# Prydogga's Guide to Less Painful Band Networking



## Prydogga (Dec 29, 2011)

This is my guide for 'Do's and Don'ts' relating mostly to facebook connections and marketing for independent musicians and bands. Hope you can get something from this. 

I'm not going to pretend I know every single in and out about networking and marketing, not for facebook, and definitely not on a large scale.
What I do know, is that there don't seem to be any clear guidelines for how to succeed respectfully in a relatively new centre for bands and musicians.

Just as myspace had infamous 'street teams' and 'friend for friend' issues clouding the 'scene' and annoying the masses, facebook, as well as any other prominent networks have their own pitfalls for bands to think of as an easy ploy to attract new fans.

Before I get into overly large paragraphs about morals and good practice, I think it'll be easy to show my overall point with some pictures. While I made all but one of these scenarios myself, anyone who has ever ventured into the world of facebook bandpage 'liking' will have probably seen that this happens dozens of times a day.








First up, you may know quite a few musicians on facebook, you might think that's just an audience waiting there on chat for you to awaken to your brilliant music, but really, don't do this. It almost never works. 

When you're getting added by random musicians, the last thing YOU want is for a hundred chat boxes to invade your personal space shoving a link in your unprotected face. It's fine if you have send your music links to a friend*, but despite what older generations will spout about time wasting and internet usage, people on facebook don't have time for your link. If they do, they'll go their on their own accord from a post on your own wall, speaking of which....





Another common 'no no', wall posts to random friends are more intrusive than chat boxes, and you'll lose plenty of friends spamming a news feed with the same link on 200 walls in an hour. Again, stick to your own page, wall or a _friend's._



Now moving on to more of your own control over a bandpage you may have, before I get into any detail about what's good overall, here's one of the biggest things to avoid, I thought I wouldn't use a real band, but Architects already copped a bit of a backlash for using such a rookie ploy, so they can be used as the example.





'Like to Listen' is one of the most hated features I find facebook users complaining about. Architects _may_ get away with it to some degree having a name to themselves, but when you've got a 'fanbase' of 50, people aren't going to feel compelled to 'like' your page until there's proof they have a reason to. 

If you really want to have people promoting your page, you're going to have to get personal.
Forums like this are a great way to meet people who may have a skill you will need down the line, and any friend you make may have a connection you will need, but don't think of friends as 'tools'. 
If they prove a useful connection for you down the line, good for you, but don't add someone because their occupation on facebook says 'Graphic designer at' or 'CEO at' etc. 
Most of anyone's 'connections' come from putting themselves out in the public eye, and from sheer luck. The amount of times I've lucked across a very friendly, helpful member of a band or company is insane. Really, when you build a fanbase, you accept all kinds of people into a community, hence the important of having strong persona, but more on that later.

Some of the best places outside of forums, blogspots and high traffic sites like Metalsucks, Heavy Blog is Heavy and Got Djent are community based and run pages for music. Ignoring their dated 'dj-joke' names, facebook pages The League of Extraordinary Djentlemen and THE DJENT-LEMEN'S CLUB (Djent Fan Site)  have been invaluable to my own musical endeavours, as well as band's our label supports and I've done design for. The 10,000+ fans on either page are fairly active, and getting yourself some support from a page like this** can yield very profitable results as far as your fanbase goes. 



Most metal pages have a fanbase distribution that looks like this:




So know that this is essentially your target audience, you may get an older or younger mean depending on your sub genre, but I gather it will almost always fall in the mid twenties through high teens.

If you want to be noticed outside of facebook, use forums and YouTube as both are easily accessed by masses and YouTube especially can easily become viral, giving you a huge boost. As well as actual physical networking, if you're aiming to tour, hop on down to your local venues and try and get a gig, all it takes for some places is the ability to sell 50 tickets or so and you could be opening for touring bands. 






Now that I've mentioned *giving your audience a reason to listen and like*, here's some helpful tips and more pictures (yippee!) to maybe offer some guidance to good advertising.

First, here's some pictures that illustrate the good use of an app that is extremely common on facebook: Bandpage by Rootmusic. This app is free to use and easy to customise in appearance, and connects seamlessly with your Soundcloud account. If you don't use it already, you're one of the few. It can be a slight task to set up on certain browsers, but after that it's very simple. You don't even have to touch it again if you just want to keep uploading tracks to Soundcloud.

Anyway, these two pages (One being mine, cuz i thawt i'd pimp wile i had da chance lolol) use the app, and overall have a good appearance. Which whether you care or not, is very important. How your page looks is almost as important as how good you sound. 










Many bands skip over valuable avenues for building a strong persona for the band by not properly using apps or bios. That being said, some will go way overboard, and think that a bio requires you to tell the greatest band story of all time. I could say more, but I think the Vestascension bio makes my point clear in being both a good biography, and referring to the same problem.






If you want an exemplary example of how to just nail a page layout and design, the Vestascension page really is where to go, as far as 'underground' metal bands go, you can't find a much more professional effort in the visual side. Just look at this:






It's appearance like this, with the ever important *good language* that really makes your page look better. It always annoys me to see pages and soundclouds with effort like this:





How hard is it to use capitals? Judging by the amount of humourous thread title changes we all see the mods do here, not hard. 


Another big issue outside of appearance of your writing, is what point you're constructing in those beautifully well organised words of yours.
As Misha covers here it is very important for you to remain unbiased and friendly when representing your band. We all know too many instances where a member flies off the handle and makes the whole group look like a bag of dicks. Avoid this, and avoid getting into heated discussions over genres and such, it never ends well. 

I find the majority of bands with a sociable, loving fanbase are reminiscent of the band's own manner. Basically meaning, be nice on your page, and if your name is known as a representative of your band, be nice everywhere, a kind outlook is something that is very amiss on the internet, but it's not hard to take 2 seconds in the middle of a heated post to decide that it's better to just forget about your brilliant reasoning for hating 'djent', or whatever the topic is.

All in all, 'succeeding' on facebook and internet in general, as a musician, boils down to a few things.

Look good.
- Have an attractive page, use good language and present everything in a positive manner, and don't take yourself too seriously. 
Sound good.
- I can't really help with you music sounding good, there's other guides for that, but sounding good also relates to your persona on the internet.
Don't be a dick. 
Again, be kind and don't get in arguments, be nice to your brother, the usual. But also, don't link your music to random people, don't invite people 2 continents away to your first show, and most importantly:
DO NOT demand likes in return for material. '100 LIKES UNTIL WE POST OUR NEW LYRICS' doesn't work, and again, when you have 50 likes, people aren't going to go out of their way to promote a complete stranger.

I hope some of this hopes, I know with an intelligent community like our board, I'm sure the majority of the painfully obvious advice is unnecessary, but it is surprisingly commonplace,
and I hope I can at least stop one person from annoying dozens of 'friends' with stupid attempts at networking. 

I think that's about it. Just use your brain, stick to these guidelines, but also, don't forget to be innovative. 
Anyone could tell you how to run your page, but if you can find some unique way to manage merchandising, music release and fan relations, then don't be afraid to try! 

If you want anymore good guides that might help you, or insight, do check these out:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/general-music-discussion/168316-endorsements-how.html
Lefsetz Letter


*Someone you actually talk to on a regular basis, not someone who clicked 'accept' on a button.

**If you want a community page more suited to your style, all you have to do is type in your respective genre into the facebook search bar.


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## Konfyouzd (Dec 29, 2011)

Prydogga said:


> **If you want a community page more suited to your style, all you have to do is type in *your respective genre* into the facebook search bar.


 
You do realize you're addressing SS.org, right? 

On a serious note, nice post.


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## Prydogga (Dec 29, 2011)

I put that there specifically to appease CrushingAnvil since he's so kvlt and tr00.


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## Kurkkuviipale (Dec 29, 2011)

Such a good read, things like this should get up up to the sticky bar.


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## Rojne (Dec 29, 2011)

Great post, this will be useful to loads of people who dosen't know how to advertise their bands in a good way! 

It will for sure come in handy in time for spring when my band are releasing our EP, I always do new layouts and fun stuff for old and new fans in time for new songs and such!


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## vampiregenocide (Dec 29, 2011)

Very good read man. I think the problem is bands seem to think that likes on Facebook are some sort of currency that will buy them success, but it is the quality of the fans not the quantity that counts. It's all well and good having 3000 likes but if only a handful actually listen to your band then that counts for nothing. You want people who will actually be interested in your music and create positive traffic on you page. It's better to get people into your music and foster those keen fans than to whore yourselves out and try to get as many as possible.


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## Prydogga (Dec 29, 2011)

Exactly. Its important to not try and push yourself to success over a push to just give something for other people to enjoy, and it's the people who push to get a huge fanbase that end up with 'the wrong fans', meaning they don't get a positive, supportive following in their target demographic.


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## Larcher (Dec 29, 2011)

prydogga for world leader


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## Prydogga (Dec 29, 2011)

Somehow split double post.


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## BucketheadRules (Dec 29, 2011)

You are a great man. Thank you.


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## synrgy (Dec 29, 2011)

Most excellent post, Sir. Thanks for sharing.


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## Defsan (Dec 29, 2011)

But I'm from Buttcrack and I like genrecore! 

Great article; I'll definitely be looking into it many times before I make my band page.


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## CrushingAnvil (Dec 29, 2011)

Prydogga said:


> I put that there specifically to appease CrushingAnvil since he's so kvlt and tr00.



YOU D'INT THINK I'D SEE YO THREAD, BISH!!!!11


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## Fred the Shred (Dec 29, 2011)

FFS, Pry! You should have made me a sammich some 2 hours ago instead of wasting time with this rant!


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## Prydogga (Dec 29, 2011)

Reps coming out soon.


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## JamesM (Dec 29, 2011)




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## Captain Shoggoth (Dec 29, 2011)

I am totally bookmarking this.


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## bandinaboy (Dec 29, 2011)

Sharing to my facecrack seeing as how every single local band i know does all of your don'ts. Good work.


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## Prydogga (Dec 29, 2011)

Quite a few forumite posts I've seen pop up on facebook with this. If you ever get a music spam on your own wall or chatbox, just link them this


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## metal_sam14 (Dec 29, 2011)

Brilliant work man


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## Waelstrum (Dec 29, 2011)

Good stuff, now all I need to do is get a band.


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## groovemasta (Dec 29, 2011)

nice post!


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## gunch (Dec 29, 2011)

But into words my feelings about the whole thing quite nicely.

This guy, he gets it.


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## Prydogga (Dec 30, 2011)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the obvious. Don't care about likes half as much as everyone does, it's unhealthy


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## KingAenarion (Dec 30, 2011)

Neither Likes NOR "Attending" replies mean attendance at gigs


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## Esp Griffyn (Dec 30, 2011)

One helpful tactic I've found for facebook are the "Hide story" and "Do not show related stories" functions, which means I don't have to get my newsfeed filled with crap from my friends in bands endlessly self-promoting. "Hey guys, if you haven't already, click "Like", let's try and get 200 likes before the end of the week!" - er, no thanks.


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## Murmel (Dec 30, 2011)

^
Wow, I haven't found any of that stuff among the bands here. They barely update their FB page other than if they have show coming up. Like "We got a show on saturday at -----, hope to see you there!". Or with updates on an upcoming EP or something.

These are just local bands. Usually kids around 15-20. The most popular local band has like 700 likes, and they play rock/prog rock. This is pretty amazing considering how 9/10 kids that visit the shows are hipsters 
But they seem to attract a more mature audience, because most hipsters just talk shit about them 

Check them out if you like. No, this is not my band. I don't even like them, I just want to support the local scene. I don't even have a band atm, I did record some bass for my old band though. Their EP is currently being mixed so I'm stoked for that 

(Don't expect anything DT or similar, this is very easy to listen to).

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liquid-Echoes/211711735402?sk=app_178091127385

Edit: This wasn't meant to become an advertisement, I apologize. Please have mercy


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## TimSE (Dec 30, 2011)

An excellent write up! This is one worth sharing around I think.


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## leandroab (Dec 30, 2011)

I see what you did there


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## Prydogga (Dec 31, 2011)

TimSE said:


> An excellent write up! This is one worth sharing around I think.



Thanks man! I've seen a far few musicians sharing it around so far, I'm very gla it's of use to some.


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## leandroab (Dec 31, 2011)

Btw who put "djent" on the tags?


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 31, 2011)

Fuck Australia and Newt Gingrich, nice thread too.


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## Prydogga (Dec 31, 2011)

leandroab said:


> Btw who put "djent" on the tags?



I did, I figured any youngsters searching djent could probably learn from this


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## Loomer (Dec 31, 2011)

brb off to start a solo project and do ALL the "don'ts"


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## Prydogga (Dec 31, 2011)

You wouldn't be the first, or the last. Shortly after posting this I saw a page with over 10k 'fans' do one of the worst 'DON'T FOR FUCKS SAKE's's's's I've ever seen.


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## JohnIce (Dec 31, 2011)

Good read Pry!  This inspired me to write up something like this honing in on demographics and maximizing your appeal to that demographic, as it's something very few bands actually understand, and those who do do it so effectively that people don't notice.

Reps will be given! Happy new years!


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## Prydogga (Dec 31, 2011)

JohnIce said:


> Good read Pry!  This inspired me to write up something like this honing in on demographics and maximizing your appeal to that demographic, as it's something very few bands actually understand, and those who do do it so effectively that people don't notice.
> 
> Reps will be given! Happy new years!



Exactly, I'll look forward to seeing what you have to say


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## leandroab (Jan 1, 2012)

Prydogga said:


> Exactly, I'll look forward to seeing what you have to say



"johnice: a guide to get inside her panties"


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## Prydogga (Jan 1, 2012)

leandroab said:


> "johnice: a guide to get inside her panties"



Disclaimer: Warranty void if guide user attempts to use metal as poon-bait.


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## brutalwizard (Jan 1, 2012)

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 help 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."


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## bhakan (Jan 1, 2012)

^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?


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## Kurkkuviipale (Jan 1, 2012)

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...


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## Prydogga (Jan 1, 2012)

brutalwizard said:


> SSO subscribing band didnt get the notice,
> 
> Ænimus - Wall | Facebook
> 
> ...


I'm astounded. No words.


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## brutalwizard (Jan 1, 2012)

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?"


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## SeaweedChampion (Jan 1, 2012)

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.


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## Steve08 (Jan 1, 2012)

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.


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## JohnIce (Jan 1, 2012)

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.


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## Tranquilliser (Jan 1, 2012)

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


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## Rick (Jan 1, 2012)

Good read, Alex, thanks for that.


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## Guitarmiester (Jan 2, 2012)

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.


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## fps (Jan 2, 2012)

JohnIce said:


> 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.


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## C2Aye (Jan 2, 2012)

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


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## Prydogga (Jan 2, 2012)

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. 




Guitarmiester said:


> 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.


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## Blood Ghost (Jan 3, 2012)

Great read Prydogga. I demand this be stickied.


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## WhiteWalls (Jan 3, 2012)

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)


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## Kurkkuviipale (Jan 3, 2012)

> 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.


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## Prydogga (Jan 4, 2012)

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.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jan 4, 2012)

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.


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## Kurkkuviipale (Jan 4, 2012)

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

Did I just go in a troll?


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jan 4, 2012)

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?


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## Kurkkuviipale (Jan 4, 2012)

Well then it has to depend on how much it costs and if its worth it. I don't see a moral problem in there.


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## C2Aye (Jan 4, 2012)

I guess when you're staring out it can be tempting to try things like that, especially if you're not getting many likes initially. I was lucky that some of my friends at uni and from high school liked my facebook page to give a solid 30-40 likes to start off with (even if most of the high school 'friends' just like pages if someone they know is on it without caring about what's actually on the page!). Releasing Cassini got the ball rolling though 

And totally lolling at that plug on Joel's soundcloud, that's hitting rock bottom there


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## Prydogga (Jan 4, 2012)

Stealthdjentstic said:


> 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?



Because companies aren't as well known for their solid integrity and morales?  I'm unsure how I feel about it. It would be a scam if you were to approach a label/company boasting about 'x-likes' when 75% of them you bought, but then, it is tough so start out, but that's part of it, if you can break out, things get easier as far as your reach gets, and I think it's valuable to have the memory of 'from small things' etc in your mind. I don't know, I'm tired and probably not making sense.


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## budda (Jan 4, 2012)

Nicely done! I have done the spam-friends-walls-with-a-link thing, next time I'm not going to bother.

I was talking about the whole facebook/band promotion thing with a buddy of mine (who happens to have killer basement shows and is a big help in the local Punk scene) and he said a great way to engage people is to talk about stuff that they'll respond to.

DA's tips on getting people talking:
- hold contests for a free shirt or CD copy or guest list
- Ask questions that will get a response (ie. "Who's got the best NYE story of 2011?)
- Don't your band's facebook posts about music all the time (see above suggestion)

I know I need to work on my promoting skills a bit. I love meeting new people and talking to them about the band, but I've probably overdone it lately on spamming our music video.

It's a tough thing to do, but good luck to everyone!


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## Prydogga (Jan 7, 2012)

Now this is just... wow, happened to a friend on facebook:







'Nobody cares what some blog site said'


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## Stealthdjentstic (Jan 7, 2012)

Jesus christ what a moron


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## Pooluke41 (Jan 7, 2012)

Prydogga said:


> 'Nobody cares what some blog site said'



tumblr.sevenstring.net. or Sevenstring.blogspot.com?


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## BrainArt (Jan 7, 2012)

This is a wealth of excellent information, Pry. 




Prydogga said:


> Now this is just... wow, happened to a friend on facebook:
> 
> PICTURE
> 
> 'Nobody cares what some blog site said'



Am I the only one that sees the humour in his band's name?


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## Prydogga (Jan 7, 2012)

Hahahaha


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## Harry (Jan 7, 2012)

BrainArt said:


> This is a wealth of excellent information, Pry.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Honestly, it didn't even occur to me until you pointed it out.
Wow, just......wow


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## C2Aye (Jan 7, 2012)

That whole 'promotion' mess is good for a laugh, and the band's name just adds to it 

Anyhow, I had a recent failure at staying chill and nice to potential listeners (my own advice no less). One of the guys who liked my facebook page added me as a friend and posted a youtube video to one of my songs, Double Helix. A friend of his then posts three comments in quick sucession and I post a reply because I felt it led up to it well.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39302626/1.jpg





Yeah, probably fucked up a bit in winning over potential fans


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## Prydogga (Jan 7, 2012)

That's another really bad internet thing, it's especially bad on facebook. Everybody just has so much 'hate', and it spills over into the worst places, like there. Far too critical. Your response was light-hearted though, so I don't think you've done any wrong.


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## Kurkkuviipale (Jan 7, 2012)

Yea, no reason to really HATE anything. Just if you don't like it, consider it as neutral and if you like it, support it. You don't really lose anything if you DON'T hate.


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## C2Aye (Jan 7, 2012)

Prydogga said:


> That's another really bad internet thing, it's especially bad on facebook. Everybody just has so much 'hate', and it spills over into the worst places, like there. Far too critical. Your response was light-hearted though, so I don't think you've done any wrong.



Well, he said afterwards that I should be more kind to potential fans and that while it may not have been intended, I came off as rude. To be honest, the way I see it, it was quid pro quo.

I know what you mean about the hate situtation, the wall of anonymity the internet provides can lead to such things. Also, it probably leads to the promotion method mentioned earlier. I mean, that was the equivalent of a door to door salesman who just won't leave and is too stupid to take a hint.


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## Prydogga (Jan 7, 2012)

C2Aye said:


> Well, he said afterwards that I should be more kind to potential fans and that while it may not have been intended, I came off as rude.



The pot calling the kettle black?


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## lisabasick (Mar 31, 2012)

Just popping in to say this is a great post and we've stuck it out on the Basick Records Facebook page and also on our pinterest. You are bang on the money with everything you've posted. 

We come across so many bands asking us to listen/check them out only to get to about 60% of the pages and find you have to like to listen. On a busy day we can get hundreds of requests, that's hundreds of times we'd have to like or unlike a page etc and we simply don't have time. So from a labels point of view, don't do the like to listen thing guys - it really turns a lot of people off. 

Top post, great work, happily shared. 

L x


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## JStraitiff (Mar 31, 2012)

On the topic of genre debates, promoting your band too hard in a particular genre or sub genre can be deterring. People who listen to your music probably don't have an in-depth knowledge of anything musical. They just know what they like or they think it's hardcore or whatever. As a general rule of thumb if you have clean vocals you can get away with promoting yourself as a "hard rock" band. That will appeal to a much wider audience than terms like "melodic death core", "progressive euro trance" or "post hardcore screamo" lmao.

My father who listens to snow patrol and the fray would come across a band page listed as "hard rock" and he would probably listen to it just to see what's up because lynyrd skynard was kinda like hard rock and he enjoys freebird or whatever the reason may be. He may or may not like it or listen himself but then he decides his coworker, who listens to something he deems similar to the style he heard in the clip, might be interested in hearing this new band.

If my dad instead went to a band page and saw it listed as "hardcore grunge" and their promo picture was a bloody pigs head on a stake he would navigate away as fast as he could.

Genres are for fans to decide.


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## Prydogga (Mar 31, 2012)

lisabasick said:


> Just popping in to say this is a great post and we've stuck it out on the Basick Records Facebook page and also on our pinterest. You are bang on the money with everything you've posted.
> 
> We come across so many bands asking us to listen/check them out only to get to about 60% of the pages and find you have to like to listen. On a busy day we can get hundreds of requests, that's hundreds of times we'd have to like or unlike a page etc and we simply don't have time. So from a labels point of view, don't do the like to listen thing guys - it really turns a lot of people off.
> 
> ...



Wow, thanks Lisa.

It's good to know that I apparently got a lot of points correct on this just from my observation and better judgement. Thanks for the share.


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