Promoting your record - what I learned while promoting my own!

[TristezaOrange]

Hello, KvR. During the summer I released my (essentially) debut LP
on Bandcamp (and later, through a distributor, on iTunes, Amazon etc).
I came to KvR for advice on promoting it and I decided to put all the advice
into use and see the results. It was definitely an interesting experiment:
the cost wasn't too high and while it took me quite some time to put everything
into action, it wasn't exhausting or anything.

For the benefit of you, the reader, I will present some of the lessons I have
learned from the whole experience. Keep in mind that my record wasn't going to be too popular anyway, since it is mainly 60s-influnced pop with some electronic tracks/elements.

Here we go:

1. You know what they say about familiarity and contempt? Well, they are spot-on. Not a single person from my circle of friends, family and acquaintances bought a copy of the record. Even worse, when given redeem codes for downloading the record from Bandcamp for free, NOT ONE even bothered to download the record for free. Now, I still love them all - but it is a bit maddening. I guess that they find it impossible that the person they were raised with would
write a pop masterpiece (and they are right, he didn't) but in their place I would at least bother to download the copy and see what he put 5 years of work into.

2. DO NOT PUT YOUR TRACKS FOR PLAYS ON JANGO RADIO AIRPLAY. You will not get any results. You will get some "fans" that will never bother with you again. It is a waste of money. Trust me, it is not worth it.

3. If you're going to sign up with a distributor service, I would advice that the best company to do it with is Mondotunes.com by far. One-time release fee (I used to release my tracks through Tunecore but they require a yearly fee which, depending on the quantity you are selling, may or may not be worth it).
Mondotunes also prepares some markering material for you (for an extra fee) which on its own will not help you make any sales but at least you get a nicely-presented press release for your record. Do not expect
anything more and you'll be OK.

4. DO NOT do a promotion of your page on Facebook. Again, like Jango, you will get some (a lot, actually) of fans of questionable origin (I have nothing against Chile but come on- how come almost every fan I got during the promotion was from Chile? Am I Big in Chile?)

5. Back to the Bandcamp redeem codes: I have given about 300 of those things around: my family (as mentioned above), to friends, I left some in the gym I'm working out and at various shops around town as well as to patients
of mine I thought would be interested. About 40 of those redeem codes were used.

6. I sent an e-mail to the cultural office of my municipality to announce the release of the record and ask if it could be included in the local press release. They didn't even get back to me.

7. Kindness and recognition can come from anywhere: I posted my album on the forums of a totally non-music-related site after someone asked "Show us what you have made lately" and I got some purchases and very kind words from those guys. So don't be afraid to post your music in a lot of places, if there's an opportunity. Otherwise don't be an asshole spammer!

7. This is the best lesson I've learned and it was right here, as a signature in a member's posts: Do not be bitter, be better.

It was a bit sad for me watching the result of five years of work going (essentially) unnoticed (total number of albums sold = 5 but my livelyhood doesn't depend on that so it's not a real problem) but I should have expected that an album of music that's almost completely outside the current trends wouldn't set the charts on fire. If someone really wants to sell a lot of
music, then he/she should make commercial-sounding music that fits within the current climate. Otherwise, there's no excuse to be bitter, sad
or disappointed!


Hopefully this helps someone. Any questions, let me know!

[Loki Fuego]

Thank you for sharing your experience!
From my own experience, it takes a lot of time in order to build at least some recognition. and putting out the whole LP would probably result in nothing. I did the same about 10 years, but released it for free. The result was similar to yours. I've got only around 1000 downloads.

[4damind]

Very interesting and some similar results with eg. Jango.. Dozens of new fans but no interacting because the complete mail/message system they implemented is crap.
This also a bit the message I got from the support after I ask why the interaction is not working as expected...

Have you tried the promotion package from Mondotunes?

[Totolitoto]

Makes me think of something.
I love experimenting with sound design and a few months back I did some dubstep bassloops that I decided to sell against a small donation.
I sold 5 packs.
Here comes the great part. Some asshole bought the pack made a big crappy track out of it, named is accordingly (knee b*tch, or something...) and posted on soundcloud.
1000 listen in 2 days! Crazy...
And he eventually decided to sell the samples he used for the track

Yeah sometimes I think I miss something, but if it means behaving like that...

Ok , didn't want to hijack your thread

[topaz]

its no fun is it

[Bronto Scorpio]

An interesting, and quite open post about sales on Bandcamp on AI.

"...and another little spike from KvR, where someone mentioned the album in the "what I'm listening to" meta-thread" I guess that was me

Cheers
Dennis

[foosnark]

Not a single person from my circle of friends, family and acquaintances bought a copy of the record. Even worse, when given redeem codes for downloading the record from Bandcamp for free, NOT ONE even bothered to download the record for free.

I've had the same experience. If I share music among my friends, maybe three of them will download it. There is a lot of "I was meaning to listen to that but it wasn't a good time when I saw your post and then I forgot."

I understand that though. My dad is a photography nut; he loves going on road trips, hiking and taking pictures of every damned thing and turning them into slide shows. But I don't want to sit through it all. My wife is a writer, and though I love a good book, I don't particularly want to read every unfinished paragraph she wants me to look over. My brother's an illustrator, but all his hard work elicits a "that's cute" or "cool" from me at most.

I used to sell CDs; I'd have 100 copies of my albums duplicated, inserts printed, and plastic cases. I sold out of my first album eventually, and did better than break even on the next couple of them (if you count duplication costs, not gear or my time). But I had a very focused target audience -- I was making music for a pagan group I was part of. I had no competition, but there was little appeal to anyone outside the group.

Once I moved on to more general themes, I only retained a handful of fans among that group and picked up very few new ones. All my music is free now, but it's less popular than the music I once sold.

On a few forums or contests or during things like NaSoAlMo where feedback is encouraged, I tend to hear some nice things -- a very, very small ego boost I suppose.

I basically have to deal with the fact that the person who enjoys my music most, the person it really means something to, is me.

[Zombie Queen]

Interesting read. I'm relieved to hear Facebook is pointless, it's something I haven't tried yet and I was skeptic about it, but it has sort of hype of a place to be.

To add some of my experiences. I used to experiment with LastFM paid 'air'-play in very small amount. It seemed it had no visible effect. However some years later, it turned out I bought a fan, as I found out in a conversation with someone, who found me on soundcloud. It wasn't a paying fan, but still, I think, it was worth it.

Also I have been trying out theequalground.com, which is kind of review site, where you pay a little to get your work reviewed. I've got quite long waiting time, in which I almost completely forgot about it, quite favorable rating, quite confusing bit of written word and 99% no audience effect. I admit, it must have been quite smart idea to run such site.

[ntom]

Hopefully my Podcast can garner atleast a few fans or maybe a sale or two for you
....just got to find a couple more contributors to it.....

[nickamandote]

in other words music won't make your rich or famous. it's all about the enjoyment of creating something cool from nothing.

[foosnark]

in other words music won't make your rich or famous. it's all about the enjoyment of creating something cool from nothing.

How about: creating something cool (from one's own point of view) from a bunch of expensive gear (which was also enjoyable to collect and play with).

[Zombie Queen]

in other words music won't make your rich or famous

Yes, it's unlikely. But it's a challenge.

it's all about the enjoyment of creating something cool from nothing

In which case, why press the record button? You can often hear, that it's all about fun and making it just for yourself and the like. If such statement comes from someone who's sharing his creations over the internets, I don't believe it. It's sort of justifying your defeat before the game even starts, weak attitude.

[nickamandote]

as long as there is enjoyment in what you do, fans and fortune are not no.1 on the list

[ariston]

it's all about the enjoyment of creating something cool from nothing

In which case, why press the record button? You can often hear, that it's all about fun and making it just for yourself and the like. If such statement comes from someone who's sharing his creations over the internets, I don't believe it. It's sort of justifying your defeat before the game even starts, weak attitude.

Harshly put, but I agree. I know one guy who professes to be content with his musical lot, which is that he's a really really awesome and talented guitar player, but he never plays for other people because doing so "taints" his music. Not sure if I believe him, but hey - almost everybody else wants to be heard, right? Acclaim and adoration may not be on the top of everyone's lists, but getting noticed and receiving some sort of resonance surely is.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, TristezaOrange, it was an interesting read! Makes we want to check out your album (and that was your REAL intention, right? just kidding...).

[andrew71]

It's interesting to read your experiences. Mine are quite similar. I have one very enthusiastic friend who loved my album and bought a couple of copies for his friends, plus the occasional sale on iTunes, Amazon or eMusic.

I did get a decent number of video views for one of my tracks by posting it onto the Synthtopia Facebook page, but then that's how an awful lot of people are consuming music these days. Why bother buying it when you can just stream it for free?