Reply To: New Artist Media Package To-Do list

[Musa HendersonParticipant]

Here's my two pence worth on a topic I am working through in real life.

1) The god of all SONGS. need great songs and you have to be honest and constructive in your appraisal of them.

2) a constant, keep the artist(s) excited but slow them down. Yeah cool they have a song but then what? Try and explain that you need to build up content and performance levels so that they will not be another forgettable act

3) I like the artist to have about ten songs prefer if they are all original but....a couple of current covers and an all time fave is always good.

4) so choose an EP worth of songs, lavish it make it sound like a fray album, make them believe in it.

5) other songs... do stripped down versions, solo videos, this is to generate content and help them get performance ready. A lot of start ups really are not.

6) social media. A big topic for me with lots of strategies, I will list them in order of what I think is most important with a why etc
SOUNDCLOUD-the stripped down songs and covers post them here, you and the artist need to be on here DAILY joining groups, engaging in playlists talking to people about THEIR music and eventually it will be reciprocated.
FACEBOOK-needed but not massively important at the start, I get the urls but don't publish it until the gigs start, facebook I think is great for keeping in touch with people who are already fans and people you meet at gigs who are only having a small interest. When was the last time anyone discovered new music on Facebook? We search for what we already know. I would be using this for gig announcements and directional services (to website and YouTube via video teasers)only pay for boosting specific things/announcements, generic page ads are a false economy.
YOUTUBE-cover videos and original vids. Get some hot current tracks and get some interesting covers done. Build a fan base like that on you tube. You need to be regular. Every other Thursday, every Wednesday whatever, you want to create a regular schedule that fans can get use to and start looking forward to. I'd suggest getting a few in the bank to take pressure off.
WEBSITE-at first this will be nothing more than a basic holding page I guess. I like to create a live EP of stuff that will be in the set but not on the main EP. I then get the band to exchange this for an email address at gigs. Burn it your self, hand write it but make sure the website is clear on there and you get the email and if possible home town. Promise no spam just if you are gigging in their local or a new release etc is coming up. Add a shop for any merchandise etc but 95% of this will be done at gigs...
TWITTER/SNAPCHAT/INSTAGRAM-these are more personal and for me need to come from the artist. I'd suggest get the usernames for future but only use the one(s) that the artist/band already uses everyday. The content will be better and the user base will feel like it's more genuine.

I don't keep any spreadsheets (apart from fan emails and locations) but it would be good to have a diary(?) of what's done and where you are so far.