Georgia Wonder / Made In Nevada

© Kapipal / Georgia Wonder

Go support Georgia Wonder!

Georgia Wonder is Stephanie Grant from London and Julian Moore from Portsmouth. We got to know each other via Andrew Dubber’s blog and Twitter. You’re searching for a pop/rock/folk band serving beautiful tunes and a brilliant female voice – buy their tracks. You can even choose if and how much to pay for downloads. Or you may order a physical copy.

Julian Moore and Stephanie are never short of clever ideas to add to their marketing. And they are really running the marketing themselves. Blogs, videos, Bandcamp, iTunes, We7, Twitter, homepage, mailings (email as well as snail mail), Facebook etc. – it is time consuming but they’re constantly connected to their fans.

Campaigns on Twitter to receive free downloads gained them a number of new fans and newsletter recipients.

Sometime they found out that a whole school class from Canada was following them on Twitter for more then a year. Once getting in touch via Twitter, they arranged for a private webcast for the kids.

They left physical copies of their first EP at various public places in the UK to make people mail the location, copy the tracks and re-locate the CD again. It made a great campaign and almost made them win the Interactive Award (however they were nominated!).

At this year’s all2gethernow [access protected, 2016-03-10], they participated in the panel on DIY marketing alongside Amanda Palmer which turned out being a real terrific session (that’s why I’m hoping to see the webcast’s video online soon). Also, Stephanie and Julian played a short gig. I wish they could do a proper tour in Germany soon. Georgia Wonder absolutely fits the profile of Germany’s largest radio broadcaster SWR3, yet without sounding too polished.

During the session at a2n, Georgia Wonder presented the next step in DIY marketing. They planned to start recording a new release, yet they had to significantly reduce cost of production. That’s why they contacted a large local music store: Nevada Music. Awesome store, huge, and stuffed with equipment. Best thing: They allowed Georgia Wonder to record within the store and make use of any equipment available. For free. In return, it’s press coverage, credibility, and public attention the store gains.

While Julian and Stephanie are blogging the recording process, press and BBC already have announced to be reporting.

Right after a2n, they prepared for the manufacturing of physical copies of their second EP “Destroy”. Paying 20 UKP in advance, you were to receive one signed copy plus an additional three copies (no autograph) to be freely distributed to friends. All 30 fans supporting by paying in advance will be credited on the release. Within two days, the required number of 30 people paid via PayPal – including myself. Of course! I already turned my wife and some people from a2n into fans…

Georgia Wonder Fandom Certificate

© Georgia Wonder

Two days ago, on Saturday I opened my post box just to find a large letter from UK – an official “Certificate of Fandom” by Georgia Wonder. Signed, of course. That’s absolutely brilliant. I love it. 🙂

Every single action they take, every detail adds to strengthen a personal relationship that extends the musical one.

This proves something I noticed when paying attention to my own behaviour in music purchases. I still like the big names I always liked. But I don’t see a need to talk about it. To talk people into that music. There’s less excitement, and there’s less personal involvement from my side. Also, it’s music I paid for.

Then there’s music I got into by free downloads. Or via emusic. I still have a specially priced emusic subscription of 40 downloads at 9.90 EUR per month. That’s why I keep it for testing new music. I discovered Sarah Fimm via Last.fm. Or Charlotte Martin via emusic. There’s Emilie Autumn. Patrick Wolf. All via emusic. There’s thousands of free tracks at Daytrotter including Aimee Mann (ok, Aimee I liked right hearing her first solo track for the first time). Just noticed Daytrotter is offline right now – too bad… this morning the site was still on. Hopefully no bad sign.

Conclusion: All this music mentioned within the last paragraph I got to know for free and/or with personal involvement from the artist. And this is the only music I’m recommending. Other music I like stops being marketed, endorsed, and recommended when I buy the CD or download for my own entertainment. For a long time I haven’t been aware of this. But this is how it works.

Georgia Wonder’s tracks earned them a pick of the week [link broken, 2016-03-10] a (Don’t you dare not to recommend Georgia Wonder…)

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