Are the days of promoting your band on the Facebook gone?

Part 95

  Why is it that every time you come across some great promotional tool, service, company etc. Eventually there comes a time at the end of the story when they ask for your credit card details? I am not saying you can buy your self a career, but you most certainly can buy your self a small bit of fame, if you wish to do so. Then we have the great promotional tools like the Facebook. But hold on, once again they changed something... If you have a band profile on Facebook, you have under every post a number that represents how many people your post has reached and a percentage of how many that is from your total fans. On average on posts that posted in the past month or so, the reach is around 19%. Once the post is up for longer time, I am happy if it reaches 40% in a month. So not so good news for the next show you are putting on. Seems like you got to go back to the good old fashioned posters... Unless people not only like your band page, but also subscribe to your news feed, most of them wont see your posts... Why is this? Well it comes down to the same thing, they are hoping to get your credit card details. Beside the reach figure there is a promote drop down menu, that promises to reach about 1500 of your fans for €5. That is if you have 1500 fans and I am still wondering what happens to your money if you don't... So yeah, here is the bad news, Facebook as it is right now, does not work as a free promotional tool. What bugs me even more is the fact that once again they decided to do this without letting us know and in the shadow of the company entering the stock market. Seven months ago it was very easy for me to reach about two to three hundred people a day with this blog, but just due to a small change in the Facebook, those days are gone. And I can only imagine how many bands put on shows, posted it on Facebook, and their fans actually never heard about it until long after the show.

  So here we go, if you are reading this blog, you have been warned! And once again we go back to the old truth, you need your website and your mailing list. No social media site is going to ever replace these tools.

     J.P.

Quick guide to Facebook Timeline for bands

Part 80

  I am sure by now you have come across the Facebook timeline. Weather you like it or not, you need to be aware that at the end of March all pages will change over to timeline. Now this will give you few weeks time to get the page sorted. You can try it out and when you do this, every one else will see your old page. This is actually good move on Facebook's part, it gives us time to make everything look the way you like, with in the limits of Facebook. Any landing page, through Reverbnation or other, will be no more in use. Every one who visits your page, will land on the timeline first. I had a chat back in January with a good friend of mine who works for Facebook. As most of us, I was complaining why do they have to change things. He made a good point by saying “look, every time there is some changes people give out about it, but a month down the line they don't even remember the old one”. I must say, he definitely hit the nail in the head when it comes to me :-D. So the change is coming weather we like this or not. So lets look what you can do.

  The first thing I would put some thought in to is the new cover photo. This is a larger photo at the top of your page. This picture should be 851x315 pixels. If you try any other size photo, it will give you grief, take my word on this one;-). But here is Facebook guidelines for the cover photo:

     “Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not     contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as "40% off" or "Download it at our website"
  
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page's About section
  
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
  
• Calls to action, such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends"
  

  You still have the your Profile picture (180x180 pix), which over laps the bottom left corner of your cover photo, this is something to keep in mind while choosing the cover photo.

 Below the cover photo you have Tabs, that you can rearrange, except the photo tab, which is set by Facebook. On the right hand side there is an expand button. If you click this all your tabs will show up. On every individual tab there is a picture of pen on corner, if you click this, you can choose to replace the tab with other tab from the list.
To the left of the tabs and right under your Profile picture is space for a small description. Also here you can place a web link, if you wish to do so. Below this is a link to your About page that has all your band details, bio and contact info.

  Now below all this is the timeline, that can be bit confusing at first, but lets try to break it down. Left hand side we have the usual post form, where you can write your posts and post pictures. I think this part is clear enough. Below this we have your posts. The posts have few new options. On the right hand top corner you have a star and a the usual edit pencil. If you click the pencil, a drop down menu opens up and you get option to pin the post. This will bring the post to the top of the page for up to seven days. I think this is cool option. If you click the star, your post gets highlighted, which means it will become double the width of the other messages, but it will go below the sticky stuff on the right hand of your timeline. By sticky stuff I mean the friend activity and the Resent posts by others. The Friend activity will show your fans who else of their friends like you and if they have interacted with your page. And the resent posts by others is, well... resent posts by others on your page.

  Below all this the timeline divides everything in chronological timeline by past few months and rest of the year, hence the name Timeline, gripping stuff I tell ya;-)

  Anyway. This is the basic stuff to get you up and running. Once you have everything looking the way you like, you can make the page public and you are all sorted for the 31^st of March. Just keep in mind, once you make it public there is no going back. If you want more detailed information, the web is full of aticles and blog posts on the subject. I would recommend you to read http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-timeline-pages-guide-2012-03
or http://www.slideshare.net/RootMusic/timeline-for-facebook-pages
And as usual, if you have any trouble or need help, just Email me at jpkallio@hotmail.com and I'll do my best to help you out.
J.P.

On a shoestring project part 44

  The rain is beating its subtle drum beat on my window while I write this. It's always a bit of a dull after show like the Whelan's. But this time I hardly had time to sit down. But that's the way I like it anyway:-) Here is a video from the Whelan's concert.


  Now we got an extra gig next week in Sweeney's. It is the Juke box slot night and it is the basement venue. Also our good friends who we used to share rehearsal room with, the Casement ghosts are playing with us:-) We are really exited about this one. For those who don't know them, Casement Ghosts are a Punk rock band . I have been helping them out recording a demo in the past few months and I must say, they have some kicking songs, be sure not to miss them. Also on the night there will be Ivan St.Leger, Tom White and WillBury, who we are looking forward to hear on the night. Come along, the show starts around 8pm and it is free in:-)

  And the week after that on the 14th we are back in the Pint, but we'll talk more about that next week:-)

  So let me talk a little bit about attitude towards modern technology in music. What I mean here is particularly in the punk rock, metal and all us distorted guitar and pounding drum loving rockers. We embraced the Myspace when it first came along, then it was a must to be there! Now it is gone... waste of time, one of the worst sounding music players out there and why did they change it in to a pop up? Anyway at the time it was powerful tool, and helped loads of bands to get around. Then came the facebook and twitter... Yeah they might not be the coolest things in the world and we love to give out about them, but for a musician they are tools. Use them! We got our first bit of negative feedback few weeks ago when I was emailing radio stations, but to be honest with you this was more entertaining to me than anything else. In the email I send to the stations I tell them bit about us, send them a link to our music and in one part I explain how we embrace the DIY ethos. I have set up automated signature in my Email (You should do this as well! Check out WiseStamp), there is links to our website, facebook, twitter, youtube and myspace. The reply I got went in the lines of this: “DIY Punk on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube! When are you gonna sell out at Wal-Mart?” Well... you can't please everyone can you? So, lets go back to the world of making cassettes with our boom box, sharing them with our friends, few posters around the town before our gigs. Rocking it out and being so anti-establishment on Friday night, but back to nine to five on Monday morning. Now don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with nine to five, or having bit of fun on Friday, but criticizing bands for trying to get the word out there? Oh yeah, and the radio station in question has facebook, twitter and youtube pages;-). For musician social media is a tool, a means to connect with your audience and build a following.

  But in general, as you might know the response from radio stations around the world has been unreal! As I said so many times before, most of these people are music fans and like to help out new bands, so one negative mail against over 30 positive? I can live with that:-)

  Here's something light from the imagination of our drummer Sebastian:-)

  Now, the rain has changed to sunny blue sky:-) Better go out and enjoy it, we don't get much of it here in Ireland:-) Back for more next week.

J.P.

On a shoestring project part 39

  Sweeney's basement on Dame street tonight every one! We're pulling out all the stops for this one, it's going to be a rocker.

  The King Kong Club was great fun as always, the Village is such a great venue to play in! The sound is just to die for, and the lighting system is top notch. It makes you as a musician think, this is what you want it to be like! As to the competition, it all comes down to how big (and loud) crowd you can bring in. On the night there were bands with much bigger following and they deservedly wont the night. But we made new friends, built up our mailing list nicely and we are dying to see the video.

  It would have been nice to get to record our album in a top notch studio with a top notch producer, but it was not meant to be. The day after a competition like this can be bit of a downer, and I could see this in the faces of my band mates. I have been around the block long enough to learn not to get your hopes up until some thing really is happening. We did pull out all the stops to bring in our supporters, but it just wasn't meant to be. And this is such a good point, there are ups and downs in music business, and very often lot more downs. You need to build up a tough skin, get used to rejection and most of all, never to give up! But I have been planning things bit further a head anyway. It is good to have always something in the future to look forward to. So usually day or two after a concert we take a break, but then it's back to rehearsals and start preparing for the next show. We had the Sweeney's to look forward to. We could get focused on something new, not dwell on the past. I came across on the net this concept that what you are going through in music business is actually past, or more so, its the fruits of your work from weeks, months or even years a go. True, but bit deep...

  Anyway, we all know and/ or use Facebook. It is a great tool to promote bands, events, companies etc. But also great way to keep in contact with old and new friends. I have talked about Facebook promotion in the past, but let me go back to it for a minute. I am pretty patient man, but came across something I personally think you should never do to promote your band. There is certain event organizer, not very active and this is why I have been patient with them, here in Dublin. If they have an event coming up, what they are promoting, they post an poster image on Facebook and tag all the people on their Facebook friends on it. As a result this poster turns up on everyones wall... I would highly recommend against this. If you do so you will only annoy all your friends, for example this organizer is the only person who I have canceled as my friend on Facebook. You can Email the link to them and ask them to post it, but it should be everyones own choice, what do you think?

  Next week Sebastian is going for a short trip back to Poland to charge his batteries:-) And of course we will stuff his pockets with E.P.s for some serious networking. It would be great some day in the future to go and play some concerts in the guys home country. Speaking of which, for our Polish friends, check this out: http://www.terazrock.pl/user.php?UserId=10141 And for those of you (me included) who don't understand Polish, it is a profile of our band in Poland's main rock music magazines website. Europe is full of music magazines, so Google for them and send emails asking if they review independent artists. Its never too early to start spreading your bands name. And very often the readers of these magazines are targeted audience, priceless!

  Our new video “Everybody dies”is doing well, 600 views in youtube. Its also getting some views in other sites as well, for example Metalireland.com. I also submitted it to BlankTV, if you like your punk rock, you need to check this out:-)

  So thats our updates and tips for this week, we'll be back for more next week:-)

  J.P.

On a shoestring project part 34

  April just seems to be flying by. We have been busy working on our 100 concert challenge, now it is a lot of concerts... But I must say I am really happy how it is going :-) We'll get there one concert at a time.
  As you might have noticed, the technical advice here I tend to write about here, is always some how linked with what we have been up to. And this week is no different. In the past we talked lot about recording and sound in general in recording environment. This week I thought I'd share with you practical advice on live sound, and also with in conjunction with the Battle of the bands subject from last week. What I am talking about here is a situations where you have a sound engineer, not your own, but one for all the bands on the night. Now we all have heard bands giving out about sound engineers, bad sound systems and what have you. The way I see it is this: Everyone who plays in the venue with a house sound system, uses the same system. So lets for a second assume the sound system is not the greatest. We can moan about this all night, or we can just get on with the concert. We have played now 3 concerts with jpkallio.com, and I am blown away every time when people come to see us :-) It is just one of the greatest things in the world. So yeah we do want to give the people the best possible show. And moaning about the sound is not going to make it any better. So first of all, if you play in a small venue, go back to basics. Get the band sound balanced on the stage; bring the Guitar and bass amps to the level of the acoustic sound of the drums. Make sure you can hear everything spot on. And here is something I learned the hard way last week, if you are a singer, make sure none of the amps are closer to you than the vocal monitor. We played at a very small stage and there was a Marshall Guitar amp on a shelf pretty much right beside my ear. Sounded good, and when I checked the vocals in the monitor it sounded ok as well. But you need to understand that in the battle of the band situation you hardly ever get a proper sound check, it is a quick line check. And even when you get further in your career you will find yourself at festivals that only have quick line check as well... So there you go, get used to it. Learn to set up your equipment fast and train your ears to figure out what you need to hear. Well when the full band kicked in, I completely lost my vocals... It was guess work from there on... And I am talking about three or four song sets where you have only few minutes time to win the crowd over. So you do not want to be fixing the monitor levels between every song. And I must say here that with Sliotar I have been spoiled:-)

On the road we have our own sound system, and at the festivals the sound systems have been top class and the sound crews true professionals. Anyway, after the level of the instruments on the stage is ok, and be critical here. It's not about individuals here, it's about the over all sound. I know your dream valve amp has a sweet spot when it comes to alive, but the best guitar sound in the world wont win you any competitions if you burry the rest of the band. Also you should EQ the guitar and bass already at the amps the way they wont get on top of each others, Bit less bottom on the Guitar, bit less mid on the bass and they should sit nicely together. If you get this right, all the sound engineer would need to do is add some drums. Depending on the size of the room and sound system, this could be anything from Kick and snare to a full kit. Vocals on top clean and clear, and if needs bit of bass and guitar. But this is a job for the sound engineer. You will find that most sound engineers are good at their job. Some are miracle workers. But still if the band sounds Sh*t on stage, you will get a speaker load of the same stuff from the front of the house as well. And if the sound engineer has never heard you before, just explain him shortly what the line up is, what you need in the monitors and in the mix, and he will appreciate this, and you will straight from the beginning give your self much better chance of getting a good sound. Once again let me remind you: if the sound is not great, every one else who is playing on the night are in the same position, so suck it up and get on with it!

  Now, back to the band news. It has been a week of mixed feelings. Tomek’s war wounds acted up big time this week, so he has been out of action with back pain. Any one who ever had it knows how horrible it can be. We can only hope he'll be back in fighting form soon. But on the good side of the news, our E.P. Has gone around a bit and has started having some Radio play:-) There are 3 stations in Canada who have given it a nice bit of spin, Dundalk fm is coming up next week as well :-) We are also been busy on our Facebook and twitter pages, so if you haven't done so, join the fun there at:
www.facebook.com/jpkalliomusic
www.twitter.com/jpkalliomusic
Also if you ever have any questions, or suggestions, Facebook is an easy way to contact us:-)
That’s all for this week and I will talk to you more next week :-)
   J.P.