DJ Kid Relly's - Basics of Music Promotion

DJ Kid Relly's - Basics of Music

Music promotion is all about hard work and consistency, if you want your music out there you are going to have to work long hours and dedicate time and money to do it right. If you can master the few basics of music promotion below you can be making money in the music industry for years to come as a musician or sitting behind a desk.

Radio

For a full rundown of information about radio promotions check out our article on radio promotions. Radio is a very important part of established artists who have a large or little fan base. You need to make sure you have a great song, a budget of at least ,000, and a manager or consultant who knows the basics of radio promotion, or if you have experience with radio it is always still a smart thing to hire an assistant to call stations and help with contests and requests because this is a very time consuming thing for musicians on the road -playing a lot of gigs.

Street Teams/Tastemakers (www.collegedj.net)

This is a great way to get the word out about an album or new single hitting the radio. This is also very cheap if you have a few fans who want to help out in return for free t-shirts, CD’s, and other products. This is a cheap yet effective way to gain a larger fanbase and exposure.

A very important part of your success is your fan base in your home town. You need to work on creating a large fan base in your region, this will create a constant stream of money coming in through CD sales and shows. To do this you can use a street team, put on free shows at local venues, talk with local press such as your newspaper to get featured in their music section if they have one, .....and just about anything that happens in the community you should be volunteering you services of music to venues such as local festivals and homecomings. Many artists who sign to major labels spend thousands on grassroots marketing once they are signed to make sure their album sells. There is nothing that beats hometown fans, they are usually more loyal and take pride in your career.

Internet Networking

The internet is becoming the fastest growing way for musicians to get their material out there. I have known three artists personally who have been signed to major labels with large deals just off of an A&R hearing their Myspace and seeing that they had a following. One artist sent a message to check out his music and he ended up getting a deal with one of the largest labels, Sony BMG. The internet is a great tool for getting the word out about you as well as shows, albums, and more. And the best part of this is that it is very cost effective, most promotion such as Myspace and promoting on message boards is free. With the internet it has become easier and easier for garage bands to become overnight stars.

Checkout this tutorial about getting traffic to your page! It’s not fun but the content is very good……

Want more traffic? Hit us up contact@collegedj.net

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CDJ Digital promotes www.NollywoodAmerica.com

CDJ recently linked up with www.nollywoodamerica.com to help them launch their new website. NollywoodAmerica recently had their launch party to promote the site and www.collegedj.net helped NollywoodAmerica with their digital promotional activities and event planning. The email marketing advice, digital promotions, DJ and video setup consulting we provided was critical to the success of the event. The strategic partnership involved cross promoting and digital distribution for a targeted, young demographic. We are pleased to announce that the event was an overwhelming success. CDJ Digital is now focusing on expanding and scaling its digital offerings and distribution capacity. We hope to be able to offer more synergistic services in the future....See the picture gallery for snaps of the event which included mic control from –DP (just a tad) and performances by Madarocka Chi, a well established Nigerian American hip hop artist. The next event is coming soon!!! Why not plan your next internet related activity/event with the help of CDJ?

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Alternative (Cont-d):Joy Division's - New Order

New Order’s first album “Movement” was very reminiscent of the classic Joy Division sound but this album included more technical musical growth and added more keyboard –synthesized sounds. Gillian Gilbert was added to the trio and the band continued to make new music and stray away from their earlier, raw sound. The crew became very interested in dance music from their visit to the U.S. and continued to make new music with electronica elements. They also mastered the art of remixes way before Diddy. New Order has several remixes to popular songs they have created (including a cut by Quincy Jones) and many of these remixes are extremely different from their originals, yet they have the signature New Order alternative-electro feel. At www.collegedj.net, We would definitely recommend 5 New Order albums to start with if you don’t know much about them; “Substance” (1987), “Power, Corruption and Lies” (1983), “Low-Life” (1985) “Technique” (1989)and “Brotherhood” (1986) –in that order…. With several top 10 singles under their belt, New Order has definitely gained mainstream attention while staying true to the alternative music genre. Here is New Order’s “Temptation” which shows how the band interwove old and new.
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-dp

The Late 70's: Joy Division Creates Alternative Music

Joy Division is considered by many to have helped shape the beginnings of alternative music. (Of course, we here at www.collegedj.net agree.) Joy Division was definitely post-punk. Alternative music has various meanings and some disagree on its true meaning……but Joy Division added more melodies to the punk sound and moved away from overextended power-chord changes and incorporated slick guitar riffs and harmonies into their sound. The repetitive guitar riffs created by Bernard Sumner were accompanied by Peter Hooks’ high bass line playing style. Hooks plays the bass by hanging it low and using the higher notes to harmonize with the rest of the band. Hooks’ bass guitar is basically -a new instrument. He is an innovator. The drummer, Stephen Morris, is perhaps one of the most overlooked drummers to come out of the post punk era and has unusual speed and thick fill-ins. The lead singer, Ian Curtis was well known for his distinctive low voice and his ability to change emotion and pitch. Lyrically, Curtis fits the alternative mold by providing listeners with something poetic and new. Each band member brought something different to the table and is why Joy Division has influenced bands like U2 and continues to find new fans that have now become familiar with their earlier work. Joy Division is one of many pioneering groups that contributed to the “80’s sound” that is still prevalent in today’s music. Joy Division later became “New Order” and was responsible for taking the early beginnings of alternative music to greater levels in the 80's but………. that's another blog entirely. The college djs are asking for more alternative music. (Really.) Send your submission to contact@collegedj.net. Here is “Shadowplay” by Joy Division. Notice the space between notes in the guitar riffs.


-DP
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Promotions is Key=ibranding….Free Promotion vs. Paying for Promotion???

To have a successful album you need the media involved whether you just have a great life story or create controversy. This can sell albums and help out your career greatly. Think of publicity as free advertising. Any media that is available will work to get you more exposure and hopefully in turn get more shows and sell more records. Many artists would be surprised how much press they can obtain if they just ask. You must have a good press kit or at least photos, music, and a good biography to email to get press. If you do not have one of the three above then don’t try because they are all needed to get coverage with a respected publication. One thing every artist should do is find emails to create a mailing list of press. This can be done by simply going to the websites of the press pertaining to your genre and searching in their “contact us” page or by buying the magazine and checking the articles. Not all magazines give out emails, but many can be found on places like Myspace, Facebook, and other popular networking sites also. When contacting the press, remember that they receive a large number of emails a day so your story must have a catch to it and be interesting for it to print. Also, the theme must pertain to what the magazine is about. No media outlet wants to hear how you are the best artist etc……They want facts and stories that will be interesting to their viewers. To really take advantage of press……and if you have the extra funds, then the best way to go is to hire a public relations company or a publicist who has a history of working with artists in your genre, who has results and is able to show them. A good publicist can run you anywhere from $500 to $4000 a month, depending on what company you hire and what you need. Here at CollegeDJ.net we would like to recommend Fabiola Fleuranvil of N.Y.L.A. Entertainment Group.

www.nylaentertainmentgroup.com Remember you do not need a publicist year round if you aren’t an artist with a large budget -but signing a publicist for a few months before and after the release of your next single, mixtape or album…..greatly increases the chances of making your next project more successful.

DJ Kid Relly

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