Bob Baker's The Buzz Factor

I was reminded of a powerful principle this past weekend. A principle you can use to further your music career.

I spent five action-packed days in New York City cramming an insane amount of activity into a short time frame. I attended and spoke at PMA's Publishing University, walked the endless aisles of booths at Book Expo America, and spent more than eight hours giving two indie music publicity workshops with PR dynamo Ariel Hyatt.

Yes, it was tiring. And yes, just thinking about airports and shuttle buses and luggage makes me cringe. But the people aspect of all this frenzy made it all worth it. (Check out my Flickr page to see some of the highlights.)

I hope you feel the same way about connecting in person with your fans and music business friends. Face to face interaction is vital!

For several years, my primary connection to the public was online. I spent hours on my computer at home spreading my words and ideas across the Internet. I still do. And that approach was proven to be very effective.

But it will never beat speaking with real, live human beings in person. I traveled more in the past year than I did in the previous five years combined (thanks in large part to the encouragement of my girlfriend, Pooki). And the experiences have been invaluable.

If you attended last weekend's publicity workshop, you know what I mean. We all learned more from each other in a live group setting then we ever could have through any high-tech "virtual" setting. Meeting people I had only known before through email was priceless.

So, make the effort to attend music conferences and workshops. Spend face time with your fans. Introduce yourself to people at networking functions. You know the drill.

Nothing is on the schedule at the moment, but keep an eye on my travel and speaking schedule. Hopefully, I'll get to meet you in person soon at an event near you.

Happy travels!

-Bob


Check out the revised and updated edition of Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook, with four new chapters on Internet music promotion. Get more details here.