What's happening? We got a show!
Nov. 13 at 9PM at Oak Street Speakeasy in Eugene!
Playing with our old friends Bajuana Tea, Station Wag and BOOMCHICK!
Come meet our new Eugene bass player Annette!
Emerald City Roller Girls!
Part of the GRRRLZ ROCK 2010 event happening all month long, check it out!
Date: Saturday, November 13th
Time: We play at 9PM!
Location: Oak Street Speakeasy
Street: 915 Oak Street
City/Town: Eugene, OR
Phone Number: (541) 284-4000
FREE ADMISSION • 21+
Click Here For More!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Come to the record release party for our new CD, "Heart In Outer Space" June 6th, 4PM at CD World in Eugene, OR: http://ping.fm/xzrDJ
Thursday, April 22, 2010
For Earth Day, enjoy some Endangered Species Chocolate - & sing along with our fan song about it - "Help Me!": http://tinyurl.com/36h3b3l
Friday, April 16, 2010
Our EP will be available for download at the pre-release sale price of $4.44 for one more week! 5 crazy songs, + a hidden track! http://ping.fm/sSGDH
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
For the next week you can download our new song 'Jolene' from our reverbnation page - check it out!: http://ping.fm/abNyQ
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Wrap-up on Ariel's 'Music Success in Nine Weeks' Book
Well I've come to the end of Ariel's book. Although I wrote a post on the final chapter, here's a short summary of my overall experiences with the book.
I found the book very helpful, and I'd definitely recommend it to others. And though at times I felt burnt out from some of the more time-consuming ideas, everything she suggests is worth working on.
This book helps lay a foundation, helps create a jumping-off point for the ongoing process of being one's own 'PR' specialist. Working through each of the chapters has given me more practice wearing the 'hat' of doing consistent marketing/business for the band. Although - as I've said before - this doesn't come naturally to me, I have gotten better at it and more comfortable with it.
Thanks Ariel, and I will continue to use your ideas as inspiration in the days ahead!
- Melissa
I found the book very helpful, and I'd definitely recommend it to others. And though at times I felt burnt out from some of the more time-consuming ideas, everything she suggests is worth working on.
This book helps lay a foundation, helps create a jumping-off point for the ongoing process of being one's own 'PR' specialist. Working through each of the chapters has given me more practice wearing the 'hat' of doing consistent marketing/business for the band. Although - as I've said before - this doesn't come naturally to me, I have gotten better at it and more comfortable with it.
Thanks Ariel, and I will continue to use your ideas as inspiration in the days ahead!
- Melissa
Monday, February 22, 2010
Chapter 9 of Ariel's Book - and Download our new EP "Heart In Outer Space"!
Chapter 9 of Ariel's book addresses traditional PR. This includes things like how to write a press release, what to put in a press kit, and what to have online for press to find - such as a hi-res photo of the band. She also stresses several times to make sure to follow up on materials you have sent out.
Her advice is good - and I can say this from experience, because when we released our last CD "Green", we followed many of the same steps - we created a well put together press kit, had hi-res photos easy to find online, and followed up on all the materials we sent out. Because of this, we received a nice two-page article about us in our local newspaper, the Eugene Register-Guard, that included us being contacted by the journalist and interviewed in person. She told us that she contacted us because she was impressed by our well-put-together materials - and even said that she used our press kit as an example of what one should look like!
In addition, we had a write-up in the local Eugene Weekly (search for 'Demimonde' on the page to find it), one in the local community college (Lane Community College) publication, The Torch (to read that review, click here to go to our SonicBids page, then click on 'Press' - it is the last review listed), as well as several appearances and interviews on local radio stations and podcasts.
We also sent our CD to a couple of blogs to be reviewed, and received a nice review on the Collected Sounds blog. We also got another nice review on a blog called MusicDyke - one that we hadn't sent our CD to, but because our info and art was well organized online, the reviewer was easily able to find what they needed for their write-up.
We look forward to applying what we already know - and all the additional tips from Ariel - in the upcoming weeks as Demimonde Slumber Party gears up for the release of our new EP, "Heart in Outer Space".
Some of you may know that last weekend we released the digital tracks of the EP online (click below to hear and download!):
If you'd like a to know a little more about the songs on the EP before you listen to them, here's a description:
DSP's new EP "Heart In Outer Space" is an adventurous romp that includes a B-movie broken-heart voyage into outer space, a chocoholic's semi-delusional plan to save the world, and an ode to a girl that really gets your energy up - or is she just an espresso-fueled hallucination? DSP's new EP is full of quirky fun that will bring a smile to your lips and a shake to your hips!
Hope you enjoy the songs!
- Melissa
Her advice is good - and I can say this from experience, because when we released our last CD "Green", we followed many of the same steps - we created a well put together press kit, had hi-res photos easy to find online, and followed up on all the materials we sent out. Because of this, we received a nice two-page article about us in our local newspaper, the Eugene Register-Guard, that included us being contacted by the journalist and interviewed in person. She told us that she contacted us because she was impressed by our well-put-together materials - and even said that she used our press kit as an example of what one should look like!
In addition, we had a write-up in the local Eugene Weekly (search for 'Demimonde' on the page to find it), one in the local community college (Lane Community College) publication, The Torch (to read that review, click here to go to our SonicBids page, then click on 'Press' - it is the last review listed), as well as several appearances and interviews on local radio stations and podcasts.
We also sent our CD to a couple of blogs to be reviewed, and received a nice review on the Collected Sounds blog. We also got another nice review on a blog called MusicDyke - one that we hadn't sent our CD to, but because our info and art was well organized online, the reviewer was easily able to find what they needed for their write-up.
We look forward to applying what we already know - and all the additional tips from Ariel - in the upcoming weeks as Demimonde Slumber Party gears up for the release of our new EP, "Heart in Outer Space".
Some of you may know that last weekend we released the digital tracks of the EP online (click below to hear and download!):
If you'd like a to know a little more about the songs on the EP before you listen to them, here's a description:
DSP's new EP "Heart In Outer Space" is an adventurous romp that includes a B-movie broken-heart voyage into outer space, a chocoholic's semi-delusional plan to save the world, and an ode to a girl that really gets your energy up - or is she just an espresso-fueled hallucination? DSP's new EP is full of quirky fun that will bring a smile to your lips and a shake to your hips!
Hope you enjoy the songs!
- Melissa
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Endangered Species Chocolate Bar - The Song
I'd like to sing a little song for you now...
Please sing along. Your part goes: "Yum yum yum yum...."
Please sing along. Your part goes: "Yum yum yum yum...."
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Creating a 'Funnel' & Online CD Pre-Release is Just Days Away!!!
Chapter 8 of Ariel's book encourages artists to think creatively about what they can offer fans beyond the obvious CDs, merch and gigs. One example - a special subscription fan club with exclusive songs only fan club members would receive. The ideas in the chapter are based on a marketing 'funnel', with less expensive items on one end of the funnel, and more expensive items on the other end.
I'm reminded of a creative and humorous example of this from about a year ago, where Josh Freese, former Nine Inch Nails drummer, had a range of packages you could buy with his new solo album. This ranged from a $7 digital download all the way up to a $75,000 package which included such items as:
- If you don’t live in Southern California (but are a U.S. resident) he’ll come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks
- Take a flying trapeze lesson with Josh and Robin from NIN, go back to Robin's place afterwards and his wife will make you raw lasagna
Check out this link for all the examples...
I also found an interesting follow-up story on this from last April about one fan who bought a $20,000 package - as well as Josh's success with $250 - $5000 packages.
Another example, on a smaller scale, is of a great band we know in San Francisco, True Margrit. If you order their new CD from their website, they have various packages available, some of which include art created by Margrit along with a personal phone call from her.
I'm inspired by examples like those above - I look forward to using humor, thinking outside the box and applying some of these ideas to my band, Demimonde Slumber Party. First, however, we have a couple to-do items to complete in the "basics" category - we're on the verge of having our new CD (and related merch) available, and soon we'll again have local bass players so we're much more available to perform.
But even before that! We're only days away from the online pre-release of our new EP "Heart In Outer Space"! Sign up for our email list here at our webpage to make sure you're in the know!
See you soon!
Melissa
I'm reminded of a creative and humorous example of this from about a year ago, where Josh Freese, former Nine Inch Nails drummer, had a range of packages you could buy with his new solo album. This ranged from a $7 digital download all the way up to a $75,000 package which included such items as:
- If you don’t live in Southern California (but are a U.S. resident) he’ll come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks
- Take a flying trapeze lesson with Josh and Robin from NIN, go back to Robin's place afterwards and his wife will make you raw lasagna
Check out this link for all the examples...
I also found an interesting follow-up story on this from last April about one fan who bought a $20,000 package - as well as Josh's success with $250 - $5000 packages.
Another example, on a smaller scale, is of a great band we know in San Francisco, True Margrit. If you order their new CD from their website, they have various packages available, some of which include art created by Margrit along with a personal phone call from her.
I'm inspired by examples like those above - I look forward to using humor, thinking outside the box and applying some of these ideas to my band, Demimonde Slumber Party. First, however, we have a couple to-do items to complete in the "basics" category - we're on the verge of having our new CD (and related merch) available, and soon we'll again have local bass players so we're much more available to perform.
But even before that! We're only days away from the online pre-release of our new EP "Heart In Outer Space"! Sign up for our email list here at our webpage to make sure you're in the know!
See you soon!
Melissa
Monday, February 1, 2010
Networking and A Cold - Or "Hot August Phranc" and Why I Decided Maybe I Could be Good at Networking After All
Well, last week was a bit hectic - I had a cold that came complete with brain-fog which kept me from doing anything productive for a couple of days..... But I am finally back with a post on the next chapter of Ariel's book....
Chapter 7 in Ariel's book is all about networking, live in-person networking, as opposed to online/email activities. As I started reading it, I had a sense of stress and dread, because I see myself as someone uncomfortable with self-promotion. I am much more comfortable encouraging others to follow their dreams than vice versa. In fact I've recently said to a few people things like "I am really too much of an introvert, not the right kind of personality to be a musician." But I wasn't really thinking "to be a musician", I was more imagining the self-promotion part of music that I think I'm supposed to be a lot better at. But when I really think about it, I realize I'm imagining the ideal is supposed to be some kind cross between a stereotypical used-car salesman and some big-haired spandex-wearing 80's musician guy that you might find playing electric guitar way too loud at a Guitar Center.
So after reading the chapter, and realizing the attitude I was subconsciously carrying around, I started to feel much differently about this whole topic. For one, the chapter is about networking, not self-promotion. And remembering how she's approached the whole topic of growing a band email list in previous chapters, I realize her suggestions are based on building relationships with people individually, something I do feel comfortable with. She talks about how good networking involves finding out more about the other people you're interacting with, which goes right along with my natural tendency to start interviewing people in social situations. I am starting to feel like I can actually do this - and that the necessary skills are things that really do come naturally to me.
As for the used-car salesman/spandex-wearing 80's musician dude - I am reminded of Seth Godin's writings, where he talks about how people want something authentic, and I know I do - and that imaginary pompous character is the opposite of that. I'm glad I can tell my subconscious I don't need to be more like someone I would find obnoxious in order to get more people on a band email list. Logically, I know no one would like me better if I was like that! Ok, maybe some of you would (now I am getting images of Phranc doing Neil Diamond :-) )
Update on my last post about Ariel's book - I ended by saying I was going to invite our MySpace friends to our email list. I did start on that - it will take me awhile to get through them all, but it feels great to begin! And since the last post, we sent out our short-but-sweet January Newsletter (let me know if you'd like to get a copy!). In doing that, I realized we have some outdated email addresses on our list.
I also have a lot of people I didn't invite to our email list before because they lived outside the areas we were gigging. But now that we are doing so much more online, it doesn't matter where people live, so it's perfect timing to start inviting them!
So in addition to embarking on being a better networker, I am very glad to be working on updating and expanding our email list from the contacts we already have. I can't do it all at once, so I will set aside time regularly every week.
Thanks Ariel for all your helpful ideas!
Until next time,
Melissa
p.s. - Don't forget that if you buy our CD "Green" before February 7th from CD Baby, $1 per CD will go to Haiti relief efforts:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/demimondesp
Chapter 7 in Ariel's book is all about networking, live in-person networking, as opposed to online/email activities. As I started reading it, I had a sense of stress and dread, because I see myself as someone uncomfortable with self-promotion. I am much more comfortable encouraging others to follow their dreams than vice versa. In fact I've recently said to a few people things like "I am really too much of an introvert, not the right kind of personality to be a musician." But I wasn't really thinking "to be a musician", I was more imagining the self-promotion part of music that I think I'm supposed to be a lot better at. But when I really think about it, I realize I'm imagining the ideal is supposed to be some kind cross between a stereotypical used-car salesman and some big-haired spandex-wearing 80's musician guy that you might find playing electric guitar way too loud at a Guitar Center.
So after reading the chapter, and realizing the attitude I was subconsciously carrying around, I started to feel much differently about this whole topic. For one, the chapter is about networking, not self-promotion. And remembering how she's approached the whole topic of growing a band email list in previous chapters, I realize her suggestions are based on building relationships with people individually, something I do feel comfortable with. She talks about how good networking involves finding out more about the other people you're interacting with, which goes right along with my natural tendency to start interviewing people in social situations. I am starting to feel like I can actually do this - and that the necessary skills are things that really do come naturally to me.
As for the used-car salesman/spandex-wearing 80's musician dude - I am reminded of Seth Godin's writings, where he talks about how people want something authentic, and I know I do - and that imaginary pompous character is the opposite of that. I'm glad I can tell my subconscious I don't need to be more like someone I would find obnoxious in order to get more people on a band email list. Logically, I know no one would like me better if I was like that! Ok, maybe some of you would (now I am getting images of Phranc doing Neil Diamond :-) )
Update on my last post about Ariel's book - I ended by saying I was going to invite our MySpace friends to our email list. I did start on that - it will take me awhile to get through them all, but it feels great to begin! And since the last post, we sent out our short-but-sweet January Newsletter (let me know if you'd like to get a copy!). In doing that, I realized we have some outdated email addresses on our list.
I also have a lot of people I didn't invite to our email list before because they lived outside the areas we were gigging. But now that we are doing so much more online, it doesn't matter where people live, so it's perfect timing to start inviting them!
So in addition to embarking on being a better networker, I am very glad to be working on updating and expanding our email list from the contacts we already have. I can't do it all at once, so I will set aside time regularly every week.
Thanks Ariel for all your helpful ideas!
Until next time,
Melissa
p.s. - Don't forget that if you buy our CD "Green" before February 7th from CD Baby, $1 per CD will go to Haiti relief efforts:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/demimondesp
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Endangered Species Chocolate Bar
Some of you may remember a post a while ago where I mention a new song having to do with endangered species. Well, this song is about a chocolate bar made by a company I've been a fan of years - the Endangered Species Chocolate Company. They donate "10% of net profits to help support species, habitat and humanity". That's very inspiring to me - what could be better than a delicious chocolate bar that helps make the world a better place?
Last weekend, the band was working on a video for this song (coming soon! - both the video and the song, which will be on our new CD), and it gave me the occasion to enjoy one of their relatively new flavors, Organic Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans and Maca - yummy!!!
I look forward to our record release when I can share this song with all of you! But in the meantime, if you can, check out their chocolate!!!
- Melissa
Last weekend, the band was working on a video for this song (coming soon! - both the video and the song, which will be on our new CD), and it gave me the occasion to enjoy one of their relatively new flavors, Organic Dark Chocolate with Goji Berry, Pecans and Maca - yummy!!!
I look forward to our record release when I can share this song with all of you! But in the meantime, if you can, check out their chocolate!!!
- Melissa
Growing the Band's Email list - And What To Do With It!
Hi everyone! Wow, what a great weekend Demimonde Slumber Party had! Our out-of-town bassist Tim Romain was here, and we worked on some video in preparation for our upcoming record release! More on that very soon!
This week, I'm going to address two chapters of Ariel's book, Chapters 5 and 6. They are both related, and involve a band's email list. Chapter 5 has suggestions for how to use this list. One of these is surveying your fans as to what they might want from you (such as playing a house concert or selling them official Demimonde Slumber Party pajamas for their next slumber party). She suggests waiting until your list has 1000 members to begin surveying them. Well, since our list is not quite 1000 strong yet, I was eager to also read through the next chapter, which is about growing your email list.
Another topic she addresses in Chapter 5 is the band newsletter. She stresses the importance of staying connected with your fans, and mind you, she isn't suggesting emailing people very often, just once or twice a month. We haven't been emailing our fans very frequently, so starting now, we will begin sending out a newsletter once a month!
And why haven't we been emailing our fans very often? Partly because we haven't been gigging in awhile. And that is because, after our last local bassist moved away, we decided to record a new CD before looking for local bassists again. Luckily for us, we still have our out-of-town bassist, and so we recorded our new CD with him.
Now that the CD is finished, and soon to be released, it is time for the band to rouse completely from its 'Slumber' and start being active again - getting some new local bassists (yeah, I won't settle for less than two this time :-)), gigging, and communicating more consistently with our email list!
As for her suggestions for growing our email list... One that I've been meaning to get to anyway is personally inviting each of our MySpace friends to join our list. That will be my next task here - wish me luck!
- Melissa
p.s. - How can you join our awesome list? Go to our website - or the right hand column of this blog - and click on the big green button that says "free downloads"! And you'll get free songs for joining our list!!!
This week, I'm going to address two chapters of Ariel's book, Chapters 5 and 6. They are both related, and involve a band's email list. Chapter 5 has suggestions for how to use this list. One of these is surveying your fans as to what they might want from you (such as playing a house concert or selling them official Demimonde Slumber Party pajamas for their next slumber party). She suggests waiting until your list has 1000 members to begin surveying them. Well, since our list is not quite 1000 strong yet, I was eager to also read through the next chapter, which is about growing your email list.
Another topic she addresses in Chapter 5 is the band newsletter. She stresses the importance of staying connected with your fans, and mind you, she isn't suggesting emailing people very often, just once or twice a month. We haven't been emailing our fans very frequently, so starting now, we will begin sending out a newsletter once a month!
And why haven't we been emailing our fans very often? Partly because we haven't been gigging in awhile. And that is because, after our last local bassist moved away, we decided to record a new CD before looking for local bassists again. Luckily for us, we still have our out-of-town bassist, and so we recorded our new CD with him.
Now that the CD is finished, and soon to be released, it is time for the band to rouse completely from its 'Slumber' and start being active again - getting some new local bassists (yeah, I won't settle for less than two this time :-)), gigging, and communicating more consistently with our email list!
As for her suggestions for growing our email list... One that I've been meaning to get to anyway is personally inviting each of our MySpace friends to join our list. That will be my next task here - wish me luck!
- Melissa
p.s. - How can you join our awesome list? Go to our website - or the right hand column of this blog - and click on the big green button that says "free downloads"! And you'll get free songs for joining our list!!!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Chapter 4 of Ariel's Book – or – Bogged Down By Blogs.....
Wow, Chapter 4 of Ariel's book has a lot going on! It takes on the enormous topic of a band's presence in the 2.0 web. There are a lot of great suggestions - however, I did get a bit overwhelmed at a certain point (but not that easily! I have been plugging away at this pretty steadily!), but I am proud to say I just started a 'blogroll' for the blog here (look a ways down the page in the right-hand column).
The part of the chapter I had some difficulty with is a large assignment to find 50 blogs you'd like your music to be reviewed on. She suggests adding them to a blogroll on your blog, as well as reading / commenting on / interacting with them. Well. I got a bit bogged down and boggled looking around the internet at blogs, and realized it will take quite a while to find 50 that might be a good match for my quirky little band. So in the spirit of trying to keep my life in better balance (it's a struggle for me to have time to play music & get enough sleep let alone work and exercise!), I decided to begin with a modest blogroll, and expand it as time goes on.
I started the blog roll with a few music/marketing type blogs I already had on my Google Reader (such as the always great Derek Sivers' blog - and Ariel's blog of course :-)). Then I added a couple of blogs that reviewed our previous CD, 'green' - Collected Sounds and musicdyke. Beyond that, I added a variety of music blogs in a few different categories, from online music sources I've enjoyed (somafm, KEXP), to west coast-based blogs located in areas that I want my band to play or play again soon (Portland Mercury and KZSC Santa Cruz for example) as well as a few others that looked interesting. Please check out the list and feel free to suggest more!
Here are two other things I did that Ariel suggests in the chapter:
- Joined the Podsafe Music Network. This is apparently now called “music alley” from mevio, and I added our song Velveteen.
- Create a Flickr Photostream for the band. I had started a Picasa one a little while ago, but hadn't gotten very far... So, I went ahead and created a Flickr one that has a more pictures, and also joined a few groups there that Ariel suggested.
She also suggests using twitter, which we have already had started doing (Follow us!! :-) ).
Whew! This has all been great, but ok, I'm tired now. Better go play some music, as that is what this is all about in the first place! And - also work on our record release which is coming up very soon!!! Yay!!!
- Melissa
p.s. - My back has been feeling quite a bit better this week, thanks for asking. ;-)
The part of the chapter I had some difficulty with is a large assignment to find 50 blogs you'd like your music to be reviewed on. She suggests adding them to a blogroll on your blog, as well as reading / commenting on / interacting with them. Well. I got a bit bogged down and boggled looking around the internet at blogs, and realized it will take quite a while to find 50 that might be a good match for my quirky little band. So in the spirit of trying to keep my life in better balance (it's a struggle for me to have time to play music & get enough sleep let alone work and exercise!), I decided to begin with a modest blogroll, and expand it as time goes on.
I started the blog roll with a few music/marketing type blogs I already had on my Google Reader (such as the always great Derek Sivers' blog - and Ariel's blog of course :-)). Then I added a couple of blogs that reviewed our previous CD, 'green' - Collected Sounds and musicdyke. Beyond that, I added a variety of music blogs in a few different categories, from online music sources I've enjoyed (somafm, KEXP), to west coast-based blogs located in areas that I want my band to play or play again soon (Portland Mercury and KZSC Santa Cruz for example) as well as a few others that looked interesting. Please check out the list and feel free to suggest more!
Here are two other things I did that Ariel suggests in the chapter:
- Joined the Podsafe Music Network. This is apparently now called “music alley” from mevio, and I added our song Velveteen.
- Create a Flickr Photostream for the band. I had started a Picasa one a little while ago, but hadn't gotten very far... So, I went ahead and created a Flickr one that has a more pictures, and also joined a few groups there that Ariel suggested.
She also suggests using twitter, which we have already had started doing (Follow us!! :-) ).
Whew! This has all been great, but ok, I'm tired now. Better go play some music, as that is what this is all about in the first place! And - also work on our record release which is coming up very soon!!! Yay!!!
- Melissa
p.s. - My back has been feeling quite a bit better this week, thanks for asking. ;-)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Back Pain and Ch. 3 of Ariel Hyatt's book – Optimizing Your Website
Happy New Year everyone!
Chapter 3 in Ariel's book involves optimizing a band website. Many of the things she recommends are consistent with the current version of our band's site. For example, she recommends having a quickly-loading site with no flash intro. Some of the things she suggests we added this summer, inspired by an online presentation by Carla Lynne Hall and Kavit Haria.
Their presentation also influenced our decision to have a very simple site for now, as a transition before we release our new EP. The current site replaced one which was designed to match our last CD's art (both the site and the CD were beautifully designed by the band's drummer Kim Lindquist). Here's a look at the home page of the old site:
Once Kim is finished with the art for the new EP, our band web site will be updated to match it (as well as other places our band is online, as much as they're customizable), which goes along with Ariel's suggestions to have a consistent look and feel.
Ariel also recommends having our elevator story/pitch (see the previous blog post) on our web site. We already had it there (as well as on our facebook, ReverbNation & twitter pages), but there were several other DSP pages online where I added it: cdbaby, myspace (do many people use myspace anymore?), our 'Electronic Press Kit', Garage Band, our Portland Mercury band page, and also this blog! I did not manage, however, to update our Veganica page yet, as I still haven't received an email response for my 'forgotten password'....
And what pitch did we use (those of you who've read the previous blog post may ask)? For now we are sticking with the original pitch:
“Demimonde Slumber Party sounds like a 60's surf musical starring David Bowie, Sleater-Kinney, & the B-52s’ Fred Schneider as the crazy uncle...”
This alternate one is currently in second place:
“Demimonde Slumber Party sounds like a remake of “A Hard Day's Night” created by the B-52s & starring Sleater-Kinney.”
But it may be good to decide whether or not to change our pitch – and what to change it to – until after our new EP comes out - & see if people compare our sound to completely different artists...
We also made a few changes to our web site to make it more obvious that we are giving away free song downloads if you join our email list!
And oh yeah, one more thing – if you've gotten this far, you may be wondering why the title of this post starts with 'Back Pain'... Well, I've got it. Pretty bad right now. It is definitely something that is fairly incompatible with playing a heavy electric guitar and moving guitar amps. Or even sitting and typing at a computer. Well, luckily the pain meds are working right now!
See you next time,
Melissa
Chapter 3 in Ariel's book involves optimizing a band website. Many of the things she recommends are consistent with the current version of our band's site. For example, she recommends having a quickly-loading site with no flash intro. Some of the things she suggests we added this summer, inspired by an online presentation by Carla Lynne Hall and Kavit Haria.
Their presentation also influenced our decision to have a very simple site for now, as a transition before we release our new EP. The current site replaced one which was designed to match our last CD's art (both the site and the CD were beautifully designed by the band's drummer Kim Lindquist). Here's a look at the home page of the old site:
Once Kim is finished with the art for the new EP, our band web site will be updated to match it (as well as other places our band is online, as much as they're customizable), which goes along with Ariel's suggestions to have a consistent look and feel.
Ariel also recommends having our elevator story/pitch (see the previous blog post) on our web site. We already had it there (as well as on our facebook, ReverbNation & twitter pages), but there were several other DSP pages online where I added it: cdbaby, myspace (do many people use myspace anymore?), our 'Electronic Press Kit', Garage Band, our Portland Mercury band page, and also this blog! I did not manage, however, to update our Veganica page yet, as I still haven't received an email response for my 'forgotten password'....
And what pitch did we use (those of you who've read the previous blog post may ask)? For now we are sticking with the original pitch:
“Demimonde Slumber Party sounds like a 60's surf musical starring David Bowie, Sleater-Kinney, & the B-52s’ Fred Schneider as the crazy uncle...”
This alternate one is currently in second place:
“Demimonde Slumber Party sounds like a remake of “A Hard Day's Night” created by the B-52s & starring Sleater-Kinney.”
But it may be good to decide whether or not to change our pitch – and what to change it to – until after our new EP comes out - & see if people compare our sound to completely different artists...
We also made a few changes to our web site to make it more obvious that we are giving away free song downloads if you join our email list!
And oh yeah, one more thing – if you've gotten this far, you may be wondering why the title of this post starts with 'Back Pain'... Well, I've got it. Pretty bad right now. It is definitely something that is fairly incompatible with playing a heavy electric guitar and moving guitar amps. Or even sitting and typing at a computer. Well, luckily the pain meds are working right now!
See you next time,
Melissa
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