What I think bands (and record labels / booking agencies) should do is easy: send a quick press release by email, and provide a link to a social media release (SMR), or, in other words, a page aggregating the various items you want to share (music, pictures, videos, blog posts, tour dates, etc.). To know what you should include in that page, ask yourself what people want to know about your band:

1. People want to listen to the band
   The first thing you want to do when a band contacts you, is to listen to the songs to know who you’re dealing with. So, include a Myspace player and the embed code so people can listen to the songs, and share it with their friends or contacts.
2. People need background, booking and contact information
   A quick biography and discography are mandatory, and you should also add any relevant information about your record label, booking agency and past tours / shows. Provide clear contact information; who is taking care of booking your shows, who is in charge of management or distribution, etc. The contact information should include your blog, Twitter, Facebook pages and groups, Youtube channel, Flickr, etc.
3. People want to see some action!
   Listening to the songs is great, but live performance is also important. Don’t forget to share pictures and videos (you could do this by using a Youtube channel or a Flickr pool).
4. People want to see the band playing live
   Now that we know how your band sounds like, we would like to see you playing live! So, try to include a listing of the upcoming shows and tours. This list should also include links providing more information about the shows, the venues, or how and where to buy tickets.
5. People like to have recent news and updates about the band
   If you have a (myspace) blog, a tumblr page or a Twitter account, show their feeds on the social media release page! People love to read more about bands, especially when they’re on tour or in the studio recording their upcoming album.

So, that is basically what I would put in a social media release for a band (but it could easily be used by record labels and booking agencies to promote new releases, upcoming tours and booking offers). Some last quick thoughts:

• Don’t forget to include logos from the band, the record label, the booking agency, sponsorships and any other (relevant) endorsement .
• If you have great reviews or interviews, share them in the SMR and / or highlight the best quotes.
• List some relevant selling points.
• Provide quick links to your online presence: Myspace, Facebook (pages and groups), Last.fm, Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, etc.
• Make the whole thing easy to share and embed. Use ShareThis, RSS feeds and widgets.

Feel free to comment if you have any idea or suggestion, I’d be happy to update this post with your thoughts!

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As I said earlier, these applications won’t replace flash ecards, but they bring a whole new set of features that will seriously compete with the simple “preview trailer-tiny animation-mp3 player” kind of ecards. I think the major change is that these apps are mobile and help the fans to interact with the band. Old ecards were, most of the time, nothing more than an flash animation or a video and a player or, in some cases, a mini-site with news and tour dates. The iPhone applications we are talking about have a stunning number of new features: streaming music (with links to buy the tracks on iTunes), pictures galleries, Youtube videos, lyrics sharing, tour dates (with links to services and sites where fans can buy the tickets), blog or Twitter feeds import, fan wall (fans can leave comments or interact with the band), news, bio and discography pages, Facebook or Myspace profile import, etc. And last but no least: a full CMS and statistics system.

Of course, you can find these kind of features in flash ecards, but it’s unusual to have them all combined. Moreover, these flash ecards can’t be viewed on the iPhone (and most of the mobile phones). And that’s the interesting part about these applications: they have all these features and they’re mobile. I think this is a real shift in the way bands (and record labels) can promote their music, and I’m curious to see how the music industry is going to use that kind of tools and services in the future.

(Spotted on Springwise)

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So, if I had a band, what would I use Twitter for?

• To give random news and updates about the band and his members.
• To send updates when the band is on tour. Many bands open a blog just for their tours ,but they stop updating after a few days on the road. Twitter is probably the easiest way to give quick and short updates (or share pictures, using Twitpic for instance).
• To promote your online presence: Myspace page, Facebook group or page, Youtube channel, Flickr account, etc.
• To interact with fans! Twitter is a great tool to engage with people. You could use it to know if people like your records or if they enjoyed your last show in their town. You could also ask them what they think of the lyrics you just wrote for a new song. Or you could answer their questions, it would feel more intimate than a regular interview.
• To organize or promote contests.
• To ask for help. There is something everybody who works in a Do-It-Yourself way is familiar with: asking for help! You need a place to sleep after a show when you are on tour? You still need to find promoters to book two last shows to complete your tour schedule? There is an online contest to get your band to play as a support act on a big stage ,and you want people to vote for you? Well Twitter might help you find assistance!

Good, now you know why you need Twitter. Second thing to do: find followers and people to follow. A good start would be using the search features from Twitter, I think it’s a very effective way to start. A good example of this is how I got followed by Peta2 and many other animal rights organisations on Twitter. They monitor animal rights related words (vegan(ism), vegetarian, ALF, animal rights, animal liberation, etc.) to find people who are concerned (the reason why they found me is that I have the word vegetarian in my bio and have many tweets about vegan food).

So, try to search “punk” or “rock” (or any word related to your band or music style) on Find People or Twitter Search and add (and why not follow) the people whose bio seem to match with your band and music. Another great idea is to follow record labels and other bands (looking at their followers list might also help you find new fans). Once you start getting people to follow your band, the list will grow naturally.

I had a Twitter account for my band, the last thing I would do is: engage with the fans and get them involved, they need to feel that you care about them. If you don’t do so, you’ll end up tweeting only about your band and your pointless self-promotion. So, @reply to people, direct-message them and retweet when you think it could interest your followers. It’d also be nice to mention who’s tweeting or who’s in charge of the account; people love to know who they’re talking to.

Does your band have a Twitter account? How do you use it? Feel free to share your insights and tips!

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As these figures show, the Twitter phenomenon is something new in the underground music “industry”. Facedown Records was the first to join the movement in July 2007, but didn’t really understand how it works, posting only 42 tweets in almost two years. Victory Records was the last to join but seems to be better at tweeting, with already 80 tweets in less than three months and more than 2 400 followers!

Most of these record labels use Twitter for the same purposes: promoting new records or events, sharing videoclips and sounds, and sending updates about the label or the bands. But some of them came with better ideas. Deathwish Inc. launched a twitter account that broadcasts updates exclusively about their Sound and Fury festival, they also post random news and pictures (using Twitpic and cellphones) from their bands and staff. Epitaph Records came up with another great idea: Twitter contests.

Respond to this tweet with your fav Epitaph band to enter to win a prize! Just tweet @EpitaphRecs (band name here)! epitaph.com/artists

Facedown Records seems to use Twitter as a channel to broadcast updates on mobiles phones, but doesn’t tweet regularly. The most “mainstream” label from the list, Trustkill Records, found another original use of Twitter: tweeting the “Song of the day” everyday. This tweet comes with links allowing the followers to download (and buy) the songs from Itunes or Amazon MP3.

One thing is sure: most of these records labels still need to engage and start conversation with their followers. Deathwish Inc. and Relapse Records are really interacting with people (using @replies and sometimes even retweeting). but the others labels don’t. Another thing that really struck me is the fact that all these labels are tweeting without naming the person who is actually posting the updates. Victory Records is the only one who is clear about the person who’s in charge:

Mike at Victory Records tweets for the #1 Independent Rock Record Label. We run the streets.

Underground record labels still need to find their way in the Twittosphere. I think they’re still experimenting and trying to understand how to use this new communication channel. It would be interesting to compare this with how mainstream record labels work with Twitter and engage with their audience.

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Leurs recherches s’étalent sur huit semaines (quatres semaines avant le lancement de l’album, quatre semaines après) et s’intéressent à 108 albums (provenant de labels indépendants comme de majors). A défaut de réelles statistiques (celles fournies par Nielsen étant impayables), les chercheurs ont utilisé comme indicateurs et données: le classement des meilleurs ventes sur Amazon.com ainsi que le nombre d’articles postés sur les blogs et le nombre d’amis que les groupes comptent sur Myspace.

Les résultats sont sans surprises puisqu’il y a effectivement une corrélation entre les ventes d’albums et le nombre de billets postés sur les blogs, ou le nombre d’amis Myspace. En revanche, les chercheurs insistent sur l’impact des facteurs traditionnels (à savoir, qu’un album sorti par une major ou ayant une bonne chronique dans le Rollingstone Magazine a plus de chance de bien se vendre qu’un autre).

L’étude complète (une trentaine de pages) est disponible en PDF sur le site de l’Université de New York.

Via: Mashable et Ars Technica.

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