Tech consultant for Olympia, Lacey, And Tumwater

Don’t Be Too Pushy With Your Promotion

Bands

When doing promotion some band’s can get very pushy. It’s to the point where it hurts them more than helps them. Take a look at the social profiles of some unsigned bands. It will be “Check out our MySpace at _____” Followed by “Check out our MySpace at _______”, etc. After they do that 5 or 6 times they give up because they are not getting anything out of it. Well DUH! You keep sending out the same message. So no one is paying attention!

Try being more strategic about it. Try posting a link to a download a day for a week. Get people in the habit of going to your website once a day. Also, don’t make the mistake of saying it’s a download when it’s just a stream on MySpace. People hate that. They expected to be able to download it and if they can only listen to it at home in front of their computer you will only piss them off and they might not come back.

You don’t have to release a song every day. What about having a friend record one of your concerts. Then post a song a day from that show. What about just news? You can announce that you have new merch, new graphics done, a new band member, describe a new song you finished writing that day at practice, etc. Just make sure and not be too pushy with one message. People will get bored and start to ignore you. The less strategic you are the less impact your messages will have. If you wonder why people are ignoring you, this could be why.

Think of it as a show. What would happen if you played the same song over and over again at every show. Please get pretty bored with that one song. They want to hear an entire set. Same thing goes for your online profile. Give them a show!  There are two bands that do an amazing job at this. One is a band called Mongrel. Adam is a social media master. He is constantly giving fans and friends new information on the band and almost never posts the same thing twice.  Go to http://www.myspace.com/mongrel to check them out.

The other band that really does this well is the band Pure Hatred. No they are not some racist band. But they are far from being “Politically correct” either. In fact one of the ways they engage their fans is to post truly tasteless (but really funny) jokes on their social networking pages. Actually this is one specific band member, but it works to promote the band because people keep watching his profile to find out what the next joke is. Then when he needs to push his band people are actually paying attention. Keep them entertained and they will keep watching. Go to http://www.purehatred.com/about.htm to find out more about Pure Hatred.

Top Three Tech Terms The Music Industry Gets Wrong

BadMusic

So I have to confess something. I worked on this post for months. In fact most of the posts I put on this site are things that I have been working on for months. That is why I find it so frustrating when someone gets offended because they think the post is something that they JUST posted to Facebook or Twitter.  However you can also think of it this way. What was getting under my skin several months ago is still current. It is still being done!  That just proves how out of control the problem I am talking about is. So this was originally supposed to be a “Top Ten List” because people eat that stuff up. Everyone loves top ten lists. So I tried as hard as I could to come up with ten. I just couldn’t. Shocking as it seems there is only three basic terms the music industry (or at least my contacts) get wrong on a regular basis. The problem is that they get them wrong so often and so badly that it seems that there are hundreds of things they are embarrassing themselves with.   Now keep in mind that these are not all the things they mess up on when technology is concerned. This is only the terms they use incorrectly.

1. Viral
What is the root word here people? It comes from the word virus. Way too often a press agent will send out a press release of the band’s “viral video”. Meaning that any video online used to market the band is viral. WRONG! The video might “Go Viral”, but you can’t announce that right out the gate. That’s like having a Mission Accomplished banner behind a president years before anything was accomplished. When it spreads like a virus and has had millions of views, then it has “gone viral”. You look like some old grandpa that doesn’t get the inner webs when you say other wise.

2. Download/Stream
If the band has a new song up on MySpace it is not “up for download”. Instead say “Streaming now for free at their MySpace!” A download means the fans can end up with an MP3 they can play when offline. Try not to confuse the two so often. It makes you sound like an idiot.

3. Leaked
As in “The Fartknockers just leaked their latest single. If it comes from an official source it is not a leak. The label cannot leak something. Someone at the label can leak it without permission, but those people get fired don’t they?

Top Ten Rules Of A Good Domain

Domain

Most bands don’t start off as serious. But many bands start off as a joke to do on the weekends (or just something to do in college), but end up having enough chemistry to become a hundred times bigger than ever planned. So even if this is “just for fun” you should keep in min that it may end up being a curse that follows you for life. Most of the legendary bands were started as “just for fun”.

1. Dot com is best
If you can get the website with the dot com that is best. Net is good if a squatter steals the com. The squatter site will not rank as high because it is a squatter site. If you can spell your band’s (or company’s) name by including the domain sufix, that can be good as well. As in Carr.as because someone else (not connected to me) already has Carras.com. That is known as a domain hack.

2. The shorter the better
The shorter the domain name the better. So if you can’t get Slayer.com don’t use MySlayerWebsiteOnline.com instead. Find another band name.

3. No dashes
If your band name is Stupid Twats, don’t get the domain name Stupid-Twats.com. Stick with stupidtwats.com instead. If that is taken try stupidtwatsofficial.com or stupidtwatsonline.com instead. The dash is very bad.

4. Make it easy to spell
I once had the domain name AbrasiveRock.com I love the domain, but so many people were constantly asking how to spell it. Some of them highly educated. So I changed the site to RockMyMonkey.com just because it was easier to spell. I haven’t had a problem since.

5. Stay Away From Numbers
If your band name is Priority One you will have some issues. Is the domain priorityone.com or priority1.com? Also stay away from words that can be spelled in several different ways. It causes the same issues.

6. Is It Marketable?
If you passed a billboard with this name on it, how quickly would you remember it after you drive by?

7. Search Engine friendly?
When Raymond and Christian (both ex-Fear Factory) wanted to start another band they wanted a name that would show up on Google really well. So they made up a word. Almost instantly when they launched their website it got top ranking fo that search term. So try to stay away from words were there is tough competition for those Google search terms. You want top ranking when people are searching for you.

8. Make Your Band Name Your Website!
Ok, not everyone will be able to do this. Nevermore will never get Nevermore.com I doubt that Overkill will ever get Overkill.com, but if you can get your band name as the website address do your best to do that. If not, try to get as close to that as you can.

9. Stay Clear Of Copyright Issues
Don’t try to be too cleaver by using a known brand within your website or band name. This can cause legal issues later. Plus lame jokes like this get really old if the band takes off. Ask the band The Devil Wears Prada about this self inflicted curse.

10. Don’t be “Inside Baseball”
Do not use inside jokes. Do not reference things that the majority of people will understand. Many bands may claim when they are young that they don’t want to be some big sell out band. Well you can say you want to stay in the small dirty clubs all you want, but the truth is that bands that stay at that level too long don’t stay around as long. Your family (you will have one someday) will need to eat and they need a roof over their heads when you are on the road. So don’t pick a website name that will hold back the mainstream crowd from your band or website.

Events On Social Networks Are Useless

Facebook Events

Are You Training People To Reject Your Invite?
I follow a ton of people from all over the world on most social networks. So I get invites to things all over the world. The problem is that I loose money on my music industry related activities already. So there is no way I am taking a private jet to your local club show. I know, what’s the harm when all I have to do is take a few seconds to click ignore on the event that was mass blasted to everyone on that persons list? Well, it’s kind of like when the “Are you sure you want to delete that” pop ups that our computers give us before hitting delete. Does anyone even pay any attention to them at all? I am so used to hitting that ok button that even if a part of my brain is questioning the deletion, my hand has already deleted the item before I can even save it. The same thing happens with your events. When I see that question of “Will you attend this event”, I hit no before I even stop to check the location. I click that no button before I even look to see what that event is.

Why Did You Promote The Event On Facebook?
Because everyone just blasts everything to everyone, everyone is jaded to the event invites. So no one really pays any attention to them at all. Sure your best friend will click yes. Your girlfriend will click yes. Your bandmates will mostly click yes (sorry but your drummer is dumber than a rock and doesn’t get it), but will this improve attendance? Not one bit. You will be lucky to get one person to attend that would not have attended otherwise. Wasn’t that the point? To get more people to show up than who would have otherwise? Then stop blasting it to everyone because you are training people to reject your events without even thinking about it. It is a knee jerk reaction because of the constant blasts we all get from every band from all over the world.

Have You Ever Even Mentioned The State Or City?
Most band’s don’t even mention the state or city. So I have rejected events and found out later it was a local show at a club I had never heard of before. At least list the state and city or your event post failed right out of the gate.

It’s Not All Bad News
So is this nothing but bad news? No. You can stop it. We all need to do our part to stop people from blasting everyone for an event that only 10% of their followers are even capable of attending. Most of the social networks have a way of selecting only the people from your area. Can we start a campaign to not just click no, but to say why in the comments. When an online friend invites you to an event in another state or country, link to this article. Or you can just type “Stop inviting people from out of state, it hurts us non-spamming bands jerkface!” Ok, make up your own line if you want. I just think it would be funny if EVERYONE started using that one. If they don’t list the city and state post that you have no idea what part of the world the event is at and that is why you will not attend. It will take more of an effort than most will be able to muster, but if enough of us do this we can change the pattern and maybe a few habits. Or maybe this is just a way for your band to rise above the rest?

Tech Press Agents Vs Entertainment Press Agents

Press Agents

So recently I hired a press agent for my start up. It took me months to find a music industry press agent that had a clue about tech stuff. I was lucky enough to find one. Most music industry people are about as clueless about technology as a new born baby is to quantum physics. So why not just hire a press agent that specializes in technology and start ups? Because my start up is a music site first and a tech thing second. I would rather get press from Spin, Billboard, or Rolling Stone magazine instead of Tech Crunch, Mashable, or Read Write Web (say that ten times fast out loud). Now I want to make it clear that any press is great. As a fan I read those tech blogs more than the music publications I just listed. I would love press from all six of them! I am just more interested in coverage from the music press because this is a music site. So I found a press agent that could handle that.

Now I am able to say I have dealt with press agents both as the editor of a music publication and as a client. I have no problem with press agents. They have a job to do and there are many I think do it very well. But I come from the entertainment industry angle. In the entertainment industry press agents are “handlers”. Rock stars are not the most organized, punctual, or business savvy people around. So the press agent is part secretary, part manager, part assistant, and part guide. Without them my interviews would almost never be on time and that would be if I was lucky enough to get the interview scheduled in the first place. Not only that but their liaison role can sometimes keep the bigger celebrities from having their mobile and home numbers exposed to overly eager journalists. So add protector to that list above. In the entertainment industry press agents are very important. Journalists form a relationship with the press agents that tend to work the artists that fit their publications format.

This is not at all the case with the tech industry. When I mentioned I was getting a press agent I had some of my friends in the tech industry seriously wonder why I would do such a thing. In the tech industry press agents are looked at as spammers. They are considered to be almost parasites. They get zero respect. This is a total opposite from how they are treated in the entertainment industry. If my press agent tried to get one of the tech blogs I listed above to cover my start up, they would be treated like they were a phone solicitor. But if they tried to get coverage on a music blog they would probably have pretty good luck. So that leads me to wonder how press agents are looked at in different industries. Are they only given respect for their hard work when they are working humans? If they are working a website, gadget, tool, software, beverage, or any other non-organic entity are they treated with disdain? Does the press agent working the competitors of Makita get the brush off from carpenter magazines? Why are press agents with non-human clients treated with so little respect? I’m just curious.

So why the big divide? Can anyone answer me on this one?

Has flipping off the camera become the new brick wall?

Middle Finger

Ok, to be clear I am not the least bit offended by people flipping the bird. In fact just the opposite. I’m bored. I’m jaded. I’m thinking it has become so standard that it is the uniform metalheads have tried so hard to avoid. It has become the proverbial “brick wall promo shot“. Think about how many bands take promo shots in front of a brick wall. It is the worst cliche and there have even been several blogs devoted to making fun of bands with brick wall promo shots. Why? Because it shows a major lack of imagination. How do you expect your band to stand out from the crowd if you are doing the same thing as every band out there? Doing a promo shot in front of a brick wall just screams “I don’t want to stand out from the crowd and my band has nothing new to offer!” Seriously, before you read the rest of this article, CLICK HERE and check out some great examples of what I am talking about.

Well, I say that flipping off the camera has become the same thing. One of the major rules I have learned in life is that if you want to stand out from the crowd you need to stop doing what every other band is doing. If the popular trend is stuck doing one thing, do something else. When the late Ronnie James Dio started throwing the devil horns at shows so many decades ago, no one was doing that. It made him stick out like nothing else. In the early 90′s there was a very select few bands that did the extreme vocal in metal. It was rare enough that the few bands that did it were able to find a unique way of doing it and they all stuck out. Now I could play 20 bands in a row and have extreme metal fans not recognize a single song. Why? They are all doing the same thing and they don’t stick out at all!

I get it, it’s a rebel thing. You are showing that you stand against the status quo. But that is the problem. You are following that status quo! It’s not a rebel thing if everyone is doing it. It is the status quo! It is that uniform we all claim to hate. Think about the legends that truly stand out in metal. I mean the ones that have lasted more than a couple decades and are able to earn a respectable living at what they do. Everyone of them have something in common. They were able to be unique enough to stand out from the crowd. So think really hard about the next time someone sticks a camera in your bands face. What will you do to make that image stick in peoples minds? What will make that photo stand out from all the rest? Make that one unique thing the first thing people notice when they see photos of your band. It is your new calling card. Leave the unimaginative cliches to the unimaginative.

PRESS AGENTS: Top ten ways to make me not care

Press Agents

So I have been doing independent (meaning I loose money doing this) for a couple decades now. I have read so many press releases that I have become beyond jaded about them. There are key words and phrases I look for to dismiss the artist. Seriously I do. So here are the top ten things a press agent can use to get me to NOT care about the artist they are pushing. Another great list made by someone else can be found HERE.

1. Some version of the artist being the next big thing
When I hear a band is “burning up the charts”, I assume it is some lame pop artist that sucks.

2. They will kick your ass and rip your face off!
Phrases like this are used for artists that are brutal for the sake of being brutal, but can’t play worth shit. This means that the craft of writing a solid song was forgotten before the first note was recorded. I like it heavy, but where’s the song?

3. The band “leaks” a single on their MySpace
Ok, if it comes from an official source it is not a leak you moron

4. Not making it clear what style of music they play
Yeah, I know it’s cool to say you hate categories, but if you can’t at least nail it down to hard rock, metal, punk, pop, or polka, I will assume the band plays polka and not care. Get to the point. People have short attention spans. This includes my readers and myself. And most importantly, don’t hide the info. Make it big, bold, and loud! As if the band was proud of what they do.

This includes (but is not limited to) the band being cute and witty about MySpace categories. Many times I can’t find any info on what the band plays, so I open up the MySpace page. Then I see the band listing themselves as Christian Rap to be cute and witty. So I dismiss them because I don’t cover Christian Rap. Many times they are not that style, but I don’t have the extra five to ten minutes to listen to their music to find out if I should even care. Once you convince me to care I will listen. First you have to convince me I should care though. I don’t care about Christian Rap, so if I see that I won’t investigate a second further to find out you were just joking.

5. Sending the press release as a doc, pdf, jpg, or gif file
You are adding extra steps to my busy schedule. So you are starting things off by being a pain in the ass. Why would you want to start off our relationship with me hating you? Yes I despise html emails, but they are the industry standard. So I am forced to forgive that. So send it as an HTML email or if you don’t know how to do that without sending it as an extra file, just send it as plain text.

6. Putting stuff not for public in the middle of the press release
Ok, I honestly do not read every word of every press release. I just don’t have time. So I glance over things, copy, and paste. So if you do not place that info after the standard three pound signs you are risking people posting the direct download to the cd you are trying to increase sales of.

7. Tracking URLs in your HTML email
Ok, this is one of the reasons I despise HTML emails. Any internet security expert will tell you to watch out for questionable links. Everyone is encouraged to “view status bar” and mouse over links before clicking on them to make sure it is the link it claims to be. Then you press agents go and give us some super long tracking url with a domain none of our readers have heard of. This makes them question the integrity of our site. It makes them feel unsafe. So stop with the tracking urls. If the website address is www.website.com then it should say www.website.com when I mouse over the link. Otherwise people don’t think we are a safe site. I know your reasons for doing this questionable behavior, but please understand my reasons for asking you to stop.

8. Where are the current press shots?
Now a few of you labels have great press areas where I can grab one in seconds. Others always include some massively large image in the actual email (which is perfect). Others have your Facebook page updated with good sized press shots. One of you (yes just one that I know of) is now anal about keeping their website updated. THIS COMPLAINT IS NOT FOR ANY OF YOU! I love you people! It doesn’t matter that every single one of you has a different method of getting me the current photo. I can remember that no problem. The ones that make me spend hours trying to find a current press shot really piss me off though. There is nothing like taking 45 minutes to post something that should have taken 10 minutes just because you didn’t give me a current photo! Many times I just pass on the press release because trying to find a press shot pissed me off so much.

9. Headlines
Why does a press release have 4 headlines? Stick to one. What is most important? What is the newest info? What is the most newsworthy? Also, don’t make it a book. It’s a headline. The shorter the better. It doesn’t have to contain everything. Lastly, try to put the band’s name at the beginning of the headline. It helps readers browse over for the bands they care about the most.

10. Hidden links
Ok, fine. Use your stupid HTML email. It makes my head explode, but I will suck it up if you would do me one favor. Whenever possible, display the url. Don’t say, “Go HERE for more info” and have the word HERE link to their website. Display the url so I can just copy all the text and paste it in. Otherwise I have to view your email in text form, copy it all, paste it into notepad, clean up your html mail abortion, and then paste it into my system so my readers don’t have unclickable words of CLICK HERE.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. “What are you, some copy and paste blogger or a real journalist?” Well, pasting your press releases is not why I got into this. Pasting your press releases has never been why I do this at all. It gives me zero pleasure and gets in the way of why I do this in the first place. I have wrote less than 20 reviews all year last year. I would have loved to do more but I was wasting all my time fighting to post your lame ass press releases! I would love to stop posting press releases, but many of you depend on me replying with “Info posted at ___” to know if I am interested in that release.

So please help me get back to actual creating, writing, and doing real journalism by keeping the ten items above in mind. I can’t be the only one bothered by these things. Thanks.

Another great list made by someone else can be found HERE.

The Revolver Golden Gods Awards Show Was An Insult To Metal

Revolver Golden Fraud Awards

Sorry it took me so long to get thsi posted. It may seem like old news, but I’m still ticked off about it and you should be too! Am I the only one who felt a little insulted by the Revolver Golden Gods special on VH1? The thing starts off with the most annoying tribute to Bill And Ted that I think I have ever seen. Many great legends debased themselves and should be ashamed of themselves for that. Every one of them are so much better than that crap. Then we get Motorhead playing Ace Of Spades? Really? I can see mainstream media making him play that worn out song, but I would expect an award show that is supposed to be for metal to give the man a little more respect that that and have him play something from at least the last couple decades. The band has a ton of great material just from their last cd. The disrespect continued to flow from there.

I will give them points for giving an award to Ronnie James Dio right off the bat. Sure they had no idea that he was about to die a few months later, but they did know that at that point he was fighting for his life. So points to them for giving a legend his due at such an important time.

Then they follow it with one of the most boring bands in Metal. I don’t give a rats ass if they are bible thumpers. I really don’t. What I do care about is that their music is a perfect example of what is wrong with metal. They are as much of an insult to Metal as that opening skit was. That skit at least just lasts only a few minutes. As I Lay Dying has several albums with of making a joke out of the music I love.

Now just as with Motorhead, Rob Zombie gets up and plays a song from last century. I’m pretty sure he has a new album out, right? Sure it’s not that great, but shouldn’t an award show give props to new material? If Rob can’t put out good material anymore, don’t have him perform. Get someone up there that has released some good solid material in the last year.

I have to say that this was better than last year, but there is still tons of room for improvement. Yes it is great that we have an award show for Metal, but I think Metal deserves better. And what about some of the great talent that isn’t packing 10 thousand seat amphitheaters this summer? What about Overkill? They have a great new cd out. Evile has an amazing new cd out as well. Oh, I get it. This is for mainstream Metal only then?

Looks like Metal still needs an award show.

Stop Auto Play Websites!

Stop The Noise

I am still amazed when I run into websites that start blasting music at me the second the page loads. Are we stuck in the 90′s? Even MySpace has made it so the default for a band page is to not do this. They now make a band dig into their settings to make this happen. Why? Because it is just bad form. It’s rude and it turns people off. They also got tired of paying for the bandwidth for people that didn’t want to hear the music in the first place. It is why “Band Spam” on MySpace was getting such a bad reputation! For the most part it is looked down on, but people still do it. I recently made a post on several social networks ranting about this practice. Most of the people of course agreed that it drove them nuts when bands do this. A few wondered why it is frowned on.

It is very frowned on for several reasons. Listening to the band’s music is only one of many reasons to go to a band’s website. You could be going there to check tour dates. You could be reading up on a new release. Maybe you are a music journalist just looking for a band photo. I could go on and on. The point is that blasting away at someone without giving them the choice is rather presumptuous and a little rude.

So why is it rude? What if I am in bed doing one of the many things that can be done on a band website other than listening to music. I forgot to turn my speakers off and the site blasts away before I can click the mute button. That band just woke my wife up because they assumed I could only be at their site to listen to music. Or what if I am trying to review a cd of THAT VERY BAND? I already have a cd playing. Now I can’t surf around their site without songs stopping and starting with each page load. Most people listen to music on their computers and your browser doesn’t have it’s own specific volume control.

I have lost count on how many times I have had to stop listening to a cd I was trying to review because I was trying to surf around a band’s website to check some facts on my article. I had to stop listening to the cd I was writing about so I could mute my volume while I surfed around the site! Now of course if browsers had their own volume control this would solve the problem, but the best solution is to leave it up to the person visiting your site.

Now it is not just bands that do this. I have even seen charity sites that have little to do with music inflict this on people. Bandwidth is expensive, so why pay for bandwidth just to annoy people and turn them off to your band? Not only is making people click the play button first create a better experience but it saves the band money. How hard is it to click a play button? Not too hard if the website design is done well.

So please everyone, do your part to convince bands, record labels, and everyone else to stop auto play websites. It’s just bad business.

Why Point And Shoot Cameras Should Be Banned From The Photo Pit

Blurry Concert Photo

Ok, I know i will get a little flack from this but I don’t care. Last year at the Mayhem fest I had to deal with a photo pit full of point and shoot amateurs that only got in the way. A DSLR can be purchased for almost as much as a really good point and shoot now, so there is no excuse. If you do not care enough about photography to get a DSLR you should not be granted a spot in the photo pit. As I made clear in my last photo related post, everyone should be allowed to take photos. But to be in the photo pit you should at least have a DSLR.

Hold It With The Hate Mail
Now for all you point and shoot photographers that are about to send me hate mail, please pay attention. There are many benefits you may not realize that a DSLR will bring you. I recently sent a potential new writer/photographer to a show of a very big mainstream metal band. He came back with 6 photos. When I post a photo shoot I end up with between 20 and 100 photos. Why? Because I have a DSLR. Anyone who ever tries concert photography finds out very soon about the number one rule. “First 3 songs and no flash.” It is a pretty standard rule that has been around as long as I have been doing concert photos in the early 90′s. It is a pretty major challenge to get a respectable amount of quality photos with a point and shoot. With a DSLR you can shoot photos at a much faster rate. Hell, in good lighting I find myself trying to get the camera to only take one or two shots when I push the button. It’s faster than my finger. This is good since many times you while it takes 10 shots, one is good enough to keep. With a point and shoot you just loose the shot. What if an artist runs up to your camera and does this awesome pose? There is no way you can know what will be the best shot. So with a DSLR you just hold down the button. The camera goes off at machine gun pace and grabs like 20 photos. When you get home you can then pick the one shot that is full of more awesome than anything you have seen in your favorite music magazine.

So why do you need so many photos?
When I shoot one of the big festivals most of the shooting is done in the very bright lights of the daytime. When this happens I can shoot a thousand photos in the three song limit with no problem. Then when I get home I can be brutal about what photos I throw away. The more photos you take the better your chance at getting a good selection of amazing shots. Now when you shoot in some really dark club with a pathetic amount of lighting there is another thing that the DSLR will help with. Because the sensor is bigger and much higher quality you will end up with less blurry images. The more powerful controls help as well, but they have a slight learning curve.

Is $200 Too Much For You Ya Cheap Skate?
Now I am far from being the best photographer around. In fact, as far as photographers with pro-level cameras I am pretty much a wannabe. But dealing with some of the people that are allowed into the photo pit at the bigger shows is driving me nuts. Hell, there was even a few douchebags with nothing but an iPhone to take photos. Seriously, there were people with nothing except cell phone cameras. I’m not asking for some super elitist licensing board or anything. Just get a DSLR. I’ve seen some available on Ebay for less than $200. You can get one new on Amazon for less than $500. So before jumping into the summer concerts, please upgrade to a real camera. Thanks.