The Whole Package.

  When I began began recording again promotion wasn’t even on my list of priorities. Recording my original material that was many years old was initially my sole aim. My focus was to achieve the most relevant ‘feel’ for a song by using particular effects & tempos. Lyrical content was behind this.

          My next step was to get my songs onto CD, purely to be listened to by myself. Soon enough, the novelty of this wore off & the prospect of actually selling CDs became a reality. My initial naive notions on this concept entailed burning 12 mp3s onto CDs. Perhaps getting ahead of myself at this early stage I sent a CD & stock-standard letter to numerous radio stations statewide accompanied with a letter of introduction. I recieved one response from a community based radio station in Hobart who were kind enough to “Feature” me for a night. I was notified of this by a friend in Hobart who heard it. Nothing more was heard from the radio station.

          Following this I decided to explore different avenues of promotion. What I descovered a smorgasbord of options, leaving me the unenviable task of sifting through them & choosing the most suitable & ergomomic to my requirements.

          Gone were the days of sending CDs to as many radio stations & promoters only to receive no response. Internet options were the glaringly obvious choice. Once an track was converted to an mp3 audio file, the next step was to email it via one of the multitude of sites that offer media packages; concise files that provide a brief overview of the artist, their songs of choice, career highlights & a photo of the artist. Again, the odds of a response are slim but the time & expense of sending a CD & accompanying cover letter are nullified.

          This promotional venture is the tip of the iceberg. In addition to this, a comprehensive and concise website seems imperitive. Press articles &/or recommendations from people within the industry such as DJs & promoters are of paramount importance as they can be ‘shared’ throughout the internet, thus increasing visibiltiy.

          Despite the popular assumption that relentlessly performing live is ‘where it’s at’, this can be a double-edged sword. Major festivals & support acts for major acts carry weight. There is no doubt about this. Performing every second Friday at a local venue can work against the artist.

          Combining all of the aforementioned factors, the common denominator is consistency. A flashy website doesn’t relate to good music. Nor does a large fanbase. A red-hot song doesn’t necessarily equate to success either. Even if the song is downloaded by a multitude of supporters, a promoter, DJ or journalist won’t necessarily pay it the attention that it deserves.

          This group of people are looking for artists who are able to be ‘moulded’. For some time now, artists have realised that they are able to acieve success without compromising their image &, more importantly, their musical integrity & identity.

          To contemplate success independently the musician must present themselves consistently across all media formats. Listeners and followers of independent artists want to know that what they are getting is the genuine artice as opposed to a glossed-up & polished act that relies on a manufactured image. A musician that is true to themselves will stand out from contrived and manufactured acts who, inevitably fall flat after a fleeting visit to the limelight.

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