Kilted Chaos http://kiltedchaos.com Marketing for Independent Bands, Artists & Movie Makers Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:50:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Now Reading… http://kiltedchaos.com/now-reading/ http://kiltedchaos.com/now-reading/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:41:59 +0000 Alex http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1823

Yes! Reading! A paperback book – how very old school of me huh? And a good read it is too – i’m only on chapter 3 at this point, but allready i’d recommend any new band or artist to go out there and buy a copy of this – it’s that good!

But I digress – my point is this: “Doing it yourself doesn’t mean doing it alone” (Direct Quote from Chapter 2, P19) Unless you’re really really rich, really really talented or really really lucky, you just don’t have time to do all the online marketing needed to get those fans buzzing (and even buying) about you, your band, your music and your live performances.  Not if you’ve got a full time day job, maybe a wife, maybe a family, friends, a social life – and just because you’re in a band, those other things are not any less important!

Instead, just like ever before, you need a strong “virtual road crew”, working behind the scenes on your Internet marketing, producing and promoting your content. But today – that’s a lot easier to get than before. no more of having to sign a long contract with an agent or god forbid, a label, only to get screwed on your big fat advance and make under 10 cents per piece of music sold. No – nowadays what you need is someone who “gets it” and not just that, can do the stuff that would take you 5-6 hours a week, in a couple or less, because they’re bloody good at what they do!

Sound like a business pitch? Well  - perhaps in a way it is, but more importantly its pointing you in the right direction. Sure we’d love to handle your online marketing, but we’ll still love everything you do if you do it yourself or work with someone else.  The simple fact is, now more than ever is a bloody great time to become a musician – recordings more affordable than ever before, getting product into the eyes and ears of your fans has never been easier and jeez – look at how many different sources you can use for free to get your talent out there now. You don’t need a label! If you can find some savvy tech people to handle your online branding and marketing and a manager that actually gets the changing face of the industry, new distribution and promotion models etc – you’ll do just fine!

Oh  - the one negative review I will give to this book is their guide to “Setting up a band website” Actually, the first 5 pointers are spot on (except we’re not listed on their web designers list ;)  But come on, telling you to keep the site light on information – that was fine when we were all using AOL, netscape and Dial up  -shit, even mobile phones have decent browsers and fast connection speeds now. No – put plenty of relevant content on there, and keep updating it as often as you can! And “upload your pages” – oh no, please stay away from HTML! not that there’s anything wrong with it as such, but putting your bands website into a solid CMS like Wordpress will cut down your website updating and maintenance time by hours! No more messing around in Dreamweaver trying to get divs etc to float right, etc etc etc – make Wordpress your website best friend!

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/now-reading/feed/ 0 Oh if you must use Myspace …. http://kiltedchaos.com/oh-if-you-must-use-myspace/ http://kiltedchaos.com/oh-if-you-must-use-myspace/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:07:11 +0000 Alex http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1758

This is the only Myspace that I have, sir (By S.O.F.T)

Oh go on – get your band a myspace page! – even though I personally can’t stand the place – Myspace does remain a valuable, free asset for fan generation and is a great platform to be discovered on! Therefore ll give a quick heads up on the Myspace thing and why you should still use it as one part of your online presence.

In a matter on 20 minutes, we went in and created a very basic myspace presence, and populated it with some music – for the sake of this example, I used the Mixpod widget, but you could use the standard Myspace player, or just about any widget out there that lets you add tracks and then copy and paste the code into a Myspace Html Module.’

There’s plenty of facts and figures out there pointing to the fact that artist based Myspace pages are extremely good “collection points” for fan email addresses, to use for newsletters, etc – so incorporating whatever newsletter service you use into your page is another simple step that you should take. (Don’t have a  provider for email newsletters? We like MAILCHIMP ourselves – and they provide easy to copy and paste html code you can insert into a myspace html module)

Also, always bear this in mind – keep that myspace presence clean and simple. There’s limits to what you can actually do with your Social Media presences, whether Myspace or Facebook, or wherever – your personal website is the “VIP” room, it’s your central hub for all your marketing efforts, therefore, wherever possible make sure you have asome way of getting fans to go there, interact, comment on your blog posts, subscribe to your RSS feeds, watch more content, whatever!

Here’s a couple of good looking Myspace pages for your inspiration:

Frightened Rabbit –  nice, good links back to their record label, and i’m sure once they get their site up and running (Hey dudes! – you should have come to the Kilted Chaos guys ;) , they’ll have link goodness running back to that  -the header customization, and banner for the new album really catches the new fans eye and they also have a couple of different subscription options going on – clever lads!

Also – you just got to love the blurb on their page: “You are currently reading about Frightened Rabbit. They are a band who live in Glasgow and have done for some time. They record in bedrooms, cupboards and kitchens. Anyone can be in Frightened Rabbit. They have played some live shows in this city, but want to meet people from other cities, in order that they can come and blow into tubes when they play live. Lets keep pop music alive by getting it out of that dress and into a sweater.”

TYR – Obviously this is an example of just what could be done with a stellar graphic designer and some clever use of the HTML modules. talk about branding: Everything “above the fold” is spot on great images, really grabs your attention and introduces you to the band. Personally I would move the videos up somewhat, they’re kind of way down on the page – but it seems they’re using their Myspace page as their primary marketing vehicle – which, hey, is fine when your’e an established recording artist like they are – but when you’re starting out – you need something more than just Myspace!

Anyway, that’s just a couple of random samples to show what can be done with Myspace. We will be working hard on Drastic Jo’s Myspace page to demonstrate the kind of things outlined in this brief guide, and really show how a talented Indie artist can use MySpace as part of their overall marketing mix, as soon as we finish the page we’ll write a follow up post on it.  In the meantime please do feel free to visit Drastic Jo and enjoy her music  - wer’e super excited to be working with her on this massive rebranding and expect great things in the coming months from Ms Schneider

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/oh-if-you-must-use-myspace/feed/ 0 The kilted Chaos Questionnaire http://kiltedchaos.com/the-kilted-chaos-questionnaire/ http://kiltedchaos.com/the-kilted-chaos-questionnaire/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:36:33 +0000 Andrew http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1764

1/ How many hours a week do you spend on your site?

2/ Why do you do this?

3/ Why should people come to your site?

4/ How do artists / bands get onto your site?

5/ What can a band / artist do to get featured on your site

6/ What are the top three trends you are seeing in the music business today?

7/ Where do you see your website in 1 and 3 years time?

8/ Random question.

 

Image: Macarena C.

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/the-kilted-chaos-questionnaire/feed/ 0 7 Questions For Music Sites #Kiltfeed 02.24.10 http://kiltedchaos.com/7-questions-for-music-sites-kiltfeed-02-24-10/ http://kiltedchaos.com/7-questions-for-music-sites-kiltfeed-02-24-10/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:31:06 +0000 Andrew http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1760

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/7-questions-for-music-sites-kiltfeed-02-24-10/feed/ 0 Marketing New Music Artists http://kiltedchaos.com/marketing-new-music-artists/ http://kiltedchaos.com/marketing-new-music-artists/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:28:35 +0000 Andrew http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1747

A couple of stories have popped up this week that has me reaching for my keyboard – the one with letters not notes.   Alex commented about Suzanne Vega’s move to Direct to Fan Marketing and DMN noted that Sade just moved half a million units, going gold in her first week.

Now I love both of these artists – The Queen & The Soldier & Your Love Is King are up there on my top 50 songs of all time (well – for this week anyway) – but there is a HUGE difference between these two legends and a new artist – say like Jody Schneider – who is just starting out.

Suzanne Vega and Sade had years of label development, marketing and promotion in order to establish a fan base.  Their music was introduced to the world decades ago in a record industry that looks nothing like the current music business.  The scarcity model makes huge sense if you’re Prince or Bowie or the above two artists, but at the beginning of your career the only person who notices that you’re not producing is your Mom.

As the music business becomes more and more tech dependant with artists getting involved in website design, digital audio, tweets and blog posts – let’s not forget the lessons of the last 10 years of online business.  Just because the big guys are set up in a certain way doesn’t mean you have to emulate them, in fact oftentimes adopting the same strategy can be detrimental. 

The beauty of the web and of being your own boss is that you can change your approach fairly quickly, you can use different strategies to reflect where you are in your career,  change the layout of your website, try different approaches to marketing and distribution.  Unlike traditional bricks and mortar businesses you don’t need a mason every time you want to change how you express yourself.

So – I’m stoked for Sade that a 10 year break from releasing music resulted in her existing fans picking up half a million copies, but – if you’re an Indie artist and you haven’t broken yet – I’d advise against this strategy.  If you want to keep quiet for the next decade – you go for it – the challenge of connecting to people who might dig your masterpiece will still be here waiting for you on your return.
 

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/marketing-new-music-artists/feed/ 0 Cover your ass against the copyright police http://kiltedchaos.com/cover-your-ass-against-the-copyright-police/ http://kiltedchaos.com/cover-your-ass-against-the-copyright-police/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:23:19 +0000 Alex http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1741

In the light of Google closing down music blogs, AKA #musicblogocide2K10, I got to thinking about the ongoing question of how to “stay legal” on your blog – and a quick easy solution came to me: ADD THE LICENSE!

I think it's called Irony ....

Really, its simple. If your favorite band allows you to use a track on your blog, copy the communication that says “Hey it’s cool”, paste it into a simple text file and link to it at the end of the post! Simple! If you really want to get fancy you could code in a “Custom field ” into wordpress with specific coding for the license text size, etc.

But the bottom line is, regardless of whether your’e reviewing major label music or creative commons material, by adding that link to the end of the posts, you’re covering yourself against possible takedown requests by the DMCA. Also you’re giving a subtle message that “Hey i’m a credible and above board “citizen journalist” that bands, labels and fans alike can trust to use content in a responsible manner!”  Plus if the link is styled properly andf always uses the same 1-2 words, you can pretty much guarantee that it wont detract from the otherwise cool nature of your blog.

Here’s an example of how easy it is to add a fair use license to the bottom of your posts:
Use License

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/cover-your-ass-against-the-copyright-police/feed/ 0 Quick food for thought http://kiltedchaos.com/quick-food-for-thought/ http://kiltedchaos.com/quick-food-for-thought/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:11:39 +0000 Alex http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1736

“I’m back to where I started from.

Taking names, making mailing lists…

It’s a relief not to have to deal with a record company,

and their A.D.D. attention spans.”

- Suzanne Vega in the New Yorker

AND:

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones move to subscription based fan marketing – and it works!

Two major artists, both trying innovative marketing moves to have more control of how they communicate with their fans…. Question is: How will you, the small unsigned artist view this? Do you carry on looking for that elusive record deal, or do you take a leaf out of the above mentioned artists book and talk WITH your fans and control your own destiny?

More later….

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/quick-food-for-thought/feed/ 0 Free Chaos has a Winner http://kiltedchaos.com/free-chaos-has-a-winner/ http://kiltedchaos.com/free-chaos-has-a-winner/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:13:41 +0000 Alex http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1714

Jody Shneider

And that winner is: JODY SCHNEIDER – Follow her here on Twitter and her myspace page is here

We have some great things in mind for the website we’ll be starting work on soon. And we’ll be blogging a lot more about Jody’s work, and the entire creative process of how an artist gets that self managed website up and running.  In the meantime, while we scratch our collective heads and chill over the weekend, here’s a great little track from jody for you to enjoy:

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/free-chaos-has-a-winner/feed/ 0 Citizen Journalist – the big G is out to get you http://kiltedchaos.com/citizen-journalist-the-big-g-is-out-to-get-you/ http://kiltedchaos.com/citizen-journalist-the-big-g-is-out-to-get-you/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:41:36 +0000 Alex http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1705

For Those About to Dock!

… Well, maybe!

After a retweet by @charliehilton of @pigsandplans saying he was moving to Wordpress because Google were shutting down blogs, I did a little researching of my own, and it seem they’re right: “Musicblogocide2K10” does indeed seem to be starting.  I’m sure there will be no official line from Google on this for a while, but its something well worth keeping an eye on! But the bottom line is, Google/Blogger at the *cough* “request” of the DMCA are out there shutting down MP3 blogs – both of the illegal full album pirate type and the more genuine “citizen journalists too”

My first thought was “Congratulations all you people using blogger to share full LPs – you brought this on yourselves” (And I stick with that!) BUT  - and this is a big BUT! (We like big buts and we cannot lie – sorry, I had to write  that!) – what about the countless “citizen journalists” out there genuinely reviewing new music, much faster and more effectively than your average Q or Rolling Stone(d) Journo could? Where does this leave those people that emerging bands should be talking with and sharing new tracks, video and news with to build that valuable “direct WITH fan” marketing strategy?

And as the day rolled on, more blogs fell casualty to the takedown shakedown! yes indeed – Blogger is “under the thumb” of one of the big recording indutry companies, or a combination thereof!

So, with that in mind, here’s the absolute basics you need to get your blog the hell off of blogger/blogspot:

1: Move to Wordpress hosted (Wordpress.com)

Definetely the simplest option – you should be able to import your blogger posts right from within the new Wordpress.com account you created.

  • The upside – you can be back up and running in a few hours max!
  • The downside – you have a storage space allocation on your content, you can’t modify CSS without an upgrade, limited page “widgets” and no plugins (See below!)

Option #2 – get your own Wordpress Hosting! (read more at Wordpress.org)

This, in our opinion is the way to go.  You can get good hosting (basically we recommend anything except godaddy!) for under $5 a month, with your domain name registration thrown in. Now if you’re already pulling in good traffic because your’e a bloody insightfully good writer and reviewer of music that other fans can relate to, then chances are you’re probably pulling in a few $ in ad revenue. Do yourself a favor and invest $5 a month (Thats 1 frickin latte my friends!) in your future as part of what is only going to become an even more valuable service to music fans around the globe.

Most hosts do a 1 click install of wordpress, and from there you can go into the Themes section in the admin backend, and choose a theme you like, and with just a little tweaking you’ll be able to add your custom graphics and style your new MP3 blog to your hearts content. (Or hey, theres a bazillion wordpress experts out there that you can go to to get this service done, yeah, yeah, yeah ourselves included!)

The other  great new thing you’ll get, in addition to more control over your own content, is PLUGINS! they’re great – there’s great MP3 player plugins, superb image gallery plugins, plugins to make tagging your blog even easier and finding Creative Commons images to use in your posts, theres plugins that will easily allow you to even sell product of you wish – and best of all, they’re for the most part all free!

And that’s about it in a nutshell! Obviously it’s a little deeper than that, but not a lot! You can certainly get started with Wordpress self hosted, use a theme with custom header functionality and pull in an archive of all your old posts in under an hour. how far you want to go with it after that is all down to how serious you are about being part of the music blogging community.  Are you just out to share some new tunes with a few people? or do you see yourself as a vital part of the “citizen journalist” movement, supplying personable, well written reviews of the music industry much more timely and organically than the old media guys are doing it? (And people wonder why the RIAA, DMCA people and their lackeys like to shut shit down and sue: it’s not purely about greed or extra revenue, its more about them realizing their marketing models are dying fast, combined with feeling just a teensie bit threatened by “Direct to Fan” marketing and Social Media with that old fashioned corporate failure to adapt fast enough)

And that’s about it for now. Feel free to tweet us @kilted_alex, @kilted_andrew or indeed at our “corporate” account @kiltedchaos, or email us with questions on how to get moving on either Wordpress hosted or Wordpress self hosted. Sure we’d love to actually build your blog, but already there’s enough people jumping into the Musicblogocide2K10 hashtag smelling a fast buck to be made – we ain’t going out like that. Every time anything trends on Twitter, you can bet there will soon follow the parasites, the ‘experts” the gurus” all smelling money, but we put it simply like this: we’ll give you the FREE information you need if that’s what you want, and sure we won’t shut the door on you if you ask us to work with you on creating a stellarly designed, well tagged blog that will stand out, but thats completely your choice.

The only advice we’ll give to anyone making the leap – You’re not much safer elsewhere if you’re blatantly breaking copyright laws my friends! Stay safe, use material you know is okay to use in your reviews. (Perhaps you could add a quick “fair use” disclaimer link to a subpage with permission from the artists or labels on each post in the “slug” – cover your ass, and look pretty professional while not ruining the flow of your blog to your readership – just an idea.)

What are the implications of Blogger taking down MP3 blogs, well that remains to unfold, and some of that will depend just how long their Blogocide continues. But to those of you, the nameless thousands of great genuine music fans, with a passion to discover, share and review new music to the masses – we salute you and say - KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON!

]]> http://kiltedchaos.com/citizen-journalist-the-big-g-is-out-to-get-you/feed/ 1 Monsters Are Not Myths Kill Valentine’s Day Lameness http://kiltedchaos.com/monsters-are-not-myths-kill-valentines-day-lameness/ http://kiltedchaos.com/monsters-are-not-myths-kill-valentines-day-lameness/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:36:33 +0000 Andrew http://kiltedchaos.com/?p=1701

Monsters Are Not Myths are at it again – our favorite San Fran Indie band are spreading the love this Valentine’s day with more personalized songs for that special person in your life.  From their website:

Monsters are not Myths, beloved Bay Area band and all-around funny people, will call your loved one or crush and sing them a customized song for FREE! (plus, we’ll even send you a mp3 of the call)

We don’t sign you up for any mailing lists or try to sell you things…all we’ll do is ask that you check out our music.

Check them out performing calls on Mother’s Day:

In a world full of lameness how cool is this?

We wrote a while back about Tim Halperin who was running a competition along similar lines but we have to hand it to MANM who’ve been doing this approach for a while, and unlike Tim you can contact MANM right now and still give your main squeeze something unique this year.

They have a simple sign up form that asks a few questions so that they can personalize the song – and if you’re digging the service – why not drop them a small donation – you don’t have to but hell – isn’t this worth more than hallmark card and sad looking stuffed puppy you were thinking of? Here’s a little more MANM for you:



Quantcast

Finally – if you dig MANM – you should enter the#FREECHAOS website and hosting competition for them – or for any band that you dig – free site, free hosting and free ecommerce! – Wow – that’s a Valentine’s gift any band would be happy with.

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