Leveraging podcasts for your band

Having talked about ways that a campaign can leverage blogs and blogging to its advantage, I want to point out this post by the Dark Star Gazette on a related matter.

Here’s a question to consider: with peer-to-peer file sharing and podcasting causing issues within the music industry, what sorts of business models could a band use to turn those forces to its advantage instead of fighting them? Some bands are using them to release promo tracks to advertise albums, but there’s another approach that bands might want to consider, especially those that do well in live concerts.

The Grateful Dead used to encourage people to record their concerts because concerts were where they made their money, not from the recordings. A lot of newer bands may be in a similar situation, especially if they have exceptionally strong stage presence. So the idea is to use podcasts to promote concert attendance: record the concerts, release the live recordings for free as podcasts, and include in each one a blurb about your upcoming concert schedule. The goal here is to develop a nationwide — or worldwide — following that’ll come to your concerts whenever you’re in town to get the live experience, something you can’t send over a peer-to-peer network.

This sounds like a pretty good idea to me, and what’s more, once you get people to your concert, you’ll have a much easier time selling them CDs and other swag as well. More to the point, once you’ve got them attending your show, they’ll help sell you to their friends. Anyone know if any bands are already taking this approach?

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