Maybe you have dreams of appearing on Letterman or being reviewed in Pitchfork. The truth is that there are a lot of steps to achieving either of those dreams.
A band does not just appear on Letterman one day because they hired the perfect publicist or one of Letterman’s talent bookers discovered them watching YouTube videos all day.
I’ll breakdown some of the mystery in Pitchfork’s selection process in a later post, but I will tell you one way right now: make a HUGE impact on Hype Machine, a site that aggregates all the blogs and then gives your song a ranking. It’s that ranking which allows you to chart and get noticed by the music industry influencers like Pitchfork.
When I started in the industry, it was all about college radio and if you appeared on the CMJ Top 200 (even better was within the 100). That is what the industry paid attention to.
Hype Machine is the new CMJ Top 200.
The great news is that you have an opportunity to chart on Hype Machine with just a few simple steps.
4 Top Secret Steps to Charting on Hype Machine
1. Soundcloud
If you don’t already have a soundcloud account, do that now. Many of the blogs in the hype machine network only post soundcloud widgets and without it you could greatly limit your chances of being on there. Plus, by owning the soundcloud link it gives you control of your music while driving new fans back to your account.
2. Twitter
Use your twitter account regularly and make sure you are avoiding a narcissistic approach which ultimately limits the amount of people who could follow you. Hype machine uses a formula to determine how many points a song receives when tweeted and that directly correlates to your influence. Engage with other bands and industry people with a focus on them and not you.
3. Get featured on a HypeMachine blog.
In order to be featured on the Hype Machine you must first be featured on one of the blogs in their network. Scour through the blogs until you find that one who you think would LOVE your music. And be choosy. If they only cover hipster indie rock and you are a traditional singer-songwriter, there is a very, very good chance they won’t be interested.
4. Tweet the Hype Machine mp3 link.
Once a blog has posted your song, now it’s time to promote it. Head on over to hypem.com and find your song. Hit the tweet icon and tag the outlet who covered you to show them some love for loving you. Make the tweet your own and watch the points start rolling in to increase your ranking. And because we know you love instant gratification, hypem has been good enough to create a twitter bot that will reply to your tweet with how many points you’ve received. That’s what we call a win-win.
Get Green Light Go’ing:
If you don’t have a Soundcloud account, set that up now and upload your first single using genre and location tags as well as a description with links to drive people back to your website and additional social networks.
