what do you do to promote your band?

me
i'm a flyeraholic i make tons of flyers
spam message boards
rip names from guest books and spam them

free cds usually get my attention

we give out a shit ton of freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee cd's at shows record stores

i attach time released packages packed with flyers and demos to pigeons and send them out to do my bidding. watch the skies bitches!

tried that already

Go to lots of shows and start talking to complete strangers about music. Having your wife help out helps alot too. Make business cards with your website address and contact numbers helped us out alot. We used to pass them out Nile, Origin, etc..Make sure your band logo is on it though.People always hold onto business cards.

Business cards are key, so is flyering. Direct contact with the public will provide much better results than anything else. That's my experience. Most people that read stuff on the internet will remain in front of their computers when it's time for shows.

business cards hmmm i am gonna have to look into that

i have done the passing shit out at shows

good point on the interweb thing



Siberian said:

business cards are gay...
I loose them or destory they before they are ever used.
non-paper stickers is the way too go. everyone loves stickers.

I guess the main thing is just to figure out what piece of your band you're promoting. The inter-web idea is great if you're trying to sell CDs or get kids to download your music but if you're trying to get kids to shows, you need to hit the streets. It's a marketing major's dream project if you want to impress your teacher (that's what I did for a marketing project).

We just played with Skinless up here in VT and we flyered/hand billed for a week before the show and that's honestly what brought the kids in. We sold out 242 main, the place was insane, we haven't had a show like that up here in years! Also, we're just experimenting at this point, I thought, if the flyers go up too soon kids will forget about the show. If they don't go up in time kids will have already made plans. It's a pain in the ass but the payoff for this one was well worth it!

were working on stickers

but i'm really talking about promoting shows!! getting carcass' standing with their arms folded in front of the stage waiting to be impressed or somthing

i have been doing this for a long fucking time and i'm looking for new ideas to get warm bodies into the club

i had this idea of bands networking each other by e mailing their flyers of their shows each other to be printed and distroed in different regins of the state, but most bands won't help other bands support each other by cross promoting

cross promoting through emails rarely helps.. if anything, both bands lose a good group of people on their email list for sending out extra emails their fans don't care to receive... at least that's been my experience...

handing out stickers & CDs at shows is def. the best idea. CDs are the top priority because if someone hasn't heard your band before they can through a CD and decide if they like you and want to see you live. Noone can hear your band from a flyer. Inserting a 1/4 page sized flyer & a sticker into the discs' sleeve and handing them out at Palladium & Avalon style big metal shows & larger profile local band shows is the best way to go.

Another thing is to make use of college radio & metal specialty shows on commercial radio... if a college station has a good metal show going (or even a not so good one) getting airplay on them can really increase your fanbase.. some have the option of playing live which creates another performance opportunity as well. Metal DJs on college stations can really be plugged into their college's metal crowd and scene and are a great support down the road too.

Do something special anytime you can to draw fans into coming back to another show to keep thing fresh - promote new songs, special guest players for your set ( a good way to cross promote is having other singers from bands you love share a song with you onstage and visa versa), special giveaways at shows, coupons for discounted admission to shows, etc.

I could go on forever.. the more creative you can be the better.

when i say cross promoting i mean send an e mail with a flyer

say raising kubrick who live up north send me a flyer i live on the south shore i print it out and then distro it around my area, they do the same for my band both bands get coverage in an area they wouldn't normally be able to reach

cross promoting

i help them they help me
both bands get flyering in areas where they can't reach with out going out of their way it's a win win

SinPromos said:

ahh I got ya. Yeah that's a killer idea. I actually tried putting together a network of bands to do that for eachother in different areas of the state, but everyone seems too lazy to help eachother.. they just want to get and not give. We used to do it with a band who's friend of ours that we'd do double-sided flyers, each side promoting one band & their shows..and then both hand them out all over the place.. it helps when other bands have someone who works at a print shop so you can both get free flyers no problem. I think a lot of bands problems in doing that is sometimes the money it costs to make up flyers maybe? I dunno... if anyone wants to do that with Trauma Cocnept we're down.. but we have no shows coming up right now cuz 2 of them got cancelled...

the_reverend said:

Maybe your gay? We used to pass out stickers with the card's so there Almighty Reverend...