The 405 // Band Guide

Introduction We've been talking to a lot of you on Twitter (here) recently about putting together some sort or free resource for unsigned bands (or any bands really) and this is the culmination of those talks. The initial stages of this post is to find out exactly what issues unsigned bands face so that we can try and put together useful advice from industry people. Consider this a Wiki style page (without the functionality). If you want something added, leave a comment below and we'll add it in. It's as simple as that. We have grand ideas that will probably be too much for one single post but you have to start somewhere, right? So please leave your thoughts below and we can get this thing moving. This is a collaborative process which will take a long time to complete. The more we work together the faster we can get this done. If you feel like you can help us out, leave us a comment in the comment section. We promise we will update this every week. How Can You Help? As mentioned, this is a collaborative process, so any help you can give us would be very much appreciated. Due to the size of this project we're trying to go through it section by section. Currently we're trying to tackle websites that will listen to your music, good music promoters and the tricky world of music PR. Although they're the first areas we want to fill up, help in other areas are welcome. 1. Are you a website that listens to unsigned bands? 2. Do you put on shows in the UK? 3. Are you a PR company that deals with unsigned/new bands? 4. Do you work within the industry and feel you could be of assistance to new/unsigned bands? If any of those apply to you, please contact us at thefouroh5@gmail.com or via the comments section below. Contents (Click to transport) 1. Gig Help 1.1 Guide to Getting It On // White Heat Club 2. Marketing Help 3. Websites/Blogs/People That Help 3.1 How To Approach Labels And Blogs 4. General Advice 4.1 Band Guide // Tamara (6 Day Riot) 5. Useful Resources First Edit So from the emails/comments received, it seems that these are the sort of things people are interested in knowing a bit more about: 1. Should you do your own PR or should you do it by yourself? 2. Booking shows in new towns 3. Getting your music heard/reviewed Thoughts? Gig Help Our plan is to put together a list of promoters based on their location. We'll provide links/emails/info for each one of them (assuming the promoter(s) in question says it's ok). So if you have any tips for good promoters, send us a link to their site (web/facebook etc), their location and what sort of music they put on. If you notice a promoter on the list that you wouldn't recommend, please let us know. If we work together we can assemble a trusted list of promoters that aren't going to rip you off. The info we'll display will be: Name/Email/Web/Description If there is info missing, please help us out by sending us the missing info.
********************************* Guide to Getting It On // White Heat Club White Heat has been going every Tuesday for almost eight years now and in that time we have seen in excess of one THOUSAND bands come through our doors and play for us. We have been sent CDs, DVDs, tapes, records, USB sticks and have been harassed by i-pod wielding maniacs. There is no sure fire way to get a promoter to listen to your music because every promoter is different in the way that they approach their bookings and music as a whole. At White Heat the general consensus is to listen to everything that comes our way, so you are in luck! The absolute first thing we do when listening to a band (subconsciously) is to decide whether or not you are appropriate for the club. This is a really important lesson because there is nothing that irritates me more than unsolicited junk that is in no way relevant to what we do at White Heat, I'm aware of how harsh this sounds but as a band you need to look at who you are approaching and what they are doing. As a band you aren't going to benefit from playing a club/show that has a hot reputation if all the people in the room instantly associate your music as being something they don't like or want to hear, I know its small minded but that's what people are like! To put it clearly, if you are just a boy band who happen to have guitars and a sponsorship from Cessil Gee we arent going to book you... :-( No attachments! Firstly, document attachments: just avoid them because more often than not we don't really pay much attention to them. It's more worthwhile using the email body to get across everything you want to say and making it personal to the promoter that you are approaching, this ensures you will convey what you want them to know about you. Be concise! You have to understand that some promoters get scores of emails every day from people just like you and they don't want your life story. Secondly, MP3 attachments: I promise you now that this is one of the biggest mistakes that bands make. Think of all those industry people on their Blackberries all the time, think of Diplo, do you think he is going to download 20mb of music that he has never heard before onto his phone? He isn't and neither is anyone else, plus once your email is read its unlikely they will glance over it again (unless you have nailed the previous point), so you have to ensure that your music is available to listen to with the click of a button before the evil promoter goes on to the next mail. Include streamable links, myspace is a bit of a pain for phones but it's not the end of the world. Even from a proper computer downloading is still a pain, streaming is nice and quick! One thing I, personally, really appreciate is when bands actually make CDs, there is something about the show of intent to actually come up to a DJ/promoter and to ask them to listen to something you have made. But obviously if you are in a band you are probably poor and cant afford to print millions of CDs all the time so this isn't a necessity but it might appeal to certain promoters. However, always follow your CD 'gifting' up with an email or else it may be left languishing away at the bottom of a flight case somewhere... Bonus points for when you actually get a show! Pander to the sound engineer (ours are great but some can be a bit of a chore), if he/she is being a dick just remember they have been dealing with people who think they know what they are doing three times a day for the last thousand years which means they more than likely know more than you do! Triple bonus points: once you've got the show you might as well behave yourself and promote it properly because we want to find bands that we can rely on, say nice things about to our promoter friends and most importantly, have back! Words: Marcus Harris (www.whiteheatmayfair.com) *********************************
London Laissez Faire Club: jeremy@laissezfaireclub.com // http://laissezfaireclub.com Eat Your Own Ears: info@eatyourownears.com // www.eatyourownears.com Uberstompf: (Alternative) uberstompf@yahoo.com // www.myspace.com/uberstompf White Heat Club: (Indie-Disco) matty@whiteheatmayfair.com // www.whiteheatmayfair.com Super Receptor: (alternative/pop/electronic) superreceptor@gmail.com and woodysafetydance@googlemail.com // http://superreceptor.tumblr.com Electroacoustic Club: www.electroacousticclub.com Pull Up The Roots: will(at)pulluptheroots(dot)co(dot)uk // www.pulluptheroots.co.uk Cardiff Flux = Rad: (A mix of music) http://fluxingrad.blogspot.com Grab Promotions: (Emo/Rock) gregorybarton@hotmail.co.uk // www.grabpromotions.com Swn: (A mix of music) info[at]swnfest.com // www.swnfest.com Reading Oxfam Music, Reading: (Quarterly band nights in aid of Oxfam, currently based at the Rising Sun Arts Centre, Reading.) readingoxfammusic@yahoo.co.uk // www.myspace.com/oxfammusic_reading Monkeysuit Music: www.myspace.com/monkeysuitmusic Bristol Manchester Now Wave: now.wave@hotmail.com // www.nowwave.co.uk Glasgow Norwich Wombat Wombat: www.wombatwombat.co.uk Sheffield Honey Badger Promotions: gigs@honeybadgerpromotions.info // http://honeybadgerpromotions.info Mentholman Promotions: www.myspace.com/mentholmanpromo Brighton Lout: info@loutpromotions.co.uk // www.loutpromotions.co.uk Liverpool Me And Him Promotions (The Shipping Forecast): meandhimbringyou@gmail.com Lazy Genius Promotions (Mojo): tom@lazy-genius.co.uk Stereoslave Live! (Bad Format!): billy@badformat.co.uk The Masque: gemma@masque-liverpool.com Bumper Showcase (Bumper): gm@bumperliverpool.co.uk Mish Mash (ENVI): Facebook Wingwalker Presents: wingwalkerpresents@gmail.com Def Pro Presents: defpropresents@yahoo.co.uk Lemon Hippo Promotions (Acoustic @ The Jacaranda): Facebook CoffeyHouse Promotions (LJMU Student Union): coffeyhouse@live.co.uk // www.coffeyhouseonline.com Hungry Wolf Promotions (Heebie Jeebies): www.myspace.com/hungrywolfbandnight Harvest Sun Promotions: info@loutpromotions.co.uk // http://www.myspace.com/harvestsunpromotions Birmingham Derby Derby DIY Collective: derbydiy@hotmail.co.uk // http://derbydiy.org Marketing Help The above document was put together by Padma Gillen who runs TPL Web Services (http://www.tplwebservices.com/) Websites/Blogs/People That Help Below are a list a of Websites/Blogs that will most likely listen to your music, whether signed or not. What we would like to point out is that 99% of the people that run sites like these do it as a hobby. They have full time jobs too and thus getting back to you about your music might take a long time. Sometimes they won't get back to you at all. Nobody likes being horrible to other people so if they don't like it they probably won't get back to you to tell you why. That's the truth. But if you're nice and write an email that gets to the point (no essays!) then you will increase your chances of getting a response. All email addresses have been taken from the website of the sites in question and copied the way they were originally written. If you would like your information changed/taken down, just let us know and we'll do that for you. Snapshots & Snippets: hlsteele[@]me[dot]com // http://snapshotsandsnippets.com The Ruckus: hello@whatstheruckus.com // www.whatstheruckus.com Glasgow Podcart: www.glasgowpodcart.com/ Sockformation: sockformation@googlemail.com // http://www.sockformation.com Nu Rave Brain Wave: nuravebrainwave@gmail.com // http://nuravebrainwave.com The Guild: myfirstindiepop@gmail.com // http://thisistheguild.wordpress.com This Is Reality Podcast: studio@thisrealitypodcast.com // http://thisrealitypodcast.com I Live Sweat: (DIY/Independent Punk) ilivesweat[at]gmail.com // http://ilivesweat.tumblr.com Tonight We Dance Tomorrow We Cry: david.tinkler81@yahoo.com // http://tonightwedancetomorrowwecry.wordpress.com Victoria Parkey: victoria.parkey@gmail.com // www.parkey.wordpress.com Slutty Fringe: www.sluttyfringe.com Pornography for Cowards Zine: pornographyforcowards@yahoo.co.uk // www.pornographyforcowards.tumblr.com Basement Fever: jakemay89[at]gmail[dot]com // http://basementfever.blogspot.com General Advice Band Guide // Tamara (6 Day Riot) I have been running Tantrum Records and releasing all of 6 Day Riot album's myself now for over 4 years. I am also running a short course about releasing your own music at Bucks New University. In that time I have put together plugging and PR teams as well as booking the live gigs for the band and finding a live agent, while writing and performing in the band. Live: To begin with I suggest just getting out there and playing, build up your fanbase and take all the gigs that you can get. Target the promoters that put on nights that your music will suit. Don't bother playing a heavy rock night if you play acoustic music, and likewise don't bother to approach that promoter, as you clearly will not fit the bill. Look at bands that you think you are similar to and where they are playing and who is promoting the night. Once you get to a level where the promoter knows you and your music, they will begin to approach you to play and hopefully line you up with some good support slots or well paid gigs. PR: Finding the right PR team can be difficult, if you have no money or low budgets then doing it yourself can be the best way forward. But some PR teams will take on unsigned bands and give you a discount because they believe in your music. I found our PR team by checking through various companies rosters and seeing where I thought we fitted and also where I would like us to sit in terms of sound, image and style. So it was important to me that I thought the rest of the roster was cool and that I liked the music. We have also found support from various blogging sites along the way. Prior to having a PR team, I would approach sites, sending music for review. It is important that you find the right person to send the material to. Someone that is already into the same music as you are making. There will usually be contact details for sending music on the sites. Labels: I secured a publishing deal for our last album and we have interest in the publishing for the new album as well, we have also had tracks used on Skins. But in terms of record labels I think it is important to be realistic, we have not approached any record labels to take on our last 3 releases. This is because we have had interest many times and each time something has gone wrong in the final process. Having spoken recently to various other artists on labels it seems to me that they seem to have the same problems I do with each release. The labels are struggling with the new market and are unlikely to want to invest a lot of money into new projects. More and more labels want 360 deals as they are not making back the advances they are putting into the artists. Running your own label means that you have control of what you release, when you release it and how. Also the image and style of the band. I do all the artwork for releases as well as getting involved in the photoshoots and videos. The main issue we have is money, how to be seen on a par with other releases, it can be hard to be taken seriously by mainstream press and radio. But so far we seem to be doing all right. I would advise getting your own material together and aiming towards some kind of release. Labels no longer bother to develop artists the way the once did. If you want to get your music out there, do it yourself. Tamara // 6 Day Riot
Useful Resources Getting promos to the top of the pile: THE TRILOGY: A great series of articles by Gareth Main (Bearded Magazine). Definitely worth a read. Part One: An Introduction Part Two: Getting a PR company Part Three: Do It Yourself FatCat Records DIY: An amazing resource for a lot of things. http://www.fat-cat.co.uk/DIY/ Tom Robinson - Resources For Songwriters: A resource by Tom Rombinson http://www.tomrobinson.com/resource/index.htm