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Red Sun Rising is using technology, Web sites to attract fans to its new hard rock and alternative sound for a hip generation
By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Saturday, Jul 04, 2009
Then along came the Internet, download piracy, and the fall of music's world order.
These 20-somethings know better than to sit around waiting to be discovered by some record label. Heck, they're not even waiting for their first CD and tour to aggressively pursue fans.
Welcome to Social Networking 101.
The group's manager, Kevin Grace, quipped that the first lesson is this: Today's music lovers have attention deficit disorder.
''Back in the '80s, you might have been listening to 10 or 15 different bands. Today, kids are listening to a hundred different bands,'' Grace said.
That's because nobody has to buy an entire album after hearing a single hit on the radio, and then hope they love the rest.
Red Sun Rising's strategy is to use streaming technology to allow its Web site visitors to play its music for free. As the band works to finish its first CD, due in September, fans can hear individual songs as soon as they are completed.
''We want them to become fans first. We think if you let them listen to the music, you will find fans who are going to connect to it'' and will eventually financially support you, Grace said.
Guitarist Ryan Williams said the band experimented with the concept by spending $400 to be featured for a week on the home page of PureVolume.com, a place for rising artists to upload their MP3s.
The investment bought them a tiny link that simply read ''Red Sun Rising acoustic songs,'' and users who clicked on the link could play two songs that the band created rather quickly to upload for their ''experiment,'' Williams said.
The link got about 10,000 hits each day it was promoted, he said. By week's end, about 500 people took the additional step of downloading the free offerings.
Happy with that result, the band is poised to invest $2,000 to become PureVolume's top-promoted link for three days once the album is done and its 13 songs are ready for purchase.
The band also uses ReverbNation, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.
With Facebook, where it already has about 600 ''friends,'' the band expects to use a feature that blasts a message to people in a certain geographic range, which will be helpful when the band starts touring this fall.
Band members also likethe ability on Facebook for people to post comments on a status update, creating a dialogue between fans.
''It keeps people interested,'' said singer Mike Protich. He recently posted a message about how he was off to the studio to work on vocals and ''that little sentence got a whole conversation going there.''
Protich also likes Twitter because he can connect with fans personally. (There are nearly 800 ''followers'' on the band's account; Protich has more than 100 on his personal Twitter page.)
''People get to think they know me personally — and they do — so they want to come to our shows,'' he said.
The band's overall Web strategy is to ''get a connection with people everywhere on the Internet and filter them to where the product is. Bounce them to where they can buy things,'' Williams said.
Protich said that's necessary because a musician's main income no longer comes from the music itself.
''It actually comes from the band and the image. From your merchandise and your shows. People aren't paying for your music, they're paying for an experience,'' Protich said.
While Red Sun Rising promotes itself in cyberspace, the band still turns to the physical world for the advice, mentoring and support needed to create its product.
''There are a lot of guys around here that people don't realize how far they got or how many people they know . . . and we're like sponges. We like to ask them a lot of questions,'' Williams said.
Contacts can help
Those contacts, he said, come from ''years of playing and not burning bridges and not acting like a pompous idiot. You meet people who have been there, done that, and they want to help people who don't have heads this big.''
Protich said one mentor has taught him how to stop imitating big-name artists that influenced him.
''He taught me how to use my voice correctly and I found my own tone and my own style,'' Protich said.
The band has also met producers, studio owners and an investor who loaned it $8,000 — all aimed at helping the group get its music recorded and buy the equipment, marketing and merchandise needed to hit the road.
Combined with the fan base built on the Internet, ''by the time the album comes out,'' Williams said, ''we'll have all our ducks in a row.''
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
RED SUN RISING
Band members:
• Mike Protich, vocals.
• Ryan Williams, guitar.
• Hayes Hornish, bass.
• Mark Jendrisak, drums.
Notes: The band expects to release its first CD by fall.
On the Web:
• ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/redsunrising.
• Pure Volume: http://www.purevolume.com/redsunrisingrocks.
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com (search Red Sun Rising).
• My Space: http://www.myspace.com/redsunrisingrocks.
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/rsrocks.
Schedule:
• 6 p.m., Aug. 14, Cuyahoga Falls River Square amphitheater (Rockin' on the River series)
Get the full article here.
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