If you were packing your car for a cross country trip that you felt you had to make.. whether it was a dream, a desire or a need, here is a question….If you bought a car, bought the supplies for the trip and then started out of ..lets say Boston and then you got as far as New York… Would you take the money you had saved for gas, hotels, food and the remainder of the trip and spend it on another car or if you were running out of money, instead of saving up for those gas, hotel, food and toll costs, would you put it toward a new car?
Not really the most intelligent decision if you answered yes.
It is basically the same exact thing when some one records an album that they want to go the distance with or make a career off of and then decide to jump right back in the studio instead of properly promoting, marketing and advertising it.
Now before you jump on my case, this does not apply to the musicians that just want to record for fun, that do it as a a part time thing or just want to do more recording than traveling, performing or doing it full time.
But for those that are trying to go for a full time, long term and sustainable career, by not promoting, marketing and advertising the album is just going to set you back to the place where you were with the last album.
Yes, some also say they are that much further along. Some will say they learned a lot about the studio, about song writing and have some fair points, but in the end, you need to build a strong foundation with some kind of release so that other releases can follow suit much easier and go as far and further.
These days it will take more than what you spent to record your album to properly promote it and get it out there. It will take more time and it will take much more effort. It is an effort and amount of time you have to commit to and this is regardless of whether you are signed to a label, with a manager, an agent or even a publicist.
You need to have your information organized about the album, the release, the band and all the aspects that make you stand out, including your logo, initial reviews and some strong content that can continue to be updated on a daily basis.
You need to find every place where you can get that music and the information about yourself or your band. Sending out emails every day to magazines, websites, newspapers, radio stations, tv stations talking about your release and the marketing behind it. Going after reviews, listings and not to mention advertising on different sites in different cities everyday.
You need to get out there and play, work on building your fan base while making sure to maintain your current fan base. This is something that is so heavily overlooked. You need to keep the interest of your older fans and it doesn’t always take new music. You can keep them drawn in with other media, photos, videos, contests and other merchandise.
You should be submitting letters to booking agents, different venues, festivals, and connecting with other bands you could open for to support that release.
All and all, that is just the beginning. A release takes much more money, time, energy and effort than many seem to think. It is the commitment to continuing to push the product to blaze the trail for future products. Still it is time and money that is worth it, if it is really the dream you want.
This is a very brief and simple overview of subjects that dig much deeper. For example, you need to consider if it is more important to hire a manager or a publicist and it comes down to the specific artist and what is being done or what certain goals are.
What are the target audiences and how do you attack them? Should you be advertising on Facebook? Should you be marketing overseas? There are a great deal of questions to ask and things to approach. 99.9 percent of the time, the answer you are looking for to get that revenue, that profit or that success is not another recording.
Put a strong and determined focus on the recording you are working on. Find the people that can help you market it in the most effective, productive and affordable ways possible. Spend the time to blaze the trail with that album so future efforts will go further and further. Have the patience and the concentration to work on the product you have created and build with it, instead of constantly putting out new music that continues to only make only a couple miles out of the gate.
Lastly, after you spend that time, that effort and the money to really push an album as far as it can go, everything following it will be easier and more affordable since you blazed the solid trail the right way with the right foundation.
