Many artists even turn up for impromptu signings, gigs, and simply to hang out with fans and shop owners. The increase in vinyl sales seems to be larger than Record Store Day, though, as sales have been on the upswing for several consecutive years, now. Vinyl album sales in 2012 were at their highest since 1997, having closed the year at $177 million (approx. ￡115 million) according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI.

As for the United States; according the Nielsen Soundscan, 4.6 million LPs were sold in the States last year. With each new release, it’s becoming the norm again to have a vinyl issue, and perhaps even a few incarnations of said vinyl issue. As with every shift in cultural dynamics, good must come with the bad. Thirty years ago when everyone had a record collection, not only did every town have at least one record store, you could head to any mass market (AKA big box) retailer and buy a record by an artist, provided it was a fairly mainstream artist.

This time around, it’s a bit more complicated. Of course, there is now a certain degree of cache that accompanies going to an indie record shop and picking up a release by an artist who isn’t yet a household name, but gone are the days of buying an LP on whim when you run out to pick up some toothpaste. While this is great for the small record shop owners (who absolutely should get all of this business) it also makes it difficult for those in areas without record shops who would love the chance to make an impulse buy, but instead, have to wait until they have the chance to drive to a shop in a nearby town (provided they have one) or until they can shop online.

Feature film company Blue Hippo Media released a documentary in September of 2012 about “ the rise, fall, and rebirth of the independent record shop.” Based on the book of the same name, the film talks to high profile artists such as Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, and Nerina Pallot, as well as record shop owners. They reflect on the importance of record shops; not simply as stores, but as veritable anthropological and sociological necessities.

While the film isn’t screening much in the United States at present, you can view the trailer:

While the music industry may not be enjoying the overabundance and excess it saw in the 80’s and 90’s, the good news is that people are definitely spending money on music; more than they have in a long time. Many music lovers assumed the days of physical media were long gone but it seems they were wrong. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I for one am elated that big artwork and double sided liner notes are back. The best part of a new record was always reading the album credits, finding out about the producer and the engineer, reading the ‘thank yous,’ and looking for recognizable names.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the increase in sales will see more record shops opening up again or if people will remain skittish, remembering all too well the five hundred record shops that have closed in recent years. It will also be interesting to see what the sales figures for 2013 will look like, as week after week the numbers keep climbing.  Do keep supporting your local record shops in any ways possible, and try to talk to them about ‘Last Shop Standing.’ Perhaps they can host a screening or viewing party in your area!

Guerrilla Marketing:

According to Wikipedia, “Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional system of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places, which can make the idea that’s being marketed memorable, generate buzz, and even spread virally.”

This is ideal and it’s also one of our main goals. Get creative with all the ideas and tactics described in this book. Talk to people individually. Different tactics will work for different publications and individuals.

Independent musicians must be relentless and innovative with their marketing in order to achieve any level of success. Don’t be afraid of doing things differently, so long as it works. There is no one rule, only what works.

Remember the examples rule: What works for a metal band may not work for a classical violinist. Each musician has their own niche, multiple niches in fact to exploit and use to their advantage. Chances are if you try to follow exactly what works for another band, it won’t work. You need something that is your own or people will sense it and see through you. If it’s not your own, then you have no business marketing it. If your biggest influence is Britney Spears, if you look like her, dress like her, and sound like her, then you are simply another copycat polluting the music world. The individual approach is essential for there to be any chance of deserved success. In an industry rife with imitation, those who let go of their programming and follow their hearts will naturally stand out.

Much of Guerilla marketing is about capturing attention with your tactic – doing things radically differently from the mainstream, and potentially your competitors as well.

And keep in mind Guerilla marketing has nothing to do with spamming, which will hurt more than help. Guerilla marketing means aggressively reaching out to and covering your potential markets while leaving no stone unturned. Be thorough and believe in your work. Make sure your tentacles reach everywhere necessary!

Keep in mind that although books have been written about Guerilla marketing in the past, it is not a set, rigid thing. Guerilla marketing is absolutely as original and cutting edge as you can imagine. It’s only as creative as you are, so it may be time to channel your inner Sacha Baron Cohen and bring some attention to your music.

Sound good? Ok, now for the next tactic.

Behind-the-Scenes Marketing:

Behind-the-Scenes marketing is the tactic of manoeuvring behind the scenes to create a positive or powerful image for the buying public. Too many artists talk about themselves, whether it be on their Facebook walls or on countless message boards. It’s very rare that people care, unfortunately, because a real connection hasn’t been made.

The key to behind-the-scenes marketing is to get a high amount of other people talking about you rather than you talking about yourself.

UK pop/rock act Django Django made a major splash with their self-titled album. Do you think it was because of them entering contests and constantly posting on their social networks for their friends and fans to vote for them? Or perhaps sending out thousands of online invites to their shows? No. They generated a real, online buzz, as it was the bloggers, the radio hosts, the magazines, the podcasters, and then in turn the fans couldn’t stop talking about them. They went viral.

For example, and we will discuss this in further detail later, contacting and befriending an individual writer at a music magazine and convincing him to review your band. Sure, HE knows that you looked him up and that you are an independent band desperately in need of coverage, but all the public sees is a good review on the next big thing. And the more you do this, the bigger and better you look. This will become one of the most important parts of your strategy to create a “frontline” image for your band.

Essentially, Behind-the-Scenes marketing is a term I use to describe a shift from the very embarrassing state of the independent music industry that currently has indie bands talking about themselves all the time. They beg their fans to vote for them. They post on the Twitter and Facebook pages of prospective companies instead of contacting them properly, in the process making their pleas for coverage very public. They harass bloggers by posting their audio and video links in the comments sections of blogs that have nothing to do with music submissions, once again, making their amateur approach public.

In my view, bands should let other people talk about them and the way to achieve this is by putting in real work behind the scenes. Plant thousands of seeds. Get in touch with as many writers as possible with an undeniably amazing product. Invite writers to your shows. Provide premieres and giveaways to music blogs. Make sure everyone familiar with your genre hears your music. Once the trendsetting mouths start talking, others listen and become inspired to speak. The music media is very much like the telephone game most of us played as children.

Behind-the-Scenes marketing is all about making connections from nothing, making those connections work for you by being personal, and using the results to leverage yourself and gain new successes.

That’s the way it should be, right?

Viral Marketing:

 What is viral marketing? According to Wikipedia, viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives. It compares viral marketing to the spread of a computer virus.

The main idea is that, as a strategy, simply marketing with generic advertisements (“You need this” style of marketing) is on the extreme downswing, and is barely working in some markets.

Viral marketing is all about getting people to sell and advertise for you: Get your product talked about in the social networks, websites, forums, and blogs – and watch the magic happen. You no longer have anything to do with it. We’ll go over a host of viral ideas in another chapter.

Brandon Cronenberg premiered his first film Antiviral at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 to mixed reviews. The biggest issue is that Brandon a took a different approach and created a high definition horror flick that mirrored and rebelled  from his father’s work at the same time. While the concept of his film is very different from David Cronenberg’s, all of Brandon’s reviews immediately compared his horror film to his dad’s. Brandon is a new filmmaker, and Antiviral was a brave and poignant step in the right direction for his career. We talked about his dad, his personal ideas about filmmaking and celebrity culture and the experience of making and promoting Antiviral.

I’m sure you’ve been doing interviews all day. Do you have a glass of bourbon next to you right now?

(Laughs) No, I don’t. I wish I did.

 I read somewhere that you weren’t into horror films.

Really? I like horror films.  I’m not like super into them where they’re the only movies I watch, but I like horror films a lot.

So you’re not one of those people who goes to weekend long drive in  geeky horror film fests, for three days straight?

Yeah, exactly, I have friends who are super into them in to them like that, which is cool, but I’m not a hardcore fan where some people are just completely obsessed with them.

When the idea for Antiviral popped into your head and you were ready to make it, did you ask your dad for advice?

No. I mean, we like to talk, and we talk about filmmaking sometimes, but I didn’t ask him for advice. I wish I could say that I did ask him, and give you some profound answer, like this amazing one liner that he gave me, and it changed every, but it didn’t happen that way.

Does you father support your filmmaking? Do you guys have a rivalry?

Umm, no.  We’re very close, and we get along. I don’t think there’s a rivalry really.

 I wonder if was there ever this apprehension or fear, that  people were going to give you shit for choosing a career that was very similar to what your father did very well.

Very briefly. But I had to get that out of my head quickly. I couldn’t think about that have an honest career. If I went around worrying about what other people were saying, I wouldn’t be able to put out an honest product, so I work very hard not to think about that. It’s important that I be myself.

That takes a lot of bravery.

Oh, thanks.

Have you read any of the reviews for Antiviral?

Um, some. I try not to read many of them. Whether it is a good review or a bad review, I don’t really want to read articles about how people view something that is my art.

Well, none of the reviews I read were bad, per say.

I’ve read some pretty bad ones. (laughs) Some of them were very vicious.

Ok, well I guess I read the more politely executed reviews, and from what I understand, the general consensus was that your films have more gloss. You’re film is said to have a bit more hypertension and a heightened sense of detail, where your father’s films are a bit simpler. Was that intentional? Or was it just because you’ve come up in a more HD generation of filmmakers?

Well, that’s nice to say first of all. But I don’t really think about my film compared to my father’s.  I haven’t thought about my fathers films and my films in regards to a wider scope and the differences and similarities to my films. My dad’s films are not something we discuss at the dinner table.

Right now your just moving towards the end of your Antiviral’s promotional whirlwind, and after a while it will all be over. Will you take a moment to sit down, relax and watch your own shit?

(Laughs) It will be a long time before I do that.

 So, I think there’s this natural affinity, when you think about celebs having their worst possible day it would probably contain a fan stalking them, chopping them up and eating them, right?

I think that would be a pretty bad day for anyone! Thank you for your interest in my fetish with mutilation.

Do you have any dream projects you want to work on?

Umm, I’m in the very embryotic stages of writing a new script. But I’ve been so busy doing press, I haven’t really had to time to really develop it yet. I am working on that and a couple of other projects.

Have you explored celebrity obsession with Antiviral to the point where you’re satisfied, or are you going to keep digging with this concept?

Um, I probably won’t do another film like Antiviral for a long time, but I wouldn’t mind revisiting the idea later on.

Would you marry or hook up with a celebrity?

I wouldn’t avoid it! I wouldn’t avoid marrying or hooking up with a celebrity, no.

Do you think after seeing your  movie, they’d want to hook up with you??

I don’t know, I mean I have a girlfriend.

Oh, sorry!

No, it’s fine. I mean, people have this idea in their mind about what a celebrity is, and it has nothing to do with who the celeb is as a human being.  So, I wouldn’t mind being with a celebrity because their persona has nothing to do with who they are as a person. I wouldn’t worry about it.

So, you wouldn’t avoid hooking up with a celeb because you’d be able to get past the hype?

Your average person’s image of celebrity is from the media and publicity images are totally photoshopped. They have this wide range or sources and preconceptions of people they’ve never met. So what happens is that the celebrity kind of eclipses the idea of the actual human being. And that image of that celebrity character can live on, past death, like the Tupac hologram. That perpetuates the cultural myth.

Is there anything you would have done differently throughout this entire process?

No, not really. I mean, I think if I could go back, and make some changes to the film now, I would, but I don’t have any big changes that I would make. I made the movie that I wanted to make and I’m happy with the result.

Can you see yourself becoming a celebrity?

Well, directors don’t ever become as famous as actors simply because they are not as visible to the public. I work in Toronto, so it’s not like I’m in L.A. making 300 million dollar films or anything. I’d like to be famous enough where I can do my work in Toronto.

Would you move to America to make films?

No, I don’t think so.

Reimut Van Bonn is an indie musician and a representative of VUT (German Association Of Independent Music Companies), who talked to us when we were in Berlin about the various issues artists face nowadays. I think this interview is interesting both to music fans and industry representatives, not always thinking “like artists.” Musicians themselves should find the video thought-provoking too, as there are things some will agree, and some disagree with.

After chatting with Steve and Jason about their experiences of being a band for over a decade, and how they’ve learned so much about producing their band independently while keeping a professional standard, I decided dig deeper into the secrets of their survival skills. Xemu Records supports bands like Spindrift, Matthew J. Tow and The Strangers Family Band. In this interview with Kille, he’ll get in depth about the nuances of running an independent label who continues to press and release physical copies of their roster’s music. He also speaks about his ideals on digital distribution, social media and the follies of the major label music industry:

How do you balance your music career and managing other bands at Xemu Records? Do you have to separate yourself business wise, or has it been an intuitive process?

I think it’s a little bit of both. Even before jumping into the world of doing a label, I’ve always been really busy. I feel like you have to learn how to compartmentalize, and I learned that pretty early on. You have to dedicate your day to putting this many hours into this and that.

Most of the stuff I do is music oriented, so there is sort of this zen thing where it’s all connected together. At the same time it’s not easy. You end up working a lot. I do have the benefit of this is that there are other people working with me. At the end of the day, you can spend hours sitting in front of the computer. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming, but I guess that the nature of the game these days.

I read in the New York Times about CEO’s looking to hire creative and tech savvy who fit into the criteria of the term, 22-22-22. They want to find a 22 year old to work 22 hours a day for $22,000 a year. The professional industry has caught on to the passionate work ethic of young creative people.  Do you think we, as older artists and independent industry pros should have protected our talent and products a bit more from corporate exploitation?

It is weird, social media seems to be “the be all and the end all” of everything right now. Youtube is the new MTV for young people.  Young people are going to be exploited to reach the rest of their ilk. I don’t know how CEOs are going to benefit from this. I wonder if big business really gets it. The only money that’s going to come in is through an advertising revenue stream. It’s not really going to generate album sales, but it will help the bands to maybe use it as it is, until they find out better ways to save the industry.

How do you make choices between the projects you take on at Xemu?

Gut instincts. I’ve been doing this for years. Even from the complete DIY standpoint early on. Our label is really small, and we can’t overextend ourselves. We can’t take on every project. I do want to change that. Kevin who started Xemu in the 90’s, wants to bring on more bands, and we want to have this kind of music community, and maybe become a non profit. We eventually want to help the greater good but right now, we work with artists who we have personal relationships with and who we know can do the work.

 Do you think if you worked with newer or younger bands, you can cut costs because they don’t expect as much from labels?

Downloads has been killing digital album sales, but it is a way to get music out there and there is a little bit of revenue coming from that. It is a great promotional tool. And we have been doing small deals like that to build a crowd before we do our physical distribution pushes.

With younger bands, if you manufacture a few thousand records and CDs, and get them out there and distribution takes their chunk of the money, and shipping takes an insane chunk of the money these days, and the albums go in stores, and the band barely goes on tour, don’t really sell their own records…all of a sudden you get the records returned to you, and you just lost any opportunity to market this band further. With digital distribution, you eliminate all those risk factors.

But I’m not one to completely stand by digital alone. That’s not what inspired me to do anything with music. Music for me early on was like making your own little book, it’s like an artifact you can hold on to. Digital is a way more fleeting thing.

Because you support bands like Dead Meadow, Matthew J. Tow, and Spindrift who have been in the game for so long, does it make it easier for you to work on a more traditional level at Xemu?

Stranger Family band is fairly young. They’ve made a name for themselves because they’ve been able to jump on so many great tours which is pretty inspiring for me. Seeing them do it completely on their own without an official release, says a lot about the band. We’ve been leaking digital music to build up a following, and then we move into physical distribution.

Even for a seasoned artist like Matthew J Tow, If you pull that trigger on physical distribution too quickly, and it doesn’t happen right along with having press lined up, it could be the death of someone who’s a genius artist. We try to do things carefully, and hold our cards close to us.

It kind of seems like there is this unhealthy co-dependence between indie bands and indie labels, where bands feel entitled to the services of indie labels.  There is little patience and less quality of work in regards to submissions. Do you agree?

That’s true, but I do think that people are kind of getting it more. It surprises me how much self-promotion even the smallest bands do. It’s inspiring. It’s great for the developers that provide those services because they help fix a void that the failing music industry created.

You have to be really available and really involved, but in the same way, you can kind of control your own destiny. If you work at it, maybe you won’t sell the albums, but maybe you’re able to create yourself a great tour. It’s easier now. You used to have to be in the town you’re playing and pass out fliers, but now you can really connect the dots and promote a great tour and make some shows happen.

I think that’s why touring is the biggest money maker now. You can reach people. It is making music kind of a traveling vaudeville act these days. But I think that’s because of the time we’re in.

……..

Film has always been a way bigger industry, but the reason they continue to do well is because they really embrace new technology. The film guys are always trying to push new mediums. That’s one thing that the music industry never did. Back when they had opportunities to embrace new things, they didn’t take the chance.

Vinyl records were created at the turn of the century and CD’s were created in the early 80’s. So now they’ve ended up getting behind mediums that gives music away for free. That sucks for them. The Film industry embraced technology that invigorated the industry.

So the music industry missed the boat. They should invest in albums that would be like Dolby surround sound format…or sell albums like albums like Abbey Road in every different format. Film has always been about creating  bigger better experiences.

Your band was on Matador for a few years. How was that experience?

They were always pretty helpful to us.  To be honest with you, I would never have been able to do what I do now if it wasn’t for the connections I made with their employees. We kind of hit it off with a lot of people. These days, a lot of people work freelance as opposed to in house with Matador, so we get a lot of help from people who work with them.

As Dead Meadow, we’ve dealt with a lot of weird legal things, and not one of those issues has ever come from Beggar’s Banquet or Matador, so for a company that big, that’s pretty cool. You don’t have to be dicks and throw a bunch of things inside of a contract to put out records.

I think it’s about the individual people. Every company is made up of different people who run it. Not everyone is cut from the same cloth.

At present, the most rabid group of Instagram devotees is the post-9/11 generation, who have been deemed ‘Generation Z,’ and the most popular artists on Instagram are a reflection of that demographic. While a range of artists are on Instagram, the most followed are the likes of Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, One Direction and its individual members, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, and artists who have wide appeal with the 10-12 year old crowd.

The Instagram faithful aren’t entirely interested in tween pop, though. Albert Hammond Jr. (http://web.stagram.com/n/alberthammondjr/ ) of The Strokes, Tinie Tempa (http://web.stagram.com/n/tiniegram/ ), and Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear (http://web.stagram.com/n/edroste/ ) also enjoy a huge following suggesting that, despite the tweens having a stronghold on the site, a variety of people from every stage of life are Instagrammers.

In theory, it’s an amazing platform which allows artists to build, sustain, and engage with their fan base. It’s simple to use and the public always longs for further peeks into the mystery of celebrity life, no matter how banal that glimpse may be.

While at its worst, Instagram provides self aggrandizing looks into the ever-public lives of anyone named Kardashian, at its best it proves as an outlet for people such as Eyemediaa (http://web.stagram.com/n/eyemediaa/), an online business solutions company who opt for sharing photos of breathtaking scenery and bustling cityscapes rather than their morning bagel with a ‘vintage’ photo filter.

For those in the more visual arts; chefs, sculptors, painters, et al, it allows them to share their work with people they may not be able to otherwise engage with. For example, famous Chicago area restaurant, The Baked Apple Breakfast Co. (http://instagram.com/thebakedapple#) use their Instagram account to show patrons photos of daily specials, promotional photos, and pictures of their most sought after dishes.

A glimpse at a work in progress, new dishes, or some other bit of relevant minutiae to allow a peek into the private goings on of talented individuals would serve a purpose far more productive than what the public seem to desire from the photo sharing App. Doing a quick search of your hobbies and favorite artists on Instagram will lead you in the direction of ending up with content that interests you. While a wide range of artists do use Instagram, many choose not to, opting instead for sharing photos on their official web sites, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts.

It is worth mentioning that several months ago, when Instagram became further enveloped in the vague world of the Facebook privacy policy, there was a rather loud public outcry over their desire to sell users’ photos to any advertiser willing to pay for them. The notion that these photos were the private (and copyrighted) property of the ‘photographers’ alarmed users and forced the powers that be at Instagram to revert back to the old privacy policy.

For many, that came too late, as the mere thought of Instagram somehow profiting off of their photos left a sour taste in the mouths of many.Super producer and Ultraistá founder, Nigel Godrich, closed his Instagram account during this time, choosing to use similar service, EyeEm for his photo sharing.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I no longer have an Instagram account, either. Partially because, as a writer, I seldom have things of interest to share, unless people really want to see photos of my laptop with the 1977 filter. I also don’t pretend that anyone is particularly interested in what my dog looks like first thing in the morning or what my steering wheel looks like in black and white.

That aside, I do understand fully the appeal it has for the masses. The current music industry climate practically requires artists to integrate such things into their business and give fans every glimpse into their existence they’re comfortable with. Using Instagram to share candid studio shots, photos of sound checks, life on the road, new artwork and promotional materials, and photo session outtakes are all great ways to interact with fans and utilize the ease of Instagram in a logical way.

I don’t feel particularly well versed enough in the Instagram community to provide a fair ‘Top Artists to Follow’ list, but a glance around the internet shows that a slew of such lists exist. While many of them focus on the number of followers and include the people mentioned above, the NME recently ran a list of The 25 Must-Follow Artists on Instagram.

What set this list apart from the others is its focus on the content the artists put on their Instagram pages, rather than who simply has the most followers.

Suggesting artists such as Snoop Dogg (http://web.stagram.com/n/snoopdogg/), citing his comical photos, and Frank Ocean (http://web.stagram.com/n/francistenenbaum/ ), for his ‘tasteful and artistic’ photographs, the list doesn’t just name names, it provides brief insights on what these artists do with their accounts. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (http://web.stagram.com/n/blobtower/) is also included, as are  Unknown Mortal Orchestra (http://web.stagram.com/n/unknownmortalorchestra/), The Vaccines (http://web.stagram.com/n/thevaccines/ ), and a host of others.

To see their full (and versatile) list, check it out here. http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/bands-on-instagram-25-must-follow-artists (*Note; the list does contain Nigel Godrich, who, as stated previously has migrated away from Instagram. This is the most content driven and diverse list I happened upon, but it is a few months old and some things have changed since then.)

Instagram can be used to narrow the gap between artists and fans and, when used in tandem with other methods of engagement, it can be a very powerful tool. Sharing photos which incorporate elements of your career will be far more effective in terms of prolonged fan engagement and will serve a much greater purpose than photos of things relevant only to you.

As published by James Moore via Independent Music Promotions: