Why All Bands MUST Have a Video Strategy
Did you know that Youtube is the second largest search engine in the United States? Did you also know that 80% of searches in Youtube are music-related?
A ton of your potential fans consume music and video concurrently. If your content focus is on digital downloads and albums only, you’re missing a huge opportunity to reach your fans in a unique (most bands don’t do this yet) and relevant (if your fans like video, you should be creating video) way.
Here’s a slice of an online music info graph from Grovo (a site that “teaches people how to use the internet”…one of the more lame and uninspired taglines I’ve seen in a while) that shares some evidence along these lines:
Be sure to ask yourself: Am I creating the right content that’s reaching the right fans at the touch points most relevant to them? If the answers is “yes”, please share what you’re doing below! If the answer is ‘no’, spend some serious time with your bandmates brainstorming some ways you can.
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Poll: Best Name for Cover Song & Portrait YouTube Mashup?
We’re constantly thinking of (often bad) ideas for new songs, YouTube channels, Facebook Apps, etc. Here’s a silly, hypothetical one — a YouTube channel with a cover song and pop star portrait mashup. For example, imagine simultaneously seeing a portrait of Usher being painted from scratch and hearing a cover of his hit song.
The BIG question: What should the name of the YouTube channel be? (Pick 1 or 2)
Loading ...The other big question: Sure, it might be a fun endeavor for kicks. But would any YouTuber care to watch? Let me know what you think.
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How To Create a Google+ (Plus) Band Page
You’ve already got band page set up in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, ReverbNation, SoundCloud, YouTube, WordPress, and 50 other social networks. So why in the world should you create a Google+ Band Page?
Why creating a Google+ (Plus) Page is a no-brainer:
- It’s way to early to predict whether or not Google+ will build up a critical mass of followers, but it’s Google. Don’t ignore it.
- Google search results are likely to weigh Google+ profiles heavily in search engine results. It’s an easy way to get your band, your band’s music, your band’s videos, and your band’s witticisms indexed immediately within Google. (Google+ Direct Connect is a hint of what’s to come.)
- Google Plus enables you to actually communicate with your fans more directly and in more ways than does Facebook.
- Google Plus allows you to segment and organize your fan base into circles — friends, family, strangers, groupies, you name it.
- At the very least, it’s another opportunity to generate a free link to your other band properties for a little SEO love.
- It’ll take five minutes. Step away from your preamp and create Google+ magic while you down a doughnut.
Why it’s semi-brain dead:
- There is currently no way to add your music to your Google+ page, which kind of defeats its usefulness for bands. However, I’m sure all the big players (ReverbNation, SoundCloud, RouteNote, Nimbit, etc) are hard at work creating a Band App that will plugin.
- You can’t sync with your YouTube account. However, you CAN upload your music videos separately.
- Very few people are using it yet. But again, it’s early — don’t hold it against Google just yet.
How to create your Google+ (Plus) Band Page:
1. Pick a Google account to use. If you’re like me, you may have several. For example, I have one for my personal self, and another for my GarageSpin alter ego. Do I create a Google+ Band Page using my personal account, or my band account? It’s a simple decision, but will impact 1) what contacts you’ll be able to easily import at the outset, 2) where email notifications regarding Band Page engagement will be sent, and 3) how many Google+ profiles you’ll be forced to manage.
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Traffic Cut in Half on October 14th – Youch!
Organic traffic to GarageSpin.com dropped by 50% on October 14th, and I have no clue why. Don’t you hate that?
If you can explain why — perhaps a Google algorithm change? a once high-ranking post no longer carrying weight? — I will send you the first copy of my very next song to you for free. (Perhaps posting less than once a month contributed to the drop..?) Ah well. I usually try not to think too much about traffic, SEO, and rankings, but yeesh, that’s the most dramatic dip I’ve seen since I launched the blog in 2005… Onwards and upwards.
[UPDATE: Here's one theory and another theory. Many seem to be confused and bewildered as I am.]
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MySpace’s Broken Email Unsubscribe Link
A Public Service Announcement for MySpace: Please make sure your email unsubscribe links are working.
I wouldn’t normally waste my time on such a boring post, but I’ve got a minute to kill, so hey. MySpace occasionally sends email notifications alerting me every time someone sends me a message. (But the email NEVER tells you what the message is, which is incredibly annoying. 99% of the time, it’s just a band using software to boost its friend base. I no longer bother reading messages.)
So today, fed up, I finally decided to turn notifications off, and clicked on the link in the email titled:
“To turn off notifications, update your account settings.“
However, doing so takes you to a page that says:
Oops! Something went wrong…
Sorry but something may have gone wrong with our system or the page you have requested is currently not available. If you have mistyped the address then please try again. Otherwise go explore everything else we’ve got — music, movies, games, celebrities, and more.
I guess something has “gone wrong with their system.” Those wily coyotes will stop at nothing to make sure they can continue emailing you, ay? But you can’t be too hard on poor ol’ MySpace…steering a ship with a skeleton crew can’t be an easy task. Ah well.
So, when was the last time YOU visited YOUR MySpace profile? Or any, for that matter?
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Occupy Wall Street Protest Jams
There’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned protest to out the Muse in everyone.
The Occupy Wall Street movement is pretty impressive, growing from a mere 1,000 protesters in New York City to 15,000, plus thousands more in cities in over 25 different countries. Cardboard boxes, pepper spray, celebrity visits, union participation, arrests, Reddit support, and lobbyist nightmares are all part of the story, and good stories inspire songs, some good, some bad.
Here are a couple Occupy Wall Street protest ditties circulating YouTube currently, answering the question WWBDD (What Would Bob Dylan Do). Sort of. What do you think? Inspired and provocative or bandwagon-jumping and opportunistic?
“Occupy Wall Street” by Jeremy Gilchrist
This guy’s got a nice voice, and seems a little more serious about the issues…
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Facebook and Free Music
Call me old-fashioned, but I still listen to music in one of three ways: 1) on my iPhone, 2) with Pandora, and 3) on an FM car radio. That’s it. XM Radio, RDIO, Spotify, Last.fm, Google Music, and MOG have thus far eluded my attention, though I have accounts in all services (except MOG, I believe). I may try Spotify, due to multiple positive reviews from friends.
Will Facebook be offering a music service? Probably not, as it’s more likely that music services will offer an App within Facebook users can use. (There’s a difference.) Facebook’s strategy is still to become the world’s leading platform utility for the sharing of media. In any case, it does look like some kind of free streaming model may be offered in the near future, via a number of partners.
Will consumers use a music service through Facebook? That’s hard to answer, but my gut instinct tells me mass adoption is unlikely. The most successful consumer products and platforms often integrate some combination of 1) ultra-simplicity in usability and design, and 2) some element of “wow” factor that’s new and unique. Integrating a great user experience like Spotify into Facebook risks cluttering and complicating it. It also places template-driven restrictions on design that can lessen the likelihood of a “wow” experience. Why not just use the ‘native’ version of the service?
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I am saying it’s going to be quite a challenge solving both problems above. Music service developers will need Facebook guidance and flexibility to create a well-integrated experience, or the offerings may fall flat. That’ll be challenging, as the Facebook Profile, Wall, News pages are already cluttered with quite a few actionable modules and calls-to-action.
Further, if multiple music platforms are launching simultaneously, how differentiated can they really be? All said, I’m excited to see where everything lands.
What do you think — will music services sink or swim in Facebook?
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How to Add the Google +1 Button to WordPress With the Digg Digg Plugin
I was delighted today to learn that my favorite social sharing WordPress plugin, Digg Digg, recently added the Google +1 Button to the long list of buttons it already supports. It took me about 20 seconds to turn on. Eazy fo’ sheezy.
Not only does Digg Digg enable a huge variety of share buttons, including Google +1, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc, it’s also incredibly customizable, letting you pick the type, size, pages, and placement of buttons throughout your site. Perfect for lazy-but-anal folks like me.
So how do you add the Google +1 button to WordPress? Here’s what I did, though there are plenty of customizable options in Digg Digg, as well as plenty of other plugins that attempt to offer similar functionality:
- In your WordPress dashboard, under “Plugins”, click on “Add New”.
- Do a search for “Digg Digg”. Download and install the plugin.
- Click on “Enable Normal Display”.
- Select “Horizontal” to display the Google share button (and other share buttons) horizontally. (Selecting “vertical” will stack them, which can add a lot of white space under your posts.)
- Select the page types you want the share the button in. (Might as well select all of ‘em.)
- In the next question, include “All”, exclude nothing. (I’m not quite sure what that does, and I don’t particularly care.)
- Check the box that let’s Digg Digg modify your post excerpt. (Recommended.)
- Now the fun part. “Turn on” the Google share button (and others you’d like to use) by selecting an “integration type” for it. (I chose “before_content” for the Facebook, Twitter, and Google +1 buttons.)
- Pick a button size for each. (I went with “compact” for each, and “compact 20px” for the Google button.)
- Leave everything else, and click on “Save Changes”.
That’s it. You’re now part of the hip “early adopter” crowd that’s using Google +1. (Well, actually, you’re a little late. Google +1 is already on more widespread that Twitter’s Tweet button.) You can get pretty fancy with Digg Digg, and play with it’s “floating” functionality, or dive under the hood for deep customization. Enjoy.
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