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Artists tend to be creative people. We write music, create dazzling visions of art, and express sentiments in the most unique ways. However, when it comes to promoting our art, something else happens. For one reason or the other, most artists fail to express any creativity in their business endeavors.

Here are five easy (non-internet) ways that you could promote your band. I hope that more than anything else, they get your brain going and inspire you to create ideas that work specifically for your art.

1. Teaming Up with Local Food: Do you frequent a local restaurant or know someone in the restaurant business? Offer to come up with a new recipe. On the menu, write “created by ______” (or however you want it phrased). In return, you’ll help promote the restaurant by encouraging fans to order the dish: through social media, on the back of your business cards, maybe a flyer or coupon. What restaurant wouldn’t want a local band promoting their food for free all over town?  You could do the same thing with a bar as well (designing a signature drink).
2. Coast with the Local Watering Hole: Speaking of bars, many of them also need coasters (they’re often supplied for free by beer or spirits distributors). Why not design some coasters and drop them off at your favorite place? You could design a cool logo, offer a free download, and link with a QR code to your music right there. Coasters are only a few cents to custom imprint, why not? Maybe your fans would want some, too.
3. At the Car Wash: I drive by an intersection that has car washes nearly every weekend. I’ve seen sports teams, church groups, and rehab centers, but I’ve never seen a band out there raising money for an album or tour van. Why not? Car washes are actually a great way to make money fairly easily. You could get friends and fans to help out, have a performance or sell CD’s, etc. In fact, you could even offer a free CD with a $10 donation or more for the car wash. You’d probably make more money in one afternoon than your typical dive bar gig.
4. Consignment: Consider selling your music or merchandise via consignment at places outside the normal record store. For instance, my band (The Slants) has a strong connection with the anime/comic book world so I set up displays and sell music at comic book stores around the country. We often offer to come in and do a performance, help promote the store, and only ask for a percentage of each sale in exchange for having the store feature our music. Music can be bought/sold anywhere, just look at Starbucks creating their own record label. What kinds of stores do you have a connection to?
5. Charity Fundraisers: There are many fundraisers that are looking for live entertainment. You might have even played some yourself. But have you also participated as a fundraising team for a cause that is important to you? Most fundraisers use a website system called Convio where participants can set up a personalized fundraising page and the top fundraisers are featured.  If you also participate as an active fundraiser, you’ll have much greater support (and recognition) from the organization, its staff, and volunteers. You can also give away free music in exchange for donations (makes a great tax write off) as well.

These are just some initial thoughts. I hope that they inspire you to think outside the box with all areas of your music career and how you can inject your own creativity into the process. What are some interesting things that you have done? –Musicthinktank

The industry’s addiction with likes, friends, and followers is reaching junkie status. So maybe this is a step towards recovery.  Or, at least a little more balance: according to a new finding from NPD Group, social media’s role in music discovery is actually minor compared to other formats.  In fact, far stodgier platforms like AM/FM radio, TV, and simple person-to-person recommendationstower in importance over crafty Facebook campaigns.

Check out this breakdown from NPD Group researcher Russ Crupnick, who decided to ask music fans a fairly simple question:

“How did you first hear about (whatever song) you wanted to hear again?”

These were ‘highly-engaged music fans,’ not disconnected, casual listeners.  Yet Crupnick still found that old-school radio played astunningly disproportionate role in discovery.

Crupnick was far from dismissive of social networking platforms, but noted that this space is ‘a little bit overhyped’.  But could it be that Facebook is actually wildly overhyped, totally overblown, and not as effective as we thought?  Over in concert-land, Digital Music News recently found entrants like Songkick having little impact on concert attendance, despite pushing creating more awareness than ever before.

But wait! Critics blasted that report, saying it’s just too early to judge – and there are significant lag-times at work.  Perhaps inside the bubble, Facebook-connected apps and alerts are in full swing, but in reality, there’s still an upward curve.  Which is why when Crupnick asked these same consumers what it would take to get them to buy more music, many said ‘more Facebook alerts‘!

After our recent post about getting music placed in video games, we had a bunch of requests to find out also about the same process for advertising. We spoke with James Alvich from MAS (Music and Strategy) who provides a full range of solutions for brands and advertising agencies including original composition, music supervision, licensing, talent procurement, and sponsorship packages. James has over 11 years experience in advertising, specializing in television, radio and online commercial production.

ST: What is the process for placement of music in advertising?

JA: MAS will typically be called upon by our clients with a music brief or reference of a track they like, but for a myriad of reasons cannot obtain. At that point, we’ll get on a creative call to discuss the creative idea, tempo, tone, and genre to best figure out what exactly the client is liking about the temp and that helps guide us to what kind of music we should be looking for. MAS has relationships with every label, library, managers, and musicians that we can reach out to in order to help us find the perfect song. After receiving many tracks, we’ll sift through to send our clients only the best of the best that fit the brief perfectly.

ST: Which genres/ types of music get placed in advertising most often?

JA: I would say that the indie rock vibe has been most requested in the last few months, but every genre has been asked for. Within advertising, there is not one genre that dominates over any other. It’s always based on the creative brief and what the commercial calls for.

ST: How often does advertising require original compositions vs. using existing music?

JA: I think there is a certain appeal to agencies being able to break a song or a new band, but it typically falls on the agency creative to determine what the commercial needs. Some commercials don’t require a licensed track and need something scored to picture to accentuate the creativity or to set a certain mood that a licensed track may not be able to accomplish. Also, budget and timing plays a rather large role in this decision as well.

ST: How can an unpublished songwriter get considered alongside the big boys for placement?

JA: I would say to start making relationships with the different music houses, libraries, and sync pitching agencies out there. Let them represent your music, but you still retain ownership of all of your stuff. This way they can send your music to agencies, editors, and producers for consideration.

ST: How much can advertising placements pay upfront?

JA: This is a hard question to answer given that there aren’t any set rates. Factors for pricing really depend on how reputable the artist is and who owns the publishing and master. Beyond popular music, it’s really about where the commercial will be airing and for how long. Once you have those facts you can start to carve out pricing, but it can be lucrative if you can get your music placed.

ST: Which brands do you feel best use music in their advertising?

JA: I personally feel that Target does an amazing job with breaking new music to the masses. They seem to always have a great licensed track that, once released, becomes a major seller.

ST: What are some good ways to find out about upcoming advertisement placement opportunities?

JA: Work with a company like MAS or one of the many other music houses that have the already existing relationships and are in constant contact with the agencies and production companies involved.