Prydogga's Guide to Less Painful Band Networking

[bhakan]

^So basically, "Anyone who isn't willing to do all my bands work for us isn't a true fan" How does that logic make any sense?

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

I think it should be more like you were doing music for yourself and caring about the fanbase just the amount that you can get some food to the table. Of course every band loves their fans since the approve your work of art, but fans don't have to do anything for your band in order to be a fan (or a true fan, have it the way you like it).

CC and all that...

 

[Prydogga]

SSO subscribing band didnt get the notice,

Ænimus - Wall | Facebook

and the response i got from posting a link to this thread on there status asking for like to release a playthrough of there song


"When fans won't go to bat for you on their own, well, it's my personal opinion that they're not true fans. They probably found your band's music on some illegal blog and they're not really there to "help" you... they're just waiting until you release more music that they can get 'for free' with not an ounce of effort required on their part.

So... you're left with looking for other options to heUlp get your music out, and depending on what kind of budget you have for marketing/promotion (and for most unsigned bands, that budget is $0), you can set a definitive number of 'likes' that you want your band to reach before you release anything new, be it a play through of a song that's already been released, or a new song altogether. The people that genuinely want to see those video clips and hear those new songs will help you get there as quickly as they possibly can. It only takes seconds to tag a band... how much effort is really required?

The sad fact of the matter is, if all 3,787 people liked this band THAT much, they could be at 7,000+ likes overnight. And it would only continue to grow at a truly rapid rate from there because more people hear it, more people tag the band, etc, ad nauseam. Until bands have fans that dig them enough to promote them consistently for no other reason than they want other people to hear them, All bands (signed AND unsigned), labels, social media managers, etc can do is keep playing the guessing game and trying new things. And it's different for each band... which is another issue in and of itself."

I'm astounded. No words.

 

[brutalwizard]

it only gets worse

"@Nicholas, as a formerly working drummer, I was so damn proud of all my previous bands efforts that I worked my ass off to get as many people to hear that music as possible. There is no shame in being a hard working band, promoting your art and offering special things to your fans for helping you to promote your band. In fact, that's the way it SHOULD be. How else are bands supposed to get their music to the masses, especially when even signed bands aren't getting as much support from labels as they did back in the day?"

 

[SeaweedChampion]

There is a lot of good information here. I'm going pass this on. Also, Ventaascensionsjsdlfkj has been pretty inspirational. I just can't spell the name.

 

[Steve08]

Good read, TS.

IMO the best way to really promote your band and network is to just do it yourself, NOT get your "fans" to do it. I can't even explain how much I despise it when people are like "heh sup gaiz we have a new song for you but first you need to get us X amount of likes derp!" It's like, damn get them yourself you morons, or just realize likes/follows/etc. aren't everything... I've had far better experience in just talking to people normally and mentioning that I'm in a band, if it's a good conversation then most of the time people will be interested in actually checking it out. Developing actual fans that really like your band is important too, as those people will help out a lot by doing a similar thing with their friends or people they know by saying something like, "Yo, have you heard of this band?"

Shoving stuff down someone's throat is bad. Although if you release an EP/album/whatever for free I think it's okay to encourage people to share the status/spread the word/post a Mediafire link (if it's up on there or something similar) so you can create a buzz for it... not even necessarily telling people to download or buy it but just make people be aware that it exists, and such.

 

[JohnIce]

To be quite frank, the minute you start reducing your listeners to "fans", you're on thin ice. I may dig a friend's band enough to catch their shows if I've got the time but that's cause I'm nice, not cause I'm someone's "fan". When you call someone a fan it means that you're stripping them of individuality, grouping people together and implying that the fan is YOUR fan, as if you owned them and had the right to make demands from them. I mean U2, Iron Maiden and KISS have actual fans, people who get the band logo tattooed on them, follow them on tours, collect their merch etc. That's being a fan. Liking a band on Facebook doesn't make you a fan.

Maybe it's just me being an egotistical musician myself but whenever someone, especially in a local band, has the nerve to call me a fan I get pissed.

 

[Tranquilliser]

Can we get this stickied? This is a great thread.

 

[Rick]

Good read, Alex, thanks for that.

 

[Guitarmiester]

I can't stand the "Like to Listen/Download" bs that bands pull. It's more of a reason not to listen.

You should have added something about spamming forums. It's such a pathetic attempt when bands/musicians join multiple forums only to spam their band in their very first post. That was the thing to do when that Guitar Idol, or whatever it was called, competition was big. Every forum had a ton of new members with no intention of contributing to the forums other than to beg for votes.

 

[fps]

To be quite frank, the minute you start reducing your listeners to "fans", you're on thin ice. I may dig a friend's band enough to catch their shows if I've got the time but that's cause I'm nice, not cause I'm someone's "fan". When you call someone a fan it means that you're stripping them of individuality, grouping people together and implying that the fan is YOUR fan, as if you owned them and had the right to make demands from them. I mean U2, Iron Maiden and KISS have actual fans, people who get the band logo tattooed on them, follow them on tours, collect their merch etc. That's being a fan. Liking a band on Facebook doesn't make you a fan.

Maybe it's just me being an egotistical musician myself but whenever someone, especially in a local band, has the nerve to call me a fan I get pissed.

Absolutely. Honestly I think far too many bands worry faaar too much about getting people on the internet to like them. That stuff happens when people want to check your band out on their own initiative, for that to happen you need to play gigs in new places, and you need to have a release of the quality that means you can get played on little radio shows around the place. The networking should be with the people who can play your music and put your shows on, not the people who might come to those shows and buy your music. Unless those people are your mates, just stick to letting people know on your page and the events pages that you have a gig, or a new song, that's it.

There are lots of bands locally I like, but no-one's going to be making it, or becoming a big name. So why not ditch the attitude that people who are good enough to come hang out with you while you play your music are "fans" or "followers" of your band or some crap, and just enjoy being around people and playing your tunes, have some drinks and a good time, and create some good memories and vibes.

 

[C2Aye]

I'm going to do all the things you said not to do to see how many listeners and frieds I lose.

But seriously great post Alex, really informative and the kind of stuff the people should know when setting out into the vast plains of internet band promotion

My approach with my facebook page is general be personal and friendly, I find that people appreciated being talked to one on one. I also try to be as helpful as possible about questions, even if I've been asked the same one a couple of times. It isn't always possible when a post on your page gets a couple dozen comments very quickly but it's always best to try this approach. I've even had a couple of people add me as a friend on facebook who speak to me on chat occasionally; same principles apply.

I should really get into the whole tagging other bands things though, seems to help a rapport with other bands who could do the same for you

 

[Prydogga]

Exactly, the places I go to with a friendly and supportive following are almost always the very same themselves, if you troll and mess about on your page, you attract the same response, so it pays to be careful, and professional when need be.

I can't stand the "Like to Listen/Download" bs that bands pull. It's more of a reason not to listen.

You should have added something about spamming forums. It's such a pathetic attempt when bands/musicians join multiple forums only to spam their band in their very first post. That was the thing to do when that Guitar Idol, or whatever it was called, competition was big. Every forum had a ton of new members with no intention of contributing to the forums other than to beg for votes.

I will do that, I've had a few suggestions come up about would should be added, so hwen I get time, I'll do a 2.0 and just get it added to the OP.

 

[Blood Ghost]

Great read Prydogga. I demand this be stickied.

 

[WhiteWalls]

Great thread.

I am literally still laughing my ass off at a local band that pulled the "50 more likes until we post a new song" 6 months ago and they still have to get them haha, and they refuse to post the new song because it would make them look so bad, even though by releasing that song they could easily get more than 50 fans in 1/10 of the time it took them to get 20.

That's pretty much how ridiculous that maneuver is, also because i certainly wouldn't consider a true fan somebody who accepts to "like" my band because otherwise i won't post my song, that's more a blackmail than anything lol.

Obviously i'm talking about small bands, i don't mean bands like Periphery that did it when they were at 999999 or something and they reached the goal in 10 minutes

My band has 220 fans and while it's disheartening to see bands who existed for as long as yours have 30,000 even if the music is nothing special, i'd much rather have 200 fans who really appreciate what we do (which fortunately is my case)

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

I am literally still laughing my ass off at a local band that pulled the "50 more likes until we post a new song" 6 months ago and they still have to get them haha, and they refuse to post the new song because it would make them look so bad, even though by releasing that song they could easily get more than 50 fans in 1/10 of the time it took them to get 20.

 

[Prydogga]

Here's something funny and relevant forumite Kurrkuviipale just showed me.

Here's the scenario:

Very new Soundcloud page. Small amount of followers (COMPARED TO BIG PEOPLE JOEL, DON'T GET OFFENDED BUDDY )
Edit: No it's not, silly me, it's on Joel's soundcloud, he has many followers. Sorry bud

Random guys pimp their own shit, as if they connected in some way, on the song AS A REPLY to someone who is crediting the song.

I'm both stunned and disgusted.

Edit: The greyed out parts are the picture, name and youtube link of the people who do not know how to promote their own music.

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

Im curious, have any of you bought X ampunt of fans to use as sort of a kickstart? Its usually very cheap to do it and I dont see why it would be a problem.

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

I don't see a band going very far if they have to buy their fans...

Did I just go in a troll?

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

No, what I mean is buying an initial round of fans to make the page look a little more legitimate so others will like it.

I know a few companies that do it, so why not a band?