VirtualPresence: Twitter

First of all, I changed the name of this series from "Social Sites for Bands" to "VirtualPresence", while the former was kind of a bland description, the latter has a better ring to it and is shorter to write.

So, today I'm gonna talk about Twitter and there's lots of stuff to say about it (probably enough for multiple posts) so let's start with the basics. Twitter is a small webapp where you can make an account for yourself and post messages. The trick, however, is that your messages (often called tweets or notices) can only be 140 characters long, similar to a text message (SMS) on a cell phone. For this reason, Twitter is often referred to as a microblogging site. Twitter also lets you follow other Twitter users. If you're logged in and you look at the profile of someone else (like mine), you'll see a button under their picture that reads "follow", press it and you are linked to them. The result is that when you log on to Twitter, you will see their messages as well in a single timeline.

Sometimes, when you see a message form someone else, you might want to reply to this. The @-character can be used for this, as follows:

• A_Band: Touring Germany for the time next month, anyone know about a good tourbus company?
• Dafmetal: @A_Band You should have a look at Bunny&Devil-buses.

Now my reply will show up in A_Band's feed. This works even when you aren't following each other!

What about my band?

This should give you a basic overview on how Twitter works. Now, the question remains, what's the best way to use Twitter for my band?

Keep the messages band related. For your band account, your best bet is to keep it band-related. Keep the "My cat is going to the vet."-posts for your personal account. Some good topics?

• Gigs you're going to do or just played.
• Recordings you're doing.
• New merchandise that you're bringing out.
• Post about the equipment you use.
• ...

Decide what your following strategy will be. A Twitter account for a band will mostly be about getting info to some of your most loyal fans. Once you start being followed, there is the temptation to follow those who are following you. But when you follow someone, they'll partly expect you to be interested in what they post, and you might not be able to keep up. If this means that you no longer add people to your follow list, you are essentially breaking up your follower base into two camps. With one side feeling let down and possibly giving you a bad rep. My advice is to decide up front what your following strategy will be and choose: 

• Follow no one.
• Follow everyone that follows you.

Remember, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't @reply to people if they post something good. Twitter is really meant to connect with people indirectly.

The best way to get a feel for this stuff is to try it out, so head on over to Twitter and make an account. And don't forget to let your fans know about it through your website, blog or newsletter. And make a comment on this blog so we can find you.

Do you have a question about using webapps for your band? Drop me an email, and I might answer it on the blog.

Social Sites for Bands: Intro

As a software engineer, I spend a lot of time behind a pc and online. There has been a big shift in the last years towards social websites and webapps and more seem to crop each month. It's easy to find your friends on these sites, but when I started looking for bands (or band members) on these sites, I almost couldn't find any at all. Now, I'm not talking about MySpace where everybody and his dog has a page (and which I do NOT like at all, spam anyone?). But rather sites like Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and more...

Of course, so many pop up that it is almost impossible to register at all of them, let alone have an active presence, yet this can't be the only reason. When I talk with other people, a lot of them don't really know what they are about and how to best use them. So, this might be the case for music bands as well. Therefor, I'll be running a series on my blog on those social sites and webapps and on how they can be put to good use.

Some ground rules:

• I'm mostly gonna look at this from the point of music bands. There will be useful info for personal use as well, but the target is bands.
• And when I say bands, I think metal bands. This is still supposed to be a metal blog. Now, most metal bands have a pretty positive DIY attitude which is excellent for this. If you're not in a metal band most of this will probably still apply. I just won't be thinking of you  ;-)
• Lastly, and most important, I recommend using different accounts for your band and for band members. I'm a firm believer in providing focus to your online presence, and having different accounts is a first step in that direction. More on this in future posts.

I'm also open to suggestions. So if you have any questions on this subject, drop me a mail and I'll look for an answer in a future blog post.

I use such sites as well of course, best place to find me is FriendFeed.

Alright, stay tuned for the first real installment in the next blog on Twitter...

lolmetal IV: archeology is a hobby

I found some more lolmetal pictures that I made a while ago.

Graspop 2008 review

The 2008 edition of the Graspop Metal Meeting was once again a resounding success with some excellent bands, a record-breaking crowd (about 135000 visitors!) and of course beer and hamburgers galore. I managed to get there for all three days and really enjoyed myself.

So, let's have a look at what I think were the top 5 performances:

5. Arch Enemy:
Arch Enemy was much better than I expected them to be. The Marquee was totally packed and you could see the horns go up all the way till the end with each song. They also played my two favorite Arch Enemy songs: "Dead Eyes See No Future" and "The Last Enemy". So no complaining from me.

4. Deathstars:
Deathstars was for me the discovery of 2006. I saw them live that year at the Biebob too, and last friday at Graspop. It was one of the first bands I saw, and it seemed like they were having a good time too. I am a big fan of their deathglam and live shows. They found a niche and I can see them grow a lot in the coming years. I guess a lot will depend on their next release due out later this year. Oh, and if you're not convinced yet, they had the largest crowd of good looking metal girls.

3. Immortal:
Black metal pioneers, Immortal, came to Graspop this year for a reunion gig. Once again lots of people in the Marquee, and a very nice show with fire and pyrotechnics. If they keep this up, they might become the KISS of black metal.

2. Ministry:
It was a difficult choice between Morbid Angel and Ministry (as they played at the same time), but as Morbid Angel will be coming to Belgium again in the fall, I decided to go the farewell gig of Ministry. And boy was I glad I did that. The sound was good, the band was having a good time and the crowd was going wild. It really is too bad that a band of this calibre decides to call it quits.

1. At The Gates:
Another reunion gig, At The Gates, totally blew me away. I still remember buying their "With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness" release as one of my first more extreme cd's. This band had the best sound at Graspop this year by far. It was a 40 minute energy burst without equal. When the show ended it, you could see people looking around, saying: "it was good, but why didn't they play Blinded By Fear?" at which point the band comes back on stage and the intro to Blinded By Fear starts. Excellent! I celebrated by buying their tour-shirt.

New Crimson Falls song online

Belgian deathcore formation Crimson Falls have just put a new song online, called " A Period Of Consequences". You can check it out on their MySpace page. It turns out to be layered song with a lot going on inside it, and the intro should be able get a pit started during live shows in no time. You might have to wait a bit before you can see them live however, as they will be concentrating on rehearsing and recording their next full length.

Oh, and one more thing, the song will only be up for one month, so listen while you can!

Full disclosure: My brother plays guitar for Crimson Falls. So I make no garantees on being unbiased...