The RTE Group

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The RTE Group MGMT

So I have had the conversation with many of the bands on the roster and in the coming months you will be seeing our and their collective efforts on how to bring this back.

My theory is simple and perhaps it is just because I am older now, but I think what music is lacking is ownership… This may sound strange to most of you but follow me on this one.  When I was young I was in to pop and I still love it but there was this one band I loved and still do.  Hall and Oats! When I was 6 or 7 I heard Abandoned Luncheonette for the first time.  Sure it had been played a few times for me but I didn’t really hear it. It is fucking amazing! From the opening track to the final track.   I still stand by them even if it is slightly embarrassing.  When I was 13 or 14 I heard this band call Pearl Jam as many people my age did, I was hooked! By the time I was 20 I was able to meet them twice and the strangest thing happened… I felt like I knew them!  Because of the interviews, the articles and most of all the lyrics, I turned into that young teenager still looking for a voice and I thought I actually knew them.  As I write this I know it sounds kind of stalker ish, but believe me it wasn’t.  However, I am 33 and still paying my money into the fan club to get my four newsletters a year, Christmas single and my hopes for one day getting picked for the ticket lottery.  I have been at the store when it opened to be the first to own a copy. So where am I going with this….

I felt and feel a sense of ownership with many of the bands I LOVE!

I feel like most of the kids today do not have that.  Music is a so disposable, life move so fast who listens to a full body of work anymore?   What Artists have stayed current in the last five or even ten years?  The ones that come to mind are the “Hot Messes” that their downfall was in the media or the ones who are using sex to stay current.  I’m not going to rant about these people but I can’t tell you the names of any of their current singles yet I can tell you they don’t wear underwear when they go out and who they are rumored to be dating! 

So now I will get to my point.  I think that bands need to bring back the personal in their music and on every avenue they connect to their fans.  There are so many ways they can do this.  Blogs about what has been going on since the last blog. Video Blogs same concept but I think it brings a more personal element to the fan experience.  Posting photos of practice and hanging out, the candid shots. If the band makes songs available to members on your street team ahead of time or for them only this will also increase the desire to help.  Doing house shows for these members an excellent way to give back too. Putting people on the guest list is yet another way to show how much you care about the people that care about you! If you the artist care about your fans the fans will care about you.

Another way is thru the lyrics themselves. This is a touchy point because if you force it, it will sound forced, so write from your heart.  I understand that some artists shoot to make the lyrics general enough so more people can hopefully relate but have a few songs that suck people in is not a bad thing.  I am not advocating using your lyrics as your diary, but a lot of successful artist have done it and still do it.  I personally cannot but I can write about very personal things that all of us feel or have felt at one point in our lives.  If you can do that well then you will achieve the same goal!

The simplest and cheapest way to build a following for your band is to use free online tools.  The goal is to keep your fans coming back to all of your websites. The problem is keeping them all updated quickly.  My suggestion is to assign one person in the band who understands what needs to be done and that is their responsibility.  You need to run this like a business because that is what it really is.  A business that sells your art! Like any business you will need to have weekly meetings with status updates.  This also means you need to hold each other accountable for missed deadlines and you may need to help in an area that is not “Yours” just to get the job done.

The following free websites will help you achieve your marketing goals. 

Stuff you need:

Recordings of your music ~ it is pointless to promote something you don’t have yet. That being said you should still set up these websites if you are currently playing shows to grab fans at the shows. You just cannot expect good results if you have no product.  These recordings will not only be made public to fans but also used as promotional tools to get more fan participation and give them a sense of ownership in you.

Video Camera ~ you will need a web cam, digital camera that records video or video camera to record shorts where ever you are and to do weekly video blog updates to let fans know what is going on with the band.

Websites to promote on:

Myspace (www.myspace.com) Great place for networking with bands!  You will catch a few fans but not a ton

Facebook (www.facebook.com) great place to get the word out but building the fan base can be tough.  I recommend setting up a second account that is a personal account. The sole purpose is to promote the band.  If that account gets shut down it is not a loss because hopefully you have directed a lot of people over to the bands fan page. 

YouTube (www.youtube.com) here is where you will host you weekly video blogs and any other videos you shoot.  Easily distributed with URL embedding you can add a video to any of your social media sites as well as your actual website.

Twitter (www.twitter.com) here is where you will show your personal side - be funny be yourself.  I hope you are not and asshole!

Tumblr (www.tumblr.com) or blog that keeps stats ~ more than one is always better and most blogs are supporting multimedia.  Have at least one member do a weekly blog. To choose your blog look for one that you can

1.       Follow people

2.       Do multimedia uploads

3.       Make sure you can get stats as simple as views

4.       Allow comments

5.       Check www.Alexa.com  then type your blog’s URL into the search then look at the audience, on this tab you can also see what time you should update for max viewing and also if you are running special promos.

Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com) ~this is a free site where you can upload and distribute music or embed it with their player great for sharing tracks between band members and putting a free player on your free sites

BandCamp (www.bandcamp.com) ~ here is your E-store for music they only take 15% for the first $5,000 then it drops to 10% for 12 months after you stop selling at the $5,000 level.  The only thing you need to do is set up a paypal account (www.paypal.com).  On the paypal account you will pay something like 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.  You should then sign up for micropayments rate as long as you are selling at $12 or less.  This rate is only 5% + $0.05 per transaction

Break Down:                Normal Rate               Micro Rate

Sale Price                        $10                           $10

PayPal Take                2.9% + $.30             5%+ $.05                  

Leaving you with              $9.41                       $9.45

Band Camp Take                15%                         15%

Leaving you with              $7.91                       $7.95

Photo hosting account, there are 2 major ones (photobucket ~ www.photobucket.comand flickr ~ www.flickr.com) ~ either will work fine. 

Ping.fm (www.ping.fm) ~ this is a tool that you can upload to all of the sites (except Band Camp) with one interface.  The first time you log in to set it up will awhile and make sure you have all of the sites you want to use set up.  Make sure you store the passwords and logins’ in a safe place. Have that list ready when you are setting this up.

Zazzle (www.zazzle.com) or Café Press (www.cafepress.com) ~ these sites allow you to have an online merchandise outlet without having to warehouse any of it. The downside is that you will make next to nothing on the merchandise.

How to make these sites work for you:

Myspace (www.myspace.com) - As I said you can network with bands and pick up a few new fans.  Really you can still find a lot of useful information on this site. Not only can you network with bands in and outside of your market but you can also find clubs in different cities that will book a band that plays your style of music. There are some tools out there where you can automate friend requests.

Facebook (www.facebook.com) – this is the place where you will do most of your interaction with fans.  You will need to set up at least 4 pages. The first page will be your “personal page” it is set up as a personal page but only use it for fan interaction, business is business and personal is personal.  The second page will be a “Super fan page” you can pose as the head of the street team. This person will solely promote the band and will get leaks about what is coming in the bands, they obviously are connected!  As you move forward you can help organize major street team event promos.  The third will be the static page for the band where people can like it.  The fourth page will be the group page where you can send announcement etc.  There are also a few apps that automate friend adding.

YouTube (www.youtube.com) – this is where you will place your video blogs and you can pick up a few “Friends” here too.  Again there is an app that can gather friends here too however there really is no reason to spend money on this since you will be embedding the video on most if not all of your social media sites.  That being said there are a large number of people that will check out YouTube so there are some tricks to get you video in front of more people and that has to do with the tagging.  In the tags always put the band name, the name of the song you are playing or talking about and whatever venue the live shots (if any) were recorded.  You then can also start putting the name of the band you think you most sound like or would fit with.  Remember it really only take one curious person to really get things spreading.  The issue is finding that person or people.

Twitter (www.twitter.com) – here is a great way to get the word out now as well as do quick quips to keep you on the minds of your fans.  You should be tweeting on average 10 to 15 times a day.  Find artists and people that share common life styles and interests as the band and follow them.  Again there is an app to automate following

Tumblr (www.tumblr.com) or blog ~here is the location that you will talk about the finer points of the goings on.  Talk about a one topic per blog or use it as a daily log.  Whatever it is make sure you are consistent.  Post fun photos, links, etc.  This is just another window into the world of your band.  Just like a house, if you don’t want someone to see a messy room you keep the curtains closed.  Trust me no one really wants to see a messy room.

Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com) ~ here is a great place where you can use their free play and embed it on any place that allows html. There is also a social network component to SoundCloud that allows people to leave comments at various points in the song.

BandCamp (www.bandcamp.com) ~ So far this site offers the best rates on digital distribution around!  They also offer a package where your fans can “Pay what they want”.

Zazzle (www.zazzle.com) or Café Press (www.cafepress.com) ~ Here is the place where you can have online merchandise (Minus the CD’s) in so many different options with no upfront cost.  The drawback is that your profit on the items sold is very, very, very small.

Photobucket ~ www.photobucket.com or flickr ~ www.flickr.com ~ again with this one you can have followers but I like to use this for ALL of the pictures that are taken.

So that is all for now! Stay tuned for more to come…