My good friend Emma Julien and I compiled a database of Canadian Folk Festivals. It includes a listing of folk festivals in Canada along with their contact information, deadlines and application guidelines. It is a powerful resource for any folk/roots artist inside our outside of Canada.

You can download the database for FREE in either the original Excel format or as a PDF file.

Cheers!

Dave

P.S. We encourage you to share this resource, which you can do by:

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel called “Social Media: New Trends for Current Users” at the recent OCFF conference in Niagara Falls. After 90 minutes of discussion, the end result of this social media panel was that artists should focus on their own website, their mailing list, songwriting and live performance. Say what?! Allow me to explain.

Social Media Trends: Focus on Your Website, Songwriting, and Playing Live (?!)

The goal of the panel at OCFF was to examine the latest trends in social media, how to manage all of your profiles, and to discuss new tips/tactics, etc. On the panel were Selena Burgess (social media maven for Borealis Records), Tom Power (host of CBC Radio 2’s Deep Roots) and singer-songwriter Ember Swift, who manages her social media accounts in both English and Mandarin since she’s now living in China.

So I threw out questions about how to manage several social media accounts (Hootsuite was the popular choice amongst panelists), what everyone thought about some of Facebook’s new features (not very popular so far), Twitter trends, and the latest, greatest social media network, Google+ (not too many people using it apparently).

But in the end, no matter what I did to steer the conversation towards a social media geek-out session, the panelists and artists in attendance always brought the discussion back to the basics:

1. You still need your own website

Any work you do through your social media networks needs to bring people back to your own website. Bandzoogle founder Chris Vinson just wrote a blog post about why this is so important:

3 Reasons to Drive Fans to Your Band Website (and not to Social Media)

But essentially, it’s because you own it, you control it, and you can give your fans a focused experience of your band through your own site. By bringing fans back to your own website you can deepen your relationship with them, encourage them to sign-up to your mailing list, and shop at your own online store.

2. You still need to collect email addresses

Email addresses are gold for an artist’s career. It is still the most reliable way to stay in touch with your fans. Regardless of what happens to the social media sites that are popular at the moment (remember all the fans you had on MySpace?), you can stay in touch with your fans through email.

Just recently, Facebook changed the way pages worked, removing the “Update Your Fans” feature, which sent a message to all of your fans. Ember Swift brought this up during the panel discussion, as she had been using that feature’s geo-location option to target fans by region while on her current North American tour. Well, halfway through her tour, because Facebook decided to make the change, she could no longer send those updates, let alone target fans geographically. Luckily Ember had always kept her mailing list going, organized by region, so she could still send out newsletters and email fans individually before she came to their city. But had she relied solely on Facebook Pages, that could have potentially been disastrous for her promotional efforts on tour.

Statistics from TopSpin, one of the top direct-to-fan marketing platforms, show that email is still the best way to convert fans to paying customers. With all of the fancy Facebook stores, and sales links being sent out through social media, sending a newsletter with a call-to-action to purchase through your own website (preferably) or through services that people recognize (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) still seems to work best.

3. Your music and live show must be GREAT

Nothing, I repeat NOTHING will be better for the promotion of your music than having other people talking about it. New fans are often created because they hear about a band through a trusted source. So if your music or live show is so good that it gets people talking about it, it’s going to spread naturally.

Tom Power’s last words during the panel talked about how social media marketing can’t make up for bad music. It reminded me of a great quote by Bob Lefsetz:

“No amount of Tweeting and Facebooking and online dunning will make up for lame music.”

Should you be active on social media? Yes. It is an important tool in your career and a great way to connect with your fans. But it should never come at the expense of your art. I actually wrote a blog post recently asking if social media was hurting creativity, and in the responses, Bandzoogle member D. Anson Brody mentioned another great quote from comedian/actor/musician Steve Martin:

“Be so good, they can’t ignore you”

And that is what will make you stand out more than any amount of tweeting or Facebook updates. Being so good, people have no choice but to pay attention to you and talk about you to their friends.

A Failed Panel Discussion About Social Media?

In my opinion, not at all. While these aren’t exactly new trends in social media, I was heartened by the fact that people are realizing that they can’t let go of these basic principles. Without solid music, a great live show, and a home base for your fans, your best efforts on social media are likely to fall flat.

Conference Highlights:

Being Interviewed by Andy Frank

I had the privilege of being interviewed for an educational video series for the OCFF being put together by Andy Frank (Frankcasting/Roots Music Canada). I had a blast reconnecting with him and doing the interview. But Andy, you made the rest of us look bad with your slick suits, you looked like a million bucks sir!

Estelle Klein Award Presentation & Paul Mills Tribute Video

Speaking of Andy Frank, he did an absolutely wonderful job putting together the video tribute to the 2011 Estelle Klein Award recipient, Paul Mills. And I would like to take this opportunity to both congratulate and apologize to Mr. Mills. You see, sometimes members of the younger generations (speaking for myself) have a tendency to focus on the present and the future, and don’t take the time to examine what came before us. We can read bios, or hear things from other people, but watching that video really made an impact on me.

I don’t think I truly appreciated the work that has been done by real pioneers like Paul Mills, who are responsible for building this vibrant and wonderful community. So thank you sir, we owe so much to you, and to put it mildly, this was a well-deserved honour. I’m grateful I was there to witness it.

Moderating Social Media Panel with Tom Power as Panelist

Because of a scheduling conflict, I found out 24 hours before my social media panel that I would actually be moderating it, not just serving as a panelist. I think it turned out just fine, and the highlight for me was having Tom Power, host of Deep Roots on CBC Radio 2, as a surprise panelist. The guy is a superstar, and it was great to get the perspective of a member of the media on that panel.

Some Musical Highlights:

• Annabelle Chvostek: An old friend from the Montreal folk scene, her voice gives me goosebumps every time.

• Lindy: Same goes for Lindy, his vocals are shiver-inducing. Can’t wait for the new album.

• The Sweetness: Probably my favourite discovery at OCFF this year, and admittedly I have a huge crush on the band (actually on 3/4’s of the band, so that would be everyone except Aly; see above comments re: stealing our chocolate). They create a different vibe with their show than most other acts, and the combination of 4 individually talented artists has obviously resulted in something special. A band to watch out for.

• C.R. Avery: Had heard his name before, but didn’t know what to expect, certainly was not expecting a beat-boxing/harmonica playing/spoken word artist. Holy wow that was good.

• Dave Gunning: His storytelling & impersonation of Ron Hynes were incredible!

• Lake of Stew: One of the best bands in the Montreal music scene, I was so proud to see them showcase officially, as the band includes a few childhood friends and the singer for my old pop-punk band from way back when I was a teenager. My hands hurt after their showcase from clapping along to their songs, so much fun.

• Ember Swift: Watching Ember put on a great performance, 7+ months preggers and all, during the Global Cafe showcase was a reminder that she is truly one of the best live performers around.

• Suzie Vinnick: So much talent wrapped into such a lovely human being, totally have a crush on her now (don’t worry James Dean, your name is much cooler than mine).

• The Magnificent 7’s: Bandzoogle CEO David Dufresne highly recommended this band, and he was right, they’re a lot of fun, thoroughly enjoyed watching them.

• Rob Szabo: I had the pleasure of booking Rob many times in Montreal, easily one of the nicest human beings I’ve come across. I was thrilled to see him up there during his official showcase, and he played my favourite song “I Live for the Summer” with a very special guest, Peter Katz, who is another wonderful singer-songwriter. I think I might have man-crushes on both of them. Love those guys.

• Gospel Jam: For obvious reasons. It was also great to meet some fellow gospel choir geeks (that’s you Andrea Simms-Karp!)

Thank You

A huge thanks to David Dufresne and Bandzoogle for investing in the folk community and for sending Elida & I to the conference. We had a blast, it was so much fun to work and hang out together that weekend.

And to everyone who came up to me to tell me that they enjoy my blog posts, or thanked me for the work I do, I was completely caught off guard by your kindness. I can’t express how good it feels to know that the work you are doing is appreciated by your community. I was truly humbled, and am so grateful for your kind words.

It was great to see so many old friends, and meet lots of new ones. So thank you my fellow folkies for being such a great and supportive community, I’m already counting the days until OCFF 2012. In the meantime, please stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.

Cheers,

Dave

Facebook: facebook.com/davecool7

Twitter: twitter.com/dave_cool

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

Musicians and the Art of Polite Persistence

A few weeks ago I went back to a venue that I was the program director at for 3 years. The band playing that night was a jazz trio called “Apartment 5”. I realized that the bass player Paul is the perfect example of polite persistence, because it took almost a year for me to first book his band, but they have been playing regular gigs at the venue ever since.

I first heard from Paul after I had started booking a space called the St-Ambroise Centre here in Montreal, which is owned and operated by local micro-brewery McAuslan Brewing (if you can find their St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, it’s considered to be the best stout in the world by many beer geeks). Anyway, his jazz trio had played at a visual arts event at the venue (the artist had hired them), and he called me shortly after to see if we would be interested in hiring his band for other gigs. I explained that it was something we simply didn’t do. We didn’t charge to rent the space, but we also didn’t offer guarantees to bands. But they were a work-for-hire band, so there was nothing I could for them at the time.

A few months later, I got a voice mail from Paul, asking if we had any need for his jazz trio. I didn’t call him back this time because I was swamped with work, and there was still nothing I could do for him. A few months later, he called back and we spoke on the phone once again. I didn’t have anything different to tell him, but he was a nice guy and I honestly didn’t mind talking to him for a few minutes.

Opportunity Knocked

These phone calls and messages continued every once in a while for most of that year, until one day we got a call at the venue to host a private event for a company. It turned out they wanted a jazz trio for entertainment during the evening. Guess who I thought of first? My friend Paul. So I called him up and offered him the gig. It was for less money than they normally charged, but Paul said they’d take the gig to show me what it was like to work with the band and to prove themselves.

As it turned out, they were perfect. Great musicians, totally professional. They came in, set-up on time, played their sets, tore down and got out of the way (and they didn’t get drunk, eat all of the client’s food, etc.). They knew they were there to do a job and that’s what they did. I was really impressed.

I got a thank you phone call from Paul shortly after (remember how much I love those). He of course reminded me they were available to do more gigs, and I reminded him that this was a one-off kind of thing, but that I would keep him in mind if anything else came up.

The Pay Off

Well, the following spring I was given the keys to the much larger outdoor space at the micro-brewery, the St-Ambroise Terrace (250+ capacity versus 50+ capacity). We also made a decision to invest a considerable amount of money into hiring entertainment throughout the summer, a good portion of which would go to weekly music nights. I think you know who got a lot of those gigs, and they’ve been playing regularly at the space for 3 years now, even after I left my job as the program director.

Everyone Needs a Polite Reminder

So when I saw Paul recently after his set at the St-Ambroise Terrace, I reminded him how it had all started with his regular phone calls and messages. We laughed about it, but then he thanked me for reminding him. He admitted it’s not easy to do for an artist, and he had lost sight of the fact that polite persistence can indeed pay off. He realized that there were a bunch of potential clients that he had stopped phoning simply because he had lost confidence after he wasn’t getting calls back, but he said he would pick up the phone and try again.

I figured since the guy who was in my mind the perfect example of polite persistence needed a friendly reminder, then other musicians might need one as well. So take it from someone who was fielding dozens of booking emails/calls every week for 4 years, polite persistence can indeed pay off.

IMPORTANT: Why Paul’s Polite Persistence Paid Off

It’s one thing to say that polite persistence works, but I want to take a closer look at specifically why it worked in this case:

1. They never sounded bitter, angry or frustrated

Whenever Paul called, he never came across as pushy, and never sounded bitter, angry or frustrated that I wasn’t booking him. He was always upbeat, asked me how things at the venue were going, and was just fun to talk to. The reality is that had he given me any attitude along the way about not booking the band, the story probably would’ve ended there.

2. They didn’t take a non-reply as a “No”

There were several times when I didn’t call Paul back, but he didn’t take the non-reply as a “No”, and neither should you. If a booker or media person (or anyone else you’re trying to reach) doesn’t return your phone call or respond to your email, all it means is that they didn’t return your phone call or respond to your email. It doesn’t mean the answer is no.

People are extremely busy, especially any gatekeepers in the industry, and emails and phone calls often get lost in the shuffle. Heck, even when I did tell Paul the answer was “no”, he still persisted, but that’s because I always left the door open to the situation changing in the future, so he kept following up until the answer was a definite “No”, which it never ended up being.

3. They persisted, to a point

Yes, Paul persisted, but he didn’t call every day or even every week. It was more like once every few months. Had he called me every day or every few days, I probably would’ve blocked his number and never booked the band. He struck the right balance.

4. Once opportunity knocked, they exceeded expectations

Once the band got the first gig, they did an amazing job and exceeded my expectations. They even took the gig for less money than they were usually paid, just to get their feet in the door. They made sure that if ever another opportunity came up, I would have no choice but to think to book them, which is exactly what happened.

Have you ever used polite persistence to get a gig? How about to get an interview in the media or song on the radio? Let us know in the comments section below!

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

One of the best ways for emerging bands to gain new fans is to be exposed to another band’s audience. Especially if you have similar target markets, fans are more likely to trust a recommendation coming from a band they already know and like. Here are some ideas on how you can collaborate with other artists and bands to grow your fan base:

21 Ways to Collaborate with Other Artists & Bands to Get More Fans

Collaborate on Live Shows

Likely the easiest and most common way to collaborate with other bands is to play gigs together. Here are a few different ways to collaborate on gigs:

1. Gig Swap

This is of course a no-brainer. Find other like-minded bands whose musical style either compliments you, or even better, that would make for an interesting combination, giving fans of both bands a unique experience. You can open for each other at different shows, and this will work especially well if the other band is based in a different (but nearby) city. You can do gig swaps to help each other break into new markets.

2. Festival gigs

If you’re playing a festival and there is an artist or members of a band that you want to collaborate with, why not create a special environment at your festival gig by collaborating on a song or two? I’ve seen artists collaborate on festival stages big and small, and it usually makes for a buzz-worthy performance that gets people talking.

3. Conference showcases

Same idea as with festivals, but if you manage to get a showcase at a music conference, why not bring in another artist to collaborate on a song? Just be sure to have rehearsed it live before showcasing.

4. Tours

Take the concept of playing live with another band even further and book a tour together. It could be just a weekend tour of a few cities close to home, or a full-out regional/national tour.

Collaborate on Recordings

For your next album, try and think of some like-minded artists that you can collaborate with. Collaborating on recordings can be done in many different ways, here are a few to consider:

5. Guest performances

The simplest thing you can do is perform on each other’s recordings (sing, play an instrument, DJ, rap, etc.). If you want to get the most bang for your buck, make sure that in the song title it actually lists the other artist “X Song Name (Featuring X Artist)”.

6. Co-write a song

Next step would be to co-write with another artist. This will not only be great for the sake of collaboration, but might help with each of your songwriting abilities and open up some new ideas, which is never a bad thing.

7. Cover a song

Why not cover a song by a fellow emerging band whose fan base would like your music? It’s a great way to flatter the band and also generate buzz for both of you.

8. Produce each other’s music

An even more involved way to collaborate in the studio is to take turns producing each other’s songs. This can give each of you a new perspective on the songs you choose to produce for each other.

Often emerging artists can’t afford to hire a producer, but having that objective ear can really help improve the songs. So if you have an opportunity to have a peer produce a song, it might be worthwhile to give it a try.

9. Remix songs

Another great way to collaborate is to approach an artist to do a remix of one of your songs. You can even remix each other’s songs, or take it further and do remix albums of each other’s music.

10. Release an exclusive single/EP

If you’ve collaborated with another band through guest appearances, songwriting, production, remixes, etc., why not release an exclusive digital single or EP through your website?

Even better, couple that digital release with the release of a limited edition vinyl: Vinyl sales already up 41% on the year

Collaborate Using Video

There are also lots of possibilities to use video for collaborations:

11. Official music videos

If you’ve guested on a song, or co-written a song together, collaborating on an official music video is also a no-brainer.

12. Live videos

If you’ve collaborated with another band live on stage, be sure to get some footage of it for both bands to use to promote to their fans.

13. Cover song videos

Even if you haven’t covered the band’s song on your album, you can still release videos covering songs of fellow emerging bands that you want to collaborate with. Chances are that both of your fan bases will get a kick out of this.

14. Videos from the Studio

If you’re doing any kind of collaboration in the studio, be sure to get some footage of it to release on your website/YouTube, etc. Remember, when you’re in the studio, don’t shut out your fans.

15. Live streaming video

Why not use live streaming video while in studio, at a live gig, or even after a gig to chat with fans of both bands?

Collaborate Using Your Website

Don’t forget to use your website to help in your collaboration with other bands. Here are some of the ways to drive people to your website:

16. On Your Blog

It can be as simple as blogging about the other band. You can:

• Talk about why you like their music
• Do a review their album
• Interview the band

17. Photo Galleries

Use photo galleries to highlight collaborations with other bands, including pictures from studio sessions, pictures from live shows, or just the bands hanging out together.

Note: Live Video & Exclusive Music

If you do decide to use live video streaming in your collaborations, be sure to host the video on your own site and not the streaming service’s site. Most services will let you embed HTML to host the feed directly on your own website.

And as mentioned earlier, if you do collaborate on a recording with another band, why not release the track(s) exclusively through your website? Take advantage of any excuse to drive traffic to your website where people can sign-up to your mailing list, shop at your online store, etc.

Collaborate Using Social Media

And last but not least, probably the quickest way to collaborate with other bands and help each other out is to use social media. You can:

18. Exchange Tweets

Tweet praise about each other and encourage your fans to follow each other’s band.

19. Host a Twitter Chat

Why not organize a Twitter chat session for fans of both bands so you can chat with each other’s fans. What’s a Twitter chat? Here’s a great article that explains what it is and how to set one up: http://mashable.com/2009/12/08/twitter-chat/

20. Use Facebook status updates

You can each talk about why you like the other band and be sure to link to each other’s fan page.

21. Post a Facebook Note

Create a Facebook note talking about the other band, just be sure to tag the other band in the note as Madalyn Sklar pointed out in her guest blog about Facebook Notes here on Bandzoogle.

Note: And it goes without saying, use social media to drive fans to your website to view your blog posts, video blogs, live video and other exclusive content on your website.

The bottom line is that the more emerging artists join forces to help each other out through collaborations, the more buzz it will generate, which will no doubt result in more fans for each band.

Rappers do it best

The amount of collaborations and guest appearances that happen in hip hop eclipse’s other genres. As discussed in a Digital Music News Article “The Top 8 Reasons Why Rappers Make Better Businessmen…”, guest appearances help amplify your music to new audiences, and rappers use this tactic often and to great effect.

Making the news these days is the high-profile collaboration between Kanye West and Jay-Z called “Watch the Throne”. But I’ll end this post with a more old-school example.

Here’s a video of one of the most famous collaborations that crossed over genres and garnered both groups increased sales, awards, and arguably spawned a new genre of music:

P.S.- A Shout-out

In the world of music blogging, with so many blogs and writers out there, the chances of overlap are great. Case in point, this blog post was in the can and scheduled to go up a few week ago, but with a back-log of content, we delayed publishing it until this week.

Well, ironically, David Hooper over at Music Marketing [dot] com posted a blog recently called “5 Ways to Collaborate (or Partner) with Other Bands”. And although there are of course some similarities, there are a few ways to collaborate with other bands that didn’t make it onto my list, so head on over there if you’re looking for a few other ways to collaborate with bands.

Question: In what creative ways have you collaborated with other artists or bands? Please leave us your comments below.

For years I’ve been asked to manage artists, but my answer has always been “no”, for the simple reason that I was never interested in focusing my energies on 1 individual artist. It wasn’t personal, I just preferred to work with as many artists as possible on big-picture projects, whether it was my film “What is INDIE?”, programming two venues for St-Ambroise, or now with my work at CIRAA and Bandzoogle.

But I threw my “no managing bands” policy out the window recently when not only did I say “yes” to managing a band, I actually pursued them offering to manage them. That band is Irreverend James and the Critical Mass Choir; a secular, rabble-rousing, barn-burning, queer-positive, feminist, anti-racist, subversive Gospel Music Band.

A few months ago I wrote a blog post called “The Story of the Only Band I Ever Booked Based on 1 MySpace Song” describing how I first booked Irreverend James at the Centre St-Ambroise. I wrote the post out of pure passion for the music, and to help them in any way I could with their EP launch in June. I think I must have watched the teaser video for that show about 100 times: http://www.vimeo.com/23268340

It soon became clear to me that I was interested in more than just being a fan on the sidelines with these guys, that I wanted to be involved with the project in some way. And after a few meetings with the band, it became clear that we were a very good match, so I’ve been quietly helping them out behind the scenes since then.

But that support is now official, as we have agreed that I will manage the band going forward, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. For those of you who follow my writing, you know that I’m a fan of lists. So here’s the Top 5 Reasons that I’ve decided to manage Irreverend James and the Critical Mass Choir:

1. If I had $10 Million, I would still manage them

To measure whether I’m enjoying what I’m doing in life, every so often I ask myself a simple question: If I had all the money I needed to live and sustain myself, would I be working on this? I can say without a shadow of a doubt that even if I had millions in the bank, I would still be managing Irreverend James (and I’m willing to bet they wish that I did).

2. Passion

This project has ignited a passion within me that I haven’t felt since I made my film back in 2005. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed working on lots of projects since then, and have put 110% of my time and energy into those projects. But very few things in my life have kept me up at night quite like my movie, or this band. I regularly find myself just sitting at my desk late at night listening to their music and brainstorming ideas, or just watching their videos over and over again. When passion like that hits, it’s impossible to ignore.

3. The Concept

With a leveled playing field in today’s music industry because of the Internet/social media, etc., being unique/different in some way is vitally important for artists. Irreverend James and the Critical Mass Choir describe themselves as:

A Secular, Rabble-Rousing, Barn-Burning, Queer-Positive, Feminist, Anti-Racist, Subversive Gospel Music Band.

Sign me up please.

And many of you probably don’t know this, but I actually grew up on punk-rock, listening to bands like Minor Threat and Bad Religion, who were hugely influential in my life. So I see this project almost like punk-rock gospel :)

4. The Live Show

This is how I described the first time I saw the band:

“People were up dancing, clapping and singing along instantly, it was infectious. The room was alive, there was energy and excitement that you only wish you could feel at every show.”

To survive as a band in today’s music industry, making the live show experience memorable is a must. I was involved in more than 500 events during my time at St-Ambroise, and that night is still etched in my memory.

5. The Music

It starts and ends with the music. If the music isn’t there, then there’s really nothing to talk about. But with Irreverend James, the music is there in spades. I listen to it everyday, often on repeat. The singer of the band, The Profit (known as Baptiste in some circles), is easily one of the best singers I’ve come across in my life. The man has clearly put in his 10,000 hours.

Evidence? Check out this 1-minute clip from their last live performance. It’s a cover of the classic “Roll, Jordan, Roll”, and the vocal performance gives me goose bumps every time:

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

For the past few years I’ve been advising every band I speak to that they “must” be on social media sites to promote their music. But do emerging bands really need to be using social media? Is it possible that too much time spent on social media can actually hurt your creative output?

Is Social Media Hurting Your Band’s Creativity?

I recently went on vacation for a week. It was the first time in 2 years that I had been away from a computer for more than 24 hours, and with it, away from Facebook and Twitter. It allowed me to completely disconnect, relax and truly reflect on life.

Then a funny thing happened: I noticed that by the end of the week I had come up with more quality ideas than I had in a long time. It’s as if my brain just needed a break from the constant bombardment of Twitter updates and Facebook notifications to be creative again.

So I asked myself a simple question: was constant activity on social media hurting my creative output?

Digital Downtime and Creativity

I did some research and discovered the concept of “Digital Downtime”. When one of the world’s best-known marketing/communications firms JWT released their “100 Things to Watch in 2011”, #25 on the list was “Digital Downtime”:

“These mindful breaks from digital input will be intended to relieve stress and foster creativity.”

The New York Times also published an article related to the subject of digital downtime, and in the article it mentions that scientists had discovered that:

“…when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.”

When you’re spending a lot of time on social media sites, where you’re constantly reacting to questions and comments, focusing on updating your profiles, is it possible that it can hurt your creativity in other areas?

Social Media Not for Everyone?

The topic of social media and creativity actually came up in my interview with online fandom expert Nancy Baym right here on the Bandzoogle blog:

“I encourage artists to use social media, but they don’t have to use every site and if, for them, social media are uncomfortable or deterrents to creative production, it’s totally okay not to use them.”

I think it was the first time I heard someone say that it’s okay for a band not to be using social media. Then Berklee Blogs published an incredibly revealing interview with John Mayer, who at one point had over 4 million Twitter followers, but then gave it up completely. Here’s why:

“You’re coming up with 140-character zingers, and the song is still 4 minutes long…I realized about a year ago that I couldn’t have a complete thought anymore. And I was a tweetaholic. And I stopped using twitter as an outlet and I started using twitter as the instrument to riff on, and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn’t write a song.”

But John Mayer is not the only artist to question Twitter and social media. Many artists are leaving Twitter, and in some cases donating their accounts. As Nancy Baym also pointed out, other artists like Sufjan Stevens simply never used social media to begin with.

So the question becomes: do all bands really need to be using social media?

Music Should Always Come First

“Focus on the music and the show, the rest is secondary.” – Bob Lefsetz

At the end of the day, your music is what’s most important. In an age where there are so many other bands out there, what truly stands out is great music. So if your band is just starting out, should you be spending a lot of time on social media trying to gain new fans? Could that time be better spent writing, rehearsing, and recording? Especially when you consider that most emerging musicians work day jobs and their time is limited to begin with, where should that limited amount of time be spent? Social media might not be the answer.

Should Bands Give Up Social Media Completely?

But should bands give up social media completely? I think it comes down to personal choice and what’s right for your own career. If you find that being on social media is hurting your creative output or taking time away from rehearsals, then you might want to scale back. Moderation is key. Or, you can simply choose to hold-off using social media until you feel that your music is truly ready to promote to the public. As John Mayer told the audience at Berklee:

“This is not a time to promote yourself. It doesn’t matter. This is the time to get your stuff together. Promotion can be like that. You can have promotion in 30 seconds if your stuff is good.”

So the next time a band tells me that they’re not going to use social media, I’m not going to react as if they just told me they killed a unicorn. If they feel that social media is not right for them at this point in their career, then I think that’s totally valid.

Do you find that too much time spent on social media hurts your creativity? Please leave your comments below.

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

I’ve now been involved in the Montreal music scene in some way for 17 years, and have seen many artists and bands come and go during that time. Now that I’m in my 30’s, I’m starting to truly understand what it takes to “make it” as a musician/band. What do I mean by “make it”? I’m not talking about becoming a “star”, but simply playing music for a living, which is a place where most of my artist friends want to get to. While reflecting on this, I realized that the artists that were finally able to make a living playing music had some common traits:

5 Common Characteristics of Full-Time Musicians

1. They work (very) hard

The artists and bands that I know that are making a full-time living are some of the hardest working people I know. They hustle every day and work long hours, evenings, weekends, whatever it takes to get the job done and bring in the income they need to survive. Most bands dream of quitting their day job to do music full-time, but some don’t realize that it is a job to be a full-time musician, and you might end up working harder and longer than any day job out there, but the reward will be to do what you love for a living.

2. They love what they’re doing

To make it as a full-time musician, you have to eat, breath and sleep music each and every day. In order to do this, you have to truly love what you are doing and be extremely passionate about it. It’s not always going to be glamorous, and most often it’s going to be a lot of hard work. When you’re on tour for weeks at a time, driving long hours cramped in a van, sleeping on floors and barely making enough money to eat, you really need to love what you’re doing to get through those tough experiences and breakthrough to the other side when the money does start to come in.

3. It’s not about the money

Speaking of money, I don’t know a single full-time artist that is playing music simply for the money. They have a passion for writing/performing/recording music, and they take their art and their craft seriously. It’s all they know and it’s all they want to do. Money is secondary, and when it comes, it’s simply a by-product of the work they are putting in.

Don’t get me wrong, although it’s not about the money for these artists, they do have a business sense, which is extremely important. They know how to manage their finances and put a value to the work they are doing.

4. They have support

Being a DIY artist doesn’t mean you have to or should do it all on your own. Derek Sivers, the Founder of CD Baby, wrote a great blog post talking about this subject: http://sivers.org/diy

Essentially, Derek says that DIY shouldn’t mean Do-It-ALL-Yourself, but instead should mean Decide-It-Yourself. This is so true, and all the artists I know who are making a full-time living have some kind of support team in place, either a manager, agent, small label or assistant to help them with their career.

They didn’t necessarily start out with these people in place, but over time they developed a team to help them manage their careers. In some cases they are life partners, sometimes close friends, but more often it’s a professional manager and/or agent who got on board once they reached a certain level in their career development.

5. They don’t give up

And last but not least, they simply don’t give up. I can’t tell you how many artists and bands I’ve known that after 1 or 2 albums they simply pack it in because they didn’t “make it”. This especially seems to happen after a few tours. Being on the road can be a difficult experience for most people, which goes back to having to really love what you’re doing to get through those moments.

The artists I know that are now making a living full-time from their music just stuck to it, through thick and thin. A gig falls through? They find another one. A band member quits? They replace them. They just keep going no matter what obstacles they have in front of them. This is all they know, and they don’t make any back-up plans.

One final thing I’ll say on this subject is that it often took these artists years to get to the point of making a full-time living from music, usually 7-10 years. Most “overnight successes” are years in the making, and nowhere is this truer than in the music industry.

Remember, The Beatles spent years performing 8-hour sets, 7 days a week in Germany before breaking into the American market.

Author Malcolm Gladwell talks about this story and the “10,000 Hour Rule” in his book The Outliers. Here’s a video describing the 10,000 Hour Rule:

Another example of the 10,000 Hour Rule in the music industry, this time about Fleetwood Mac:

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

One of the first things bands have to do when they create their website is to add a bio. It can be challenging, and many get stuck on what exactly they should write. Here are some key elements that you should have in your bio to help get you started:

5 Key Elements to a Solid Band Bio

1. Who you are

Some questions you should answer right away in your bio:

• What’s your band name?
• Where are you from?
• What do you sound like?
• What are your influences?

Remember that your bio will be the first impression that most people have of your band, so this first paragraph is really important. Make it interesting, engaging and as unique as possible.

2. What’s going on with your career right now?

Have you just released a new album? Are you in studio? Are you currently on a songwriting retreat in Nashville? Make sure to include some information about what you’re currently up to in your bio.

3. Background info

Feel free to include some pertinent background info, but within reason. Nothing will make a media or industry person’s eyes gloss over more quickly than reading something like “Dave started taking pianos lessons when he was 5 years old. At age 6 he…”, etc. Find an interesting way to explain your musical history without necessarily spelling out each step from childhood until now.

4. Career highlights

Take the time to write down all of the successes you’ve had in your career, big and small. Did you collaborate with a well-known musician? Did your band win any awards/contests? Have you charted on radio? Once you’ve done that, choose the most unique/eye catching stories and include at least one of them in your bio.

5. Media quotes

If you have any quotes from media or industry people, definitely include one or two in your bio. Maybe have one in the opening paragraph to help describe your sound, and maybe a quote to end your bio talking about your potential as a band. And although tempting, please don’t include quotes from your Mom. If you don’t have any industry or media quotes, that’s fine, better not to have any than to make something up.

Bonus tips:

Here are a few extra tips to keep in mind for your band’s bio:

• Have several versions ready

It’s a good idea to have several versions of your bio ready: Long (1 page), Medium (2 or 3
paragraphs), short (1 paragraph) and an ‘elevator pitch’. An elevator pitch is a way to
quickly describe your music in 30 seconds, so it should only be a few sentences.

For some great tips on how to create your pitch, check out Ariel Hyatt’s guest blog right here on Bandzoogle:
Creating a Perfect Pitch – Laser Focus Your Message

Music conferences, festivals and media outlets have different needs and criteria, so having different versions ready beforehand will save you time and potential panic in having to edit your bio in situations where you need to submit it right away.

• Be honest (no making stuff up)

It might be tempting to say that you showcased at SXSW, or to add a quote from a major news outlet talking about your music, but if it isn’t legit, don’t write it. People will eventually find out, and it’s not worth the backlash or the risk of being blacklisted by media.

• No typos

Seriously, no typos.

• Keep it current

And last but not least, always keep your bio current. The moment something significant happens in your career, you should update your bio with this new information. If you’ve gone from being in the studio to releasing your album, update your bio. If you’ve release the album and are now going on a National tour, add that to your bio, etc. Your bio should be continually updated as your career moves forward.

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free.

Stop Wasting Your Time with Facebook Events (Sending Messages through Facebook Event Invites is Now Essentially Useless)

I have a confession to make: I stopped checking Facebook Event Invites late last year. It started feeling eerily like MySpace at its worst (and look where MySpace is now). I have an average of 80+ invites at any one time, and what made it even worse was the constant messages that were sent to everyone invited to the event, whether they had confirmed or not. So not only did I stop checking event invites, my Facebook inbox became such a mess that I stopped checking that too.

That is until Facebook changed the way their messaging system worked. Your Facebook inbox is now an integration of SMS, chat, email or messages. But one of the biggest changes for bands is that now any messages sent through Event Invites no longer wind up in someone’s regular inbox, they now end up in the “Other” inbox. That’s right, the “Other” inbox where message updates from Facebook Fan Pages go.

The “Other” Inbox

How many people actually know that this secondary “Other” inbox exists? How many people know it exists and proactively check it to get those updates? I’m willing to bet, not very many. I actually knew it existed, but had totally forgotten about it, and now have 20 pages worth of unread messages from Facebook Pages. It’s like a junk mail folder that I never open. And now all of those messages from events I’m not attending are going to that inbox too, which is great news for me (and I might actually start using my Facebook inbox again), but it’s not very good news for people organizing events, specifically bands.

What’s the solution?

So what’s the solution? What should bands do now? Keep sending messages through event invites even though they are going to the “Other” inbox? While you can keep doing this if you want, here are a few other things you can spend time on that might give you better results and more attendance at your shows:

1. Stop blindly inviting everyone to shows

I live in Montreal, but I can’t tell you how often I get invites for events that are happening in Toronto, New York, Boston, etc. Is there a chance I will be in that city for the show? Yes, in theory, but it’s really not worth the risk of being blacklisted. Blacklisted? Yes, you can actually ignore all invites from certain people if you want to. I do it all the time, and being invited to shows that are not happening in my home city is often the reason (especially getting invites to shows in each city of a band’s national tour).

And if I do happen to be in that city for the show, I’ll find out when the person updates their fan page, sends out a message through their mailing list or tweets about it. But blindly inviting everyone in your Friend’s list is just not the way to go.

2. Be active on your Fan Page

Be sure to post regular updates about your show on your Fan Page. Event details, updates about the line-up, blog posts previewing the show, links to video blogs on your website. And if there are opening bands, talk about them too! You can post info about the bands, their music, videos, etc. If you post updates every day leading up to the show, it will no doubt create awareness about the event and create buzz/excitement about it.

3. Send personal messages to people that you invite to events

So the messages you send through the Event Invite itself are now going to the mysterious “Other” inbox? Well, why not take the time to send each person who you’ve invited a personal message inviting them? And I don’t mean copying and pasting the same message to each person. Yes, you can and should use some of the same elements, but take an extra few minutes and personalize the message to the individual. You can reference a recent conversation with them, tell them what’s going to be special/unique/fun about that night, basically, tell them why they should come out that night.

Don’t be discouraged

This post is certainly not meant to be discouraging, but more of a reality check for promoting shows. I sat in many empty rooms during my 3 years as a venue booker in Montreal, and often the band’s idea of promoting the show was creating a Facebook Invite and sending out 1 message to everyone who they invited. It’s just not enough anymore, and this goes for any event where the audience is not built-in. The message here is that we all have to go the extra mile to get people to our events, and the more creative, the better.

In what creative ways has your band promoted your live shows on Facebook?