Studying Music Online

Doug Orey is a Student Advisor at Berkleemusic.com. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2009 where he earned a degree in Music Business and Management. He is currently an avid gigging musician heavily involved in the Boston rock scene. He is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for The Field Effect (www.thefieldeffectmusic.com/). He enjoys pizza and also has a beard.

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So you have the line-up. You have the name. You have the songs. You’ve practiced until your fingers hurt and your lungs are empty. You’ve even picked those killer new shoes. You’re ready to take the stage and unleash your sonic awesomeness live upon the masses. So how do you get that first show?

When you have a brand new band booking those first few shows can be the hardest part. No one has heard of you so why should they book you at their venue? Johnny Slick says you can play his bar on Wednesday night at 6pm if you pay him $100 and guarantee you can bring at least 20 people willing to pay a $15 cover! As enticing as this deal sounds…don’t take it. I’ve heard a few different folks say you should expect to pay venue managers or promoters to play early on in your young band’s career. I’m here to tell you that you should NEVER pay to play. So here are a few tips, from my own experience, to help you nail down that first show.

Go to other shows. There is no doubt in my mind that there are other bands where you are. Get out there and go meet them. Become friends with them, especially bands that play music similar to your band. Don’t be afraid to talk to them about your project and what you’re hoping to do. Build up a solid rapport with the other bands on the scene and express your interest in opening one of their shows. We’re all in this together and every band remembers what it was like to book their first show.

Open mics are your friend. While not my favorite thing in the world, I acknowledge they can be a lot of fun. One thing about open mics that tends to be true nearly everywhere you go is they are run by fellow musicians from the local music scene. I just mentioned going to shows and meeting other bands…this gives folks from those bands an opportunity to hear some of your songs. If they like what they hear, you just upped your chances of landing an opening slot. Not to mention you might be able to earn a few fans!

Start small, be realistic and be honest. Everyone wants to play on a Friday or Saturday night to a packed house. The chances of this happening your first time out are going to be slim to none. If you’re e-mailing venues in town looking to book a show, start small. They are bound to ask what you think your draw is. If you think you can only get 10 friends out to the gig…tell them 10. Clubs talk to each other. If you tell one club that you can bring 100 people out and only 13 people show up they aren’t going to be happy. Start small, build your fan base and keep your reputation high.

If you want to be part of your local scene it’s important to immerse yourself in it. Be social and be sure to show your support for the other bands. We’re all in this together and want to help each other out the best we can.

Doug

www.thefieldeffectmusic.com
@thefieldeffect

Check out our Online Music Marketing course if you are interested in leveraging all of your digital marketing efforts.

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Berkleemusic’s next term begins on September 24th, 2012.

Find out more at berkleemusic.com or contact a Student Advisor:

1-866-BERKLEE (USA) | +1 617 747 2146 (Intl) | advisors@berkleemusic.com

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Doug Orey is a Student Advisor at Berkleemusic.com. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2009 where he earned a degree in Music Business and Management. He is currently an avid gigging musician heavily involved in the Boston rock scene. He is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for The Field Effect (www.thefieldeffectmusic.com/). He enjoys pizza and also has a beard.

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In my last post I tackled some things to help you with your presence on Twitter. This post is all about the things that can hurt you when amassing a following. These things are easy to avoid and just as easy to do.

Auto Tweets

This is something I actually fell victim to. A lot of your social media is going to be tied together. Be careful not to blast your followers with multiple copies of the same tweet in short succession. For instance, my band’s WordPress Blog was set-up to push any new posts to Twitter and Tumblr. Problem was that our Tumblr was also set-up to push to Twitter! In a matter of seconds our followers were hit with redundant tweets. I quickly put a stop to this, I know personally I have unfollowed people for such things.

Ask for Followers/Likes

This is something that I see all the time. It’s one thing to promote your Facebook page or website on Twitter. Those two sources are where people can get more information about upcoming dates, news and listen to your music. Asking for likes on social media is not the way to build a dedicated fan base. “Liking” something for “Following” someone is a passive act. Seeing a high number of “Likes” or “Followers” is definitely an ego boost and feels good…but are these fans buying your record and coming to your shows, or just clicking “Follow” and forgetting about it? If you’re nearing a personal milestone such as 500 followers or 1,000 likes, it can’t hurt to point that out and maybe garner a bit more attention. Look at it as a relationship though; you don’t want to seem needy.

One too Many Retweets…

Share what YOU have to say. It’s great to retweet interesting stuff and share things your fans are saying but people are following YOU! I have unfollowed on a number of occasions because all they did was retweet things over and over. You might think, you don’t have anything interesting to say and that is where you are wrong. Conor Oberst of @brighteyesband could tweet “I prefer Skippy brand peanut butter” and 90% of his fan base will think “WHOA! Conor Oberst likes the same peanut butter I do!!!” You can keep it light, just remember to keep it you.

Don’t Think You’re Better Than Your Followers

Too often I see major stars openly dissing their fans. Most recently, Rihanna went after a fan on twitter. Not cool Rihanna, not cool. You have to remember that not everything you do will jive with your fans but never under any circumstances should you attack them. People might talk trash, but let it go. No need to go after them. You could very easily loose more fans by doing so, let them talk, no one will notice.

So these have been my thoughts on the Twitter game. This is the approach I am taking and it seems to be going well! Let me know what you all think! What are you doing to keep fans engaged on Twitter?

Doug

www.thefieldeffectmusic.com
@thefieldeffect

Check out our Online Music Marketing course if you are interested in leveraging all of your digital marketing efforts.

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Berkleemusic’s next term begins on June 25th, 2012.

Find out more at berkleemusic.com or contact a Student Advisor:

1-866-BERKLEE (USA) | +1 617 747 2146 (Intl) | advisors@berkleemusic.com

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Doug Orey is a Student Advisor at Berkleemusic.com. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2009 where he earned a degree in Music Business and Management. He is currently an avid gigging musician heavily involved in the Boston rock scene. He is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for The Field Effect (www.thefieldeffectmusic.com/). He enjoys pizza and also has a beard.

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Every musician should be on Twitter. It’s a quick, simple and direct way to engage and grow your fan base when you are away from the stage. Just like everything else, there is a right and a wrong way to using Twitter, and you want to be sure that you are using it for good and not EVIL! Below I’ve outlined a few tools, tips and tricks that can help you manage your Twitter presence and max out it’s potential.

Content, Content. Content!

Not a day should go by with out a tweet from you or your band. But Doug, I have nothing cool to say or talk about! That’s where you are wrong. Your fans want a little glimpse into your day to day. What are you doing when you’re not rocking faces? Something as simple as “Listening to the new @yellowbirddd_ track and it rules!” puts you on their level and might help them discover artists you enjoy. Bottom line is don’t over think it. Share what you’re doing, listening to even eating. Tweet a picture of your view from your seat in the back of the van while you’re touring. People connect to your music. Let them connect to you as well.

Interaction = Awesome Sauce

No doubt you follow some of your favorite musicians on Twitter. How often do you see fans soliciting re-tweets and replies from the superstars? It would just make by birthday if I got a RT from @KarminMusic!!! Obviously the more popular you become and the more followers you amass it will become difficult to respond to every tweet, but setting aside just 10 or 15 minutes a day to tweet at some fans can make their week, month or even year! Let them know they are appreciated, welcome new followers, it takes all of 30 seconds to write 140 characters or less. If they tweet back at you then you’re showing up in their feed and all of their followers see it as well. Don’t forget your fellow musicians in all of this. You’re playing the game together, always nice to have some allies!

Navigating the Vast Realm of the Twitterverse

So your music rules and people are paying attention. You’ve been interacting with your fans and pumping out the tweets but now there are so many you can’t keep up! There are a few tools out there that can really help you manage all this awesome madness.

TweetDeck – Personally I use TweetDeck. It’s the official aggregator of Twitter and is super easy to set-up and use. You can use it through the web, install it as a Chrome App if you use Google Chrome as your Browser or install it on your Mac through the Mac App Store. It displays your Twitter Feed, Mentions, Direct Messages and custom searches all on one screen. It can also sync up multiple accounts so if you and your band members all have personal twitters you can manage those as well!

HootSuite – HootSuite tends to take things to the next level. With a paid subscription you can get detailed analytics on your Twitter traffic and even further customization in terms of display and search options. A label rep, manager outside marketing team, and not the band itself will most likely utilize the paid options. You do need to save sometime to write songs and practice after all.

Twitter Mobile App – Chances are at least one if not all of your band members have a smartphone. Great way to hit your followers on the go, the van can be a boring place on those long drives between gigs…unless you have a small TV and a VCR, but seriously you can only watch Twister so many times! Tweet a picture of the audience from stage, let them feel the thrill of staring out into a packed house!

So for a quick recap – stay active, interact with your fans, there’s an app for that. Share your thoughts below and be on the lookout for a follow-up blog about some things NOT to do on Twitter!

Doug

www.thefieldeffectmusic.com
@thefieldeffect

Check out our Online Music Marketing course if you are interested in leveraging all of your digital marketing efforts.

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Berkleemusic’s next term begins on June 25th, 2012.

Find out more at berkleemusic.com or contact a Student Advisor:

1-866-BERKLEE (USA) | +1 617 747 2146 (Intl) | advisors@berkleemusic.com

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Doug Orey is a Student Advisor at Berkleemusic.com. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2009 where he earned a degree in Music Business and Management. He is currently an avid gigging musician heavily involved in the Boston rock scene. He is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for The Field Effect (http://thefieldeffectmusic.com/). He enjoys pizza and also has a beard.

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One of the toughest parts of recording in a home studio can be tracking vocals. Your bedroom most likely wasn’t designed with room acoustics in mind. Maybe you have roommates or younger siblings moving about and making noise. Or if you’re like me you live in the city on a busy street and with all kinds of traffic at all hours of the day.

A few years ago I stumbled upon a blog post in some random corner of the interweb about how to build a portable isolation booth for under $30. At first a kind of scoffed at the idea, thinking it was most likely a scheme to get you to open a credit card and once you spent “X” amount of money you got some kind of a gift card you could use to buy all the supplies you need for such a project. In reality it turned out to be one of the simplest and straightforward ideas I have ever seen.

Here is what you’ll need:

1 Collapsible Storage Cube – (This is a set of two but you should be able to find just one for around $5 to $7 at your local Target or Wal-Mart)

1 Sheet of Acoustic Foam – (You can find a 12 pack here but should be able to pick up a single sheet from you local Guitar Center)

I think perhaps the most difficult part of the project is going to be cutting and fitting the foam into the cube. I suggest beginning with the sheet for the rear of the cube. Take your measurement and cut the foam to fit. Keep in mind this is soft foam so it doesn’t have to be perfect you’ll be able to mash it in there.

Once this is done cut the piece for the top of the cube. Remember to take into account the space that is being taken up by the foam you just put inside.

Repeat this step for both sides.

And there you have your finished portable isolation booth!

I actually didn’t build mine for the portability factor. I ended up measuring my height and actually mounting it to my bedroom wall. By cutting a whole in the bottom I was able easily take mics in and out. For those of you on the road touring or travelling for work this is the perfect solution to help improve the quality of your demos on the road!

-Doug

Check out our Acoustics course if you want to get REALLY deep into sound isolation!

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Berkleemusic’s next term begins on April 2nd, 2012.

Find out more at berkleemusic.com or contact a Student Advisor:

1-866-BERKLEE (USA) | +1 617 747 2146 (Intl) | advisors@berkleemusic.com

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