Music Marketing

In order to be considered for work through entertainment agency, you need to get on their books. Most respectable agencies have a list of requirements they need from you. These things are generally common to most agencies:

CD demo
Demo should be no longer than 5 minutes in total and should include 5-7 segments of varying song styles. For example, a jazz piece, a ballad, a rock and roll or soul piece and a top 40 piece. Make this relevant to the type of music you are providing. Each piece should be approximately 20 - 30 seconds long, perhaps incorporating a verse & chorus or intro & chorus etc.

Band Biography or Artist Resume / CV
Your resume should be printed in a clear and easy to read layout and should briefly outline the highlights and current status. If you choose to mention details about each member, aim to keep each entry to 50 words or less if possible.

Sales Pitch & Band Marketing
Write a brief statement promoting the positive aspects of your act. Direct this to your prospective clients. (ie. anyone who books your band will receive these). This can be included as an introduction to your resume in paragraph or point form. You need to be able to answer the questions that a prospective client would ask you (Indirectly). i.e:
• Why should I book your band over any other band?
• What does your band do that makes it special?

Other aspects to consider are:
1. Musicianship
2. Punctuality
3. Experience
4. Dress code
5. Public relations (with clients and work suppliers)
HINT: Be concise, honest and to the point.

Songlists
Categorize your repertoire into styles of music: eg: Jazz, Ballads, Rock, 90’s etc. and alphabetize each category. Remember to include the artist’s name alongside of the song. Don’t include the words “..and many more…” because clients ALWAYS ask “What other songs does the band do?” and this inevitably means you need to supply a more detailed songlist. (If you do literally have hundreds of songs - list the most popular ones)

Photograph
The photograph you submit to your entertainment agent can be black & white or colour but must be of good quality. Keep in mind that a great photo can make a huge difference in the decision process of a client. (A 1/2 page photo on the same page as your resume always looks great). You may have a gallery of great photos. Don’t bombard the entertainment agent with all at once. Set a small handful and mention you have more photos if required.

Video
If you have any professional or live footage of your band or artist performance you should definitely submit this. Video has proven to be a powerful marketing tool. It helps to solve the problem of clients wanting to view bands that usually play at private functions where viewing access is difficult.

Fees & Availability
An Entertainment agent will also require a statement of your proposed band fees for a standard 4 hour call (or whatever call time you work to. If there are a few different sized working groups within your act, you should give them a breakdown and specify ie a 3 piece is $xx and a 4 piece is $yy). Supplying ALL unavailable dates that you are already booked is also very useful to an entertainment agent.

Conclusion
There is an abundance of work available in the Wedding and Corporate section of the marketplace. However, today’s market is a consumer’s market! Clients demand a great deal of information from an Entertainment agent so they’ll require the right information from you (the band or artist). If you help the entertainment agent, they’ll love you and will probably end up giving you more work.

Here’s an oldie but a goodie. Average White Band performing “Pick Up The Pieces” Live at Montreux in 1977.

Terry Prince explains how he sold 15,000 music CDs in 18 Months by playing 30 hours a month on the Santa Monica Pier. An inspiring interview! For more tips, visit TheBuzzFactor.com

In this http://www.artistshousemusic.org interview, George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse continues his Music Business 101 series with an introduction to the all-important art of marketing your music to the people who need to hear it. He discusses the concepts of attraction and retention and how they apply to your music, delves into an exploration of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and how the concepts explored therein can be reverse-engineered to your advantage, and encourages you to dig into your own values and passions to discover what it is you should be trying to communicate to your growing fan base.

In this http://www.artistshousemusic.org interview, Don Van Cleave, president of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS), offers his view on what went wrong with the music business and shares his optimism about its future.

Your trademarks (artist name, product name, group name, company name, service name, etc.) are extremely important to protect up front or you will either likely pay big bucks in the end or lose it altogether. Richard Jefferson, an entertainment lawyer based in Burbank CA, USA explains what you need to consider to protect yourself and your intellectual property. http://www.fjlawcorp.com/

Getting signed by a major is tough right now according to Richard Jefferson, an entertainment lawyer based in Burbank CA, USA. Listen to Richard’s commentary about the state of the recording industry, current trends and alternative ideas for you to persue. http://www.fjlawcorp.com/

Michael Laskow, CEO of A&R company TAXI shares a secret about how to make your act instantly signable. Be prepared though… cos it may not be the answer you wanted to hear!

Michael Laskow, CEO of A&R company TAXI shares his knowledge about what it takes to be successful as a musician in today’s world:

Here is a simple checklist for effective band promotion, if you want to capture some of the corporate entertainment and wedding entertainment event market:

• A catchy, relevant and memorable name always helps. It’s worth putting time into choosing a name that spells out what you do.
• A professionally recorded demo either live or studio. If your demo doesn’t sound great, then you may as well give up! Clients do have ears and they may lack the imagination to ‘picture’ what you might sound like.
• A professional designer website is a must these days. Cheesy websites with flashing backgrounds and banners are out. A MySpace page is no place to direct a potential corporate client in my opinion.
• (TASK: Think of a corporation that you would like to become a client of yours. Now go to their website and have a look. That’s what their benchmark is and that is what their event and marketing staff are looking for.) Invest in a quality website for band promotion!
• A picture paints a 1000 words. A GREAT photo is a must. Find a professional photographer and get some shots taken for your band promotion.
• Biographies are something that you need to devote some time to writing and re-writing for good band promotion. You need to mention your accolades and achievements, while also being concise and to the point. Don’t be afraid to ‘brag’ a little. Musicians are generally coy or modest in this area and need to promote themselves a little bit more aggressively.
• A professional video can really get potential clients very interested in your band. Sometimes they can call and book you just on the strength of your video. Once again, if you are serious about band promotion, you really need to give your clients this impression. Invest!
• Get some advertising. Advertising can take many forms. A great deal of entertainment bookings are transacted online. Magazines, yellow pages, newspapers can be effective although niche directories which are optimised for search engine visibility can be very cost effective. You can learn google advertising secrets through certain websites on the internet. Internet marketing is an artform in itself, so be patient and get good advice.
• Posters, flyers, postcards, direct mail, telemarketing and networking are all other forms of band promotion you can definitely worth investigation.

This list just touches the surface. I suggest further investigation into each of these areas. Good Luck!