October 24, 2009 1.Make sure you have a physical piece of music to sell at shows
2.Additional merch
3.Have an email list sign up form
- Emily White
www.whitesmithentertainment.com
October 24, 2009 
Network with other bands in person and online to set up gig swaps with other artists to play in other cities. You host them when they come to your town and they in turn host you.
- Emily White
We are strong in some areas and other bands are strong in different areas. So, we often trade shows so that bands open each other shows and build tours around them to tap into multiple fan bases.
- Michele Samuel
October 24, 2009 Stay with friends on the road to save money. Be considerate – walk their dogs in the morning or cook them breakfast…. You will probably be invited back!
- Emily White
www.whitesmithentertainment.com
October 24, 2009 
Walking around with an email list requires manpower, time and generally does not get a great result. But, if you could have the fans text you during your performance and stay in touch with them that way. We use a short code and have the fans text to it during the performance. When they text they receive a link to download free tracks. We capture their text number and then keep in contact and get permission to continue a relationship with them after the show. The return has been a minimum of 25% of the audience.
- Michele Samuel
Offer up a Google Voice number from stage where folks can text in their email address. Or a mobile # where people can text their phone numbers straight to you. Next time you play in that area you already have a built in text-messaging list.
- Emily White
October 24, 2009 Your audience wants to feel something, not hear something. When people are moved, they remember and want to buy those moments to take home and relive. It’s about how you and your music affect people. Give your audience something to think about.
The audience wants to forget about themselves. There are onstage skills, tools, and techniques to win an audience, and to keep them captured and engaged and wanting more. It’s all about an emotional connection with people!
- Tom Jackson
October 24, 2009 Like a great restaurant, your customers (audiences) have expectations. If a restaurant doesn’t figure out what the customers want, the restaurant will go out of business,
- Tom Jackson
October 24, 2009 An artist wouldn’t even think of using the same lyrics, rhythms, or tones for every song. Yet artists have a tendency to do the same thing visually for every song. Big mistake! 55% of communication is what the audience sees with their eyes. To the audience, if the songs look the same then they start sounding the same. If this is what’s happening, whether you realize it or not, you’re not getting the most out of your show.
- Tom Jackson
October 23, 2009 Know what your audience expects. Players on a great football team need to know their roles in order to be successful. It’s the same with a great band. A great quarterback/front man is a leader. The wide receiver/ lead guitarist knows he’s supposed to deliver the touchdown. The lineman/ drummer holds down the fort. There are specific skills and roles for each person to know and work on in order to be great as a group onstage and win the audience.
- Tom Jackson
October 23, 2009 Sign and hang out and engage with folks post-show. Stay at the merch table till you have met every single person that wants to meet you and sign merch. That personal touch will be long remembered after you leave and those fans will bring their friends the next time you come through town.
- Emily White
www.whitesmithentertainment.com
October 23, 2009 
Create a webpage that lures in the “just looking” visitors and gets them to upgrade to level 2 of your site when they give you’re their email / contacts. The level 2 experience of your site should be enhanced from the level one “tire kicker” level in terms of content quality, quantity and how quickly it is updated. Once you have enough level 2 members you will want to create a level 3 experience that is another big step up from level 2. This is for your best customers and most devout fans. At some point this can become a subscription site but early on it will be a la carte. It just rewards your street team/super fans for their support. Here you will sell exclusive merch and sell advance tickets to shows and music no one else gets to buy.
- Tom Silverman
The best place to be is “you.com.” Artists who have their own domain make more money than those that do not. Period.
- Jed Carlson
October 23, 2009 
Artists need to foster the all-important online two-way conversation. Just using status updates for only promotional means is not the best way to do this. Ask fans to comment back/@reply/direct message and they actually will. The more intriguing the question, the more likely people will respond. For example, the other day I asked the fans on my band’s Facebook page “Who is cooler, Nicholas (the guitarist) or Christopher (me)? Please provide reasoning for your explanation haha.” There were 20+ comment-backs by the end of the night. Provide fans with quirky questions that fit your personality. Use status update/micro-blog opportunities to create an environment that your fans want to continually be a part of.
- Chris Gesualdi
October 23, 2009 
They say a picture says a thousand words, and it’s true. Flickr is one of the user- friendliest Web 2.0 sites, and Yahoo owns it so millions of potential new fans are waiting for you to discover them and make friends. Flickr works just like MySpace or Facebook. You create a profile, upload your main image, join groups, and make friends, and you can also message people and leave comments on any photo you like. Flickr is a great way to show yourself as multi-dimensional. You can post photos of things other than your band activities (such as vacations, kids, your home, and hobbies) to show your fans you are a well-rounded individual. And if you go to conferences, this is a great way to get people to link back to you and pay attention to you (remember – the most interesting thing for people is THEMSELVES so taking pictures of other people is well advised!). Use this link to synch back to Facebook too! http://www.tinyurl.com/flickr2facebook
- Christina Duren
October 23, 2009 Be super descriptive when tagging the titles of your songs, videos, photos, blog posts, and more. The Internet is filled with multimedia these days. But people still search for stuff using words! Make sure your online content is loaded up with the key words your potential fans use to find stuff that interests them.
- Bob Baker
October 23, 2009 
Podcasts are “the radio of the internet” and they are hungry for new music to play thanks to very strict copyright rules about using major-label music. Consequently, they are always looking for the right songs to play during their podcast, and they turn to podsafe collectives because all of the music on them has been branded safe for them to play. Read the agreements carefully on these websites, and if you’re comfortable with them, post your music. In return for using your songs, they’ll attribute your band, and even link to your website, exposing your music to new potential fans. Examples are http://www.podsafeaudio.com/ and http://www.musicalley.com/
- Randy Chertkow
October 23, 2009
Rock Band is a multiple player video game. The game licenses music from famous artists (like the Police) and currently you can buy music from many named artists to compete with. The creators of Rock Band are opening up the platform for all musicians to submit songs in the game. Rock Band will sell your tracks for you using their powerful network but you must hire a programmer to program your music to synch with the game. I think the potential is there for an unknown artist to rocket to the top in this whole new median. I wouldn’t be surprised if people start writing songs that go with this game. It’s a brand new opportunity to put your music in a place where it can bounce around and find it’s feet and find your future fans – someone will be getting famous as the first rock band from Rock Band.
Watch the how to video here: http://creators.rockband.com/
- Jonathan Coulton
October 22, 2009 
Rotary Downs was featured on Current TV and the band is still receiving feedback via comments on the video, which was syndicated across the web. In addition, Current TV recommends “like music” to appropriate fans, so Rotary Downs enjoyed the benefit of entering the Current TV recommendation realm. Also, how can you deny the awesomeness of Al Gore? Pay attention to all the music contributors and if you think you fall into the category of something they may feature and go for this if you know you have at least 500 true fans who will enjoy it. Tell them when it airs and encourage them to share the video with the embed code. When you acquire new fans, make sure they know where to find your music and how to connect with you. Return the connection favor. Rotary Downs enjoyed a 40% increase in digital sales as a result of their feature on Current TV. Tip: remember, Current TV also airs on cable. www.currenttv.com
- Corey Denis
October 22, 2009 
Singing Fool offers exclusive music video premiere offers for professionally made music videos. The videos are then premiered on top sites such as, billboard.com, All-music, Windows Media, Friendster, and many more. Contact them and ask if they will consider your video for a premiere. www.singingfool.com
- Christina Duren
October 22, 2009 
With single servings (one track at a time) this is the ultimate way to expose your single to a passionate group of music listeners. Indiefieed is the number one music podcast on iTunes. I have placed at least 30 tracks with Indiefeed, and as a result every track was exposed to over 1 million Nielson Certified listeners. Indiefeed likes to post your promotional mp3, and links to your website in the show notes available at Indiefeed.com, which has lead to at least 1000 dedicated-fan downloads and a minimum of 20% traffic increase with every feature I have placed.
Tip: Time this appropriately with your strategy, and give Indiefeed an exclusive if you can. Start listening to the show immediately, and follow the contact information provided for submissions. www.indiefeed.com
- Corey Denis
October 22, 2009 
I love Coverville – it’s a great podcast b/c it’s bands covering other bands and it has a devoted listener base. Brian (Coverville’s host and producer) has been very kind to me and helped me promote my cover of “Baby Got Back.” This is the kind of track that would never fly on radio…..
- Jonathan Coulton
http://www.jonathancoulton.com
I was a fan of Coverville, one of iTunes’s highest rated podcasts. When I submitted our version of “Mad About You,” I referenced other bands who had placed rougher, minor chord arrangements to sugary pop-songs; also noting this arrangement was in the minority of his submissions. A lot of what Brian gets seemed to be slower acoustic versions of popular songs, so I knew ours stood out. I think we formed a relationship because he sensed I knew a little about his job, and noted how my song would complement his programming. Ultimately, he featured our song as the title track in one of his podcasts. When the video was made, I thought, “Brian might like this” and brought it to his attention, he posted it on Coverville’s front page. We got tons of YouTube hits from his placement of that video on his site, which doubled the exposure “Mad About You” had gotten from the original podcast http://www.coverville.com
- Derek Nicoletto
http://www.tellingontrixie.com/music
October 22, 2009 
C.C. Chapman hosts one of the longest running independent music podcasts. Accident Hash receives several thousand listeners each month. An added bonus is C.C. is well known in the Social Media world and he has over 17,000 followers on Twitter (so if you connect with him there you will be sure to find some new online fans, and friends. Genres: Assorted (almost all) http://www.accidenthash.com
- Ariel Hyatt