What did you miss this week in the world of Bam Margera? Find out here…

Seeing as not all of Bam’s dedicated fans will see everything important he’s posted in a given week, or may have missed out on some information, I’ve decided to start a series of weekly wrap-up posts dedicated to my most important clients. These posts will serve to be a one-stop for you to get all the important and details on what went on with Bam in the last seven days, as well as the most important content he’s posted.

So, let’s get started shall we?

As you probably know, Bam is gearing up to take his show Fuckface Unstoppable to Europe, with less than a month left to go. The tour kicks off in Vienna, Austria at Ottakringer Brauerei and is looking as though it’s going to be one of the stand-out events of the tour. On top of that, it’s the one and only show Bam and the crew will be appearing in Central Europe, the rest being held either in the UK or the Northern Nordic nations.

Recently however, some of the worst flooding in Europe’s modern history has affected untold millions of people on the continent. The promoter of the Austrian show, Max Winter of Frostbite Booking got in contact with me as he had made the decision to donate all of the profits of the first show of the tour to Caritas Osterreich to aid in flood relief and asked if Bam would help. So together, Bam and Max’s company will be donating profits of the first European Fuckface Unstoppable show in the hope of helping those who need it most.

On top of this, Max has already attained thousands of dollars worth of corporate sponsorships for fundraising efforts and lowering the overall cost of the event. Although I know he’s still searching for any corporate assistance to make the show the biggest success it can be in terms of providing aid, so if you can help out in any way, please get in contact here.

Keeping with the theme of the tour, we partnered up with UK music magazine Mutiny Press to launch a series of VIP ticket giveaways for each country the European tour will touch on. In the coming weeks Mutiny will also be interviewing myself, Bam and other members of the crew so keep an eye out on their website for when those hit.

While all this is happening, Bam is chilling out in California after just completing a month of filming his new TBS show that will air later this year or early next year. I chatted to he and Alex Flamsteed (Bam & Guttermouth’s drummer) from San Francisco at the start of the week and they were extremely happy with how the show turned out. Can’t wait until it hits our screens!

Are you following us on Facebook? Make sure you are right here!

And just when you thought there were no more tours being announced, we went and dropped another one on you!

Just yesterday we announced the second American tour of the year! Starting in August, Bam and the crew will be rocking out with Hed P.E., Howitzer and Kissing Candice on a 21-date tour of America spanning from Florida to California. All the information, tour poster and full list of dates can be found as usual on the official Bam Margera Facebook page.

Bam’s official online merch store also launched the new ‘Moonshine’ tee this week. The shirt features a design inspired by the Fuckface Unstoppable track of the same name that Bam wrote after hanging out with the crew of the reality TV series Moonshiners on the recent USA/Canada tour. You can check it out by clicking here. A video featuring Matty J and Murry printing the tees was also posted on the official YouTube channel this week.

Online, it’s been a busy week in the world of Bam Margera.

There’s been a ton of awesome content for the fans like pictures of dogs draped in cash, flashbacks with the likes of Jared Leto and typically-chaotic shots taken by Bam’s leading lady Nikki. If you missed any of it, now’s the time to head back to the official Facebook page to check it all out before it gets buried!

And on YouTube, if you haven’t yet taken a look at the video filmed in NYC that shows the lead up to one of Fuckface Unstoppable‘s shows (as well as Ape and Phil making an appearance), you should definitely go do that now. Also, Novak’s ‘Pill Collins’ rendition is as entertaining as always.

That’s about it in the world of Bam Margera for the last seven days. Stay tuned next week for more!

Got something to add to the conversation? Leave it in the comments section below!

Wanna rock out and meet Bam at one of his Europe shows? Here’s what you need to do…

Okay, so you live in Europe and you want to come to one of Bam Margera’s Fuckface Unstoppable shows. But maybe you just had to give your ex-wife all your money for child support. Or you’ve got a serious addiction to Mi Goreng noodles which means you don’t have any money for a ticket.

Well… NO PROBLEM! There’s now a solution to all your no-ticket woes!

Rock Publicity along with Mutiny Press are proud to announce a special VIP ticket giveaway in each country Bam Margera’s Fuckface Unstoppable tour will be getting to in Europe. We’ll be giving away two VIP tickets in each country to one lucky person. The winner can bring a friend to one show of their choosing in their country of residence for special VIP treatment and to meet Mr. Bam Margera himself at the show!

One prize each is available in each of the following countries the tour is heading to:

AUSTRIA
UNITED KINGDOM
SWEDEN
ICELAND
DENMARK
NORWAY
FINLAND

So if you live in one of those countries (or can get to one for a show) you should enter NOW!

How do you enter? Easy!

If you live in the United Kingdom, please click here to be taken to the Mutiny Press article on how to win the VIP treatment at a UK show. They’ll tell you everything you need to know right on their Facebook page.

For any of the other countries, here’s what you need to do:

First of all head to Bam’s official Facebook page and find a post detailing information about one of the shows in your country. Don’t worry, a new one will be posted every day so they’ll be easy to find! When you’ve found one, in 25 words or less comment on the post and tell us why you should be the one chosen to get the VIP treatment in your home country. Finally, SHARE THAT POST on your Facebook wall — that’s it!

You can enter as many times as you like, so feel free to do this daily if you feel like it! But there’s only one condition; you MUST be 18+ to enter. Unfortunately due to age restrictions on some shows, we have to put this in place.

Wanna look rad? Check out the official Rock Publicity merch store!

So go on, go do it now! Mutiny Press and ourselves will be announcing winners on the 7th of July, just in time to before the tour begins!

For more information on the tour, make sure you like our Facebook page, follow Rock Publicity on Twitter and Instagram, as well as check out the full tour overview on this page.

Remember, you’ve got to be in it to win it — go enter now and good luck!

Have something to say? Make sure you leave it in the comments section below!

First appreciation post of babes in Rock Publicity… hopefully this will become the first of many!

So, who is the lucky lady being featured as the first person in our gear?

Tawny Taylor from Brisbane, Australia was one of our promotional girls at Bam Margera‘s biggest show of his 2013 Fuckface Unstoppable tour of Australia. Wanna see more of Tawny? If the answer is yes, go follow her on her Instagram profile.

And if you wanna get your hands on your own Rock Publicity classic tee, you can get on on our Big Cartel page.*

*NB: No guarantee is made that you will look anything like the picture above when wearing this tee. Especially if you’re a middle-aged American truck driver.

Do you ‘like’ us on Facebook? No? Go do that now!

The recent European flooding has taken a toll on millions. Find out what Bam is doing to help…

If you’ve ever been in the middle of any kind of catastrophic natural disaster or event, or know someone who has, chances are you know how much of an effect it can have on people.

As you all may know, my client Bam Margera is taking his stage show Fuckface Unstoppable to Europe in July and the first  stop is Ottakringer Brauerie in Vienna, Austria — one of the areas hardest hit by the devastating flood waters.

The show’s promoter, Maximilian Winter of Frostbite Booking got in contact with me to see if we’d like to help out and of course, all involved said yes.

In order to do what we all can for those who need it, profits of the Vienna, Austria show on July 9th at Ottakringer Brauerie are being donated by Bam Margera and Frostbite Booking to Caritas Osterreich in order for them to send the money where it is needed.

I don’t think there’s a better was we could kick off Bam’s Fuckface Unstoppable tour of Europe.

Are you one of our Facebook fans? No? Click here to like our page for rad updates!

Want to help? Well, if you’re in Austria and you want to come and see an amazing show as well as supporting a great cause, simply buy a ticket to the show and we’ll see you there! Otherwise, feel free to make a donation directly to the local Caritas agency. Also, until the night after the show on the 9th of July, all Rock Publicity merchandise sales will be donated directly to the money raised by Bam and Frostbite booking.

Want to keep up to date on how the fundraising progresses? Like the official Bam Margera, Rock Publicity and Frostbite Booking Facebook pages. And in case you want to check out the rest of the dates on the Euro tour, you can find them here.

Thanks all and if you’re in Europe, we hope you’re staying safe.

Got something to add? Leave it in the comments section below.

Wanna look like a rock god? Or at least, like a rock god’s publicist…?

A lot of you may have seen Rock Publicity tees floating around at some point at some of my client’s shows or on the official Instagram page. Tons of requests have come through for merch and I have listened, though it’s taken me a lot longer than expected to get my shit in order and actually get a store organised…

In any case, you don’t have to wait any longer!

To keep things simple, I’ve gone ahead and listed the black and white Rock Publicity classic tees on Big Cartel for the time being, with plans for hoodies, mugs, additional designs and other stuff coming soon.

Right now the classic tees are $20 USD each and you can order anywhere in the world, with MASSIVE discounts on shipping for multiple items. So order with a friend to save some cash!

Anyway, if you wanna look like a rad dude or dudette and get one, you only have to head to the link below:

http://rockpublicity.bigcartel.com/

As always, any comments are welcome in the fancy little box below…

Are you an indie band looking to take your career to the next level? Here’s the information that’ll help…

As I’m starting to get approached more and more by independent and rising acts about working with them to take their career in music to new heights, I thought I’d put together an information pack in one spot so you have all the information you’d ever need before we proceed to possibly working together.

Here you’ll find a few things that will help you make the decision to work with us, or maybe show you where you need help if you’re not yet sure what you’re doing wrong or how to proceed in promoting and publicising your act.

And while I’ve tried to give you everything you may need to answer some questions for yourself, if there’s anything else you needed to ask, don’t hesitate to get in contact and I’ll help you out the best I can.

1. Case Study

Whether it’s so you have some idea of the results you can expect, information for your management or to see what we’ve done with artists and celebrities before, we’ve put together a short case study on what we achieved with MTV’s Jackass star Bam Margera in the first 90 days of working with him.

While I know your act probably isn’t at the level of a multi-million-dollar celebrity like Bam, this case study will show you the massive increases I achieve with artists and bands. And for independent or rising bands, I generally see much more rapid results as the advertising and promotion indie acts have in place is much less sorted out than someone at the level of Margera.

Read the full Bam Margera case study here and see the kinds of results I can achieve with you.

CASE STUDY:

http://rockpublicity.com/bam-margera-social-media-digital-publicity-case-study/

2. ROCKstar Program

Rock Publicity’s ROCKstar program is what I use to get independent, rising and up-and-coming acts to the next level in their careers. It comprises of working with you closely for 90 days using the same tested methods I’ve used with my clients like The Veronicas, as well as artists signed to almost every major label on the planet like Warner, Interscope and more.

After the initial intensive 90 days, I’ll continue to advise, consult and work with you for a year to boost your musical career to new heights and continue to make sure you’re getting massive publicity on a national or global scale, you have a constant flow of ideas of what to do next, as well as ensuring your online reach, exposure and sales are always where they should be.

In short, you’ll be getting the experience and career-building advice from someone who’s worked with artists worth over $120 million, has contacts in every possible part of the industry (including just about every radio station and news outlet imaginable) and who can take your band or act to a level you probably knew you wanted to be, but didn’t know how to reach.

To find out more about the ROCKstar program, please click below to download the full .pdf file with all the details.

Click here to download

Are you one of our fans on Facebook? If not, check us out at this link.

3. Read More About Our Clients

Although I work with more independent bands than I can name around the world, I always like to direct bands to who my current permanently managed clients are so you can get an idea of some of the massive names in entertainment and music I work with, as well as what I do with them.

While I work with sometimes a half-dozen independent acts every month, my full time clients right now are the following acts. Check out some more about them:

Brandon ‘Bam’ Margera
The Veronicas
Dune Rats

4.Get In Contact

Got all that and interested in having Rock Publicity take you to the next level in your career? Then there’s only one thing left to do and that’s to get in touch.

If you click this link you’ll be taken to the contact page where you’ll find my contact details and we can arrange a discussion about were to go from here and how we can work together. Also, if you have any further questions, comments or are unsure about what to expect, don’t hesitate to drop me an email or call.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Get in contact here.

And regardless of whether it’s Rock Publicity that takes your band to new heights or not, I wish you all the best in your music career.

Want to see some of the results we’ve achieved with people in entertainment? This will help…

Although currently I’m loving working with independent and rising bands because of how challenging and rewarding it is, I have to admit most of my time is still taken up working with big names and well-known stars.

With my current list of permanently-managed clients, none is better known than the star of MTV’s Jackass, Viva La Bam, Bam’s Unholy Union, as well as professional Element skateboarder. The one, the only, Brandon ‘Bam’ Margera.

A lot of people expect that a celebrity of his level would have all their promotion and publicity well sorted out. And in most cases, that’s the truth. While Bam’s online promotion, social media and digital publicity was good when we started with him, we definitely made some huge waves.

Even though Bam is personally worth millions, has marketing and promotional staff from broadcasting networks MTV and TBS at his disposal and has been at the head of his game for over a decade, we were still able to achieve immense results for Margera’s online promotion in a very short time.

As I’m sure you know, one of the major factors in how well any online or digital promotion goes is how many people are seeing what you promote. In simple terms, the more people who see your stuff, the better off you are.

Are you one of our Facebook fans? If not, go like our official page to get all the latest updates.

To show you how effective Rock Publicity is in making sure the maximum number of people possible are seeing any piece of content, message or anything else you’re trying to promote online, we’ll use hard statistics gathered from when we began working on Bam’s social media.

I’m going to use Facebook as an example, as the site has very easily-gathered statistics on how many people are seeing what you post, or what you’re trying to get to people in terms of ‘reach’. And In short, ‘reach’ is how many people were seeing what was posted.

Here’s Bam’s Facebook reach on a weekly basis when we started working with him:

As you can see above, around the middle of December, 2012 (when we started working with Margera), he was reaching around 170,000 people per week via Facebook.

This meant that around 170,000 people on that week received messages about Bam, saw his photos, his updates and anything else he wanted to share with the world. For a star of his level, this figure of 170,000 per week is okay. But can definitely be improved upon.

So we set out optimising his page, implementing some viral promotional strategies and using all the secrets we know to really boost his online exposure.

And only a week later, this is the result we achieved:

One week later, by the third week of December, I’d boosted this to just over 1 million people reached. A massive increase of nearly 500% In seven days.

And what about how things stand today?

Yep, you saw that right…

After only around 90 days working with Margera, his Facebook page alone is now reaching just under 2.7 million people every week. Again, this is 2.7 million people that are receiving his updates, marketing messages and content.

In only 90 days, we took his Facebook reach from around 170,000 people per week, to reaching nearly 2.7 million.

That’s a massive difference…

…An increase of 1,487%

In short, Bam’s name is getting in front of many, many more people and as we know in entertainment, the more people who are seeing you, the more gigs you’ll book, the more endorsements you’ll receive, the more interest you’ll get from the right people and in the end, the more money there is to be made.

Facebook aside, we replicated these results over all of Bam’s social media, from his Instagram, to YouTube channel and his Twitter as well. In total, we estimate that around 3.5 million more people are seeing his content on a weekly basis than when we started with him.

I won’t go on about everything else I achieved for Bam Margera’s online publicity in 90 days in detail, but here are some other highlights:

1. Almost $100,000 in revenue generated via social media alone in under 7 days
   
2. 20 million+ media impressions (the total readership of magazines, blogs, etc we had Bam featured in) during his Australian tour, in only 21 days
   
3. Created one of the fastest growing new YouTube channels in existence, in excess of 10K new subscribers per week
   
4. More than doubled his fan/follower growth rate on all social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
   
5. Four corporate endorsements organised in 10 days, including one from a German luxury automotive manufacturer

…and if I can do that for such a well-established celebrity superstar, imagine what I can do for an act that hasn’t even got any real professional promotion in place.

To find out more about Rock Publicity’s full time management for established acts, or the ROCKstar program for rising, independent or up-and-coming acts, you can get all the information on the services page by clicking here. Or to contact directly check out the contact page here.

Got something to say about the results we achieved with Bam Margera? Speak your mind in the comments section below.

Want to know how you can take your flailing band from zeroes to heroes? This list may help…

You’re sick of playing in tiny pubs, or simply not getting any gigs at all. Your only rehearsal space is an open area no bigger than a prison cell that you share with a two-decade-old washing machine. And right now, maybe you can see a couple of boxes of your band’s unsold merch just sitting on the floor that nobody wants to buy.

Depressing thoughts, huh?

But time and time again, I find that’s what’s happening around me with a lot of music acts. They simply aren’t anywhere near where they want to be. The problem? In some cases they’re just lazy turds, but most of the time it’s simply having absolutely no freaking idea what to do.

In this way, I’m hoping this post will help.

This isn’t in any way going to touch on musical talent because if I’m honest, that’s not my business. Not that I’m condoning you should go ahead with getting your music out there if it sounds in any way like the utter aural horror that was Paris Hilton’s attempt at being a professional muso. I’m not here to talk about what you sound like, or how to fix it if your tracks are anything like a cat shrieking while submerged in a muddy pond.

But I am going to give you a dozen tried-and-tested tips to help your independent or upcoming act gain traction, promote yourself effectively and get your name out into the world like never before.

These are the same basic principles I use when promoting artists worth millions of dollars, signed to some of the biggest labels on the planet. Take some of this to heart and maybe you’ll start getting yourself to where you really want to be in your career.

1. Do Your Research

If you have no idea how to promote yourself, start getting yourself educated. While I’ll be the first person to admit there isn’t what I’d call a shit-ton of information on how to effectively promote an independent band out there, there is a veritable million-ton pile of nutritious mind-fertiliser freely available on the web and in books on how to advertise and market pretty much anything else.

Regardless of what you’re selling (and yes, like it your not when promoting your act you are selling yourself), the rules of how to go about this the right way don’t really change. So start by getting yourself educated on the basics of promotion and advertising.

Some books I’d definitely recommend to you if you want more exposure for your band (or in fact, anything at all), even only on the basis they’ll help you think more creatively and open your brain to a new way of publicising your act, are the ones below. If you look hard enough, I think you may even be able to find a few of these to download for free off the web…of course, completely legally.

I’ve linked you to where you can buy them below if you choose to do so. And no, I don’t earn any commission for referring them to you — these are five books I personally can vouch for that have helped me through my own career.

The Power of Outrageous Marketing by Dr. Joe Vitale
The Art of Money Getting by P.T. Barnum
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen
Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson

If you get through even one of these books and don’t come up with some amazing idea on how to publicise yourself, I think it’s time to maybe think about pursuing a job cleaning toilets as there’s probably no hope for you at all in the music industry.

2. Be Prepared

Like a priest getting caught with a naked altar boy and no good excuse, there’s nothing worse than being unprepared. So before you start getting yourself out there more, think about the kinds of things you’re going to need, or get asked for at some point in the promotional cycle or further in your career.

Do you have copies of EPs to give to journalists if they ask you for one? Does your band have a place for fans to find out more information about you like a Facebook page, website or Wiki page? Have you got a press release or blurb about your band sorted? Any press shots, media or video to get out into the world? Have you come up with a plan or set of goals of exactly where you want to be in a few months, or a few years? Any unfinished tracks lying around you could complete to help get more of your music out into the world?

If you think you may not be ready to start pushing ahead with your career in music, then chances are you’re not. Prepare yourself first so you can focus on the important stuff without having to constantly delay yourself.

Go like Rock Publicity on Facebook to keep up-to-date with everything we’re doing when it happens, as well as the latest band promotion advice!

3. Be Unique

Think about how many unsigned-yet-talented acts there are in your city alone. Unless you’re banging the Editor of Rolling Stone or have a trust fund that allows you to spend your parent’s money on advertising your new EP launch everywhere you can, it may be hard for you to get noticed above the seething throng of musicians clawing for attention in your city or country.

These days, people want great music but they also want something to talk about. Something to discuss with their friends, that forces conversation or provokes thought, or is mysterious or not fully understood.

Although music shouldn’t be all about gimmicks or showmanship, if you can integrate some of that in with your awesome tracks, you’ll be worlds ahead of everyone else. Think about acts like Deadmau5, Slipknot, Priest, Daft Punk, Rammstein and others have used certain tactics and showmanship to help boost their exposure. If you can take a leaf out of their book, maybe it will help your act out.

4. Network

In this day and age of video games and some seriously shitty Twilight-induced vitamin D deficiencies, the thought of going outside and actually talking to people may frighten you. However, if you want to get ahead, I’m sorry but maybe you’ll have to leave your rehearsal studio (read: parent’s basement) for a little while and make some connections in the real world.

Regardless of what you need help with, or access to, chances are there’s someone around you that you know who can point you in the right direction, or make a connection between you and someone who can help. If not, then you should be figuring out ways of getting access to the people who will be able to help you. If your music is good enough, networking can also help you get noticed by industry people that matter, possibly resulting in offers of management, record deals or anything else along those lines.

For example, are you looking for sponsorship for music equipment? Find people who are already sponsored and ask them how they did it, or how to get in touch with to do the same.

I’ll admit, starting out in this respect is hard if you have absolutely no connections at all, but you’ll find that once you open one door, many more will open soon afterwards. The music industry is a fairly small place and everyone seems to know everyone else. It’s really not that difficult to keep the ball rolling and getting to know more people who can potentially help you out as long as you’re willing to get out there and ask a little.

If however you’re really adamant about not leaving your house, the Internet can be a great source of making contacts as well. There are tons of music forums and similar websites like that around and you’ll generally find people are more than willing to help.

Networking, whether it’s with other bands in your area or those involved with the industry in general, will be one of your greatest tools in achieving massive success in music.

5. Be Active

There’s nothing worse than when I ask some independent act about what they’ve been doing to promote themselves lately and getting a response along the lines of “Not a lot dude. I mean, we did call up the local newspaper to see if they wanted to do a story on us, but I think that was like, you know, around February last year.” If this sounds like you, you seriously need a wake up call.

Whatever you’re doing, whether it’s approaching record labels, recording music, chatting to other bands on your area about opportunities, booking gigs, getting publicity, writing blog posts, creating content or anything along those lines, the more you’re doing something – anything – the easier it’ll be for you to get ahead. And I’m sure it doesn’t take the genetically-engineered love-child of Hawking and Einstein to realise the more you’re doing things, the more people will be aware of you and what you’re all about. Not only that, you’ll be making progress towards a goal, which in this case is elevating your act above and beyond where it is now.

In short, instead of sitting around and listening to The Wall while totally baked and dreaming about what you could be doing, maybe you should be using that time to do anything related to getting your act noticed. Do something, anything!

6. Master Social Media

This one is huge and I can’t talk enough about how big a key social media is in today’s world when it comes to promoting a successful music act. In a lot of cases, providing your band has a great presence on the major social sites, you can completely forego things like a traditional website or blog. Instead, just focus on being able to share content socially with other people online — this is exactly the way I run things with my clients Dune Rats.

At the very least, you should have a Twitter, Facebook page, Instagram and YouTube channel, as well as profiles set up on music discovery sites like Bandcamp, Spotify and Last.fm for people to find your tunes more easily.

But having a presence on these sites isn’t enough, the key is making sure you’re consistently posting interesting and shareable content that people want to see, will come back for again, or will talk about to their friends. And you need to be doing this as regularly as you possibly can, without being spammy. It should only take you a few days to figure out what your online fan base responds to the best and when you know that, you know what they like and can keep on providing similar content to them, or tweaking campaigns to get better results.

Make sure you’re thinking viral content with almost anything you post. If you can master the art of providing things that people share, you’ve pretty much got one of the key elements of social media perfected.

I’ll admit, having a great presence on social media can be time consuming especially at the start when you don’t really know what you’re doing, but once you get the hang of it or have multiple people who can get content up, then it’s really a breeze. The only thing I really need to say more than that is if you’re not active on social media these days, you’re stupider than a pork farmer setting up shop in Saudi Arabia.

And hell, I’m the guy who generated almost $100,000 revenue for Jackass star Bam Margera via social media in under one week, so more than anyone I can vouch for the effectiveness of the medium. While you may not yet be able to rake in 6-figures in less than seven days, you can definitely take advantage of how quickly and easily you can reach people and promote yourself to them.

7. Get Press… Constantly

Getting publicity in local newspapers, music publications, radio and online media outlets should be one of the major focal points of any good band’s promotion schedule, but I never find any band goes after this nearly enough. The key here is to be consistent to the point of being almost overly-promotional.

The major problem I find with any act trying to get publicity is they’re simply not consistent. A band may have gone out and sent a few press releases when they first started out, but then they either got no response or felt it didn’t work, so they gave up and decided not to do it again. Because you know, that shit’s just too hard. Sound anything like you?

While I could go on in detail on every single aspect of getting press for your band (and I will in a future post), for now I want to just share with you what I’ve found to be the keys in any effective generation of publicity. In my experience, there are three main things to master:

One — Make whatever you have to say newsworthy: Nobody wants to read a story that says ‘some band from somewhere just released a new EP.’ So what? If you’re expecting you story to get noticed, make sure you’re putting something in there that people want to read about, that has relevance or is interesting. You want to almost force a journalist who reads it to feel they need to publish your story. Cause controversy, ask questions, pull a huge stunt or have a view on something important and current — these almost always work.

Two — Follow up: A lot of people have this view that you send out your little piece of paper or email that contains your release and you just sit back and wait for responses. Sometimes, this works. More often than not though, it doesn’t. The key here is to follow up with the media you’ve sent it to. After you’ve sent your release, wait maybe a day or two (unless it has immediacy that’s gone within a day) and give each outlet you provided it to with a phone call. Or another email asking if you can chat to them about it, or if they had any questions. I guarantee this extra time spent on following up will increase your chances of getting a story published many times over.

Three — Be consistent: My advice is to send out a press release about your act every single time you can think of something that’s newsworthy to put in one. And if your band is doing a ton of stuff, is very active or you have a great knack for coming up with stories, this shouldn’t be a difficult thing to do. While you may not get a story published every single time, the more you’re trying to get stories published, the more stories you will get published.

8. Seek Endorsements

Regardless of where you are in your career right now, there’s a good chance some company, brand or local business will give you something for free or help you out with cash in exchange for some kind of partnership.

But it’s not only getting free goodies or equipment for your act you should be thinking of here, it’s much more important that you look at the additional promotion you’ll get out of it from whoever decides to partner up with you. As an example, I’m currently in the works of getting my clients The Veronicas endorsed by a premium luxury car brand at home in Australia (can’t mention the brand yet) who will supply things like free personal transport for Lisa & Jess. But aside from that, The Veronicas will also benefit from this brand going out of their way telling people they have them on board in a partnership. This company will invite them to events, tell the media about the partnership, plug them via social media and all that other stuff. In short, despite the freebies being great, it’s really the additional promotion I see as the major benefit here.

While your band may not be yet at the level of asking for several hundred thousand dollars in free vehicles and other benefits, I almost guarantee there would be clothing labels, F&B companies, local businesses, magazines or something along those lines that would be interested. In the end, you’re only hurting yourself if you’re not going out of your way to seek these out.

9. Sell Stuff

Every band should have merch, albums or something else to sell and if you don’t, you’re seriously missing out.

Regardless of how big your band is, you can always supplement your act’s income via other means than simply relying on things like album sales or touring, that can sometimes make a big difference in funding new ventures you want to undertake.

The problem I always come up against with some bands is they don’t even have a few hundred dollars to outlay on getting merchandise printed, though today that’s not really an issue. You can always use sites like Cafepress to sell stuff like shirts that are printed on demand and shipped to your fans whenever they’re bought. You won’t make the same profit margins as if you had cash to but a few hundred shirts prior to selling them, but making some money is better than making no money at all.

You should also be thinking about other things you can get to your fans instead of just boring shirts. Why not guitar picks, coffee mugs or dildos? The sky really is the limit and if you can be a little creative, you may just be able to earn a little more than sticking to the same stuff everyone else is doing.

10. Think Outside The Box

In whatever you do, whether it’s designing an album cover, music video, stage show,  I urge you to think outside the box and do things differently than most others out there are doing. If you can make whatever you do stand out, you’re well on the way to discovering the true secret of promoting your act.

Let’s say you’re about to do a launch show for your latest album. Why not play the entire show wrapped in cling-wrap and tell anyone who turns up dressed the same will get a free copy of the record you’re launching? Instead of just designing a new album cover, ask your fans to do it for you, promote it via social media and select a winning design. Make a habit of your band setting up a random, totally-unannounced gig once a week in your home town in a hugely visible location.

Whatever you do — regardless of what it is — you should be going about it with the mindset of how you can make it more interesting or as far removed from the ‘norm’ as you possibly can. Think about how you can do it better, or make it more noticeable.

11. Have Ambition

I wrote about this in a blog post only a few days ago. I’m a massive believer in the fact that to a certain extent, you’ll always seem to get the results you’re looking for, or at the very least generate and come up with ideas at the level of the playing field you’re trying to compete in. And by this I mean if you’re only trying to book yourself gigs in local venues, chances are that’s all your brain will come up with solutions for.

If you want to grow your act and succeed on a much higher level, you need to start acting in a way that fits in with that. If you want to play a national tour, then stop booking small-town gigs in the hope someone will just come along and offer you something better. Most of the time they won’t and it’s up to you to get yourself out there and do this for yourself.

This ambition and elevated thinking should be applied in absolutely everything you do, from the press you’re trying to generate, to booking shows, to the merchandise you’re creating. You should always be thinking at the level you want to be at, instead of continually trying to keep the ball rolling where you are right now.

Want your band to get big? Think big, then act big.

12. Get Advice

Regardless of whether you live in Manhattan or Maryborough, there will be bands in your local area who have achieved some level of success above where you are now and it never hurts to ask them how they achieved it.

Time and time again I’ve found that people are almost always more than willing to help you out, especially when they’re teaching people something in their area of expertise. This ties in heavily with the section on networking, but I find even when people know someone who may be able to help them out, a lot of times the questions are never asked.

Asking someone for advice doesn’t cost you anything except a couple of seconds and if they can’t or won’t help you, I guarantee they’re not the only person in the world who knows the answers to the questions you want. Advice is free and if you’re not asking for it if you know you can get it somewhere, you’re only hurting yourself.

I remember early on in my marketing career I wanted advice on how to get started, or how to really get ahead, so I approached a few well-known multi-millionaires in my field for advice. Every single one of them offered advice and said they’d be happy to meet up with me to have a chat — but I ended up living with one of them for six months and learning everything he knew for free just because I asked for a little help.

Truly, it never hurts to ask.

13. Work With Professionals

Regardless of where you are in your career, chances are there are professionals around you who can give you pointers, tips and advice, or who you can hire to teach you things or hold your hand in getting you to the next level in your career.This could be a manager, publicist, booking agent or whatever, but eventually if you’re really wanting to achieve any kind of noticeable success with your act, you’re going to need the services of some, or all of these people.

If you’re talented enough, or your music catches the ear of the right people, you might get offers of people working with you for free, for some trade-off down the line or once you succeed with their help. But in a lot of cases, this won’t just happen on its own — you’ll have to be persistent in getting yourself out there, or writing something that doesn’t sound like a Justin Bieber CD being destroyed in a blender.

Eventually, you may be in the position to hire professionals if you have the funds. But unless you’re great at saving, can get a loan, or are adept at mooching off your parents, this may not be a viable option until you achieve some level of commercial success from touring or album sales. To do that, you will have to put the work in, based on everything I’ve mentioned in this post.

My advice is when there comes a time you get offers to help from successful professionals in the industry like managers or publicists, or can afford their services, you need to do so. Too many times I see people holding back on this when it could mean the difference between reaching a new height in their career or staying where they are.

And remember, if your band ever needs more professional help, advice, training or management in your music career, you can always feel free to get in contact with me here and there may be a way for us to work together.

Got something to say about these tips or advice? Have something to add? Leave it in the comments section below!

They say you only get what you focus on. I find this to be more than true when it comes to promoting and publicising bands…

I’m lucky enough to work with some major artists. ARIA-winning artists The Veronicas, as an example.

While I’ve worked with just acts ranging from independent acts just starting out, all the way up to celebrities worth personally over $100 million, there’s one thing I’ve always found to be a deciding factor in success.

And it’s all about where you decide to aim.

If you had parents anything like mine, chances are you may have grown up hearing something along the lines of “You can be whatever you want to be in life.” Although maybe that’s just what 60′s hippie parents with dreadlocks who grew up listening to Marley and Zappa say to their kids…

If not from your parents, you’ve probably heard the likes of “Shoot for the stars”, “Aim high”, or to quote billionaire real estate magnate Donald Trump, “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”

What the hell does this have to do with your band or act anyway? Well, let me explain.

Chances are, your band may want to be bigger than you are right now. That’s great — it’s only through ambition and having goals we really succeed as human beings. Having dreams and aspirations of something more are good for the soul, as well as your drive to achieve more than you have.

But let me ask you this: When was the last time you actually did something at the level of where you want to be, instead of where you are now?

Where most bands fail at generating a ton of success is simply because they keep doing stuff that matches up with where they are right now. For example, if your band is only playing local gigs in your home town, you might still be only approaching local newspapers and media to run stories on you.

Sound about right?

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Elevating your band to the next level, or to ultimately where you want to be, means not only elevating your thinking, but also your actions. My experience shows me you always tend to achieve the results to set out to get and if you’re only setting out to receive local media coverage and a few small gigs, chances are you won’t get much more than that.

Don’t believe me? Well, take me as an example.

At 28, I’m considered one of the world-leaders in social media. I made my first $1 million in revenue by 24, had an agency with offices in four countries by 25, worked with some of the biggest companies in the world including governments of over a dozen countries and now I get to travel the world working with the rich and famous on their promotion and publicity.

I’m not trying to brag, but do you think I’d have achieved any of that if I set my sights low and only did small stuff?

Do you think my story at 28 would be different than it is now if I’d just decided to work with small, local businesses? Damn right it would be.

From the get-go, I make the decision of what I wanted to have and I started to look for opportunities that would help me make that happen. Constantly in my mind was the idea I wanted to be a leader in my field and one of the best in the world at what I did and to do that, I didn’t just do small stuff. I elevated my thinking and my actions to a level far above where I was at the time.

I approached bigger companies than I ever dreamed of working with. I spoke to some of the biggest magazines and radio stations on the planet, instead of just local stuff in my own town. In everything I did, my thoughts and actions were on a big scale — I didn’t just match them up with where I was at the time.

Did it work? Well, my first ever published story was in the L.A. Times, a publication that’s read by over 1.5 million people ever single day. Not bad for someone who had never even been in a local newspaper before.

And to a massive degree, this same kind of thinking and acting is big in determining success in music.

If your band is constantly focusing on getting small-time gigs at shitty local venues, no wonder that’s all you seem to achieve. I’m not saying you may not need to do these things in order to earn some cash and get your name out there initially, but while you’re doing that you should always be thinking about the big picture, or the next step after the one you’re at now.

If one day you want to see yourself playing on a stage with Lady Gaga supporting you, then constantly keep that as your focus, or your point of aim. Even if you are unsigned and hardly getting any gigs. And start doing things that may actually get you there, like generating massive publicity on a national or global scale, instead of just relying on local newspapers that only a few hundred people read.

Think big then act big. You never know where it may lead you, but I can guarantee it’ll be somewhere much higher than where you are right now.

Got a question or comment? Leave it the comments section below!

Bam’s bringing his entertaining mayhem around the world again. Britain and the rest of Europe, this time it’s your turn…

After selling out the Australian tour as well as every single show on the current Canada and United States tour, the mayhem that is Bam Margera’s Fuckface Unstoppable is coming to the UK and mainland Europe!

Kicking off on the 9th of July in Vienna, Austria then onto Bristol, England, where Bam will be bringing members of legendary bands Guttermouth and CKY with him in order to make the shows as epic as fans have come to expect from the group.

But a European tour wouldn’t be complete without mainland dates;  to start with, we’ll tell you about the biggest date on the entire tour.

Headlining with massive love-metal band HIM, Bam as Fuckface Unstoppable will be attending Finland’s QSTOCK festival that takes place on the 26th and 27th of July. With an estimated attendance of almost 30,000 people, this will be an epic event that shouldn’t be missed by anyone who has the opportunity to go.

On top of this, there will be two additional shows in Tampere and Helsinki in Finland, on top of the opening show in Vienna, Austria.

The tour will feature the group’s unique blend of rocking unique tracks and covers of bands like Turbonegro and Clutch, with on-stage antics and stunts that could only be expected of the one-and-only Bam Margera and crew.

Want to experience the unique act that is Fuckface Unstoppable? Then you need to get tickets to one of the following shows. Current dates are as follows, with more to be added later:

TUESDAY, JULY 9: Ottakringer Brauerie. Vienna, AUSTRIA
FRIDAY, JULY 12: O2 Academy. Bristol UK
SATURDAY, JULY 13: Underworld Camden. London. UK — SOLD OUT!
SUNDAY, JULY 14: O2 Academy. Bournemouth UK
MONDAY, JULY 15: O2 Academy2. Birmingham UK
TUESDAY, JULY 16: O2 Academy2. Liverpool UK
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17: O2 Academy. Newcastle UK
THURSDAY, JULY 18: ABC Academy. Glasgow, Scotland UK
SATURDAY, JULY 20: O2 Academy. Leeds, UK
SUNDAY, JULY 21: O2 Academy. Oxford, UK
MONDAY, JULY 22: The Zombie Hut. Corby, UK — SOLD OUT!
TUESDAY, JULY 23: Underworld Camden. London UK — 2ND SHOW!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24: The Port House. Reykjavik ICELAND
FRIDAY, JULY 26: Klubi. Tampere, FINLAND
SATURDAY, JULY 27: QSTOCK Festival. FINLAND
TUESDAY, JULY 30: Klubben, Stockholm. SWEDEN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31: Pustervik, Gotherburg. SWEDEN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1: Pumpehuset/Livenation, Copenhagen. DENMARK
FRIDAY, AUGUST 2: Virgin Oil Co. Helsinki, FINLAND
SATURDAY, AUGUST 3: Rockefeller. Oslo, NORWAY

Tickets for shows are available at the following links. All UK dates dates available to purchase tickets now, with QSTOCK tickets going on sales on the 24th of April.

UK LONDON SHOWS: http://bit.ly/Xgr282
UK REGIONAL SHOWS: http://bit.ly/10DUeVn
UK CORBY SHOW: http://bit.ly/ZAgvkO
VIENNA, AUSTRIA SHOW: http://bit.ly/ZgEPww
TAMPERE & HELSINKI, FINLAND SHOWS: http://bit.ly/17gwFos
SWEDEN SHOWS: http://bit.ly/YEdfYx
DENMARK SHOW: http://bit.ly/18t3vR2
ICELAND SHOW: http://bit.ly/16g77cF
NORWAY SHOW: http://bit.ly/10Xby3Q
QSTOCK FESTIVAL FINLAND: http://bit.ly/10e5y8f

Don’t delay — the London show almost sold out in the first 12 hours so if there are still tickets left to any of the gigs, we guarantee there won’t be soon. So don’t say we didn’t warn you if you miss out!

Wanna grab some rad Rock Publicity merch? Click here to check out the classic tees!

To keep updated with the tour, keep an eye out here on the Rock Publicity blog, or at all of Bam’s social media links below:

BAM MARGERA
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Website | Google+ | App.net | Tumblr

JESS MARGERA
Facebook | Instagram

MATTY J
Facebook | Twitter

BRANDON NOVAK
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

ALEX FLAMSTEED
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

ROCK PUBLICITY/LEON HILL
Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Instagram