LO5: Promoting My Music

As a follow-up to Production Post 6, I chose the art below to represent my EP as I never got a reply from the Ashfield council about using their public structures within my imagery. Although it isn’t the most creative design, it looks nice and follows a similar format to my last EP cover art with the ‘Vin McLo’ text being in the exact same place within the square.

With the EP nearing the end of the production process, I’ve been researching into professional ways to promote my music that can reach further than small social media groups. I found one website with a bunch of useful tips (New Artist Model, 2017). I already use Facebook to promote my music, however my fanbase so far mainly consists of family and friends. The two artists I collaborated with in Track 3 said they’d share my work on their own bands social media pages once the EP is released.

The music industry is full of many areas and career choices including song writers, performers, engineers, promoters, etc… It’s important to build networks in order to make the most out of it (Careers in Music, 2015). I’ve already collaborated with two other artists however I could also reach out to further audiences by asking a variety of music blogs to review my work. As well as getting some promotion, I could also get some useful feedback on how my work could be improved. Of course, I would be over-optimistic to think that some of the more global mainstream blogs would want to feature my work. And so, I’ve searched for a few smaller independent blogs to send my work to.

High Clouds – A blog that reviews albums and EPs from emerging artists of all genres. Available from: http://www.highclouds.org/

Electronic North – An independent label and promoter based in Northern England that works with electronic music artists. Available from: http://www.electronicnorth.co.uk/

Indie Pulse Music Magazine – A group that focusses on independent music artists. Available from: https://indiepulsemusic.com/

Xune Mag – A group that works with unsigned artists and gives them a chance to emerge. Available from: https://xunemag.com/submit-music/

https://www.indieshuffle.com/ – A diverse group of people that like to write reviews and share music. Available from: https://www.indieshuffle.com/

Birp.FM – Another blog that focuses on working with unsigned artists. They frequently put out playlists of new music for people to discover. Available from: http://www.birp.fm/

I’ll send emails and submissions to all of these blogs once my EP is complete. As for the release of my EP, I’ve been researching when the best day to release it could be. According to Brightside, Tuesdays are becoming good days to release music CDs, as well and Blu-Rays and DVDs, as they act as safety days in case product didn’t arrive on Monday. However, since my EP is only being release as a digital format (for now) I don’t have to be concerned about this.

A Wired article states that Fridays are good days to release music as consumers are more likely to buy products on weekends. However, it also states that a Tuesday release would give me more time to stand out from the mainstream media before the weekend rush whereas a Friday release would have me shadowed by mainstream advertising campaigns.

I don’t have a budget for advertising and so I doubt that any choice of day would cause me to stand out from mainstream, or even independent, media; I have to think realistically as well as optimistically. Considering that more people would have time to notice, or even buy, my EP over a weekend, I’ve decided to release my music on Friday the 22nd of December. I’ll send my music to various blogs before then in order to hopefully get some reviews in as soon as possible.

I noticed that a lot of bands tend to release trailers for their albums and EPs on shortly before release on social media. Check out this example trailer by Tennis HERE. With this in mind, I decided to make my own trailer. It uses old VHS video footage to conform with the retro-style Vin McLo branding. You can watch the trailer by clicking HERE. It’ll be made available to the public on the 15th December, right before the weekend, on the Vin McLo Facebook page.

References

Brightside (2017) Which day of the week is best to release music? Friday, I guess. Available from: https://brightsidelive.com/day-week-best-release-music-friday-guess/

Careers in Music (2015) Making Connections in the Music Industy Through Networking. Available from: https://www.careersinmusic.com/making-connections-in-the-music-industry-through-networking/

Tennis (2017) 3 Days. Available from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BbNC7i-l_Zz/?hl=en&taken-by=tennisinc

Wired (2016) Why Dropping Music on Friday is Pivotal (Hint: It’s Not Sales). Available from: https://www.wired.com/2016/08/new-music-fridays-why/

LO4: Vocal Preparation

I’m adamant to use my own vocals within my work. I’m not a singer but with some preparation, I’m confident I can pull off a good performance (or one that’s at least worthy of being mixed). With all my song lyrics written, and a studio and Rode NT1-A condenser microphone at hand, I had to prepare myself for some singing.

I found one site that gave a few tips on how to prepare for singing (Music Creations, 2015). Although they were mainly for live auditions, there was still some useful information. For example, it’s important to know what you’re going to sing in order to get a good smooth performance. With this, I made sure to practice singing my music for a coupe days before the recording session. I also found that it was important to be in good health. Of course, it would be difficult to sing with the flu, however, even little things like body low temperature and dehydration can affect a vocalist’s performance. Warmth will allow your vocal muscles to stretch more freely

On the subjecting of stretching vocal muscles, I learned that vocal exercises should be carried out before singing, similar to how you’d stretch your arms and legs before a workout. And so, I searched online for some vocal exercises (WikiHow, 2017). Some exercises include deep breathing, to help utilise your diaphragm; singing solfège, to help keep in tune with scales; and performing trills, to release any tension within your lips and tongue

References

Music Creations (2015) 20 tips for singing auditions. Available from: https://www.musical-creations.com/tips/auditioning/20-tips-prepare-singing-audition/

WikiHow (2017) How to Warm up Your Voice. Available from: https://www.wikihow.com/Warm-up-Your-Voice

LO5: Imagery

To promote my music, I need some imagery to accompany it. I’ve had a few concepts for cover arts so far, each of which use the same font as that used in my last EP. I want to use the VHS tape-style font as it is the most prominent Vin McLo iconography I have so far.

I think idea 1 is the most stylish. However, there’s very little meaning to it. It’s just an interesting looking mash-up of colours.

With my EP being focussed around Sutton-in-Ashfield, I thought it would be a good idea to include some Sutton iconography in my art. And so, idea 2 contains the star-like pattern seen underneath Sutton’s iconic sundial (the largest sundial in Europe). Idea 3 contains the sundial itself and is a lot more minimalistic. Since I’m going to be releasing an EP with a small number of tracks, I though a minimalistic cover art could be quite fitting.

I digitally recreated images of the star and sundial myself. However, I fear that I might one day be faced with some copyright implications if I use these images with for my EP. I read that pictures of sculptures that are permanently situated in public areas are exempt from copyright laws (CJAM, 2016). However, just to be safe, I’ve sent an email to the Ashfield District Council to find out more information on the subject. Hopefully they’ll get back to me soon. If not then I’ll either have to get more information from another source or just not use images of the Sutton sundial at all. If I do get a response soon then I’ll be sure to ask them about ideas on further promoting my music.

As well as designing cover are, I have two EP title ideas: Odyssey (since this is a musical journey through ideas of Sutton) and Sun_Sutt (a SMS-language title derived from the nickname ‘Sunny Sutton’).

References

CJAM (2016) Copyright and Taking Pictures of Sculptures. Available from: http://cjam.info/en/copyright-and-taking-pictures-of-sculptures-2/