5 Ways to Put on a Great Live Show

Posted on May 8, 2012 by SongCast

If you want to put on a great live show, get fog machines, laser lights and elaborate wardrobes out of your mind, for now. Your business is music. Once you’ve nailed the music part of it, then you can worry about the eye candy.

Before the show

1. Do your prep work
The best way to put on a great show has as much to do with what goes on before showtime as the show itself. Have a well-rehearsed set. After you rehearse your tail off, you’ll be more comfortable with improvisation and set list changes during the show.

2. Do a thorough sound check, and DON’T TICK OFF THE SOUND PERSONonline_music_distribution
Bruce Springsteen became a legend partly due to his concert performances. One reason his concerts are so good is his insistence on making sure the sound is great. This means conducting a long and thorough sound check. The Boss has been known to walk around to every section of the arena while the band plays, making tweaks in the mix along the way. Show up early, get used to the place and spend a lot of time on stage before the show. Most importantly, get friendly with the sound person. Ticked off sound people tend to press the mysterious “suck” button for certain acts.

During the show

3. Have fun
If you’re not having fun, neither is the audience. If you don’t enjoy playing music live for people, stick to the home studio. The “have fun” rule even applies to solo acoustic artists who purvey in the realm of emo shoegazers. The audience wants to see you comfortable in your skin. You don’t have to be full of pep and all smiles if your subject matter and stage persona doesn’t call for it. But you should enjoy what you do and it should show on stage.

4. Talk to the crowd
Bob Dylan may be able to get away with never saying anything beyond “hi” or “thank you” to the crowd, but you can’t. For lesser-known indie acts, what goes on in between the songs is almost as important as the songs themselves in a live setting. It doesn’t have to be between every song, but having a comedic moment, clever band intros or a heart felt story provides flow to the set. Audiences love flow.

5. Always leave them wanting more
Most up-and-coming acts think they are the best thing since sliced bread and want to play as long as possible. Audiences don’t necessarily want this. Don’t overstay your welcome. It has nothing to do with how much time the venue gives you and everything to do with crowd reaction. If the crowd is into your act and you only have 45 minutes, stop at 40. Leave them wanting more. Then watch them line up at the merch table, tell their friends about you and come back in greater numbers for the next show.

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Vimeo vs. YouTube

Posted on May 7, 2012 by SongCast

Pros and Cons of Vimeo and YouTube – Should You Have Both?

The Internet is flooded with new videos on a daily basis, and video content is one of the best ways for new fans to find out about you and your music. YouTube is the clear leader of online video, but Vimeo seems to be gaining traction daily. Both sites allow users to sign up, upload and watch videos for free, and participate in a community with channels and commenting capability. So how do you decide what video service to be a part of? Or should you hop onto more than one?

Today we’re going to discuss the pros and cons of YouTube and Vimeo:

YouTube Pros:

  • Audience: YouTube is clearly the number one video-sharing site on the web,youtube_seoand their audience is much larger than Vimeo’s, so with YouTube you have thepotential for more people to watch your video.
  • Customization: YouTube allows you to do some slight customization to your channel like: select a background image, select colors for your channel box, change the font style, pick a layout and create playlists.
  • Revenue: If your videos get enough views or you get enough subscribers, YouTube will invite you to a revenue sharing partnership, allowing you to make money off your channel through ads.
  • Uploads: You can upload as many videos as you want to YouTube. There is no cap!

YouTube cons include: high competition for views because there are so many YouTube subscribers, automatic video removal if something is flagged, and the potential for a lot of profane comments and/or spam.

Vimeo Pros:

  • Audience: Vimeo’s focus is geared more toward artistry, filmmaking and music. The community is smaller than YouTube’s but it’s much more engaged, whichvimeo_for_artistsmeans you might have more comments and communication than on YouTube.
  • Customization: Vimeo allows users to embed a logo or image into the video player, which is great for branding and recognition.
  • Analytics: Vimeo’s Pro account provides much better analytics than YouTube’s system.
  • Uploads: If you upgrade to a paid Vimeo Pro account, the videos you upload are much better quality and require less bandwidth to watch them.

Vimeo cons include: a smaller audience which means less traffic, you can’t post commercials, and there is an upload cap.

What do you think? Based on these pros and cons, what do you think? Are you active on YouTube or Vimeo? Do you have two accounts? How does it factor into your overall social media strategy?

Posted in Music Videos | 2 Comments

Mastering Process Tips from Anthony Casuccio

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Anthony Casuccio

how_to_master_an_albumGuest post from Anthony Casuccio. Anthony is a seasoned recording engineer/ producer and owner of Xtream Audio Mastering.

Dear Anthony,

I have questions about the mastering process: What format files do I send you or another mastering facility? I have separate .wav files for each instrument, vocal, and drum track and so forth. Is that an acceptable format for me to send my songs to get mastered?

First, please refer to my last blog about file preparation. Secondly, you need to mix your tracks down to two tracks in order for them to be mastered. Last month’s column will give you a few guidelines to follow while mixing your songs in order to prepare your song files for mastering. Thirdly, I am going to shed some light on the unpopular, yet “every song needing” art of mastering and explain the differences between mastering and mixing (which is a whole other art form) and how the process and files differ between the two. I get asked this question quite a bit. Yes, it is very elementary in nature but hey even the best in the biz started out at this point some time in their career. I will be happy to field this question.

Mixing is the process of taking the individual recorded parts i.e. vocals, drums and guitar and adjusting the sounds and balance to create the final mix of a song. Making the song sound the way that you want it i.e. more lead vocal or less guitar or even making the bass sound fuller. There are many books written about this process, so I won’t go into any more detail. What you are doing is taking all the tracks and “mixing” them down to two, a left and right track or a stereo pair. That stereo pair now becomes the file that you would use for mastering.

So what is this thing called mastering? Mastering is the art/science of assembling individual songs into one cohesive musical journey and should be considered the final creative step in a recording project. Or as we often say the final “polishing steps”. ALL commercial releases are mastered. Not only can you enhance the mixed material, but also you can correct problems like hiss, electrical hum and distortion that can only be addressed with the kind of tools and ears good mastering provides. This is because the mastering engineer can contour the EQ and dynamics to make it sound richer/ fuller and commercially ready. This is done with high-end equipment that has been calibrated to ensure exact results. If you are going to do this at home, I recommend checking out some 2 track audio editors like Steinberg’s Wavelab 4.0 or Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge that are great for mastering.

After the sound is approved, the engineer will create the masters for the plant to use (this is very important if you are getting commercially ready discs). There is a big difference in the quality of the disc created at the studio compared to the one from your home computer. If you are going to create your master at home, burn the master at the slowest possible speed allowed. Also include a tracking sheet with the exact start and stop times of each track.

Ok let’s recap. Mixing is the combination of multiple tracks into a final two-track stereo master. Mastering is the process of enhancing that two-track stereo master. The process used in mastering varies from project to project, but in general can include the following:

  1. Noise Reduction
  2. EQ
  3. Overall Compression / Limiting
  4. Dithering
  5. Relative Level adjustments, continuity between songs and spacing
  6. Fade ins/outs to black
  7. Over all listening experience
  8. Plant master generation for replication/duplication

We can break some of these down in future columns and discuss how they can be used while recording as well as mastering. Until then, keep making music and email me your questions.

Learn more about Anthony here:

www.xtreamaudio.com
facebook.com/xtreamaudio

Posted in Expert Advice from Anthony Casuccio | 2 Comments

Email Marketing Tips for Musicians

Posted on May 5, 2012 by SongCast

Email marketing has been around for years, giving brands and consumers a way toemai_marketing_musiciansdirectly interact with one another. Over 90 percent of online consumers are subscribers and have provided their email addresses to at least one company or brand. With this high statistic it is important that bands and musicians are also using the technology to their advantage. Musicians and bands are able to communicate with their fans, keeping them up to date on new music releases, upcoming shows and other events, making email marketing an easy choice to promote your music.

Familiarity

One of the reasons email marketing works seamlessly is that consumers are familiar with it and expect to receive information regarding sales and promotions through this medium. The internet has simplified shopping and selling music online. You will be able to announce a new song release and include a link to where fans will be able to purchase and download the song.

Privacy and Trust

For email marketing to be successful and to receive a large following it is important to promote trust and ensure privacy to people who sign up for your emails. If your fans don’t trust you, they won’t subscribe to your communications. Be sure to honor unsubscribe inquiries in a timely manner and use the email lists for your content only.

Relevancy

According to research, almost half of subscribers (49 percent) open email promotions from their favorite brands and companies. Because of this you will want to give your fans a reason to want to open the emails. Promote your music through interesting facts and important information. Use pictures and links to videos when you can to keep readers interested.

Exclusivity

Email marketing also has an advantage over other forms because of its exclusivity. People who subscribe to your emails are able to learn about special promotions and other important updates before others. To build a bigger readership, use this function and promote exclusive deals to promote your music.

For more information and tips on selling music online and how to promote your music contact SongCast today!

Posted in Music Marketing, Promoting Your Music, Sales and Marketing | Leave a comment

How to Write and Distribute a Press Release for Your Band

Posted on May 3, 2012 by SongCast

Musicians, like many other artists, have traditionally suffered from a lack of realonline_press_releasesprofessional music marketing savvy.  The ones that “make it big” are usually backed by a team of publicists and label money to help them saturate a market with their branding, news and tunes. This has made success for many independent bands pretty difficult.

One excellent, inexpensive or even free way for a band to get much needed exposure is to write and distribute press releases on anything newsworthy related to the band. Some examples of newsworthy topics include:

  • New releases, such as singles, albums, or “Best of” collections.
  • Band member additions, highlighting their background and prior successes.
  • Collaborations with other well-known artists.
  • Tour announcements, especially when the release is sent to local press before a show.

How to write a press release

The most important thing to grasp is that the press release has to have some kind of “hook” or angle that makes it stand out and add value to the reader. Reporters are not interested in helping your career with a sales pitch obviously intended for pure music marketing; they are interested in attention-grabbing stories. Help them out with something compelling, and you might get rewarded with a mention or, better yet, an interview.

Follow a format, such as this illustrated press release example, in order to be taken more seriously. Various formats are acceptable, but in general:

  • Contact information goes at the top, and then again at the bottom of the release.
  • The headline is in ALL CAPS, with subtitles in title or sentence case.
  • Write in the 3rd person.
  • The most important information goes in the first paragraph. You only have a few seconds to get attention, so put the best information first so that the reader gets the idea even if he chooses not to read the rest of the release.
  • If available, include at least one quote from an authoritative source, such as a promoter, celebrity or manager.
  • Provide URLs to your website, social media, and video channels so reporters can get more information. This information can go towards the bottom of the release in the boilerplate section as in the example linked to above.
  • The press release’s end is signified with “END” or three centered number symbols, i.e. “# # #.”

Distributing the press release

You have various options for getting the release out to the world:

  • Media outlets. This includes print publications, TV stations, news & industry websites, and radio. Each outlet has different submission requirements, so call or explore the website for each to find out exactly where to send your releases to. Small music webzines that cover your genre are usually quite open to getting press releases, as these reporters are typically looking for story leads.
  • Paid distribution. Services exist to help you distribute your release to thousands of media outlets across the country. One of the better-known ones is PRWeb.com, which might get your story distributed through the Associated Press to major brands such as USA Today, The New York Times, and more.
  • Submit to free press release sites. Don’t expect a journalist to run a story based on a release you put up on the web yourself — instead, this avenue is a way to get found in the search engines and provide some links back to your website and social media profiles. A list of free press release sites can be found here to get you started.

Press releases can be powerful additions to your music marketing plan, so use them!

Posted in Online Press Releases, Sales and Marketing, Social Media Marketing | Leave a comment