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1. DID VIDEO KILL THE RADIO STAR?

When it comes to film the answer is yes. Movies (and later television) replaced radio decades before and the smart actors and performers made the 'jump'.  But when it comes to indie musical artists it’s a resounding HECK NO! You have to find radio airplay time if you’re going to be heard and we’re not just talking the local college campus. The trick is called promotion. Now that doesn’t mean you just put your press kit in an envelope with a demo and hope they take pity on you. Perhaps you call a station and they give you the standard pitch of, “Send it and if we like it we’ll put you in rotation.” After a few months of never hearing your music, you automatically think you’re not worthy.

First, don’t buy that. You’re one of hundreds, maybe even thousands depending on your city. Your disc will probably end up in the trash or, for more enterprising DJ's, on Ebay in a one-cent CD sale. If you want to be heard and make potential sales, you have to stand out from the crowd and here’s how:

• Get your CD into the right hands. The intern that’s too busy to getting coffee or typing up a report for the station manager isn’t going to be the one making the airplay decision. So find out who the head honcho is in that department and touch base with them. If the club you’re playing at charges an admission or you have a show coming up offer to send the stations tickets to give away to listeners. Now keep in mind you can’t give the tickets to the staff, since that’s illegal and called payola, but you can offer free giveaway items to your potential audience.
• If you’ve got one station in your pocket, then drop names. Let them know that WABC is playing your music and it’s getting a great response.
• Make genuine friends in the business. If you’ve got a disc jockey that’s got you in rotation and really likes your sound, get to know them. Find out why they enjoy it and see if they’ve gotten any responses from listeners. If they haven’t, ask if perhaps they might Q & A their callers about your music so you get a feel for your target audience. It’s not a bad idea to ask them for a testimonial or quote if they’re well known in your area if you know them personally. People help people. That’s a fact so if you treat your area disc jockeys like a living and breathing human and not dollar signs, that’s a foot in the door. Another good source is club owners. If they play your music and the fans go nuts ask them to say a few words about your sound that you can pass along to prospective stations, but be sure to sit down for a drink with them. Ask them about the picture of him and the woman and two kids behind the Magic Kingdom. Don’t be fake, but be genuinely interested.
• Network. Find out if someone you know (or someone they know) has connections to the music stations. Remember six degrees of separation - you’re only six people away from knowing anyone on the planet and yes that includes station managers, concert promoters and record execs. The trick is it takes a great deal of work and time, but if you’re serious, it’s well worth it.
• Go local, state, national. Don’t think you’re going to skip your local and state stations and be the next Matchbox Twenty. It doesn’t work that way.  Start small and then get big.

Making contacts and getting names is tough so that’s why you should start with programs like The Industry Yellow Pages - Music Industry Contact Directory at http://www.musiccontracts101.com/docs/products/005/index.html. The IYP is helpful and loaded with contacts you can start using immediately without doing all the legwork yourself

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2. COMMON MISTAKES AT ‘FIRST CONTACT’ WITH EMAIL

From record execs to the press to your local DJ there are common mistakes that artist make when they first query people in the industry via email. For the cost of your Internet connection, you can contact people on the other side of the ocean or just down the street. Why pay Uncle Sam postal fees when you can make the same contact via email?  Here are a few pitfalls you should avoid and tips to follow:

1. No Mass Mailing. Be sure to use the blind carbon copy (BCC) field for the addresses. It makes you look like a spammer and that’s if it doesn’t end up in the junk folder of your target’s email account.
2. Too MUCH information. When you’re making your first query – be it to a club for a nightly gig or a reporter to do a story – don’t tell them everything that’s happened to you since birth. Cut to the chase folks. Tell them who you are, what you play and a link where they can listen to your sound. Ask if you can send them a demo tape. Remember K.I.S.S – Keep it simple stupid.
3. Subject Line. It’s there for a reason other than to say ‘Hi’ so use it correctly by stating what you have to say in 5 words or less. No caps and no punctuation either. Some spam catchers might dump you by mistake.
4. Letter length. If your letter is more than three paragraphs cut it down to two, preferably one, total. Now isn’t the time to tell them how wonderful you are. You’re just making a first contact at this point.
5. No HTML. People in this business don’t have time for ‘fancy.’ They want facts and they won’t wait around for the picture of your CD to load.
6. Spell checker. The spell checker is your friend – use it.
7. Contact Information. Even if you put this information in the body make sure to include your name, website and email address at the bottom. You have no idea how annoying it is to search for this information in the text so make it easy on them. Yet another reason to do this is that sometimes ‘reply’ doesn’t work. If the message gets bounced back to them they’re much more likely to just copy and paste the address and try again than to hunt through the email in the hopes you have it elsewhere.
8. Websites. If you email and tell someone, “Check out my website!’ and all they get is a ‘COMING SOON’ notice realize you just wasted 5 minutes (and a possible lead) you’ll never get back. Another killer is having a site that appears to be built by a sixth-grade computer class or a site with no information except how to buy your CD. Wanna be taken as a professional? Spend a couple hundred bucks and LOOK like a professional. That doesn’t mean you have to have $5,000 website with Flash or Fireworks on every page. It should only ‘look’ like you care enough about your music that you want your site to reflect that. ‘Clip-art’ bands equals clip-art music. Sorry, but image can mean everything sometimes.
9. Attachments. Don’t send MP3 or attachments. Go with body only messages. With so many viruses and threats out there most folks will just nuke the email and not bother replying.

Artists have so many hurdles to get over so don’t kill your chances right at the starting blocks. Just remember to be short, polite and informative. Make your first contacts pleasant ones for everyone.

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3. PLEASE MR. POSTMAN – TIPS ON POSTCARD DIRECT MAILING

The web is great for promoting, but not everyone has time to surf so you need to hit your markets directly. Direct mailing comes in four basic forms – flyer, newsletter, brochure and postcard. The postcard is by far the cheapest in terms of postage and production. When building your postcard consider what catches your eye when you go to your mailbox. Pay attention to layout and color schemes. If you’ve ever wondered why most companies use red, blue and white in their advertising it’s because these colors in particular catch people’s attention (notice how Pepsi Cola uses all three.) The front should be captivating, but don’t forget the back as well. Be sure to pique your reader’s interest on the back of the card so it doesn’t end up in the garbage automatically.

Postcards can be used as mailings to clubs, record stores, fan lists – just about anyone that you want to get the word out about your product. They should be informative as possible and the less words you use the better. The disadvantage is you have a limited space depending on what size card you’re using, but with an eye catching graphic and a testimonial can help raise your sales. Once you have your artwork finished look into sites like www.1800postcards.com or www.vistaprint.com. Both sites are affordable and often run specials so you can get even larger discounts.

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4. HOW TO START A BAND NEWSLETTER

We’ve mentioned it as a marketing tool, but this give a bit more detail into how to go about it. First, there are tons of different providers out there that can send out your email newsletter. Some are expensive while other like cafepress.com allow you to make one free if you sell products through them. Although this isn’t EVERYTHING you could do it is a good starting place.

• Define the letter – is it going to be strictly about your band or other acts in your genre? You might be able to pick up other readers/listeners who weren’t aware of your music, but know other acts if you go broader.
• Develop a schedule. Are you going to do it daily, weekly, monthly? Whatever you choose doesn’t matter. The most important part is to stick to it.
• How much content? Are you going to have one page or six pages? Try to make the content the same size each issue.
• K.I.S.S – Yet again, keep it simple stupid. That means staying on topic and writing in a tone that’s both understandable and friendly.
• Ask for reader feedback. Perhaps someone might have an idea for a new feature or they have a hot news tip. Always answer your reader’s requests and emails regardless of if you use their idea or not.
• Keep copy short and in the active voice. Avoid passive words if you can and give your articles some kick. You’re writing for people, not Harvard educators so keep your tone one that people will enjoy looking at each week. 
• Extra set of eyes. Always have an extra set of eyes look over everything you send out. Even here, at musiccontracts101.com, we have someone look the pages over for typos, spelling, grammar, etc. You want to inform people, but you also want to come off as intelligent when you do it.

A newsletter is not a difficult feat, but it is time consuming. If you lack the time and skills then hire someone to do the task or see that your manager and/or promoter informs your followers of all the news they need to know.

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