roninriot
Banned
BAND AID
Local bands have been complaining about the lack of media support for homegrown music for years. Now with the power of the Internet, the only thing that separates obscurity from popularity is commitment and hard work.
WORDS BY LEVAN WEE
So you’re a local musician, you’ve written great songs, played a few gigs and won over a fair number of fans. Now what? Unless you’re a musician content with performing at the Esplanade over and over again for the thousandth time, there has to be something else you can do to take that extra leap towards international recognition. With the limited demographic audience and the dwindling influence of major music labels in Singapore, the cold hard fact is that local media can only do so much to get your band to where you truly want to go. But you don’t have to be a victim of circumstances any longer. Believe this right now – the future success of your music career lies entirely in your hands.
We know you’ve already heard about the power of the Internet when it comes to promoting independent artists and the many success stories that go with it. Sean Kingston, Panic At The Disco, Colbie Caillat, Marié Digby, Lilly Allen, the list goes on. The wondrous thing about the Internet is how geographical barriers vanish literally at the click of a button. It really doesn’t matter if you’re from the UK, US or Singapore. These days all it takes is a little hard work and patience for your music to be heard by hundreds of thousands of fans-to-be, all eager to check out new music acts. So why not yours?
There’s really no good reason for Singaporean artists to use the age-old excuse of our country being too ‘small’ for a thriving music market to exist or that Singaporeans and the local media are ‘not being supportive of local music’ Success is a state of mind and it all comes down putting your mind and actions to work where it counts.
Here are a few basic tips to get you started on your journey to international recognition, or at the very least, land you with some decent pocket money to keep that music career going strong. All it takes is commitment and getting your ass out of that gutter.
WHY LOCAL? GO GLOBAL!
Most local bands in Singapore tend to make the mistake of thinking of CD sales in a local context. Many musicians find themselves spending a lot of time knocking on doors of local CD distributors in their frantic need to get their independent albums sold in shops here. But why restrict your time and sales to just local buyers? There are potentially thousands of people spread across continents who might be willing to spend a little money on your sparkling new album so don’t sell those fans short by limiting your album sales to just Singapore. Here are some of our top picks that’ll help you get your music sold across the world.
CDBaby.com
CDBaby.com (www.cdbaby.com) is the largest retailer of independent music in the world, both online and in retrial. There are currently more than 200,000 independent artists who sell their albums on the site with more than US$75 million dollars in profits paid out to these artists in just a few short years. All you have to do to get a slice of that big cash pie is set up an account there for just US$35, send your albums over and they’ll handle the rest for you at no extra cost. They’re services include setting up your own personal music profile on their website, taking both credit card and cheque orders from interested buyers, handling of shipment and delivery as well as encoding your album into sellable MP3 format. CDBaby takes only $4 from your sale price per CD – the rest is for you to keep! With so much offered for such a low price, it’s amazing why so few Singaporean bands have caught on to this one-stop hassle-free solution for worldwide sales. Hopefully that will change starting from now.
Paypal
Paypal is one of the Internet’s most widely endorsed forms of online payment, largely thanks to eBay’s partnership with the company. What Paypal simply does is bridge the gap between product buyers and sellers while ensuring a secure credit card transaction between the two. Yet, once again, few local bands here have gotten down to actually registering for a free Paypal account. Most importantly with Paypal, you can also set up a plug-in online shopping cart to sell your wares directly from your band’s website with no setup or monthly fees needed – just a small 2.9% transaction charge from your profits per sale. Paypal is a great alternative to CDBaby, provided you are ready to handle your own shipping costs and deliveries without the help of a third-party vendor.
Digital Downloads:
Experts predict that in just a few short years, up to fifty percent of total music purchases will be in digital format. So why wait to sell your MP3s online? Besides the obvious choice of iTunes (www.itunes.com) there are a large number of alternative places to sell your music digitally. Other options include Rhapsody (www.rhapsody.com), MSN Music (music.msn.com) and even Singapore-based Soundbuzz (www.soundbuzz.com). For a long list of available online vendors, simply click on over to Google, and if you’re really that lazy, try sweeping Yahoo’s directories for ‘Digital Music Distribution’.
COMMUNICATE, DON’T PROCRASTINATE!
Back in the days when the Internet was just a brainchild waiting to be born, constant gigging as well as clinching a major label signing were the primary ways a band could get themselves heard by the masses from around the world. The situation is radically different these days. The Internet, above everything else, facilitates communication between people from across the globe. What this means for local bands is simply this; getting a teenager who lives thousands of miles away in Texas or Helsinki to start digging your music isn’t all that hard to do provided you know how to go about doing it. Here are some ideas you might want to try to reel them in, sink and hook!
Visit music-focused forums from around the globe.
Local musicians here tend to limit themselves to posting or advertising on local music forums like SOFT (www.soft.com.sg) . What many forget is that across the vast spectrum of the Internet, there are literally tens of thousands of music-based Internet forums out there with millions of active participants. Here’s an idea; why not post a thread that advertises your music on forums that cater to fans of the same music genre you play? So if your band sounds like Linkin Park, visit a Linkin Park fan forum and post about your music there. Even if only 10 out of a thousand people wind up liking your stuff, that’s 10 new fans you wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t taken the effort, not to mention the likelihood of them sharing their love for your music with their friends. What a difference a Google search makes!
Social Networks
Without a doubt, MySpace and Facebook are two of the most popular online social networking sites that bands are actively using to promote their music online. Only problem is there are one too many bands saturating these sites with all of them fighting for the same thing; the attention of music-lovers.
How many times have you logged onto your accounts only to be bombarded with an insincere and generic “THANKS FOR THE ADD” comment from a band whose only concern is shoving their music down your throats?
Why not try a different approach instead? Try searching for people with the same musical interest as you or who are into popular bands that sound like yours? Instead of adding them blindly, take the time to read a person’s individual profile and send a request to be his or her friend – but add a personal touch. Ask them about their interests in music or their hobbies or even what books they’re reading. Only after they respond back do you start pimping your music. What matters is first showing to them that you aren’t just adding him or her for the sake of looking like the popular kid on the block with the most number of friends. Sincerity goes a long way and the love you give to others is the love you will receive. When it comes to sustaining a music career through the Internet, the quality of people who appreciate your music matters over the quantity, but with enough persistence and time, your band will eventually enjoy the benefits of having the best of both worlds.
Blogs
There are currently 15.5 million active blogs on the Internet and we’re willing to bet that nearly zero local bands here have used blogs as an effective means of advertising their music to an international audience. Blogs are major online traffic hogs so why not utilise that traffic to your benefit? Head on over to Technorati (www.technorati.com), a website which works as a search engine for blog content. Search for keywords that relate back to your band. For example, if you sound like Simple Plan, try keying in ‘Simple Plan fan’ to scour the Internet for any blogger who has recently posted on that related topic. Then leave a sincerely phrased comment on their blog and redirect them to your band’s website. Not every one will bite but those that do are one step closer to becoming new fans of your band.
________
Local bands have been complaining about the lack of media support for homegrown music for years. Now with the power of the Internet, the only thing that separates obscurity from popularity is commitment and hard work.
WORDS BY LEVAN WEE
So you’re a local musician, you’ve written great songs, played a few gigs and won over a fair number of fans. Now what? Unless you’re a musician content with performing at the Esplanade over and over again for the thousandth time, there has to be something else you can do to take that extra leap towards international recognition. With the limited demographic audience and the dwindling influence of major music labels in Singapore, the cold hard fact is that local media can only do so much to get your band to where you truly want to go. But you don’t have to be a victim of circumstances any longer. Believe this right now – the future success of your music career lies entirely in your hands.
We know you’ve already heard about the power of the Internet when it comes to promoting independent artists and the many success stories that go with it. Sean Kingston, Panic At The Disco, Colbie Caillat, Marié Digby, Lilly Allen, the list goes on. The wondrous thing about the Internet is how geographical barriers vanish literally at the click of a button. It really doesn’t matter if you’re from the UK, US or Singapore. These days all it takes is a little hard work and patience for your music to be heard by hundreds of thousands of fans-to-be, all eager to check out new music acts. So why not yours?
There’s really no good reason for Singaporean artists to use the age-old excuse of our country being too ‘small’ for a thriving music market to exist or that Singaporeans and the local media are ‘not being supportive of local music’ Success is a state of mind and it all comes down putting your mind and actions to work where it counts.
Here are a few basic tips to get you started on your journey to international recognition, or at the very least, land you with some decent pocket money to keep that music career going strong. All it takes is commitment and getting your ass out of that gutter.
WHY LOCAL? GO GLOBAL!
Most local bands in Singapore tend to make the mistake of thinking of CD sales in a local context. Many musicians find themselves spending a lot of time knocking on doors of local CD distributors in their frantic need to get their independent albums sold in shops here. But why restrict your time and sales to just local buyers? There are potentially thousands of people spread across continents who might be willing to spend a little money on your sparkling new album so don’t sell those fans short by limiting your album sales to just Singapore. Here are some of our top picks that’ll help you get your music sold across the world.
CDBaby.com
CDBaby.com (www.cdbaby.com) is the largest retailer of independent music in the world, both online and in retrial. There are currently more than 200,000 independent artists who sell their albums on the site with more than US$75 million dollars in profits paid out to these artists in just a few short years. All you have to do to get a slice of that big cash pie is set up an account there for just US$35, send your albums over and they’ll handle the rest for you at no extra cost. They’re services include setting up your own personal music profile on their website, taking both credit card and cheque orders from interested buyers, handling of shipment and delivery as well as encoding your album into sellable MP3 format. CDBaby takes only $4 from your sale price per CD – the rest is for you to keep! With so much offered for such a low price, it’s amazing why so few Singaporean bands have caught on to this one-stop hassle-free solution for worldwide sales. Hopefully that will change starting from now.
Paypal
Paypal is one of the Internet’s most widely endorsed forms of online payment, largely thanks to eBay’s partnership with the company. What Paypal simply does is bridge the gap between product buyers and sellers while ensuring a secure credit card transaction between the two. Yet, once again, few local bands here have gotten down to actually registering for a free Paypal account. Most importantly with Paypal, you can also set up a plug-in online shopping cart to sell your wares directly from your band’s website with no setup or monthly fees needed – just a small 2.9% transaction charge from your profits per sale. Paypal is a great alternative to CDBaby, provided you are ready to handle your own shipping costs and deliveries without the help of a third-party vendor.
Digital Downloads:
Experts predict that in just a few short years, up to fifty percent of total music purchases will be in digital format. So why wait to sell your MP3s online? Besides the obvious choice of iTunes (www.itunes.com) there are a large number of alternative places to sell your music digitally. Other options include Rhapsody (www.rhapsody.com), MSN Music (music.msn.com) and even Singapore-based Soundbuzz (www.soundbuzz.com). For a long list of available online vendors, simply click on over to Google, and if you’re really that lazy, try sweeping Yahoo’s directories for ‘Digital Music Distribution’.
COMMUNICATE, DON’T PROCRASTINATE!
Back in the days when the Internet was just a brainchild waiting to be born, constant gigging as well as clinching a major label signing were the primary ways a band could get themselves heard by the masses from around the world. The situation is radically different these days. The Internet, above everything else, facilitates communication between people from across the globe. What this means for local bands is simply this; getting a teenager who lives thousands of miles away in Texas or Helsinki to start digging your music isn’t all that hard to do provided you know how to go about doing it. Here are some ideas you might want to try to reel them in, sink and hook!
Visit music-focused forums from around the globe.
Local musicians here tend to limit themselves to posting or advertising on local music forums like SOFT (www.soft.com.sg) . What many forget is that across the vast spectrum of the Internet, there are literally tens of thousands of music-based Internet forums out there with millions of active participants. Here’s an idea; why not post a thread that advertises your music on forums that cater to fans of the same music genre you play? So if your band sounds like Linkin Park, visit a Linkin Park fan forum and post about your music there. Even if only 10 out of a thousand people wind up liking your stuff, that’s 10 new fans you wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t taken the effort, not to mention the likelihood of them sharing their love for your music with their friends. What a difference a Google search makes!
Social Networks
Without a doubt, MySpace and Facebook are two of the most popular online social networking sites that bands are actively using to promote their music online. Only problem is there are one too many bands saturating these sites with all of them fighting for the same thing; the attention of music-lovers.
How many times have you logged onto your accounts only to be bombarded with an insincere and generic “THANKS FOR THE ADD” comment from a band whose only concern is shoving their music down your throats?
Why not try a different approach instead? Try searching for people with the same musical interest as you or who are into popular bands that sound like yours? Instead of adding them blindly, take the time to read a person’s individual profile and send a request to be his or her friend – but add a personal touch. Ask them about their interests in music or their hobbies or even what books they’re reading. Only after they respond back do you start pimping your music. What matters is first showing to them that you aren’t just adding him or her for the sake of looking like the popular kid on the block with the most number of friends. Sincerity goes a long way and the love you give to others is the love you will receive. When it comes to sustaining a music career through the Internet, the quality of people who appreciate your music matters over the quantity, but with enough persistence and time, your band will eventually enjoy the benefits of having the best of both worlds.
Blogs
There are currently 15.5 million active blogs on the Internet and we’re willing to bet that nearly zero local bands here have used blogs as an effective means of advertising their music to an international audience. Blogs are major online traffic hogs so why not utilise that traffic to your benefit? Head on over to Technorati (www.technorati.com), a website which works as a search engine for blog content. Search for keywords that relate back to your band. For example, if you sound like Simple Plan, try keying in ‘Simple Plan fan’ to scour the Internet for any blogger who has recently posted on that related topic. Then leave a sincerely phrased comment on their blog and redirect them to your band’s website. Not every one will bite but those that do are one step closer to becoming new fans of your band.
________
