I was having with a local metal band concerning the importance of My Space hit numbers. I told them usually a download number over 100,000 will typically get an A&R’s attention pretty quickly. In fact the bigger the number the bigger the red flag. I told them – Usually a hit number over 1 million will get me on an airplane.
So a month or so later this band contacted me again to tell me “Well we did what you told us, we sent out thousands of emails to all our relatives, co-workers, friends and family members and daisy chained those out to their friends and family members.” To make a long story short one of their songs managed to get about 5,000 hits in one month. I was impressed. About a week later I told the band – “So I went downtown, talked to hundreds of teenagers, club owners, booking agents and turns out no ones ever heard of you guys.” The look on their face was absolutely priceless.
So how does one go get 1 million hits on one of their My Space Songs? Good Question. There are in-fact 2 methods – APPROACH 1 – You can do what this band did and artificially inflate the number to meet the wicket, or TWO you can do it the right way by establishing a regional buzz around your music by exposing it to mass groups of people via various marketing mediums. I might add many of these mediums are even available to any independent artists. Mediums such as aggressive Live Exposure for example. The fact remains — any hit number over 1 million indicates serious money making potential, but it’s just one factor in a long list of things A&R’s typically look at when evaluating a band or an artist. It’s true most A&R’s can smell money a mile away, they can also smell a pretender about 10 miles away.
Remember — if your trying to fool your way into the Music Business, your not fooling anyone. Any artist with over 1 Million hits is obviously doing something right. Most of the time that means mass exposure through Radio, Live Performances, Promotion, and many other marketing tools designed to create strong “Buzz Factor” around the artist. Remember – be honest with yourself, your music, and your present marketing potential. Set realistic milestones for yourself and put yourself in a position where things like My Space Hit Numbers would indicate – well you are a contender.
By: Cyrus Rhodes