In other articles I’ve talked about finding the right target audience for your music and really promoting to that audience. There is one audience that is always there and usually ready to support a new artist. That audience is your local area. We’ve seen with the Olympics that supporting the hometown hero is popular and so use it to your advantage and make it the cornerstone of any promotion campaign.
Local Performances
You can look at your local market in a number of ways - your town, a nearby city, your tri-state area, your region, etc. You need to target the smallest area for saturation. Get to know the local club owners and play at these clubs. Take gigs at charity events and festivals in the area. Get involved with a local non-profit organization. I know one band that got a lot of exposure from working on an anti-drug campaign with a number of other local musicians. They performed for a lot of local rehab and teen programs and eventually toured an entire region supporting a compilation CD. It earned them a new audience and sales of their own CD went up as a result.
Print Media
Make a list of all the newspapers and music editors in your local area, including everything from college rags to specialty magazines. Some magazines or newspapers may have a special interest following and you cannot even fathom why you would ever be featured in them but surprising angles have captured an editor’s interest so keep that information up-to-date. I’ve seen coverage of bands in magazines because of one of the members having a day job working at a local construction site. Create a list of music writers to invite to your gigs and make sure that you personally invite them. Keep your list current and always add new contacts.
Local Radio and Television
Talk to local radio stations and even local television news and morning shows. If you are playing for a charity event or festival you might be able to squeak a mention. Don’t forget public access and college television, many stations support local artists.
Music Stores
As for selling your CD, if you don’t have a distribution deal, you need to get your music in the stores. It may be a painful process but you can often talk the managers of the local music stores (even the national chains) into displaying and selling your CD. They usually require a UPC barcode so that they can scan the CD so keep that in mind when you create and package your CD. You may also have to be responsible for the stocking and maintenance so you’ll be visiting the stores. This is a small price to pay to make your CD available locally and who knows you might be able to parlay that into an event of signing your CD for store patrons. When you are doing a gig close to a music store, see if they’ll put out a special display just for the days preceding and following your performance. Keep in mind that musicians and music fans often work at the music stores so take the time to talk to them about your music. You’d be surprised how many people ask these people for recommendations of other music that might appeal to them based on the CDs they’ve already selected. It’d be great if they said, “You might want to give this band a listen.”
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