I was wondering if anyone on Rocxkpage has any experience with advertising your band in the PA Musician Magazine ? Did it help ?
I'm just looking for ways to get our name out there. Any suggestions that worked for you ?
Thanks,
Bill
Does Advertising your band in PA Musician get results ?
It seems if you want to get the hawks name out there these days, you could oppose the obama healthcare plan and probobly get on the Today show or something as rebel blues band. that would do it. 
you guys maybe need to join the blues society of western pa. www.bswpa.org they have a pretty big mailing list and they seem to be pretty supportive of what their members are doing.
another one is www.PittsburghBluesConnection.com. not really your area of operation but definitly can't hurt. and your mixing it up with some of the areas best blues bands to do some networking that way.
20 bucks a year for your bswpa membership and you get updates on blues news and stuff, discounts on covercharges to blues gigs and stuff like that.
trade in the subaru, buy a van and hit the road!
do some commercials
forget about makeing money and just play anywhere, anytime, that will get your name out there!
you guys maybe need to join the blues society of western pa. www.bswpa.org they have a pretty big mailing list and they seem to be pretty supportive of what their members are doing.
another one is www.PittsburghBluesConnection.com. not really your area of operation but definitly can't hurt. and your mixing it up with some of the areas best blues bands to do some networking that way.
20 bucks a year for your bswpa membership and you get updates on blues news and stuff, discounts on covercharges to blues gigs and stuff like that.
trade in the subaru, buy a van and hit the road!
do some commercials
forget about makeing money and just play anywhere, anytime, that will get your name out there!
Cool 
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DirtySanchez
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Go to the local beer distributor and talk to them about a sponsorship.
It really helped Fedup in our early stages. Jake at City Beverage hooked us up with lots of free advertising and tons of swag to hand out at shows. It's amazing what a heineken keychain/bottle opener will do for you!
If you put your name/faces in any publication it will definitely help. Just don't put one of those business card sized ads in. Get a 1/4 page or bigger and do it month after month then get a bigger ad after a few months. It will give the impression that you're "BLOWING UP!".
If you want any more advice from me, I'm gonna have to charge you my standard consultative fee. 
It really helped Fedup in our early stages. Jake at City Beverage hooked us up with lots of free advertising and tons of swag to hand out at shows. It's amazing what a heineken keychain/bottle opener will do for you!
If you put your name/faces in any publication it will definitely help. Just don't put one of those business card sized ads in. Get a 1/4 page or bigger and do it month after month then get a bigger ad after a few months. It will give the impression that you're "BLOWING UP!".
If you want any more advice from me, I'm gonna have to charge you my standard consultative fee.
"You are now either a clueless inbred brownshirt Teabagger, or a babykilling hippie Marxist on welfare."-Songsmith
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Skate Toad
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- Location: Altoona
I love the people at Pa musician, but i never once got a call from any club because of Pa musician or heard any type of feedback. If you have the money then by all means it can't hurt. But if cash flow is tight then i personally didn't see results worth the price. Myspace etc gave me more results and they are free. Like i said i love Pa musician and all its staff, it just never saw results worth the money. I think harrisburg bands see better results. This is just my account who is to say it won't work for you.
Todd
Todd
I didn't do it! It was the other guy! I Swear to God!!
When Deb was with us (The Red Arrow), she took out a 1/2 page ad in PA musician...we never even got one phone call from it. She paid about $180 out of her own pocket too trying to promote us....We subsequently found out that there's no substitute for just plain hustlin' your own gigs and playin' yer ass off every chance you get. If you're willing to travel within a certain limit, there are gigs out there. The band will tighten up and people will begin to take notice and talk. Word of mouth is definitely the best advertising tool in this immediate area. Seems that PA musician mag centers itself on the Harrisburg area. You never see or hear squat about Pittsburg, Erie or Philly. I dunno, just my observations.
Since I write for them, my opinion may be a little biased, but...
Pennsylvania Musician is most effective as part of an overall marketing strategy. By itself, advertising in it won't produce miracles for you, but if you use it along with other marketing tools (internet, postering, etc.), it does get the word out about your band. And for groups just getting started, exposure is the big thing you want to establish, especially now when people are fickle about spending money on cover charges for band names they don't already know and recognize. If people see your ad in the magazine after several months (and perhaps read a few reviews of you in mine or other columns), they have a better idea what you're about, you've established some street cred and they might be more willing to take a chance on you. Club owners, too.
The magazine works most effectively if you do several months rather than just one big one-time ad. It's the repetitiveness of people seeing your name in print each month that ingrains your name and image in their heads so they remember the name when they see it on a club marquee or find out you're playing in their neighborhood. (And after six months of advertising, you become eligible to be featured on the cover and have a feature story done on you, additional bigger-scale exposure.)
Again, it's about getting your name out there and letting people and club owners know you exist. One ad in Pennsylvania Musician alone isn't going to flood your answering machine with club owner calls or bring 400 people to your next gig, but if you maintain a presence in the magazine over a period of time, you'll become more recognizable to the readers, and club owners are more likely to say they've heard of you when you come a-calling for a gig.
Pennsylvania Musician is most effective as part of an overall marketing strategy. By itself, advertising in it won't produce miracles for you, but if you use it along with other marketing tools (internet, postering, etc.), it does get the word out about your band. And for groups just getting started, exposure is the big thing you want to establish, especially now when people are fickle about spending money on cover charges for band names they don't already know and recognize. If people see your ad in the magazine after several months (and perhaps read a few reviews of you in mine or other columns), they have a better idea what you're about, you've established some street cred and they might be more willing to take a chance on you. Club owners, too.
The magazine works most effectively if you do several months rather than just one big one-time ad. It's the repetitiveness of people seeing your name in print each month that ingrains your name and image in their heads so they remember the name when they see it on a club marquee or find out you're playing in their neighborhood. (And after six months of advertising, you become eligible to be featured on the cover and have a feature story done on you, additional bigger-scale exposure.)
Again, it's about getting your name out there and letting people and club owners know you exist. One ad in Pennsylvania Musician alone isn't going to flood your answering machine with club owner calls or bring 400 people to your next gig, but if you maintain a presence in the magazine over a period of time, you'll become more recognizable to the readers, and club owners are more likely to say they've heard of you when you come a-calling for a gig.
Last edited by Jim Price on Wednesday Aug 19, 2009, edited 1 time in total.
If memory serves me right, the hardcopy circulation is 30,000 each month (RachelRocks can correct this if I'm wrong). In this area (Blair, Cambria, Centre, Bedford, Clearfield and Huntingdon Counties), the hardcopy circulation is around 3,500. And those magazines are distributed mostly to music-oriented businesses; nightspots, music and CD stores, also area colleges like Penn State Altoona and St. Francis, restaurants and more.
There is also additional circulation via the magazine's website, www.pamusician.net.
There is also additional circulation via the magazine's website, www.pamusician.net.
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RachelRocks
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Well put Jim! The hard copy circulation is actually about 15,000. As far as the cover is concerned as soon as you say you're going to go in consistently we put your name on a list for the cover, right now the list goes out until June of 2010, but if a band drops out or you drop out we just cross them off the list and bump up the remaining bands. I hope this makes sense, it's a little confusing...
Our website gets anywhere from 9,700 to over 13,000 hits per month. Your ad space that you purchase also includes a direct link from our main website, www.pamusician.net to yours. We do all ad design at no additional cost and if you want to add color on your ad it's only an extra $10 per month!
It might not be a perfect way to market your band. In my two years of "paying attention" I've seen many bands come and go for many different reasons, but I've also seen many bands/businesses stick by us and flourish.
I know I was Back to School clothes shopping at K-Mart last night because of a cool commercial during the Saturday Morning Cartoons.. My son said if he was going to be cool that's where he HAD to go!
You have to target your audience and we are the magazine for The People Who Make Music and for The People Who Love Music!
In all honesty we've had plenty of people say to us I love reading Jim's article, but it would be nice to know where the bands are playing before he writes about them so they can enjoy them too... Just a thought! If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me directly at RachelRocks@pamusician.net.
Our website gets anywhere from 9,700 to over 13,000 hits per month. Your ad space that you purchase also includes a direct link from our main website, www.pamusician.net to yours. We do all ad design at no additional cost and if you want to add color on your ad it's only an extra $10 per month!
It might not be a perfect way to market your band. In my two years of "paying attention" I've seen many bands come and go for many different reasons, but I've also seen many bands/businesses stick by us and flourish.
I know I was Back to School clothes shopping at K-Mart last night because of a cool commercial during the Saturday Morning Cartoons.. My son said if he was going to be cool that's where he HAD to go!
You have to target your audience and we are the magazine for The People Who Make Music and for The People Who Love Music!
In all honesty we've had plenty of people say to us I love reading Jim's article, but it would be nice to know where the bands are playing before he writes about them so they can enjoy them too... Just a thought! If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me directly at RachelRocks@pamusician.net.
Another point...Once you become established in the magazine, I notice that people will go back to the magazine to see where you're playing next. I just saw this happen on Sunday night at Pellegrine's, a lady picked up a copy of the magazine by the door because she was wondering when Candlelight Red would be back there again. Readers get used to going to the magazine to find out where bands are playing next.
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CrossfireRadio
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You could always add your band to CrossFire-Radio, and get your music played to people all over the world...
http://crossfire-radio.com/forums/index ... om=addband
http://crossfire-radio.com/forums/index ... om=addband
I haven't advertised in PA Musician for awhile, but when I did, it wasn't about clubs calling us. It simply increased our name recognition in areas like Williamsport, Harrisburg, York, and elsewhere. No clubs called us, but when we called them, they had at least heard of us. JP helps tremendously that way, too. When he does a write-up on you, be aware of what that ad space would have cost you in the Musician, Altoid Tabloid, or any other publication. This is why we love him!--->JMS
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DirtySanchez
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This!songsmith wrote:I haven't advertised in PA Musician for awhile, but when I did, it wasn't about clubs calling us. It simply increased our name recognition in areas like Williamsport, Harrisburg, York, and elsewhere. No clubs called us, but when we called them, they had at least heard of us. JP helps tremendously that way, too. When he does a write-up on you, be aware of what that ad space would have cost you in the Musician, Altoid Tabloid, or any other publication. This is why we love him!--->JMS
"You are now either a clueless inbred brownshirt Teabagger, or a babykilling hippie Marxist on welfare."-Songsmith