for all bands, musicians, dj’s, promoters, labels, venues – we are looking at running a series of seminars/presentations/informative get-togethers giving an introduction to using video, the net and social media for your purposes, your marketing and promotion, to be run @ a small venue in sheffield email f4mmedia@gmail.com to find out more
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I love small venues, don’t get me wrong, a large club, as long it’s not a tasteless hangar or cattle shed, has its qualities if the entertainment is gripping and the people have something about them. But the small venue has a particularity about it – well some do, the good ones. They are things to treasure. The government though has had a myopic view on all such things. They level attack after attack, restriction after restriction. But we battle on … oh! I should have said I have worked with, in and for a few small venues.
The Earl was the first major one. For a while we had something buzzing down there. After working for a couple of months as promotions manager we were voted best DJ bar in the area by Mixmag. Then sometime later came the Redhouse, not won an award yet but as a small independent not in the tight loop of many of the trendier bars, pubs and venues we have come close on many occasions.
The small venue offers a far more personal approach to events and its customer base. In the case of the Redhouse we don’t really have a core of regular customers because we are a purposeful venue. People come here for specific purposes. We offer the widest range of music in South Yorkshire. We are also the most international venue in the area. More languages are spoken here than anywhere in the area. But music is not the sum of our activities, the Redhouse is also a venue for fine artists, audio-visual artists, film-makers and sometimes food.
There is something warm, personal and friendly about a small venue. It has its very own character
As a way forward for some new creatives it may be time to take on something said by behance:
– the creative collective.
Not every new creative, new graduate, designer, coder, film-maker, sound-technician or engineer, photographer, marketing graduate … blah blah … is going to land a nice cosey position within a plush studio or grand office. It is all too often that they have drive, skills, all sorts to offer. Perhaps they have the odd idea, a friend or two needing something done but they don’t have all of the resources. Perhaps they have certain local contacts who may need work doing or have a problem to solve, well you get the idea.
A suggestion:
– a local directory of creatives, technicians, people with skills
– something beyond and more directed and detailed than networking sites such as Linkedin, good though it is
– somewhere a contact can post work and look for others to create a team to suit the work at hand
In other words a little cooperation between those with skills and those with business needs could go a long way, each benefiting from the other.
Not every pound in the average pocket is spent on the high street or in a retail park, or even on-line, even though shopping and other transactions are increasingly moving to the net for some. There is still a place for the convenient local store, for many it is the only option. There are specialist shops which may be small but still have a clear place in the economy, similarly for the quaint, the friendly. There is a major place for small to medium enterprise. Not everyone can or wants to use major enterprises for their needs, all too often they can be impersonal, uninterested in small sales or contracts.
It has been said that the next year or two will usher in a whole raft of changes in marketing, the promotion of businesses, branding and so on. Many years ago marketing, advertising was the province of larger enterprises, it has become commonplace for small to medium enterprises to take part in these practices. But those smaller enterprises do not have the capacity to earmark staff to wholly pursue those ends, it becomes one of the may tasks for certain people within the firm. Perhaps small groups of locally based creatives can help and offer value for money services. It is said every firm will have to become a media company. For the smaller becoming a media company may mean a partnership between them and other small companies or groups of freelance creatives.
So much has been written about branding and identity, about content marketing. Not every company, retail outlet or service provider can easily manage a clear and forceful brand identity which is easy to see within the market as a whole, not even locally. Instead it may be the case that a wider culture of brands, a collection of identities could be put forward through certain sorts of content marketing, promotions and advertising. Small and collected can be beautiful too!
Not every band, DJ, producer etc. can find itself reviewed in the local press let alone major industry magazines or fanzines. Flyers are only picked up rarely, posters are an occasional reminder of an event, a release or of the very fact of a band, DJ, or other. The internet is much more a force in the promotion of a band etc, so why not make the effort and make that effort stick. They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so what does a short piece of video say?
Do you have a website? Do you need a website? Even if you think it might be a costly thing to do, perhaps it really is not – there are .co.uk free websites available via google. There are also cheap hosting options available via 1&1 for example. Such a site for a band or DJ should include information which is sensible and general for any business or activity – contact information, an about us section outlining basic details of the band and its history and make up, a news and events section, how you can pick up any cd’s or download any pieces of music. Some design work would be sensible, perhaps including cd covers, pictures of the band, perhaps during performance or perhaps not, a logo or two. Alongside this some video might be of use. This could include:
– event filming
– performance filming
– music videos
– general interviews with the band as a whole or in part
– introductions, again as a whole or in part
– vox pops
– magazine pieces, the silly outtakes, the short daft interviews, the odd, the throw away bits
Social media, it’s on everyones’ lips and minds these days. Does it have a use for people within the music world? Of course it does!
Whether the band etc. is just a hobby or a rather more serious effort, promotion and marketing is of utmost importance. DJ’s and DJ producers have exactly the same issues. No-one likes playing to an empty room. Labels, promoters, here sales and door tax is to the fore.
Brand, profile, presence, identity, image, words regularly thrown about, these things used to be established by the music and traditional forms of promotion and marketing. Flyers, posters, reviews in magazines, papers, interviews and other write-ups, local radio or beyond. Although these are still around and still used, the internet and all of its glories have largely taken over for many bands. Using social media can help, can fill the gaps left.
Not every form of social media is relevant to every band but many of them are. Those below are particularly useful:
Youtube
Google +
Myspace
Flickr.
But these are not the only platforms.
What you have to decide upon is the balance of media that is right for you. The balance will be determined by the sort of effort you can put in, the sort of image, identity, profile and presence you want to put across. A suitable and considered strategy, rather than a haphazard and accidental approach, means won’t have to put in as much effort, as much time. It will also mean you will not have to repeat or revise the labour. What you do will be worthwhile and, hopefully, productive.
The form of the content of your social media efforts can range across such things as:
– text
– still images, photos, design work
– music
– video
– spoken word.
The make up of that content could include:
– introductions,
– reviews,
– general interviews,
– short interviews,
– event news,
– release news,
– a history or general background of the band, members, its genesis,
– event photos,
– photo portraits,
– cd design,
– the silly outtakes,
– filmed performance,
– vox pops,
– music videos.
This is not an exhaustive list. What you have to decide or get help making that decision upon, concerns the direction and balance of that content and what media are best to put such across.
Do you want to be mysterious? Or informative? If the latter, how much? How informal do you want to be? How joking? How surreal, daft, funny, silly?
The form, the medium, the message, all need to be in agreement, all supporting each other. Think about the cd covers you have designed. They say something very particular about you. Social media poses the same question.
Video can seriously help within all of this. Moving image pieces can be used on facebook, flickr, myspace, youtube and more. Thus, you can include here:
– introductions,
– reviews,
– general interviews,
– short interviews,
– event news,
– release news,
– a history or general background of the band, members, its genesis,
– the silly outtakes,
– filmed performance,
– vox pops,
– music videos,
– video flyers.
Within all of this, once you have decided upon the strategy you are going to take, it is then a case of making regular updates and connecting it all together. Regular updates, regular mentions keep you in the eyes of those you want to reach. Ensuring the connection between your various media and probably your website halves the effort.
Get in touch to take this a step further …
A few introductory ideas for bands, live musicians, DJ’s, producers, promoters and labels.
The days of just a few flyers and posters to help support a bands efforts are long since gone. Why not make the most of all the hard work you are putting in. Moving image simply speaks volumes and adds so much to any musical effort.
The basic sorts of moving image for the music world are:
There are other uses of moving image, other sorts of content but the above are the major uses of moving image for bands. Other uses would include promotional tools such as video flyers but we will mention such later.
Moving image can be presented in a number of different forms –
1. Music videos include:
and may include
e. the use of effects
f. titling
g. credits, links and logos
2. Filmed performance and events would normally be presented as a straight and uncomplicated piece of film but can include:
– the use of more than one camera and edited in a way to highlight particular parts of the performance or the event;
– the use of a single camera;
– titling and credits, logos, links;
– some effects.
Filmed performance – as it says on the tin, film of one or more performances, using one or more cameras, with or without effects, titling, credits, other additions such as stills.
3. event visuals:
Very few bands use such for performance. Your stage presence may be great but adding that little bit extra either as an emphasis of what is happening on stage, an emphasis of the content of what is being played and/or sung, or as a contrast, can make a difference to the whole event experience.
4. online video
We will be presenting a special and separate article on online/website video for the music world but …
Online video, be it a website dedicated to the musicians etc. concerned – their own website, or perhaps a label, genre, geographical area – or something wider such as social media, can include any or all of the above. In some cases hybrids or combinations can be of use. The style of video, as always, needs to fit the purpose of the band.
A few bands, producers etc. have something in the way of online presence. A few pieces of video can make a real difference to that. It can be a key element in the whole branding effort, be it some event filming, magazine pieces, intros, vox pops, interviews or a mix.
5. social media
We will be presenting a special and separate article on social media for bands
Facebook – flickr – youtube – myspace
and more …
the use of social media can use all of the other instances of video and visual content but presented in a form and size applicable to the site.
6. Filmed statements here include:
Something that has been done only intermittently by bands and other promoters – video flyers – perhaps it has its uses and has a future, combining the information about an event as text or spoken word, moving images as film or animation, still images and perhaps some music.
f4mmedia 