Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s my little valentine to you.
Click here to get your free download of “Dead Saints” by Eric Beverly. The free download is available in a variety of formats, including MP3.
Listen to “Dead Saints” below:
Video player comparison: Last.fm vs. YouTube
When you are marketing your music video, you want your video to play smoothly.
I did a video player comparison for Last.fm [Video link has been removed–see update below] and YouTube using a video of my song “Do You Know What I Mean?“.
Click here for the video on Last.fm [Video link has been removed–see update below] and here for the video on YouTube
The winner based on my viewing experience is the Last.fm video player!
Please share your thoughts. Also, feel free to recommend any alternate players in the comments section below if you think another video player works better.
UPDATE: Last.fm has discontinued their video player. The new winner is YouTube.
Video: Moments I Like: Inspired Bicycles
What’s not to like about Band of Horses and a skilled cyclist pulling all sorts of crazy stunts?
According to the YouTube page, this video was filmed over the period of a few months in and around Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby. This rider in this video is Danny MacAskill and he performs street/street trial/trials bike riding. The song for the video is “The Funeral” by the Band of Horses.
Video: Do You Know What I Mean?
Check out this video for “Do You Know What I Mean?”
My band performed this song live at La Zona Rosa – Clubside in Austin, Texas on January 21, 2010. Let me know what you think and thanks for dropping in.
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter: Which is best for building your band fan base?
MySpace
If you have a band, the expectation is that you have a MySpace page (here’s mine). I started that page in a fit of patriotic fervor on July 4, 2006. My band’s MySpace profile has had 4,395 views and I’ve got 76 friends. The MySpace site feels really static to me and my friend count has remained basically the same since everyone switched over to Facebook.
Facebook
I set up my band’s Facebook page (here it is) and became a “fan” of myself to launch the page among my Facebook friends on December 11, 2009. I’ve got 97 fans as of January 10, 2010. The growth in my fan base on Facebook has been really fast with about half of my friends becoming fans. I’ve also had some friends of friends add me too, which has been great.
I am not crazy about the tab set up in Facebook. I really like the way MySpace has the music player and comments on the same page. I think it encourages plays and interaction with a focus on plays. In Facebook, you have to choose whether the “Wall” or “MyBand” tab is the start page for visitors to your band page. For now, I have opted for the “Wall” because it feels more social. I will keep an eye on how many people actually play the music on MyBand and may switch it up in the future.
Twitter
I’ve also got a Twitter account for my band (here it is). As of January 10, 2010, I’ve got 177 “followers.” Twitter has been an incremental way to build fans, but probably 10 percent of my “followers” are spammers (and that’s after culling “followers” who were clearly spammers).
To me, Twitter feels like I am shouting out into the wilderness. For example, I tried to give away a free copy of my album on both Twitter and Facebook. The copy I offered on Facebook was snapped up in minutes. The Twitter album has yet to be claimed (as of this writing).
Which is best?
Based on my personal experience, Facebook is the better of the three for building a fan base. I am experimenting with a variety of other sites and will write more about marketing in upcoming posts.
Looking for the right chord? Randomchord.com may help
I came across this site and thought it might be helpful to musicians who are looking to find the right chord in a progression or simply looking for inspiration. Here’s how it works according to the site http://www.randomchord.com/:
“A useful resource for all musicians — improvisers can make sure they can play over any harmony; songwriters can find that elusive lost chord to complete their chord progression. Each chord comes with its own looped backing track and an explanation of the scale choices that fit with it. Choose a chord from the drop down menus and click ‘Go’, or click ‘Random’ to have a random chord generated for you.”
I am playing at Googie’s in New York City – Come see me!
Gig alert: I am playing in New York City at Googie’s, located above the Living Room, on November 3rd at 9:30 p.m. Please come out for my NYC debut and share this post with any friends that you have in NYC! Thanks.