I am always amazed every time I go see a metal band with the amount of people actually attend the concerts. That’s not the amazing part; the amazing part is realizing that metal bands are able to accomplish this with minimum or no airplay and with very little marketing budgets. Take Iron Maiden for example, for more than 2 decades they have been able to fill arenas across the planet consistently, while artists from other genres with massive marketing dollars and over saturated air play on radio and TV can barely hold it together for couple of albums. The obvious question is how do the metal bands get people to come to the shows consistently? Judging from my own experiences, minor research and analysis, there’s something that metal bands are doing right. Perhaps marketers can learn a thing or two from heavy metal and apply it to their own strategies. Here’s what the metal bands do to pack the venues, consistently.
Quality Matters. Believe it or not, successful bands spent countless hours and sacrificed a great deal to become good at what they do. Practice and sacrifice. If by some chance a band sells out a venue during their first gig and completely butchers the show, no one will come back to see them again. After all, the core product is the music. Successful bands are good at what they do and always deliver quality show. When you go see Iron Maiden or Slayer show, you know you’ll get the best out of it every time.
Give Them Something To Talk About. Even if the band plays a killer set, they’ve got to get the audience to talk about the show the next day. It could be anything from pyrotechnics to lighting, stage props to mosh-pits, or just simply playing flawlessly. The first time I saw Hatebreed for example, the next day I was telling my friends (even the ones that aren’t metal fans) about a huge circle pit the band got going.
Engage The Fans. Metal bands are great at engaging their audience. They spend time signing autographs outside the tour buses, they get the audience to sing along, and instigate mosh pits. Engaging and interacting with the fans is pivotal when building a loyal fanbase. Anyone ever attended a music festivals knows that performing bands will usually mingle with the fans and sign autographs after they’ve performed.
Build Loyalty. Metal bands that stay true to their roots, music and their fans build a loyal following. Fans that make a personal and emotional connection with bands tend to feel disappointed and frustrated when their favorite metal band “sells out”. Case in point Metallica; they lost a loyal fanbase when they released Load record that signified change in music direction. Only recently Metallica has made an attempt with Death Magnetic to lure back original fans that were with the band from Day 1. Loyal fans are the grease in gears that will prolong bands’ careers.
Scarcity Drives Demand. Another reason why some metal bands can pack each and every show is because they don’t come around too often. There are only so many times in a given time frame fans will pay to see their favorite bands. Playing too often in a given market saturates it and makes the event a commodity. Some bands strategically plan out their touring schedules and routes to ensure that there’s enough demand to fill the arena while commanding a top, yet fair dollar for the seats. Although creating artificial low supply and scarcity is unethical, but saturating the market with product or endless licensing agreements not only devalues the product and the brand, it will also eat into your margins and eventually drive down demand.
Exclusivity. Heavy Metal or any other sub-genre of Metal is not for everyone. Outsiders often dismiss it as real music because the barrier to understanding the genre is fairly large. No one but metal fans have the clearest understanding of this. For the most part they don’t really care. What they care about is the sense of exclusivity the metal bands create. Exclusivity creates a sense of community, pride and ownership.
Cross Promote. Metal bands are very effective at cross-promoting their music. Although most metal fans share similar tastes, but it is a common practice for metal bands to tour together and cross introduce fans to other bands’ music. In recent years, veteran bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Metallica have taken younger bands on the road. This introduces the young to the old and vice-versa.
Promote With No Budget. All of the methods and strategies discussed above can be accomplished with low or no marketing budget. Metal bands let the fans do all their marketing for them. Loyal and happy fans become advocates.
One of the best and most cost effective ways of boosting record and ticket sales are through controversy, especially if you’re in a band.
Motley Crue received the best type of unsolicited publicity any band could ask for. Today, The Sault Star has reported that a city councilor wants to ban Motley Crue from playing a festival in the city of Sarnia on July 10, 2008. Link to original article. What really got under my skin was the fact that the Coun. Dave Boushy, man behind this discriminating idea, openly admitted that he knows nothing about the group and based his conclusions on an article about the band in a local paper promoting Bayfest. But I do have to give credit to other city officials for not being so narrow minded, and stopping the motion to ban Motley Crue in its tracks.
This little debate and controversy just gave the event a promotional boost and increased interest from the public. Ultimately resulting in increased ticket sales, records sales, and more traffic to the band’s website. The lesson here is that it’s in our basic human nature to seek things we cannot have. The more you deny us access, the more ways we’ll to fulfill our desires to rebel and seek things we want.
