Next Seminar: Your CD Release in a Box
Posted: Thursday, October 6th 2011
Portland Music Foundation “Music as a Profession” series continues Oct. 11, with a focus on making the most of your album release
The Portland Music Foundation’s “Music as a Profession” series continues with “Your CD Release in a Box,” which will provide bands and musicians with practical tips for making sure the biggest event of the year has the most possible impact.
The event will be held at the Portland Public Library, in Rines Auditorium, at 6 p.m., Oct. 11. The event is free for PMF members. Membership costs $20 for the year, $40 for an entire band. Those that sign up now will get full membership for all of 2011 and 2012. Membership information, including many area discounts and benefits, can be found at www.portlandmusicfoundation.org.
The seminar will focus on four crucial areas for ensuring the success of a band’s album release:
1. Duplication and production. Crooked Cove’s Charlie Gaylord, also the host of “Greetings from Area Code 207” on WBLM and curator of the compilation series of the same name, will walk bands through the process of getting a CD created, from file preparation to artwork to scheduling to delivery.
2. Retail. Bull Moose’s Chris Brown will let bands know how to get their CDs in stores, which stores to approach first, what SoundScan is and why you might want to bother with it, and how to get stores to collaborate with your marketing effort.
3. Social Media. Greg Daly, owner of Brand Royal, a design & marketing agency, will focus on setting up, and developing a social media campaign that helps maximize the reach and impact of the release, gets people to the release show, and draws the attention of traditional media.
4. Traditional Media. Sam Pfeifle, music writer for the Portland Phoenix and Dispatch, will give bands a schedule and template for announcing their release to local and regional media, getting their CD reviewed, and utilizing traditional media to spread the word of their big event.
