TIPS FOR UNSIGNED BANDS 101
Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 2:41pm by Vince NeilsteinIn addition to the stuff we get in the mail and in our inboxes from record labels and publicists, we’re constantly inundated with request from unsigned band to check out their band and review their material on the site. Nothing wrong with this — personally I love sorting through them to find that one diamond in the rough. But I have to say, these bands’ pitches range from perfectly respectful to downright idiotic.
Several weeks ago “Mike” emailed us asking advice for how his friend’s metal band, talented but discouraged due to lack of recognition, could get themselves on the track to success. It’s a question we get frequently. Inspired by perhaps a bit too much coffee, I responded with a lengthy missive about what unsigned bands should and shouldn’t do, covering everything from recording to shows to press to everything in between. Below I’ve reprinted the email I sent Mike with a few minor edits. My hope is that bands can use this as some sort of a guide to get themselves on the right track. With lots of hard work, you will be noticed! And if not, well, time to perhaps consider that career in burger-flipping.
hey mike,
the short answer is “lots and lots of hard work.” that comes both on the songwriting / music side and the business side, as you’re hinting at. once the music is together, practice practice practice. 2 or 3 nights a week, minimum. get that shit tight as a motherfucker. play songs over and over instead of just jamming and writing. simulate the live setting and play a full set. do this every time you practice. then it’s time to get out and play live.
put together a promo pack — which needn’t be much more than 1 page with a short (key word SHORT — one or two paragraphs, tops) band biography and some quick facts about the band (where they’ve played, who
they’ve played with). no one wants to read your whole fucking life story about how you met in high school, played the talent show, blah blah blah. Make it quick — describe what you sound like in as few words as possible (yes, we know, you sound unique and like nothing else. you likely “blend band X and band Y for a new completely unique and fresh sound!” get over it. you probably aren’t that unique. just describe your sound and be done with it). Add a photo, preferably one that looks somewhat professional, and some music, even if it’s just a burned CD. these days lots of venues book by email, so that’s probably the best route. write a few sentences about the band and the music, what dates you’re looking to book, and include a link to where the booker can listen to music. end of story.
hometown shows are easy because your friends and family will populate the room, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll be this popular elsewhere. but if you’re going to get anywhere, you’ve got to to take the show out on the road, but the road isn’t easy. maybe your town isn’t receptive to that kind of music. use google and myspace to compile a list of every club within driving distance, and put together an excel spreadsheet or word doc with the name of venue, city, and booking contact info. any city within 2 or 3 hours drive (or more) should be added. follow the instructions for booking on the venue sites closely — otherwise you will probably be ignored. be diligent about keeping track of who you’ve contacted already and what the status of the potential booking is.
if the music is up to snuff and the venue is appropriate (keep in mind a lot of venues won’t book metal), they’ll get back to you. work out dates that are good for everyone. always make sure there are similar bands on the bill. you don’t want a metal band next to a folk band next to a country singer. of course, starting out you can only do shows on weekends. bands make this mistake all the time — you can not quit your jobs right away – in fact, not for a long time. dudes that i know in very successful bands still have to get jobs when they come home from touring. so put together a weekend that has 2 or 3 shows within driving distance of each other. do this every weekend — book 2 or 3 shows — hit the road after work/school on friday, come back late sunday night or early monday morning. it’s grueling as fuck, but the only way! make sure you promote the hell out of every show via the internet, other bands on the bill, going to the town and posting up fliers, any method possible. bottom line: if you don’t promote, no one will show up and you won’t be asked to play there again – it’s very simple, regardless of how good you are. there is no such thing as a “built in crowd” (this is a common misconception). sometimes you can get that lucky spot opening for a popular opening band, but don’t count on it. since most bands can’t afford hotels, try and hook up with other bands on the bill in advance, or friends in that city, and see if you can crash on their floor. most bands are pretty open and friendly about this kind of thing. if the venues and bands are impressed, you’ll be asked back. if you can hit these same cities once every 2 or 3 months, you’ll be in great shape, but no more frequently than that because you’ll spread your audience thin. keep doing this, and you’ll build your audience each time… it’s a long grind, but it works
be selective about which shows you take. don’t take a show at a hole in the wall bar just for the sake of playing a show. make sure it’s a good show at a good place with good bands, or else there better be
some other really good reason for doing that show (there are exceptions). don’t play in your hometown more than once every month or two — you’ll spread your audience thin and hurt your draw. if someone can see you any time, why should they come out THIS time? make it a special event. promote the fuck out of it by fliering everywhere. make your name ubiquitous.
another good method of setting up shows is trading shows with bands, or having other bands hook you up. this guarantees some audience usually, but of course the catch is that you have to return the favor in your hometown, and that band isn’t going to draw a sole in your hometown at all.
burn sampler CDs, put them in paper sleeves and give them away for free at shows. if you have nicely printed CDs and t-shirts definitely sell those, but at the beginning level it’s hard to make much money on merch most of the time. but it’s always good to have stuff to sell. bottom line: give away your music as much as possible. fuck trying to get paid for it at this level; it’s more important that people actually hear you, and the rewards will come later.
practice setting up your gear beforehand. nothing is worse than a band who takes fucking forever to set their shit up at a show. be ready when the band before you finishes… be respectful, wait for them to load off and offer to help if they need assistance carrying gear. get your shit on stage and set it up fast. 10 minutes is the most it should take. don’t fuck around on your instruments endlessly. dial in your setting BEFORE the show so you don’t need to waste time tweaking them on stage. when bands do this it looks SO unprofessional. plug in (or set up if you’re the drummer), make sure your shit works and is tuned up, put the instrument down and go wait for stage time. no fucking around or noodling. god, it is so annoying when bands wank on stage to show off their chops before playing.
make your website and/or myspace look professional. everyone knows someone who can do this… ask a friend to help.
through really, really, really hard work, the great bands rise to the top. people will take notice when you start to build a following. word catches, and it goes on from there. but it is a long grind — musical ability is rarely enough. be smart about your business as well. keep a spreadsheet or notebook in which you track your expenses and income as a band.
good luck!
-VN
A no nonsense common sense approach!! Nothing good comes for free, it takes hard work and dedication!!! Great response to “mike”.
HEY VINCE, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SHIFT KEY?
I don’t know about the “turning down shows” part. I’ve always been of the mind that you should play every show possible when you’re trying to “make it,” up until the point where you feel like you might over-saturate your local market.
Pretty good advice, and what the hell, seconded on the shift key from Sammy.
Funny note, you’d be shocked how many musicians were, in fact, flipping burgers directly before they made it big.
Vince,
Fucking spot on man. You pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as what is needed to be an active band. Clubs aren’t going to book unprofessional acts that don’t draw, and giving out music for free in the begining pretty much guarantees building of fan base and merch sales later on. The only thing I would add is to make sure that you are cool with the bands you play with, even if you don’t like their style of music. Courtesy goes a long way, and if you make a positive impression, they’ll think of you later if they have a bigger opportunity for you (i.e. opening for national act, playing at a popular venue, etc)
Thanks for the tips man, nice work. We’re actually playing our first show on Halloween, so I will definitely be printing this out for future reference.
Regarding the making of demos…
Keep in mind that if you hand out free CDs at your show, most people WILL give it a listen on their way home that night. It may only be the first 30 seconds, so make sure that first song is a good one. I know this is the age of MP3, but believe me, a CD is the key here.
You can get a spindle of 100 CD-R’s for really cheap. You can also get those paper sleeves for about a penny each when bought in bulk. Then get some label sheet that you can stick in your printer. You don’t have to get round CD lables. Just get small file folder labels. Be sure to stick them close to the center of the disc otherwise the disc will wobble in the player. The label only needs to be large enough for your band name, the track names, and your website URL. You can save a lot of money that way, and it looks much nicer than using a Sharpie.
Grab multiple CD burner drives and stick as many in your PC as you can fit. I know Nero allows simultaneous burning, so you can burn like 3 discs at the same time.
If you have flyers or stickers, put one inside the sleeve along with the CD. People love surprises.
Oh yeah, one last thing. Your band will never be signed. You are in a band because you love to play and you love to be up on stage. You love it so much, you would pay the club to let you play. That should be your attitude. If it’s not your attitude, then sell your gear and go to college.
@ Topher: Your last point was so CORRECT. Courtesy does go a long way. Bands who are dicks and make endless sound checks, or act like stars (when of course, they’re not) or take 25 minutes to get their gear off the stage will find it hard to get other bands to play on their bills. Every band in town knows which bands these are.
Even if you think they suck, while you’re at the gig always give kudos, mention the other bands from stage, don’t talk shit, etc. This created karma will come back. I can’t tell you how many gigs bands I’ve been in have gotten just from being cool to other bands. A previous band of mine actually found a new bassist because a band whose CD we promoted during our gig remembered the gesture and forwarded a name to us.
And venues will remember you also. They remember if your fan base actually buys drinks while there, whether they’re troublemakers, whether you’re cool to the establishment, et. al. Just not being a dick goes a long way.
Excellent stuff. Wouldn’t change a word. Another thing or two (all generally speaking, of course):
-Don’t let your/a significant other manage the band. RARELY does that work out and ends up causing a lot of unnecessary drama (and venue managers/bookers seem to have a disdain for that scenario right off the bat..) Plus it looks unprofessional. This goes for parents managing you as well. In fact, that’s even worse.
-Music first, image later. Don’t dwell on wearing matching jumpsuits or any of that shit. Or having the craziest band publicity photo or jam-packed MySpace page ever. If the music sucks and isn’t tight, no one will be impressed that your band has ultra-glossy photos of you standing in a jail cell, skull fucking the corpse of a dead cop or whatever (oh yeah, that one is true.)
@Topher: Totally on being on good terms with other bands. Also, same goes with venue personnel, who are often kinda mean and cranky. Don’t let that make you be the same with them. Play nice. They’ll remember too and treat you well when you return to their house.
Sammy, Hahahah!!! Too funny!
This is completely wrong, here’s what you need to do to get huge:
1. Your singer cannot actually be able to sing, he must use a vocoder and pitch correction so he/she sounds like T-Pain
2. You cannot actually be able to play your insturments, you must only play open chords in 4/4 the mosh kids love this
3. Image, Image, Image, Image, if you don’t look like a girl, have a girls haircut and wear girls pants then who the heck cares!
4. Record Demo at the Foundation Studio, Send rise records your demo
5. Profit!
(please note my sarcasm)
Ha, sounded like a summary of DEP there Sammy.
Some good advice, but quite honestly all that is shot to $hit & out the window HERE IN L.A. You failed to mention the whole Pay-to-Play bull$hit that is f*king up our system. (That & the fact that clubs would rather book lame-ass indie ‘talent’ or weak ass hip-hop). Around here spoiled little rich kids have their folks flip the bill, then come showtime no-one bought their tickets, in turn, no-one at the bar to buy drinx. (Too bad for thier club maybe, but they deserve to take that hit).
Especially on the Sunset Strip, such is the case at the Whisky-a-Go-Go & MProductions… & f*k yeah I’m gona name drop (shed some light & advice too). They are all about the Pay-To-Play. Sometimes charging bands over 1G to play. Of course they manipulate it by making the bands sell tickets. Some clubs on top of selling tickets ask for a deposit. AND if you happen to sell all your tickets, all the money goes to the club. Now guess how much of that the band gets…..anyone, anyone….. NOT A SINGLE PENNY – NOT EVEN ANY FLIPPING DRINK (TICKETS)… WHAT THE F*CK!
On top of that, there are alot of pricks there f*king up the program. Lame ‘Promotors’ who don’t even promtoe the f*king thing, not even on their own website. Lack of communication with the band, and the f*cking sound guy who thinks he knows what he’s doing, when he doesn’t have a clue.
TO ALL BANDS, BE ADVISED WHEN COMING TO HOLLYWOOD. ON & AROUND THE STRIP, ALOT OF CLUBS ARE JUST WAITING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU!
Fortunately there are a good handfull of clubs that have no pre-requisite & with a small but good chance of getting paid.
Unfortunately, alot of clubs/’promotors’ are too pu$$y-$hit to give Metal bands a shot or nite. Additionaly, the radio stations are CRAP around here. So don’t try & promote your stuff because they have a thing called PAYOLA here – See KROQ… butch poser-a$$pu$$ies, with an identity crisis.
(they only real metal show, CHAOS w/ Full Metal Jackie, Indie103.1 – even though its on at a f*cked up time, sundays @ 10p for 2 hours, ONLY
SUPPORT YOUR UNDERGROUND \nn/
also. i agree with this…
“musical ability is rarely enough”
there are alot of sh!tty bands that get notice, they buddy system is a muthaf*ker…
bands that pay their dues and bust their ass, only to be passed by by other lame ‘talent’
signed??? why would anyone want to be signed in these times??? Labels are folding, & the dam IPod generation f*cked up the whole scene. Labels are trying to make a quick buck & hire sh!tty bands….
ask anyone who reads up on bands, through sites like this one!
METALSUCKS RULES! Keep up the good work!
Really spot on with this. I work in a small locals only club and every once in a while bands will come to me for advice for whatever reason and ask “what do I have to do to get people to come out to see us” or some for of that question. And my answer is always be worth seeing. There’s just so many bands out there clogging up the works who just flat out have no interest in being good or different in any way. Not to make it all business or whatever but throwing out a totally entry level product shows no respect for the consumer and the consumer will give that same lack of respect back every time.
@ Sammy & Topher
Not being a dick is just good advice for life in general. As much as I love listening to music about tearing some poor soul in half, remember to let that act go when the show is done.
Unless you are in a Scandinavian black metal band.
Thanks, dude.
To Vince:
Great article, many of the things you mentioned are things that took me a few years in a band to learn. I do have one more question: How can I get YOU (YOU meaning you guys, but also other webzines and reviewers) to listen to my band’s music? We are very close to finishing our debut EP and really want you guys to listen to it (review it if you like it, post an mp3 if you think its worth it, but really just listen to it and give us a chance).
We are BROKE. We r thinking about buying E-Cards instead of CDs cuz they cost like .70 each instead of $3 each for a quantity under 300. Will album reviewers/radio stations/magazines, etc accept E-Cards? Will you guys listen to our album if we send it with a nice promo pack in E-Card form? We are trying to figure out if CDs are still the ONLY way to go…
Seth -
I’m the Editor-in-Chief of METAL EDGE magazine. I would suggest allocating your promotional stuff as follows, if possible:
1. Journalists/magazines – Email them a link to download your album via Megaupload or Rapidshare or some similar format. Use a decent MP3 bitrate (at least 192kpbs, but 256 or 320 is even better). I have hundreds of CDs stacked up on the floor next to my desk and am expecting at least a dozen or so more in today’s mail. A link to download MP3s means your album will go into my iPod (which is how I do about 99 percent of my music listening these days) that much faster.
2. Radio stations – Send CD-Rs.
- Phil Freeman
[...] Metalsucks’ Vince wrote a very informative blog for young musicians aspiring to “make it” as a band. Well, I’m sure it was informative, I didn’t actually read the whole thing because, hey, I [...]
I love this site. Seriously, METAL SUCKS FUCKING RULES!
Nice Advises.
They written in an honest way, and it sounds a good thing to follow.
I’m going to try it. As soon as we get all tight.
Thanks
Nice Tips.