OK, picture this: you're in a band. You rock the house, but you're not really a household name (yet). You open a newspaper, and inside you spy an article about the Wicker Basket Love Machine, a new band from the area. You're asking yourself "What the heck is this crap? We're much better than them, and they don't draw any people!" Well, my friend they have something you don't. No, not a stack of cash (well, maybe). They have a publicist. Say it with me: pub-li-cist. Just because you rock the party, it doesn't mean people are going to flock to your shows. You need to get the word out. It can mean the difference between a great band and a very well-known, great band. "But we don't know how to get in the paper!" That's the common whiny complaint I hear all the time from bands. I say whiny because it's a cop-out excuse. You had enough courage to get up on stage, didn't you? Well, little campers, muster up the juevos to make a couple of phone calls and see where it gets you. You can't just call local papers and magazines and expect the world. They will help you, because that's why they are in business, but it will take a few steps of preparation on your end first. The first thing you need is a press kit. This is a relatively simple thing that so many bands mess up. A good press kit has a bio, an 8x10 black and white picture, a CD of your music, and maybe some logo art. The best kits have these items printed out and on disk, so the papers can just cut and paste in your information. Make it as easy as possible for the writers to get your band's info out there. The bio is easy. Talk about your start, your influences, your sound. Maybe you can write about how much you perform, or something that makes your band unique. Use colorful and descriptive words, and remember that it may be printed verbatim in the paper, so choose your words carefully. You might want to check out another band's web site to see how it is done. For that matter, check a LOT of them. The picture is one of the most overlooked items in a press kit. It's not overlooked in the terms that it's forgotten. The things overlooked are in the quality of the picture, and the look of the band. I love to go to bars and look at the other 8 x 10's, and just double over laughing at the way some bands look. You see very dated clothes and hairstyles. (Let's play Count the Mullets!) One huge mistake bands make is trying to wear 'cool' clothes for the shoot. Be yourselves! Unless you are KISS, you don't need the glitter, so don't overdo it. It's like when you're getting ready to go to a dance in junior high and you gel your hair. You don't do it everyday in class, and it looks silly when your look is 'untested'. Stick with what you know. Another common mistake I've seen in band photos is location. Let me tell you this--- taking your pictures on railroad tracks is never cool, unless you are in a country band, then it's just plain silly. Stay away from the leather vests, rolled pants, and baseball hats, too. OK, so you have a kick-ass press kit. Now it's time to make those calls. Some guys are a little weird with self-promotion, and understandably so. That is when you find a friend outside of the organization (the band) to make the calls for you. (Girlfriends are OK, but if something goes wrong, it can get tense within the band, so beware). The volunteer just became your publicist. There are a couple of levels of work they can now do for you. The first and most basic task is to make sure that your band's tour dates are listed in the newspaper. (This goes for any and every town you play). Most clubs will take care of this, but it may take a friendly reminder from your publicist to get it printed. The next thing to do is to set up an interview with a paper or weekly magazine, or basically anything in print. Why is it that whenever Kid Rock comes to town every form of media is mentioning it? Great publicist. If you want to start with smaller papers, that's fine, but think big. Think local TV talk shows. Think national magazines. Think product endorsements. It's all great publicity! A couple years back, I made about 1000 phone calls to a national music magazine. I would talk to the editor at length about everything under the sun, but established a relationship, and convinced her to come out and see the band. (Remember that 30-hour road trip from my last column? It was to play for her). She finally agreed, and I did about an hour-long phone interview with one of her staff writers. She called and said the article would be featured in a few months. We were pretty excited, but then thought "Wouldn't it be great to get the cover?" I called her about 1000 more times, and we went so far as to do a mockup of a possible cover and emailed it to her. Next thing we know, our smiling faces are on magazine racks everywhere, and the popularity of the band skyrocketed. Did we have a record deal or a fancy PR firm? Oh, no! Just love for what we were doing and a little persistence. The truth of the matter is that you don't need a ton of cash or a good manager to get your name out on the streets. You need some friends, a computer, a Kinko's, and a lot of phone calls to make it all happen for you and your band. You will see the results of your labor by increased numbers at your shows. Reward your hard working friends, and keep the relationships with your local writers. You never know when they will start working for Rolling Stone! Now: Go take some pictures, but leave that bandana on Chachi's leg-not your head.... |