Chicken and the Egg…

Dan’s in a band from Austin.  GREAT music scene with a lot of opportunities.  His band is a couple years old, consistently plays out, crowd is steadily growing, and wants to know how best to attract some press around their hard earned achievements.  He doesn’t want to spend the money on a publicist as he fears the money will be spent to only hear, “we’re going to pass on featuring the band in our magazine because they don’t have a story yet.”  So if “press” needs “press” to justify featuring you, where do you start?  How do you build the “story”?

You’re doing it.  You just told me what your story is, however it’s no different than any other band out there.  And your gut is right…if you spend money right now, you’re not going to get the press you’d hope for.

You hear me say this over and over again…start locally.  Find every local magazine, newspaper, college paper, fanzine, webzine, and blogger within a 50 mile radious and hit them up.  Hometown stories are good stories.  Let them know when you’re playing and invite them to the show.  Put them on the guest list and make sure to find them, shake their hand, and thank them for taking the time.  Find someone who can write to write your bio.  And don’t exagerate and fluff it up…I personally think the simpler the better at your level.  What have you done, who are you, and what can I expect from your music and live show?  Don’t cheese it up…it’s so transparant and desperate.  Something I’ve done in the past that works is contact a local paper or weekly and ask if they have anyone on staff who writes bios for musicians.  You’ll most likely have to pay $100 or so, but now you’re on their radar, and if they wrote your bio they may have an interest in helping you out a bit too.  It’s a good way to start a partnership.

So for the next 6-8 months hit up everyone you can in your backyard and start accumulating as much local press as you can from album reviews, live show reviews, interviews, small features..anything.  Once you have a healthy quote sheet and some real substance, now you’re building your local hero story.  Take this to your next market.  “Hey, just wanted you to know we’re buzzing in your backyard”.   It’s work…  It’s a lot of follow up and staying on top of the ball, but if you focus on this you will see results…assuming the music is good!  If you’re independent and working for yourself, this is a necessary step.

Thanks, man..keep hustling!

Ben