Save Your Band Money

Music promotion, having a plan and knowing the business of independent music makes the difference when it comes to being successful in today's indeoendent music industry.

You may have recorded a dynamite CD that sounds great! However if no one is paying attention, radio doesn't know you exist, and the CD's are just sitting around your apartment gathering dust it doesn't matter what you sound like. If this is you, chances are you have made one of the three common mistakes that many bands/artists make when breaking into the music business.

Mistake #1 You spend every last cent you had on making a top quality CD. You hired the best engineers and studio help that you could afford. You rented the best studio and equipment you could. It sounds logical, spend the money to make the best CD you can.

Unfortunately, failing to budget for promotions, including radio promotions' is one of the biggest mistakes that talented musicians make. They see the CD as the end product when in actuality it is just one piece of the puzzle' one part of the overall roadmap to success in the independent music business. Before you hit the studio to record, you need to find someone with experience in the music business, experience helping to plan and develop your music career goals. Part of this plan will be promotion; namely a manager. Any decent independent musicians manager won't hesitate to bring the bands credit card into play as they are ultimately accountable. Financially, it's their neck on the line, not that of the independent musician.

Mistake #2 One of the most tragic mistakes that a manager can make is signing a contract that relinquishes their bands publishing rights. Before signing any contract, especially those dealing with publishing rights, ensure that your manager speaks with an entertainment/contract attorney. Mistakes at this stage in your career can carry far reaching consequences. A penny saved today on attorney fees can cost you a fortune down the road when your song hits the top of the charts and you find out you no longer 'own' it.

Mistake #3 Self Promotion. You have a great CD, you own the publishing rights now you are going to get radio to play your music. So you get a list of radio stations and their addresses and you send them a copy of your CD. You include a nice 8x10 glossy picture and a brief bio of the band. Then you wait...and wait...and wait... and you don't get played on the radio.

Don't be surprised as well over 95% of all independent releases that cross a music director's desk never get heard. There are just too many to listen to and to little time. You have to be able to get a music director's attention - right away - or risk never being reviewed for airplay. You really need to find someone that has connections within the music-radio industry. If you want to be heard. There is so much more to getting radio to play your music then sending them a CD. A good promotion company or manager has spent years cultivating a relationship with key radio personnel. These people, music directors, trust a promoter to supply them with quality music. It is this trust, this relationship, that makes a promoter so valuable to an artist and so necessary.

So if you are an artist or a group that is trying to get your career moving in the right direction in the music business, avoid these costly mistakes and you will be miles ahead of those that don't.

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