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Whitley Bay, England

This is something I've really struggled with - just getting my name out there.
I've played 2 gigs, with another one soon (one of them was a school thing, as is the upcoming on. The other one, I played in a deserted bar to my family, girlfriend, a sound guy, and a promoter.). I've done a few releases.
But it's impossible to get the ball rolling. You'd think that y'know, you'd do a release, get more interest, interest would get you gigs, gigs would get you more interest, more releases would get more interest yadda yadda yadda.

I've managed to pass my music around some friends and stuff, but it's impossible to find any gigs or get my music generally "out there".

My brother found it fairly easy when he was younger than me (he's in a fairly successful band btw) as there was a youth music collective, with regular gigs and shit and there was actually a scene.
I'm 17, so I'm generally considered too young to play most normal stuff. But there's no youth stuff.

And nobody has ever commented on any releases I've posted here/8bc.

HOW DOES I BECUM FAMUZ?

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buffalo, NY

Be awesome.

Have a lot of friends.

Get lucky.

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Liverpool, UK

See if local press will do a feature before an upcoming gig - it's not too late to use chiptune as a bit of a 'novelty' to get a bit of publicity. (inb4 butthurt 'srs bsns propa artist' musicians)

Do some cover songs - bitches LOVE cover songs - look at all the chipmusic covers of (recent pop hit here) that got (shit-tonnes of views on youtube) - if you're the first one to do a cover of a recent pop song, you're bound to get a few more views than usual!

Upload to youtube - bitches LOVE youtube

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Tucson, AZ

Work hard.

Keep playing shows.

Follow your gut.

If your gut tells you to give up, keep going anyway.

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BOSTON
danimal cannon wrote:

Be awesome.

Have a lot of friends.

Get lucky.

Exist solely for the purpose of making music.

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Whitley Bay, England
calmdownkidder wrote:

See if local press will do a feature before an upcoming gig - it's not too late to use chiptune as a bit of a 'novelty' to get a bit of publicity. (inb4 butthurt 'srs bsns propa artist' musicians)

Do some cover songs - bitches LOVE cover songs - look at all the chipmusic covers of (recent pop hit here) that got (shit-tonnes of views on youtube) - if you're the first one to do a cover of a recent pop song, you're bound to get a few more views than usual!

Upload to youtube - bitches LOVE youtube

I've been meaning to film myself playing one of my covers and put it on YouTube actually, haha. I have like 300-odd subscribers, so y'know.
The problem with that, however, is that most of them are American.

I'd ask papers and stuff if I was actually doing a gig. But that's part of the problem - gigs just kinda don't exist for my age. Apart from school stuff, where the elitist cunt cover bands disclude me from posters and say that I'm "Less of a musician, more of an easter egg".

Also, this ended up being far more about myself than I meant it to be. I kinda wanted to just discuss promotion. Shit moods don't lend themselves well to making well-measured forum posts, haha.

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Bronx, NY

I heard an analogy about this relating it to how it is finding romance: try too hard and it won't pan out, but be "real" and shit just kinda falls into place for you.

My first response, though, is to just work hard and focus on your craft. What is it that you want to do musically, and how are you going to do it? Ask yourself those kinds of questions.

What you can control as it relates to how people respond to you is really limited...and if you worry about it too much you'll just end up making dishonest music (which, yes, DOES happen in chip music too). That's why focusing first on your craft and being very intentional in that area is the most essential thing.

If you can do that, promotion becomes a lot easier because everything is already well thought-out, and it's easier to promote yourself naturally (not spammy), and people identify with it well. Promotion becomes a natural extension of you as an artist once everything else is locked down.

Am I making sense?

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Chepachet, Rhode Island
danimal cannon wrote:

Get lucky.

...that

...but hard work and drive wouldn't hurt either.

You have to to understand the nature of this chipmusic scene beast.  As a genre it is an extremely unappreciated art outside of it's own home, while inside the family continues to grow by what seems like hundreds every day.  Think about 8bc.  Songs only appear on the front page if it's been a week since the users last upload (excluding deletes and all that).  How many NEW names do you see that you've never seen before each and every day?  Making yourself known more than the clusterfuck of other chiptuners is a monster task.  Things are different here.  In most areas people couldn't give a shit about someone playing a gameboy at some bar...but if it's a band playing a Johnny Cash cover people will eat it up.   It's very cliche of me to say, but in all honesty "Write because you love it" really applies here.  As disheartening as this may sound...you can't really expect to be famous, but at most...respected by your fellow chiptuners.  For me...If I write a song that (for example since he's a big influence) Saskrotch thinks is rad...then my day is made.  You have to be psyched about little things like that otherwise you may end up very disappointed.

Little victories, friend.  Don't overlook them.

Last edited by 8-Bit-Rex (Mar 8, 2011 10:36 pm)

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Whitley Bay, England

Somewhat

Thing is though, I've been making chiptune for like, 2 years now? Put out a few releases, and had good feedback from friends and stuff - people over Facebook, basically. The thing I find really hard is getting over that barrier - I only seem to be able to reach those people that I'm in contact with over Facebook and whatnot. Due to there being no help for young musicians (no collective, like there used to be. Weekly gigs at the local YMCA, and a yearly showcase at a local theatre) I can only reach anybody I'm directly in contact with.

And even then, it only seems it's when people seem to feel obliged to listen. As I said, I posted a couple releases here/8bc, and got no comments whatsoever.
I'm currently re-recording stuff, recording new songs, putting together a properly solid release. But I've kinda run out of steam, because I just can't get it out to anyone.

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BOSTON

eh, also... i think that i should mention that there are definitely better venues for chipmusic than random bars. obviously your average bar people aren't going to be the target demographic for loud, hyperactive dance/freakout music. get into your local arts scene and see who is doing cool visual art / electronic music / whatever. Art lofts make for great shows with usually very receptive audience willing to experience new things.

similarly, align yourself with any local music scenes that you fit into. Rainbowdragoneyes and albino ghost monkey play and tour with metal bands, we've done tons of shows with indie rock bands, many many artists do DJ-style sets for whatever overlap dance music genre they work in...  just make the effort.

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hardcore, Australia

I think luck plays into it a lot.
Here in Australia we have a relatively small (but amazing) scene where everyone knows each other and pretty much everyone has slept on celsius' couch.
Theres enough of us to have plenty of regular gigs, but theres few enough of us that everyone plays at some point.

Knowing (people) is half the battle.
If i didn't know 10k, i wouldnt be playing in Sydney, if i didnt know celsius, i wouldnt be playing soundbytes, if i didnt know dot.ay, i wouldn't be playing brisbane.

I used to play in a band where they went on about these potential gigs that never eventuated, and they were all going to be the "big break" that lead to world tours and music videos. But nothing ever happened because they waited for people to ask them to play.

Don't be afraid to ask people if you could jump on the beginning of their show and even just do a short set. You'll build up a rep and the next time they might ask you to play a full set.

I've been in chip since '08, and it wasn't until last year, mostly towards the end that i started getting regular gigs (once a month/once every two months)

Talk to the YMCA about the gigs, be the person who sets that up, become a local hero.

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IL, US

fuck fame
shit rarely happens, just make music to make music
then fill the gaps with booze

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Whitley Bay, England

That's all fine and well, but it's pointless to make music if nobody listens to it.

I was promised a support slot for Thomas Truax by a local promoter, but I think he forgot about it or something. It's worth noting that I only got offered that cause he runs a photography group I go to, and therefore knows me.

The YMCA stopped doing gigs, which is when the youth music scene here just kinda totally shut down.

U guiz got any tipzzzz for getting music out there online? I managed to get some listeners cause I covered a song by Johnny Foreigner, and they were kind enough to blog about it. But that's not much of a dedicated audience.
If anyone from a netlabel wants to hear, I could send them my release so far? tongue haha


Actually, I just thought. A few shops near where I live ask for bands to contribute CDs and stuff for them to play. May have to burn a few and make a trip around~

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buffalo, NY

Also dude, not to be age-ist or anything, but you're only 17.  I've done some fantastic things in my music career, but if I were to gauge where I was at 17 I'd be a complete musical failure whose greatest moment was not sucking at a high school talent show.   

Don't worry about making everything happen at once.  Get AWESOME at your craft.  Think you're pretty good? You still have a MILLION ways to get better as a musician, and it'll show.  There is no peaking.  TRUST ME.  If you're really a great musician, and if you keep at it, some cool things will happen to you.

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Whitley Bay, England

In comparison to my brother, who has successfully been in bands since the age of 13, and regularly been playing gigs (as in at least 2 a month) since the age of about 14.
He was in a pretty run of the mill indie pop band, but there was these YMCA gigs and they pushed them forwards. Then he started a new band, still buoyed by the reputation from the YMCA gigs, and has now travelled down to London to be in magazines and shit.
He's 20, btw.

He had a bit of an easy passage, as he had this great way for people to hear his music and build a reputation, which hasn't existed for about 3 or 4 years now.

This probably sounds a bit like "jealous brother" or whatever, but it's seriously not. It's just that I don't seem to have any way of getting my name out there, like he did. I'm probably gonna have to do everything online, but I can't get past just Facebook friends.

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Westfield, NJ

Dude, I know where you're coming from, and I'm 25. A lot of responses on this thread are philosophical but worthless. There's a couple things that work, and here's what they are:

- Knowing the right people ... regardless of what kind of music it is, getting gigs is usually dependent on who you know. In the rare occurrence that you can actually play open mic at a regular event like Pulsewave / 8static / etc, you might be able to impress the organizer enough to earn yourself a gig, but open mics are few and far between. Usually it's all about who knows the promoter, the venue owner, the headliner, etc. Let me put it this way: if you are at a club and you hear a really awful DJ, and you're wondering why he/she gets to play that club when they suck so bad, chances are they know the owner of that club. They might even be related.

One nice thing about the chipmusic scene is that you can make friends with other musicians via a couple web forums, and you can use those connections to help you get gigs. And a chip event usually guarantees a good crowd. Most bands play their first shows to an empty venue. My first show had 15 of my friends, and no one else. I know DJs who spent a whole year playing the same club to just a handful of people that wandered in each night. It sounds like you've already experience a little of that.

- Getting representation. A lot of bands / musicians have a record label and a booking manager that represent them. These people have connections. Record labels can put together artist showcases for everyone on their roster (this is why getting representation from a local label is important), and booking managers have a long list of promoters / venues that they can contact. If you can convince a record label or manager to represent you, then you just have to split some earnings with them. If you can't get them to like you, then maybe you need to make music they'll like... but that's up to you.

- Paying to play. Most any band will tell you that their first gigs were pay-to-play... every venue wants to know your draw before they will book you, and if you haven't played successful shows before and you can't guarantee a good number, they'll make you buy 10 tickets or so upfront and sell them yourself. It sucks and it's not supposed to exist, but it does. My first gig made me do this.

Another example is sites like ReverbNation and Sonicbids that let you sign up for gigs. You basically pay money to send your "electronic press kit" to open opportunities, and then the promoters / venues decide who to choose. You'll get rejected a lot, and you have to really have a good press kit, on top of already paying for consideration, but it's how I landed my first gig. And this goes back to who you know, because the organizer for my first gig offered me a DJ residency, and I was able to bring in another DJ to play with me (so for him, it was who he knew), and I could potentially bring in more people down the line. And if it does well, I could shop around to other venues with a guaranteed draw. But while I'm playing these gigs, I have to promote myself entirely and build my own email base... so it's still hard work.

- Get lucky. If you can get a million views on Youtube, or featured in every indie blog, then people will probably be trying to book you for shows... but good luck with that. Also remember that people who get lucky usually spend years producing music before they have that one indie hit that gets them into the spotlight where things just "fall into place."

p.s. 17 is young and 2 years is not that long.

Hope I made sense in all this.