Building a Fan Base. As
Easy as 1-2-3
by John Wilmott
forward by Marc Gunn, Bard
Originally, I was planning on publishing an article by John Wilmott of
Celtic Ways. But the
"article" was actually a promotional piece designed specifically for the
Celtic Ways roster, and was less of an article than I anticipated.
So instead, I'm going
to lay out the main promotional idea presented in the article. John was
writing about putting on a Celtic version of Club MP3.com, called Ceilidh
2001. For those not familiar with Club MP3.com, it is an MP3.com-sponsored
tour of 50 US cities by mainstream MP3.com. Celtic musicians were excluded,
so we would do our own.
But in order to make a
successful event, we need larger regional followings. Here's the advice John
has on building a fan base.
"For those of you who
have not built up a substantial fan base I will try to work with you to make
this happen and the best route to this is through newsletters. With some of
you, you'll need help getting people to subscribe to the newsletters in the
first place.
If you are gigging
that's the easiest way. Make sure you make it easy for people to leave email
addresses on the way in or out of the gig. Even bolder would be to get
people to give you the email in the middle of the gig. You might make up an
"Email Song" and add a traditional tune to the lyrics and then have someone
pass around a guest book where everyone leaves their email address.
If you are not gigging
your only option is to visit chat rooms and forums and talk to people and
collect email addresses. You could hold a yard sale and have your music
playing and collect email addresses from visitors.
Best Buy & others are
clearing out old 74 mins CDRs right now very cheap. Put 3, 4, 5 of your
tracks on each one and use the paper folders instead of jewelcases. There is
a way you can print regular paper and fold to hold a CD too - try it out
!!!!
Then go to somewhere
where these is people and hand them out free in exchange for their email
address. You'll get 100 subscribers for under $20.00 cheaper than placing
ads, doing flea markets and paying record stores to promote your CD."
Andrew went online and
found a website (http://blankcdmedia.com/)
that sells inserts and CD labels in bulk for pennies each. Sure it may cost
a small bit to start, but this is one tip that I'm jumping all over.
John
Willmott is a former Celtic and English folk song, dance and story
performer who now commits to producing and promoting Celtic and Folk
Music for the net. Visit his
Celtic Ways Jukebox.
Marc Gunn,
Bard of the
Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000's of musicians make money with
their musical groups through the
BardsCrier.com and the
Texas Musicians
Network. Now you can get personal advice by visiting
http://bardscrier.com
for FREE "how-to" music marketing assistance.
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