BANDCOCKTAIL.COM

I’ve been using ReverbNation for about 6 months now, and I have to say, the site has really helped me with the promotion and marketing of my music. Like anything else, you get back what you put into it, and as anyone who has done any type of online marketing knows, it is a very time consuming process. Especially if you are attempting to do it alone ( or with very little help).

This is where ReverbNation can help. They provide you with tools, such as promo widgets, a fan mail program,etc. that can help you get your music out there, and get your band seen and heard online. They also provide detailed stats on your page views, plays, listeners, fans, etc. The best part of their site is that most of their services are absolutely free. They actually have a band equity program that pays the musician.

Obviously, you are providing content for their site, and with the email program there is an ad at the bottom of the email sent out. But it is all done with style, and in my opinion, is very professional looking.

The Fanreach email system also offers you info on click thru %, fan location, age, % of mail opened,etc. It also has filters so you can search for fans in certain geographic locations ( to avoid email fatigue ) and automatically removes invalid email addresses or unsubscribed users.

The widgets speak for themselves. If you want to see how they can be put into use, check out examples on the reverbnation site.

I think these widgets blend  nicely into  websites. They aren’t plastered with ads for doritos or bud light. They are customizable as well ( background and font colour ).

ReverbNation helps  artists to better understand how their promotional efforts are working, and provides the means with which to communicate better with their fans. I really believe it is a must for any indie musician. Especially if you are understaffed, underpaid, and underfed.

The internet continues to revolutionize the music industry and the creation of music networks has helped musicians to promote their bands, sell their music, find band members, buy and sell musical instruments, chat to fellow musicians in the forums, post photos, their music, videos and so much more.

There are many benefits to joining one of the top music networks. It is best to focus on two or three at the most and create, as well as maintain, a standout profile page for your music or band. If you spread yourself too thin and try to join every music site you come across then you will find yourself struggling to maintain an active profile. If you join one of these music networks then you will gain a massive amount international exposure for your music.

Try to devote 30 minutes each month in updating your profile with new photos, gig dates, videos or music samples. On a more regular basis you may want to respond to forum posts, reply to comments posted on your page and also respond to any emails sent to you. You need to treat these music networks as an advertisement and great way to promote your band. Therefore spending some time on the site could bring about some lucrative and life changing publicity for you.

The key point to gaining the most exposure for your music on these sites is to be proactive and make the most of the features available to you. You will want to post recent photos of yourself or your band. You should add some new photos each month. Try and add some bright and colourful photos of each of your band members as well as some group shots. Ask a friend or partner to take some high quality photos of you while performing.

Music videos are all the rage due to YouTube. You can use a camera to take some footage of the band performing one of their most popular songs. Just as a great video can make your band; a bad video can have a negative impact on your music. If a music venue manager is not the network to look for a band for a gig and they listen to a poor quality live performance then they will just move on to the next band. So make sure the video you submit is one that will impress your viewers.

Why spend time in the forums? Because you never know who is online and who is reading the forum posts. Many of the top music forums not only allow bands and musicians to sign up and create a profile but also music promoters, managers, music venue owners, music producers and professionals from the music industry. As a result, you may just catch the eye of one of these promoters who could give you the lead you need. Post positive and informative posts that will require a similar response. Avoid getting into any personal attacks or conflicts with other forum members. Maintaining a high level of professionalism is of the utmost importance in building the reputation you want to succeed.

What about writing an article? It is quite easy to write an article about a topic you are passionate about and have knowledge in. How can this help you? Well in a music network you have members who are musicians and are therefore craving information to help them with their band or music. As a result you can gain some valuable exposure by adding your name and active link at the bottom of the article. You can basically piggy back these top music networks who already achieve high page rankings in the search engines for your own benefit. Search engines love quality content about a specific topic. As a result these search engines will pick up the keywords used in your article and rank it highly as the article is located on a reputable site. Both these combined will give it a good chance of being spread throughout the internet.

One of the best features is the ability to post your upcoming gigs or events. What other way can you get free advertising for your gigs! When posting your gig make sure all information is correct and if any of it changes be sure to return to your profile and update it. There will be fans that listen to your music samples, watch your videos and then decide on attending one of your gigs if they like what they hear. You don’t want to upset them by having them go out of their way to attend your event only to find that the details were changed and there is no gig! Try to include the date, time, cost and location of the event. Some of the top networks will have a feature where your fans can “subscribe” or add their name to an attendance list. This will also allow you to send emails with specific details to these members. This is networking and building a fan base.

Classifieds are also a great way to buy and sell instruments, equipment, search for new band members, post jobs or look for a gig, sell tickets to events and so much more. Make sure you only add the information you want people to see and only use a respectable payment solution provider in the transaction. Most sites leave transactions up to both parties and are not responsible for any disputes or problems with the sale.

Are there dangers associated with music networks? Yes, but only if you post personal information that hackers or people involved in criminal activity can use to spam you or rip you off. The top sites will have internal email systems where your personal email address is protected. They also have a feature that allows you to block any members you wish not to correspond with. Remember that you use these music networks to promote your music and not your personal life and details as a lot of the “Social Networks” do. This is why you should stick to the top music networks that operate with the sole purpose of assisting bands and musicians in promoting their music.

If you maintain an active profile you may just be lucky enough to gain additional exposure from the site. For example, the music networks highlight and profiles a new band each month. This profile puts the band on the front page, generates extra hits for the band’s profile page, spreads their band across the internet due to the quality content in the profile and provides a reputable promotion for the band by a music industry leader. Want to make your own luck? Then be proactive and contact the site team and let them know that you would like to have your band or music be considered to be profiled.

One more great tip is to use “Keywords” in your title for photos, events, profiles etc as these keywords will appear in that page’s URL. This will help for better search engine exposure as they love keywords and targeted content.

The key is where to start when selecting which music networks to join? There are many ways to promote your music and three of the best methods for music and band promotion is by creating a profile on MyBandMate and MySpace Music or posting your music videos on YouTube Music.

So if you want to showcase your music to the world and are not active in these top two music networks then you better get on to it. It takes time, some effort and a desire to make your music reach a global audience. Be proactive, utilize all of the key features to gain maximum exposure and build a fan base by responding to their emails and comments. Don’t include any information in your profile that you don’t want the world to see. Treat your profile page as an advertisement for your music. You may only have one chance to catch the eye of a music promoter, producer or music venue owner looking for a band so make your profile look professional.

Everybody knows that planning the perfect music for your event can be stressful whether you are looking for unique entertainment or simply background moods.  You may be booking for either wedding music, corporate event music or are having a special commission being performed and yet the anxious feeling still remains the same.  In an ideal world you want to be complimented about your booking decision by your peers but when you are relying on other people to be on time, be professional and provide the goods it can make you on edge until after the event.

So here is some tips to help you get your day right!

What type of music do I need?

Firstly you need to decide what you are wanting to achieve with the music.  Is it simply background music or is it a performance you require?  If you think your guests are going to want to chat and not need to shout, you need to choose background music.  A featured performance can be an excellent way to signify the event is moving into a new phase e.g. speeches or a lecture, or it can signify the end of your event.

Daytime Music

Now you know what the role of the music is going to be, now you need to consider who is attending your event and what music they may appreciate!  Sometimes an event will have just the older generation, and some at a wedding for example, may be very mixed.  So how do you cater for everyone?  Well lets consider time of day first.  If you have a morning or afternoon event then a full on musical assault may be not what people expected!  Light classical entertainment is recommended.  Consider instruments such as harp, string quartet or piano.  If you want light entertainment that suits ages across the board and people are sure to remember and talk about after the day then you need to think slightly more ‘out of the box’.  More unusual instruments such as the vibraphone can be an excellent choice as it has a beautiful sound which is not too loud and is capable of ‘wowing’ people.   I encountered such an experience at a corporate event when I saw ‘Emma Welsby’ playing the vibraphone.  She was accompanying people as they were entering a corporate event run by PIANC (The World Association For Waterborne Transport Infrastructure).  The sound floated around the room and was a beautiful background sound to listen to.  I took one of her cds home with me and subsequently visited her website on www.emmawelsby.co.uk which led me onto her www.youtube.com/emmawelsbymusic channel and I was captivated by what she could offer.  She can even DJ great music in the evening whilst playing percussion!  It is unusual finding a musician who is savvy with using modern technology to sell herself, hence why it can be so difficult to find these unusual gems.

Evening Music

Now your daytime event is over you need some music to kick start your party!  This is where it can get tricky as you may have a multitude of age ranges to please.  If you are on a budget then a DJ may suit who can play music right through from the 1950’s up to present day.  If you want to do this with class this is where you really need to be careful.  Choose a DJ website with a touch of class and one that is going to be flexible with the evenings playlist.  Specify songs from each era you would like to hear and ask to have music played along the same lines of those songs.  This will filter out any tacky songs you dread to hear! You also need to specify if you want the DJ to talk through the night, if you do then you need to say how much, when, what you want the content to be so you don’t get someone who loves the sound of their loud voice ruining the vibe of your room.  I would highly recommend spending a bit of money here as you pay for what you get.

A decent band if you can afford it is well worthing paying for!  You need to find a band which has a good online presence such as a myspace profile, youtube video, website and even a soundcloud profile.  You have to be careful with demo CDs as modern music technology is so good now that it can make the worst band sound capable of pulling it off live.  Ask if you can speak to previous customers who have booked them to get a real testimonial from a real customer and if you can get to see them live even better. Some bands are quite busy and won’t have any public gigs, in that case ask to go and see them in a rehearsal room.  If your fronting up a lot of cash and they won’t bend over backwards to help, they really are not worth booking.

The Conclusion!

The bottom line with booking any musician is you need someone to be 100% reliable with equipment in good working order and be in good time for the performance.  That person needs to be approachable, friendly and have a reputation they want to keep.  If your gut feeling is starting to play up, listen to it!

The crashing of so many big music labels has started the Indie musician’s movement.

It’s really a movement, but I refer to it this way because I look at it as a way of beating the system and the big giants that used to tell music artists what to do and used to take almost all of these artists money. They still exist, but the internet and the illegal downloading phenomenon has made them smaller and made the artists realize that maybe taking unreasonable fee on their CD is not a smart thing to do, and maybe performing more can bring them more money and also maybe, just maybe, they can record their own music and make it on their own.

The fact is that there are music editing programs that any intelligent person oriented to computers is able to work with and that you can open a recording studio in your home and even if you can’t do all that, there are small recording studios that don’t charge you that much.

These are some of the reasons that there are so many indie music artists out there.

These artist don’t necessarily straggle on their own all the time. Music managers are still out there, searching for young talent, craving for some original, sound. But the thing with indie musicians is that they know what they are worth, and they know that if they want they can make it on their own. So they will know what to ask for and what to agree to.

Music artists in the past gave their label company all of their trust. Some of them were well taken care of and some were used. But any way you look at it, they were like children that need their parents approval for creating and performing. Today with what I’ve mentioned before and websites like myspace and songwriting competitions websites, these indie music artists know what they are worth and as a result from this we get more original quality music that is not twisted by music labels that think they know what’s good for us and what’s not.

The clothes worn by musicians have always sent shockwaves through the fashion industry, helping to stimulate trends that have gone down in history. Today, things are no different. It’s no secret that guitar music has leapt into the charts of late, and that over the last few years, indie-rock groups have become a mainstay in the local media. In fact, music magazines like the NME have been flying off the shelves with the newfound popularity of these bands. However, just as their music has become increasingly ingrained in the mainstream, so too have their fashion trends. From Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand’s front man, to Pete Doherty, indie music has hit the fashion industry hard in recent years – and to good effect.

The idea of popular music artists starting fashion trends is not an alien one; indeed, it is a phenomenon that has gripped our society for decades. During the 1960s in the heyday of The Beatles, many men would wear their hair long, inspired by the style of the Liverpudlian songsters. Similarly, in the 1980s, Michael Jackson’s legendary red zipper jacket – made famous in music videos for Beat It and Thriller – was all the rage, with both men and women donning the fashion item. These clothes helped spark the fashion sense of many generations, as people took inspiration from their favourite musicians in order to create their own look and define the fashion atmosphere of an era.

Today, a variety of modern musicians have helped engender new trends in men’s fashion. Modern rockers Kasabian for example, are featured in the 150th anniversary ad campaign for British fashion label, Burberry. Moreover, Pete Doherty’s relationship with British supermodel Kate Moss has made him a staple figure not just in the mainstream press but in the fashion world as well. Indie rave and electro acts, such as The Klaxons and Brazilian scenesters CSS, have also had a significant impact on musical fashion, with The Klaxon’s bright neon t-shirts and jeans engendering a new generation of cool.

Music and fashion have become so intertwined that the NME’s annual music awards have even incorporated the category of ‘Best Dressed Artist’ in their annual NME Awards Show, this year held on March 1st at Hammersmith Palais. The category is sponsored by Topman, a popular fashion retailer who continue to lead the way in men’s clothes and men’s fashion. Last year’s nominees included Pete Doherty, Alex Kapranos, The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Liam Gallagher and the eventual winner, Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs. The proliferation of indie-rock figures here clearly indicates the influence of such artists in the men’s fashion industry today – a trend which is sure to continue into the future.

Can you imagine musicians without music gears? Well if you are a musician then you must be on the lookout for good quality music gears for your use. Throughout the world people like you are in the search of proper gears in order to serve their individual purposes. And classifieds lend a very effective helping hand towards your effort.

There are many websites that provide the services for online music gear classifieds. If you are trying to buy some instrument you can search amongst the classified postings to get the best one. If you want to sell your used guitar, or for that matter any other musical instrument, you can post your classified on such sites. It provides the platform for interaction between the seller and the buyer.

Selling and buying music gears have never been easier. With the Internet it has been turned into a simple matter of a few mouse clicks. Now you have the option to view sites entirely dedicated to selling and buying of used music gears ranging from guitars and drums to microphones and speakers.

Generally you have to fill up a form in order to sell or buy a specific gear in such classifieds. There are two types of classified services available. Paid classifieds and free ones. Both have their respective terms and conditions that you have to abide by to utilize the services.

You can choose from several categories of classified ads according to your purpose. Options like owner ads, dealer ads, for sale ads, want to buy ads, etc. are commonly encountered. One of the chief advantages of such music gear classifieds is that it makes the process of selling used gears a lot more effortless.

Another benefit that you can reap from music gear classifieds is the affordability. Generally brand new gears come at a dear price. Whereas used instruments are comparatively cheap. So you can get the desired gear without digging a hole in your pocket.

It is also easy to locate the instrument you want in classifieds. One can search for what one is looking for by a range of categories. Some of the popular categories include guitars, keyboards, drums or percussion, basses, bass amps, recording and audio, etc. to name a few.

The music gear classifieds are not only helpful in making the process of buying and selling easier, but you can actually get loads of information and news or product reviews also. This is no doubt a beneficial edge over the traditional brick and mortar retail outlets.

Such sites dealing in music gear classifieds can also often become the meeting point for musicians. Professional musicians and amateurs, music enthusiasts and bands can connect locally, regionally, nationally or even globally as well through the classifieds.

If you are a beginner you might want to get a second hand music gear for your practice. Or you might even be interested in collecting a particular vintage music gear for your collection. It can happen that you are a music band member and looking for some music gears to upgrade the band performance. Whatever might be the purpose, you are almost sure to gain from music gear classifieds, as they are easy, fast and organized, offering you a dizzying range of choice.

Toronto is an entertainment center due to its culture and the exceptional life of its inhabitants. It is also a tourist destination due to its ability to satisfy visitors with diverse preferences and tastes. This is also due to its numerous tourist attractions and scenic sites. Despite being, one of Canada economic centers, it also serves as a favored honeymoon destination to many wedding couples. There are numerous clubs in the city that offer diverse range of music services to revelers. Examples of these include live music bands headed by live music musicians. These musicians specialize in diverse genre of music that range from jazz to rock live bands.

Live music bands have qualified DJs who posses a wealth of knowledge in favorable music and music trends. They also possess skill and agility while mixing music depending on the occasion. For example, in a wedding setting, the live band DJs chooses songs relevant to complement the mood of the event. An example includes Babylon productions, which offers live music services in assorted ceremonies.

During wedding ceremonies, guests could prefer jazz music because of its calming effect. These performances take place in wedding receptions. In the evening, the couple may decide to have a wedding dinner event. Depending on nature of audience present, the DJ chooses music that the crowd would love. When the audience is comprised of young people, live music musicians may decide to perform live rock concerts to entertain the wedding couple and the invited guests. When majorities of the guests are aged people, the musicians perform softer music. Apart from weddings, live music musicians perform their shows during corporate events and business meetings. In such occasions, the musicians perform songs relevant to the occasion. At such occasions, the crowd expects energetic performances due to the happy mood among the corporate members.

In some situations, corporate members have serious meetings. Under such settings, the live music musicians perform slow music in between the sessions. This helps to relieve the tension and serious mood among corporate members. Other occasions where live music musicians offer their services is during birthday parties. Such events are preferably held on open grounds or within closed rooms. Some clubs in Toronto have created spacious rooms on the rooftops ideal for such events. Such rooms offer revelers dancing space and an opportunity to have a scenic view of the city.

In birthday parties, the musicians thrill the crowd with fast-paced music that allows guests dance however; this depends on age of guests in the event. Aged people prefer live slow performances, which helps them reminisce on the events of days long past. Other events graced by these musicians include engagement parties often held by young people therefore, the musician perform energetic shows. Toronto has many live music agencies, which offer affordable services to their clientele. They have created websites where one checks their service fees. One also books their service online to save on travel expenses. Due to the existing stiff competition, live music services are ideally affordable. One should book for these services prior to the occasion to avoid last minute rush especially during the festive seasons in Toronto.