Getting Out There

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jt_darkdragon

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Firstly I want to say "hi" again. I made some other posts a while back for a project I had in school but I don't think I properly introduced myself to the community. So hi. I'm JT and I live in Houston. Thats about all I say b.c you never know..the internet is a very shady place. lol

Ok now I will get to the question. How can we get people to buy our album or at the very least go to our website?

A few years ago, my sister and I decided to make an album. We knew absolutely nothing about music. All she knew is that she wanted to sing and all I knew was that I wanted to make beats. Fast forward about 5 or 6 years and we have an album. Its not the greatest album but I believe that it's still pretty good considering it was recorded in our garage with a really crappy sound card and mic.

Since we finished the album, we have made a website and did the whole myspace and facebook thing. We also went to a festival to give out some fliers (they weren't regular fliers. they were the kind that have a little "pull me" tab and when you pull it the paper moves and changes the way it looks. they were really cool and people smiled when we gave it to them).

But we still don't have any hits on our site and the only albums we've sold is to friends/family. Is there something that we're missing? or is it just that the music is worse than we thought? We don't have a lot of money for elaborate marketing but I just know there's something that we're not quite getting at.

Any help/tips/stories of encouragement that may help with our issue?

Thanks in advance

-JT
 
jt_darkdragon said:
Its not the greatest album but I believe that it's still pretty good considering it was recorded in our garage with a really crappy sound card and mic
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Umm, I really don't know what to say. I really don't think you should be selling an album. it was not recorded properly and I'm sure the quality is far inferior than it needs to be. but if you are really serious, I suggest save up money and do it the right way. I'm not saying scrap the songs, just rerecord them at a professional studio. you also need a budget to market right, but you can hustle cds on the street.
 
[F_or_DEAF] said:
isn't that "technically" illegal tho?
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how? is selling girl scout cookies illegal for girl scouts/ is that dude selling oranges breaking the law? is the dude selling the newspapers breaking the law?

music is not a controlled substance.
 
dwells said:
Umm, I really don't know what to say. I really don't think you should be selling an album. it was not recorded properly and I'm sure the quality is far inferior than it needs to be. but if you are really serious, I suggest save up money and do it the right way.
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While I do appreciate your advice and criticism, my question dealt mostly with any techniques and creative advertisement I can use to get people to recognize the artist. I understand that the sound of the album is not up to the level of a professional recording but my sister and I have exhausted all other options avalable to us.

To reiterate, the sound and quality of the recordings is of no importance at this point in time; our main concern is advertising and public recognition. Any advice with that, other than the obvious street selling, would be greatly appreciated.
 
jt_darkdragon said:
While I do appreciate your advice and criticism, my question dealt mostly with any techniques and creative advertisement I can use to get people to recognize the artist. I understand that the sound of the album is not up to the level of a professional recording but my sister and I have exhausted all other options avalable to us.

To reiterate, the sound and quality of the recordings is of no importance at this point in time; our main concern is advertising and public recognition. Any advice with that, other than the obvious street selling, would be greatly appreciated.
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your music is your reputation. if you have a terrible recording, you might as well not even do it. it will only cause harm. it will ruin your reputation. people won't even listen anymore if the quality is terrible. you said people used to pay attention and now they don't care, the recording is why!

YOU ARE NOT READY TO RECOGNITION AND YOU ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE POINT TO WORRY ABOUT MARKETING OR ADVERTISING!

you can't trick people to pay attention, you can trick them into giving a first look, but if your music (quality and/or content) is terrible they won't pay attention anymore.

If your music is really good, pushing it is no problem.

you don't push the artist, you promote the artist's songs.

Use P.O.P.
 
dwells said:
your music is your reputation. if you have a terrible recording, you might as well not even do it. it will only cause harm. it will ruin your reputation. people won't even listen anymore if the quality is terrible.
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I couldn't agree more. Music is definitely the source of your reputation. However, I don't believe that a "terrible" recording will cause people to lose interest in a song. A song involves words and ideas, not just sounds.

Furthermore, a "terrible recording" is a subjective term. Music is art, therefore also subjective. It is up to listeners to decide what makes a recording wrong, right, good, or bad. There are no rules, only norms. I don't believe a "bad" recording can harm your reputation as an artist.

dwells said:
you said people used to pay attention and now they don't care, the recording is why!
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I never said that.

dwells said:
YOU ARE NOT READY TO RECOGNITION AND YOU ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE POINT TO WORRY ABOUT MARKETING OR ADVERTISING!
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Personally, I take "all caps" as a way to illustrate that the speaker is raising their voice as a result of anger, frustration, or anything like that. If I have upset you in any way, I truly do apologize. That was not my intent. As I have said, this is my first post in a long time. This makes me a relatively new user and the last thing I want to do is annoy anyone.

I don't understand what makes you certain that I am not ready for marketing or advertising.

dwells said:
you can't trick people to pay attention, you can trick them into giving a first look, but if your music (quality and/or content) is terrible they won't pay attention anymore.
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That was the whole point of this post. I wanted people to take a first look. Nobody outside of my family/friends (that I know of, at least) has visited our website or heard our music. My question was "How can we get people to buy our album or at the very least go to our website?". I want to get people to look at our website and discover our music but I don't know how to go about doing that.

dwells said:
If your music is really good, pushing it is no problem.
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I believe this to be false. Good music does not guarantee having an easier time getting people to listen or buy it.

dwells said:
you don't push the artist, you promote the artist's songs.
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An artist's work is an extension of the artist. Promoting the work means promoting the artist.

dwells said:
Use P.O.P.
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I don't know what this means. Could you clarify this for me?
 
Wow. This has just the type of information I was hoping I would find. Thank you.
 
jt_darkdragon said:
I don't believe that a "terrible" recording will cause people to lose interest in a song.
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actually my friend, the quality is the first thing a person hears. you can have a great song, but if its terrible quality they are just waiting for the song to stop playing. I know this for a fact.

jt_darkdragon said:
Furthermore, a "terrible recording" is a subjective term. Music is art, therefore also subjective. It is up to listeners to decide what makes a recording wrong, right, good, or bad. There are no rules, only norms. I don't believe a "bad" recording can harm your reputation as an artist
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no a terrible recording is not a subjective term. the term is called commercially acceptable.

true music is art. but the moment you plan on selling it, it is no longer art, it is now a product. If you want to keep it art, keep it to yourself.

the worst thing an artist can do is push a recorded that sounds terrible, no matter what the reason is.

jt_darkdragon said:
Personally, I take "all caps" as a way to illustrate that the speaker is raising their voice as a result of anger, frustration, or anything like that. If I have upset you in any way, I truly do apologize. That was not my intent. As I have said, this is my first post in a long time. This makes me a relatively new user and the last thing I want to do is annoy anyone.
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you don't need to apologize. the reason I put it in caps was to draw your attention to it.



jt_darkdragon said:
I don't understand what makes you certain that I am not ready for marketing or advertising.
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simple, you don't have something ready to be pushed. you have an 'idea' but nothing else. nothing ready to push. you have an idea for an album. you need a finished complete product to push, not an idea.

jt_darkdragon said:
I believe this to be false. Good music does not guarantee having an easier time getting people to listen or buy it.
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seriously? good music spreads like wildfire. word of mouth. this is fact.




jt_darkdragon said:
An artist's work is an extension of the artist. Promoting the work means promoting the artist.
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yes, that's the idea. the song is your product, and the artist is a brand. you promote the product no the brand. don't believe me look to the right of the screen. do you see those ads? chances are they are promoting a product. for some reason broke artists are trying to promote themselves and not their products, but that is why they are broke



P.O.P. is short for Point of Purchase. it means flyers, posters, signs, etc. It's a marketing term for advertising used at the point of purchase.




I'm not trying to argue with you or nothing. but you maybe should listen. ask yourself:

"Is what I'm doing working?"

obviously not, it's because you don't have a product that is ready to go.
 
dwells said:
your music is your reputation. if you have a terrible recording, you might as well not even do it. it will only cause harm. it will ruin your reputation. people won't even listen anymore if the quality is terrible.
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why do some artists ignore quality control?
 
[F_or_DEAF] said:
good point...

i just thought that people had to have "permits" or "licenses" to sell items on the streets...
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some places don't allow solicitation, but that's like a parking ticket. but if you are giving away music for free it's no longer solicitation.
 
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