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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Experiment: Release Of My Mini Album

Posted by: Jeroen Apr 24 2014, 06:22 PM

As an experiment I released an instrumental mini album (EP) of 4 songs on Bandcamp. I want to see if there is in fact anybody at all who thinks that my songs are worth downloading for € 1 per song. biggrin.gif

I really don't know if there is a market for instrumental heavy metal and in particular if my songs are interesting enough!! But as an experiment I thought I'd give it a go. smile.gif As I am still searching for a good lead singer my songs remain instrumental for now.

I will update this post to let you know if there is any activity at all..

You can listen to the songs by clicking on the link below. Don't forget to give me feedback if you have any. Thanks.

http://jeroenvanderput.bandcamp.com/album/victory-instrumental-heavy-metal


Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 24 2014, 06:51 PM

First off CONGRATS!! On your mini ep smile.gif

Experiments are always a great learning experiment, but I'd suggest as soon as possible, let people set their own price even if it is zero. At this point, you are really just trying to get people to listen to your music so your at the "awareness raising" stage which is where most folks are at smile.gif If folks will listen, give it to them. Building a base of listeners is far more important than the few bucks you might make.

Adding a singer is a grand idea smile.gif Most folks can connect better with vocals in a tune. (guitarists can usually appreciate the guitar doing the singing, but most folks do like some vocals) smile.gif





QUOTE (Jeroen @ Apr 24 2014, 01:22 PM) *
As an experiment I released an instrumental mini album (EP) of 4 songs on Bandcamp. I want to see if there is in fact anybody at all who thinks that my songs are worth downloading for € 1 per song. biggrin.gif

I really don't know if there is a market for instrumental heavy metal and in particular if my songs are interesting enough!! But as an experiment I thought I'd give it a go. smile.gif As I am still searching for a good lead singer my songs remain instrumental for now.

I will update this post to let you know if there is any activity at all..

You can listen to the songs by clicking on the link below. Don't forget to give me feedback if you have any. Thanks.

http://jeroenvanderput.bandcamp.com/album/victory-instrumental-heavy-metal


Posted by: Jeroen Apr 24 2014, 07:14 PM

Thanks Todd,

You are right. I made them free, but if someone wants to pay for it that's still possible. smile.gif


QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Apr 24 2014, 07:51 PM) *
First off CONGRATS!! On your mini ep smile.gif

Experiments are always a great learning experiment, but I'd suggest as soon as possible, let people set their own price even if it is zero. At this point, you are really just trying to get people to listen to your music so your at the "awareness raising" stage which is where most folks are at smile.gif If folks will listen, give it to them. Building a base of listeners is far more important than the few bucks you might make.

Adding a singer is a grand idea smile.gif Most folks can connect better with vocals in a tune. (guitarists can usually appreciate the guitar doing the singing, but most folks do like some vocals) smile.gif

Posted by: Monica Gheorghevici Apr 25 2014, 08:19 AM

Congrats for your mini album!! smile.gif

It's good to make an experiment but IMHO, I see the things a little different.
First of all I think you should promote yourself in a different and free way. People get scared when they see that must pay. Make people to know about you, participate in guitar contests, win some guitar contests and people will start to looking for you wink.gif Try to put constantly videos on YT. Make your own "public".
It's hard to make people to pay for something. They looking to go at festivals and gigs where they don't have to pay ticket. How you make people to pay for your songs even if the cost is less than a bottle of Coca-Cola?

It's hard for all of us to make people to love and appreciate our work but not impossible wink.gif
I like a lot guitarists from YT but to be honest, just for a little number I will pay and I will always have an undying support. Somehow their music resonate with me. I would like to see them at gigs and I don't care which price I must pay for that, even if the cost of ticket would lock me in the house for 1 month biggrin.gif They are a model for me and this is the most important thing.
The good part is that are friends with me so I will have backstage access.....JUST KIDDING laugh.gif laugh.gif

So, I wish you to have luck with this and keep us update smile.gif I'm really very curious how the things will work smile.gif

Posted by: Jeroen Apr 26 2014, 08:46 AM

Thanks Monica. I know it's hard but I don't have to make a living out of it wink.gif I make music to use my creativity, for fun and also to give my emotions a way out. Video editing is also one of the things I like to do to make my videos look good. I have a lot of musical ideas which I have to write down or play, otherwise they get stuck in my head and than I can't sleep. My wife is sometimes complaining that I am writing music down on paper in the middle of the night:) haha. Imagine her sleeping and I am next to her in bed with a small flashlight, pen and paper, writing down musical ideas. smile.gif trying not to wake her, but she sleeps so light that she always wakes up.. And this happens every week. smile.gif but she loves the songs I write, that's the good thing!! smile.gif

I have local fans in my country who appreciate my music, I just have to figure a way out to write better songs and promote them more..

QUOTE (Monica Gheorghevici @ Apr 25 2014, 09:19 AM) *
Congrats for your mini album!! smile.gif

It's good to make an experiment but IMHO, I see the things a little different.
First of all I think you should promote yourself in a different and free way. People get scared when they see that must pay. Make people to know about you, participate in guitar contests, win some guitar contests and people will start to looking for you wink.gif Try to put constantly videos on YT. Make your own "public".
It's hard to make people to pay for something. They looking to go at festivals and gigs where they don't have to pay ticket. How you make people to pay for your songs even if the cost is less than a bottle of Coca-Cola?

It's hard for all of us to make people to love and appreciate our work but not impossible wink.gif
I like a lot guitarists from YT but to be honest, just for a little number I will pay and I will always have an undying support. Somehow their music resonate with me. I would like to see them at gigs and I don't care which price I must pay for that, even if the cost of ticket would lock me in the house for 1 month biggrin.gif They are a model for me and this is the most important thing.
The good part is that are friends with me so I will have backstage access.....JUST KIDDING laugh.gif laugh.gif

So, I wish you to have luck with this and keep us update smile.gif I'm really very curious how the things will work smile.gif


Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 26 2014, 01:00 PM

Howdy Jeroen!

Congrats on your release mate smile.gif Todd and Monica stated valid points here, so start trumpeting around a bit so that you would grow a fan base smile.gif Marketing wise, you should take the steps as follows:

- identify your target - guitar music listeners or rock/metal aficionados - Facebook groups, forums, the GMC forum, Youtube, Soundcloud
- create awareness - publish your videos and audio files so that people become aware of your music
- build a fan base - create a facebook artist page and promote everything through it, or even build your own website

Once you gather a number of people, you can promote your music and also offer them the possibility of supporting you with money, but don't make it compulsory. Later on, if you want to, you can create merch or similar things that can be bought only smile.gif But that's a different step!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Apr 26 2014, 03:33 PM

Congratulations mate! It's great that you took courage and published your music. This is an excellent first step! As Cosmin said, there are some next steps that you can do to start promoting your music using the social networks. I recommend you to check a book called "The New Rockstar Philosophy" which is full of great ideas to promote your music.


Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 26 2014, 03:49 PM

Your heading the right direction smile.gif I have a thread in my forum about promoting yourself and your music online that you might want to check out.

Here is the link smile.gif

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=36421

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Apr 26 2014, 03:46 AM) *
Thanks Monica. I know it's hard but I don't have to make a living out of it wink.gif I make music to use my creativity, for fun and also to give my emotions a way out. Video editing is also one of the things I like to do to make my videos look good. I have a lot of musical ideas which I have to write down or play, otherwise they get stuck in my head and than I can't sleep. My wife is sometimes complaining that I am writing music down on paper in the middle of the night:) haha. Imagine her sleeping and I am next to her in bed with a small flashlight, pen and paper, writing down musical ideas. smile.gif trying not to wake her, but she sleeps so light that she always wakes up.. And this happens every week. smile.gif but she loves the songs I write, that's the good thing!! smile.gif

I have local fans in my country who appreciate my music, I just have to figure a way out to write better songs and promote them more..

Posted by: Jeroen Apr 27 2014, 12:35 PM

Thanks, Todd, Gab, Cos for the very helpfull tips. smile.gif

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 27 2014, 01:07 PM

Always a pleasure! I recently got the book Gabi suggested and I will start reading it tonight smile.gif He mentioned it a few times before, but somehow I always ended up forgetting to look for it, darn thing! biggrin.gif

It's a jungle out there for certain, but the more you learn and experiment, the more you will understand!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Apr 27 2014, 06:48 PM

Here is another book worth looking @. The kindle version is only $10 U.S. smile.gif You can use the browser based kindle reader so you don't need any other device than a PC.

Social Media Promotion for Musicians
http://www.amazon.com/Social-Media-Promotion-Musicians-Owsinski-ebook/dp/B00G2JM8MQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Apr 27 2014, 07:35 AM) *
Thanks, Todd, Gab, Cos for the very helpfull tips. smile.gif

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 28 2014, 07:36 AM

Thanks for the suggestion Todd! Out of what I can remember, you posted a link a while ago containing some downloadable PDF files that were actually some little guides on radio play, promotion, social media and so on - those looked good as well, but I can't find them anymore sad.gif

Posted by: PosterBoy Apr 28 2014, 09:13 AM

I'm going to be really superficial here.

Start thinking of a brand image for yourself and products, if you are putting out metal, for me your EP cover doesn't cut it. I've already made a judgement about the music just by looking at the picture without even listening to the music.

I'm not saying you have to change how you present yourself completely, it does have to be congruent, but I think it also has to reflect the music too.

Posted by: Jeroen Apr 28 2014, 11:59 AM

QUOTE (PosterBoy @ Apr 28 2014, 10:13 AM) *
I'm going to be really superficial here.

Start thinking of a brand image for yourself and products, if you are putting out metal, for me your EP cover doesn't cut it. I've already made a judgement about the music just by looking at the picture without even listening to the music.

I'm not saying you have to change how you present yourself completely, it does have to be congruent, but I think it also has to reflect the music too.


Thanks Posterboy, I am going to reconsider the way I present myself.

I changed my album cover to something which is more in line with the first track "The Dragonslayer" and the album title Victory.


Posted by: PosterBoy Apr 28 2014, 02:32 PM

Glad you took my post in the right spirit. That makes more sense, it brings more continuity to the whole thing.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Apr 28 2014, 03:28 PM

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Apr 27 2014, 02:48 PM) *
Here is another book worth looking @. The kindle version is only $10 U.S. smile.gif You can use the browser based kindle reader so you don't need any other device than a PC.

Social Media Promotion for Musicians
http://www.amazon.com/Social-Media-Promotion-Musicians-Owsinski-ebook/dp/B00G2JM8MQ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=



Thanks for this link Todd. I will get this book as soon as I could start reading it.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Apr 29 2014, 08:21 AM

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Apr 28 2014, 10:59 AM) *
Thanks Posterboy, I am going to reconsider the way I present myself.

I changed my album cover to something which is more in line with the first track "The Dragonslayer" and the album title Victory.



Aye! Better image choice indeed smile.gif It really represents the name!

Posted by: Jeroen May 5 2014, 07:52 PM

Ok, a little update for this experiment. Here are the stats from the first ten days:



114 plays, but only 1 download. Which can mean several things.

*The music is not interesting enough to listen to more than once. (I can image that).
*The audio quality/mixing is not at the right level
*It's hard to make attractive instrumental music. = I need to find a lead singer
*....

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu May 5 2014, 08:31 PM

QUOTE (Jeroen @ May 5 2014, 06:52 PM) *
Ok, a little update for this experiment. Here are the stats from the first ten days:



114 plays, but only 1 download. Which can mean several things.

*The music is not interesting enough to listen to more than once. (I can image that).
*The audio quality/mixing is not at the right level
*It's hard to make attractive instrumental music. = I need to find a lead singer
*....


Man, these stats can usually direct you towards conclusions of all kinds, but the main idea is to keep going and strive to improve smile.gif At this point, you would be FAR better trying to write simple but memorable music, rather than complicated music.

Posted by: Jeroen Sep 5 2014, 03:14 PM

I have a number of downloads of my album on bandcamp, and There is even one person around the world who actually paid money to download it.

smile.gif

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 6 2014, 03:00 PM

Hah! Amazing! That's the whole thing to it mate smile.gif Making sure that your music is sufficiently exposed, so that people may bump into it. In this way, you will slowly build a fanbase, which has to be supported by a bunch of social media channels such as a Facebook Page, your Youtube Channel and maybe even a Soundcloud channel. I have never gotten to ask if you managed to put these up yet smile.gif

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