answer is b then give up now, it'll gnaw away at you and suck the joy out of everything, and you can't control stuff like that anyway. If the answer's c then why not try X Factor? Or at least a different blog.
I quite like the songs on your myspace and I'm sure your mum does so just be happy that at least your immediate family and some random guy on an internet forum are getting pleasure from what you're doing.
haha ummm mostly a).....
haha ummm mostly a)..... well because i love writing and recording anyway.... c)... definatley not ... b) possibly a little
not sure why it matters if my mother likes my music....shes into westlife so not a good judge me thinks.
x
You've got over 50k friends there stickyboy
Surely they'll all buy your stuff making you a very rich man no?
If you're serious about promoting to get your music heard you'd do well to stop wasting time on myspace/facebook/kidLOLZOWTF.com and get some decent reviews from proper journals/websites which seems to be missing from your myspace page.
You've also got so much crap on there I got bored waiting for it to load tand clicked off never hearing your music.
A myspace presence is just a tick box and without a proper website screams "Amateur!". Make your myspace simple and clean. The number of friends that you've gone out to find as opposed to them finding you fools nobody.
To the casual observer this may seem a bit harsh but myspace is the arse end of music promotion. You may be a very unique and talented muscian but you're putting a barrier up for any web user with however many billion web pages out there to browse.
Forget about charging for your music and stick phat "hi-fi" mp3 files on your own website 192kbps or better. Your music has no financial value until someone is willing to pay for it.
MySpace
I don't have much time for the site, but it serves a purpose - and it'll be the first thing people will expect you to have; not doing so is a bit like walking into a business networking event and not bothering with a business card.
I wouldn't bother with a 'proper' website until demand dictates you need one, because until that point it'll rank so low on Google's algorithms it'll be as good as invisible, as well as taking a lot more time/money/effort to maintain than a MySpace page (unless you're fluent in php/html/css/photoshop etc and can offer free/cheap hosting and bandwidth, or know someone who is and will do it for free or for beer).
I don't think it screams 'Amateur' unless you make it look so - indeed many signed bands prefer their MySpace pages over their own official sites, which are then neglected: people can hear your music easily and provide feedback, and you can reach them easily in turn.
It may be ugly, but it does the job you want to at the stage you're at.
Hype Machine
Bloggers seem to prefer a decent mp3 file rather than the downloads offered on myspace. From bloggers it's a short step to the Hype Machine and a lot of quite good exposure. Last FM is as useful with both sites being specifically about music. Myspace you need, the other two are much more useful.
Edit - Clearly Myspace kicked me in the shins on the football pitch whilst I was trying to show off to that Veronica Williams from the lower sixth all those years ago. I should get over it really.
I liked your songs actually
Usually when someone sneaks in some self-publicity on here it is beyond shite, but I genuinely thought yours had something. Keep plugging away - look at the Maps chap (your kind of peer), he ended up with a Mercury nomination (and a track on Word CD!).
I am not qualified to answer your question but keep going, make your own luck and ignore the snipers.
It's not a strange time for music
It may be a strange time for the music industry, but not for music. It's still there, doing just fine.
Otherwise, what Niks said. Why should a musician be any different from a sculptor or a belly dancer or a performance artist? Why do undiscovered musicians - unlike the undiscovered sculptors, belly dancers and performance artists I've known - always give the impression that their music somehow deserves the world's attention? It's an astonishing conceit, if you think about it, but a very common one.
Thought for the day: Statistically speaking, the number of musicians who can make a living solely out of expressing themselves through their music (rather than earning the bulk of their income from doing cheesy advertising jingles and radio idents) are rarer than Premier League footballers. Most kids stop deluding themselves that the call from Sir Alex is only a matter of time by about the time they hit the age of 14. So why do musos persist with the belief that - if only they can find the right outlet to promote themselves - they'll be headlining Glastonbury within the next two years?
(This isn't aimed at stickboymusic particularly; it's more a general observation.)
It's a fact
At some point in the last ten years the number of people wishing to rock began to exceed the number of people who wished to be rocked *at*.
The thing that drives the music business is not the appetite of the public or the desire of music companies to make money. It's the endless desire of would-be musicians to build some sort of career out of making music. The average footballer can make himself happy playing football in the park. He doesn't much care whether anyone comes to see him. Not so the musician.
When I used to work for VH1, every time there was an office party a bunch of (usually) blokes would get together and offer themselves as the entertainment, as if the party would not be complete unless there was some bunch of blokes from the accounts department doing "Don't Stand So Close To Me". I used to point out that I won the English Reading and Speaking prize at school but I wasn't planning to treat the gathering to my rendition of Wilfred Owen's Strange Meeting. Because that WOULDN'T BE ANYONE'S IDEA OF FUN. Much like your band.
I was watching the American version of The Office recently. One of the staff was planning a wedding and invited Kevin's band to play. For the only time in the series Kevin's eyes misted over and he said "You won't regret it."
Dunno
Actually David, people do like music. People do actually enjoy a bit of live music in the pub or the dreadful office pickup band at the Christmas do. The musicians are obviously playing because they want to, but also because most of the other people want them to too. Basic economics says if there is unlimited supply but no demand everything will come to a standstill. There are plenty of musicians who play for fun (the equivalent of the park footballer) and they enjoy it and so does everyone else. What's not to like?
The operative word is "fun"
If those strapping on the battered Fender Jag do so thinking, "We hope you'll enjoy listening to this" rather than "This deserves to be listened to, and you'll do I suppose", all is well. All too often it's not.
Indie is killing music. (Now there's a Word t-shirt slogan.)
The key difference
I can see DH's point that 'just because you can, you should' isn't always welcome, ie if the band from accounts bore the work's Christmas do with weak compositions or too niche a style or play at an inappropriate volume. But if a group of guys you know from work get together and play common-denominator classics for 30 minutes - after rehearsing for a decent period - then it would add to an occasion.
Footballers v Musicians
The difference between Premiership footballers and 'Premiership' musicians is that when you watch a football match, especially live, you realise that you are nowhere near as good as professional footballers, but there are many drummers and lyricists out there better than the guys in U2 and Coldplay, for instance. This point alone keeps people going.
Also, people in hobby bands get asked by their friends: so you're in a band, have you got a CD out/are you playing live/play us a song? They don't say: so you play football, who do you play for I'll come and watch/hoping to get scouted?/show us some skills. There is an expectation of musicians by others that they are doing this to be discovered, not for the enjoyment of playing.
Yabbut. . .
How many musicians who are not (a) in tribute or novelty bands or (b) aged over 30 do you know who are not more concerned with being discovered than just having (and if anybody wants to watch, giving) a good time?
It's the knee-jerk presumption that their music deserves to be recognised as being Dead Important by those who hear it because it's certainly Dead Important to those who play it that I find quite bizarre, when compared with all other forms of creative or recreational endeavour, from bottom-drawer novelists to orchid growers.
well...
....all valid points i do think.
The myspace thing has been very useful, and whilst there are a lot of random bands on my friends list, the list did also grow by itself... i guess following one of my songs being used on a national tv commercial and then having a track featured on "gossip girl" on US tv.....
I dont see why the page takes so long to load ive never had anyone say that before? the only thing on there is a few small banners and a player widget thing so maybe you are using dial-up? in which case it will be slow.
So you think an actual band website is worthwhile? from what i can gather form asking people.... if they want to find you they will use myspace.
ANd reviews yes... i have had a fair few reviews, i just tend to post them in blogs and stuff rather than on my page - maybe i should put them on there too.
annnyywaayy im not really expecting to "make it" just based on myspace and i guess the original topic was more about self releasing and the need/demand for it, cd over itunes etc
x
not a strange time
You are spot on there Archie.
The music industry has of course changed so much and I don't think it is such a bad thing.
The really good musicians, writers who have genuine talent will truly be able to call themselves "artists" now.
The question is, if you do have real talent, will the cream still rise to the top, without some big record company help along the way??
The answer I guess is, time will tell.
From a an older music listener/lovers point of view, discovering new music doesn't really affect me anymore because so much most of the music I listen to or discover is usually older stuff, music that has already long ago been released that I get hear about through word of mouth, reviews etc.
I wish stickboymusic all the luck in the world.