T-Shirts

So you've played a bunch of shows, have a CD to sell, and are slowly starting to build a draw of people to each show. Great! Now you're starting to think about T shirts to add to your merchandise table. Awesome, that's the next step right.
But what do you put on a T Shirt?
Lots of colour?
Fancy Designs?
Album art work?

So many options to go with that it can be overwhelming and confusing. If you go with album art work, cool, but how many can you sell and how many do you have to have printed right off the bat? This is where a lot of the risk comes in to play when planning your T shirts. Sure the more you Buy the better the price is you pay, but what if you don't sell hundreds of shirts for a long time? What if you end up with a stack of shirts with album art work from a CD you did 5 years ago?

So here is what I would suggest and what my thinking is. Start out with something simple. Do a classic one colour print with your band name and a a logo on it. No matter if it is your first CD or your 10th, That basic design will always sell. Look at the classic Ramones T shirts you see around at shows, simple, one colour, band name, and logo. Often you see a white T shirt with a black print or a black T shirt with a white print. They still sell that Type of Ramones Shirt on a regular basis. Its a simple and effective design that is basically timeless. The great thing is a simple design like that will transfer to stickers, web site, hats, coffee mugs, sexy underwear, or what ever you can think of.

Why risk having a tone of an album specific T shirt when you are starting out? Make and plan for something you can always sell. Once you get that going then you can easily down the road start adding small batches of more designs and special event type T shirts to your table, and right beside them all have a standard that anyone can add to their loot.

Now the next thing you start thinking about is what colour of T shirt do I go with?

It seems typical that all shows you see the basic black T shirt. It always looks great! This is a fine idea. The only draw back I can see with a black t shirt is that most screen printing shops charge a bit more for them. They usually have to add a layer of white under your design if your using a lot of colour to help the colours stand out and not look faded some. This is an added step in the printing process and usually you end up paying for it. This can cut into the packet some when getting them printed and adds a little more cost when you go to sell them at your shows. Now plain white T shirts are usually the best price, but not every one wants a white T shirt. The nice thing is you can get them quicker and for a better price.

So what one could do is go for a bit of a split on coloured shirts and your basic black, this way you can get an over all base price that's easier to handle and leaves you with a bit of profit at the end of the night.

The last thing you have to guess at is what sizes do you go with. That is a hard one to figure out. If you are working with a good company that does shirt printing, chances are they can help you out some if you ask them what the most popular or common sizes are. They can also help you with colours, and give design advice.

I am sure there are many more things that one can go over when it comes to T shirt designs and printing. But this is a basic look into it to help get you thinking about what you want to do. I could probably go on a long time on just designs and logos alone. Best bet there if your having a hard time thinking up something pop by a art school and you could find someone eager to do up a design for a reasonable price. Starving students and all.

Rock On!
Cheers

How to get started and noticed

Part 2

What are some more ways to gather a fan base and keep building a Buzz around your band?

Like I had mentioned before in part 1 of this adventure, there are are hundreds of ways to do this. Some will work like gold, some will get you one or two fans here and there, and some will not work at all. It is a trial and error system till you find just the right mix for you and your band.

I am going to quickly cover two ideas that will help you and your band. One idea is about one part of live gig's/shows and the other fits along with it some.

We will start with a bit about gig's/shows. Sometimes booking a show or getting into a hot club is the toughest thing to do. You want to start with you research on the venues, find out who to talk to ad what they need from you to help make their decision. One of those things might be a press kit sent in or dropped off, if you are close by. No matter what always offer to get a press or media kit to the Booker. This will show some professionalism and that you are serious about your music. It will help them in the long run to get to know your band and your sound so that they have an easier time matching you up with other acts to fill a night.

One thing too look at is other places to play. You might not be able to get in to that club right of way and you want to keep playing and sharing your music. look for basically anything to start with like open mic nights, hall parties, frat parties, BB Q's, and other things like contests and battle of the bands. You don't want to be too picky at first until you can prove you have a reasonable draw to your shows.

Now the other idea I have been working myself for getting in to different bars and clubs is teaming up with other bands. Get together with one or two other bands that you like that are close to you sound wise. It will work better as a package deal to a Booker when you talk to them. If you can talk to a band Booker and say I am with a group of three bands looking to put on a show one evening, you will have better chances of getting that show. This will take a bunch of work off the Booker by giving him a whole night with out having to try and match up bands. It also makes it easier to head right into making your posters and fliers. You can basically have a template and just change the dates, place, time and if there is a cover charge.

The next next thing that ties into all of your shows has to do with building your fan base. You want to build that base by building a email list of of fans. Here again you can do probably 50 different things to build that list.
A few ideas I can offer are:

• Sign up sheets at your merchandise table
• Offer free down load of one of your songs
• use a down load card to offer a song at your shows for email sign ups
• Or say a down load with a T shirt sale and email sign up

Sometimes it is all about being creative with the approach of getting those email addresses. I once herd of  a band that had a email sign up list on their table that was framed by a toilet seat. It made people stop and think, it also worked for them. Some times it is the things one would not expect to see that grabs attention and makes people think about signing up.

Sometimes Random give aways during the show helps make people remember your band and want to stay up to date and add their email to your list. There is a story of Coldplay in the early days, they would give out mini chocolate bars at the end of their shows. It was a thank you that they did for people that stuck around to listen to their music. It seemed to work well for them because word slowly spread that they did this at their shows and it made them more human and approachable. By doing this it gave them a chance to connect closer to the fans. And connecting with fans is where it all starts.

A question poll

Question of the day #2

The ever burning question of building an email list and fan base is one that is hard to define.
There are hundreds of ways to gather names and emails. The question is what works best?

So tell me and the every one what has worked best for you?

• Simple sign up sheet at gigs/shows with your merch
• On line sign ups on your web site
• Offers like one free down load when you join
• begging?

Give us your ideas and what has worked best for you.
Maybe someone has a sure fire way that no one else has tried before.

Drop us a line here in the comments and we'll see who has the best ideas.

Cheers!

Recording Day

Well today should be a fun day. I am heading to the studio to do a little recording. See what we can get done in a short window of time.
I have way too many songs that I would like to try and get recorded, But today if I can get 2 or maybe 3 songs I will be really happy.

I'm heading in to Two Bodies of Water recording Studio in the West end of Edmonton, Alberta. I will get a good first time run at being in a real studio versus my home set up.
I met with the Big guy there a few weeks ago but have not had the time and funds in place to go full out for a few days. So I am going to try out a solo acoustic treatment of a hand full of my songs. See what it comes out like.

Hopefully over the next while I can do this a few times and get enough songs done up for an EP.

I will let you all know how it goes.

Have a great Day!
Cheers!

A quick Poll.

Question of the day #1

What does your band do to get people out to shows?

Do you do something different like:

• Offer a free drink with your show poster
• Offer a free drink with the hand bill
• Offer tickets to your on line fans for a pre show discount
• Do a random draw from your email list for a pair of tickets to the next show
• Offer free down load of a song

I would love to hear your ideas and share some of the success everyone has had with getting more people to the shows.

How To get started and noticed

Part One

So getting a band going and started. Where do we go from here. This can be a real big and broad topic that can cover hundreds of aspects of getting a band going and building BUZZ.
There is no magic Bullet, no secret pacts, or simple fixes these days, and most likely no one to hold your hand. There maybe a hundred sites and books that scream we will get you to the top quickly. The simple reality is that there is only one way to get to your goal of having a successful band, it boils down to a few key things and that's hard work and determination.
You thought this was going to be easy didn't you?
What i have started here is a simple basic out line to help you build your plan and try to remove some of the guess work out of building your band up.

The first this is simple:

• Practice your instrument
• Practice with your band (if you have one put together already)
• Start writing songs
• play your songs and practice a hand full of covers

Once you have your band together and every one sounds good together. You should sit down as a group and lay out your plan. Do you want to be an all covers band, write originals, do a bit of a mix at first, shoot for a CD, or how far do you want to go. Is it just a fun weekend warrior thing? You will have to decide for yourself what fits you best.
But a few of the things you should plan and out line are:

1. Set list
2. Who will do bookings
3. Who will make fliers and hand bills
4. where will you advertise your band
5. Web site - go for the free options or pay for a site to start with
6. Who will look after your on line campaign
7. Merchandise - designs and who will make arrangements to get it made

Now you don't always have to have all this set up right and in place out of the gate. It can't hurt but not a live or die kind of thing. I would suggest though going for any free band page sites first. Places like myspace, facebook band page, reverbnation, purevolume, bandcamp and so on. I think there are probably about 30 or so more out there you could find with a little digging. Shop around though each one has its own befits and beneficial options that will help you out in the long run.

These free sites are a great place to start for any band. I would suggest, once you have picked a few places, a few basic things to keep in mind. There are things your should try and keep consistent across all web sites, blogs, and pages that you set up so that you have a more professional look.

1. Band Photos
2. Band story, history, and bio
3. Band logo
4. Post a few songs for streaming and possible down loads
5. If you have one post a video

Its best to try and keep each page and web site the same with the information you put out there. This will give fans and causal lookers a uniform and consistent view of who you are and who your band is. It looks professional when you keep it simple and the same. This will also give a better source for the BUZZ around your band that you want.

So that's the first few things to go with. I will be adding to this as I go. There are too many things to cover in one short moment like this, but this should help you start getting a plan in place and thinking about what you want to do.

I would love to hear from anyone who has more ideas and what has worked so far for them.
Let me know and maybe we can look at expanding that idea into the one that pushes your band to the top.
Cheers for now!