Chicago's oh my god explains how they've used technology to build their fan base—and how they're turning those fans into friends.

Supplement to Singer&Musician #49, Music Biz 2.0

There are several aspects of business to look at when approaching a career in music. Performing live (“gigging”) is one of the hardest ways for unknown artists with original compositions to score some dough. On the other hand, if you are a cover artist or are in a tribute band this could be a quick trot to the bank if you have a good show to present. (Check out our special feature on “Tributes” in SAM issue # 48. Click here to download a FREE digital issue) To succeed, you gotta put “Meat in the seats” and that takes fans.

Building a fan base is a tough, full time job. I’ve worked with bands that have done it and have been very successful. A great example is Chicago punk/art rockers “oh my god” — one of the hardest working bands touring today. Getting publicity and promoting gigs on your own can be stifling because people in the music business want numbers first. How many web site hits? How many My Space plays? How many YouTube views, etc. Then when it comes to live shows, you better have facts and numbers ready. But here’s the Catch 22: To get these numbers, you need gigs. Be prepared for a lot of rejection no matter how good you think you are.

Tip: With the recent You Tube explosion, great promotional tools have come along just the last 18 months, such as the

Flip Cam and iPod Nano, you can laterally promote your show right after the show the same night just by posting the show on the net or walking around after the gig with your Nano. It’s that easy.

Oh my god has been on the road for over six years and have written and recorded a solid discography of EPs and CDs. They have played over 200 dates a year for most of those years. While the push was on for their Interrogations & Confessions CD, the band averaged close to 100k hits a month on their website. MTV followed the band on tour and filmed a three and a half minute mini-documentary about them which aired in the summer of 2005.

Founder and band leader for oh my god, Iguana, (who’s toured/played with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Van Morrison, Otis Rush and recorded with the likes of Lonnie Brooks and KoKo Taylor) treated the project as a business move from the start. “From the get go, I had to keep everybody involved. I started the band with Billy O’Neill (lead singer) Then we found Bish our drummer so there were only three of us. I can’t imagine if there were eight of us. Just to make enough to get by and not to get stressed out was tough. To have to deal with that on the road, where you make twenty three bucks after driving 400 miles, was hard.”

To finance and cover the costs of recording, tee shirts and gas on the road, Iguana borrows from what he makes as a freelance writer and then pays himself back from merch sales—they split evenly the money they make from their live shows. “By doing it this way, I was able to break even on the up front costs, most of the time,” he said. “At first I was coming home from tours and losing or barely making money. But after we built up a following and our web presence increased, I started breaking even or making money.”

Major label lesson

At one point,  a New York based WEA (Warner Bros./Electra/Atlantic) label gave the band a shot with the Interrogations and Confessions CD. The press called the CD “Near genius,” yet they received very little label support and they made no money. They are still in the red from that CD but, ironically, have covered much of the loss with profits from the self-released CD You’re Too Straight to Love Me!  “The whole time while oh my god has existed has been during the transition of the major label era to the post major label era—the digital era” Iguana said. “Our fixation on labels has diminished over time.”

When asked how oh my god built their fan base Iguana commented, “Billy (front man) has a natural ability to connect with our fans on stage. We would sign people up for our mailing list at every gig and encourage them to come to the next show or the next show in that area. We always enforced that on stage with our playing, showmanship and recordings, not to mention our weirdness. I also would return as many inquiries as possible off the net to our fans. I became good friends with a lot of them and that gave us places to stay on the road.”

To Check Out Videos, Press and their EPK... www.ohmygodmusic.com 

Go to: www.ohmygodmusic.com