How To Get More Sales On iTunes!

How To Get More Sales On iTunes!

You have worked hard on writing and recording your album.  Now it’s time to put it on iTunes.  But what do you do next to make sure that you see some sales? If you want your album to sell, you will have to promote it.  Below is a list of 12 easy things you should do to get more sales on iTunes.  Follow these suggestions and you will be selling more of your music and growing your fan base in no time!

1.       Send Your Album Out For Review:

Send your album out to local newspapers, magazines, and blogs along with a friendly letter asking if they would consider reviewing your album.  Getting reviews is extremely important.  It allows your music and message to be exposed to new audiences.    Hopefully, someone will read the article, like what the author is saying, and go to iTunes to check out and purchase your music.

2.      Print Up Download Cards With A Sample Of Your Music:

Download cards are an affordable, easy way to get some promo for your new album.  I would suggest making up a card and putting 1 or 2 songs from your album on it.  On the card make sure you include your contact info, track name, any band artwork, and of course a message stating that the full album is available on iTunes.

I have found that since these cards are cheap, as little as 1000 cards for $99 through Distrophonix, you can hand them out for free to potential fans and not feel guilty or go broke.

The goal with the download cards is to hand these cards out to as many people as possible.  A great place to hand them out is at local malls, music festivals, and outside venues as shows are letting out.

3.      Create A Banner With A Buy Link: 

Make it easy for fans to buy your music.  One of the best ways to do this is to make a simple banner that can be posted on your site and social networks.  This banner would link directly to your music on iTunes.

4.      Sign up for LastFM: 

This is a great place to get exposure for your music.  LastFM has the power to introduce your music to millions of potential fans.  When you do your distribution through Distrophonix they do this for you automatically.

5.      Get On Your Social Networks: 

Not to overstate the obvious, but getting the word out through social media is an absolute necessity if you hope to have strong sales on iTunes.  Use Facebook, ReverbNation, Twitter, MySpace etc. to let people know that your music is available on iTunes. 

6.      Start A Mailing List: 

Your fans want to stay in touch with you.  One of the best ways to do this is to start a newsletter giving updates about the band and informing them of new shows.  In this newsletter also include a link to your music in iTunes so that your fans can easily find your material.

7.      Offer To Give Something Away For Free For A Good Album Review:

Getting positive album reviews on iTunes is the key to success.  The more album reviews you have, the more exposure you will get in the stores.  A good way to get positive album reviews is to offer your fans free tickets to a show, or some free merch for any review they do.

8.      Tell People You Are On iTunes While On Stage: 

While you are on stage, and have everyone’s attention, make sure that you tell the audience that your music is available on iTunes.  This is really a no brainer, but you would be surprised by how many artists forget to do this. 

9.      Get Help From Your Existing Fans:  Ask your fans to help promote you. It is amazing the impact even one fan can have if they get on Twitter or Facebook and start talking about their favorite band or artist.  Make sure to reward anyone who helps you in this way, and of course let them know how much it is appreciated.

10.  Consider Putting Your Music In The Rock Band Video Game: 

Consider using the power of video games to market and promote your music.  By getting one of your songs in the Rock Band video game, you have the chance to expose your music to an entirely new audience.  If they like the song, you can bet they will buy it on iTunes.  Distrophonix can also assist you with getting your music on Rock Band. 

11.  Do A Facebook Advertising Campaign: 

Facebook can be very powerful because it allows you to specifically target those that may be interested in your music.  For a few cents a click, you can drive a lot of potential fans to your iTunes storefront.  To learn more about this check out the advertising section on Facebook.

12.  Consider Taking Part In A Shared Magazine Ad In A Major Publication:

Advertising in magazines specific to your genre can be very effective, but expensive.  To keep it affordable, consider buying an ad space and splitting up the costs with a few other artists that you are friends with.  That way everyone gets exposure, but at an affordable price.

Written By:

Distrophonix LLC

www.Distrophonix.com

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Promote Your Band

Summary: 4 Tips to promote your band.

1.     Make your name stand out

It can be hard to get your name out with all of the clutter people see and hear throughout the day. A good tip to get your name out would be to branch out and spread word of mouth about your band. There are many ways to make your bands name stand out:

·         Logo

o    KIS - Keep It Simple!

o    Make sure it is appropriate and distinctive for your band

o    Colors, fonts, and images gree with each other

·         Banner

o    Create a memorable banner to always place behind your band while playing at a concert- people remember logos and colors to match up with who you are… think about it- What color do you think for Coca-Cola? Red.

·         Pictures

o    Every band needs a great picture—make sure you have a certain style you want to portray to your audience

·         Newspaper Articles/Press Releases

o    The best way to get your name out is to be out there. That means capturing your concerts through audio and video, going to many events and shows, and network with all different types of people. You never know who could help you out in the end.

2.     Interact with your audience through social media

If you don’t have a Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or YouTube account get one now! By having your own bands webpage, your fans are able to track your daily lives from your music, tour dates, pictures, or concerts they may have been to. People love to personally connect with their favorite bands on the Internet and it is a definite bonus if you comment back to create that relationship every fan wishes for. Your fans may also want to receive a daily/weekly newsletter so they can follow your band even more and receive special updates just for them.

*TIP- Remember to close your newsletter with a call to action to encourage your readers to be more involved and visit more often.

In addition, by doing this- their friends will see who they are talking to and it will create more visitors to your page AND your music. If your fans are checking you out- their friends will also want to.

3.     Advertise, Advertise, Advertise!

Remember a press kit is an important key starter for your band which should include: the bio for your band, a photo postcard to be remembered by, articles or CD reviews, and your CD or download card.

This is the first step to advertising for your band. Although, there are many other ways to promote your band using banners, websites, stickers, flyers, posters, etc. By promoting your band on many different outdoor advertisements, it creates awareness to a new audience. Distrophonix can help with these services by creating your bands own graphic design, stickers, T-shirts, and promoting your music on Rock Band.

        4.   Support Others

By coming to show support for other bands and people, it shows that you and your band care about music, your fans, and what else is out there.

Distrophonix employees take time off work to go serve meals to the homeless and hungry of Baltimore City by volunteering at Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen.  This summer, Distrophonix will be collaborating with local bands to sing to the homeless. This is a great opportunity to show your support for others and also promote your band. To see pictures of some of the work Distrophonix does there please check out their Facebook page.  

      By: Deborah Hercenberg

Deborah is a marketing consultant to Distrophonix LLC.  Distrophonix  LLC is a music marketing and distribution company based in Baltimore, MD. They design marketing plans for musicians, as well as offer digital distribution, CD pressing, download cards and mastering.       

www.Distrophonix.com

Music Marketing Tips on a Budget

Summary: 6 tips musicians can utilize when marketing their band on a tight budget

Many musicians become stressed out when it comes to creating a valuable music marketing plan, especially while promoting on a tight budget. Not only does marketing involve a great amount of time, effort, and hard-work, but it can quickly become extremely expensive. Most commonly, artists usually don’t have marketing finances to splurge on; your key focus may be on producing great quality music for your fans. Here are some music marketing tips for artists to exploit while upholding a budget.

1.     Take advantage of social media outlets

Social media platforms are marketing tools that every musician should take advantage of. The two essential benefits that social media marketing brings to the table is the fact that it’s free and can reach a mass audience. You can use websites such as: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, ReverbNation, and so on. These social media networks can help build your bands awareness and can also assist with connecting among fans. By connecting and building relationships with fans, this allows you to communicate which is an important factor when promoting your band.

Upload new songs to your page and keep it entertaining. Keep your fans updated when shows are coming up and also when new songs will be released. Posting funny and interesting stories while touring on the road, or traveling to shows will keep fans on their feet and amused. Social media platforms allow individuals to upload photos, so by submitting images onto your pages, this will become appealing to viewers and will keep them coming back for more. Another piece of advice is when individuals comment on your posts/songs/photos, make sure to comment back and make it personal.

2.     Create a blog site for your band

Blogging is a great way to create an image and express yourself as a band. Most blog sites are free, which once again is a benefit for your pocket. This is a fast and easy alternative to get your bands name out on the web throughout the online presence. Blogging is an excellent and fun technique to use. You can write about crazy and interesting occurrences that happened during shows, recordings, and trips. You can utilize this tool by sharing background information about your band, and by expressing your thoughts and opinions as well. Be passionate about your writing because fans and followers will be reading your content, and hopefully exiting your page with a good notion.

3.     Maintain and build relationships with fans

Maintaining personal relationships with fans is the most vital aspect in the marketing world. Connecting with fans is important because the more you build a connection, the more love and support you will receive from them. If a fan is totally feeling your band, and you build a relationship with them through social media or blogging sites, your fans will sincerely feel connected with you. Where else but online can you connect with thousands of fans at once? Fans will become loyal to your band and express their delight through word-of-mouth to friends and family if you maintain friendly relationships. This will not only lead to a positive image, but loyalty will increase awareness as well.

4.     Make certain contact information is present on all sites/e-mails

Artists should always double check and make sure that their contact information is listed on all e-mails and web pages. This is the most inexpensive, yet the most common marketing mistake that I have seen artists make. Whether you are trying to book an open microphone (mic) slot at a local café, or a search for an open concert/event listing, make sure the respondent can contact you. Also, this goes for websites too. If you are creating a Facebook, Twitter, or company website, be positive that you list all contact information so individuals can get in touch with you with questions and opportunities. Include information like: band name, e-mail, telephone number, potential address and all links to social media sites.

5.     Attend and play at local shows

Attending and performing at local shows may be the priciest out of the 6 marketing tips, but this suggestion will leave you with the most experience. Some shows may even be free to attend which is a huge advantage while on a budget. You can bring flyers or download cards with you to hand out to individuals who seem interested in your band. Attending shows can also help you build relationships with potential fans, which is extremely valuable for artists. By being on the other side of the picture and performing, this may be the most influential marketing tools to take advantage of. Sign up and offer to perform at open mic nights, or even offer to be the opening band at a local concert. Although, you may not be paid as much as you would like, this can build a great image for your band and people can enjoy your live tunes. Focus of making an excellent impression and really “wowing” the audience!

6.     Distribute download cards

Instead of distributing business cards for promoting your band, hand out download cards as a different and more interesting alternative. Download cards allow artists to promote and advertise bands with the ability to host albums and demos. Be creative when designing your download card. Design these business-sized cards with full color and visuals to catch fans attention. These cards have codes located to either the front or back that fans can use to download your music. Distrophonix offers 1,000 download cards for $99; this is a great and affordable deal. You can gain the $99 back by selling them to fans and making a huge profit.

By: Danielle Peterson

Danielle is a Marketing Specialist for Distrophonix LLC. Distrophonix is a company based in Baltimore, MD specializing in music marketing, distribution, Rock Band Encoding, CD pressing, and mastering for musicians worldwide.
www.Distrophonix.com

Tips For Designing A Good Band Website

Summary: Tips for designing the best band website possible.

If you follow these tips and guidelines below, you will have a great band website that will make you look professional, engage fans, and blow away your competition.

1. Get a memorable url: You want your websites url to be memorable. The best url’s are those where you can just have your band name followed by a .com. Unfortunately though, many .com domain names have been taken. If this is the case consider a .net, or come up with a url that is a phrase that contains your band name followed by a .com. ie. If your band was named The Beatles, you could use the url thebeatlesrock.com.

2. Connect Your Social Networks To Your Band’s Website: Make sure that all of your social networking pages (Facebook, MySpace, Reverbnation, Twitter, etc.) are linked to your bands page. This makes it much easier for your fans to connect with you on the social network of their choice.

3. Provide Links Stores Where Your Music Is For Sale: Make it as easy as possible for your fans to purchase your music. Make sure that you provide links to your music on iTunes, Amazon, etc. If you want to go one step further, consider signing up for an affiliate program with the stores that your music is found in. Becoming an affiliate will allow you to make additional money on your sales because the stores will share a portion of the revenue that they make above what you normally would get. Another nice feature is that if your fans purchase any other music while they are on a site like iTunes, you will get a percentage of that as well.

4. Provide Detailed Contact Information: I can’t even begin to tell you how many band websites I come across where the band forgets to provide contact info. Make sure that, at minimum, you include an email address and phone number.

5. Provide A Street Team Resources Section: If you are serious about your band, you need to have a street team. Make their job as easy as possible by providing marketing materials such as flyers and posters that they can download from your website, print off and distribute. You may also want to consider providing banner ads that your street team and fans can post on their own websites and social networking pages. Another good promotional tool is screensavers and desktop backgrounds.

6. Have A Bio Section: Fans want to get to know you. Make sure you provide a band and band members bio along with plenty of pictures.

7. Audio/Video Links: If you have free music or videos to share, make sure that you either embed them on your website, or at minimum, provide links to where they can be found.

8. Collect Email Addresses: If you have a band newsletter, make it easy for fans to sign up for it. Newsletter companies like Constant Contact and Campaigner provide a free newsletter sign up tool that you can imbed on your website.

9. Make Your Website Aesthetically Pleasing: Make sure your website looks great! If you are going to take the time to make a website, make sure that it looks professional. A cheap, ugly website will actually do more to hurt your image than to help it. If you have a bad website, you are better just having no website at all.

10. Make Your Website Easy To Use: Please make your website easy to use. Make sure that all features are clearly presented to the viewer. Keep things simple.

11. Sell Your Merch: A website is a perfect place to allow fans that are unable to attend your shows to buy your merchandise. Post pictures of Tshirts, CDs, stickers, patches, etc that you sell. Use paypal to accept credit cards.

Written by: Brenden Bosmans

Brenden is a Marketing Consultant to Distrophonix LLC. Distrophonix provides digital distribution (iTunes & 400+ other stores), CD Pressing, Download Cards, Mastering, etc. to Record Labels, Musicians and Studios. To learn more about Distrophonix check out:
http://www.distrophonix.com/

Easy Ways to Self Promote Your Gig

Summary: Ideas for inexpensive and free self promotion of your band.

Many start up bands miss easy opportunities to get people in the seats of their upcoming gigs. Below we will discuss a few inexpensive ways to self promote your garage band, indie band, or established act. All of these ideas are simple yet cost effective ways to promote on a budget.

The first step in self promoting your band is word of mouth. Basically everyone in the band needs to take a proactive role in getting the word out on future shows and gigs. Word of mouth includes telling your family, friends, coworkers, and anyone else your band knows that may be interested in your bands genre of music. For example, have your parents or relatives tell their coworkers or friends and so on. It can be surprising how many seats you can fill by simply by word of mouth through family and friends.

Secondly, have flyers printed for your next show. This can be done fairly cheap at any local copy store in your area. This is a cost effective self promotion tactic. Design a simple flyers with your band name, logo or artwork, genre of music, original or cover tunes, date and time of show, Band website, Contact information, and phone number and name of the club or venue where you will be performing. After designing your show flyer, send a few to the club or venue where you be playing. It may even be a good idea to hand deliver the flyers and ask if you may hang a few yourself. This way you can make sure your flyer will be seen by patrons of the club. Another idea is to place flyers on bulletin boards at music stores and other places where you may find a crowd for your gig. One word of caution, always get permission to place your flyers. For example, if you decide to place flyers on cars in a parking lot get permission from that lot owner. Some people tend to throw the flyers on the ground and cause a mess for a lot owner. The lot owner also has your contact info from the flyer so he may take legal action. So the moral of the story is get permission before placing flyers.

Next, contact any local or regional newspapers or entertainment type papers in your area. Most of these newspapers have weekly band listings in their entertainment sections. Email or call the papers until you find the proper contact and send them all the info they request. Usually you'll want to send Show Place, Date, Time, Band Name, and Cost of show (if applicable).

Lastly, search for concert calendars on the internet for free listings in the city or regional area your playing the gig. Many concert calendars will list your shows for free. Find some of the more popular ones that may get more internet traffic. Do a search on Concerts listings, events listings, free band listings or something of this nature, and add the city to the search.

Above are a few ideas for inexpensive or free self promotion of your band. Try to use all or most of these tactics for every show you self promote. Remember, the more fans you get to the show the better the chance you'll have of getting booked there again and building a career in that city or region of interest. Good Luck!!!

Source: www.MediaWebSource.com

How to Get Gigs

Summary: How To Get Gigs For Your Band, Local Band, Or Garage Band

How to get band gigs and shows for your local band?  It's not always easy to get out of the starting gate and get a gig. You can get a show booked for your garage band, local band, or indie band with a little hard work. Your rock band should have a strong music set, quality song material, and should play well in a live setting. It is now time to take the next step and book gigs for your band.

Press Kit - The first thing your indie act or garage band should do is to get a band press kit together. The press kit, press package, or media kit will have everything you'll need to get started. Visit our Press Kit Page for tips on getting the press kit together. Once you have your press kit, you'll have a vehicle to start promoting your indie band.

Demo CD/Tape - For most gigs, a club owner or party planner will want to hear how your music sounds. So record your indie band Demo CD or Tape. You may want to buy or rent a portable home recording studio at your local music store. Make sure your songwriting is of professional quality. Songwriting is a trial and error process and may take time. Many rewrites may be needed when writing songs. It's just part of the songwriting process.  Portable home recording studios or computer recording software should give you sufficient quality for most local venues. Once your act is more established, you may want to get into a local reputable recording studio. Many professional indie bands use a computer program called Pro Tools or Cubase software for recording. While this is an expensive venture, it may be just as cost effective to learn the software than booking studio time.

Open Mic Nights - Start off playing open microphone (Mic) nights at local clubs. Not only will this give you a little experience on stage, you'll actually have a built in audience. Many open mic nights are hosted by more established local bands or indie acts. Make valuable contacts for the future with the hosting bands and other local bands playing at the open mic night. Check your local music newspapers, perform an internet search for open microphone nights in your city, or search music websites to find this information. This is a great starting point to play gigs and shows in your area.

Offer to Open for Free - The reality is that your not going to get paid when you first start out. Offer to be an opening band for free for a local band you know. Network with bands than you may have met at an open microphone night.  E-mail more established indie band in the area and offer to play an opening gig for them.  Many indie bands love opening acts. They don't have to pay you much and they don't have to play as long of a show set. This is the time to start promoting your garage band too.  Hand out business cards and press kits to any clubs you play. Make sure to follow up with the venue after you have given them your press kit. Call or e-mail to make sure they get back to you. Be persistent. Booking agents and club owners are always getting approached by prospective indie bands and garage bands.

Solicit your Press Kit - Now that you've played gigs at open mic nights, start calling clubs and soliciting your Press Kit and Demo. It's a good idea to visit clubs that play your style of music and talk with the booker of the club.  Leave them a press kit and demo CD. Give the club booking agent a day or two to listen to your demo.  Call back and get some feedback. Ask for the gig or show for your band. Again, be persistent. 

Approach Town Fairs, County Festivals, or City Concert Venues Another way to get exposure is to gig for a large audience at a local fair or festival. Most of these gigs your band would play for free to get exposure. Some festivals do pay bands once they get a following or fan base. Do some research on the internet to see what local agencies take care of bookings for festivals or town fairs. Give out your band business cards at the show.  This is a good promotion tactic. Someone in the audience may want to book your indie music act in the future. 

Booking Agents - Most booking agents take a percentage of the money that you get for a gig. Booking agents can be a valuable resource for getting some better paying gigs. Do a lot of research and be sure they are reputable.  Do a search on your local yellow pages. A lot of booking agents only take well known acts, so shop around and see if they will deal with your local band. Stop by in person and take your demo and press kit. 

E-mail Local Newspapers - Have your show dates added to local newspaper concert listings. Most papers will list your gigs for free. Contact any free papers that list band show dates. Also, see if they will do an article on your garage band or review one of your gigs or your CD. 

Band Manager  - Look into having a band manager who will help out with promotion. This person can help book you indie act. Has someone that you have known taken an interest in your garage band or music career? See if they would help book your indie band. Relatives may do this for free or a small fee designated by you. Watch out for people that get to meddlesome in your band and try to control your band goals. Negotiate for fees charged for such services. 

Battle of the Bands - Send your demo and press kit to any local battle of the band competitions. Most competitions locate up and coming talent in the area for battle of the bands shows. The great thing about these competitions is that you can network with the promoters, other bands involved, and get exposure. Many of the competitions are promoted on the radio, internet, and newspapers. The winner usually gets a decent prize like studio time or free promotion. Have your business cards ready at every portion of the competition.

Source:  http://mediawebsource.com/howtoget.htm

16 Music Promotion Tips

The following tips are essential, life-long suggestions, for any and all musicians to remember as they establish and/or maintain their music careers.

1. Stop sending unsolicited demo recordings to record labels, and instead concentrate on building your own music name and reputation by creating longterm relationships with your growing fanbase. They are your ticket to success.

2. Take the time to learn what the professionals in the music business do for a living. What are their job titles, who do they report to, and what do they do everyday when they go to work? The contacts you make in the music industry can make or break your career because your potential success is directly linked to any possible growing success of the industry people who are climbing their own ladders to success. The music business is built on the "buddy system." Everyone is attached to everyone else in this industry. As you go, so go your business contacts.

3. Before contacting any music business professional have 1(one) prepared question for them that will not make you look or sound like an ignorant person. i.e. Do not ask them how to become a atar, or how to get a recording contract. No one has the time to answer such sweeping and naive questions.

4. Create two contact lists: One for professional people you actually have as a business contact. Another contact list made up of all your fans. Keep both lists updated and using common sense, reach out to both contract groups only when you have something very important to ask of them and/or to share with them.

5. Prepare a short 30 second description of your music. Memorize it and use it every time you are asked "What kind of music do you make?" Don't go on and on describing your music... your statement should clearly describe your genre or style of music quickly and in compelling language that will perk up the person's ears and find yourself with an interested and potentially valuable new contact ready to support you.

6. If you have trouble defining your music style, try this exercise... define the word "originality" and note that within that word is another word... "origin." Perhaps this will help you focus on what makes your music unique. Never say your music is "unique," explain HOW it is unique. This exercise will help you write your 30 second statement.

7. Remember this always: People in the music industry who's job it is to find and support new acts don't know what they are looking for...BUT...they will recognize it when they hear it.

8. Find a concise "Image" and follow it everywhere. This is important because the first impression to someone unfamiliar with your sound is a VISUAL experience most of the time. i.e. Your Logo design used to spell your name, the title of your CD, or the design of your website, merchandise etc. is crucial to attracting industry and music fans. Image IS everything in show business, and in case you didn't realize it, music is part of good 'ol show business. Research your favorite acts and study their image.

9. People only respond to music they can personally relate to. What is it in your songs and compostions that has inspired your current fanbase and will grow to attract more fans and industry support? Think hard on this point. It is a true key to any possible success. Music contains emotions, so what emotions do your songs deliver to a listener?

10. Does your music sound too much like another artist or band's music? This is the biggest complaint from music business professionals... too much music today sounds like retreads of already successful artists. And, your fans are sensitive to this issue too. There is way too much :redundant-sounding" music out there today.

11. When you perform live does your stage pressence reflect the image conveyed in your songs? Are you well prepared, well rehearsed, and do the songs in your live set flow into each other in an exciting and well balanced way?

12. It can never be said enough. Great songs, Great compositions are the basis of all potential success, but "grunt work," everyday down-in-the-trecnches boring work, like updating your blog and website, keeping your websie and social networking pages updated and staying in touch with your fans regularly are tough jobs. Only you can tackle these jobs and other jobs like putting up flyers for shows (on and offline), updating your press materials, looking for gigs, rehearsing... all these tasks require your commitment to carry them out without complaining. Remember, only YOU can care the most...it's YOUR music, YOUR career that we are dealing with here.

13. There is no such thing as an "overnight sensation." Behind every act referred to in this way are countless hours of hard work and dedication that got that person or act to be able to take advantage of the breaks they got, and remember too that the breaks you are looking for should be more than "a record deal" or a "production deal." Look out for the ever increasing demand for uses of your songs online, in films, TV shows and ads... the list goes on. But you have to work consistently for these breaks to happen.

14. Home recording is as common today as home cooking use to be, but don't get trapped in the rut of staying at home and working on your computer or home recording setup. GET OUT regularly and show up at clubs and other concert venues on a regular basis. There is that old saying "They only come out at night"... well that's very true when it comes to music business personnel as well as music fans. So, get out there and socialize IN -PERSON wherever you might live.

15. As your fanbase grows create more and more merchandise to sell online and at your live shows. Be sure your LOGO is on every piece of merchandise you sell. (back to that statement-"Image is everything.")

16. This last tip may be the most important of all. Conduct your business from your heart. Yes, the music industry rarely operates from that place, but don't worry about the industry, concern yourself with your SELF... be righteous. Be upstanding. Be a professional in everything you do. If you do that, believe me you will stand out from from the crowd.

By: Chris Knab

Seven Helpful Hints to Financing Your Band’s Next Recording

Summary: Seven helpful hints to financing your next recording

Before you start thinking about recording your music, you need to be aware that nothing is free. Most new bands can really only afford to pay for their equipment and musical instruments and therefore have little to no money to spend on recording costs.

1. Loans. If you do not have the money to pay for the recording upfront you may have to consider getting a loan to do so. You can do this in one of two ways:

-Go through the traditional banking system or credit cards. The downside is that interest rates can be very high.
-Use Prosper.com; You choose the loan amount that your band desires and you pay a monthly fixed rate that is distributed to your investors. Investors can then review your listing and invest in the listing if it meets their criteria.

2. Slice the pie. Slicethepie.com raises money for artists by first paying people to review and rate music and then those successful artists are able to go on and raise money for their next E.P. or album.

3. Company sponsorship. A band can try to get a business to help sponsor its recording. In return, the band will market the business, and put its logo and information on their CD’s and merchandise.

4. Ask your local college. Most colleges have recording studios that students can record in for free, or a reduced charge. Many colleges also allow musicians that are not students to record in return for a small charge; or if you are lucky, free.

5. Kickstarter.com. Post your ideas that need to be funded. Posting music on this site is a great way to start. More than one person can invest, however you need to reach your goal in the allotted time or your needed amount will not get funded.

6. Barter. You may have a talent or skill that you can trade to a recording engineer in return for getting your music recording. We have had friends that have been successful in getting free recording in return for yard work, car repair, and hauling junk to the dump.

7. Share the cost with band members. I know that this is the obvious one, but none the less it should still be mentioned. Sharing the cost amongst several band members can make the recording much cheaper for everyone.

By: Michael Landa

Michael is a Financial Consultant to Distrophonix LLC. Distrophonix LLC is a music marketing and distribution company based in Baltimore, MD. They design marketing plans for musicians, as well as offer digital distribution, CD pressing, download cards and mastering.
www.Distrophonix.com

How to Sell More Merch at Your Shows

Summary: 7 tips to help you sell more merch.

You can have the coolest band merch in the world, but what’s the use of having it if you can’t sell it? Follow these tips and your merch will be flying off the table in no time!

1. Put A Light On It!
Venues/Clubs/Bars are dark areas. Having a light on your table helps to attract attention and makes people want to check out what you are offering.

2. Make an Interesting Merch Display!
Get creative with how you present your merch. One of the coolest setups we have ever seen was for the acoustic band, The Apathy Eulogy. They set their merch up in vintage suitcases. It gave their merch an indie, almost bohemian feel, which tied in nicely with their music.

Here are some other tips that could make your merch display more interesting:
- Use digital picture frames to display pricing.
- Use props like trunks, plants, mannequins, etc.
- Set up wire racks behind your table to hang t-shirts on.
- Arrange your CD’s into pyramids.

3. Bundle Your Merch Together!
Instead of selling your CDs, stickers, t-shirts, etc. individually, try bundling them together for a small discount. For example, if you sell your CD for $10 and t-shirt for $15, offer both for $20. This will cause your fans to purchase more than they might normally.

4. Advertise Your Merch From the Stage!
While you are still on stage and have everyone’s attention, don’t forget to mention your merch. Also, tell people that you are going to be at your merch table right after you get off stage so they know where to find you.

5. Meet Your Fans at The Table!
When you get off the stage, fans always want to talk to you. Instead of meeting your fans at the front of the stage, go back to your merch table. Talk to your fans there. This increases the chance of making a sale.

Usually, there is a rush to get your equipment off the stage before the next band starts. Before you go on stage, designate a few band members to be responsible for the equipment. This will allow at least one person in the band to head directly to the merch table.

6. Accept Credit/Debit Cards!
Let’s face it: We are almost a cashless society. Don’t lose out on sales just because you only accept cash. There are a lot of apps out there right now that allow you to process credit/debit card transactions right through your phone.

If you do not have a smart phone, another option is to just use a laptop where wifi is available and run transactions through a PayPal account.

7. Give Something Away For Free!
Always have something free to give away to your fans. You do not want your free item to cost more than a few cents each so we would recommend handing out small stickers, pens, key chains, etc. with your band name on it.

Another great option is to print up music download cards with a sample of your music and hand them out for free. Download cards allow fans to download your songs and put them on their iPod, Zune, etc. You can get these cards from companies like ours, Distrophonix for around $99 for 1000.

Here are two suggestions:
- For anyone who visits your merch table, give out something for free. Better yet, use the free item as an incentive for them to sign up for your mailing list.
- At the end of the show hand out free download cards, stickers, etc. to people as they leave. The goal of this is to make sure that everyone leaving the show has something to remember you by. This will help you grow your fan base and sell more merch in the future.

By: Brenden Bosmans

Brenden Bosmans is a Marketing Consultant to Distrophonix LLC. Distrophonix LLC is a music marketing and distribution company based in Baltimore, MD. They design marketing plans for musicians, as well as offer digital distribution, CD pressing, download cards and mastering.
www.Distrophonix.com