Poll #1

I had a poll up for the past two weeks. Though it was well hidden all the way at the bottom of the site, ten people managed to answer it for me.


"What would you rather invest in when it comes to a local band?"

3 people said they'd go to their shows
1 person would buy their CD
1 person would buy their shirt
5 people would show their music around


Things turned out the way I expected them to. Lots of bands make CD's and spend so much money on making T-shirts, but I've realized people aren't so willing to buy them. Is it because they're not well known? Is it because it might be too expensive? Maybe a little bit of both.

When someone doesn't know a band, the only way for them to see first if they like them or not, would be either by seeing them live for the first time, or listening to their CD. Once they're hooked, the first thing they do is show around their music.

I thought about this, and it makes sense. I do that when it comes to even big bands. If I can't see them live, I go listen to them, then spread the word if I like it. It's only after I choose to buy their CD or not. And shirts... I personally only own one Muse shirt. That's it.

This is exactly why we're handing out CD's. Why would anyone PAY for something they've never heard.

This is exactly why I ended up giving out all of our T-shirts.

What's there to lose? If people don't like your CD, they just won't listen to it again. The whole point of having a demo is to see what people like. So no need to invest so much money into it. If you get response from the demo, you know you're doing well, if not then you have work to do.

As far as giving out the shirts, without knowing it, it spread the word about our band. Amazingly, people were wearing our shirts more than just once. That's because I didn't give them to random people, it was people I knew whom personally inquired about the shirt. They were our free walking advertisement and they willingly doing it. Bingo!

So, bottom line is to focus on the music. Simple. In the end, if you don't perform well live, you could say goodbye to the hope of having anyone come see you again. If you got that part down, don't invest too much in a demo, but do make sure it's the best you have on there. And work your way up from there.

More polls to come!