2. A hard one: Change your band’s name if you’re unable to acquire it for your URL and/or your social networking accounts.

Drastic measures indeed suggested by Ian, but once again, it could be sound advice.

Factors you should consider when the name of your act is in doubt, should not just stop at URLs and social networks, but in today’s modern digital accessible age, they may actually be some of the most important.

Referring back to the first post in the series, there are ways you can get around the duplicate name problem by using certain suffixes to distinguish your brand.

2. If it has been taken, do not fret. For instance, if TheSlickBaldRobots.com is taken, then adding “Band” or “Music” as a suffix may solve the problem.

So use the tools mentioned in that post to check out if you can use a work around. If not, it may be time to consider changing the name.

If are seriously considering a name change, rather than choosing a name by using the methods you used to disregard the existing name, choose a name that means something to the act and once again go through the URLs and social network account profile checks.

This will allow you to put the band BEFORE the brand, and allow you to keep it real.

In Case You Forgot…

I’ve taken inspiration from probably the most popular (the most stolen) piece of content on my mate Ian’s website and that is the 151 Ways To Get Your Bands Name Out There.

This will be a series of “How To’s” for all (or nearly all) of the points made on the original post.

I’ve taken inspiration from probably the most popular (the most stolen) piece of content on my mate Ian’s website and that is the 151 Ways To Get Your Bands Name Out There.

This will be a series of “How To’s” for all (or nearly all) of the points made on the original post.

So, there may actually be 151 posts dedicated to this series. One post a week and we should be done by 2016.

(Time Capsule: Today is Tuesday, it’s sunny, and I have to go to Specsavers at 6 o’clock. Hello future Matt)

In the original post, Ian has said there is no particular order of things, so I am going to buck the trend and put an order to it. So I shall be doing it in the order that he puts them

So anyway, onto the task at hand, and to the point.

1. Use your band’s name as your URL (www.YourBandName.com)

This should be relatively easy to do, so I will walk you through the process.

1. Go to namecheckr.com and type in your desired branding (URL (YourBandName)). It will tell you if it is already in use or has been taken.
2. If it has been taken, do not fret. For instance, if TheSlickBaldRobots.com is taken, then adding “Band” or “Music” as a suffix may solve the problem.
3. Once you have found the correct branding, now its time to register the domain. Go to a preferred domain registrar (I use GoDaddy because they have good packages with hosting, which you will need, but we don’t need to cover that just yet. (if you don’t know of any use GoDaddy and I can help you as I am familiar with their user control panels)). Use the websites domain search tool and double check the name you have chosen is available, and buy it.
4. You usually get discounts for buying for longer periods, but most domains will auto-renew, if you don’t want to commit for more than one year.
5. You can also get discounts for bulk buying different domain extensions. If you are a UK band, you may also want to buy the .co.uk domain as well as the .com. (The priority though should always be the .com)

That’s it. You now have a domain name that really reflects your identity, safely in your inventory of “things that we need to do to get our name out there”.

It was relatively painless, quick and not as expensive as you might have thought.

Now you’ll be wondering why you didn’t get round to doing it before.

I will get round to what to do with the domain you’ve just purchased, and if you have any questions, get in touch with me either by leaving a comment below, or by using the details on the right.

What are your opinions?

What do they want gigs for, well, because they need more live practice, more performing experience, because they think they can make some quick money…

A number of different reasons, but usually they never tell me that straight off the bat.

The best way for me to get you the best gigs for your needs is to tell me from the get go.

Be honest and open with promoters and they will give you exactly what you need.

You tell them its to promote a new release, but its really cos you don’t have much of a following in a certain area, you’re not going to make many friends.

I can get you more gigs, just tell me what you want.

It may be a case that you know a lot of people that can write reviews for you, but more often than not, you will have to look beyond your circle of friends.

There are a few websites that offer you reviews at a cost, and that’s OK to do if you feel you aren’t getting as many as you feel you need, but forwarding copies to press and blogs will get you the reviews you need, as long as you give them enough lead time.

Whilst in the early stages of writing your new release, consider also starting to compile a list of potential reviewers, and then contact them directly to ask if they would be happy to do so.

So when the final mix makes it to their inbox, they will feel that they already have made some sort of connection, rather than just someone sending something that clogs up their spam folder which they weren’t expecting, or weren’t able to review.

These are fairly common place in the music industry, as its no unheard of the have a launch party for an artist, a single, an EP or an album.

Good timing of the launch party is crucial, and there are many marketing tips to get this right.

If there is buzz about a particular artist, their recognition will grow, and it would be up to the artist to maintain or increase the buzz to gain maximum exposure.

If there is no buzz about an artist, it would be down to them to start a buzz.

Usually, the artist has no control over the buzz, but there are certain things that some may do to encourage it.

This can be done in many ways, such as announce a tour, release a new track, or falling out of nightclub doorways drunk.

It can be the best way for a new audience members to remember the name of the act when they get home, rather than them having to remember what the website address is to download their tracks.

I am seeing a lot of new artists giving away flash drives instead, which are preloaded with tracks, photos and website details, which is the new digital equivalent I guess.

My personal opinion would be to go with both the CD and the flash drive, as this gives people the option, and sometimes people do want to have a CD that they can play in their car.

The most important thing you want from shows is that people remember who you are, so make it as easy for them to get what they want, how they want, and they’ll remember you for that.

If you do plan on selling merchandise at gigs, I suggest that you keep track of everything that you do sell, and that someone is watching the stock at all times.

Dont overprice your items, but dont under price them either.

Merchanidse can sometimes be generating more income for artists than playing the show itself, so be sure to get a good spot, in good time before the show starts, and make it look as tempting as possible to buy.

When it comes to artists selling merchandise, they either do it through their website or when they play live shows.

The most common forms of merchandise would be clothing, posters and badges, but can stretch as far as the imagination allows.

Merchandise is a great way for musicians to earn extra revenue when they are touring, and can sometimes be their main source of income when starting out.