check out the original post at 43 Folders

Admittedly, this is well off our usual fare, but please indulge me in a public service message on behalf of music fans across the Internets—five mistakes that band and label sites make (and a few tips on how to fix them). One data point from a fan.

Too much Flash

Okay, I get it. You’re creative. Awesome. But you’re totally wasting my morning as I helplessly wait for your designer’s dancing sausages to finish loading. Perhaps worst of all, most all-Flash sites prohibit your fans from creating deep links to artist, album or song pages. Your fans are trying to drive people to the cash register, but you insist on making them watch a puppet show before they can even enter the damned store.

Tip: Use Flash like you would cilantro—sparingly and for a single high-impact effect. Nobody wants to eat a whole bowl of cilantro, and nobody wants an animated death march when they have a “passionate task” to complete. Also, build your pages to make it super-easy to link to anything. Use sub-page anchors, and clearly identify why they’re there.

Crappy or non existent mp3 metadata

If I load up the mp3 of your big single and it says it’s “Song” by “Artist” on the record, “Album,” you’ve completely blown it already; I have no way to ever find you again. Ditto for file naming. Remember: people often download dozens or hundreds of songs at once, so it’s really unlikely they’ll remember where Track%2007.mp3 came from.

Tip: Fill every possible field of ID3 data with rich, correct information. This is the digital version of an album cover, so give the kids something to read while they’re rocking. Basic track info is a no-brainer, but also consider adding cover art, track number, composer credits, genre and year information, and—duh—add a link to your web site and email address in the comments field. Posting an MP3 without metadata is like Safeway ordering the hair-netted sample lady not to tell hungry customers which aisle those nummy chicken fingers are in.

Too artsy, too fartsy

People are visiting your site because they want to learn more about bands and music—not to have a guided tour of your designer/brother-in-law’s Photoshop brush collection. Don’t be cute with the design, section naming, or navigation. Don’t make your visitors solve a Rubik’s cube to pull up your lyrics page.

Tip: Let the music be the star of the show and provide fast access to what your visitors really came for: 1) mp3s/downloads, 2) lyrics/discography, 3) show dates, 4) contact info, 5) where can I buy this (preferably pointers to buying online for immediate download). Photos, old setlists, and diaries—anything that paints the personality of the band—are all great, too, of course, but they’re still secondary to posting and updating the holy pentagram of items above. Save the artsy stuff for when you inevitably quit music to take up oil painting.

No search

Chances are good that fans coming to your site arrive with something extremely specific in mind—often a fragment of lyric or the name of one obscure song. If your site contains more than a handful of pages, provide a clearly labeled search box (or link to a search) on every page, and test it. Make sure your search works and drives visitors to your most popular pages without the need for pecking around.

Tip: Google has a free service for providing site search. It’s not perfect or 100% timely, but it works, and it’s free, and it’s better than nothing.

One-way communication (served one way)

Your fans are not empty vessels or just (ugh) a street team; they have things to say too. Provide a clear contact email address (plus separate ones for press and booking inquiries if you’re all famous and whatnot) and consider having a fan message board and mailing lists for tour and release updates. Read your email, and answer it.

Tip: Consider creating RSS feeds for your most frequently updated stuff (Sloan’s site does this very well).

Just in general? Don’t let your web designer build a portfolio piece on the back of your fans and your business. Ask your fans what they want, watch how they use your site, and then give them what they like without a lot of hooptedoodle.

Got a bee in your bonnet about music sites?

Check out the complete post at www.lefsetz.com

http://www.lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php

Most marketing was done to intermediaries. Radio stations, television, radio shows. Whereas today it’s about establishing a direct relationship with your FANS! Via your Website.

You should have an update on your Website EVERY DAY! You should have a message board. You should have free music, whether streaming or downloadable, hopefully all downloadable, but at least recorded streamed and live downloadable. And you should retrieve mailing addresses. This is the ultimate goal of your Website, to establish a PERMANENT relationship.

This is not like fan clubs of yore. You don’t want to charge people. And it’s not like the fan clubs of today, wherein you pay for the privilege of buying supposedly good tickets. Rather this is about cementing a bond with your fans, making sure they never leave you.

Imagine a marriage wherein the husband never talked to the wife. Where she saw him on TV and in Best Buy, but never felt any personal contact. Well, that relationship wouldn’t last too long. Best to make regular contact. PERSONAL contact.

The days of artists being superior is over. Stardom is something completely different. Oh, don’t pay attention to the one hit wonders hyped in the media. In their case, it’s about making fun of them. Even if they’ve had more than one hit. People might like Christina Aguilera’s music, but they laugh at her boob implants and chicken legs. But if each and every one felt connected with the real her, it would be different.

Owning the relationship...

The MySpace Series Part III: A Critical View
(originally posted by hypebot here... Thanks!)

MySpace is a unquestionably a boon to music marketers, but it has it's flaws and limitations as David Devore of Jambase and FanMailMarketing.com points out:

MySpace is a great resource and has some real value to artists in connecting on a one to one level with current and potential fans.However, there are also some real issues that come with a MySpace centered marketing strategy.

1) MySpace owns the fan relationship. If you ask MySpace if you can get a database of your fans and friends the answer will be a big NO. Your relationships with your fans can only exist within the MySpace context. The value to MySpace of owning your relationships is in driving their advertising dollars.

2) MySpace is a microcosm. Darwin said that inside a closed environment survival of the fittest would reign. As the MySpace landscape grows and the visitor "noise" increases and people grow their "friends" into the thousands, it will be increasingly difficult to be "heard" in the communication din. What will matter most is the quality of the fan relationship and the necessarily the quantity.

3) The band as a "brand" never really is developed inside of MySpace. Instead, the branding and messaging is diluted as a subset of the MySpace advertising machine.

4) Prediction: MySpace is a fad. It is dangerous to build relationship marketing around a fad. The danger is that as the fad fades so does the relationship rather than empowering ever increasing fan loyalty.

5) MySpace does not substitute for a real online presence. MySpace is only really accessible to other MySpace users. Although there are a lot of people on MySpace, there are many more that are not. Why would any growing artist only want to be accessible to a relatively very small population of people that requires a login to access?

6) MySpace is low in tangible return on investment. "Time is Money". People can spend huge amounts of time devoted to MySpace marketing, but it is almost impossible to see a tangible return in tickets sold or downloads generated for that time. Instead, the overwhelming metric seems to be comments and "friends" which is really rather vague.

Smart music marketers know that MySpace can be a great way to find and engage fans. They also know that it is only one slice of a much larger online pie that will ultimately drive long-term success and quality fan relationships.

Fifteen minutes?

(Seth Godin) Just went to buy some advance Amex tickets at Ticketmaster. This is the screen that comes up. I'm (Seth Godin) not IT guy, but what's powering their computer... gerbils?
It's hard to imagine how many customers, cash in hand, walk away when confronted with this screen. Wouldn't it make sense to figure out a way to get back to me later?
People will be incredibly patient if you set expectations and keep your promises.

A Tale of Great Marketing:

Remarkable Artists doing Remarkable Things

Talk about suffering for your art...The Ditty Bops are embarking on a bicycle tour of America in support of cycling, clean air, and their new WB album "Moon Over the Freeway". It starts in LA this week and runs up the cost and then straight across the country. Along the way they'll play a mix of traditional club and festival shows as well as house concerts, record stores and impromptu events. Check out the rest of the post from hypebot here.

Stream the Ditty Bops clip from Conan O'Brian (WMV)
Link to the Trip Log

How Cirque du Soleil Uses Email to Sell Out Shows at Local Cities.

Case Study by Marketing Shirpa

Are you trying to improve your email copywriting and segmentation so each recipient feels a strong personal connection to your organization? Cirque du Soleil's email team sends 6-8 campaigns per week with exceptional response rates. Our new Case Study includes details on copywriting that works, design (simpler than you'd expect) and how to gather more double opt-ins. Plus, what to send to your list when the circus is *not* coming to their town for the next 10 months...

The complete article is here.