1. Give them three songs to learn of different styles.

2. Make sure the band knows those songs.

3. When they arrive explain how you will run these three songs.

4. If the songs go ok, you can “wing it” and “jam” or whatever. If things are not going good, you can thank them for their time, and let them go.

We didn’t do these and we had a drummer who couldn’t sing, show up and he hadn’t learned any of our songs, and wanted us to play music from the band foreigner. It went on WAAAY too long, and we know he wasn’t a good fit after the third song.

But Wait There is More. Then I stumbled across Zack Andrew who was tired of hearing everyone say, “You should go on America’s got talent.” Zack combines the unlikely skills of classical guitar and beat boxing. He looked into the contract and not only do they mention that the show may MAKE UP information about you to make you look interesting (I assume), but you sign away your rights to pretty much everything. You’ll be the next hot thing until next year’s winner. Wow.

This also works for Video. The only bad side of this player is it won’t work on an iPad (not HTML5 complaint). It’s only $49, and you can completely “skin” the player and have it match your website. For more information go to www.marketingmusician.com/wimpy

http://news.yahoo.com/wake-up–media-moguls–louis-c-k–no-drm-video-makes–200k.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/1801712/will-louis-ck-open-his-web-platform-for-aspiring-comics

The interesting point I feel is people will pay with money or time to get your music. teenagers who have more time than money tend to steal music illegally. Older people have more money than time and may fork out the $12 for the new tunes. In this example, Louis shows that if you make the price low enough, the people who are steeling your music may find that its less painful to part with the cash than the time it would take to copy it through illegal channels. It doesn’t take much. There are some great plugins you can use on your website to sell digital products.

Tweet For A Track

This tool at www.tweetforatrack.com is designed to help you music get seen your friends retweeting a post you provide in return for free music. The idea is yo give people one track and in return you music gets seen in front of new people. Have you tried this? Any thoughts? Leave your interesting and insightful comments below.

If you want to stream a concert, you could sell tickets at eventbrite.com and stream it via usteam.tv or mixlr.com

None the less, here is the video.

Stageit.com from Stageit on Vimeo.

1. Do a search for the topic of your video.

2. Find the most popular video of that search result.

3. Look at the tags for that video and use the same tags.

4. Now when people watch the popular video, you have a better chance of having your video show up as a related video.

Man Your Website Sucks!

Thanks to Hue Patrice of http://rockaixpress.com point out that http://bigtroubless.angelfire.com/ “Man that website sucks!”

Stumble Upon To Promote Your Music

I was reading an  Article at the CDBaby DIY Podcast site, and it turns out “The Bolt” is a StumbleUpon addict. I’ve heard that StumbleUpon brings you traffic, but it doesn’t give you quality traffic. As most people are coming to judge your website (not sit and listen). It is addicting. You may find interesting things such as How to hijack a street sign.  With this mind, I throw this out to you. have you had any quality visitors from StumbleUpon? If I was submitting my website to StumbleUpon, I would make a page where people can listen to my music and hope that the music makes them stick around.

Here are services mentioned in this episode

GoPayment from Intuit 2.70 if swiped, 3.7 if entered manually.

Square Up 2.75 for swipe and 3.5 +.15 for manually entered.

Check Your Tweets with Crowd Booster

Tired of complex monitoring software? Quickly identify your most effective messages – drill down to see the impact of each Tweet and Facebook post. Their technology suggests who you should engage with and how to improve the content and timing for your messages. The more you use Crowd booster, the smarter their suggestions get. For more information go to crowdbooster.com

Hello A Show

They call themselves the Craig’s List for bands and venues. I’m a little uneasy that this is built on “Google Sites”… You may want to check it out.

In the same way that there is an art and craft to songwriting, there is also a craft to writing and using language in general and these word-related skills can play a big part in how effectively you communicate with fans – especially online.

In this article I’m going to quickly address something called “point of view” and why it’s so important — namely, when to use the First Person, Second Person, or Third Person perspective when talking about and describing your music.

You probably learned these things in school. But just in case you forgot the details, here’s a refresher on what they are:

• First Person is when you write about yourself: “I just wrote a new song” or “We have a big show coming up this weekend.”
• Second Person is when you speak directly to the reader: “You will really enjoy this new song” or “You should come to our show this Saturday night.” (The second example actually combines first and second points of view in both “you” and “our” terms.)
• Third Person speaks from a more distant, observer viewpoint: “Suzy just wrote a new song” or “The XYZ band has a big show coming up this weekend.”

Great. You’re back on track with what these three things are. Now, how can you use them to more powerfully communicate with fans?

First, let’s consider the way a band might describe the music on it’s new album. Here’s one version written in the Third Person:

“On this new album, the listener will be swept away by the pulsating rhythms as his or her body is compelled to get up, shimmy and shake the night away. A perfect gift for the special dancer in one’s life.”

That’s cool, but it could be made much stronger with a simple shift in perspective. Here’s an alternate version of the same words written in the Second Person:

“On this new album, you’ll be swept away by the pulsating rhythms as your body is compelled to get up, shimmy and shake the night away. A perfect gift for yourself or that special dancer in your life.”

See the subtle difference? “YOU” is a powerful word. In most cases, speaking directly to your fans in this way (and actually helping them visualize how they’ll enjoy the music) is the best way to write about your sounds.

Now let’s consider how you might approach an artist bio, especially when it comes to putting a positive spin on what you do. In fact, I’ll use myself as an example here, because I just got some nice press coverage that I plan to add to my bio.

Here’s one way I could weave it in using the Third Person point of view:

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Bob Baker is “one of the most widely recognized authorities on music marketing. A prolific writer, indie musician and former music magazine editor, Baker is regarded as one of the industry’s leaders in helping musicians leverage online web and marketing strategies to boost their careers.”

Pretty cool, huh? Quoting a media source works pretty well here.

Now consider how that same information would feel if it had been written in First Person:

I am one of the most widely recognized authorities on music marketing. A prolific writer, indie musician and former music magazine editor, I am regarded as one of the industry’s leaders in helping musicians leverage online web and marketing strategies to boost their careers.

Hmm … awkward! Yep, that version would make me look like an egotistical baffoon. So when it comes to heaping praise on yourself, be cautious and consider quoting a fan, industry expert or media person instead of saying it yourself.

So, is there ever a good time to write in the First Person?

Of course, there is. First Person is great when telling personal stories and giving people a glimpse into your world, such as:

“You’ll never believe what happened to us when we stopped at a 7-11 in Biloxi , Mississippi. It was close to midnight and I had a sudden urge for a Slurpee ..”

“I’d love to tell you the surprising reason I wrote this song and why it means so much to me …”

So there you have it …

• Use First Person when sharing personal stories and your inner most thoughts.
• Use Second Person when describing your music, promoting shows, and encouraging fans to buy.
• Use Third Person to quote other people saying awesome things about you.
• Combine First and Second Person for even greater impact, as in “I want you to know how much I appreciate you and your support.”

Bob Baker is the author of “Guerrilla Music Marketing Online,” Berkleemusic’s “Music Marketing 101” course, and many other books and promotion resources for DIY artists, managers and music biz pros. You’ll find Bob’s free ezine, blog, podcast, video clips, and articles at www.TheBuzzFactor.com and www.MusicPromotionBlog.com.

Other Sites Mentioned in this Episode

Looking for creative ideas for your next flyer? Check out www.peelpost.com

Ann Roose left a comment on the last episode and said she has used Gigsalad.com as a way to get more gigs. She has also taken the skills she has learned from promoting her book  The Musician’s Guide to Brides: How to Make Money Playing Weddings and launched a new website at www.yourwebwriter.com

Music

Today’s song Avatar Girl is from Rich Palmer at www.richpalmer.com courtesy of Music Alley.