Radical Marketing: How I Made 80 New Fans in 1 Hour!
Today’s post is a contributed article from Pittsburgh-based folk musician, Michael Yolch. I think this is one of the most intelligent, “Grassrootsy” ideas I’ve ever heard and I hope you’ll read it all the way through. It’s not only a great idea, but it’s a good read! ______________________________________________________________________________ Today I had a rather radical marketing [...]
Pricing yourself. How do you know you’re doing it right?
Today’s question comes from Pittsburgh jazz artist, Maggie Johnson, who also happens to be the founder of JazzSpace – a foundation created to keep the art of jazz alive in the Pittsburgh scene. THE QUESTION: Pricing yourself. How do you know you’re doing it right? THE ANSWER: This is a really excellent question that I think [...]
An Interview with JD Eicher & The Goodnights
JD Eicher & The Goodnights You can usually tell when an artist or a band takes themselves seriously…because it shows, not only in how they perform, but also in how they represent themselves. JD Eicher & The Goodnights fit the profile. They’re a pop/rock group with members based out of Youngstown, Ohio and and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’ve [...]
Do You Think Artists Should Compare Themselves to Others?
Today’s question is prompted by an older post titled, “The Things You’ll Hate to Do…But Should Do Anyways” THE ARTIST: Sean O’donnell (Pittsburgh, PA) THE QUESTION: Jim Richards of the Pittsburgh A&E Group suggests: “Here is a friendly marketing tip: unless you are a cover band or a tribute band, never compare yourself to other acts. Not everyone will recognize [...]
Putting Things in Context
Have you ever walked down the street and accidentally evesdropped on someone’s conversation. You’ve caught 1 sentence in a discussion and what they’ve said makes no sense whatesoever! But you know, if you could have kept listening or jumped in earlier on the conversation, you’d be on the same page. This is the same idea [...]
3 Ways to Bring New Life To Your Music
My friend Ken Mueller published a post last week, 5 Ways to Bring New Life to Your Blog. Its great and you should read it. In light of that post, I thought i’d do something similar and suggest 3 Ways to Bring New Life to Your Music – some tips for you music and [...]
What Exactly Does a Full-Time Artist Do All Day? An Interview with E.May.
Pittsburgh-based Erika May is one of the most multi -talented artists you will ever come across. She runs sound here and there, has a band, and even tosses fire (yea check out www.erikamay.com/fire). In today’s feature, she talks about how she has been able to sustain herself as a full-time musician who doesn’t tour (like all [...]
How Do I Plan For A Tour?
THE ARTIST: Bridgette Purdue (Pittsburgh, PA) THE QUESTION: How do I plan for a tour? THE ANSWER: It’s currently touring season for me. In fact, I leave today for a short 10-day trip. So thanks for asking this question, Bridgette! We’ve written several past posts about various lessons learned from touring, including “The Best [...]
What Do You Think About Local Touring?
THE ARTIST: Samuel Storm (Pittsburgh, PA) THE QUESTION: What are your thoughts on “local” tours, including “Open Mic” performances as part of the tours? THE ANSWER: Hey Samuel, I think it depends on what your definition of “local touring” is. Do you mean touring within the same city or touring in the same region – [...]
An Interview with Yours Truly
Grassrootsy has gotten into the habit of interviewing singer/songwriters. Sorry guys! We forgot that there are bands out there reading this blog! So I’m excited to share Yours Truly with everyone. They’re a fairly young power-pop-rock band based out of Pittsburgh, PA and they sound great! I’ve got ears to prove it! I ran into [...]
Stand-out Artists and What We Can Learn from Them #4
To read the first three posts in this series, visit Stand-out Artists and What We Can Learn from Them #3 Stand-out Artists and What We Can Learn from Them #1 Stand-out Artists and What We Can Learn from Them #2 Artist #1: Leah Smith It’s a simple little thing, and I’m surprised more artists don’t do it. If [...]
The Economy of Snow
“When life hands you Snow, make Sno-Cones.” If you’re on the East Coast, you know much of Pennsylvania and surrounding has been hit with a pretty terrible snow storm. Pittsburgh is actually pretty barren. People are staying indoors and spending an incredible amount of time on facebook. hehe Anyhow, I finally had a chance to [...]
Social Networking, Haiti, & The Musician
If you’re following Grassrootsy on Facebook, you’ll remember a few days ago, I suggested that artists consider putting together a benefit concert in their city to help raise money for the crisis in Haiti. Well…i wanted to talk about the power of social networking as it relates to this specific idea…and even more specifically to [...]
Incredible Resources You’ve Never Heard About #6
It’s another installment of a very necessary series. Check out past write-ups on new and hardly heard of resources for musicians. Read below for a new ones. Here are the Other Posts in this Series Incredible Resources You’ve Never Heard About #5 Incredible Resources You’ve Never Heard About #4 Incredible Resources You’ve Never Heard About #3 Incredible Resources You’ve Never Heard About #2 [...]
You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover, But You Can Buy One
So last night I posted a ton of things on craigslist, as I am moving out of my apartment and need to get rid of stuff. I couldn’t help but notice how fast responses came back for a few of my items, while people never showed interest in other items. I started to wonder why [...]
Good Marketing for an Upcoming CD Release
A couple independent artists are releasing CD’s next month and have some great self promotion to go along with it. So I thought I’d highlight the efforts of a full time independent artist named TJ Cornwall. Hopefully this information will help a few of you who might be putting out new projects or just need some good marketing ideas from a [...]
Tips for Touring: Just Some Recent Observations
Coming out of a short Ohio tour, I thought I’d write this post based on a few things I experienced. These tips also apply to your local shows. If you have additional reccomendations, please post them in the comments. Grab a City Paper in Each City You Visit There’s likely to be a major [...]
Staying Connected – For Your Benefit & Theirs
Subscribe to Grassrootsy For many singer/songwriters and bands, the biggest initial challenge is breaking into their city’s music scene. When there are hundreds of other “competing” musicians, it’s extremely difficult to make a name for yourself. This is why it is so important to be connected to an organization(s) that already has established connections. Why Get Involved? Why [...]
Less is More: Keeping it Simple On Stage and Off
My old college professor, Lloyd Corder (check out his marketing site), says “the best writing in the world is on the back of a DVD cover.” Why? Because the writer basically has 1 paragraph to convince you that the DVD is worth renting or buying. This is so true! If you can’t be accurately and [...]
An Interview with The Lost Sea
The Lost Sea is an indie folk/rock band based out of Pittsburgh PA. They currently receive over 600 song plays daily on their myspace and last week they were ranked #1 on ReverbNation’s folk charts. Go TLS! So i thought I’d email frontman Sean Atkins to get some ideas on how they spend time promoting themselves. Here are [...]
