Members Mutha Goose Posted March 18, 2013 Members Share Posted March 18, 2013 I ran sound for a couple of bands this past Saturday night for their "St. Patrick's Day Bash". I've worked sound with some of the musicians in the past, but not in this band (there was an opening band, but I know nothing about them). Well, someone asked me who I was doing sound for this weekend. I had no idea. I never asked the name of the band. So I decided to look it up.First I went to the find the FaceBook page of the guy that hired me, Ed. I couldn't find Ed's FB page (he and I aren't "friends"). So I went the club's FB page. No schedule of events. No postings on their wall as to who was playing. But they did have a link to their website, so I went there. On their website, I could easily see who was playing next week, but not this week. Apparently they already updated their site, though a little too soon.Hmm... Wait a minute, I think I know who their guitar player is... Let me look on his FB page (he is "friends" with me and maybe he is in this band). Again, I don't see any reference to him playing out, or even the name of his band. But I keep scrolling down his FB page... Eventually I see a posting by Ed (the guy that hired me). Cool. I'll go to Ed's FB page. No reference to him playing a gig nor to the name of his band. So I continue scrolling down his page. Eventually, I see a post by Ed mentioning his band's new webpage, so I followed the link.All in all a nice looking page. Obviously a cookie-cutter page from the hosting site, but it is clean. But no gig announcement. SO I start clicking around. They have a link that says "calendar". Cool, I will look there. It brings of a full calendar (month of March showing). The holidays are listed, including "St. Patrick's Day", but no obvious gig. However, St. Patrick's was listed as being on Saturday, not Sunday. So I hover my mouse over it, and sure enough it is a link. I click it... Finally I know the name of the band that is playing.BTW: I have been through a very similar situation with a couple regulars here in this forum (HC, not just BSWTB). There have been a couple of people that I've wanted to go check out. In many cases, I couldn't find out when their next gig was (even though I knew their band's name, FB page, and web page) or where it was. I would see posts like, "can't wait to play tonight", but no mention as to where!My point to this is that I had to do an awful amount of work to find out who was playing where and when, even when I already had some of the information. Do you think your average fan or person looking for a place to go hang out and watch live music would have been this persistent? Hell no.You have a few seconds, maximum, to get out your message to a fan. If you're playing a gig and want people there, make that the 1st thing they see on every outlet available to you (that includes the venue's sites). People are not going to your site because they want to look at that picture of you playing that one gig last April. They are going there to find out when they can see you. Make it so that they can't miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members toober Posted March 18, 2013 Members Share Posted March 18, 2013 You make some good points. I try to follow my friends band but they only post where they were playing about 1/4th the time. So I stuck my hand into their facebook page and now it has a dynamic calendar that will pull their dates from the websites of places they normally play. People don't understand that marketing is such a big aspect of selling yourself on a resume, to new love interests, and your band gigs. Marketing should be a required class in high school at this point. And when your band does play, if I am sitting in the crowd, you HAVE to answer this question..."Who are you?". Do you have signage? Did you offer me a business card? Did you even announce yourself and other band members more than once throughout the evening (in case I was in the rest room the first time)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 18, 2013 Members Share Posted March 18, 2013 we have a schedule on our site and in the about section of our FB page plus we do several posts a week that highlight where we will be that weekend... I thought a schedule was a no-brainer! But it amazes me how many bars and bands don't get that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted March 18, 2013 Members Share Posted March 18, 2013 Good points. I take care of the Band's website and it's hosted by Register4Less. I keep the size small so I don't have to pay extra and am using Apple's iweb for site creation and update. (iweb is no longer supported and the latest version of ilife doesn't include it.) I put the band's schedule on the website's opening page so if you access it from a smart phone, you will at least get that. Also if you do a search for Rendition Band Denver on any search engine, we will probably be the first listing or at least on the first page. And yes, we are playing this weekend. Actually my bandmates are so used to the website being updated, that they use it to find available dates. (Pretty easy to update. Takes about a minute after my computer is up.) We don't have a facebook page and I'm always amazed at the bands who only have a facebook page. (Do people really like the band?) We spend about $18 a year for our name and website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted March 18, 2013 Members Share Posted March 18, 2013 > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mutha Goose Posted April 17, 2013 Author Members Share Posted April 17, 2013 It's really something that bands should think about... look at your marketing from a fan's point of view: what is the most important thing you want to get across to them? Is that displayed in such a way that they can't miss it? Is it the very first thing they'll see and does it stand out from everything else? If not, you should fix it so it is. On average you only have a few seconds to get your message out or there is a very good chance you'll miss the opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted April 18, 2013 Members Share Posted April 18, 2013 Playing this weekend. Private party. About 120 in attendance I hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J.Paul Posted April 19, 2013 Members Share Posted April 19, 2013 Mutha Goose wrote: I ran sound for a couple of bands this past Saturday night for their "St. Patrick's Day Bash". I've worked sound with some of the musicians in the past, but not in this band (there was an opening band, but I know nothing about them). Well, someone asked me who I was doing sound for this weekend. I had no idea. I never asked the name of the band. So I decided to look it up. First I went to the find the FaceBook page of the guy that hired me, Ed. I couldn't find Ed's FB page (he and I aren't "friends"). So I went the club's FB page. No schedule of events. No postings on their wall as to who was playing. But they did have a link to their website, so I went there. On their website, I could easily see who was playing next week, but not this week. Apparently they already updated their site, though a little too soon. Hmm... Wait a minute, I think I know who their guitar player is... Let me look on his FB page (he is "friends" with me and maybe he is in this band). Again, I don't see any reference to him playing out, or even the name of his band. But I keep scrolling down his FB page... Eventually I see a posting by Ed (the guy that hired me). Cool. I'll go to Ed's FB page. No reference to him playing a gig nor to the name of his band. So I continue scrolling down his page. Eventually, I see a post by Ed mentioning his band's new webpage, so I followed the link. All in all a nice looking page. Obviously a cookie-cutter page from the hosting site, but it is clean. But no gig announcement. SO I start clicking around. They have a link that says "calendar". Cool, I will look there. It brings of a full calendar (month of March showing). The holidays are listed, including "St. Patrick's Day", but no obvious gig. However, St. Patrick's was listed as being on Saturday, not Sunday. So I hover my mouse over it, and sure enough it is a link. I click it... Finally I know the name of the band that is playing. BTW: I have been through a very similar situation with a couple regulars here in this forum (HC, not just BSWTB). There have been a couple of people that I've wanted to go check out. In many cases, I couldn't find out when their next gig was (even though I knew their band's name, FB page, and web page) or where it was. I would see posts like, "can't wait to play tonight", but no mention as to where! My point to this is that I had to do an awful amount of work to find out who was playing where and when, even when I already had some of the information. Do you think your average fan or person looking for a place to go hang out and watch live music would have been this persistent? Hell no. You have a few seconds, maximum, to get out your message to a fan. If you're playing a gig and want people there, make that the 1st thing they see on every outlet available to you (that includes the venue's sites). People are not going to your site because they want to look at that picture of you playing that one gig last April. They are going there to find out when they can see you. Make it so that they can't miss it. It's amazing the holes of information that are left with sometimes.....even IF they have a "live calendar" of some kind then they won't have audio. AUDIO!I spent DAYS on this at the end of last year, trying different apps, comparing the integration of different sites and profiles. I'm satisfied w/ the technology part for now,my issue is information flow..... since I decided to keep using Reverbnation as my calendar it requires the venue to be part of Reverbnation, if it is not then you have to populate the address and such of the venue as part of the show entry or it won't add it as a show.... wel I don't KNOW the address of half the places we play and don't have time to wait until Gwen has filled in her calendar to GET to the info. I have time to do it when I have time. So EVERY address of EVERY show that I do not have info for is 123 Street. No, we do not get advance sheets. Example : it would have been nice to know we were opening for Ricky Skaggs for this weekend's dates. I had the date, didnt have the info.blah blah blah So "does anyone know? Can they find out?"Yes it's there. Anyone that is from the area knows when and where those shows are because they're being promoted.... but to someone from another region (who isn't coming to the show anyways) it looks sketchy, like I'm making stuff up. BTW "the Today Show" actually IS in the Reverbnation database as a venue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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