I’ve been at this music thing for quite some time. Many moons have passed since I first picked up an instrument. I’ve learned some things is what I’m driving at here. Some things and some stuff. I’ve learned how to do things for myself; I’ve learned how not to do things. That’s one of the perks on insisting on doing as much stuff yourself as possible. So one of the things I want to focus on today is just how to get yourself noticed. It’s actually a lot easier than you think. Geez, so many people are getting lost in the shuffle out there.
I’m the kind of person that wants to do everything himself. When it comes to playing in a band I want to book my own shows, do my own advertising, and book the other bands that I play with. If I’m doing it I know it’ll be done the way I want it to be done. And that’s fine and dandy to do that. But there’s one thing I learned over the years: it’s not enough to be able to write great songs, perform well live, and record quality music – you also have to come up with a way to get it noticed.
Sure, you can be like Miley Cyrus, Rhianna, Janet Jackson, Brittney Spears, Lady Gaga Shakira, Nicki Minaj, Ke$ha, and insert-new-pop-singer’s-name here, and use your sexuality to sell your craft. But I’m willing to bet that you’re not like them. You probably want to be noticed for your actual talent. You probably want your art to speak for itself.
The problem is that most people don’t really think much about how to get their product in the hands of the right people.
If you’re in a band you’ve probably done the following: recorded a demo CD, typed up a bio, printed up a band photo, found a record label you like, then stuffed everything into one of those yellow bubble mailers.
Guess what, everyone does that.
Imagine for a second that you’re working at a record label and your job is to look for that new cool band to sign. You get in from vacation and what do you find on your desk? A big huge stack of yellow bubble mailers that all look exactly the same. They’ve all probably been unsolicited as well.
I won’t get into the whole area of “how to submit your demo to record labels” because that’s a whole other topic for another day. But I did come to the realization one day that I was doing myself no good by using these bubble mailers to get my material in the right hands and into the right ears. Bubble mailers are really a no-brainer because you want your demo CD to be protected. So what other method to protect it in mailing by using a bubble mailer, right?
Before moving on to something else I want to talk a little bit about what I did to get noticed when submitting my demos.
After realizing that bubble mailers were getting my materials all lost in the shuffle I came up with something that was unique and would stand out in a pile of yellow envelopes. I went to the store and got a bunch of boxes. I then cut the sides off the boxes, leaving the flaps attached to the sides. This left me with two long sides with a flap on the top and bottom, and two short sides with flaps on the top and bottom. I would now use that as my mailer.
I wish I had a photo of these things but I no longer do. Sorry. I’ll try to describe it as best I can.
So when you have a box you’ve got your sides and you’ve got the flaps that fold in to make the top and the bottom. If you cut off the four sides of the box you’re left with two flaps and a middle piece. Well, if you buy the write kind of box those flaps can fold in on themselves and can be used as an envelope if you tape it up just right. So that’s what I did.
I decorated what would be the inside of the envelope with pages I tore out of science books. I painted the inside. I made a stencil and painted the outside. However, I didn’t do anything that would be messy. I wanted someone to see this odd envelope and be able to pick it out of a stash of yellow bubble mailers.
I sealed the CD in parchment paper and with wax. I made the whole presentation striking, simple, and effective.
Basically, when someone got the mailer they saw an odd shaped package with “Cea Serin” spray painted in a custom stencil format on the long side, unzip the envelope, open the flaps, and then they see a bio, a one sheet intro, a cool looking CD in parchment paper, and spruced up interior that doesn’t leave a mess.
Guess what, it got me noticed.
And if you look at my video section there are a lot of videos in the “cirque-style” section. That’s because in order to land an audition with Cirque Du Soleil I had to get noticed. I saw that most people that submitted videos were also posting them on YouTube. I also noticed that their videos, for the most part, stunk. They sounded bad, they looked bad, and they were just overall very uninteresting.
So I bought some cameras to use a multi-camera shoot. I learned Adobe After Effects to make background transitions and intros. I used Photoshop to make headers and footers. I learned how to use Sony Vegas to edit. I basically came up with a way to make interesting looking audition videos that would stand out from the rest.
And then I went way overboard. I learned more songs that were in the kit and video taped those as well. I uploaded those videos and made one main YouTube video that just had the high-lights of the best parts but also linked to the full video. It was an effort to show that I wasn’t putting all this together as some side-project. I wanted to say that it was a gig I really wanted and was willing to put in the extra effort to get.
That’s the kind of stuff you have to think about. And not just in music. You need to realize that your first idea is probably going to already have been taken. You need to also know that your second and third bright ideas are also probably already being used.
Think of what will make you stand out from everyone else. Make your band’s flyers in bold solid colors with the band name big enough for cars to see – not those cluttered and busy looking band flyers that no one has any idea to what’s going on. 
A few times I even made promo CDs to promote shows. I bought a bunch of CD-Rs in bulk which made the CDs cost just a few cents a piece. Made the CD cover to look like a show advertisement and people are more likely to pick up a copy, check out our music, and come see the show.
That’s it. Just try to think far beyond anyone else.
