How do you guys with small/home studios promote them?

[TheStevens]

I'm curious, for you guys that say myspace hasn't got you much business, are you really active with it or do you just HAVE a myspace studio page in addition to a personal page? I use my studio page as my only myspace page to leave comments, befriend bands, etc. to make some kind of presence. I don't have too much business as I'm just starting out and dont have much word of mouth yet, but two of my four recent customers found me on myspace.

[asylumdigital]

I am pretty active on myspace, but mainly w/ pre-existing clients & so on...

Maybe I gain some awareness there from potential clientele, but there is nothing that has worked quite like word of mouth for me...

Advertising the studio ABSOLTELY SUCKED!
Nothing but kids singing & rapping in my voicemail. LOL

[TheStevens]

has anybody had any success with advertising on craigslist?

[dynomike]

Myspace actually works really really well, when you're on it alot and actually check out the bands who add you, and friends of friends bands, etc - you can pretty quickly get to know a whole scene of bands when you've recorded one of them ,etc.

That said going out to shows is the other key element here - if you have a reason to talk to them on myspace (good show last night, etc) that certainly goes a long way, and sets you apart from internet strangers.

Advertising is great, it just has to be targeted. We ran a few ads on the label news page of a local music zine, which seem to have worked - everyone who needs to know now knows our name. Yellowpages? I doubt how effective that'd be. My craigslist experiences have been mixed - a lot of iffy bands on there, you're better off meeting people at shows - but they have filled in the cracks on the schedule and every once in a while you meet a cool band that is so OUT of your scene you'd never meet them otherwise.

[xhavepatiencex]

word of mouth has helped me alot, and myspace is just a really easy way for me to stay in contact with bands, and have them check out what im doing. I also play in a band, and end up recording alot of bands that are the same style of music (punk/hardcore/indie stuff) the one thing I feel has brought me more bussiness than anyone else is that I am younger (22) and record alot of bands my band plays with, punk bands never want to record with someone that doesnt understand what they want, or just the way they are as people. Ive had tons of bands tell me about the same thing "last time we reorded with this 35 year old butt rocker guy, he put reverb on everything!"

[dynomike]

Ive had tons of bands tell me about the same thing "last time we reorded with this 35 year old butt rocker guy, he put reverb on everything!"

That one sentence is the basis of our complete marketing shtick.

[trodden]

Ive had tons of bands tell me about the same thing "last time we reorded with this 35 year old butt rocker guy, he put reverb on everything!"

That one sentence is the basis of our complete marketing shtick.

I'm only 32!!!

[Kilroy]

Ive had tons of bands tell me about the same thing "last time we reorded with this 35 year old butt rocker guy, he put reverb on everything!"

That one sentence is the basis of our complete marketing shtick.

I'm only 32!!!

put down that reverb unit trodden.

[dynomike]

Ive had tons of bands tell me about the same thing "last time we reorded with this 35 year old butt rocker guy, he put reverb on everything!"

That one sentence is the basis of our complete marketing shtick.

I'm only 32!!!

put down that reverb unit trodden.

Oh I put reverb on everything too, but since I'm 21 they still trust me.

[ubertar]

I used to know a producer/engineer who put mayo on everything. During the time I knew him, he mostly just produced more of himself.

[trodden]

man, the combo of veganaise and adam's chunky peanut butter is what i put on EVERYTHING! hell i was stoned last night just heating up a tortilla and rolling up veganaise, peanut butter, and jalepenos in that. fek yeah.

[AnalogElectric]

you're spot on with the word-of-mouth thing.

i ran an ad in yellow pages one year... huge waste of money for me. I got probably 25 calls the whole year. and almost all of them were either:

1. "producers" wanting to "sell beats"
2. people wanting vinyl records burned to cdr.

OMG - yes! My old studio in 1997 had a Yellow Pages ad as well. It was a 1" listing and one of the first listings (alphabetically) so I got many phone calls (mostly from elderly people) wanting vinyl burned to CD-R.

At fist I went into a whole spiel about why I don't do it but I got so many calls about it I simply told him or her that I don't do that. If I did, it would cost them $45 an hour (my rate at that time) and to do a clean job of it, it would take me at least 2 hours per record (transferring, markers, re-mastering, cleaning up pops & clicks, etc).

Anyways, to get back to the original question...
Word of mouth is powerful and effective, especially if you're not doing it full-time. I'd also put the word out to those you've worked with that you're looking for more work and if they could help spread the word. That's how I got started recording bands beyond my friends.

I also was a barfly and met (networked) a lot future clients that way (friends of friends). My studio would come up in casual conversation and I'd give them a business card. Over 60% of the time it got me work.

Approaching bands you like but don't know personally and offering a 1 to 3 song demo "on spec" can work in your favor (exposure-wise).

I recorded for next to nothing at the beginning of my career. It was both to fine tune my abilities and to get in newer locals that are also fine tuning their abilities but looking for something better than a one mic practice recording.

Hang some flyer ads at practice space bulletin boards, music stores, and record shops.

The MySpace thing is good as a forwarding reference (like from a ad/flyer, or business card that directs them to your MySpace page). I've never got a client solely from MySpace. I've made connections mostly with other engineers that way, of which is a very good thing. If you can network with other local engineers and studios you could get their overflow (not crappy stuff, for the most part, just bands that need somewhere to go right away but couldn't get into another studio).

-- Adam Lazlo