[225] So you wanna be a (reviewed) rock-n-roll star?

in the December 2008 issue of 225 Magazine, written with Jeff Roedel

We get a lot of bands and musicians wanting exposure in our pages, but when 225 decides to devote a patch of glossy real estate to a group, it is often a scramble to assemble everything necessary. We’re all in this together, so here are some tips for helping us help you:

Put together a Web site. MySpace pages may be ugly and passé in social networking circles, but they are the quickest way to collect any pertinent information about your music. Those who fret over people hearing their songs for free need to weigh the value of giving a little away to get heard versus sitting on a closetful of CDs you might as well use as coasters. On this Web site you’ll need to...

Feature hi-res photos. Readers like words, but pictures draw them into the page. The photo might run small in the magazine, but publications still need crisp 300-dpi or higher resolution band photos and album art. Never resize anything. To manage this content and information it helps to…

Find a good point person. Someone needs to monitor your MySpace, Web site and e-mail and be available within a day to provide colorful quotes and accurate information. Bands, this should not be a frequent flier, a girlfriend or anyone who drinks more than you do. It should not be the coolest person you know, but rather a friend who’s a little nerdy and a lot detail-oriented. Give her a band tee, a shout out in the liner notes and permanent residency on your guest list, and she’ll do it for free. That said, the absolute best way to ensure coverage is to…

Hire a publicist. You’re too busy with band practice and crappy day jobs to spend time on something as non-sexy as marketing. Mags like ours assign stories three or four months before publication—even though some articles are written at the last minute by freelance writers with only the best intentions. Publicity firms understand these dynamics, so do what they say. Take the cheesy photos. Let them write overwrought prose about your band. Let them sell you, so you can focus on recording songs and playing shows. And remember, micromanaging a publicist will only make him spend less time on you. Now, most importantly…

Have thick skin. The rest of the world does not care about your music as much as you do. Not yet. Maybe the reviewer is not your biggest fan, but any press is good press. And great art does not happen just by wanting it to. It is a tricky mix of inspiration, interpretation and dissemination, all laced with luck. Professional musicians are critiqued—even slammed—regularly by the media and the public. If you want to be a known quantity in the business, you have to get used to that.

Doing all the above will set the stage, but it won’t necessarily equal success. Just know that not doing it is the equivalent to playing your best guitar lick and forgetting to bring an amp.

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