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.
Am I Still A Metalhead?
So I have been a metalhead for longer than most of you have been alive (the seventies). When I started getting into Metal, the definition wasn’t clear then either. It was kind of like trying to define social networking now. It wasn’t clear what was Metal, so everyone just called anything with a heavy guitar riff Metal and left it at that. Many bands that would be considered Hard Rock now (with little argument) were considered Metal then. So some of the things that got me interested in Metal, are not Metal now. So am I still Metal? The things that have always made me passionate about Metal are not necessarily Metal now. So where does that leave me? Am I still a Metalhead?
Has Metal Become A Silly Cartoon?
Recently I started the hunt to find a graphic artist for a project for one of the sites I run. The problem was that many people seem to lack the ability to grasp that I don’t want the standard typical Metal cliches. To me Metal isn’t about pushing the limits of gore, cuss words, and pentagrams to absurd levels. That turns it into some silly cartoon and Metal is not some lame cartoon! Not that I have any problem with any of those things. Most of my favorite songs are full of four letter words! It’s just that when you push these things to that level it becomes less about the music. It’s like they are trying too hard to prove how Metal they are. It’s like the nerd who overcompensates in an attempt to be cool. He would have been better off if he just stayed silent. If you think that is what proves how Metal you are, you are not only an insecure twat but you are not Metal either! Metal is about the music.
Has Metal Become Nothing More Than A Cliche?
I get sent an insane amount of press releases from labels trying to sell me on the latest Metal bands. One of the things that let’s me know right away that I shouldn’t waste my time with a band is when all the publicist has to say is how it will be the “most brutal thing ever heard”. You know you have seen the same trend. “This thing will rip your face off!” What it tells me is that the band has nothing more to offer. It is brutality for the sake of brutality. The craft and care to create an amazing song was left behind before they even played the first note. They had no passion for the art of musicianship. So to me they forgot what makes Metal so great. When I hear a band using a seemingly endless stream of cliches to describe their band, I know the band is going to be nothing but a cliche I have heard a million times before. It is a sure bet that the band will have nothing new to bring to the proverbial table.
Metal Used To Be About The Music!
To me Metal has always been about the music. What got me into Metal was the passion, the perfection, and pushing the limits of musicianship. Now I understand that these things mean different things to every person. I loved that this music had a more solid beat to it than the music my parents listened to. It was almost tribal. It wasn’t just about being “brutal”. It wasn’t just about speed. So forgive me if I’m not at all impressed when it becomes more about speed. When it becomes too much about speed the definition is lost and the dynamics that make music powerful are left behind.
It’s Time To Kick Away The Crutch!
Another cliche that Metal seems to use as a crutch is trying to be offensive. It comes from an honest place of course. Metal has always been about sticking your middle finger at the establishment. But what happens when that becomes a uniform? What happens when that becomes nothing more than a sad pathetic crutch? When the cuss words become an excuse for a lack of imagination that is a problem. Signing songs about sex with corpses is fine I guess, but the joke gets old pretty quick. For me the song means more when it is about something that relates to real life. It’s like doing fart jokes in comedy. It’s the cheap and easy way. Metal has never been about the cheap and easy way. Metal is about pushing the level of quality. For me at least the cheap jokes, horror movie regurgitation’s, and replacing swear words where imagination was lacking is not Metal. At least it is not what attracted me to Metal.
Hey, Not So Much Salt!
To me Metal is like good chemistry. More is not always best. Most of the time it is about getting the mixture just right. Metal needs just enough speed, but not too much. Metal needs just the right amount of rasp in the vocals, so it isn’t too clean but still has a range of sorts. It should never be an endurance test or some cheap show of machismo. If you are using Metal to show how much of a badass you are, you are not Metal! When it stops being about the music, it stops being about what makes Metal special. Everything else just cheapens this thing we are all so passionate about. Is it about the music for you? If not you are the one who isn’t Metal.
A band name is a tricky thing I know. First off you need something that hasn’t been taken yet. The best one word band names were taken a couple decades ago. Slayer, Bitch, Overkill, Motorhead, and many more. A band with imagination however can still come up with something cool. Look at Goatwhore! That has to be one of the best band names in history and they have only been around since 1997!
So what makes a great band name? Look for another top ten list coming very soon to this blog! Until then here are the Top Ten Worst Band Names EVER! In case you think I made any of these horrid names up, I have linked to the websites of each and every one of them. Enjoy?
1. Iwrestledabearonce
Ok, I have no issue with the gay connection. Rob Halford is gay and one of the coolest people I have ever had the pleasure to interview. But that is more like a sentence than a band name. Try and chant their name for a few seconds and then try and chant Slayer and see which one roles off the tongue better.
2. Scary Kids Scaring Kids
Why not just be Scary Kids? This name is just plain retarded. It shows zero imagination and that is something a band might need people to believe they actually have.
3. Horse the Band
Ok, so the band name Horse was already taken? Why not something like “Horse Rider” or Horse Trainer” or “Horse Lover”? Now that last one I might be able to believe.
4. I Set My Friends On Fire
Really? Now this could be used as a cd title and no one would have said anything. Sure it’s about as stupid as it gets but it sounds like a cd title. Not a band name.
5. Attack Attack!
Ok, so if a band name you want has already been taken, just repeat it until you can claim it as yours? If this band was talented at all they could have come up with a better name.
6. The Devil Wears Prada
Now I interviewed this band a few weeks ago and even they regret the name. While many may get the message of anti-materialism, most will just think they named themselves after a stupid chick flick.
7. The Number Twelve Looks Like You
I understand that this is a name taken from the title of an episode of the The Twilight Zone. But it is still lame as hell. This is another one that might pass off as a really weak cd title. As a band name it just smells like yesterdays diapers.
8. Circle Takes the Square
Seriously? They named themselves after a cliche from a game show my grandma used to watch? A band name should make a statement and this band obviously wants you to know they both suck and blow.
9. See You Next Tuesday
Yes I know that this is a reference to C U Next Tuesday. Which spells out the word you never call a female unless you really want to piss her off. Most of the bands on this list have a band name that would make a worthless cd title, this band name would have made a great cd title. It’s just a bad band name.
10. Starring Janet Leigh
Have we run out of ideas this bad? Really? Do I even have to say why this band name screams a lack of the same imagination that is required to make good music?
A couple days ago I was asked why I became part of the team behind the “Tweet #metal Chart“. Well to be honest my entire purpose was selfish. I wanted a way to find my target audience. I have found that the best way to find a ton of people that are in a very small niche group is to provide a free service for that group of people. Give them something that they will really want and they will come in droves. It always works and almost always works well. So I continue to provide tools for the hard rock and metal community. Why? Because it is the best way to find the highest quality people within that category. Now of course they are using me as well. That’s the whole point. If I always do my best to make sure they get the most out of what I do, I get what I want. The Tweet #metal chart can of course be used by anyone who wants to find these high quality people just as well as it can be used by me, but it would not have been as useful of a tool if I kept it all to myself. Helping others helps me more than being totally selfish.
Now there are some that are always trying for the quick and easy. The local bands that are happy to play the same clubs, screw the same local groupies, get paid the same crap door money, drink the same crap beer, and somehow expect a record company to somehow find out about them and hand them the world. There are the promoters that will book bands, put up a couple flyers in a few windows, draw the same crowd, and pretty much go no where. Everywhere in every part of life you will find the status quo. You will find that the majority of people will either just be really lazy or they will go for the quick scam. All it takes is one out of every few million to gain from this line of thinking to keep people buying into it. Look at the lottery. My wife and I call it “The idiot tax” because you are being an idiot if you think you are going to win. We still play, but we at least joke about it being the “Idiot Tax”. So even we are guilty of this small minded way of thinking at times. Almost everyone is, but what can we learn from that and when should we go the extra mile to get out of this rut? How do we get out of this rut?
Well, I have found that just about anything you can do will put you above the majority. Take a look at how far everyone else is willing to go. Then go twice as far to win. If the standard local bands are putting up a few flyers and updating their MySpace page, then you should do that and then some. Buy radio and newspaper ads in the local area. A few thousand dollars investments will put you way above the pack. If your band members are all spending their hard earned vacation time from work to do a mini tour, advertise! You are on a national tour, so advertise as such. 3 grand at FixionMedia.com will kick things in high gear for an entire month. Two weeks before the tour starts and for the two weeks during you will be impressing local clubs around the country. Labels will start to wonder why they keep hearing your name. If you can afford a few thousand to toss at IndieClick.com as well you are getting close to pro level marketing for a tour.
In fact I will make a deal with any band out there. First UNSIGNED band to follow the following directions exactly wins a full year of advertising on all three of the sites I am connected to. These sites are MarkCarras.com, RockMyMonkey.com, and HeavyAsHell.com. I will give said band a banner at the bottom of all three sites (pretty much every page and at least the highest traffic pages) for the term of one year. They can change the graphic of the link connected to the graffic once per month.
Here is what you need to do to win:
1. Buy $3,000 of advertising from Fixion Media, $5,000 of advertising from IndieClick, and $2,000 from Blast Beat with all campaigns starting on the same day.
2. Have this all connected to a two week tour with two weeks of advertising before the tour starts.
3.Contact me before the ad campaign starts so I can track it.
4. Do this before June 1st of 2010 because after that this deal has to die.
Deal? Why am I doing this? Honestly it serves me if a band “makes it” because they followed things from this blog doesn’t it? What would happen to my traffic if some band makes it big and they go around telling people they made it because of advice from this blog? My traffic goes through the roof and my word is then respected. Now I could just go around ripping bands off, getting them to sign shady 360 deals, and probably make a quick buck and get out of town before anyone knew what hit them. This is how the music industry is done most of the time. But that is short term thinking and I would rather do what I love for a very long time. To do that I have to keep it honest. I have to actually help bands. That is the long tail vs the short tail. Call my bluff. I dare ya!
So on this late Saturday night I made a comment that Metal Mania on VH1 Classics needs to play a bigger variety of classic metal. It seems that the show has no programmer and they just play about 4 different tapes over and over again. Those 4 tapes have the same videos with nothing but the order changed. Now this could be a rant about how pathetic the programming for Metal Mania can be, but I was de-railed into a much more passionate debate.
For those who do not know about @vikingfist on Twitter, you really should follow him. This man is passionate about metal to a frightening degree. Well, @vikingfist said that “I like how THAT METAL SHOW never has metal on it. Just Cock/Hard Rock. KISS is great, but it isn’t Metal! Just hardrock.” Well, as comical as I think full on glam is, I still think it fits into Metal more than Hard Rock. Why? When I was first getting into Metal in the early 80’s (yes I am old), Glam bands were all over every Metal magazine, Metal Video show, Metal radio show, Metal tour, Metal label, and pretty much anything that was part of the Metal scene. It is part of the classic Metal era. I’m not a huge fan and prefer traditional Metal and old school Thrash (85-95), but just because I’m not a fan doesn’t make it non-Metal.
Now the roots of Metal most pretty much agree on. Or should I say the core of what makes something Metal is something most agree on? Bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, & others were the first pretty much Metal bands. Everything else is an off shoot from that. Now there is some debate on if bands like Led Zeppelin, Motorhead, Deep Purple, or Steppenwolf fit the Metal tag or not. I say they can be added if it is made clear that there is a debate. Kind of like adding a star next to the stats of a baseball celebrity that was caught using steroids. Sure they played and the stats happened, but their placement in any “Hall Of Fame” is questioned. So they barely made it and their placement is the grey area that will keep Pandora’s box closed for anyone who strays even further from the perimeters.
I think some are trying to change history and unless it has 45 minute blast beats and Cookie Monster impressions for vocals, it isn’t Metal. Well, that just isn’t true. Van Halen may not be as heavy as Cannibal Corpse, but they were part of the fore-fathers of this style along with many other bands. Can we deny that Stephenwolf was the first to scream “heavy metal thunder”? Can we deny that Sammy Hagar told us to “Get your one way ticket to midnight, Call it Heavy Metal”?
Now this brings us to other questionable off shoots of the Metal Scene. In the interest of full disclosure my username on many Metal forums in the 90’s was “RapIsNotNewMetal”. It was the mantra of a site I ran once called Abrasive Rock (the pre-cursor to RockMyMonkey) even! I still stand by that, but I will get to that later. First let’s talk about Glam. When Glam was the massively popular style that packed out stadiums, it was never played on Hard Rock video shows. Those bands almost never played with Hard Rock staples like Deep Purple or Steppenwolf. They did however play with “real” metal bands on the bigger package tours and festivals. They were also in magazines with bands like Exodus, Slayer, Iron Maiden, and Overkill. The place to find out the latest about the Glam bands were the places you went to find out the latest about Thrash, Power Metal (then just called Metal), and everything else. Call it “Poser Metal” if you prefer, but that is still calling it Metal. It’s the redheaded step child of Metal, the retarded cousin, the joke everyone makes fun of, but it is still part of the family. We all have members of our family that embarrass us, but they are still family. It’s a guilty pleasure at best, but it is Metal.
Now that brings us to the Rap-core off shoot. The place to find out about the latest in Rap-core was not hardcore Metal magazines. It was the pop mainstream. I never heard Limp Bizkit on the local Metal radio shows. I never saw Limp Bizkit tour with Nevermore. The term Rap Metal never really even took off. People used Rapcore more it seemed. Now Nu-Metal used the guitar riffs strongly inspired by rap, but never had Rap vocals so it’s another story. Nu-Metal may be the only member of the Metal family I can say I hate (for the most part), but it is Metal. It is the worst example of Metal. It is so pathetic many may say it makes Glam look like a respectable member of the family. It is the member of the family many of us would like to disown, but it is still part of the massively huge umbrella that is Metal.
For the record, my tastes mostly stick with Metal from 85-95. I like old school Thrash, Traditional Metal, Doom, Stoner Rock, and Hard Rock. I’m not much into Death Metal, Black Metal, Grindcore, Glam, Nu-Metal, or Metalcore, but I do like bands from all those styles. I would say in fact I like and dislike those members of the Metal family just as much equally.
Now please feel free to comment below and continue this debate. However, let’s keep the respect level at it’s highest for all involved. Keep the debate about facts and history and not about insults. Otherwise what’s the point? And make sure and check out Viking Fists blog at www.vikingfist.wordpress.com because it was his passion that inspired this overly long passionate blog post from me.
Ok, so a friend and I have been working on a little project the past few weeks. It is an automated ranking of Twitter users. I leaked the secret url to the rank list and ended up with a few responses that made it clear this explanation was needed. So here are the top ten things you should know about Mark’s automated Twitter chart. You can find the chart by clicking HERE.
While we are working out the bugs, this will be the FAQ of sorts. If this doesn’t answer all your questions, please let me know. This project is as much yours as it is the two guys creating it.
10. The site tracks how often an account tweets the hashtag #metal but only within the last week. The reason it only cares about how often you have talked about metal within the last week is so that users who move on from Twitter will drop from the chart. It will also prune people from the chart that just ‘gamed’ their way to the chart.
9. There is no need to ask me to put you on the list. It is automated. Just start tweeting with #metal and it will add you automatically.
8. I know that this may not be the best way to rank metalheads on Twitter. At some point I may perfect this.
7. No I did not do this alone. I suck at code too much to ever pull something like this off. The concept was mine and I am in charge of most of the design. Code is done by @meltedmatch He’s not a metalhead though. Just a friend trying to help me out.
6. Have I mentioned that the list is 100% automated?
5. This is a work in progress. Please be patient. It will be way less ugly when we are done.
4. Feel free to spread the list around, but the url will change when it is out of beta (finished).
3. This program is new and unfinished. It still has some bugs in it we are trying to work out. So the algorithm is not doing exactly what we want yet. When we are finished the point system will make more sense. For example, the score currently gives people more than one point per #metal tag. We are working on fixing that and making it only give one point per #metal hash tag.
2. No I will not make it track several hashtags. Just keep it simple. Always use #metal
1. If an artist uses the term indie to describe their music, please shoot them. I know it has nothing to do with this chart. I just REALLY hate the term “indie”.
No, none of these were meant as insults at any Twitter user. Those who had questions had good questions. Those good questions made me realize I should make this list. If this top ten list doesn’t explain something, let me know. I’m really a nice guy. I only bitch slap stupid people.
What your band can learn from the swine flu hysteria!
This weekend CNN posted one great article about the over blown hysteria over swine flu (along with probably 50 very irresponsible articles fueling the insanity). We have all seen people go nuts over this for very little reason. The World Health Organization said that as of the writing this article there have only been 20 deaths world wide! There are probably more people that die from a smack upside the head every day. This is proof that people have zero interest in facts. We have become so addicted to being controlled by fear that we will latch on to anything hyped at all. It’s as pathetic as a worst case heroin addict.
So how can bands use the knowledge on this to benefit their band? Well, like most lessons, it is something anyone paying attention would have learned many times before. It’s always about hype. When advertising something it is never really about just letting people know about the event. You can have millions of people know about your show and still have an empty nightclub. Why? Because if it doesn’t seem like an out of control hype of hysteria people just don’t care. People always want to be part of something big. On Twitter people are going nuts posting articles supporting the paranoia over the swine flu. Why? Because they want to be part of the big party of everyone over reacting to the swine flu hysteria. When you have a show you want to create as much hype about the event as you can. You want to make it look like it is the event of the year and the club will be packed.
I stopped reading press releases many years ago, because the press agents pile on the B.S. a mile high. It’s like the bands that keep talking about their livers going on strike because they are such wild party maniacs. The truth is that most of them barely drink at all. Not too mention that that line has been over used to pathetic level. The press agents for metal go on and on about how the cd they are promoting is the most brutal thing to be recorded since the dawn of time. They find several ways to repeat the same thing Ad Nauseam. They are trying to hype the band to the point of hysteria because they know what that is worth. So even the pros do it, so why don’t you?
Now of course the press agents do several press releases a day and get so bored with the project that it comes off with zero integrity. You have way more time and can put more passion into your campaign. This is also why you should not play a city more than once every three months. Part of making the event hyped as much as possible is to make it special. How is it special if you are playing the same clubs, in the same city, every weekend? In fact, I have seen bands do very well if they don’t play within an hours drive per season. Starve your local scene! The other thing you do is to save up as much money as you can so that you can advertise on radio, print, flyers, internet, and whatever else is available. Bands that spend their own money to promote a show end up with opening slots with the majors.
Like anything else, you will get out of it what you put into it. Expect things to just fall into your lap will get you no where. Work your royal ass off every second you can and you will see a difference. If you don’t see a difference you should have worked harder. Or maybe your band just sucks? That’s ok. I hear we will all die of swine flu within the week anyways if the media hype is to be believed.
I have made it a habit to not update on the weekend for awhile. However, I am thinking of doing a new series on Saturdays whenever possible. I will send out a question on Twitter, post the replies, and give my useless opinion. I tried to do this with all social networks involved and it was too over whelming and it never got done. So you have to follow me on Twitter to be part of this.
This weeks question is when do you follow people back. Myself I follow back anyone who makes it clear they enjoy heavy music. This can be made clear from the bio, user name, avatar, profile background, looking at your Twitter messages, or by sending me a Twitter message telling me your favorite three bands. I’m not too picky about how you get the message out. If you at least make the effort to lie to me, I will follow you back. You would be amazed at how few even try to trick me into following them back. This works very well for me. Here are what some others have said…
metalross i follow back everyone unless they post hundreds of tweets in a row, then i unfollow them
Pubrockercom I follow everyone back. when they post too much stupid crap or too many links (just advertising w/o personality) I delete them.
deathisgain713 Like mindedness. Metal, design, etc. I don’t need to follow 500 people to tell me how to make money at twitter.
10. #followFriday
Follow Friday is where you pick someone you are following and “pimp” their profile to everyone else following you. “#followfriday @rockmymonkey because it posts some great music news” is fine. Keep it simple. Now some do the lazy Follow Friday where they say something like “#followfriday @markcarras@isewdollies@rockmymonkey@HeavyAsHell” with no explanation of why you should follow that person. Details are very important and people will be more thankful you cared enough to pimp them exclusively on that one message. Make it about quality and not quantity.
9. RT’s can gain you fans
Now this only works for bands trying to gain attention. Unsigned or mostly unknown bands need to do the Re-tweet! What is a Re-tweet? When you see someone sending a message you like, agree with, or is talking about your band, re-send it to the people you follow. If nothing else this can be used to encourage people to talk about your band.
8. Not being on “We Follow”
This is how you can find new fans. Or even fans you have had for decades but they don’t know the band is on Twitter.
7. Not doing updates
Ok, depending on how big your band is you may want to post different stuff. Once a day is fine for most. “Playing Chicago tonight. Who’s gonna be there?” can work for pro level bands. If you are unsigned, let people know how the new cd is going, what clubs you are going to play, what merch you are working on, or even some contest where you need your fans to show their support.
6. Not filling out a bio!
Sure everyone knows who Queensryche is, but most bands can have Gold albums and still not be known to most people. Keep it simple though. “We are the band Blah and we play old school thrash!” is all you need. The band name and what style you play is all you really need. Don’t try and be cute or funny. Just tell people who you are and what you play. If you are some wussy indie pop band I need to know that so I don’t follow your yawn inducing crap of a band.
5. Not uploading an image
It makes your profile look fake and spammy. A band photo or logo is fine. It takes just a few seconds and makes everything look way better.
4. Paying someone to run the account
This makes your band look like they don’t care about their fans. Call me if you need to know how to make this so easy even a drummer can do it. (just joking, we love drummers too)
3. Not responding to fans
Ok, your main focus is creating great music. So don’t try to respond to every message. Try to be strategical about it. But please try and respond to a about ten percent. 1% if you currently pack 10 thousand seat arenas.
2. Not Following Back!
Twitter is about being able to interact with your fans. @reply every once in awhile. Even Shaq does it, so what’s your excuse? You think you’re bigger than him? If your lazy you can at least use @socialtoo to auto-follow people back.
1. Not being on Twitter
Seriously! I am shocked that many bands are not using this great tool. This leaves it open to someone creating fake accounts and screwing with your fanbase. Very bad!
Yes, I know that last link doesn’t work. That’s the point. Nevermore needs to get their collective butts in gear! All my other links however do go to real places. Each point is made with a link to an account that SHOULD be doing something on Twitter they were not doing at the time I posted this article. Most of them fit several of my points though.
I like to think of myself as the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Tech Consultant” so please feel free to contact me if anyone needs advice or consulting. I work dirt cheap and even free for most things. So contact me on Twitter if you have a quick question. Call 360-789-0703 for paid phone tech support if you need that little extra.
So how can you gain a ton of Twitter followers without blind following?
Find lists of metalheads
I have talked before about how you shouldn’t just blind follow people on Twitter. The reasons are many and you will have to go back to that article to check that out. So how do you get a ton of followers without blind following? Well, if you are a metal band, fan, record company, online radio station, journalist, or whatever else, you want to find other people that care about metal. The first thing you do is find a list of metal fans. There are several ways to find these lists of the metal community on Twitter.
Other metalheads are “following” more metalheads
The first way is to find some people passionate about metal on Twitter. If you have at least 5 followers or are following at least 5 people you should have at least one. I’m talking about the nut jobs that live, eat, breathe, and crap metal 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. There is a good chance that the people they are following are at least metalheads on some level. So just pull up their “following” list from their profile. Then start opening up tabs of each one of the profiles of the people they are following. Look at the bio they have, their user name, who they are following, and what types of messages they are sending. Most of them are going to be metalheads and you should follow them.
We Follow does have it uses
The second is to go to the metal chart on “We Follow”. Now just like with the trick above, you shouldn’t just follow every profile on the We Follow metal chart. I saw one profile of a company that made stair cases. Wanna guess what those stair cases were made of? Metal! There is also a gem and jewelry blogger. They put themselves on the metal chart with zero thought to the style of music under the same keyword. There are also some people who hate metal and put themselves into the metal category to be funny. They do it in mockery and will not help your metal band in any way. In fact they could cause problems for you. So only follow the ones who look like real metal fans.
We need more metal bloggers to rank metal Twitter users!
The third way to gain a ton of metal loving Twitter users is to find a blogger that ranks metal related profiles. To be honest I have not run into any other than myself, but if anyone knows of any let me know. Very soon I hope to post a new chart of metal and hard rock Twitter users. It could be the ones who follow the most, are followed the most, have the best ratio, bands, fans, record companies, online radio stations, journalists, or who knows what else. I suck at programing, so this will be “static” lists and will not update automatically like some of them. However, unlike the charts at places like We Follow, I won’t have a company that makes metal stair cases on the list.
Using these methods I have gained almost a thousand people. Now after a week of adding all these people though, you might want to use SocialToo to mass unfollow anyone who isn’t following you back. It costs a tiny one time fee, but it is well worth it. You don’t want your following/follower ratio to make you look like some lame spammer. People hate that. That could cause quality people to unfollow you. Good luck and by all means follow me!
