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. ;-)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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
Monday, December 28, 2009
Creating the “Perfect Pitch” - Chapter 2 of Ariel Hyatt's book, “Music Success in Nine Weeks”
“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 is the 'pitch' / 'elevator story' that we created earlier this year for a “Twitter Pitch” contest that Ariel Hyatt ran. Creating a pitch is basically coming up with a short, evocative description that will give people an idea of the unique entity that is your band – and hopefully compel them to check your music out. Creating a pitch is also the topic of Chapter 2 of Ariel's book, "Music Success in Nine Weeks".
The concept of creating a unique 'elevator story' is something I first became familiar with from Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. It is also something that has been a challenge for us - how do we describe our sound? One reason for our difficulty was the range of songs on our last CD, 'green' - some are more towards pop-punk, while others are very mellow and melodic (you can check out clips of the songs on itunes or cd baby). In fact, one of the reviews of 'green' said:
“Demimonde Slumber Party has proven that it's easy to pack upward of four genres into a nine-track album.”
(Read reviews of 'green' here by clicking on 'Press' at the top of the page: http://www.sonicbids.com/DemimondeSlumberParty)
Partly because of this type of feedback, we'll strive to have our upcoming recordings be a little more cohesive. For example, our soon-to-be-released EP is a collection of higher energy songs. Also, a future EP will showcase the “softer side” of Demimonde Slumber Party.
But back to creating a pitch – doing Ariel's “Twitter Pitch” contest was great for us – we had fun coming up with our current pitch and felt it was a great improvement over previous attempts to describe our band. We also realized that a good pitch can give a fun sense of the band without having to specifically describe the range of styles covered in our songs.
However, this week, while reading Ariel's perfect pitch chapter, I felt it was a good time to review our current pitch. And, although we really like our current pitch, there are a couple of areas where we think it could be improved:
1) Although we have Bowie influences, we don't sound like him (though people love the Bowie covers we play - you can check out our Bowie Medley here by clicking on 'Audio' at the top of the page: http://www.sonicbids.com/DemimondeSlumberParty),
2) The current pitch lacks a 1-2-punch – it isn't something that easily flows off the tongue
We know we want to keep certain elements in our pitch – our 60's influence (garage rock, psychedelic rock, British Invasion, etc.), riot-grrrl/punk influence, and very important, a sense of humor.
Where do surf and the B-52s come in? Because of the humor in some of our songs, and the female lead vocals and mixed-gender backing vocals, several of the songs on our last CD reminded people of the B-52s. Well, the main one that did is also the most popular song on the CD, 'Santa Barbara'.
That song also has a surf theme – so there we have the surf element. And, we are from California, after all.
So while we play around with some ideas for changing our pitch, we'd like your feedback. Below is the current pitch, followed by a few alternative ideas we've come up with so far. Let us know which one you like best – or if you have a different idea you'd like to suggest!
Our current 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...
Some alternative pitch ideas:
1. Demimonde Slumber Party sounds like a 60's surf musical starring Sleater-Kinney & the B-52s.
2a. Demimonde Slumber Party's music is what you'd get if Sleater-Kinney had to make an album with the cast of Laugh-in....
2b. Demimonde Slumber Party's music is what you'd get if Sleater-Kinney was the house band on Laugh-in....
(And we seriously want to know how many people know what both Sleater-Kinney and Laugh-in are...)
3. Demimonde Slumber Party's music is what you'd get if the B-52's created a remake of “A Hard Day's Night” starring Sleater-Kinney.
This is the 'pitch' / 'elevator story' that we created earlier this year for a “Twitter Pitch” contest that Ariel Hyatt ran. Creating a pitch is basically coming up with a short, evocative description that will give people an idea of the unique entity that is your band – and hopefully compel them to check your music out. Creating a pitch is also the topic of Chapter 2 of Ariel's book, "Music Success in Nine Weeks".
The concept of creating a unique 'elevator story' is something I first became familiar with from Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. It is also something that has been a challenge for us - how do we describe our sound? One reason for our difficulty was the range of songs on our last CD, 'green' - some are more towards pop-punk, while others are very mellow and melodic (you can check out clips of the songs on itunes or cd baby). In fact, one of the reviews of 'green' said:
“Demimonde Slumber Party has proven that it's easy to pack upward of four genres into a nine-track album.”
(Read reviews of 'green' here by clicking on 'Press' at the top of the page: http://www.sonicbids.com/DemimondeSlumberParty)
Partly because of this type of feedback, we'll strive to have our upcoming recordings be a little more cohesive. For example, our soon-to-be-released EP is a collection of higher energy songs. Also, a future EP will showcase the “softer side” of Demimonde Slumber Party.
But back to creating a pitch – doing Ariel's “Twitter Pitch” contest was great for us – we had fun coming up with our current pitch and felt it was a great improvement over previous attempts to describe our band. We also realized that a good pitch can give a fun sense of the band without having to specifically describe the range of styles covered in our songs.
However, this week, while reading Ariel's perfect pitch chapter, I felt it was a good time to review our current pitch. And, although we really like our current pitch, there are a couple of areas where we think it could be improved:
1) Although we have Bowie influences, we don't sound like him (though people love the Bowie covers we play - you can check out our Bowie Medley here by clicking on 'Audio' at the top of the page: http://www.sonicbids.com/DemimondeSlumberParty),
2) The current pitch lacks a 1-2-punch – it isn't something that easily flows off the tongue
We know we want to keep certain elements in our pitch – our 60's influence (garage rock, psychedelic rock, British Invasion, etc.), riot-grrrl/punk influence, and very important, a sense of humor.
Where do surf and the B-52s come in? Because of the humor in some of our songs, and the female lead vocals and mixed-gender backing vocals, several of the songs on our last CD reminded people of the B-52s. Well, the main one that did is also the most popular song on the CD, 'Santa Barbara'.
That song also has a surf theme – so there we have the surf element. And, we are from California, after all.
So while we play around with some ideas for changing our pitch, we'd like your feedback. Below is the current pitch, followed by a few alternative ideas we've come up with so far. Let us know which one you like best – or if you have a different idea you'd like to suggest!
Our current 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...
Some alternative pitch ideas:
1. Demimonde Slumber Party sounds like a 60's surf musical starring Sleater-Kinney & the B-52s.
2a. Demimonde Slumber Party's music is what you'd get if Sleater-Kinney had to make an album with the cast of Laugh-in....
2b. Demimonde Slumber Party's music is what you'd get if Sleater-Kinney was the house band on Laugh-in....
(And we seriously want to know how many people know what both Sleater-Kinney and Laugh-in are...)
3. Demimonde Slumber Party's music is what you'd get if the B-52's created a remake of “A Hard Day's Night” starring Sleater-Kinney.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Ariel Hyatt's Music Success in Nine Weeks – Chapter One
As we plan our new EP's release and think about what we want for the band in 2010, we also will be going through Ariel Hyatt's book, “Music Success in Nine Weeks”. She has worked with a lot of indie bands, and hopefully the insights she shares in her book will help us to 'work smarter'.
The first chapter is about setting goals, and important guidelines to follow in this process, such as writing them down, specifying when they will be accomplished, and making them achievable. That last point – making them achievable – will be good for me to keep in mind. I can have a tendency to feel like I am never accomplishing enough, and that can cause me to feel overwhelmed, which can lead to feeling burnt out and wanting to take a loooong break.....
Some of you may have seen earlier posts where I refer to myself as “Easily Overwhelmed Girl (EOG)”. So - I am going to really focus on NOT overwhelming myself....
After writing a list of goals, she suggests going back and putting a deadline on each one. A lot of my goals are ongoing processes with many, many small deadlines, so this forced me to identify what the next step was for each goal (something I got from the very helpful “Getting Things Done” book by David Allen). Then, I created a deadline for that next step - and also got the benefit of knowing that the smaller step is achievable. Once the step is completed, I can make a new deadline for the step after that. Very helpful in combating my typical feeling of overwhelmedness as well!
She also addresses the importance of recognizing one's successes, and notes the tendency of musicians to be super-hyper-self-critical – yes, I can have this tendency, no surprise there... She suggests writing down 5 successes a day – at least one or two of them about music. This is already increasing my motivation to work on the steps that will lead to completing my goals - so I can write them on my success list, and feel good that I am moving forward.
Some of the goals were hard for me to break into next steps. Eventually I realized that this was because those goals address areas where I need to ask others for help (difficult for me to realize, since I tend to think I need to do everything myself). So the first steps in these cases will be identifying others who may be able to help me work towards those goals.
Whew! I am sensing a bit of overwhelmedness threatening to creep in – hmmm... I think it might be a good idea to work on a list of 'next steps' to take when I start to feel overwhelmed - as soon as I write down the successes from today - like finishing this blog post!
:-)
One last thing - Happy Solstice Everyone!
Until next time,
Melissa
Demimonde Slumber Party
The first chapter is about setting goals, and important guidelines to follow in this process, such as writing them down, specifying when they will be accomplished, and making them achievable. That last point – making them achievable – will be good for me to keep in mind. I can have a tendency to feel like I am never accomplishing enough, and that can cause me to feel overwhelmed, which can lead to feeling burnt out and wanting to take a loooong break.....
Some of you may have seen earlier posts where I refer to myself as “Easily Overwhelmed Girl (EOG)”. So - I am going to really focus on NOT overwhelming myself....
After writing a list of goals, she suggests going back and putting a deadline on each one. A lot of my goals are ongoing processes with many, many small deadlines, so this forced me to identify what the next step was for each goal (something I got from the very helpful “Getting Things Done” book by David Allen). Then, I created a deadline for that next step - and also got the benefit of knowing that the smaller step is achievable. Once the step is completed, I can make a new deadline for the step after that. Very helpful in combating my typical feeling of overwhelmedness as well!
She also addresses the importance of recognizing one's successes, and notes the tendency of musicians to be super-hyper-self-critical – yes, I can have this tendency, no surprise there... She suggests writing down 5 successes a day – at least one or two of them about music. This is already increasing my motivation to work on the steps that will lead to completing my goals - so I can write them on my success list, and feel good that I am moving forward.
Some of the goals were hard for me to break into next steps. Eventually I realized that this was because those goals address areas where I need to ask others for help (difficult for me to realize, since I tend to think I need to do everything myself). So the first steps in these cases will be identifying others who may be able to help me work towards those goals.
Whew! I am sensing a bit of overwhelmedness threatening to creep in – hmmm... I think it might be a good idea to work on a list of 'next steps' to take when I start to feel overwhelmed - as soon as I write down the successes from today - like finishing this blog post!
:-)
One last thing - Happy Solstice Everyone!
Until next time,
Melissa
Demimonde Slumber Party
Monday, December 14, 2009
Free Bowie cover: http://ping.fm/xTm6h
Want more free songs? Signup for our email list:
http://ping.fm/KM66y
Want more free songs? Signup for our email list:
http://ping.fm/KM66y
Monday, December 7, 2009
We have 3 free songs we'd like to give you today! Two are from our first S.F. EP - plus our Bowie Medley! Go to http://www.dspband.com/
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Check out our YouTube channel - now with more videos of our band from our SF days!: http://ping.fm/N1PyJ
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