[left.htm]
|
If you have been reading my column regularly, I hope you have your demo or maybe even a full length 10-12 track CD ready to go. One of the biggest mistakes bands make is they record a CD and think because it is good it will get radio play and get written up in the trade magazines. Although it is many bands’ dream to put out their own album, that is only the beginning! A lot of artists make this mistake. You must hire a few professionals to help get your effort out into the marketplace and start a buzz about your band. The three most important parts to a bands success once they get their album out is: 1) a radio promotion company or individual, 2) a P.R. firm that gets your name into the press both on TV radio and print and 3) a band manager who knows the record business and can help guide you through business side of music. A manager simply works on a commission basis and I have seen managers get anywhere between 15 and 25 percent of a band's income. The other two entities cost money and are very important to the success of the CD. A radio promotion company has a lot of relationships with program managers at many radio stations. With all of the albums that radio stations get every day (some stations receive more than 100 CDs daily), it is naïve to think that they will play your music out of all the known and unknown artists' efforts they receive. A radio promotion firm will handle a region or maybe even the whole country and they will get you airplay on a number of radio stations. The more connected and well respected the firm, the more they will charge you. Some radio promotion firms specialize in secondary stations and some even concentrate on college and Internet radio. It is almost essential to get some radio airplay to bust through and be noticed by the major labels. A PR firm just gets your name in the media whether it be television, radio, print or the Internet. It is their responsibility to get your name out to the public. These services are not cheap, but they are the key to jumpstarting your success. Many independent record labels will do these thing for you but it is a catch-22 in that even the small labels are looking for bands that already have a local buzz going. My suggestion is that when you get your CD pressed, you begin seeking local or regional PR and radio promotion companies that will just work a small area to start and, as some money comes in, you can gradually cover more territory. It is very different with the Internet these days, so there are new ways all the time to get your "15 minutes of fame" to get in the door, but these practices are all very viable in today’s music business. SPEED LIMIT and JT Records wants to wish all of the DaBelly family a Happy New Year and a very prosperous 2010. You can contact me at the locations below. Keep on rockin’, Keith T Return to DaBelly.com
|
