Hey guys,

Ok, so i just got a response from Scott (the alumnus I was telling you about) last night. I asked him for pretty much any help and advice that he could give us on a group and individual basis. Below is the the response he gave me. I think there are some good ideas in here, and we should benefit a lot. Also, maybe Jessie can add him to the blog, so he can give us some more feedback along the way (scott@bostonrockacademy.com).

Karim -

Glad my presentation was helpful. Occasionally I say something worthwhile, I guess.

And, glad you like Bandzoogle. It really is a good product that more musicians should know about. But then, that's my job ...

For the BEAT project, a few things come to mind. Battle of the Band (BotB) style events are pretty common. So the obvious advice would be to make yours stand-out or be different. Traditional "gimmicks" include getting guest/celebrity judges, cool sponsors/prizes, and so on ...

Since you're short on cash, my suggestion would be to see if money spent on the event could count as some sort of non-profit (deductible) donation. Have the entire event benefit some relevant charity that has a tie-in to Berklee or some relevant music issue. A quick suggestion would be MusicCares. They're the Grammy charity. Maybe they could help you with a judge, or a cool prize...

Alternately, check with Berklee alum and kajillionaire, Ernie Boch. His"Music Drives Us" foundation gives out grants to worthy causes. He's also good for a prize, as would (probably) Mike Dreese (Newbury Comics, CEO).

If the bands are all Berklee students, see if you can get a cool campus based prize. Maybe a $500 scholarship? Lunch with Roger Brown?

Also - try and make a big prize out of a lot of smaller prizes. For example, $10 from Subway, $10 from Starbucks, $10 gas card, and you've got a Musician's Post Gig Survival Kit. It's cheesy, but each piece is pretty easy to get, and together they're kinda cool.

Anyone that donates a prize will want/expect some kind of publicity. Make sure you get their name and logo splashed across anything and everything.

For promotion - first off, identify your audience. If the bands are all made up of Berklee students, then are non-Berklee folks interested? Also -if you get sponsors (like those listed above), do they have mailing list that they can send your message out to?

Reach out via Twitter. Free, easy searches, etc. Take a little work to generate a solid list, but the response rate is surprisingly strong.

If you have (some) cash, here's a couple suggestions:
Postcards: 5,000 4x6 cards are $137.00 from www.flyerstudios.com
Posters: 300 11x17 posters, $60.00 from nimbit

Get something slick, and pass out/post all around town. Get the band's name/photos on there, and give some to the bands to help promote. It's in their best interest to bring their fans. Traditional BotBs will have judges plus an audience vote which counts toward picking the winner.

Lastly, and this is probably impossible, but booze is a big draw. If you're crowd is 21+, offer cheap beer. Works every time ... and it's a solid profit margin.

That's all that comes to mind ... if I think of anything else, I'll let you know. And if you have questions, send 'em through ...

--Scott