will trade postage for cred.
Last week I mailed off Plink CDs and press kits to about 55 magazines (both print and online). That's a lot of postage. And printing costs. And time. All in hopes of getting a few reviews.
This will be interesting; in addition to lots of cool small zines, I included big publications like Alternative Press and Spin. Our press kit looks pretty decent, and with the Dischord distro, who knows, maybe some of them will take us seriously enough to write a review.
It's all about cred. Industry people figure that if you're decent enough to make it through someone else's weedout, maybe you're not actually a joke (or maybe someone else didn't get the joke).
These cred tidbits can slowly aggregate, like one of those balls made of rubber bands, until that glorious day when booking agents just assume you're worth booking (or at least call you back), and reviewers at bigger publications actually open your package. I guess it's basic brand recognition.
Plink's first good cred moment was the Tape Op article. That and the Dischord connection are our cred footholds right now.
Of course a bunch of industry cred doesn't mean shit as far as people caring about, or buying, your CD. But I guess it's a start. Since we can't tour for 10 weeks at a time, we have to find listeners through other avenues. And certainly, all the kids reading AP will run out and buy Plink CDs after reading a review, right? No they won't. Why do I do this?