WebLog
<< Newer entry | Archives | Older Entry >>
Searching For A New Band Direction
10/18/2006
Clean, Clean, Clean. I hate getting ready for a big party. Maybe that's why we only throw one once a year...
Ablutions aside, my mind has been pouring over a new directions for the Mesmers. Not musically, but business wise. Last year when the album came out we decided we would try an internet promotion strategy. Ramp up the band's Website and fill it with regular and useful content to drive up traffic and hence sales. Nine months of this endeavor has produced mixed results. Traffic has increased dramatically from a few hundred hits a month to several thousand but sales remain completely flat. This seems to fit with similar reports of Web traffic's linkage to music sales that I've read:
"My short feeling is, Internet activity alone does not break a band. Particularly in the live realm, it does not make for a profitable tour alone. OK Go has done 350, 450 dates in America. They've been on the road for five or six years. ... The Internet is a great tool for reaching people and getting the word out, but it doesn't sell records and it doesn't sell tickets."
- Jamie Kitman, Manager for OK Go
As a band we've proven that we can quickly accomplish just about any task put before us and actually make deadlines -- an astounding feat for most musicians :). We need and album? Done, recorded and produced. Need a Website? Built and getting great traffic. Need a look and live show? Set and ready in no time.
The problem is we don't really know what direction to take next. Do we try and get a record deal? If so, how does that work? Maybe we need a band manager. If so, where do we find such a person? Where should we focus our musician energies? Work on another album? Start touring heavily? We're stuck.
It's like being a very capable courier with the skill to deliver a message anywhere in the city very quickly who is handed a bundle of packages without addresses -- all potential and no direction.
10/18/2006 | Permanent Link
