New York, NY (September 5, 2008) - Shouts to The Coolfer for this one, hadn’t seen it until duke mentioned it. It’s sort of like Wikipedia for artists, but the functionality is a little different and you can add/do more things. Sort of a social/educational tool. It’s taken the SonicBids EPK concept, and blended it with Wikipedia and MySpace (I’d say Facebook, but the design isn’t as clean and there are advertisements). Not a bad resource, you should think about jumping on. Check:
The site allows users to create and edit pages for artists, albums songs and labels (you can log in with your Amazon.com user ID and password). Unlike a typical Wikipedia entry for an artist, album or song, the pages at SoundUnwound are so far sparse or completely blank — and sometimes far more poorly written than a typical Wikipedia entry. Radiohead’s entry is fine, for example, while Robert Earl Keen’s entry is paltry. Since the site was only recently launched, so I imagine the quality and scope of the entries will be greatly improved over time.
In terms strictly of usability, SoundUnwound has a lot to offer. Along with text entries are YouTube videos, external website links and easy-to-browse, comprehensive discographies pulled from Amazon.com’s database. It succeeds in offering the quick artist history that makes Wikipedia so valuable for research. An album page has a list of the tracks and the ability to stream a clip or purchase the track at Amazon.com. I have not run across a buy button for a complete album, and purchasing the CD requires navigating to an Amazon.com page. The genre pages benefit from Amazon.com purchase history by offering a selection of top ranked titles. (If you’re curious, check out the pages for Latin, shoegaze, bebop or doom metal.) Hopefully some serious sub-genre wonks will fill out those pages well. The artist timeline page is a nice feature, although it is not contained within the main artist page.
That’s obviously not the logo, but it’s a cool-ass picture (dude is breakin the sound barrier, people). Plus my homie Adam flies the F-18 and is headed overseas this week for a 7-month tour to provide close air support to our troops on the ground in Afghanistan, among other places. Big ups to him and his family; here’s to a safe tour, thun. GET SOME!!!
New York, NY (September 3, 2008) – Loud.com. Homeboy Sandman. Fat Beats. Need we say more? If you missed the Full Volume portion, click here.
In the first video, Boy Sand gets open for an interview and discusses the finer points of his beard, his latest record (”Actual Factual Pterodactyl”), touring, his Unsigned Hype column and Double Dragons (yes, the video game). The second vid reveals more about his marketing grind here in NYC and all over the web (aka, being interplanetarily known). Say word!
New York, NY (August 25, 2008) - The Washington Post ran this piece on the state of blogs in Corporate America. Nothing really new, but you get the sense something is about to change on the web again in the next few years. I get the distinct impression people are already tiring of corporate saturation. Read:
…Of the approximately 112.5 million blogs on the Web, almost 5,000 are corporate, according to blog indexer Technorati. Calacanis blogged to start conversations and be a part of a virtual community, but corporate bloggers are in it for other reasons: talking directly to customers or giving a personal touch to a big business.
“It’s a phenomenal promotion vehicle for a company, or a great crisis tool or a great customer service tool,” said Geoff Livingston, a public relations strategist and social media expert.
Smaller businesses are experimenting, too, since a blog can be an economical way of getting attention.
“It’s a small business, so we don’t have a marketing budget,” said Robb Duncan, who began a blog for his Georgetown gelato shop, Dolcezza, about two years ago. “We’ve never done any ads or promoting because we can’t afford it. So I guess its kind of guerrilla marketing, and it’s free.”
When his second store opened in Bethesda in July, Duncan used his blog to advertise an opening night ice cream giveaway. He ended up serving over 300 gallons of ice cream to more than 1,000 customers that night.
Though blogs may not always yield immediate results, they can be part of a “halo effect” that ultimately gives a business a bigger online presence, says Debbie Weil, a corporate blogging consultant and author of “The Corporate Blogging Book.” “I think that the really important thing about using a blog as a business strategy is that usually you cannot connect the dots directly from blogs to revenue,” Weil said.
The tough part isn’t creating a blog; it’s generating attention around your product. If the shit isn’t dope, chances are, you aren’t going to succeed. In the same way that people discovered good music and good products first-hand, the blog is just an extension of your personality and brand. If you can’t effectively communicate yourself that way, your potential for success is severely limited. But blogger beware - instant access to millions is an easy way to get yourself in trouble. Post wisely.
New York, NY (August 19, 2008) - KnowTheMusicBiz.com caught up with TuneCore SVP Peter Wells and he offered some advice about making the industry work for you. Read the entire article here:
TIP #3: Define Your Own Success
Before looking into any kind of marketing and promotion, ask yourself:
* Who do you want to hear your music and why?
* How do you want them to listen?
* Do you want them to buy your music, and when, and how?
* Where do money, fame and your own musical career fit in?
Notice the first question-why should you ask why? Your music is good, right, isn’t that reason enough? And why should it matter how they listen? Isn’t it understood you want them to buy your music? What does “buy your music” really mean? These questions all highlight a trap, and if you don’t ask why, right at the beginning, you’re going to fall into it and exhaust yourself pursuing the wrong marketing and promotion.
Everyone markets and promotes for a different reason. A toothpaste manufacturer is wholly interested in making money (or perhaps branding), and selling toothpaste is how they plan to accumulate it. They promote their toothpaste to encourage people to buy it, they market their toothpaste to drive desire, to build demand. Music isn’t always so commercial: in fact, most people feel contemptuous towards music produced solely to sell or brand. Many consider it crass consumerism, or devoid of art. When you bring in beauty and art and even politics (if you don’t think music can have political aims, listen harder), the goals of creation are often very much at odds with making money.
So get a good idea of what you want your music to do. You wouldn’t be reading this article if you didn’t want it to get into at least a few hands, and presumably you’re not averse to making money when they get it. So now you have to ask “who, when and how,” and each of these has a value.
