I have to give a lecture about "the changing face of music marketing" to the local songwriter's guild as a result of my current employment.

Anyone have any sage advice?

I have heard the internets are important.

Show us what you have so far and we can tack onto it/streamline it.

No really. Don't forget about th' innerwebs either.

Important steps for marketing your indie band, 2008:


1. Focus on obtaining a band name that is in season. Last year it was "wolf", The year before that, "black". This year it's apparently "vampire". Why not cover all the bases and go with The Black Vampire Wolves on the Mountaintops, if it isn't already taken.

2. Even if your band has no musical talent, don't let that stop you. Try hard to gain notoriety by using the following time honored methods:

- get into a fight with someone more famous than you
- obtain a drug habit, cause trouble, then alert the media immediately each time it happens. rehab as needed, make sure photographers are around when you fall off the wagon.
- date someone prettier than you (models are an excellent choice, fledgling movie starlets are also good, also movie or video directors are fantastic for your career)

3. The sounds of the 60's are back in vogue again so hop on that train STAT. Pitchfork is currently in love with these type of bands like The Fleet Foxes, so you would do well to adopt a psychedelic hippie sound with four-point harmonies immediately.

4. Do promotional work that focuses on getting hipster music blogs to update your band's every move to ensure name recognition with the masses. Give tons of worthless swag as needed. (see Spank Rock, Louis XIV, Simian Mobile Disco, and Justice for the blueprint to your success).

5. Ironic t-shirts are also a great way to get yourself known, just make sure your band's look handmade and are slightly childish so they are "authentic" looking enough for the fashion-conscious hipster. Tip: Having them put together by prison inmates or physical rehabilitation patients would ensure shoddily made shirts as they have poor quality control methods in place. Remember though, the ultimate goal is to get an up and coming actor or actress to wear your shirt on tv, thus prompting millions of people to look up your band on myspace immediately afterwards.

6. Make sure your frontman (or frontwoman) has a unique ethnic identity. Half-Japanese was good for awhile but now is kind of played out. Sri Lanka is hot. Maybe getting a tribe member from Papua New Guinea wouldn't hurt?

7. Tour. Tour. Tour. It doesn't matter if you're playing a local community college or someone's basement. Just get out there and play for an undiscerning crowd, then sell drugs after the show to cement your popularity and attract a small but devoted following.

8. Minor Awards. Aim for these and notch them under your belt. Be sure to play up the fact that your band was the west conference regional champions of the open song competition and reindeer BBQ at the small, but critically important Finlandic music festival in Uusikaupunki last winter.

Take a page from the Jill Sobule playbook and find 1000 True Fans

People like free.

do not under any circumstances make music that will be worth a damn in ten years.

I would probably try to formulate a good point or two around the change in control. Instead of labels having a pretty good grip on what gets out where (because they funded it, and it cost a shitload), now any shitty band can have a myspace page and stream their music. Also, if you made a video that was good (read; funny, usually) and it caught on with Youtube, there's now nothing to stop a buttload of people from viewing it and looking you up.

Control = diversified
Costs = down
Field = crowded

South Pacific wins at life.

- Social communities like MySpace
- Direct connections with the band (through, e.g., emailing lists and websites)
- Viral marketing (Oatmill?)
- Street Teamers (alas)
- Out-of-the-norm appearances (e.g. A Fine Frenzy -> CSI; Aimee Mann -> Buffy, etc.) -- just giving stuff to people to talk about, keeping the name "current"

you should just poop in a box

(that's my solution to everything)

Yeah DC brings up a good point - Radcliffe may inform me I'm wrong, young and myopic, but it seems like you didn't have indie-esq bands doing tv commercials not all that long ago, like you see now. Wilco - VW, BOH - Ford, Whatsisnuts - Outback Steakhouse...

Don't forget these buzzwords:

Out of tune female singer that smokes too many cigarettes = chanteuse

band that can't agree on a rhythm for a song = art-damaged

whiny "introspective" music = matured sound

I think most people who work in marketing listen to either Dave Matthews or Lifehouse.

Still better than rooting for Notre Dame. About which -- I see the Cowboys's star & Spurs', well, spur, in your blogvertising avatar, but where is the drunken leprechaun of south bend??

This went well tonite. I used all of your suggestions, thank you.

If it's an internship, quit.

They will remain my own silent shame.

^i just found the best post^

That was a great post, but I'm scared to know what you were searching for when you came across it.

wolf shirt >> comments >> older thread>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>pooping in boxes