YouTube

Sometimes I’m full of crap!

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
by Mark Carras

Sometimes I’m full of crap!

No, this isn’t some lame “You’ve been punked” garbage. I just want to make it clear that you should never take anyones advice on anything without question. This is the music industry we are talking about here people! If anything is “voodoo magic” it is the music industry. I have watched bands get millions on promotions spent on them and they still fail miserably. Remember the band RockStar Supernova? They had a prime time television show behind them on a major network. Other than the singer it was a super group. They still failed to embarrassing levels. Then you have some goofy song put out on some YouTube channel that gets millions of hits and kick starts a career for some no talent hack.

So is all this advice and trying to help bands in vain? Not at all. Just like with anything in life you have to take everything everyone is telling you with a huge grain of salt. If something sounds too good to be true ti probably is. Many bands think it would be great to win some Battle Of The Bands style reality show and be handed a major contract on a silver platter. However, stop and think for a second. How many bands have had long term careers after wining a reality show? Or even being on a reality show for that matter. Not one band that was on the Ozzfest Battle Of The Bands has amounted to anything. They all have either broke up or are unsigned. Once you do that kind of thing you loose all respect of the fans of that style. So all the “advice” your friends give you that this is a good idea is obviously wrong.

Now, most of my advice doesn’t sound like a get rich quick infomercial. At least I hope it doesn’t. My goal is to point out that making it will take a ton of work, a little money, a little luck, and some talent. I like to make it clear that this will not be easy. If it is easy you are doing it wrong! But just because what I am saying isn’t the easy path, doesn’t mean you should take everything I say as gospel either. If I say something in this blog that you are 100% sure is wrong, don’t listen to me. However, what I’d like even better is for you to tell me why you think I am full of crap in the comments. This way I can either clarify or learn from your knowledge. Then we can all figure out this magical voo doo that is the music industry.

Why your band should be posting more videos on YouTube!

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
by Mark Carras

Now this one should be more easy for you bands to swallow. We live in a world where people don’t just want to hear a band, they want to see and hear the music. Now it doesn’t need to be some major production either. Just toss a few dozen still camera shots into Windows Movie Maker along with a song from your latest cd and call it done. Windows Movie Maker comes free with every Microsoft operating system so you probably have it and just didn’t know. You can use this to edit your videos pretty easy.

You can also just record your band playing live. Try to get soundboard audio if you can, but if not just use a really good microphone with a digital recorder of some sort. In a pinch most digital still cameras can record video and use one of those crappy mics that are already built in. If you go total “Gonzo” with this method at least try and get far enough away from the speakers so it sounds halfway decent. My point being that the most important thing is to post new videos often. It doesn’t even have to be actual music all the time. It can be just a short “news” update. What about footage from the band in the studio recording the new cd? I would post about once a week if you can.

Now many might be asking why posting a new video every week on YouTube can help your band. Well, YouTube has a ton of people on it. Just like with Twitter, Plurk, & Friend Feed you will end up with new fans just because of all the people bouncing around the network. Plus it gives people more chances to check out your band before they go to a show, buy a cd, download a song, or vote for you in some contest. The more material you give them to sample, the better chances that they will fall in love with the music you make.

Now of course once you create the video file on your hard drive, you might as well upload the video to any other social networks you might be part of. MySpace, Facebook, Metacafe, Vimeo, or any of the other free video hosting services. The important thing is that you at least get the video out. Of course after you post a video you should send in your floods of fans and friends using some of the tools I have talked about in the past week. It’s all about networking.

Friend me on YouTube too!