How can I help my friends band?

[Skyye]

My friend has a band with his brothers and his girlfriend. They have put a lot of time and effort into it, and they just released their first cd. I got an e-mail from him last night asking me if I could come up with a way to help get their name out and about. I have given it some thought and have no idea how to help them.... So I have a few questions for you... One, how can I help them out?? Where do I even start?? Is there a website that they can become listed as a new band?? They are on myspace music, but I guess that can only go so far. I have no idea where else to look, I guess the idea is to help generate some sales, but more importantly get their music out. Would it be worth it to drop their cd in the mail for some radio stations for some feedback, I mean, do people actually do that?? Someone here has to have a band and dealing with the same issue, how do you deal with this?? Finally, I am going to leave a link to their page... If you enjoy Indie/Emo/Alternative, check them out.

http://www.myspace.com/somewherewestofhere

Somewhere West of Here

Matthew Middleton - Drums, Guitar and Piano, Bass
Theresa Kurtz - Lyrisist, Singer
Brian Middleton - Bass, Singer
Eric Middleton - Bass

Tell them Kevin sent you!

 

[her209]

Free iPods with your friend's band's songs preloaded.

 

[ed21x]

The best place to start is local college campuses and cafes... that will get their name out and a tiny following. Their initial music samples should be free as well because nobody is going to pay for something they know nothing about.

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

I hope what I'm hearing on their myspace isn't the quality of music on the actual cd...

 

[AlienCraft]

Read up on Guerilla Marketing.

Watch THIS IS SPINAL TAP until you understand it's based in fact.

CDBaby works for some.

They need to make a decent table top display for their CD that someone's mom / dad / GF / BF / SO gets to man while the band plays.
Mention the CD everytime they do anything or speak anywhere.

Play everywhere and anywhere with the express purpose of exposing that project.

They should already have CD #2 ready to go so it can follow as soon as interest starts to pick up in #1.

Oh, and get someone to keep the books.
It's easy to give them all away. Better to make promos with one or two songs for college / indie radio.


Good luck.

 

[destrekor]

Radio stations won't play that. Sorry. Well, scratch that, try a radio station for a nearby college. But the production quality will be noted by DJs for normal radio stations and will never have air time. Not hating on the band, that's just the nature of a first CD before you have access to better people.

As ed21x said, they should try and get stage time at local small venues, like the typical grungy local show venue that everyone tends to know if they like local rock. You either get attention and through networking people will listen and promote, or you kind of go nowhere fast.
At local shows, they should pimp EPs for cheap, as well as promote their places online where music is.

have them post music on purevolume.com too, just another places. Neither will really attract attention from big wigs, but it gives a place for people locally to go review recorded samples. And if anyone local listens and happens to like, and they know someone who can help, that's how local bands get big.
Start at local college hangouts first, like coffee shops or lounges that have a stage. From there, if the band gets any people who like their sound, they tend to talk to them after they play. They can judge the reaction from there, and as their audience builds, the chances are better they'll have actual turnout when they play local venues. Those local shows will usually be quite a few bands that play a somewhat similar sound, and if they are lucky, they'll pick up fans that went there originally for a different act.

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