Nick's Street Team Needs You


Not necessarily sane, but beautiful...
Nick's chicks make a scene at the Edinburgh Fringe, August 2002


Note: some of this has been mercilessly cribbed from the work of Michelle J, Glenn Tilbrook field staffer extraordinaire, who set up this page to help get Glenn's music played on American radio stations. I'm pretty sure she won't mind, as a) imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and b) she's down with the Harpic massive as well. :) Thanks for your help, Michelle!

If you've come to this website, chances are that you are into Nick's work, either through hearing songs and/or seeing him live. You may have told other people how great you think he is. And you may have bemoaned him not getting more exposure through the music industry. I can hear you now: "If David Gray can be top of the charts, why can't Nick?" Okay, maybe that was just me. ;) Maybe you're also thinking, "How can we make a difference? How can we help get Nick to the masses?" Well, congratulations - you're ready to become a member of the Nick Harper street team!

If you haven't heard the term before, street teams are groups of volunteer fans who give time and effort to support their favourite musicians in a (semi-)coordinated effort to help their careers. This can be online or offline, through hanging up gig posters or posting to Usenet message boards about tours. Especially for independent musicians like Nick, this can be really important - as important as press and publicity campaigns - in helping them continue to make music and get it across to their fans with no large record company behind them pulling the strings. This is totally grass roots, and totally motivated - you do it because you care.

So where's a good place to start? Below is a list of stations and shows that are likely to play Nick's music if we request it. The more "spins" Nick gets and the more live sessions he plays, the more publicity he gets *for free*, the more people are exposed to his music - and the more likely people are to buy his records and go to his gigs!

This list is by no means exhaustive - at the moment it only covers some of the UK. If you have any likely candidates you'd like to add, drop us a line and let us know at info@houseofharper.co.uk

As for the list - what you do with it is, you find your area and/or the show/festival you like. Then you call them, you fax them, you email them, you text them, you post to their message board, and in all these ways you cajole them to get Nick (either live or on record) on the air or onstage. If they don't have his albums, you tell them to contact Nick's site or Quixotic and get them, because they would love to be the first on the block to play this great "new" talent.

The key is, don't call just once. Try as many times as you like. Get your friends to contact them too. Heap praise on the station for their great shows. Let them know that their fantastic station will be that much better for playing Nick Harper's music. And you beg and you beg and you badger them. Especially when Nick is in town or about to be in town playing a gig or a festival. Piece of cake...

We hope to expand this page with more promotional ideas, so feel free to submit yours to us, we'll be happy to credit you. In the meantime, have fun, make waves, and spread the Harperlove... the street team salutes you!

UK radio stations UK television stations/shows UK music festivals Music download providers

Updated 11 October 2005
© PLC 2004-5