Local Heroes
Get on the Cover of the Tribune
Before Bothering Rolling Stone
By
Thomas Conner
Music Writer, Tulsa World
So you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star. You've got your sights set on the Big Time: a Buzz Clip on MTV and your freshly scrubbed mug on the cover of Spin magazine. Well, as the wise man says, a journey begins with one step, and the first step to marketing your music is not MTV and Spin. It's your hometown media -- the Tribunes, the Picayunes, the Downtowners and the low-wattage stations. Before you can take any real steps outside your own city limits (even if your city limits are New York or Los Angeles) you've got to build a following there.
Ask any band -- the first question a record label's A&R rep will ask you is, "So what's your support like at home?" That's when you produce the folder brimming with clips of reviews from the hometown newspapers, features from the hometown magazines and documentation of every mention and spin of your music on hometown radio. You then have an instant leg up on the 500 other bands in town that honestly believe a Sony rep is going to happen by their garage rehearsal space and, bewitched by the music, simply hand them the keys to his office.
It doesn't happen like that. These days, you've got to be willing to lay your own foundation, and in this article we're going to look at the most important tool to use in that process, next to playing the actual live shows. We'll look at how to establish a relationship with the local media (with an emphasis on newspapers and magazines), how easy it is to make them mention your name and how your own broad coverage can unify and build up the music scene in your entire city.
If you've found this web site, then you're already well aware of the available avenues for promoting your band. You've probably made too many trips to the Kinko's at 3 a.m. to copy a bunch of neon fliers advertising a Friday night show and spent the wee hours of the morning stapling them to phone poles and walls. It's a lot of manual labor, the copying and paper isn't exactly free and -- speaking as someone who lives in your basic, oil-addicted Midwestern metropolis where no one actually walks very far -- do you really think those fliers are reaching a wide audience? You've gotten the word around through friends, and they've told two friends, and so on, but while that method attracts the most loyal fans, it's not exactly loaves and fish. There are a few options left where you retain full control of the message, such as publishing a web site or even buying advertising, but again, these routes are costly and they take up valuable time that could be better spent writing and performing.
So why not let your friendly newspaper geek help you out? You call them up, you let them nose around in your rehearsal space for an afternoon and they write a story. All the while, you go about your business and never once reach for your wallet.
Newspapers and other print media make money by looking around their communities, finding out what's going on and publishing the findings. The idea is basically this: we do all that work so that you don't have to. Newspapers, in particular, are set up to report the happenings in town and comment on them. Note those two distinct elements: report and comment. The reporting comes when the local arts and entertainment reporter hears about your band and decides to write an "advance" of a particular show or the release of an album, or they decide to include a mention of a gig in the paper's calendar. This is supposed to be the objective part; the paper is telling its readers that something of interest is happening. The commenting comes afterward -- the dreaded reviews. The entertainment critic, likely the same person who's doing the allegedly objective reporting part, comes to see your show or listens to your disc and writes his or her opinion on its quality and worth. Good or bad, either way you get in print. (A bad review will still get people interested. Every critic has a faithful following of readers who do exactly the opposite of whatever the critic suggests.)
In order for these things to happen, though, you should do some research and approach each media outlet properly. Just because you mailed a press release to "The Entertainment Editor" does not mean you'll see it in the publication. Here is a banquet of suggestions for handling the process smoothly in the beginning and every single exchange that will follow:
Know the media outlets: Take stock of what newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and Internet media are in your city. Look at them and determine what their focus is and whether or not news of your music would have any place in it. If you play techno rock, you have no need to introduce yourself to the editor of the wildly popular local folk 'zine. Notice what each outlet always writes about without fail. Notice what they miss, what you're always amazed they never cover; you may be able to fill a gap in their coverage. Notice the bits and pieces of the medium. Do they run a local events calendar? Do they run record reviews? Find out which radio stations actually play local music and if your style fits in. Investigate whether there are any Internet services in the area with a solid local core, and see if they have similar news spots or calendar listings. Consider which outlets will reach even a smattering of the people you think will adore you, and zero in on those.
Learn how they operate: Get an idea, from knowledgeable friends or (God forbid) a book, of how the conveyor belt of news rolls at each place. And if you grasp nothing else from this article, grasp this: Know their deadlines. If your show is Friday night, and you fax the newspaper the information on Thursday morning in order to get a listing in the paper's weekend section, don't get miffed when your name is nowhere in Friday's edition. The entertainment sections of the newspaper don't work on the same daily grind as the news reporters; the deadline for most weekend sections is Wednesday or even Tuesday. Magazines have deadlines weeks, maybe a month, before you see each edition hit the racks. If you're gunning for a feature story of some kind, you'd better announce yourself at least two weeks in advance. The more you know about how each system works, the better equipped you'll be to cater to it.
Know the people you'll be dealing with: Find out who covers music at each outlet and meet them. Ask around at the clubs and find someone who can point out the newspaper's music critic. Walk up to the person and say, "Hey, are you such-and-such with the newspaper? Well, I just wanted to say hello. I read your stuff." You don't have to say you like it, but believe me, the simple acknowledgment that he has an audience will win him over. You don't even have to mention that you're a musician, but once you've made contact, next time you'll be able to say, "Yeah, we met at the Frustrated Housewives show. I wanted to let you know about my band's show coming up...." Find out the reporter's points of contact -- business address, phone number, fax number, e-mail -- and keep the information handy. Also, find out the other people involved. The calendar listing likely is not put together by the reporter but by another clerical person on the other side of the building. Find out who that is, how to submit the information to him or her and when is the deadline.
Be friendly, but don't schmooze: It's OK to be pals with the music critic, but you should remember -- even if he or she doesn't -- that there's a business relationship between you. This relationship may last a while, though, so even if you can't stand the guy, be professional and civil. Give them a promotional copy of your CD, maybe even a T-shirt. There's a lot of leeway before someone can call it payola. Also, if you work and work and are super nice to the reporter but the story still never shows up, be slow to anger. The space for stories in a newspaper is determined by how many ads are sold on each page, so other stories may have had precedent and yours got bumped. If you maintain a good relationship with these people, you can call them up and find out what's wrong and discuss any problems you're having. And don't take the reviews personally. Good or bad, you still have to maintain a relationship with these people. If the reviewer takes it personally, though, or he hits below the belt in his review, take it up with him or his editor. Just remember that the relationship is symbiotic.
Find a story angle for them: One week, I got a call from the keyboard player of one of my city's coolest funk-jazz bands. The group has been around a while and is established enough that its newsworthiness has tapered off a bit. But this guy calls me and says, "Well, we've got this show next weekend at the ballroom, and I just kinda wanted to talk to you about all the traveling we've been doing. We're really establishing a presence around the country, and I'd like people here to know that." I thought, "Hm, they have been on the road a lot. This IS a good story." They were on the cover of our weekend section that week. All it took was that innocent pitch. Don't call the reporter and simply tell her she should come to your show. Tell her why, and tell her who else in her audience might give a damn. Give them a reason to check you out. You could have stories written about you for each of these events: your debut gig, your debut CD, your first regional tour, your first national tour, a noteworthy opening gig, a change in your line-up, an appearance on television or radio, a benefit show you play, anything so long as it sounds like an event. Also, do something crazy, like rock bands used to do. Blow the dough on a local helicopter charter and arrive at one gig by landing the helicopter nearby and running into the club. I saw a band do that once and I couldn't help but go on about it in print. At least a limo. Or show up doing a free, unscheduled concert in the middle of a park or shopping area. Get arrested. Do something newsworthy -- that means worthy of the news media's coverage.
List every show you play: Every newspaper, magazine, radio station and many television stations (particularly the independents) provide free listings of arts events going on in town. In the daily newspaper where I work, you can get your event listed in the Hit List (a Friday round-up of choice weekend events), the Calendar (a complete list of all events for the coming week), the Zooms (a look at events coming in the next few months), Today's Events (duh) and the Nightspots (a Friday complete list of what bands are at each club). That's five mentions of your show before you even talk to an actual reporter. Make a habit of mailing each media outlet a postcard each month with that month's scheduled gigs. Radio stations often run down similar lists of weekend club shows. People with money in their pockets trying to decide what to do tonight look to these quick sources of information long before they stop and read a feature article about you. If you list it, they will come.
Coddle the radio stations: If you're in a vanilla Midwestern town like I am, your diet of radio probably sucks. Radio corporations care little these days for nurturing local scenes (and arguably never did) because the money is in a strictly categorized format. Still, there are stations out there who try to give a damn. Perhaps they offer a show of local music; find out how to submit your recordings. If you've got some cool people to work with -- and you should meet them to find that out -- encourage them to support the local scene. See if you can arrange a remote broadcast one weekend from the club where you'll be playing (or get the club owner to do the encouraging). Get involved in or encourage them to organize a concert festival featuring local bands or -- the most useful tool in unifying a local scene -- a compilation CD of local music. Don't slag a local station publicly, particularly in your CD's liner notes; it will come back to haunt you.
The press kit: If you put together a package to deliver to the media, make it as professional as you can. Several other articles on this web site offer good advice on assembling a press kit; read it and heed it. I can't tell you how many press releases I have received written in ball-point on spiral notebook paper. Your high school teachers hated that stuff for a reason. If you're in smaller markets, particularly where your hometown paper is a weekly, write your press release exactly as you'd have it appear in print because it may be typed in verbatim. Include all the vital information: who you are, categorize yourself (none of this "our music can't be classified" crap -- no one comes to see a band they haven't heard of based on that bit of non-information), what time the doors open for the show and what time the show actually starts, the name and address of the venue, a brief bit about how you came to be, how much the show will cost (tickets? cover charge? in advance or at the door?) a phone number where the reporter can call for more information AND a phone number that can be printed where the public can call for more information. Don't rely on club owners to provide all that information. Some are faithful, but many more don't pay their phone bills.
Get professional photos: If the print media you're dealing with actually have photographers who will come out and shoot your band for the article, all the better. However, it never hurts to have your own photos ready to hand over. I'm talking about professional publicity photos, printed well with high contrast because most newspapers are printing on paper that's one step above toilet tissue. And unless you have taken at least two years of serious photography instruction, don't think of trying this out yourself and sending in the shots you had developed at Fotomat. Find out whether the newspaper or magazine needs color or black-and-white photos. Be creative in the shots, too. Stand on your heads, hold strange objects, do something to make the composition different from the stream of formula AP photos that the readers are used to seeing (and breezing by) in other pages of the paper. Photos are a reader's main entry point into a story, so catch their eye.
In the process of nurturing this relationship with your local media, you'll find your name slipping into the information stream more and more. That's how it starts, just like the mighty Mississippi River up there in Minnesota. Even if no stories are written, if you play every weekend and those gigs are listed in the various calendars, people will begin recognizing the name and eventually say to their spouse, "Have we seen this band, the Mellowdramatic Wallflowers? I see them in here all the time, you wanna check 'em out?" So many people must have that kind of printed validation of your existence in order to brave your show or your CD. I know it's a sad commentary on the human condition, but if you're serious about getting your music in front of actual ears, you have to be a businessman as well as an artist. It can be done. Ask Neil Young.
Plus, as your name begins surfacing in your hometown media, not only will you have the clips to show the record labels (who also require someone else's validation of your existence) but you may help build up your hometown's entire music scene in the process. Press coverage and the interest it generates won't hover around one band. If you succeed in pushing your music into the media stream, others will follow the trail you blazed. Soon, everyone's talking about the "rebirth" of the local scene and united you will stand. You think the record labels just "discovered" the Seattle scene? Wrong. Those bands worked at getting noticed right there in their hometown. THEN the A&R execs tuned into the buzz. The rest, for good or ill, is history. Play your part.
Thomas Conner is an award-winning music journalist at the Tulsa World, daily newspaper in Tulsa, Okla. (www.tulsaworld.com). He is currently writing a book about the cocktail/lounge music birth and revival called Forever Lounge with two other writers, John Wooley and Mark Brown, for Antique Trader Publications.
