Photo by Lewis Galli
Is your band starting to outgrow your hometown? Does your city have a small music scene, perhaps one that your genre of music doesn't fit into? Marathon, from tiny Lebanon, PA, feels your pain. The band has worked incredibly hard to take their progressive and experimental brand of indie rock to new cities around the country. Each time they break into a new scene, they make sure to leave a lasting impression. Because of Lebanon's limited potential, they've found that using Sonicbids has been the key to getting on big stages like CMJ and PrideFest. They've also leveraged their web presence to help get their name out there and seize new opportunities. Read on to learn how your band can do the same!
What are the challenges of being musicians in a small city like your hometown of Lebanon, PA?
The narrow scope of people we can reach here, while important because it includes our hometown fans, is the challenge in itself. Obviously, any band wants the world to know about their music – both what's produced in the studio and what's performed – to spread and create a strong network of supporters. However, the group of people to whom we have immediate access is simply not enough to make a career, which means we have to push those natural boundaries outward in order to appear on the radars of the few people who can act as a link to the next stepping stone in our journey. So, the con is that it's immediately an uphill battle from the start.
Are there benefits of being a small-town band as well?
The benefit of having a smaller city to call home is that it's easier to become a "household name," because there aren't as many bands here as there are in cultural hubs such as New York City, Portland, Los Angeles, etc. That kind of presence can be leveraged in remarkable ways. For example, we entered a contest hosted by TouchTunes, a digital jukebox company, to be their "Breakout Band" for 2014. Out of a few hundred initial bands, we were able to rally enough support to make it to the top 10 finalists, which afforded us a couple of lasting benefits as a result. It's having the sense of community during times like that where coming from a smaller-sized hometown has its pros.
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Even though your hometown has a limited music scene, do you feel like it influences your music at all?
Honestly, we deviate from what's mostly popular in the area. There are a lot of hard rock and metal listeners, as well as people who gravitate more towards rap and pop genres. But that's not to say that indie and alternative rock are totally out of people's interests. So, maybe it's fair to say we go against the grain a little bit and stick out in our own way. Much of our inspiration comes from bigger bands from other places, as well as what's on the cusp of the indie scene.
Without access to a large pool of venues nearby, how much does the internet play a role in getting your music out to new fans?
The internet is important, but it's not the end-all answer to exposure. It makes it much easier to promote new content, especially via sites like Facebook and YouTube, which are already customizable, so you can showcase your music and art to new people in an instant. There's a balance to be had between keeping a good online presence and also physically getting out there. We've had success in networking online and finding opportunities, but actually going out to other shows to see other bands play and the simple act of being sociable are also a great means to getting that grassroots foundation together.
Which online resources have been most helpful for you in terms of music promotion?
As far as online resources go, there are so many blogs and online magazines out there that are open to submissions and feature bands anywhere from a day-to-day basis to monthly features. We've been fortunate to have had exposure with both of those extremes, many of which have been through Sonicbids. Being featured on a website doesn't make your band famous immediately, but the value is in the fact that you want your name to become recognizable and relevant to what's going on in whatever genre you play. By being on those blogs and magazines, you're naturally paired up with the other names out there that are similar to you and, in all likelihood, probably have a fanbase that would be interested in your band as well.
[5 Strategies to Get Your Music Featured on Blogs]
What are some specific things that have worked for you in reaching new fans online?
A lot of what it takes to reach new people and appeal to their interests is just providing good content. As people see that you're actively producing material and being a part of different events, the word about you gets out. The media feed that people see on a day-to-day basis can be overwhelming and cluttered, so when we pitch something we want people to care about, we try to do it in a concise way. Visuals (if possible) are almost always a must. Simply having a good photo or compelling video to attach to a short, clear message will attract more attention than something that's just text and can be ignored rather easily.
Look at today's established bands and see what they do. It's then just a matter of applying that set of ideas to your content and seeing what works. Going back to what I mentioned earlier about getting out there physically – that's also a good way to secure people that will readily share your stuff online, and reach the network they have access to without having to pay for advertising.
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Which Sonicbids gigs have helped you the most in expanding your music out of your hometown and into new audiences?
Mostly it's been through gigging – being able to apply for cool festivals and popular shows is always worth the brief time it takes to actually do the application. PrideFest in Pittsburgh is a good example of a great gig we landed through Sonicbids. It's a hugely popular event every year in Pittsburgh, and from what we've heard, it's the only event for which the city actually shuts down some of the streets due to the overwhelming turnout. Naturally, at events like that as well as CMJ (another opportunity afforded by Sonicbids) you meet a lot of new people – fans, musicians, bloggers, industry folk, etc. You see that extra bit of connectivity turn into growth that's sometimes reflected in your social media, or by the people who later contact you simply because you have the added credentials to your band's name.
Tell us a little more about your experience performing at CMJ 2014. What was it like having the opportunity to play such a large festival?
The whole experience in retrospect feels like a blur. It was also quite different from what we had expected, but in good ways. We were excited to be able to say that we were a part of it, because it was a festival in which we had wanted to perform for a long time. Being new to the festival, as well as NYC, of course meant that we weren't going to be opening for a big-name act, but we still had a lot of fun during our time there. We did make a few important connections at the time of our performance, which is truly where we made our impression and later received a positive write-up in the forums of AbsolutePunk.net.
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What's your best advice for other small-town indie bands who aspire to break out and reach bigger music communities?
Our approach has been to reach out of the local and surrounding areas when we can, but mostly sticking to a regional circuit when it comes to playing out. The reason we do this is because it's hard to generate a big following in an area you aren't from before you get to a level where your name is being pushed around organically all over the place. So, when starting out, the only leverage or asset that your band can offer is how good your local draw is. It's unlikely that you'd find yourself in a place where there are no other artists on your level. Those other artists are the people you want to keep close, because working together with those artists will help you reach a point locally where your name is familiar to a large amount of people. That seems to be the thing that talent buyers, A&R scouts, and other well-connected people look for when they see a young band. So if you're looking to go the more mainstream route, you want to cultivate your area as much possible to show that you have what it takes to build a following.
Also, it helps to have an outside opinion on what you do and how it comes across to people. We've been through short periods of time where it felt like we weren't sure how to approach the "next step," and just getting a handful of opinions from people who had seen us actually helped refine our own ideas about what we wanted the band to be. It's good to be original, but if people can't make heads or tails of what you're doing, you can't expect them to attach themselves to it. You see bands become successful because they have a strong sense of identity and their following is made up of people who are receptive to what they're about.
Are you ready to break out of your hometown? Learn how to start expanding your band's presence into other cities, and then click here to start booking gigs in major markets!
