Band Promotion Blog

I’d like things to change around here in 2010!

I am sure my strap-line (Helping musicians and artists get their Websites noticed by fans, search engines and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own) will not change, UnsignedBandPromotion will still be sweet music for your website, and be the worlds best free website promotion resource and service for musicians and artists - I just want it to be better!

It all started with Matt posting a link to a website that calculated how much ones website is worth. What’s my website worth? I asked, £28,000 came the reply. Yeah, right! I didn’t believe it, but it did get me thinking. Of course there are a whole range of variables to be considered when determining the worth of ones website: How much is the domain name worth? What are the monthly or annual earnings and is there a history of profits? How long has the website been up and running? How much traffic does the website get and are the sources of traffic reliable - is the website itself reliable? How does the website compare with other websites of its type? Does the website have potential to progress? What are the running costs of the website? ect… Then I took a cold, hard look at UnsignedBandPromotion.com, and I came to the conclusion that it’s worth about £8000 at best. Wow, not much for all that effort and what it offers. I also realized that it is I who makes this website and gives the free service, and therefore it is I who will have to change in 2010 and give a better service.

Over the last ten years or so there’s been lots of whingeing from the music industry about piracy, file sharing and profits. And there’s been bounteous and gleeful criticism from the industry commentators telling us that the music industry isn’t keeping up with technology or the mood and temper of the times. But, I really don’t feel sorry for either parties especially the multinational conglomerates like EMI, News Corp., Sony, Universal, Warner and Apple Inc., who have such an influence and massive hold on the industry, their fingers are in so many pies the little indie band doesn’t stand a chance - no change there then!

My simplistic understanding of the music industry is that it falls into two distinct groups, 1. the musicians who create the music, and 2. everyone else in the business!! Why is it when these two groups don’t make their expected profits they blame each other AND The Consumer - never themselves? I know it’s a complex industry but isn’t the customer always right? Ah, the consumer and the customer are two different entities (I’m being ironic)! I believe that a man who takes a business risk is entitled (not guaranteed) to make a profit as a reward, i.e., make a profit by giving customers what they want. And maybe that’s one of the problems, the music industry isn’t heading in the same direction as the one the customer would have chosen for himself?

One of the big changes over the last ten years has been the way musicians are able to create, market and promote their music and themselves. New technology has enabled completely useless and incompetent musicians to stand shoulder to shoulder alongside the idols they admire, follow and emulate (yeah of course I’m talking purely on a ‘Website’ basis here), independent musicians have never had it so good! And yes, that’s another problem for the music industry, sorting out the wheat from the chaff for the consumer. Marketing (the art/business of selling) is about customers, not producers; demand, not supply.

I do not differentiate between musicians good or bad, useless or talented I aim help anyone get their websites noticed by fans, search engines and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own, as I said, that’s my strap line (BUT, you must have a website. I do not help bands to promote MySpace, PureVolume and profiles in general, or FreeWebs, Yahoo! GeoCities, LYCOS.tripod and other free webhosting type of pages. You need a real Website*). …Which is a pretty big call, but true, and I do it for free. Pound for pound I offer the worlds best free resources and services to help with website promotion for musicians and in the next decade I’m going to do it even better.

Donate now to help children affected by the earthquake in Haiti

As per usual at this time of the year, I’d like to explain that Unsigned Band Promotion is Not a business and is Not seeking to make profits from bands using this website. I help musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own and I do it for FREE. There are some costs, and I try to cover these costs by users donations and by promoting affiliate links!

You can show your support to Unsigned Band Promotion by making a small donation, I am not asking for much, as little as £1 or $2 would be greatly appreciated.
Donations are fast, free and secure when made with PayPal.

In 2010 I shall be continuing to support:
Naomi House a purpose-built children’s hospice that provides a homely environment for children with life-limiting conditions that means that they will not live to become adults.
UNICEF the United Nations Children’s Fund, which is a global champion for children’s rights, they make a lasting difference by working with communities and influencing governments.

PLEASE Make a Donation to Naomi House - I’m not an affiliate and do not receive any commission from this link.
PLEASE Make a Donation to UNICEF & Help Children by Buying Cards & Gifts Today - I am an affiliate and do receive a v.small commission from this link.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS
from
Ian

I was just trawling through my site looking for glitches, when I found a broken link to Martin’s Lights on a page that demonstrates ‘Content and Linking’ in action - Garden Lighting Berkshire! So I took a gander around Martin’s new website (new to me) and I came across, Martin’s Lights Big Tidy Up.

In the form of a blog, Big Tidy Up is where Martin’s Lights offers for cheap sale, or sometimes for free, equipment and other stuff that is surplus to requirements, but may be of use to others, and that they would prefer not to see thrown away (hence the free bit) - which I think is a brilliant idea. Of course all items are sold as seen but in full working condition unless stated. All prices are ex-warehouse (i.e. you collect from Martin’s Lights in Reading, Berkshire, England, unless you want to have the items sent to you at cost) and exclude VAT. For more information visit, Martin’s Lights & Big Tidy Up and contact Martin’s Lights by email or give them a call - contact details are on their website.

Martin’s Lights have been going since 1994, they supply high quality professional lighting services to all areas of the entertainment and presentation industries. Concerts, tours, festivals and corporate events are supported with a variety of services including: lighting consultancy, design and equipment hire, full lighting production, complete event lighting management and the supply of lighting designers, operators and technicians. If it’s got anything to do with stage lighting for bands, Martin’s Lights should turn you on!

TURN UP THE VOLUME,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
~ helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own ~
http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/

Themis the underground gothic rock band from Aurora, Ontario pissed me off last week by sending me an email using carbon copy (CC) instead of blind carbon copy (BCC), consequently I’m looking and laughing at the dynamics and interconnections of Themis’s odd list of email contacts - the funniest being, “first.lady@whitehouse.gov”. My email address is there too, not so funny.

The CC facility in your email client will add a selected entry from your address book to an email message, and display their email address in the header information. The BCC does the same but hides their email address in the header information. So, CC shows the email addresses and BCC hides the email addresses - each method has its uses. If you are going to send out an emailshot, use BCC to hide the addresses and you will not annoy anyone - especially the First Lady!

A bands mailing list is so very precious. Protect it, nurture it, it’s pure gold. Don’t fuck it up in one fell swoop by giving out their personal information - think, discretion. And make sure the recipients are subscribed to your list or the law of nature will eventually come down on you like a ton of hot bricks.

Themis follows a Wiccan creed, has a code of ethics and even a mantra, but no “privacy policy” or unsubscribe information - Pity.

If your band is sending out a newsletter, your subscribers will have privacy and unsubscribe expectations. To create a privacy policy go to: DMA privacy policy generator.

Hey Themis, MailChimp make it very easy for bands to send email newsletters, manage subscriber lists, track campaign performance and send RSS to email. They offer a free MailChimp account (Forever Free Plan) where you can store up to 500 subscribers and send up to 3,000 times a month - that’s not bad. Themis, I recommend that you sign-up for MailChimp’s free email plan, and start building a proper list today.

Cutting The Crap,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
~ helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own ~
http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/

Came across a really interesting website that tickled my graphic design fancy, created by the very talented graphic design artist Peter Schildwächter, or maybe I should say PETAFLOP? I should also mention that they have got a blog: BLOG.PETAFLOP.DE. If I were in a band I would want Petaflop to design my next album cover and CD sticker.

Ciao 4 niao,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
~ helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own ~
http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/

I just found this funny! In the Ads by Google (bottom right) there was an Ad:
Monitor Your Social Media
Monitor Sites like
Twitter, YouTube &
Blogs with Vocus PR
Software!
www.vocus.com/uk.
Very interesting, I click on the link and go to the Vocus website. With the headline, Integrate Social Media Into Your PR & Marketing Strategies, I’m even more intrigued and wonder, “how would bands use it, and, do Vocus have an affiliate program”. I decide to fill in the form to see what happens, I get to Annual Revenue * (it’s a selection box) Option 1: Over 200 Million. Option 2: 4 Million - 199 Million. Option 3: Under 4 Million. Option 4: Do not know… As I said, I just found it funny - and stupid! What would you have chosen? Yeah you’re right, I didn’t press send and there wasn’t any more information!

I got one of the crazy emails today offering me money to place a link on Unsigned Band Promotion for a year. I knew something was up, so I Googled their name - FortitudeHosting. O.K., let’s forget them now, nuff said.

In my search for inf. I discover: hype-free and I’ve just spent a very happy one and a half hours reading their blog, which is, in their words, "A blog which tries to demystify computer security, point out the half-truths and misinformation which floats around about this subject and hopefully reduce the hype created by semi-informed people. It also has some useful tips from time to time." –does exactly what it says on the can, as they say.

hype-free may not be Your thing, but it Is Mine and that’s why I’m giving them a link instead of some dodgy chancer.

Do you want to infuriate your Mailing List and make them ostracize you? Yes! Then send out an emailshot using carbon copy (CC) instead of blind carbon copy (BCC). The CC facility in your email client will add a selected entry from your address book to an email message, and display their email address in the header information. The BCC does the same but hides their email address in the header information. So, CC shows the email addresses and BCC hides the email addresses - each method has its uses. If you are going to send out an emailshot, use BCC to hide the addresses and you will not annoy anyone.

I received an email from The Gigman the other day, with the subject advertising, “The GIGMAN is here to help your promotion explosion”! What method of carbon copy do you think they used? BCC? No! The Gigman used plain old CC, so about twenty important contacts now think The Gigman are not to be trusted with their personal information (even though the email addresses were freely available on the web). Have The Gigman violated their own privacy policy?

I’m looking and laughing at the dynamics and interconnections of The Gigman’s angry list of email contacts, and I’m wondering if they will heed the email’s footer note, “Please consider the environment before printing this email” or will they just delete it like I did? Hey, Peter Acklin, “Please consider others before pressing the send button”.

It’s also obvious that The Gigman have harvested the email addresses from sites like the Gig Guide - the words ‘email’ and ’spider’ come to mind!

Cutting The Crap,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
~ helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own ~
http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/

This week I was lightly scammed by Jacco Wijnia of Positive Pose (a crap fusion band who I assume is from Barneveld, Gelderland, Netherlands) who is a 20y.o. music (muzikant) student at The Dutch Rock Academy which is fronted by finger lickin’ good Gerard Boontjes. Under the guise of doing an interview, Jacco Wijnia asked me some questions to help him with his homework - as if I haven’t got enough trouble with my eight year old son’s, we’re doing the bloody Vikings!

But, out of the darkness came light in the form of the words "Gerard Boontjes Official Website"!

Revival Of The Official Artist Website - Music to my ears (a good read). A digital renaissance by Martin J. Thörnkvist. Do you know, it’s funny how words seem to stick in ones head while surfing the ‘net - "Official Website"

Jacco Wijnia is doing Music Marketing and Promotion today, and had he been more up front with me I would have been able to tell him; at the heart of a band’s successful marketing and promotion campaign should be their website, a networking style profile page just isn’t good enough, plus, owning your own website demonstrates to the music industry professionals and your fans, Credibility, Control and Professionalism, and if that’s not enough, I’ve written 101 Reasons Why Your Band Needs A Website - I didn’t do that in a day.

If you are in a band, get yourselves an official website, and make it your Hub. Setup accounts in: Bebo, Facebook, iLike, iMeem, Last.FM, MySpace, ReverbNation, Twitter, Virb and YouTube. Send your new found fans, friends and followers to your website - to gain more exposure, to ply your marketing acumen, to demonstrate your creative and artistic talents.

Go to the top of the class,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
~ helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own ~
http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/

In September 2008 I set up unsignedbandpromotion.co.uk, it was going to be a forum for UK bands, but after much deliberation I’ve thought better of it and now I have other plans. And those plans will have to wait a while - I’m too busy. Have I got an under construction sign up? No! Because I couldn’t be arsed, see: Under Construction &/or Band Under Pressure.

I was dumbfounded when I saw a MySpace profile today with an under construction notice up. Why would a person do that? Isn’t life short enough without wasting time writing “Profile Under Construction”? And how long does it take to set one up so its not under construction, two hours, three? How about 61 days? …I don’t know, I’m sorry guys, I just found it funny. It probably loses a little in translation.