Nov 1

Part of the beauty of Twitter is that it can be many things to many people. As part of my effort to recruit as many people to Twitter as possible, I decided that I should write posts about how Twitter can be used in different situations. For example, of course you can just use Twitter to make plans with your friends, but the interactivity of Twitter can be very useful for people in all sorts of different professions. I’m going to attempt to come up with as many different uses for it as I can and I’m going to start with the one I feel (for better or worse) qualified the most to talk about: using Twitter to promote your band or music.

Your Fans Really Do Care What You’re Doing
Believe it or not, if you’ve been making music for a while, you’ve probably accumulated a not-insignificant group of fans who are interested in what you do on a daily basis. These are the fans that download all your songs (whether you want them to or not), go to all your shows and buy all your t-shirts. Every band has these, no matter how long you’ve been around or how bad your music is. These are the people that you can cater to with Twitter.

I suggest updating at least twice a day. Once when you get up you should post what you’re going to be doing that day, whether or not it’s related to your music, and once when your day is done to let them know how it went. Believe me, if Cedric and Omar from The Mars Volta or Daft Punk were on Twitter, you better believe I would be following them and would get super excited whenever they updated, even if it was just to let me know that they were eating a bowl of Cheerios.

Promoting Your Shows
Twitter can be an extremely effective promotional tool because you can ask people to come to your shows on several different occasions. If you are booking a tour, I suggest updating on Twitter when the dates are finalized and linking to the posted dates on your web site. Also, the day before the show, as well as the day of, you can update reminding everyone to come out to see you.

If you have enough fans and followers, you could make them feel extra special by having exclusive shows or afterparties that you only mention on Twitter. Once your fans find out that you are having these secret events, they will start following you on Twitter, thereby increasing your reach.

Take Requests
Since Twitter makes it so easy to interact with your fans, why not ask them what they want to hear when they come to your show? Maybe you’ve been neglecting to play an old fan favorite. Twitter is an easy way to find out what your fans want to hear, straight from the source. All they have to do is either direct message you or reply to you using the @ symbol.

Twitter-Exclusive Downloads
Say thank you to your biggest fans by giving your Twitter followers the heads up on exclusive new songs and videos. Posting a link on Twitter and NOT your web site says that you really value your fans enough to give them something special. Of course, once word gets out that you have a new song available for download, your non-Twittering fans will download it, but your Twitter followers will feel special because you gave them the heads up first.

Get Instant Feedback
Not sure if that hook you’re writing is trash or gold? Post a clip on Twitter and if you have enough followers, you’ll get instant feedback in minutes! Jason Calacanis, founder of Weblogs Inc. and Mahalo, uses it to get feedback on new designs for Mahalo. Sure, you could say that the fans should have no impact on the music you make, but if you want, you have an instant focus group that has your best interests at heart, wants you to succeed and would love to have you take their feedback into consideration.

Twitter-Exclusive Contests
This falls along the same lines as taking requests via Twitter, except it’s more fun. You could create a contest in which they plug your new song or upcoming show

in one of their updates and that enters them into a drawing where the winner gets free tickets to an upcoming show in their area. You get free promotion, they get to come to your show for free and their followers check out your new song. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

This is really just scratching the surface of how musicians can leverage Twitter to build their brand, increase their audience and get more people to hear their music. I’m sure as time goes on and more and more bands adopt Twitter the way they did MySpace, we’ll see some really innovative ways to use Twitter, but these ideas should be enough to get you started. Good luck and follow me on Twitter!

Ryan Gutierrez is a technology expert, specializing in internet marketing. Visit his site at http://www.ryangutierrez.com. There, you will find articles about upcoming technology trends and making money online. You can also keep up to date with what he’s doing by following him on Twitter.

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Oct 31

You may follow MCHammer, Erykah Badu, or Austin’s own Ben Kweller on Twitter, but how can you be sure you’re following all of your favorite artists? Check out this list, which has the Twitter accounts and websites for more than 700 musicians, along with those of music bloggers, record labels, podcasts, stores and more.

This amazing confluence of web and rock-and-roll is managed by Gabriel Nijme. The list details the artist, their Twitter name, website, and music genre, along with notes such as who updates frequently, whose account appears to be managed by publicists, and who’s funny, but fake (Nick Cave, Notorious B.I.G.).

Also, if you know of a band that’s not on the list, there’s a way for you to add it yourself. It’s a great way to keep track of your favorite artists as they get ready for SXSW

Original blog post: Austinist.com

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Oct 30

If you’re an Indie music artist and you’re not already on Twitter, I really suggest you join…like, now.

Why? Because rising tides lift all boats. Twitter is a rising tide. Actually, it’s more like a tidal wave. According to the State of the Twittersphere Report, each day, 5000-10,000 new people join. It’s growing like gangbusters.

So why should you care? First of all, let me say, when it comes to understanding Twitter, people generally fall into 3 different groups.

The first group is people asking “What’s Twitter and how do I use it?” The second group is people who are already using Twitter with varying degrees of effectiveness. The third group is saying, “Wait, WTF is Twitter!?”

I’ll address the first two groups.
To those who don’t know what Twitter is, it’s basically a microblogging site that allows you to tell other people what you’re doing in short blurbs of no more than 140 characters. You follow what others are saying and they follow you. That’s it.

To those of you already on Twitter, congrats. I hope you’re using it well. Unfortunately, I know many of you aren’t. Because I want everyone to be the best that they can be, there’s a few points I want to address to help you make sense of what Twitter can really do for you whether you’re an indie music artist, music entrepreneur or just all around superstar.

I spoke with a chick the other day who’s an indie artist and she mentioned that she doesn’t get Twitter. Too many useless postings from other people, she said. She’s right. It’s one of the reasons it’s hard to make sense of Twitter when you’re new to it. Some of the postings make me laugh. Like the guy who Tweets that he is, “now officially enjoying a chocolate chip cookie and feeling relaxed…”

Hey, cookie monster! If you’re reading this, I’m ecstatic that you enjoy chocolate chip cookies and all. Next time add a glass of milk to go with it too. But please spare me the details of your horribly boring life by not feeling the need to post something every time you blink.

Look, I know many of you reading this like to post trivial stuff too. And it’s fine, as long as that’s not all you post. The thing about Twitter is that for it to be effective for you, you need to be clear about what you want to accomplish; not just in the immediate, but with your career.

The fact is this: The only way you will ever be successful at Twittering is by realizing that for it to work, it must be used for two things. The first is networking with the right people. You’ll be amazed at who you’ll find on Twitter. If you want to network with people who’s most interesting quality is that they like chocolate chip cookies, that’s cool and all, but my guess is that most of you want to network with people you respect and look up to. Second thing that Twitter should be used for is spreading your ideas. Your good ideas. Not ramblings about how your roommate’s shoes are going clickety clack.

But you have to be strategic about how you do all of this. Don’t spam people. I’m always shocked at how so many people think that just because you’re on the Internet, normal rules of human decency do not apply. Social networks are about nothing but human nature. If you forget that, you will fail.

With that said, here are several hardcore principles you need to respect in order to succeed at networking and spreading your ideas on Twitter. The technical aspects of using Twitter you can pick up easily, but it’s an understanding of the more general rules of dealing with people that will bring you success. Here are my four important things to remember for success on Twitter:

STRANGERS DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU
Sounds harsh and cynical. I know. But if you’re an adult and haven’t realized this, give up now. But I’m assuming that since you’re reading my article, you’re of above average intelligence(haha). If you want to be like the cookie monster and lurk around, anonymously Tweeting about shit nobody cares about, fine.

But I’m not going to pay attention to you. Why? Because I don’t know you yet and I don’t care about what you’re doing. Give me interesting information. Then I’ll consider you. And the more you do that, the higher profile you’ll start to have in my mind. People who just Tweet about their boring lives don’t attract quality eyeballs. Be strategic. Know what you want to accomplish. Then you’ll know what to Tweet, what to Retweet and who to target.

GIVE AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE
Have you noticed how when you do something nice for someone, they usually feel obligated to return the favor? The same principle works online. Lots of people in Twitter will post links to promote themselves. Many people never click on those links because they view these people as shameless promoters. People hate shameless salesmanship.

The best strategy to promote yourself is to get other people to post and repost your links. Why? Because people trust things recommended by other people more than just cold promotions. Recommendations provide social proof that other people also like what you’re offering.

So how do you get people to promote you? By promoting them. That’s when people begin Retweeting your links. That’s what you want. Twitter doesn’t work well for boring people and shameless promoters. The successful people on Twitter are the ones who engage. Just like in the real world. If you want to get the attention of important people you would like to network with, that’s how you start.

QUALITY MATTERS
There are many high profile people on Twitter. Many in the music business. If you want to get their attention, produce quality ideas. Not crappy ones. Don’t be a cookie monster.

BE NICE!
What more can I say.
Push marketing is on its way out. Pull marketing is in. As an Independent music artist, do things, produce ideas and make things that attract the best people. The labels don’t matter much anymore. You have all the power now. Use it. Be strategic. The sky’s the limit.

Mika Schiller is a writer for the Indie music website MADE and he writes about the direction of the music industry and how it relates to the Independent Music artist. He gives irreverent career and personal development advice to the Indie music artist. For more great writing and irresistible advice, along with a free report on effective MySpace music marketing, please visit http://www.letsgetmade.com

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Oct 29

As the industry changes, so have the methods by which music is promoted. Traditional marketing is being replaced by artists and bands using social media sites like Twitter (Twitter) to engage fans, promote their work, and connect with others. The modern web and the future of the music industry seem almost inextricably intertwined in terms of marketing, listening, communicating, and purchasing. Twitter is one of the many ways for people to instantly and quickly communicate, and artists are taking advantage of its vast potential.

Is your favorite artist tweeting? Here are over 100 musicians who tweet to keep fans and friends informed.

Read extensive twitter musician list at Mashable

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Oct 28

(*Updated July 8.)

As everyone knows, Twitter’s people search was non-existent until just recently, and is mediocre even now. Given that, I compiled a VERY SHORT LIST (NOT THE TRADEMARKED KIND) of musicians who Twitter.

I have tried following most of them, and I’ll be honest with you: the majority of them are very, very, very bad at Twittering. I had to quit them. I’m sorry. Shaq is the least musician among them, but perhaps the second-best Twitterer (Jonathan Coulton is easily the best), in a fucked-up zen sort of way.

Read the rest of this blog post at the listenerd

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