Cutting through the noise - promo/record labels/indie...

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

The problem is basically: I'm poor. Viz., I don't have a safety net. I can't afford to go on tour without making money enough to pay rent and buy food. I'm not upset about that, mind. It's a choice I've made, more than anything. I want time, not money, so I work less. Thus I can't afford certain luxuries. At the same time, this has made me very invested in contributing to the local scene, which I'm really into. I'll definitely be having a release party gig once possible. There's actually fairly active noise scene here. So my noise endeavours will likely be way more successful than my band!

[retinal orbita]

I think that’s right attitude in noise, to be prepared to be a part of the community and not expect to “stand out” or “gain that fame” as everyone has their own little project. I see too many online rants and meltdowns about people “not caring about my HNW foot themed cassette” (like buddy The Rita did it better than you!!). People will get hip to your project if it’s good (or you’re a super nice guy who runs a label hahah). I buy 200 noise tapes a year and somehow Jason Crumer was just a name to me until this year..... now I can’t get enough!!

But for me - I’m only doing things if they’re fun. I made 60 pro dubbed, pad printed tapes of the last noise album I did right before the pandemic hit and I’m sitting on 40 copies and given the rest away. Hopefully at some point I play a show again but even then at this point I’d still be giving them away for promotion only.

[goroth]

To everyone who is contributing in this thread - thank you so much.

I dunno what I'm getting out of this in terms of how to go forward, but all of the ideas and thoughts are brilliant.

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

So how do you "build hype"? Has any of you actually tried doing that? Start posting about your stuff 12w before release, drop sound snippets, behind the scenes hype pics/vids, singles, &c.? Like I said, I have an album coming out soon. Should I hype it? Will guerilla marketing make my obscure noise album a success? Am I joking with this post? Stay tuned?

[goroth]

Yeah fucked if I know man.

Noise seems more like a tight scene or a community? I dunno, somehow you gotta broaden your network. Get some other dudes helping promote you. Idk. This is such a mystery. The ex-guitar player for Gigafauna, his new band is doing real well. But they are super easy to “package”. They sound like a stoner band. They look like a stoner band. They play decent stoner. They got on a stoner label. I’m sure they worked their butts off but maybe it’s easier when you are more obviously like something else. Or maybe it’s harder, because you’re like something else.

I feel I’m chasing my tail here...

[retinal orbita]

So how do you "build hype"?

If this was 2019 or earlier I believe the stock answer here would be “go to/play shows, give out your demo” but 2020 and beyond is a different story!

I mean even the promotion stuff itself is baffling - Facebook seems to have locked the system down with “like my page” and it’s completely understandable if people don’t want to do that (I fuckin’ don’t). Email lists? No thank you. A bandcamp email? Ugh even worse. An Instagram account? I love “the ‘gram” and even then, I would have to really (and I mean fuckin’ REALLY) like a band to subject myself to seeing their posts every day. A YouTube channel? A vlog? A clog? (As in making wooden shoes with your logo on it and throwing them at people)?

I feel like for noise I have all the people/labels I like followed on Instagram and that’s how I keep up with new releases.

I also specifically buy from a very few select distros and usually if they’re stocking something chances are I will like it. I also have connected with them to sell my stuff, even getting them to consign my shit is a bit of a challenge. Spoiler alert: I haven’t sold any tapes.

Would be curious to hear your stuff!

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

Yeah my post was kind of a joke wrt to my noise album. I spend a lot of time on making that album, and I'm really happy with it. It's an album I would have loved if somebody else made it. What more can I aim for? But I'm not an idiot—I know that nobody's gonna listen to that stuff.

But my post kinda stands wrt to my band, which makes sounds that most people would be able to discern and say "this is definitely some kind of music", so I appreciate the replies.

@retinal: Give out your demo how? I might know two people who have a CD and cassette player. I don't think it's gonna do a lot of hype for my band nor my solo stuff. This might be particular to my scene though. What am I supposed to hand out? A QR code to a Bandcamp demo?

What I'd like to see myself is a local fanzine/web page/whatever people want, that keeps up, and ties the scene together. But I really don't have the energy, time, nor desire, to do that myself. And from my research/work/&c., I can 100% guarantee that there is a lot of hype potential on stuff like tik tok &c. You know, the stuff we're too old to understand, let alone use.

[retinal orbita]

@retinal: Give out your demo how? I might know two people who have a CD and cassette player. I don't think it's gonna do a lot of hype for my band nor my solo stuff. This might be particular to my scene though. What am I supposed to hand out? A QR code to a Bandcamp demo?

Hmmmm. Odd. I don’t have any frame of reference for this. But then all my friends are record nerds.

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

OK so I thought it would be funny to promote my noise album properly. I have Twitter, Bandcamp, YouTube, and a homepage. I made music videos/visualisations for each track. I'm making a trailer, and am gonna release the first song before the rest of the album. It'll be released digitally and on cassette tape. I have an EPK I'll send to a bunch of carefully researched blogs, as well as local media (who'll hate it). I also made a Reddit account and intend to post it to noise/avant garde/experimental subreddits where I'll do a sort of AMA thing. And I'll of course make a post on ILF as part of the hype train! B) If that sort of stuff is all right on this forum. If not, I will stick to "Let's hear your music" thread.

Anything else I should do?

[Velcro Bottom]

A public stunt involving nudity.

[goroth]

Now you're talking!

[manymanyhaha]

A public stunt involving nudity.

And please, no farm animals.

But maybe smurfs?

Or aliens?



But seriously, I too am interested in this topic, and thanks for all the great info, Dowi et al.

It's a dilemma, if you want to find your audience, if there is one for you to have. I actually don't mind toiling in blissful obscurity but then I start to feel a bit self-indulgent, listening to everyone else's beautiful creations, deriving pleasure and inspiration from them and thinking, "I should be participating in this conversation."

So then I make an effort and then not much happens so I go happily back to blissful obscurity I'm actually quite happy to make music for my girlfriend and I to enjoy in our more, shall we say, blissful states. But damn, it is an expensive frickin hobby, isn't it?

Edit: Oh, and put me in the category of No Physical Media, Please. Too much shit in this world, Wall-E will become reality at some point if we don't stop. I'm more than happy to buy downloads and it is also one of the reasons I am starting to explore software in the hopes that I will be able to give up pedals, one day. Maybe. (Who the fuck am I kidding )

[VREEEEVROOOOOW]

The #1 thing to understand and accept is: people don't give a shit about your music. The #2 thing to understand and accept is: your music isn't important. There's other music. Probably better music. Which leads to #3: Your music isn't as great as you think it is. But, that said, I'm 100% certain there exists an audience for even the most wilfully obscure music. And if you're serious about making music, as an art form, I think it's very natural to want to reach those people. I think it is even commendable. I just made an album that me at age 14 or 16 would absolutely love to stumble upon. Hell, I'm twice that age, and I think it fucking rips!

But it's hard when the audience is small and doesn't have a social media hash tag for you to target. My album's promotional video even has six dislikes on YouTube! Which doesn't in any way reflect the musical quality, of course. It simply reflects my failure to find the people who would be interested in it. Sure if a random person stumbles upon a video of noise music, thy won't like it. That's a given.

I guess what I'm saying is... it's worth reaching out. But it's hard. And you gotta be prepared for my fourth fact of the day, #4: some people will absolutely hate your music, and think that you're joking. And, I guess that my fifth and final fact is #5: all those four previous facts I listed are perfectly fine. It's not the end of the world. Move on. Try to get your music out there.

[coldbrightsunlight]

^^^^^

Big plus one to that. it's always worth putting it out but perspective is key

[Paul_C]

I am, as usual, slightly (very) confused as to what I want to do.

I like the stuff I make enough to happily listen to it multiple times and enjoy the the process of recording and creating enough to do it a LOT, too much to expect anyone to go to the trouble of listening to it all, unless they enjoy it as much as I do.

I'm generally content with the knowledge that one or two other people have downloaded albums from Bandcamp and now and again I get a little money, which is always a delight to receive, however little it might be. I don't mind if people listen for free and it wouldn't bother me particularly if I never received another penny, but it's still nice to get those emails from Bandcamp

I was thinking the other day about ways to increase the number of people who listen, as it's encouraging to see the stats on Bandcamp, but I don't want to be someone who spams more successful artists on Twitter etc. in the hope of getting a listener or two, and I don't want to pay for adverts etc. because I'm not that ambitious

This is the crux of the matter, I'd like more people to like what I do and to listen and download more often, but without me having to say LOOK AT ME! all over the place