Social Media for Unsigned Bands

Using Social Media

Social Media is most certainly not a fad, and if all your fans are there, it would seem a pretty good idea for you to be there too. You cannot expect to just create a Facebook or Twitter account and instantly have masses of people following you. You have to interact, be personal, and lure them into your fan page. In this article I’ll share with you three ways you can effectively drive more fans to your social media networks through creating a good first impression, connecting with people who share similar interests, and using video marketing to build hype and personally engage with your fans.

1. Create an Enticing Facebook Landing Page

If Facebook were a country it would be the 4th largest in the World, so you have a free opportunity to share your music on a global scale. People who land on your page want to know about you immediately (the world of social media is an impatient one) so to increase your conversion rate from visitors to fans you should make the first page a visitor lands on as compelling as you can. Thankfully ReverbNation have created an app to make this process a whole lot easier:

Reverb Nation’s Band Profile Tool

ReverbNation just recently upgraded its popular Facebook app, and have integrated some interesting new features to help grow your fan base. The free app incorporates a brand new feature called ‘Fan Boosters’ where you can activate features including ‘require like to access media content,’ ‘require share to for music download’ and require email sign up for music downloads,’ each addressing today’s key social networking goals; getting fans to share, like and subscribe to your content.

This app is also very easy to set up and has a simplistic interface that is easy on the eye. It shows visitors all your releases, upcoming gigs, biography, videos, photos and press quotes, all to give a great first impression to your visitors, compelling them to ‘like’ or ‘share’ your fan page to increase your followers.

2. Connect With People Who Share Similar Interests in Music
Often you will find artists new to social networking following all of their friends or sendingeverybody invites to follow their fan page. One must ask, are they really interested in your music? Rather than adding everyone you know, you want to be connecting and engaging with people who have a genuine interest in your music. Twilert is free web app that enables you to receive email updates containing tweets mentioning any keyword you choose. This is an invaluable tool to help you connect with people who share the same musical interests as yourself, and if you follow them they will most likely give you a follow in return.!

3. Use Live Video Streaming to Personally Engage with your Fans and Build Hype
A lot of big artists are now using live video streams to connect more personally with their fans. By using live video streams it allows your fans to ask questions and share feedback on your music and can be used further as a marketing tool to build hype prior to a release, or even to broadcast a live performance that could possibly attract thousands of users within the live streaming website. To reach the largest audience you can, you should consider becoming a dedicated user of all the top live video streaming sites:

Ustream.tv – ‘Ustream is the leading live interactive broadcast platform. Anyone with an internet connection and a camera can start engaging with their family, friends or fans anytime, anywhere.’

Qik – ‘Qik, the leading mobile video sharing service, lets you record and share the experience with your friends, family and your favorite social networks’

Justin.tv – ‘Justin.tv is the easiest way to create live video and show anyone in the world what’s happening right now. Using only a laptop, you can share your event, class, party or thoughts, live, to anyone in over 250 countries while they chat in real-time with you and with other viewers.’

Vokle – ‘With the Vokle platform you can hold your own live video streaming event in real time right on your own website without directing your watchers and participants to a different website’

Explore each of these three ways in which to expand your fan base using social media comprehensively, and you will see an increase in the amount of relevant followers on each of your social networks, but the size of this increase will be determined by how hard you are willing to work. Go for it!

Taking on the Old Enemy

Only Joking, the press used to be known as the enemy but for the unsigned acts they will pretty much be your best friend. However you need to go into interviews and press pieces with your eyes open. The amount of acts I have interviewed who mumble, giggle or sit in silence when you interview them is incredible. To be totally honest about 50-75% of the interviews I undertake I simply can’t do anything with. Again, to make it in this business you need to have a certain level of professionalism.

There are 2 core things that you need to keep in your mind every time you do an interview. Firstly and most importantly what do you want to get out of the interview? What is your aim? Secondly you need to think about why the press person is interviewing you and what do they want to get from you? The second part is usually pretty easy, they want readers to be interested in what you say and ultimately push their Magazine, Fanzine, etc. So they want interest and entertainment. The first part is core for you. What do you need to let them know? Are you playing a gig soon, hosting and event, releasing a CD – you simply must get this across and always have something to talk about.

To be totally honest you will always get a set of pretty similar questions but the true pro will do their home work. Read the publications previous interviews and prepare answers (loosely, don’t learn them parrot fashion). Have a few anecdotes to roll out, a few gig stories, a few interesting facts – sure you will end up rolling these out in most interviews but if you keep reinforcing your image people and potential fans will start to become familiar with you.

More Soon

BA

Top Tips for Home Recording

So having listened to around 200 new songs this month varying from hip-hop to country, Via Death metal and saccharine pop I notice a simple thing that makes me want to keep on listening rather than press skip. Its recording. Now I know most can’t afford to rent out Abbey Road and home recording is quicker and cheaper but there is always one flaw.
Let me put it this way, if you are going to record one track well (notice that word) and mix it to a level where people will happily part with their cash and not feel ripped off then you should expect to spend 1 day in a studio with a proper engineer. If you are doing it at home you should aim to finish a single track in 3-4 days. You must strive for perfection and scrutinise every single detail. Mix, remix, re-re-remix is the order of the day. Now I have 100’s of tips and opinions on this but here’s a few that I was reminded of by 90% of the tracks I have recently listened to.

Mics

Here is one area not to scrimp. Microphones make or break a track, even if it is just for vocals. I strongly recommend buying a good quality mic simply for recording so it does not get damaged in the live arena. Personally I don’t think you can go wrong with Shure but shop around as prices vary dramatically. I have seen the Shure SM-57 (great for recording) as low as £46!

Reverb

It seems that people discover reverb and realise it can hide a manner of sins. DON’T overdo it. I have heard so many lead vocals lately where the singer sounds like they are performing in a tunnel. Learn the art of reverb, experiment and get others view on different levels –It is far better to redo a vocal over and over than try to mask a poor performance with a tonne of reverb.

Volumes

It does amaze me that people don’t play with these throughout a track. Nothing makes a song sound flatter than a “One size fits all” approach. Boost the chorus, build the intro, and drop the middle 8. Playing with volumes is guaranteed to grab the listener’s attention and make you sound more dynamic. Don’t overdo it as when it comes to volumes a little change makes a big difference.

Vocal

I don’t know if people are shy or other musicians fight harder to be heard but face facts, most people when they first listen to a new piece of music are focusing (albeit subconsciously) on the vocal track. Push it to the front and make sure you hear every word, every refrain – if your bass player thinks it is too loud it is probably just right!

Drums

Drums are a nightmare to record. You need tonnes of good mikes, loads of tracks and somewhere relatively sound proof to avoid horrible, song ruining “White Noise” (that horrible underlying hiss). I am quite a big advocate of quality drum machines (a good one nowadays will set you back around £100). It never loses beat, never speeds up and never tries to have sex with the lead singer’s girlfriend (only joking drummers!) seriously add some effects and you can get it to sound live- this is vital so it does not sound too mechanical and stale. Look into it

Compression

Most modern multi-track recorders or software packages have compression and I am a fan. Again don’t overdo it but experiment with it. Many people don’t understand what they are trying to achieve with compression. It is used to tighten the peaks and drops to make a more dynamic sound. A good understanding and use of compression effects will make you sound very professional.

So there are a few tips and I promise to do another blog with more soon. Do you have any top home recording tips? If so let me know via the comments section – let’s help each other out people.

Till the next time

Don't Do this - It's NOT the Law!!

Hello all

I was speaking to a couple of guys the other day who have just finished recording a 10 track album which they are really please with and after a brief listen I think they may have recorded something quite special. Anyway we got round to talking about Copyrighting their music and they informed me they had sorted it already. Wow I said how much did it cost you (knowing that some people charge an absolute fortune to do this). Nothing they said. It turns out they have believed the old “poor man’s copyright” story.

If you have never heard of this let me quickly fill you in. The concept is simple. The idea of copyright is to prove (in case of plagiarism) that you had a particular idea first. So under the “poor man’s copyright” theory you burn a CD, put it in an envelope and send it to yourself. Then when it arrives never open it and keep it in a safe place. The idea is that the piece of mail will have a date stamp on it proving that the music on it was created at that particular time. So in 10 years time you can sue the latest Simon Cowell robot that is stealing, and I imagine murdering, your song.

THIS IS A MODERN DAY MYTH AND WILL NOT STAND UP IN A COURT OF LAW

Sorry to break it to you but there is no provision for such an activity in Copyright Law. It is kinda obvious why as it is so open to being faked. You could send yourself an empty envelope, not seal the envelope and put anything in it, etc,etc. I know a load of bands think that this is ok and will give them some level of protect but it will not give you any protection at all. In fact you could even in extreme examples face a lawsuit of your own for such a move.

Copyrighting is not that expensive anymore, particularly if you do it online. I have heard about 2 UK companies that offer Copywriting for a good price (Please note: I have no affiliation with these companies – see no affiliate links and no need to mention Band assist. Plus I have not delved 100% into them so do a bit of due diligence yourself):

Copyright Services – provide a 5 year copyright for 1 song for £39 or 10 years for £65

Protect my work – do things a little differently and you pay £25 a year then it only costs £1 per song after that (at the moment they seem to be offering 5 free songs when you sign up.)

Copyrighting your work is always a good idea – there are a lot of bad people out there looking to make cash from others hard work – but it is not essential to copyright everything straight away. If you have the funds get it done, if not just focus on the music – you can always write another Rock Anthem!

Till next time

Should you compete?

I often get asked about battle of the bands competitions and their value. There certainly seems to be a great deal of scepticism surrounding them with many of you thinking they are fixed! Now I can’t speak on all of them but in the past I have heard from a member of a panel that before the final of a national competition she was instructed to vote a certain way as a deal had been put in place. It also seems to be a common phenomenon that these competitions are simply vast money making machines where bands have to sell ticked at quite expensive prices.

The Negatives

Well selling tickets at an over-inflated prices can damage your gigs around the same time as people can’t attend both (so plan gigs carefully in this period). A lot of promoter for battle of the bands actually award points for selling tickets which puts some people at a severe disadvantage and it would seem popularity/number of friends is more highly valued than talent. Personally I have never bought a CD due to the artists number of friends, maybe I’m missing out! This does mean that bands at college or school tend to do pretty well here as they have a vast pool to draw on.

The other issue is does not doing well in such a competition make you look bad? If you came dead last, potentially through no fault of your own, does this mean people may write of your music in the future?

My Advice

On the plus side due to the increased pressure to sell tickets these events are usually really well attended and can get you in front of a larger crowd, many of which may never go to gigs. So you could actually pick up a few fans and sell some CD’s. The key thing here is to play harder and better than you ever have. Win over the crowd rooting for another act and try to pick up as many fans as possible. Treat it as a real opportunity and don’t focus on winning plus make sure everyone in the band feels the same. Your aim for this gig is to gain fans not win prizes.

Finally even if you don’t win you can put a positive spin on it stating you go through to the final or even the fact that you were selected to play in the first place above other acts.

See you soon

Introducing, Introducing

Ok so a quick update for today. I am sure 90% of you already know about this service and are using it so this post if for those of you not familiar with BBC Introducing.

This is a absolute must for bands and you really should use it to it's full extent. It is a new place to load songs, information and gigs onto the 3rd most popular site in the world! Aside from having a presence you can also get a break here for periodically the BBC pick acts for various events and activities. For example you could feature on a local radio station, get to record a single or get on a festival stage PLUS it is free!

Personally I think this is a real bold step for the BBC to put resource into this and you need to be on here. So simply google "BBC Introducing" and get involved!

But ensure you put up as much as you can and don't leave bits blank - a photo, video and song are absolutely essential and don't forget to link it back to your own website. I would also recommend checking out some of the other bands pages and try to emulate them so your profile is professional and is attractive.

Advice from Blink 182

Not a massive fan but some very true words, worth a listen



Simple stuff but it is soooo true

Should you covet covers?

It is an age old question. Should unsigned bands cover well known bands? Should you start or end with a much loved tune or simply stick to your own material.

I am in two minds here to be honest:

When a Cover Works:

In previous bands and projects we have often thrown a well known cover that everyone can get into - think "Whole lotta love" by Zepplin, "Paradise City" by Guns or "sex is on Fire" by the kings of Leon. They can really grab the audiences attention and make them engage with you then you can take them along the trip with your tunes or finish with a much loved song to end on a huge crescendo. Yep I have had some of my best audience reactions from playing covers live plus it's so easy to learn someone else's stuff.

The Problem

The problem is no matter how good your stuff is due to the audiences familiarity with the cover your material just won't stand up. You run the risk of people simply going away remembering that 1 song (albeit, an awesome rendition of it) and you can fast become the band/artist that covers "xxxxxx". I have also seen many a fine musician love the reaction to a cover that they throw in another, then another and soon your playing 50% original and 50% cover versions.

My 2 Cents (about 4p for us Brits)

I have a few feelings on this one:

1) have 2-3 create covers in your arsenal ready to bring out if a crowd is flagging and you want to grab their attention. Do not play them in consecutive gigs and replace them every 3-6 months, so you don't get too known for that song alone. The constants should be your material.

2) Make it different - many artists have changed a cover significantly and really made it their own. In fact many launch their careers in such a way. Look at Limp Bizkit with Faith, Robbie Williams with Freedom or the late Sid Vicious with My Way!

3) A little bit of honest plagiarism. Lets face it you probably have a few artists in your CD collection that most people won't have heard of but one or 2 of their songs are simply awesome on first listen. Why not cover them! DON'T Claim they are yours, just don't claim anything! This is honestly what Metallica did in their early days - they didn't have enough songs to fill a set so padded it out with obscure yet catchy covers.

Use covers sparingly and cleverly. Plus if you are going down the road of altering an original to make it your own be prepared to play it a fair bit, as people really latch onto this.

Good Luck

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