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        <title>Faneebo - Innovative Entertainment Blog</title>
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        <link>http://www.faneebo.com</link>
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            <title>Band Therapy 101 - Taking Baby Steps</title>
            <link>http://www.faneebo.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[So you've formed your band. You've put in some practice, you've recorded some music and now you're ready to play some shows. Now the question is, how do you get shows? Well my first advice before you even find shows, is to get all of your marketing and promotions in place.

Marketing and promoting are key elements to establish a fan base and your key ingredients will be the tools that you use to help you do just that. Your fans are going to want to know where to find you if they dig your music. They are going to want to listen to your music over and over again and see picutures of you all over the internet...basically your fans will want a peice of you in some way. So here is where you start....THE INTERNET!!!

Fist get a myspace music account if you havn't done so already. But is that all you need? NO WAY JOSE! Technology is ever changing and so is the way we send and receive our information. You are going to want to make sure all of you in the band are using twitter to keep in touch with you fans. Besides twitter, here are some other sites to check out to enhance an interactive experience between the band and your fans which are terrific marketing and promoting tools. Check out saynow.com, buzznet.com, purevolume.com, and facebook.com to start off with. There are more sites, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with too many at once. The sites I provided are great for bands just starting out but great for building up a fan base. Trust me, all the major players use these. The key goal is to generate a fan base and to offer your fans a little more. You will want to keep your fans in the know. But just because you have set up accounts for these sites doesn't mean you will have an instant fan base. No! No! No! 

You are going to have to work hard at it to make it happen. Fans aren't just given to you or just stroll right in. You have to invite them in and make them aware that you exist. This is where grass roots promoting comes into play. I've done this when I first started managing my band 8 years ago. Ready for the answer to grass roots marketing? FLYERS!!! Yes, make some flyers on your home computer. If you know how to use a graphic design program, then you are one step ahead of yourself already. Make some nice flyers that call out your main website which will most likly be your myspace. From your myspace page, this is where you should have listed all the links to all the rest of the sites that fans can find you on. Of course put your band name on the flyer in some cool font or make a cool graphic that represents who you guys are. You may want to put a band pic so that fans can start to establish a name with whos behind that name. Don't use a live picture. You are going to want to take a group shot focusing on the band thus eliminating all outside distractions.

So now the flyers are created and are ready to be passed out. Well hold on a second, where will you pass these flyers out... Hmm lets see...Wal-mart? Target? Hahahah NOOOOOOOOO!!! Do you want to waste your time handing out flyers to moms and grandmas who will never come to your show? Definetly not. My point here is to pass out your flyers where your target market is. What I mean by that is go where your potential fans are at such as passing out flyers outside of venues, at your school, local music stores, etc. Remember, you're going to have to work from the ground up to climb up the ladder. Once you've brought in fans to join your myspace page, etc, have those fans pass the word to have all their friends join your myspace, etc.

Your fans will now start to leave you messages on myspace page...My advice is to listen to what your fans have to say, respond back, and engange an interaction between your band and the fans. This is how you create and establish a relationship with your fans. How cool was it when your favorite band talked to you? Pretty cool huh...well that's how it will be for your fans when you talk to them. Also create a mailing list.

So in all, establish a marketing and promoting platform for your band that will suit your budget, and eventually, you will be able to get the hang of things on how to modify and tweak your promoting approach.

In my next Band Therapy 101, I will discuss on setting up shows. ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:07:20 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Band Therapy 101 - Setting up shows</title>
            <link>http://www.faneebo.com</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Ok so you've put in those long hours of band practice and you feel you're ready to play some shows. Now the question you ask yourself, "Where do I even begin to look for shows and how do I book a show?" There are a few different ways to book shows. Here they are.

- Pay to Play: Sell tickets
- Playing a friends party
- Networking with other local bands
- Having a booking agent

You first need to organize yourself. Sit down with the band and jot down a list of places you've seen bands perform that you would want to play at. Then go to the very first place of information, THE INTERNET. Use sites like google to do a venue search. Each place is always going to be different in terms of how they want a press kit to be sent. Some don't want any mail, some just want an e-mail sent. Whatever the method is, always write down how they want it to be sent in. Create a chart to help you know who you've sent a demo to, who's responded and who you still need to send a demo to. This way you don't accidently send two press kits, you can thank the person, etc.

Now the demo, remember, you want to have the first song to be the best song. I would get your friends and family to help you determine what song they like best because what you like may be for personal reasons and you need to seperate persosnal attatchement in cases like these. Always write down a contact name and number on the demo. Now that you've gotten the information on venues written and your demo all sqaured away, you are going to want to create a press kit to introduce who you're band is.

So what is included in a press kit. Press Kits can come in all different shapes in sizes. Well in the past they have, but the standards have changed and people these days do not have time to read page after page. Keeping to this point, this is why I create press kits in a One Sheet format which is just a one page paper with all the neccessary information that a booker is going to want to see at first glance. You can see some examples at www.presskitjunky.com . I highly recommend Press Kit Junky for creating Press Kits.

<b>A word of caution. Venues like to see bands that have played shows and can bring in a draw. So I highly recommend playing any show that you can get booked for such as birthdays, private events, etc. Your goals are to build up your fan base, reputation, and experience. Bookers on the other hand, want bands that have touring experience.</b>

Now after all that, lets send some demos. Here is a run down of how it usually takes place.

- First week: Send demos / press kits
- Second week: You're press kit is barely ariving. They most likly have not been looked at yet.
- Third week: Press Kits are barely being looked at. You may want to follow up with a promoted / venue based on their submission rules. Sending an e-mail is always the best method.

If and when they respond back, it's either going to be a yes you're booked, or an unfortunate no. If it's a no, do not get discouraged.

If you really want to get in depth into booking shows, or even setting up a tour, check out my Nine-Week Action Plan for a Successful Tour:

http://www.escopolismusicnetwork.com/presskitjunky/bookingatour.pdf

Good Luck! ]]></description>
            <author>admin</author>
            <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:42:11 +0100</pubDate>
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