Wordsmith on Guerrilla Marketing: My Daily Grind

Wordsmith breaks down his daily grind and shares a truly holistic view of artist self-marketing in these excerpts from an already widely distributed text:

I really look at myself as more of a business man then an artist nowadays. It's crazy to say that, but on the independent circuit there are no A&R's, publicists, promoters, bookies, etc.; guerrilla marketing is the constant. Un less you stumbled upon a large sum of money or an investor believes in you, any and all resources will have to be bought out of your own pocket. With that said, I want to take a second and describe an average day of guerilla marketing and recording for me.

I start my day at 4:00 AM 5 days a week and travel over an hour from Baltimore to Washington DC for work. During the drive, I am usually practicing my lyrics for different songs I want to perform at upcoming shows.  When I get to my job, I carry in a book bag that has my rhymebook(s), beat CD's, and 100 blank CD's into work...I do an important job, but that doesn't stop me from spending all 8 of my hours at work burning copies...

When I am really free at work, I am making html codes for internet promo and building databases for every college, commercial, and internet radio station in the US.  Its terrible work, but you don't need a label or a radio promoter to work your tracks, all the info is on the net if you're willing to be patient and research things. Just to give you an example, while everyone else is shelling out $2000 to $4000 for a college radio promoter to get their record charted, I took the time and looked up just about every college DJ that submitted a top 30 chart to Rapnetwork & Rapattacklives. Long story short, a track of mine called "Ode to the Pioneers" peaked at number 4 in a month without burning up a credit card or going in debt. It was a grind to make it happen, but I knew the track was strong and on the college circuit, they are all about underground Hip-Hop.

Anyways, back to the grind, when I leave work, I usually take the opportunity to get a lot of my writing done while I am driving home. I wrote most of my last mixtape and my first album in my truck because it saves me time to work on business projects when I get home. When I get back to Baltimore, I go to staples and spend $47 on 150 mixtape covers and proceed to go through sheet after sheet of cutting each cover out. Next, I usually go to Best Buy and buy two packs of jewel cases for all the CD's I burnt at work. Then, I have to put actual covers on my product, so I have to go CD by CD and send it through my printer, which takes 3 to 4 min to print. The final step is checking out my schedule and database to see what shows I can attend for the week to hand out CD's. I am working on servicing regular Gas Stations, Malls, and stores with my product as well, so I have my Kontact making me spreadsheets that will allow me to document where, when and how many CD's I leave at each location...

The next phase of guerilla marketing is something that most artists don't think about at the independent level and that's your image. You have to market yourself like you're already signed, so I push my self to be in great shape for three reasons. One, I travel a lot on the show tip, so it's important to stay healthy while your on the move. Two, I have a very energetic show that involves consistent quick movements and the use of props you would only see in a theater setting. Three, I want to look like a superstar and present myself as very professional when I am out and about. To make this happen, I run 3 to 4 times a week varying from a mile to 2 miles each time. That is followed by 100 sit ups/ push ups and then an hour to two hour rehearsal with my Deejay DJ Dublee and Kontact. Depending on what time it is, I usually cap my night off doing some more writing and recording.

It's funny because I feel like I am a machine at times or an annoying admin assistant with my schedules. Hey, what can I say, I am trying to make it in this music industry and I am willing to do as much work as possible to make it happen.

Peep Part 2 at Wordsmith Music.

Wordsmith Links:
Wordsmith Music
Wordsmith @ MySpace
Revolt Radio
Wordsmith @ YouTube