Just for kicks, I like to read through craigslist and crumbs for the band advertisements. Musicians looking for other musicians to form a band. I must be honest, that most musicians are horrible when it comes to writing ads. If most of these musicians claim they are so professional at what they do, you’d think they would make a professional enough looking band ad?

Most of the band advertisement are some of the worst writing skills I’ve ever seen. Plus a lot of them are kind of negative and a bit egotistical. How can they be?

Almost all of them say they are an “established” band, when I’m sure they aren’t really “established”. A lot of them try to make themselves look good. They also say, “No egos” a lot in band ads which is kind of negative. When you say that stuff in your ad, it makes you the ego-maniac instead. You need to be careful of what you say in your ads or you won’t get many replies or none at all.

I’ve also seen a lot of ads with just one or two sentences written with no detail at all.

If you want to get other musicians interested in your ad, you need to catch their interest in some way. By explaining everything in a more positive attitude. Explain how many members you want and what instruments you’re looking for. Explain the age range, explain the genre you’re going to play.

“No egos, No drugs, and no alcohol” has been said a lot in those ads but I disagree with it. It is kind of rude and disrespectful. Make your ad fun & interesting like post a few lyric samples or mp3 samples of your music, that also helps.

I shouldn’t be giving this advice when I never had a band, but when I do, this will be a good lesson for me as well. Write a long ad, not a short one. Explaining everything in detail of what you’re looking for really helps get a lot of responses in. Post pictures too if you have ’em. Make it interesting. It’ll help get them interested in auditioning for you.

Kev