Whereas in the past, making commercials was seen as "selling out," the ad campaigns of VW and similar companies have been known to boost obscure bands into popularity. But you don't have to aim for large companies, even small companies can help you get your music to many new fans.

The Cheapass Album & Cheapass Games

Beatnik Turtle tried this team-up technique with a unique games manufacturer with a devoted following.  It started out accidentally, after we found inspiration in an usual place; a board game. The game we were playing was called "Deadwood" – an off-the-wall game designed and manufactured by Cheapass Games in Seattle. As we were playing it, one of the band members drew a card that read "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" We immediately thought, “What a great song idea!” A few weeks later, the song was written and a demo was recorded. A new song was born and added to our set list.  

It certainly could have ended there, but then we hit on the idea to email the game company and share the song that they had unwittingly inspired. We sent them the song and, surprisingly, they wrote back the next day and asked if they could put it up on their website. Within a few months of it being posted, the demo was downloaded well over 5000 times. Soon, it took on a life of its own, winding up on blogs, message boards, and internet radio stations, all without our help. Again, all this occurred simply because Cheapass Games posted the link to the song on their website, nothing else! It turned out that they have a large, built-in audience. Their website was so popular that when searching on "Beer Cans" on Google at that point, our demo song was on the first page of links.  Because we had already gotten a lot of exposure, it was already a great success. It could have ended there. But, applying the Standing Out Lesson, we took this idea a step further.  

We always enjoyed Cheapass Games’ games, especially their sense of humor. With the success of our "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" demo, we tried to figure out a way to support their efforts. Since most of their games were as tongue-in-cheek as our own music, we felt we had something to offer them. Plus, since Cheapass games is an indie game company, just like we are an indie band, we felt a special kinship to them. We wrote the company and made a proposal: we would write an album inspired by or based upon Cheapass Games and call it a musical product catalog and ambassador to hopefully help spread the word about Cheapass Games to a whole different audience; the music community. Of course, knowing the Standing Out Lesson, we were also hoping to help spread the word about Beatnik Turtle to the game community. To our pleasant surprise, James Ernest himself wrote back and said he not only did he like the idea and the and the music we wrote, but also Cheapass Games would be willing to sell and promote it through his business channels along with his games.  

The scope of his company is worldwide and Cheapass Games ships thousands of units of product a month. A CD is small and can fit inside of even the small game boxes that in which he ships his products (about the size of the old CD longboxes.) We know of very few indie bands that have access to this worldwide distribution. We were extremely lucky that this all nicely fell into place and that Cheapass’ off-the-wall sense of humor meshed well with our own sense of humor and musical style.  

The benefits of such a collaboration included:

1. Inspiration - We wrote 12 songs for this album, and we did it in a short amount of time because we had a catalog of games and game concepts to work from.

2. Distribution & Exposure - For a band, the two of the most difficult things to overcome are distribution of physical CDs (not shipping from a site like cdbaby.com, but selling from actual stores,) and exposure. A CD being sold in a game store is unique. It might catch people's eyes. And, it may catch the attention of the people who love Cheapass Games  (it turns out, like Apple Computers, Cheapass Games has a dedicated following) who hopefully will enjoy and get a kick out of an entire album of songs based on the games that they have grown to love and play. In other words, we were able to reach out to an entirely new audience for our music.

3. Promotion - Being fans of Cheapass, we gladly promote their games and, in turn,  the company promotes our music and band name. Since the album is about or inspired by the company’s games and has the company’s look-and-feel,  the company is firmly promoting their own company, not simply an indie band. After all, if someone hears and enjoys the song "Cube Farm" maybe she'll buy the game. And, because Cheapass Games is promoting the album to their own games publications rather than music publications, we’ve finally been able to apply the Standing Out Lesson in its purest form – getting our album and music in publications not typically known for reviewing music, thereby creating the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the Standing Out Lesson.

4. An Interesting, Press-Friendly, Built-In Story - When we send this album to music publications, it has a unique and interesting built-in story. One that hopefully is a little more interesting than "Band Releases New Album." Like the Dolphin’s successful application and bid to get SecondCity for a seven week run of shows, hopefully our press and album kit will stand out from the crowd and go to the top of the stack thanks to the unique collaboration and story behind the album. The idea is to create the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the  Standing Out Lesson .

5. Cool Album Art by a Well-Known Artist - One of the best side-benefits of the Cheapass Album project was that James Ernest got the band in touch with an artist who does work for Cheapass Games, the world-renowned Phil Foglio. He agreed to do the cover art. Soon, we were talking with Phil directly. After a few discussions we hit on the idea that the cover should be many of Cheapass Games’ characters playing instruments on stage – as if they were the band. While it cost some money to have him do the cover, he now sells the album on his own website, and helps to distribute and promote the album, again throwing The Cheapass Album in front of an entirely different audience. Being as talented as he is, it should come to no surprise that Phil’s got a very dedicated following. Some of our album sales alone can be attributed to the fact he drew the cover, and the album artist promotes and sells the album on his own website. How many independent bands get that? (By the way, if you’re into comics or art, we encourage you to learn more about Phil by visiting www.studiofoglio.com).

6. A Licensing Deal with ABCFamily/Disney  - The song "Get Out" on the Cheapass Album is based on the Cheapass Game “Get Out.” The theme of the game is that all of the players are living in their parent's basement. Each person races to get a job, get an apartment, and get a life. The song practically wrote itself.

After the album had been out for a year, out of the blue, we got a call from ABCFamily (part of Disney.) They contacted us about licensing the song. It turns out that they had a reality show called Kicked Out in which they kick out a 20-something and follow him as he got his first job, did his own laundry, and struggled to get by on his own. Our song "Get Out" had a chorus that was perfect to use underneath their ads. We completed the deal and brought some income to the band.  

When we pressed Disney to find out how they heard of Beatnik Turtle, and the song, they only said, "It was on someone's iPod." Whether the person was a game-lover and liked Cheapass Games enough to buy the album, or they file shared it for free, the increased exposure that we got from Cheapass Games got us a licensing deal. We're hoping that it leads to more deals like this one.

Next: Idea #3: Make a Holiday Album

Back to The Indie Band Survival Guide Ebook Home

Whereas in the past, making commercials was seen as "selling out," the ad campaigns of VW and similar companies have been known to boost obscure bands into popularity. But you don't have to aim for large companies, even small companies can help you get your music to many new fans.

The Cheapass Album & Cheapass Games

Beatnik Turtle tried this team-up technique with a unique games manufacturer with a devoted following.  It started out accidentally, after we found inspiration in an usual place; a board game. The game we were playing was called "Deadwood" – an off-the-wall game designed and manufactured by Cheapass Games in Seattle. As we were playing it, one of the band members drew a card that read "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" We immediately thought, “What a great song idea!” A few weeks later, the song was written and a demo was recorded. A new song was born and added to our set list.  

It certainly could have ended there, but then we hit on the idea to email the game company and share the song that they had unwittingly inspired. We sent them the song and, surprisingly, they wrote back the next day and asked if they could put it up on their website. Within a few months of it being posted, the demo was downloaded well over 5000 times. Soon, it took on a life of its own, winding up on blogs, message boards, and internet radio stations, all without our help. Again, all this occurred simply because Cheapass Games posted the link to the song on their website, nothing else! It turned out that they have a large, built-in audience. Their website was so popular that when searching on "Beer Cans" on Google at that point, our demo song was on the first page of links.  Because we had already gotten a lot of exposure, it was already a great success. It could have ended there. But, applying the Standing Out Lesson, we took this idea a step further.  

We always enjoyed Cheapass Games’ games, especially their sense of humor. With the success of our "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" demo, we tried to figure out a way to support their efforts. Since most of their games were as tongue-in-cheek as our own music, we felt we had something to offer them. Plus, since Cheapass games is an indie game company, just like we are an indie band, we felt a special kinship to them. We wrote the company and made a proposal: we would write an album inspired by or based upon Cheapass Games and call it a musical product catalog and ambassador to hopefully help spread the word about Cheapass Games to a whole different audience; the music community. Of course, knowing the Standing Out Lesson, we were also hoping to help spread the word about Beatnik Turtle to the game community. To our pleasant surprise, James Ernest himself wrote back and said he not only did he like the idea and the and the music we wrote, but also Cheapass Games would be willing to sell and promote it through his business channels along with his games.  

The scope of his company is worldwide and Cheapass Games ships thousands of units of product a month. A CD is small and can fit inside of even the small game boxes that in which he ships his products (about the size of the old CD longboxes.) We know of very few indie bands that have access to this worldwide distribution. We were extremely lucky that this all nicely fell into place and that Cheapass’ off-the-wall sense of humor meshed well with our own sense of humor and musical style.  

The benefits of such a collaboration included:

1. Inspiration - We wrote 12 songs for this album, and we did it in a short amount of time because we had a catalog of games and game concepts to work from.

2. Distribution & Exposure - For a band, the two of the most difficult things to overcome are distribution of physical CDs (not shipping from a site like cdbaby.com, but selling from actual stores,) and exposure. A CD being sold in a game store is unique. It might catch people's eyes. And, it may catch the attention of the people who love Cheapass Games  (it turns out, like Apple Computers, Cheapass Games has a dedicated following) who hopefully will enjoy and get a kick out of an entire album of songs based on the games that they have grown to love and play. In other words, we were able to reach out to an entirely new audience for our music.

3. Promotion - Being fans of Cheapass, we gladly promote their games and, in turn,  the company promotes our music and band name. Since the album is about or inspired by the company’s games and has the company’s look-and-feel,  the company is firmly promoting their own company, not simply an indie band. After all, if someone hears and enjoys the song "Cube Farm" maybe she'll buy the game. And, because Cheapass Games is promoting the album to their own games publications rather than music publications, we’ve finally been able to apply the Standing Out Lesson in its purest form – getting our album and music in publications not typically known for reviewing music, thereby creating the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the Standing Out Lesson.

4. An Interesting, Press-Friendly, Built-In Story - When we send this album to music publications, it has a unique and interesting built-in story. One that hopefully is a little more interesting than "Band Releases New Album." Like the Dolphin’s successful application and bid to get SecondCity for a seven week run of shows, hopefully our press and album kit will stand out from the crowd and go to the top of the stack thanks to the unique collaboration and story behind the album. The idea is to create the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the  Standing Out Lesson .

5. Cool Album Art by a Well-Known Artist - One of the best side-benefits of the Cheapass Album project was that James Ernest got the band in touch with an artist who does work for Cheapass Games, the world-renowned Phil Foglio. He agreed to do the cover art. Soon, we were talking with Phil directly. After a few discussions we hit on the idea that the cover should be many of Cheapass Games’ characters playing instruments on stage – as if they were the band. While it cost some money to have him do the cover, he now sells the album on his own website, and helps to distribute and promote the album, again throwing The Cheapass Album in front of an entirely different audience. Being as talented as he is, it should come to no surprise that Phil’s got a very dedicated following. Some of our album sales alone can be attributed to the fact he drew the cover, and the album artist promotes and sells the album on his own website. How many independent bands get that? (By the way, if you’re into comics or art, we encourage you to learn more about Phil by visiting www.studiofoglio.com).

6. A Licensing Deal with ABCFamily/Disney  - The song "Get Out" on the Cheapass Album is based on the Cheapass Game “Get Out.” The theme of the game is that all of the players are living in their parent's basement. Each person races to get a job, get an apartment, and get a life. The song practically wrote itself.

After the album had been out for a year, out of the blue, we got a call from ABCFamily (part of Disney.) They contacted us about licensing the song. It turns out that they had a reality show called Kicked Out in which they kick out a 20-something and follow him as he got his first job, did his own laundry, and struggled to get by on his own. Our song "Get Out" had a chorus that was perfect to use underneath their ads. We completed the deal and brought some income to the band.  

When we pressed Disney to find out how they heard of Beatnik Turtle, and the song, they only said, "It was on someone's iPod." Whether the person was a game-lover and liked Cheapass Games enough to buy the album, or they file shared it for free, the increased exposure that we got from Cheapass Games got us a licensing deal. We're hoping that it leads to more deals like this one.

Next: Idea #3: Make a Holiday Album

Whereas in the past, making commercials was seen as "selling out," the ad campaigns of VW and similar companies have been known to boost obscure bands into popularity. But you don't have to aim for large companies, even small companies can help you get your music to many new fans.

The Cheapass Album & Cheapass Games

Beatnik Turtle tried this team-up technique with a unique games manufacturer with a devoted following.  It started out accidentally, after we found inspiration in an usual place; a board game. The game we were playing was called "Deadwood" – an off-the-wall game designed and manufactured by Cheapass Games in Seattle. As we were playing it, one of the band members drew a card that read "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" We immediately thought, “What a great song idea!” A few weeks later, the song was written and a demo was recorded. A new song was born and added to our set list.  

It certainly could have ended there, but then we hit on the idea to email the game company and share the song that they had unwittingly inspired. We sent them the song and, surprisingly, they wrote back the next day and asked if they could put it up on their website. Within a few months of it being posted, the demo was downloaded well over 5000 times. Soon, it took on a life of its own, winding up on blogs, message boards, and internet radio stations, all without our help. Again, all this occurred simply because Cheapass Games posted the link to the song on their website, nothing else! It turned out that they have a large, built-in audience. Their website was so popular that when searching on "Beer Cans" on Google at that point, our demo song was on the first page of links.  Because we had already gotten a lot of exposure, it was already a great success. It could have ended there. But, applying the Standing Out Lesson, we took this idea a step further.  

We always enjoyed Cheapass Games’ games, especially their sense of humor. With the success of our "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" demo, we tried to figure out a way to support their efforts. Since most of their games were as tongue-in-cheek as our own music, we felt we had something to offer them. Plus, since Cheapass games is an indie game company, just like we are an indie band, we felt a special kinship to them. We wrote the company and made a proposal: we would write an album inspired by or based upon Cheapass Games and call it a musical product catalog and ambassador to hopefully help spread the word about Cheapass Games to a whole different audience; the music community. Of course, knowing the Standing Out Lesson, we were also hoping to help spread the word about Beatnik Turtle to the game community. To our pleasant surprise, James Ernest himself wrote back and said he not only did he like the idea and the and the music we wrote, but also Cheapass Games would be willing to sell and promote it through his business channels along with his games.  

The scope of his company is worldwide and Cheapass Games ships thousands of units of product a month. A CD is small and can fit inside of even the small game boxes that in which he ships his products (about the size of the old CD longboxes.) We know of very few indie bands that have access to this worldwide distribution. We were extremely lucky that this all nicely fell into place and that Cheapass’ off-the-wall sense of humor meshed well with our own sense of humor and musical style.  

The benefits of such a collaboration included:

1. Inspiration - We wrote 12 songs for this album, and we did it in a short amount of time because we had a catalog of games and game concepts to work from.

2. Distribution & Exposure - For a band, the two of the most difficult things to overcome are distribution of physical CDs (not shipping from a site like cdbaby.com, but selling from actual stores,) and exposure. A CD being sold in a game store is unique. It might catch people's eyes. And, it may catch the attention of the people who love Cheapass Games  (it turns out, like Apple Computers, Cheapass Games has a dedicated following) who hopefully will enjoy and get a kick out of an entire album of songs based on the games that they have grown to love and play. In other words, we were able to reach out to an entirely new audience for our music.

3. Promotion - Being fans of Cheapass, we gladly promote their games and, in turn,  the company promotes our music and band name. Since the album is about or inspired by the company’s games and has the company’s look-and-feel,  the company is firmly promoting their own company, not simply an indie band. After all, if someone hears and enjoys the song "Cube Farm" maybe she'll buy the game. And, because Cheapass Games is promoting the album to their own games publications rather than music publications, we’ve finally been able to apply the Standing Out Lesson in its purest form – getting our album and music in publications not typically known for reviewing music, thereby creating the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the Standing Out Lesson.

4. An Interesting, Press-Friendly, Built-In Story - When we send this album to music publications, it has a unique and interesting built-in story. One that hopefully is a little more interesting than "Band Releases New Album." Like the Dolphin’s successful application and bid to get SecondCity for a seven week run of shows, hopefully our press and album kit will stand out from the crowd and go to the top of the stack thanks to the unique collaboration and story behind the album. The idea is to create the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the  Standing Out Lesson .

5. Cool Album Art by a Well-Known Artist - One of the best side-benefits of the Cheapass Album project was that James Ernest got the band in touch with an artist who does work for Cheapass Games, the world-renowned Phil Foglio. He agreed to do the cover art. Soon, we were talking with Phil directly. After a few discussions we hit on the idea that the cover should be many of Cheapass Games’ characters playing instruments on stage – as if they were the band. While it cost some money to have him do the cover, he now sells the album on his own website, and helps to distribute and promote the album, again throwing The Cheapass Album in front of an entirely different audience. Being as talented as he is, it should come to no surprise that Phil’s got a very dedicated following. Some of our album sales alone can be attributed to the fact he drew the cover, and the album artist promotes and sells the album on his own website. How many independent bands get that? (By the way, if you’re into comics or art, we encourage you to learn more about Phil by visiting www.studiofoglio.com).

6. A Licensing Deal with ABCFamily/Disney  - The song "Get Out" on the Cheapass Album is based on the Cheapass Game “Get Out.” The theme of the game is that all of the players are living in their parent's basement. Each person races to get a job, get an apartment, and get a life. The song practically wrote itself.

After the album had been out for a year, out of the blue, we got a call from ABCFamily (part of Disney.) They contacted us about licensing the song. It turns out that they had a reality show called Kicked Out in which they kick out a 20-something and follow him as he got his first job, did his own laundry, and struggled to get by on his own. Our song "Get Out" had a chorus that was perfect to use underneath their ads. We completed the deal and brought some income to the band.  

When we pressed Disney to find out how they heard of Beatnik Turtle, and the song, they only said, "It was on someone's iPod." Whether the person was a game-lover and liked Cheapass Games enough to buy the album, or they file shared it for free, the increased exposure that we got from Cheapass Games got us a licensing deal. We're hoping that it leads to more deals like this one.

Next: Idea #3: Make a Holiday Album

Two of the biggest problems that an independent band faces are distribution and promotion. If you can write music for a business, they can both promote and distribute your music, especially if they make retail products. If you can write music about their products or their company, its an ego boost for them. They are not promoting a band, they are promoting themselves. There are a lot of very clever businesses out there that sell interesting or trendy products, and you can hitch your own fame onto their success, and marketing.

Whereas in the past, making commercials was seen as "selling out," the ad campaigns of VW and similar companies have been known to boost obscure bands into popularity. But you don't have to aim for large companies, even small companies can help you get your music to many new fans.

The Cheapass Album & Cheapass Games

Beatnik Turtle tried this team-up technique with a unique games manufacturer with a devoted following.  It started out accidentally, after we found inspiration in an usual place; a board game. The game we were playing was called "Deadwood" – an off-the-wall game designed and manufactured by Cheapass Games in Seattle. As we were playing it, one of the band members drew a card that read "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" We immediately thought, “What a great song idea!” A few weeks later, the song was written and a demo was recorded. A new song was born and added to our set list.  

It certainly could have ended there, but then we hit on the idea to email the game company and share the song that they had unwittingly inspired. We sent them the song and, surprisingly, they wrote back the next day and asked if they could put it up on their website. Within a few months of it being posted, the demo was downloaded well over 5000 times. Soon, it took on a life of its own, winding up on blogs, message boards, and internet radio stations, all without our help. Again, all this occurred simply because Cheapass Games posted the link to the song on their website, nothing else! It turned out that they have a large, built-in audience. Their website was so popular that when searching on "Beer Cans" on Google at that point, our demo song was on the first page of links.  Because we had already gotten a lot of exposure, it was already a great success. It could have ended there. But, applying the Standing Out Lesson, we took this idea a step further.  

We always enjoyed Cheapass Games’ games, especially their sense of humor. With the success of our "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" demo, we tried to figure out a way to support their efforts. Since most of their games were as tongue-in-cheek as our own music, we felt we had something to offer them. Plus, since Cheapass games is an indie game company, just like we are an indie band, we felt a special kinship to them. We wrote the company and made a proposal: we would write an album inspired by or based upon Cheapass Games and call it a musical product catalog and ambassador to hopefully help spread the word about Cheapass Games to a whole different audience; the music community. Of course, knowing the Standing Out Lesson, we were also hoping to help spread the word about Beatnik Turtle to the game community. To our pleasant surprise, James Ernest himself wrote back and said he not only did he like the idea and the and the music we wrote, but also Cheapass Games would be willing to sell and promote it through his business channels along with his games.  

The scope of his company is worldwide and Cheapass Games ships thousands of units of product a month. A CD is small and can fit inside of even the small game boxes that in which he ships his products (about the size of the old CD longboxes.) We know of very few indie bands that have access to this worldwide distribution. We were extremely lucky that this all nicely fell into place and that Cheapass’ off-the-wall sense of humor meshed well with our own sense of humor and musical style.  

The benefits of such a collaboration included:

1.      Inspiration - We wrote 12 songs for this album, and we did it in a short amount of time because we had a catalog of games and game concepts to work from.

2.      Distribution & Exposure - For a band, the two of the most difficult things to overcome are distribution of physical CDs (not shipping from a site like cdbaby.com, but selling from actual stores,) and exposure. A CD being sold in a game store is unique. It might catch people's eyes. And, it may catch the attention of the people who love Cheapass Games  (it turns out, like Apple Computers, Cheapass Games has a dedicated following) who hopefully will enjoy and get a kick out of an entire album of songs based on the games that they have grown to love and play. In other words, we were able to reach out to an entirely new audience for our music.

3.      Promotion - Being fans of Cheapass, we gladly promote their games and, in turn,  the company promotes our music and band name. Since the album is about or inspired by the company’s games and has the company’s look-and-feel,  the company is firmly promoting their own company, not simply an indie band. After all, if someone hears and enjoys the song "Cube Farm" maybe she'll buy the game. And, because Cheapass Games is promoting the album to their own games publications rather than music publications, we’ve finally been able to apply the Standing Out Lesson in its purest form – getting our album and music in publications not typically known for reviewing music, thereby creating the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the Standing Out Lesson.

4.      An Interesting, Press-Friendly, Built-In Story - When we send this album to music publications, it has a unique and interesting built-in story. One that hopefully is a little more interesting than "Band Releases New Album." Like the Dolphin’s successful application and bid to get SecondCity for a seven week run of shows, hopefully our press and album kit will stand out from the crowd and go to the top of the stack thanks to the unique collaboration and story behind the album. The idea is to create the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the  Standing Out Lesson .

5.      Cool Album Art by a Well-Known Artist - One of the best side-benefits of the Cheapass Album project was that James Ernest got the band in touch with an artist who does work for Cheapass Games, the world-renowned Phil Foglio. He agreed to do the cover art. Soon, we were talking with Phil directly. After a few discussions we hit on the idea that the cover should be many of Cheapass Games’ characters playing instruments on stage – as if they were the band. While it cost some money to have him do the cover, he now sells the album on his own website, and helps to distribute and promote the album, again throwing The Cheapass Album in front of an entirely different audience. Being as talented as he is, it should come to no surprise that Phil’s got a very dedicated following. Some of our album sales alone can be attributed to the fact he drew the cover, and the album artist promotes and sells the album on his own website. How many independent bands get that? (By the way, if you’re into comics or art, we encourage you to learn more about Phil by visiting www.studiofoglio.com).

6.      A Licensing Deal with ABCFamily/Disney  - The song "Get Out" on the Cheapass Album is based on the Cheapass Game “Get Out.” The theme of the game is that all of the players are living in their parent's basement. Each person races to get a job, get an apartment, and get a life. The song practically wrote itself.

After the album had been out for a year, out of the blue, we got a call from ABCFamily (part of Disney.) They contacted us about licensing the song. It turns out that they had a reality show called Kicked Out in which they kick out a 20-something and follow him as he got his first job, did his own laundry, and struggled to get by on his own. Our song "Get Out" had a chorus that was perfect to use underneath their ads. We completed the deal and brought some income to the band.  

When we pressed Disney to find out how they heard of Beatnik Turtle, and the song, they only said, "It was on someone's iPod." Whether the person was a game-lover and liked Cheapass Games enough to buy the album, or they file shared it for free, the increased exposure that we got from Cheapass Games got us a licensing deal. We're hoping that it leads to more deals like this one.

Next: Idea #3: Make a Holiday Album

Two of the biggest problems that an independent band faces are distribution and promotion. If you can write music for a business, they can both promote and distribute your music, especially if they make retail products. If you can write music about their products or their company, its an ego boost for them. They are not promoting a band, they are promoting themselves. There are a lot of very clever businesses out there that sell interesting or trendy products, and you can hitch your own fame onto their success, and marketing.

Whereas in the past, making commercials was seen as "selling out," the ad campaigns of VW and similar companies have been known to boost obscure bands into popularity. But you don't have to aim for large companies, even small companies can help you get your music to many new fans.

The Cheapass Album & Cheapass Games

Beatnik Turtle tried this team-up technique with a unique games manufacturer with a devoted following.  It started out accidentally, after we found inspiration in an usual place; a board game. The game we were playing was called "Deadwood" – an off-the-wall game designed and manufactured by Cheapass Games in Seattle. As we were playing it, one of the band members drew a card that read "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" We immediately thought, “What a great song idea!” A few weeks later, the song was written and a demo was recorded. A new song was born and added to our set list.

It certainly could have ended there, but then we hit on the idea to email the game company and share the song that they had unwittingly inspired. We sent them the song and, surprisingly, they wrote back the next day and asked if they could put it up on their website. Within a few months of it being posted, the demo was downloaded well over 5000 times. Soon, it took on a life of its own, winding up on blogs, message boards, and internet radio stations, all without our help. Again, all this occurred simply because Cheapass Games posted the link to the song on their website, nothing else! It turned out that they have a large, built-in audience. Their website was so popular that when searching on "Beer Cans" on Google at that point, our demo song was on the first page of links.  Because we had already gotten a lot of exposure, it was already a great success. It could have ended there. But, applying the Standing Out Lesson, we took this idea a step further.

We always enjoyed Cheapass Games’ games, especially their sense of humor. With the success of our "Were All These Beer Cans Here Last Night?" demo, we tried to figure out a way to support their efforts. Since most of their games were as tongue-in-cheek as our own music, we felt we had something to offer them. Plus, since Cheapass games is an indie game company, just like we are an indie band, we felt a special kinship to them. We wrote the company and made a proposal: we would write an album inspired by or based upon Cheapass Games and call it a musical product catalog and ambassador to hopefully help spread the word about Cheapass Games to a whole different audience; the music community. Of course, knowing the Standing Out Lesson, we were also hoping to help spread the word about Beatnik Turtle to the game community. To our pleasant surprise, James Ernest himself wrote back and said he not only did he like the idea and the and the music we wrote, but also Cheapass Games would be willing to sell and promote it through his business channels along with his games.

The scope of his company is worldwide and Cheapass Games ships thousands of units of product a month. A CD is small and can fit inside of even the small game boxes that in which he ships his products (about the size of the old CD longboxes.) We know of very few indie bands that have access to this worldwide distribution. We were extremely lucky that this all nicely fell into place and that Cheapass’ off-the-wall sense of humor meshed well with our own sense of humor and musical style.

The benefits of such a collaboration included:

1.      Inspiration - We wrote 12 songs for this album, and we did it in a short amount of time because we had a catalog of games and game concepts to work from.

2.      Distribution & Exposure - For a band, the two of the most difficult things to overcome are distribution of physical CDs (not shipping from a site like cdbaby.com, but selling from actual stores,) and exposure. A CD being sold in a game store is unique. It might catch people's eyes. And, it may catch the attention of the people who love Cheapass Games  (it turns out, like Apple Computers, Cheapass Games has a dedicated following) who hopefully will enjoy and get a kick out of an entire album of songs based on the games that they have grown to love and play. In other words, we were able to reach out to an entirely new audience for our music.

3.      Promotion - Being fans of Cheapass, we gladly promote their games and, in turn,  the company promotes our music and band name. Since the album is about or inspired by the company’s games and has the company’s look-and-feel,  the company is firmly promoting their own company, not simply an indie band. After all, if someone hears and enjoys the song "Cube Farm" maybe she'll buy the game. And, because Cheapass Games is promoting the album to their own games publications rather than music publications, we’ve finally been able to apply the Standing Out Lesson in its purest form – getting our album and music in publications not typically known for reviewing music, thereby creating the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the Standing Out Lesson.

4.      An Interesting, Press-Friendly, Built-In Story - When we send this album to music publications, it has a unique and interesting built-in story. One that hopefully is a little more interesting than "Band Releases New Album." Like the Dolphin’s successful application and bid to get SecondCity for a seven week run of shows, hopefully our press and album kit will stand out from the crowd and go to the top of the stack thanks to the unique collaboration and story behind the album. The idea is to create the exact same situation that the sailing CD that we described in the  Standing Out Lesson .

5.      Cool Album Art by a Well-Known Artist - One of the best side-benefits of the Cheapass Album project was that James Ernest got the band in touch with an artist who does work for Cheapass Games, the world-renowned Phil Foglio. He agreed to do the cover art. Soon, we were talking with Phil directly. After a few discussions we hit on the idea that the cover should be many of Cheapass Games’ characters playing instruments on stage – as if they were the band. While it cost some money to have him do the cover, he now sells the album on his own website, and helps to distribute and promote the album, again throwing The Cheapass Album in front of an entirely different audience. Being as talented as he is, it should come to no surprise that Phil’s got a very dedicated following. Some of our album sales alone can be attributed to the fact he drew the cover, and the album artist promotes and sells the album on his own website. How many independent bands get that? (By the way, if you’re into comics or art, we encourage you to learn more about Phil by visiting www.studiofoglio.com).

6.      A Licensing Deal with ABCFamily/Disney  - The song "Get Out" on the Cheapass Album is based on the Cheapass Game “Get Out.” The theme of the game is that all of the players are living in their parent's basement. Each person races to get a job, get an apartment, and get a life. The song practically wrote itself.

After the album had been out for a year, out of the blue, we got a call from ABCFamily (part of Disney.) They contacted us about licensing the song. It turns out that they had a reality show called Kicked Out in which they kick out a 20-something and follow him as he got his first job, did his own laundry, and struggled to get by on his own. Our song "Get Out" had a chorus that was perfect to use underneath their ads. We completed the deal and brought some income to the band.

When we pressed Disney to find out how they heard of Beatnik Turtle, and the song, they only said, "It was on someone's iPod." Whether the person was a game-lover and liked Cheapass Games enough to buy the album, or they file shared it for free, the increased exposure that we got from Cheapass Games got us a licensing deal. We're hoping that it leads to more deals like this one.