Live Music Blog

Over a period of time and on numerous different projects I’ve tried all manner of promotional devices for music on the Internet. By far the most consistent method I’ve found to bring listeners to music is blogging.

There are a number of reasons for this:

1. Because you are generating a number of new pages with each new post you are never ending ly making new content for search engines.

2. Apart from having more pages, all of the major search engine algorithms are aware of the nature of blogs and the constant ly updated material. Once your blog has been indexed and identified as such it will cause the search engine robots to pay more attention and visit more frequently.

3. Pinging is a process where you notify the major search engines and blog directories of any updates to your blog. This may be set up so that it happens automatically every time you make a new posting. The real trick here is set ting up your ping list so that it notifies all the necessary services. (The list is pretty long).

4. Tagging is likewise a particularly vital part of the blogging process. This standard ally means that you “tag” your individual posts with relevant keywords which allow them to be categorized more effortlessly by search engines, blog directories and social bookmarking website s.

5. Internet 2.0 has been a buzz term on the Internet for little while now. Basically, it revolves around web sites where you can search for and identify relevant information in a decidedly similar fashion to the traditional search engines. The major difference is that the results are based on human ratings of the material rather than search engine robot algorithms. Social bookmarking web sites are at the core of this movement. This is decidedly relevant to how you go about promoting your blog as well.

What I’ve outlined above is a very standard outline of some of the reasons why blogging can be such an effective method to bring new visitors to your music. prefer anything, blogging involves a performance of skills and just throwing up a page on blogger or using the provide d service with a MySpace profile will not bring you that a lot of new visitors in isolation.

On the other hand, a properly optimized blog and correct use of pinging, tagging, social bookmarking, relevant commenting and several other devices will bring hundreds if not thousands of new audiences to your music.

As I said, of all the divergent available Web promotion pointers I have found this to be the single most effective technique. I hope you’ve found this article useful and if you really want to grow your fan base start blogging!

Have you ever pondered music? I do not mean thinking about the notes or the beat or the even the instrumentation. I mean have you pondered it?

To ponder: to weigh carefully in the mind; think about thoughtfully: He pondered his next words thoroughly.

Think about what music is. It is intangible. It is really indefinable. It has no shape, yet it shapes thoughts. It has no function of its own, yet somehow endorses us function

Music has the power to stir feelings…

…And of its own accord cannot fulfill any of them. It isn’t important to perform our daily duties, but how a lot of places of business do you find with no music. I certainly don’t recall a lot of. Music cannot comb your hair, brush your teeth, or tie your shoes, but it can ease you through those mundane tasks and make you forget about the time.

You do not need words to find pleasure in music. You do not need status. You do not even need individuals around. It isn’t poured from a bottle, shaken from a cannister, or even dolloped from a 5 gallon bucket. Still; it may be as refreshing as champagne, spicy as cayenne, and rich and decadent as gold ring homemade vanilla ice cream. (you Texans will really know what I mean by that last reference)

Music appeals to fewer than our five senses, but it also appeals to more than our senses. When you study musical structure, it makes best logical sense. But when you try to explain why it “moved” you, remarkably ofttimes you cannot quite convey it satisfactorily.

It was not because it smelled, tasted, felt, sounded, or looked so wonderful. It was what it did to your cerebral cortex. Or might be it hit you in the “gut”, but it didn’t actually hit you, and it was not actually your “gut”. See what I mean? You can’t put your finger on it. In fact you can’t touch it at all. You just know. You know?

Why in the world am I going on and on about music? Thanks for asking.

Music is a form of creative copy, too. It’s an al the majority perfect way to ingrain an idea into the minds of your target market. Because in the absence of exception there has always been this common chord. ( prefer my musical metaphor?) individuals love music! No surprise… It’s extremely versatile, dependable, believable, and yet inexplicable.

I’m likewise a songwriter. I take the same octave countless other performers use and produce my little piece of semi-immortality to satisfy…what? Me? an listeners? A paycheck? All of the above? None of the above? The answer is yes to all the questions. I’ve written tunes for each of those purposes. And each one was satisfying in its own way because each one involved the intangible little friend of mine. Music. I’m not sure why I’m so moved by this unseen companion, but I do know this:

Music is a gift from God. It, and your thoughts, could never be stolen from you, forced out of you, or driven away from you…as long as you want it; you have got it. How incredible is such a gift. Yeah, we could live in the absence of music, but

It would not be nearly as joyous an existence.

To your musical satisfaction…

The Web has revolutionized the way we do business. You may start an Internet business for less than $100.00 and start earning a decent amount of income off of it. Because of this, there has been an explosion in the ‘ Web Marketing’ world. I do not consider myself an Web marketer, but I have studied many of them and have learned some ‘out of the box’ techniques that you may simply apply towards bands. Here are just a few of the many suggestions I may give you:

• Give 1st One way to get something from other is to give to them 1st. In music, one way to build a fan base is to performance at Clubs that do not charge a cover and invite individuals to come as your guest. You definately don’t want to performance a lot of Clubs for free, so you need to somehow communicate that you are doing this for your fans in the absence of saying it outright. You can say, “Hey guys, just to show you are appreciation, Flaming Onions would like to individual ly invite you to this special concert just for you! It is totally free, so bring your companions and we will see you there!” They will come, because they believe that this is a gift from you and the won’t want to miss out!

Yet another way to give 1st is through our products. Giving away products has gotten a lot easier since the development of the Internet. Digital music is HUGE! Better yet, it costs nothing to duplicate.

Have you thought about giving away one or two songs from your new album? What do you think would happen if you did, and left your fan’s preferreds available only if they purchased it? first of all, they’re going to love the fact that you gave them part of your album for free! It is al most like a free trial that they get to keep. Because you were willing to do this for them, they will be more like ly to buy it from you. Give first, and they will give back to you!

• Cross-selling/Up-selling Have you ever gone to McDonalds, ordered a burger and received the question, “Would you prefer fries with that?” Have you ever ordered one of their worth meals and received the question “Would you prefer to Super-Size that?” What you heard, while innocent enough, was an amazing marketing idea that has been used by Web merchants all over the place !

It’s a way to increase sales to the same customer (who has bought a product) by introducing other products in your product range. If customers buy a Flaming Onions compact disc, you could ask If they want to buy a Flaming Onions t-shirt as well.

Seems simple enough, but let’s think a little more out of the box. Let’s say the Flaming Onions’ CD sells for $15 and brings in a profit of $10 per album. Let’s likewise assume that their tee shirts sell for $10 and bring in a profit of $6 per shirt.

What Assuming that the Flaming Onions Value Pack (consisting of 1 autographed CD, 1 tshirt, and the album emailed to them in MP3 format with bonus track for their iPod and a desktop background pic for their computer ) sells for $25? I am willing to bet that this approach sells more. The digital products, as I mentioned above, cost hardly anything to duplicate.

You profit would be the same, but I guarantee you would sell more!

• Email List This is probably the most important tool that’s used by Internet companies. Web Marketers swear by email lists and base many, if not all, of their systems around them. The concept is easy, you offer a list for fans to keep track of your performer and all they have to do is give you their Name and email address.

You now have a way to directly communicate to them, and better yet, they wanted it! You can encourage upcoming shows and album releases. You can create contests and drawings for those that are signed up. You can give those who are signed up a special discount on merchandise. The possibilities are endless. One thing to recall is to only send them things they would want to know. They signed up to hear more about you, so they don’t want to receive any forwards stating that If they sign up for this offer, they can receive a free laptop, blah, blah, blah! Do not abuse your list. Take care of them. This is an elite group of people who wanted to be a part of your success, so treat them that way.