Music Promotion
Jobs
From huge mainstream acts like Taylor Swift to underground metal bands like Mastodon, much of the success of an artist's career is owed to promotional efforts. Word-of-mouth can only do so much, and it takes the work of many people to get a musical career in motion. From handing flyers out on the street to international marketing, there are a number of jobs available in the field of music promotion.
Flyer Distribution
No amount of music promotion, whether it be on television or in a magazine, can equal the face-to-face approach of individual flyer distribution. Sometimes a steady job, but more often than not a single-project gig, flyer distrbution is integral to spreading the word about a band or a show. Larger promotion companies hire independent contractors to distribute flyers around town, at shows, bars and other places where music fans congregate. It's their job to distribute as many flyers as possible and to be knowledgeable about a show, so as to encourage people to come out. These distributors also post flyers on telephone poles, bulletin boards and other conspicuous places and leave stacks of flyers at businesses targeted to specific markets.
Concert Promoter
Much of the success of the hippie music movement in late 1960s San Francisco can be attributed to promoters like Chet Helms and Bill Graham, who promoted some of the biggest bands and held the biggest shows in the city. Concert promoters rent out venues, rent sound equipment, hire sound engineers, bodyguards and other crew and manage advertising and publicity for these shows. Concert promoters hire flyer distributors, buy ads in print, use social networking sites and other guerrilla marketing techniques to bring people out to shows and to ensure the promoter breaks even and, at best, make a profit. They usually work out a deal with a venue to get a cut of the door.
Radio Promotion
Most artists who want a serious career in music hope to get their song on the radio. It's essential to reaching a wider audience. This is where radio promotion comes into play. Promoters work with radio stations around the country and push to get an artist's song played on the radio. They establish business relationships with individual stations as well as huge radio networks. Artists cannot simply send in a CD and expect their song to be played on the radio. Radio promotion professionals give an artist more credibility and offer a better chance of getting a song played on the radio. Promoters can get smaller bands onto smaller-market stations and keep better-known bands on larger markets when they release new singles.
Tags: played radio, song played, song played radio, Concert promoters, music promotion, Music Promotion