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Re: [microsound] dot dash
so lets have some rhetoric on solutions
maybe - solutions to marketing one's music, solutions
to promotion - commercially and self promotion. etc.
how one goes about getting their art appreciated in a
sound way.
to those on this list who have achieved this, let's
hear from them. to those struggling to get their
music out, playing shows, distributing their own
music, lets hear from them. the point being , posting
tunes on myspace is relative. what else are you
doing ?
here is something, because someone asked, what are the
alternatives to getting your music out there, if you
are facing low resources, and the rest of the people
disregard you, if you are on myspace.
Excellent. Yes. Solutions.
Virulence is a virtue.
Plant a seed, let it grow, sometimes there is fruit.
My own actions on this front:
- I have built up over the years a broad spectrum of web presence, from my
main page to LJ to MySpace to AcidPlanet to YahooGroups to online forums and
email lists such as this one.. mostly because I have a lot of free time and
it's something I would do anyway as part of my normal info gather process.
Also, IRC, AIM,. YIM, etc.
- I recently signed to a small label so as to retain control while
leveraging economies of scale (ie, label can promote multiple artists,
leaving me free to create more) in order to greatly accelerate my rate of
infection.
- I play one- and two-off events about a dozen times per year all over the
US, with live plug in support from other (usually local-with-wide-presence)
artists, merch of course. I (and now the label) engage in pre-seeding of
push tracks to djs in the area, and both physical and online flyering (see
above) in advance of the event. Fly in, drop beats, fly out. Next one is
here in Madison on Wednesday.
- I collaborate with other artists, be it trading remixes or versus tracks
or full on collaborative side projects.
- I occasionally donate songs to go into film school project and indie film
soundtracks. This avenue holds quite a bit of promise, I think, should one
pursue it, with gains commensurate with the budget/exposure grade of the
film. Even 'making of' pieces need atmospheres and full tracks. Same goes
for video games. Plenty of opportunity in both. Anyone working that angle?
- I spearheaded the creation of and currently maintain Thirdwave Collective,
which facilitates internetworking, education, and cooperation among hard
electronic artists and culture activists. We also promote events and put out
the occasional v/a compilation.
- Any relevant links can be found in my .sig for those that care to follow
up on them - and that's another vector of infection, isnt it? =]
- I submit the occasional song to v/a compilations, such as Side-Line's
Endzeit Bunkertracks II and Interbreeding IV, mostly to keep interest up and
news bulletins going out while I finished fuller releases like the Meld
split EP with Caustic, and then again with Meta, which is out now on Crunch
Pod.
- Whenever I publish anything, it goes to a set of reviewers and club/radio
DJ contacts, and press release dispatches to news outlets for propagation.
Label will be taking this over mostly, no doubt they'll do a better job.
Very interested to hear what others are doing. =]
here's what i would do/ can do /am doing .
i dont tour, so i try to get my stuff reviewed on
websites, zines, college radio stations, etc. send a
note to a programmer at anyone of these and let the
criticism take its course, positive, or negative.
work off that.
networking sounds like a dirty word to me, but it's
probably what you're doing.
It's EXACTLY what all of us are doing to whatever degree when we interact
with others. Not a dirty word at all.
We may as well tune that process to maximize the benefits within whatever
range of change of our own context we're willing to tolerate.
the guy who runs my
local record store, is very supportive of what i'm
doing. he's very encouraging, so that's something. i
guess it's like finding patrons, which some have said
is hard to do, but this guy dan is very cool and he's
offering me some very relevant resources.
also, i bet most of us are into film and other media,
so working with other artists, filmmakers, designers,
etc, is a good way to go. collaborating outside of
your usual scene/ audience is a good thing to do.
so anyway, all of this can be done besides, or without
myspace.
Absolutely. And really none of it is much different from it either.
As I've said from the beginning, use every tool available.
All vectors of infection are valid.
i would certainly like to know what others
are doing. but i think this is what's right for me.
keeping control and care in my hands and, not getting
into manipulative channels.
All channels are manipulative.
Your friend at the record store, doesn't he choose what he pimps?
Just because he chose yours, doesnt mean he will choose mine or hers, and
that is manipulation.
Same goes for radio DJ's, club DJs, promoters, reviewers, webrings.. any
time you interact with another, particularly in a promotional mode a choice
is made, and the channel is manipulated to whatever degree.
At least with a big impersonal user-link mesh like LJ or MySpace there is
opportunity for the users, not the site, to decide what they push, and even
the poorest artist can leverage massive economies of scale to their
advantage. They'll almost certainly never show up as a site-featured artist
or wind up rich and on the radio as a result, but every bit helps.
this is sort of long, sorry, but i think this
discussion now has to offer real solutions to the
debate.
And for that return to relevance and sanity, I think most of us here thank
you. =]
~ !J!
http://www.endif.org
http://www.crunchpod.com
http://www.thirdwavecollective.com
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