Making a difference one person at a time. Want to help?

So i wanted to write something about what truly makes a difference when talking about fan support.

With the falling of the major record labels due to their own negligence and ignoring the the basic economic principle of supply and demand, the power of promotion and marketing has once again been brought down to the grass roots level (although i recognize the irony that technology has allowed us to become even more grassroots). So many artist have made a successful living due to aggressive street teams and clever online marketing campaigns that consisted of nothing more than people that believed in the music and had a little drive to share it with their friends.

The end goal for every musician i know is to survive off their trade, but many musicians do not want to get involved with the working end of the business. I understand that artists want to be artists and not hustlers and I am sad to say that I do not have that luxury although I embrace the hustle. So whats my hustle?

I wanted to put a resource together that includes some easy tips that make all the difference in the world and hopefully you will feel inclined to share one of my projects with your friends. These little things when done consistently can seriously make a huge difference and they really take no more than a few minutes.

I know there are a lot of people out there that want to be involved with the music industry but don't play an instrument and have no idea how to get involved with a band. My advice is pick one you like and contact them. The only thing to be aware of though is bands do from time to time get people blowing smoke up their ass and may be hesitant to get involved with new people, but i swear to you if you are a person of your word and live with integrity they will listen.

Here are some relatively passive approaches:

1. Facebook has taken over social media for now and it can be so effective. If you just simply share the profile of your favorite band with your Facebook friends it can instantly increase that bands audience. Take it a step further and suggest to your friends that they also share that same profile. You can imagine how quickly this could spread.

2. Bring performances home with you and share. Nothing is more flattering than to log on to Youtube and see people uploading footage of your shows. Youtube is such a powerful tool because it allows people to really check bands out and decide if going to a show is worth it. Take pictures at shows of the crowd, the band, the merch girl, the bar tender, the sound guy, the venue, the bathroom (be careful :)) and anything else that shows the "vibe". Post and tag these suckers.

3. Blog about shows and talk on chat boards about your favorite bands.

If you are a little more aggressive here are some other ideas.

1. First of all if you want to be as effective as possible contact the band and let them know you want to help. Any band worth supporting would jump at the chance to arm you with promo and outfit you with free merch.

2. Bands always need help putting up fliers, calling radio stations and booking shows.