….wow. I never thought my guest post on Music Soul and Music Sold would create such a dust-up by fellow musicians. I’ve had people calling me names (although for some reason they all got “G” rated when posting here – wimps), questioning credentials, criticizing my approach, ethics, morals, blah blah blah. Flush it.
In the middle of it all, much to my surprise, some readers are more open-minded than I originally gave them credit for (thank you, Baton Rouge). He gets that – as a band/business person/blogger – you have to be different if you want to be noticed. “Different” might mean unique, controversial, fresh, smarter, better, more obnoxious (as so frequently is the case with me). Sometimes it just amounts to throwing your readers/fans a curveball.
A band that isn’t very good but dresses up like girls.
A “diva” who open mouth kisses another woman on stage.
A guitar player who makes loud, unfamiliar noises on his very loud guitar and ends the night by torching it.
A guy who changes his name to a symbol.
“Wardrobe malfunctions.”
All of the acts listed above were different – intentionally so – and were listened to and discussed. And they sold records. Wait – what? Discussed? Like 8 pages and two weeks worth of traffic on a forum you’ve never been to? Like driving huge traffic to your blog? I guess we can add “sales tips for musicians” to that list, huh?
Here’s the deal – if I sound like I’m cocky it is because my approach works. I have been using it for years. It grew a Chicago-based band and we played some really cool gigs as a result. To be honest, we had NO BUSINESS playing some of the rooms we played - but my client, the owner, was always left happy and I NEVER EVER burned a bridge.
I have set sales records at every company that I’ve worked for.
I use the same sales techniques training new internet marketers. Many of them are the most successful folks in the affiliate marketing space, and several of them manage $20 million + books of business.
That said, know your audience and if you are uncomfortable DONT DO IT! Oh, to address one final question…here’s the point of it all:
Q: What happens when the bar owner realizes what you’ve done to get the gig?
A: Nothing. They don’t care because you have just given them one of their most profitable nights of the season.
If you didn’t pick that up from my 2nd post, you need to slow down on hating and read again.
P.S. Thanks for the inbounds and SERP help guys. 
