In the eighties it was all new romantics and hair metal, then grunge and britpop in the 90's among other things. Now we've got, um, skinny jeans but enough about them. The difference with now is that all of those new genres in the past never went away. This is evident when you take a look at what acts are playing in your nearest city. There's new music like arctic monkeys and rhianna next to acts like AC/DC and Bob Dylan. It always surprises me who's still touring. So while punk, grunge, rave and all the rest all faded out of the mainstream after the initial scene wore out they never went away entirely.

Whatever music you play there will be a market for it somewhere no matter how small. How do you attract the attention of your market? Well, to start you need to decide what genre your music falls into. A lot of acts will pipe up and say "we're a fusion of rock, ska and pop". Unless you do genuinely fall into a mix of genres don't say you do. It will only confuse your potential audience. It also leads people to expect some crazy new sound. If you have one go for it but genres are there for a reason. So that people can find new music that they will have a better chance of liking. It's possible to alienate potential fans by describing your sound as emo hardcore when you're actually just rock.

Once you've decided what you sound like you can start to target the right people. Instead of random friend adding (something i'm guilty of) on social networking sites or putting up posters all over town (this works a treat if you've got a good budget behind you) try and focus your efforts on the people with an interest in your genre, people that are in your local area and also postering the hell out of your local venues. Social media sites have made it easier than ever to connect with your fan base and in my opinion do away with the middle man. I.e. The label. Once you're connected with your audience make sure you have something to offer them like a download, mailing list, video or a gig in their area. This should help you get your music in front of the right ears.