Steps

Setting up a network is fast and easy.  Figuring out which features make sense for you, and moving or linking to any other content you have on the web, might take a while but is something you can do in phases and complete over time.  Here’s what to do:

1. Go to Ning.com and choose a name for your network, probably just your band’s name or your name.
2. Sign up for an account — you’ll use this login for when you make changes or want to make more social networks for your other projects.
3. Describe your network, add a tagline, keywords, etc.  Make the network public so that anyone can join and they don’t need an invite.  (You wouldn’t be that snobby

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When you make and share music you are creating a community. It may be a big audience at a show, or a small group of friends blasting your tunes in the high school parking lot. In collecting an audience you are often bringing together people who have more in common then just an appreciation for your art, like the way they dress or the other music they listen to.

The promise behind Social Networking on the web is that it allows people to parallel   what goes on in “Meatspace” in virtual form. Ning.com is a site that helps your fans    connect with each other and keep up with your artistic endeavors.

Overview

Ning makes it super simple to create and customize a brand new social network. It allows you to go beyond the simple profile that the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world allow. Your fans can even create groups within your Continue Reading

So, in addition to being a superbly failed indie musician, I’m also a tv editor during the daytime. And I have been looking into other ways that musicians can make money in the future, as music as a commodity is everywhere. I use stock music everyday when I cut pieces into tv shows, and I feel that it might be a good way to at least pick up some coins until the touring money comes in. Or the T-shirt business fashion money comes in. Either way, it’s an interesting thing to get involved in to compose for TV. Sometimes the pay is good, if you’re good and sought after, and sometimes the pay is exploitative because there are always people trying to get in the door. Continue Reading

Just keeping up with music news these days keeping an eye on Live Nation and its’ attempt to take over major acts. It’s always interesting to me to keep up with music business to see how the record labels value certain acts. While I believe that Live Nation takes a cut of the touring revenue of big acts that it signs, it looks like Universal Music Group is looking to capitalize on switching old catalog to “the digital age”.

Is there really still money in this? … Continue Reading

On the topic of finding alternative ways to tour, here is a radio news piece from Soundcheck at WNYC New York, about DIY tours where people perform in living rooms from town to town.

Listen to “Rocking the House”

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2008/02/21#

New ways to expand your audience…Pretty interesting.

Now, BrokeDownVan is all for musicians getting compensated for their work — when appropriate. But in this age of bits and bytes the old way of looking at intellectual property is no longer relevant.

Check out this ridiculousness: Universal Music tried to have a video on YouTube taken down because it shows a, “toddler learning to walk with the Prince song ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ blaring in the background.” Aparently the Big Labels send thousands of these requests a year and most of the time the target just removes the offending video and slinks away.

Well, this time the mom refused to pull it, and decided to smack the label with Continue Reading

Google maps is the best!

As it gets harder and harder to tour for a small act, with gas prices and lodging and every other thing you need to go on tour costing all kinds of money, people are finding alternative ways to go on tour. People use myspace and facebook to connect with their fans and crash at peoples’ places. A few years ago, the band that I was playing in booked small tours where we rented a van and booked some bigger shows that paid some money, and then used that money to stay in motels and peoples’ houses. The amount of telephone planning and mapping and logistics took a good chunk of time and energy. One of the things that I’ve recently discovered, and maybe because I’m not as computer literate as my partner Craig, is using Google Maps to map and plan tours. You can create a customized map to mark Continue Reading

Steps

It takes only a couple of minutes to get a basic site, but give yourself more time customize your store and write good product descriptions.

1. Sign up for a PayPal account – You’ll need the email associated with your PayPal account when signing up for bigcartel.
2. Sign up for a bigcartel account – Fill out the sign-up form and choose “Band” as the “Store type”.
3. Products – Login, click on the “Products” tab at the top, and click “Add product”. Fill out the form and move on to your next product.
4. Design – click on the “Design” tab and then “Basics” to add your logo (”Header image”) and change the colors as your see fit. If your techish, change to “css” and go to town. If you have a paying account,

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