I'm generally good about promoting our CD when we play out. I make it known that (a) we have an album, and (b) it is available right here. I do this several times during the course of a gig. And when we don't get any bites, I assume the audience just didn't like us enough.
At today's gig, though, I tried something new. I said how much the CDs cost. And we got three sales, which was pretty respectable given the size of the crowd.
Why did this matter? Because at most gigs, people don't sit through an entire set. Even if they're enjoying the music, they tend to have other places to go. If we tell them how much they need to pay, they don't have to wait around to ask us. They can drop their money in the CD case, grab a CD, and be on their way.
I cannot believe it took me four years to figure this out.
Showing posts with label Highways and Hiking Shoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Highways and Hiking Shoes. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Themes and schemes
Cinder Bridge music fits comfortably within a certain genre, which radio stations have saddled with the unfortunate name "adult album alternative." Think Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson, Badly Drawn Boy, Death Cab for Cutie, the Dave Matthews band ... basically pop with intelligence. If you like those guys, you have a shot at liking us.
But we're still having trouble finding our audience. I touched on part of the reason in my last post. If our potential fans tend to like the kind of music described above, they can find it on the radio. They don't need to scour the Internet for bands like us.
Here's the other problem: People who groove on adult album alternative don't form a distinct subculture. (If they did, AAA would have a less dorky name.) There's no one place you can go to find them, either online or in real life. They listen to the same radio stations, but since we're not on the radio, that doesn't help us.
I hadn't given this problem much thought of late, largely because I've been buried in work. So I suppose it's fitting that an idea finally came to me through a work project -- designing a self-help book for people facing momentous life change.
Some backstory: I spent the better part of my twenties in graduate school, where I alternated between wondering if this was really what I wanted to do with my life and trying not to think about it. Though I extracted myself from school before I stumbled into songwriting, the issues I'd struggled with inspired a lot of my songs. Much of my earlier work centers on dealing with change and facing some kind of major life decision or another. As I kept writing, I got it into my head that I wanted to make an album in which this choices-at-the-crossroads theme ran through the entire thing.
A few years later, through an incredible combination of luck and goodwill, the album that had only existed in my head went into preproduction. Our producer had reservations about basing our choice of tracks on a theme. He thought it might be too limiting. But like I said, there were a LOT of these songs to choose from, so we managed to pull it off.
I always hoped that people who'd gone through the same kinds of things I had would listen to our album and love it. Sadly, I had no idea how to find them.
And I still don't know. But it occurred to me that if my self-help author can focus on life change and build a successful practice that way, they're definitely out there. And maybe our music will help them feel like they're not alone.
So I've done one thing. I've changed our album description on CD Baby.
It reads a little too much like a book blurb for my comfort -- not surprising since I write a bunch of those for the day job. Still, it's a start. Maybe we don't know where our audience is, but hopefully this will strike a chord with them if they find us.
Whaddaya think? Might this intrigue potential fans? Or will it make them point and laugh?
But we're still having trouble finding our audience. I touched on part of the reason in my last post. If our potential fans tend to like the kind of music described above, they can find it on the radio. They don't need to scour the Internet for bands like us.
Here's the other problem: People who groove on adult album alternative don't form a distinct subculture. (If they did, AAA would have a less dorky name.) There's no one place you can go to find them, either online or in real life. They listen to the same radio stations, but since we're not on the radio, that doesn't help us.
I hadn't given this problem much thought of late, largely because I've been buried in work. So I suppose it's fitting that an idea finally came to me through a work project -- designing a self-help book for people facing momentous life change.
Some backstory: I spent the better part of my twenties in graduate school, where I alternated between wondering if this was really what I wanted to do with my life and trying not to think about it. Though I extracted myself from school before I stumbled into songwriting, the issues I'd struggled with inspired a lot of my songs. Much of my earlier work centers on dealing with change and facing some kind of major life decision or another. As I kept writing, I got it into my head that I wanted to make an album in which this choices-at-the-crossroads theme ran through the entire thing.
A few years later, through an incredible combination of luck and goodwill, the album that had only existed in my head went into preproduction. Our producer had reservations about basing our choice of tracks on a theme. He thought it might be too limiting. But like I said, there were a LOT of these songs to choose from, so we managed to pull it off.
I always hoped that people who'd gone through the same kinds of things I had would listen to our album and love it. Sadly, I had no idea how to find them.
And I still don't know. But it occurred to me that if my self-help author can focus on life change and build a successful practice that way, they're definitely out there. And maybe our music will help them feel like they're not alone.
So I've done one thing. I've changed our album description on CD Baby.
It reads a little too much like a book blurb for my comfort -- not surprising since I write a bunch of those for the day job. Still, it's a start. Maybe we don't know where our audience is, but hopefully this will strike a chord with them if they find us.
Whaddaya think? Might this intrigue potential fans? Or will it make them point and laugh?
Monday, January 26, 2009
The limits of mass appeal
A few years ago, when we were laying down tracks for Highways and Hiking Shoes, producer Drew Raison made the following comment:
"Your music appeals to both men and women, and to people of all ages."
He intended it as a compliment, and I took it as such. It meant a lot coming from someone who'd worked with as many talented people as he had. But a big part of me was thinking, uh oh.
See, if you're lucky enough to have the backing of a major label, and you're also lucky enough to be one of the few bands the label is focusing on, then mass appeal is great. They get you on the radio, lots of people like you, and those people buy your stuff. Happiness. If, on the other hand, you're a total unknown with no hope of conventional radio play, mass appeal gets you nowhere. Why? Because people who are into mainstream music don't need you. They can easily satisfy their listening fix by tuning into FM.
If you're working the long tail of music, you want to have a niche. The narrower the better. Your fan base will be easier to find ... and quite a bit more fanatical.
Put it this way. If you made everyone in the English-speaking world listen to a song by Cinder Bridge, and then made them listen to some song in the wizard rock genre, my guess is that more people would be into Cinder Bridge. But I promise you, Draco and the Malfoys have way, way more fans than we do right now.
The way I see it, either Cinder Bridge goes in a completely new direction and stakes out a teeny tiny niche, or we find a way to sell what we're already doing. We already know it isn't going to be the former. While it's great to experiment and evolve as we go, we're not about to change everything up for the sole purpose of marketing.
So how do we promote what we're already doing?
More thoughts in a future post.
"Your music appeals to both men and women, and to people of all ages."
He intended it as a compliment, and I took it as such. It meant a lot coming from someone who'd worked with as many talented people as he had. But a big part of me was thinking, uh oh.
See, if you're lucky enough to have the backing of a major label, and you're also lucky enough to be one of the few bands the label is focusing on, then mass appeal is great. They get you on the radio, lots of people like you, and those people buy your stuff. Happiness. If, on the other hand, you're a total unknown with no hope of conventional radio play, mass appeal gets you nowhere. Why? Because people who are into mainstream music don't need you. They can easily satisfy their listening fix by tuning into FM.
If you're working the long tail of music, you want to have a niche. The narrower the better. Your fan base will be easier to find ... and quite a bit more fanatical.
Put it this way. If you made everyone in the English-speaking world listen to a song by Cinder Bridge, and then made them listen to some song in the wizard rock genre, my guess is that more people would be into Cinder Bridge. But I promise you, Draco and the Malfoys have way, way more fans than we do right now.
The way I see it, either Cinder Bridge goes in a completely new direction and stakes out a teeny tiny niche, or we find a way to sell what we're already doing. We already know it isn't going to be the former. While it's great to experiment and evolve as we go, we're not about to change everything up for the sole purpose of marketing.
So how do we promote what we're already doing?
More thoughts in a future post.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The ear of the beholder
While hanging out with longtime awesome friend DeppityBob over an extended Thanksgiving holiday, we got on the topic of my band. We were talking about what Cinder Bridge was up to, and he asked me:
"So when are you going to write a HAPPY song?"
At rehearsal tonight, Ron the Drummer said he'd heard from a friend of his and found out she was leaving her husband. Apparently she's been listening a lot to our album, Highways and Hiking Shoes. According to Ron, she finds it "hopeful and uplifting."
It amazes me that people can have such opposing reactions to our music. I mean, I get differences in taste. I get that some people are going to love us and other people (fools that they are) will hate us. But it's weird to me that, of those who basically like what we do, some think most of our stuff is depressing (Dep's not alone), and others think it's optimistic (Ron's friend isn't alone).
Maybe it has to do with what you consider happy. DeppityBob has a preference for up-tempo material, and our music tends toward mid-tempo. It's possible that certain listeners conflate "slow" with "despondent."
Or, maybe our music sounds more cheerful if you happen to be going through extreme trauma.
Cinder Bridge: the auditory Rorschach test.
"So when are you going to write a HAPPY song?"
* * *
At rehearsal tonight, Ron the Drummer said he'd heard from a friend of his and found out she was leaving her husband. Apparently she's been listening a lot to our album, Highways and Hiking Shoes. According to Ron, she finds it "hopeful and uplifting."
* * *
It amazes me that people can have such opposing reactions to our music. I mean, I get differences in taste. I get that some people are going to love us and other people (fools that they are) will hate us. But it's weird to me that, of those who basically like what we do, some think most of our stuff is depressing (Dep's not alone), and others think it's optimistic (Ron's friend isn't alone).
Maybe it has to do with what you consider happy. DeppityBob has a preference for up-tempo material, and our music tends toward mid-tempo. It's possible that certain listeners conflate "slow" with "despondent."
Or, maybe our music sounds more cheerful if you happen to be going through extreme trauma.
Cinder Bridge: the auditory Rorschach test.
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