Caught in a Creative Rut? Collaborate and Cross-Promote at the Same Time

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September 1, 2010{ 12 Comments }

iStock 000010314405Small 300x199 Caught in a Creative Rut? Collaborate and Cross Promote at the Same TimeA few years back, I was feeling like my band’s (Chris Robley & the Fear of Heights) live performances were getting a bit stale, at least for me, if not the audience. Same lineup. Similar set lists. Same venues.

Then one day a couple of MCs from Portland’s favorite hip-hop collective Sandpeople (yes, they’re named for the Tusken Raiders in Star Wars!) asked if I’d be interested in collaborating with them on a track for an upcoming record.  As someone who occasionally puts on the “producer hat,” I was excited by this possibility. But it also got me wondering what would happen if I could convince them to rap on a couple tunes of MINE at an upcoming show. We’d previously worked with a flute quartet and members of a jazz big band, but never a hip-hop group!

So, an indie-pop ensemble with guest rappers? Yep. And it actually worked out really well. Not only did the collaboration get me excited about the band’s performance possibilities again, but we were also able to cross-promote, exposing my audience to some local hip-hop and getting a few of Sandpeople’s fans to give my music a try. In addition, the show announcement emails for these collaborative performances also served as a kind of limited-access pass to reach out to the other act’s fanbase. If you creatively partner with another musician or band, you’ll want to make the most of that email-blast opportunity by offering free MP3s, clear calls-to-action, and links to your most compelling content.

Kanye West clearly had the same idea, though on a somewhat grander scale, when he invited whisper-y, indie-folk artist Bon Iver to work with him on a track for his upcoming release. Check out details HERE.

If you’ve had a great creative or promotional success through collaboration we’d love to hear about it. Please feel free to comment below.

-Chris R. at CD Baby

Kevin Breuner's Author Bio

  • http://myspace.com/falcon42band josh

    Great idea! My band has talked about getting members of other bands playing at the show to come onstage and play a classic cover or something fun like that someday.

  • http://www.matthenshaw.com Matt Henshaw

    My whole music world is founded upon collaboration …

  • http://www.meghanmorrison.com Meghan Morrison

    This applies not only to writing and performing music, but also in general networking and promotional activities. I started a weekly webcast so that my friends and family back home could see me perform and realized that if I invited other artists onto the show I could spice up the programming a little more for my audience AND introduce myself to the audiences of the guest artists who tune in and watch the archives. We end every show with a collaborative, spontaneous jam. It’s a lot of fun.

    Thanks for the tips, CD Baby!

    Meghan Morrison

    http://www.meghanmorrison.com
    twitter.com/megsmorrison

  • http://www.myspace.com/lenjennings Len Jennings

    We did this on my last CD with a band much more established than we were. It was a group we often played live with as well. So it ended up being a part of the live show at times too. One thing it did do was get us a lot of plays on our MySpace player. That song got more plays than all of our other songs on there combined. Interesting thing though. We did this purely for the joy of doing it. The additional plays and stage stuff was purely a byproduct of us having a little fun with guys we enjoyed playing with. To me the real secret to success is to enjoy yourself. If it sounds fun, and it doesn’t hurt anyone, then do it. People like to see other people having a good time. It makes them feel good. It also sells pretty well too.

  • http://www.907Britt.com 907Britt

    I love covering songs from other independent artists with their permission. The audio engineer who mixed and mastered my album, Brian Hazard is also a songwriter, and I have posted my covers of his songs at http://www.youtube.com/907Britt. They are some of my most-viewed videos. He plays electronic indie piano pop from Huntington Beach, and I am a folk singer out on the country roads outside Fairbanks, Alaska. So we would otherwise have no overlap in our fan bases.

    I enjoy introducing my fans to new music from other artists, and because I’ve covered the songs in my own style, my fans aren’t alienated. They love it because it sounds like what they are use to out of me. Brian also played piano and sang backing vocals on a couple songs on my album. I think it’s important not to shock your fans with other music that is too different than what they love you for. But you can’t stay the same forever either. So it’s important to find songs that you truly love to cover and make them your own (with permission of course!)

    I also do a little touring and have found it is helpful to collaborate with regional bands and musicians in the area where I am going. This last week I recorded a song by Missoula musician Larry Hirshberg (also played by the Tom Catmull Band) in advance of my trip to Montana. Larry loves my version and has been sharing it with all of his friends on Facebook. I truly adore his song and it works perfectly in my style. The cover brought Larry joy and has helped me get the word out in Montana. You can download the song for free at http://907britt.bandcamp.com/track/every-one-of-those-men. Larry and I hope to do a show together some day when our schedules align and he has other songs he might want me to sing on.

    Collaboration rocks. Other songwriters usually love it when you play their songs, as long as you take the time to learn and play them well. =)

  • http://www.straightvodkaent.com Tremayne

    we’ve done this with a few bands. i’m a hip hop artist & i’ve opened up for alot of big name rappers but my favorite shows have been 1′s i’ve done with local rock musicians. it’s just a whole different energy & the rock crowd just wants 2 hear something raw & i appreciate that. if you’re feeling any locals from a different genre i suggest hooking up with them. its beneficial for both genres. got alot of fans that tell us we’re the only hip hop they like.

  • http://www.Meta4wzrd.com Da’Mon

    I completely agree. I recently teamed up with a drummer from a rock band to add a more stage presence to my shows. Even though we had some technical difficulties in the beginning, the crowd loved the energy coming from us on that stage. I’m always up for new things, so if anybody wants to collaborate hit me up. I’m out in Tampa, but we can still do songs together. I just did a track with somebody from the UK … so there’s no limit!

    ~ Da’Mon
    http://www.Meta4wzrd.com
    http://www.Youtube.com/Meta4wzrd

  • http://www.reverbnation.com/thedoe T. Threats

    That’s always a great idea, especially for the artistic purposes. When you have a taste for music truly, collaborating in a genre outside of your own is a challenging and fun experience. I produce as well, so I look to other sounds that my ear would find catchy as a listener. The end result can be something the fan and artist both walk away with happy. Think outside of the box. One love.

    http://www.reverbnation.com/thedoe
    http://www.facebook.com/T.Threats
    http://www.myspace.com/officialthreats

  • http://www.andreagerak.com Andrea Gerak

    I performed my acapella solo show with traditional tunes from different parts of the world, at a café in Budapest. Weeks later, the owner of that place organized a fund raising concert for a singer-songwriter whose gear got stolen. He asked all the musicians who have performed at his venue, including me.

    We had a great show with some COMPLETELY different genres and styles: Latin, country, rock, avantgarde something, my world fusion stuff, etc. Many of those who came because of the other artists, became my fans, following me on Facebook, Youtube etc, now some of them are coming to my next concert, which will be a brand new collaboration with a fantastic violin player I met on Facebook…

    And there are lot more stories like this – I think collab&cross-promotion is VITAL. We, artists, are in the same group, a big family – who else will help us if we don’t support each other at the first place?

    I have lived in a couple of countries of Europe and have countless musician friends from other countries as well. What I observed was that where artists stick together, share shows, contacts and tips and so on, there you’ll have a vibrant music scene. (Of course, to have a music scene, one needs venues and fans and all that, but WHO ELSE are to create music life first of all, if not the musicians???)

    And where the artists are jealous and won’t give out one goddamn phone number to the other and don’t ever invite their buddies to do one or two songs together – there the music scene SUCKS, artists are unable to live on their music and are forced to take all kind of other jobs (driving buses, selling computers…), and politicians and journalists are more respected professions in the society than musicians… Oh, don’t get me started on this and tell all my bad experiences about it… Let’s stay on the positive side :-)

    As a solo vocalist, I am flexible and can do very well without having a set band, besides that of course I have a few line-ups I work with more frequently. I have done songs and shows with musicians from I can’t even count how many countries and looking forward to two, totally new shows, with international artists I yet have to meet on stage.

  • http://www.midwayfair.org Jon Patton

    WTMD, a public radio station here in Maryland, orchstrated a similar project with local alt-country singer Caleb Stein and rapper Saleem. The two produced an album together when they were originally supposed to just get together for a single show. One of the tracks, about Baltimore, ended up getting them a ton of radio play and has been used in at least one TV show.

    Granted they had a radio station behind them for the whole thing, so the success can be partly blamed on that, but I think the cross promotion helped remind people that there were multiple vibrant music scenes in Baltimore.

    Baltimore is still a very self-segregated city; neighborhoods can be insular, and music scenes can be just as insular as commercial radio stations. I think in some ways, this helped reignite this conversation in Baltimore.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thebonefags johnny bones

    Ever since we started collaborating with NoFX, our band (The Bone Fags) has totally caught a gnarly wave. I mean, we still suck, but at least we’re on a wave.

    DJ Johnny Bones,
    The Bone Fags

  • A. C. LaMonica

    Great info on collabs here. One thing I was wondering though was how to figure out pay for the artists in collaboration if the track(s) are being sold. Anyone have any input on this? I’ve been searching online and I’m having trouble finding anything. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!