Back in the mid 70′s huge super-groups playing 20 minute drum solos were de-rigure. You couldn’t escape them, even if you wanted to. San Francisco with flowers in your hair was the order of the day. But all that didn’t mean squat if you were young, unemployed and disenfranchised from the back streets of Manchester, Liverpool or London (or anywhere else in the UK)

Punk Rock was born as an antithesis to all the hippy culture from the West Coast of America. It meant little to generation X with a huge amount of raw talent but what seemed like no future in England.

You got together with your gang, formed a band and then learnt to play. Punk was the great leveller for music. All of a sudden, kids who once thought they had no hope of a future, found their own voice and realised they were the future. Bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Stranglers all came from and defined that point in time.

Today the music industry has changed considerably. It’s been slow to change compared to the rapid change in communication, the Internet and tastes.

30 or 40 years ago a handful of record companies told you what you should be listening to. Nowadays you can choose what, when and where you want to listen to music. If you want to listen to Vietnamese drum music on your ipod while snowboarding down a mountainside, no-one is going to stop you!

So if you are starting off today in the music industry you don’t want to be chasing after that elusive record deal of old because they are about as rare as dinosaur do-da!

You have to think about the long tail effect. As consumers we are shying away from the mainstream hits into smaller niche markets. As a band or musician you need to define your niche and then your audience will find you.

Using online social media is by far the easiest way to find your crowd and your crowd to find you.

Dare to be different!

Most bands once they’ve recorded a few songs want to make a video. think about it, it’s so 80′s! Videos were huge then (and so where the budgets and the hair) but MTV was also new. It was a perfect marriage in so many ways. But today TV audiences are falling fasting than a snowboarder listening to Vietnamese drum music down a mountainside.

Today for any performer I would recommend they shot an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) instead of another video…

In a short EPK you can include vox pops, cuts from a number of songs, and your website details. Industry insiders, managers and fans alike are going to discover more about you in 2 or 3 minutes than any performance video would show.

Or why not post a regular video diary update of your tour to your Youtube Channel… you have got one haven’t you? Engage with your audience with a vlog or even create a series about the trials and tribulations of being in a band on the run.

Content is king, so get your message out there and your audience will find you.

From time to time we recommend a couple of cool things we really like and use ourselves. You can create funky photo videos using Animoto. Just like the RAW Talent Classified video on the home page. Why not check it out… did I forget to say it was free? Well it’s FREE!

Better quality than a phone camera and about the same size is the Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorder . Use it to record your video diaries and voxpops.

Keep it real, and keep it RAW!