Yesterday I posted on our blog about my current gripe with the marketing of young acts in the music industry. I had called for a renaissance of creative music marketing, utilizing new technology and innovation in conjunction with social media tools, after noticing quite a bit that young bands have been resorting to social media, which does help quite a bit with boosting initial presence but prevents them from really standing out as original artists. I wanted to continue that discussion over here and post some helpful tips, ideas and help brainstorm a bit about some other great ways to creatively promote new bands. I realize that each of these ideas won’t work for everyone, but it’s more intended to be a starting point for a discussion on other creative ideas you might have.

Let’s begin!

1) Take your street team to the next level with some innovative guerrilla marketing
As I said in my previous article, some artists are able to find a great deal of success by surrounding themselves in mystery or notoriety. In addition, these days it is nearly impossible for a band to be successful without creating a business model for that band to follow — thus you’ll need a team in place to help execute this. While you don’t need to do anything quite as elaborate as this, take advantage of your friends, fans and local contacts to help create a tight network, and innovate!

For artwork, there are so many student and amateur artists looking to get their big break like your band — there’s no need to hire an award-winning artist to do your artwork and build your website anymore. Plus, young minds are usually fresh with new ideas. Same goes with marketing and music business students. Spend some time to sit down with these people you’re working with, and really develop a unique plan to market the act to a larger audience. Creating something really unique and eye-catching will force the general population to stop and maybe check you out.

Independent bands already get their music out there by giving it away, as part of their marketing strategy. One thing that came to mind when developing an innovative marketing strategy echoes the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero example I mentioned in my last post: add some mystery to the equation! Perhaps give away your debut EP on flash drives, but add some bonus content to the mix to intrigue the listener. Hide a copy in the venue’s bathroom to see what lucky attendee picks it up. Make it into a game. The options don’t end there.

One other goldmine for marketing innovation is the artistic branding of your act. Prince was known for about 7 years as an unpronounceable symbol, which garnered him a TON of media attention. You don’t need to go that far, but creating a sort of symbol or overriding theme in your music or brand gives something to your fans to connect with, easily identify you, and could again add a level of mystery.

Boston locals and Sonicbids artists Boston Molasses Disaster do one additional cool thing: they keep track of their setlists for every show, and then post them online. This is a great way to help fans and newcomers familiarize themselves with your music. Suppose a new fan thinks, “I love these guys, especially that third song they played! But I don’t know what it’s called or anything.” He/she can then go to your website, track down the setlist and then know what to look out for at your next show.

Then, once you have this plan ready, execute it! Make sure you post some evidence in your Sonicbids EPK — not only is it good to prove that you are active and dedicated as a band, but again, these kinds of things make you stand out.

2) The EPK and the online listening party
Here at Sonicbids we talk a lot about the different possible uses of the EPK, and one idea that came up was that of an “online listening party” through the EPK. Conducting an online listening party for your next album could be quite different than a conventional one, which would require a fair amount of planning and expense. Hosting the party online is cheap and easy, and can help you gauge your fans’ interest before moving to the actual CD release party.

Since your EPK presents you in a much more professional light than, say, a MySpace or Facebook page (you’re working with promoters rather than interacting with fans), use it as a “secret base” for certain fans, and link them there to access the tracks to your new album. Then, they can contact you easily with feedback if you like, and you can later track the song plays on your EPK Stats page — a great way to see which songs are getting the most attention. You can also use it in conjunction with Twitter, to get some immediate feedback if you like, and track your buzz easily in your Sonicbids account so you don’t have to leave two windows open at once. Finally, you could also have fans share the link with their friends, so that newcomers can get easy access to your press info, upcoming gigs, and whatever other information you have posted.

3) The band pamphlet and the interactive live show
Lou here has mentioned several times the use of a band pamphlet, which you can use to give some additional info to showgoers while you play your set. You can take that to a whole new level if you want, and possibly work it into an actual element of the live performance — perhaps give the audience some of your lyrics, to engage in some fan interaction.

4) Learn some newfangled technology
I don’t know about you, but I love going to show and watching the band do something completely off-the-wall that I’ve never seen in my life. There’s something exciting about watching innovation in live music performance. A good way to take advantage of this sort of phenomenon is through music technology. You no longer need to spend thousands of dollars on dozens of synthesizers, and you no longer need the best guitar to get a great guitar tone. (This should NOT stop you from getting that guitar or bass you’ve always wanted!)

For my project taken by name, I’ve been working with a program called Max/MSP to create some tools to aid the more electronic aspects of my music in live performance. (Disclaimer: this is not for the technologically faint of heart.) I had an idea to create a massive “Max patch” to do this on my laptop and set up various instruments, controllers and other found objects to do cool things live with my music. To further this, I came up with the idea of sharing these tools and patches via my website, to:

1) allow for viewers to play with these patches themselves
2) cover/reinterpret my music with the patches, suggest some ideas
3) post new ideas for patches that I could incorporate into a live performance

It’s just an idea right now and requires the right audience and dedication, but it could be a good way to really interact with fans.

Hey, this just turned into an open forum. If you have any other creative ideas regarding music marketing, social media, or just want to share your thoughts, post ‘em here. The possibilities actually are endless.

Many college radio stations are always eager to add emerging artists, especially if you’re from the area. Almost all major colleges and universities have radio stations at this point, and each station is filled with shows spanning almost every genre imaginable. College students are always eager to help out a local band, and when there isn’t a specific show playing, you can always just get added to their regular rotation. Try getting in touch with your local college radio stations to see if they would be interested in featuring your music. Here’s a site that I found after some quick browsing that might help you get started.

Just these past few weeks, I’ve seen several local artists gain quite a bit of recognition around their respective areas (in this case, Boston) because they have been featured on college radio. One artist reached out to a friend of mine, who has a show on Northeastern University’s station, 104.9 WRBB-FM. They had never met before, but he expressed interest in coming in to the studio and playing live on-air, and in a week, they had everything planned out. The show has had several local acts pass through, simply because they asked to be on the show. Also, new bands are constantly being added to their list of recommendations to play. So go ahead and put yourself out there – get on the phone or email your EPK over to local college radio stations. The people who are listening are the ones that are particularly interested in finding new undiscovered music, and it’s always great to find a new way to get yourself out in the open.

That being said, it’s a breath of fresh air for me when I come across some truly unique merchandise. Take, for example, Get Busy Committee, a recently formed group consisting of underground hip hop stalwarts Apathy and Ryu. While they’re certainly talented, I’m not a particularly huge fan of either artist, and normally wouldn’t think twice about them. But after seeing the custom 2GB Uzi-shaped USB flash drive that comes packaged with their CD, I certainly won’t forget about them. I might even buy the album.

With so many musicians out there trying to make a living, having some unique, memorable merchandise behind you can really help to stand out and gain exposure.

When I was working in radio, I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many CDs I would receive every day. It was overwhelming, and I hate to say it, but a lot of those CDs never made it to the player. I’m sorry, but blank Memorex CDs adorned with names like the “Gwop Gettas” and “Big Dawg Billionaires” written in sharpie just didn’t seem worth my time.

However, when I received something unique, like a logo-emblazoned flash drive, messenger bag, lighter, etc., it immediately set that artist apart from the rest, and prompted me to give them a listen. Years later, I’m still using that flash drive, I’m still carrying that bag around with me for all to see, and, if it hadn’t ran out of gas, I’d still be using that lighter. I’m not saying unique merchandise was the only thing that prompted me to consider an artist, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking traditional merch like t-shirts (I own and wear more band shirts than the number of years I’ve been alive), but there are so many different directions you can take merchandise nowadays. Kanye has his own Nikes, Public Enemy has a line of action figures, Z-Trip sells his own slipmats, my roommate shoots whiskey out of 2Pac shot glasses. As I write this, my Sonic Youth coffee mug is sitting on a coaster made to look like Homicide’s 1998 CD-single “Neva Say.” Hell, my friends’ band even has their own condoms.

Some of these aforementioned items may fall more into the realm of sponsorships, and some may be a little more expensive than a struggling artist can afford to produce. And of course there’s no guarantee that merchandise will help your career at all. But my point is that getting creative with your merch gives you the potential to reach and appeal to an audience outside of your fan base, let alone within.

So where did the EP come from, who/what made it popular, and more importantly, what can it do for you–the independent musician?

Before the EP was introduced in the early 1950s, music was mostly released as the 45 rpm vinyl single or the 33 rpm vinyl LP album. Then in 1952, RCA released the “Extended Play” 45 as a competitor to the LP. The EP was still playable by the standard 45 rpm equipment, but used narrower grooves to achieve 7.5 min of playing time per side, and containing about 4-6 tracks total.

Record companies used the EP as a promotional tool to release an artist’s just-cut tracks to generate interest in an upcoming album, and also to package several radio hits onto one vinyl record for a cheaper price.

The EP, although occasionally released in the U.S., never really caught on with consumers here, but it was a big hit with music aficionados in the U.K. and parts of Europe and Asia. In the 1960s popular bands such as the Beatles , the Monkees, and Frank Sinatra all achieved major success with EP releases in the U.K. and Japan.

By the 1980s, singles were being released in formats that allowed for more than 2 tracks (think cassette tape), transforming the EP to be defined by more than just its extended playing time. A release of 4 or more tracks of equal importance became the new standard for the EP, differentiating itself from the 4-track single, which included one main hit and three accompanying songs.

Nowadays, an EP is generally thought of as having up to 36 minutes of music and around four to six tracks, and an album has anywhere from 30-80 minutes of music and about eight to twelve tracks. So who’s releasing EP’s these days? Matisyahu released his “Shattered” EP in October of 2008, and Death Cab for Cutie, Destroyer, and Modest Mouse (The Open Door EP, Bay Of Pigs EP, No One First And You’re Next EP, respectively) all released EPs in 2009.

Most importantly, as an independent artist what are the advantages of releasing an EP (as opposed to an album)? Ultimately you’ll be releasing your new music at a much quicker pace and getting your music to fans faster; since you’ll be recording fewer tracks, you’ll cut down on studio and post-production time, and get your EP out more quickly. And what fans don’t want new music sooner?

Also, professional production costs will be reduced because there are fewer tracks to record. And fewer tracks means a unified sound will be more easily achieved, which we all know is hard to do on an 8-12 track album. Plus, your shorter release will leave fans wanting more, and anticipating your next release!

And one more thing–if you’re producing your EPs for cheaper, releasing them more often, and selling just as many as you would if they were full-length albums, that results in more financial gain in a shorter amount of time.

So when’s your EP release party???

(1) Evolve
There are always the exceptions (see: Rolling Stones), but if you want a long career in music, you’ll need to continually challenge yourself to think differently than you have in the past. MJ re-invented himself through time and it was a huge reason why he was able to appeal to such a wide spectrum of people. He started with the Motown soul and R&B, danced his way through Disco with “Off the Wall,” added some rock here or there (‘Beat It’, ‘Dirty Diana’), then started trying some Gospel (Man in the Mirror, Will You Be There?). If that wasn’t enough, he beat-boxed his way through Dangerous and HIStory, the Blood on the Dance Floor featured some pretty awesome mixes for you DJs out there, and to top it off, he crooned some serious slow jams on “Invincible”(Example: ‘Butterflies’ – released over 8 years ago and still sounds like something Justin Timberlake would release tomorrow.)  With all the changes and genre bending, the most accurate way to classify Michael Jackson’s music was just “Pop” — because Popular was just about the only consistent thing.

(2) Embrace the latest innovations
Most of MJs career was before social media and all the bells and whistles of the internet, but the media that was available to him, Michael owned it, namely the music video.  No one needs to mention how innovative and cutting edge the music video for ‘Thriller’ was when a music video was a fledgling form of media, but let’s not forget just the cool stuff he did as the medium grew.  MJ holds the Guinness Book of World Records for Longest Music Video (and if you want to watch the whole thing, you can here), the morphing faces in ‘Black or White’ still look awesome, and if you haven’t watched it in a while, watch ‘Scream’ again: the video was released in 1995 (that’s over 14 year ago, folks) and doesn’t even look dated. And yes, MJ and Janet had a 7 million dollar budget, but think about the sophisticated and fairly affordable tools you can get online or at Best Buy, or the free tools you have online ready for download. And there’s always the local college, library or community center to get in touch with to see if there are any tools available for your use in case you’re not 100% ready to invest all that technology has to offer.

(3) Sometimes, you have to be a shrewd businessman
Michael may have sung and danced his way up the ladder, but he wasn’t messing around. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit. He partnered with the likes of Pepsi (although, admittedly another big love in my life besides MJ is Diet Coke) and along the way, he purchased the Beatles catalog. What can musicians learn here? 1) Read your contracts and negotiate to make sure you are protected and getting the most out of your talents and ideas, 2) don’t be afraid from the exposure a consumer brand can offer, and 3) whenever possible, make some good investments.

(4) Find your sequined glove.
By this, I mean go ahead and be a little flashy and demand some attention. Remember, you’re in show business – so it’s okay to be ‘showy.’ Don’t go outside your personality, but the last thing you want to do is hide it. Flashy can be via your clothing, or if that doesn’t feel right, do something creative to your album artwork or do a crazy Youtube video series. In business it’s called marketing, and if you want your name out there and want to get noticed, sometimes you have to be a little different.

(5) Give back.
Okay, I get it: you’re not a big MJ fan. That’s okay. But let me ask you this: are you a fan helping the planet and say, feeding hungry children in Africa? Well, then you and Michael still have something in common. When he wasn’t winning Grammys, wowing the world with his crazy dance moves, or unfortunately fighting off lawsuits, MJ was truly trying to make the world just a little bit better. Did you know that the Millennium-Issue of the “Guinness Book Of Records” named Michael as the Pop Star who supports the most charity organizations? His humanitarian awards started around May 14, 1984, when Michael was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse, but if you want to get a good idea of everything he’s done, check out the list created for the debated House Resolution 600.  Remember: giving back doesn’t have to mean money. It’s easy. Go volunteer together somewhere and post some photos to your website to share with your fans; not only will you have done something good for your community, you may inspire someone else who admires you to do the same.

Finally, a note from the author: It’s sappy and corny and I’ve talked about Micheal Jackson on-end since his death. But this is the first time I’ve actually written anything about him since and I just want to say: Michael Jackson, you made the world better in so many ways and will continue to do so with your legacy–I love the King of Pop!

When I played Rock Band the first time on my friend’s Xbox 360, I was completely addicted, but sort of jealous. I remember saying to my buddy while rockin’ out on the drums: “I wish you could play my band’s songs in this game!”

Think of all the people to whom you could potentially expose your music through a video game like Rock Band: millions of kids, adults, and fellow musicians who embrace the fake Stratocaster controller as a chance to rock out. Currently, a few bands are able to do that through the game’s “Bonus Tracks” – these are playable songs by less known, typically local acts that were lucky to make their way into the game. (Disclaimer: most of these bands have some sort of connection with the game itself, such as a singer who happened to be a game developer.)

In a couple of months, this is going to be possible for the rest of us. Harmonix (the original creators of Rock Band, also Boston-based) is going to be rolling out a public beta of their new Rock Band Network in mid-November. This is a new online community that will allow bands, producers, or avid fans of the game to construct new Rock Band tracks based on their own master recordings, and then upload them for sharing within the game. Harmonix also will provide categorization for your music using several parameters and help with promotion of user-created songs. Finally, bands will be able to set a small price ($1-3) to download their Rock Band tracks if desired, allowing for a small revenue stream.

This has huge potential as both a promotional venture and revenue stream for bands. The Rock Band series has sold over 13 million units, and players have downloaded over 50 million songs for the game. The download store has already been a huge success for major acts, with bands like Metallica releasing their full albums in the store. Bands struggling to expand out of the garage towards an international presence will be able, after some sequencing work, to share their music both in this network and the Rock Band download store.

Also, artists who publish tracks on the network will retain all rights to their songs and retain 30% of the download revenue – while this doesn’t seem to high at first, put it in the context of the above numbers, and there might be a small but worthwhile source of cash for struggling bands.

Harmonix has set up a partnership with Reaper, a cheap but powerful audio/MIDI workstation, which you can use to create MIDI tracks based on the original master tracks of your song. Once the MIDI tracks are created and synched up, bands can upload them for review and then publishing on the web. Reaper will look familiar to anyone who’s ever spent some time in the recording studio or with a synthesizer: audio tracks will display at the top of the window, with additional MIDI plugins that Harmonix will provide to convert audio data to MIDI code below. The process is sure to get tedious, but you’ll want to make sure your song sounds right in the new format, so perfection is key. The final piece of the process involves an eight-person review process to ensure accuracy & playability and prevent copyright infringement.

Adam Yoon over at Joystiq, a popular gaming website, puts it best: “The cost of entry is relatively low for what is, essentially, a new avenue of music publishing: a copy of Rock Band 2, an Xbox 360, a $99 Creator’s Club membership, and the $60 license for Reaper. For dedicated enthusiasts and professionals alike, that’s an easy price to swallow.”

Check out the landing page for the Rock Band Network for some more info here. For Adam Yoon’s in-depth look, click here. Also, check out Reaper, the MIDI workstation, at reaper.fm. Finally, check out Harmonix, the company behind it all, here.

Happy rocking!