Anyone with experience promoting musicians?

LeeH · 01-25-2008, 08:23 PM

My nephew has been writing songs (country/rock/Christian) and lead singer in a band for several years. He's put out two CDs... each has a couple of songs that seem to have a lot of commercial potential. His performances are always met with a lot of enthusiastic comments from those who hear him, yet he hasn't been able to get to the next level. While he seems to have a knack for music, self-promotion is not his thing. He has custody of four boys under the age of 12 and hasn't been able get things going.

What's the best route to get his music heard by the right people in the music business? Are there any web sites that are better than others for music promotion?

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

His best bet is to get in touch with the local venues who book big acts. Most of them help with getting local opening acts for the big names, then if he catches the eye of the big name, they may take him on tour to open, after that door is open.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

at the very minimum...a few things he should do is get a MySpaceMusic page...also I think Facebook has a music section...its all free promotion and he can post his songs there. He is going to want to make sure that his music is properly Mastered (brought up to CD level audio) first.

If the songs are good, people will find them...they really will.... and if they are REALLY REALLY good...doors will open.

He should play out as often as possible...and try to get a manager...again if his stuff really is THAT good and he is playing live, and posting the songs on the net for people to listen too...he WILL be sought out by those with connections... cream rises to the top and people in the know recognize greatness and want to jump on the train. Good management can not only help get the band work, but submit and promote the songs in any number of ways.

Couple other things he may want to consider to protect his intellectual work:

Copyright his music....

In addition to the copyright...he should consider to join:
BMI or ASCAP, (performance rights organizations)
SoundExchange (http://soundexchange.com/),
AARC (http://www.aarcroyalties.com/), and
Get an ISRC registration number to keep the tunes up to date (through the RIAA: http://riaa.com/whatwedo.php?content_selector=whatwedo_isrc_codes/) that link will take you to the page to download the forms. You'll want to include the ISRC codes on the CD.

good luck to him...post his music if you have any for us to check out

stomachmonkey · 01-26-2008, 06:14 AM

Play out, play out, play out. In between gigs do some more gigs.

Get a good booking agent.

Custody of 4 under 12 year olds? Does not sound like he has the time to commit to a music career.

How old is he anyway? Makes a diff. If he has not "made it" by 25-28 then his already long odds become nearly insurmountable.

He may be better off as a song writer instead of a performer.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Quote:

If he has not "made it" by 25-28 then his already long odds become nearly insurmountable.

Maybe, Maybe not... it depends a lot on the market that he/they are trying to break into. If he is going for the American Idol type deal...or dance/pop stuff then yeah...25-30 tops..

However plenty of artists break in their 30s and sometimes 40s depending on what the market is...for example James Blunt is mid thirties, Shania broke in her 30s, Sheryl Crow, Mellencamp...Sting...Tina Turner's comeback in her 40s etc. the list goes on and on... but the KEY is having GREAT material, and you do have to look good no matter what your age is.

In Christian Rock the road to being recognized would not be as age-dependant as in the Pop-AmIdol type world.

Also we have to consider what "making it" really means... does it mean bling, cars, money, world wide huge tours... or does it mean making a good living doing what you personally love to do... developing a nice fan base and having consistant gigs etc.

The 4 kids under 12 thing is huge though...dont know how anyone could have time for the demands of developing a music career with those types of responsibilities....but who knows maybe he can do it

stomachmonkey · 01-26-2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonic dB

Maybe, Maybe not... it depends a lot on the market that he/they are trying to break into. If he is going for the American Idol type deal...or dance/pop stuff then yeah...25-30 tops..

However plenty of artists break in their 30s and sometimes 40s depending on what the market is...for example James Blunt is mid thirties, Shania broke in her 30s, Sheryl Crow, Mellencamp...Sting...Tina Turner's comeback in her 40s etc. the list goes on and on... but the KEY is having GREAT material, and you do have to look good no matter what your age is.

In Christian Rock the road to being recognized would not be as age-dependant as in the Pop-AmIdol type world.

Also we have to consider what "making it" really means... does it mean bling, cars, money, world wide huge tours... or does it mean making a good living doing what you personally love to do... developing a nice fan base and having consistant gigs etc.

The 4 kids under 12 thing is huge though...dont know how anyone could have time for the demands of developing a music career with those types of responsibilities....but who knows maybe he can do it

Yeah not impossible once in your 30's but it gets much much harder.

Those who have made it have sacrificed a lot and have pounded at it mercilessly.

You pretty much half to have a singular focus, not much room for anything else but the life.

LeeH · 01-27-2008, 06:31 AM

Thanks for the info. He has a lot of support from my sister in taking care of the kidlets. They live in eastern TN, so I don't get to see them much.

What about just selling his songs to other artists? How does that work? I wish I had a way to post a couple of his songs so you guys could hear them. I'd love to get a disinterested third party opinion.

stomachmonkey · 07:16 AM

Two of the many people I know that tried to make it are my sister and her husband.

My sis did generate some label interest but because of her commitment to becoming a Dr she decided to finish school and pick up the music career afterwards.

By that time she had "aged out".

My BIL started to write "canned" tracks, jingles if you will.

Turned out to be a good move. He started getting what he calls "mailbox money". He comes home and finds royalty checks from all over the world in his mail. Sometimes it's a couple of hundred bucks, other times thousands.

This led to him landing a gig with TLC. He currently does the music for the tv show Jon & Kate Plus Eight.

There are plenty of ways to make a living in music. Being a performing act is only one of them.

LeeH · 08:59 PM

Found out that my nephew's band does have a Myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com:80/p35music
Check out the song "In Jesus Name" and "Neighbor."

He and the female singer share writing and singing duty. Personally, I think some of his best songs are on the first CD, which aren't on this page.