When Everyone Is Promoting the Same Thing to the Same People
Every Florida start-up wants to pitch Inflexion and talk to Dan Rua. Every tech company wants a write up on Mashable or TechCrunch. Every author wants a book review on the New York Times.
Everyone of the companies being pitched to gets pitched more than you could imagine. Last week I was in their position, although in a much smaller capacity. Being a panelist at a Music Conference means you may be the one person to get you that record deal or that tour or that distribution that you are dying for. However, I'm not THAT person. I am a person that can help you get your shit in line, start meeting more fans and getting your brand scene and respected. I can also blog about you!
So, when I walked off the stage I got blasted with 30-40 CD's from aspiring young musicians. All but 1 caught my attention and got a listen (sorry to the rest of you, hopefully you learn something from this post!). LeeRone, a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, CA got my attention.
The Package
LeeRone personally came up to say hello and had a package ready for me, and not in the heres a stack of CD's and you can have one variety. It was prepackaged with my name printed on it! This told me one thing, she did some homework!
The Note
She ends the short conversation we had with a seductive line of, "oh, there's a note in there for you to!" Wow, I got to the next room and opened it up. I have a picture of the note, but I typed it out for those that can't read my blurry iPhone photo.
Dear Greg,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us Atlantis antendees! I'm looking forward to learning more about Rollett Marketing and what you do in regards to Social Music Marketing. I am an indie singer-songwriter from Los Angeles attempting to share my sounds with you :) I'd love to get your eyes and ears on my music and would love to hear your thoughts too. I'm including my debut album, "Imaginary Biographies" and a few other fun goodies (my music is of the feisty-folk-rock variety). Hope you enjoy!
With love from
LeeRone
The Visuals
This package was not cheap to create. She has professional artwork, professional packaging and a great way of putting words together. The colors stood out on the paper, the visuals match her personality and well after a few spins of "Imaginary Biographies," I think everything is packaged great.
Yo, I Don't Have That Kind of Money
Understood, as evident by the show of hands of who had a marketing budget, and thus went my hopes of landing some new musician clients :(
Ok, so you don't have any money, that's fine. What you do have is time and your art. Making the music, or any product is only a small part of the equation today. You need to be able to stand out from the hundreds, or thousands of musicians you are competing with everyday, every gig and every store shelf. Get creative. The same way you write and the same time you put into creating your product, double that in creative thinking for promotions.
Flyers, posters and emailing your same group of people is not an answer, that is routine. No one gives a shit about routine. Be strange. Be outgoing. Be something that every other band is not. Anyone can record now, and a lot of people sound good. What you do to get people to care is what is gonig to make the difference in your career.
I didn't know anything about LeeRone before the conference. Now I know everything and all it took was a creative way of getting my attention. I am sure her tactics would have worked with anyone else that day. This doesn't mean that they are going to sign her, but it means they are going to pay attention!
In the ADD world we live in, getting someone to pay attention should be pretty high up on your list. Go check out LeeRone and buy something from her if you think she rocks, thinks she's cute or just because helping indie musicians is something that Gen-Y should be doing!
-Greg Rollett
