Indie Music Resources

Replace your MySpace shows calendar with iLike

2009-12-21T17:08:00.000-05:00

iLike will now let you input events on the iLike site and replace your MySpace events calendar. I was really excited about this because I like the iLike calendar format. It has more details and looks more professional.

My excitement was soon over after I tried it. You have to delete all your current MySpace shows and install an application. The app shows up after your Bio section, right above Friends/Comments. I hate that. I want to see it right under my music player. I know there's some way to adjust it but I really don't feel like messing around with wonky MySpace code.

Also there's a random bug which causes the same show to be listed twice, sometimes with different incorrect info, such as wrong show times.

So my final verdict? Right now too buggy to be useful but has potential if iLike can fix the duplicate posts and get the MySpace app to show up under the music player instead of at the bottom of the page.

Rant: FaceBook, show me my events already!

2009-12-21T17:03:00.000-05:00

I have pretty much given up on MySpace at this point. I am a FaceBook convert. Unfortunately for me, FaceBook events drive me c-uh-razy. Why can't they have a tab called "My Events"? Why?

This is what makes me furious: I post an event, then a couple of days later I want to check it out and see how many people RSVP'd. But where is my event? I try searching for my name. No event. I try searching using key words from the event title. No event. I finally have to go look at my own profile and scroll through all my old statuses until pages later I come across the event I posted.

FaceBook, I love you, but please add a My Events tab before I go insane.

Resurrecting this Piece - Ping.fm

2009-12-21T16:52:00.002-05:00

Well my friends, I haven't posted anything on here in ages. Shame on me. All that's about to change though. There's plenty talk about and I'm getting back on top of things.

First I want to tell you about my new favorite time saver, Ping.fm. I love Ping! Much like Twitter, you can send status updates from your phone. And also much like Twitter, you can link it up to other sites and update your status in multiple places. Unlike Twitter, Ping connects to just about everything, including Twitter. So even if Ping doesn't cover something, you can still Ping it over to Twitter, and Twitter will post it to those other places.

I'm not going to tell you everywhere you can Ping but here are some prime examples:
Twitter
Facebook personal pages
Facebook band pages
MySpace
Bebo
Delicious
Flickr
Tumblr
LinkedIn
WordPress
Blogger
etc
etc
etc

There are also all kinds of apps and integration with services like Skype and other chat clients.

I highly recommend Ping. I am a huge fan and it saves a ton of time.

New features on ReverbNation

2008-06-09T15:47:00.004-04:00

My favorite site for music widgets has been ReverbNation. Now they offer artists the chance to add widgets from any site. Just go to Admin/Tools and click on Widgets. People can pick up the widgets from your artist page. All widget placements are then tracked. I've already added widgets from Eventful, Amie Street, YouTube, and RockYou.

On the "General" tab, under Artist Info you can now add links to multiple social networking sites including MySpace, FaceBook, iLike, PureVolume, Bebo, Imeem, Last.fm, Xanga, Virb, Hi5 and more.

Also under Admin/Tools is a new feature called Gig Finder. Search for gigs by Venue Name, location/distance, venues another artist has played at, or venues similar to another venue. Searching within 5 miles of Brooklyn gave me 77 pages of popular locations. One thing to watch out for though, venues are added by the performers for the most part. For instance "Jessi Robertson CD Release Party @ Rockwood" is not a venue, but you may find some similar entries on Gig Finder.

Track your show attendance by entering the approximate number of fans who came out to a show. Oh, did I mention they can import Twitter updates too?

ReverbNation is certainly one of my favorite sites. It may not drive traffic as much as MySpace, but the features keep coming.

The Ultimate Link List: Jessi's Bookmarks

2008-03-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

UPDATED 3/18/2007

I freely admit that I am a bit obsessive when it comes to bookmarking useful sites. So my compulsion will now be put to good use thanks to del.icio.us, the social bookmarking site. I am posting a list of links here, that reference all sorts of things, from hacking your MySpace template to local NY music organizations. I will also be adding to this soon with links to my many, many websites as well as some of my favorite local indie bands. I'll put this somewhere on the front page too. Happy surfing!

Jessi's links on del.icio.us

Music Resources

NY Resources

Reference and Advice

iSOUND Artist Blog
Indie Contact Newsletter
Now Form A Band

Loops and Samples

iZotope Vinyl - Authentic Lo-Fi Vinyl Simulation for Pro Tools, VST, MAS, Audio Unit, and DirectX audio applications
Macloops - Free Apple Loops and Free Garageband Loops for Apple Pro Logic
Garageband Loops - Download Apple Loops Drum Loops for Garageband

SellaBand: Your Fans become your Investors

2007-12-21T13:52:00.000-05:00

SellaBand is one of those things that makes you think, "How could I not know about this!" I don't know if it works, but the concept is BRILLIANT! Your fans become investors and contribute money, banking on a future return from you. When the artists reaches $50,000 they make a sweet, sweet album. 12 artists have done it so far. I haven't signed up yet, but I will. I think it's a concept worth trying.

SNOCAP waives annual fee!

2007-11-02T16:39:00.000-04:00

Great news today for those of us who have SNOCAP stores (also known as MySpace MyStore). SNOCAP announced today that they will waive the annual $30 maintenance fee. This make SNOCAP much more competitive, as it is only taking a portion of the download fee per song, rather than adding an additional fee on top of the download charges.

Categories: SNOCAP, Digital, Distribution, Download, MP3, MyStore

iSound: 11 Ways to Promote your Music through your Website

2007-10-17T09:08:00.000-04:00

I continue to be a huge fan of the iSound newsletter/blog, which is full of real world tips for independent artists. This month's article promises to be extremely useful. It focuses on 11 ways to maximize your promotion efforts through your band website. I'm sure these tips will apply to MySpace and other social networking sites as well:

"There once was a day when the only way to promote your music was by going downtown, printing off 500 postcards, licking 500 stamps and peeling 500 labels. Now in less than 5 minutes, artists can compose an email list of the 500 people and send it off with one click. Websites give people all over the world a central place to find band information. This was not possible a short while ago. With all the technology advances, artists must make the most of their resources and create a webpage that makes fans want to return to their site.

1. Show personality. A band’s or group’s website is their resource to show the world"

Read the rest of this article here.

iSound also offers profile pages for artists, with a pretty cool music player that can be added to other sites. Band and artist features include:

Basic artist accounts are free

Put your music anywhere on the internet with the portable player

Sell music downloads and keep 100% of the net profits

Instantly create a professional band/artist web site

Instantly sell mp3s as ringtones

Promote music to 1,000,000 music fans each month

Upload MP3's

iLike: New Artist Dashboard

2007-10-05T13:43:00.000-04:00

I've written about iLike before. Firstly, because I enjoy iLike's features as a music fan. Their partnership with GarageBand and FaceBook is brilliant. They've recently added a new feature called the Artist Dashboard. If you already have a GarageBand page, iLike automatically created a page for you on their site. You can search for your name and "claim" yourself. Otherwise, I am pretty sure that you will have to create a GarageBand page.

So, you have to go put up another page? You should be doing that anyway to promote yourself, so no complaints. Anyway, this will give you access to some very cool features:

Unlimited song uploads (choose streaming only, or give away downloads)
Fans get notified of local events and shows
iCast multimedia bulletins. You can send videos, pics, and messages from your phone via text
Stats on fan growth
Play counts for full uploaded songs (no count on samples)
Stats on how many people have added your songs to their iLike and FaceBook profiles, or dedicated one of your songs to someone

Someone has already dedicated one of my songs to someone. That is so cool! Hey, the little things excite me. You should definitely get involved. Go, now, do it!

finetune: Find Music

2007-10-04T15:49:00.000-04:00

finetune is a playlist site. You can type in an artist name and the site comes up with a playlist featuring that artist and similar artists. You can create your own playlist as well, and then embed it on your MySpace page. It also interacts with FaceBook. Overall, a pretty cool music playlist site.

Last.FM: The Campaign for Better Music

2007-10-04T15:48:00.000-04:00

I've always liked Last.FM. It's a music site much like iLike and Mog. It interacts with your music player and tracks what's in your library and what you are listening to. Independent artists and labels may create their own pages.

Today I heard that Last.FM is launching "The Campaign for Better Music." From their "Now Form a Band" blog:

The Campaign for Better Music is here to say: it doesn’t have to be like the old days. We’re going to show you how to produce, promote and distribute your music, without spending a load of money, and without lots of other people getting involved.

Read the full manifesto here http://nowformaband.last.fm/2007/09/25/now-form-a-band-the-manifesto

This is an amazing tool for independent artists. If you don't get right on it, I'm going to have to punch you in the tooth.

ReverbNation: Widgets are Cool

2007-10-04T15:46:00.002-04:00

No, signing up for a ReverbNation account will not make you famous, but they have really, really, REALLY COOL widgets. And ReverbNation has an app for FaceBook too. If you want fame and fortune, this may not be the place to focus your energies on. But if you want interactive, live updatingwidgets for your fans, definitely check it.

TUNE WIDGET
This one's my favorite cuz it has a bit of everything, plus your music recommends for other artists your fans might like.

MUSIC PLAYER
This one is a straight up music player. As far as I can tell, you can add as many songs as you want, which is great. You can also add a YouTube video for the song, and a link to buy the song from your SNOCAP/MySpace store or other digitatl distributors.

MINI MUSIC PLAYER
You can customize the background color on most of the widgets and that's always fun. Awww. Mini.

SHOW SCHEDULE and MAP
Love this soooooooo much! Very cool for people who are planning to travel to your shows. There's a show schedule version available without a map too.

FAN COLLECTOR
ReverbNation offers free mailing list management. People can sign up to be on your street team as well. I use a different service for my mailing liste (iContact) but I think this is a great option too.

Eventful: Get Demanded!

2007-10-04T15:46:00.001-04:00

Want me to play in your town? DEMAND me on Eventful. The concept is to let the fans help you determine where to tour. This is a really useful tool for independent artists. If there is enough demand in a given city, you can use your Eventful stats to get you into the right venue. As a music fan, I love that I can ask for my favorite artists to come to town. Win Win Win. Do it today!

Amie Street: REAL help for indepent musicians

2007-10-04T15:44:00.000-04:00

Amie Street is such a great idea and well worth an investment of time. It's a free service for artists and fans of music. When you add a song it is given away as a free download. Depending on the popularity of the download, the price rises. Fans that recommend you in the beginning get credit for how much your song download ends up costing. Artists receive 70% of song sales. I added four downloads to Amie Street yesterday. The cost started at $0.00. Each song is already worth $0.13 this morning. Pretty cool.

I highly recommend this service to musicians and music fans alike.

More Ugliness: SoonPlatinum

2007-10-04T15:43:00.000-04:00

Another generic invitation from someone claiming to like my music. Pure spam, but hey, I like to check these things out, just in case. This particular invitation is from SoonPlatinum.com. The site's titlebar includes the following, "Get signed, music magazine reviews, music, music video, dating, and more..."

Wait, dating???? Yes, dating. Although I was trying to check out the dating link so I could figure out how they hook up their hot music acts, I couldn't because you must login to access that link. Darn. It looked like it would be entertaining, but not entertaining enough that I feel like signing up.

The main page is an exercise in poor design choices. From the freaky people-listening-to-music collage, to the color scheme of dark red, white, gray... wait for it... yellow, hot pink, and neon green. There's a big banner of a shirtless guy named "Von Sway." Dude, put that thing back on. I do not wanna see that! Also a pic of some large dudes with long hair and tight-fitting tshirts. Let me remind you of something... dating???!!!??? Yikes.

Clicking on the member page brings you to a search with a full-page hideous collage background of either some of their members or some really scary stock photography. The navigation at the top has changed and doesn't match the home page at all which is quite confusing.

Ok, I am going to stop the design critique now. The point is, I am completely turned off to this site and am not even going to bother signing up and neither should you. No website is going to get you signed, unless it's your website and you're selling hundreds of thousands of CD's. I hate misleading advertising. And although this site might give you the dating hook-up, I'd personally beware of the goods.

More music site reviews on the way!

HTML and CSS for beginners

2007-10-04T15:40:00.000-04:00

It has come to my attention that many of my lovely musician friends out there need some help unraveling the mystery that is HTML and CSS coding. Of course, I am always happy to answer questions and help with code, but I thought I'd share some great resources with you guys.

How I became a coding goddess
When I was in college, my friend Adam gave me jessirobertson.com and he designed a lovely site for me. As time went on, and I wanted to update the content, I found myself extremely frustrated because I had no idea what to do.

Eventually I started puttering around various html cheat sheets and learning to use snippets of code. Later on, I would upload CSS from some MySpace generator to make my page look pretty. So I started playing around with CSS as well, so I could do it myself instead of relying on those limiting generators. I really hate being at the mercy of anyone, and even more so, being at the mercy of anyTHING!

Ok, so enough with the back story. I'm just trying to say that if I figured it out anyone can!

What the heck is HTML?
Because I love "The Office", this is coming to ya straight outta Wikipedia:

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.

Hypertext is ordinary text that has been dressed up with extra features, such as formatting, images, multimedia, and links to other resources.
Markup is the process of taking ordinary text and adding extra symbols. Each of the symbols used for markup in HTML is a command that tells a browser how to display the text.

Tutorial
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp
This is the starting place of it all. I know it's boring to read, but if you understand the way HTML is structured it will make life oh so much easier.

Live Examples
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_examples.asp
Oh baby, this is awesome. These examples show you the code and the result. But the really cool part is how you can edit the code and press a button to see a live preview of your own code. This will show you if what you do is working or not. I love it and still use it all the time when I'm a little iffy on how to do something.

CSS
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.

Again, Wikipedia is the man:

Prior to CSS, nearly all of the presentational attributes of HTML documents were contained within the HTML markup; all font colors, background styles, element alignments, borders and sizes had to be explicitly described, often repeatedly, within the HTML. CSS allows authors to move much of that information to a separate stylesheet resulting in considerably simpler HTML markup.

Ok, in other words, CSS makes things look really cool and you can just update changes in appearance in one place instead of having to add lots of HTML to every sentence of your MySpace page when you want to make some text red and some text gray.

Tutorial
http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_intro.asp
For those of you ready to move on to CSS, check out this great intro and tutorial.

Live Examples
http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_examples.asp
And yes, they also have awesome live CSS examples as well.

To wrap it up, I have lots of great resources bookmarked. If you have something in particular you want help with, like scrolling text or some other nonsense, comment back on this blog and I will try to help you out. I will be sharing more coding stuff over the next few weeks. Maybe even a special, update your MySpace tutorial. Cuz I love you guys. Mwah!

Urban Folk Article: Alloy Radio's YouTube Launch

2007-10-04T15:38:00.002-04:00

This is my piece from Urban Folk's July 2007 issue 9. I will post an update to this when the issue is available on their site. I also hope to have photos from the talented Emily Rawlings soon:

Alloy Radio’s YouTube Launch
April 19, 2007

Alloy Radio is an internet radio site featuring independent New York musicians, founded by Jeff Schram. Alloy has quickly become known for the quality of its music and innovative design. It has also been instrumental in bringing people together from various local scenes and communities.

Alloy decided to embrace its visual side with the launch of a new TV channel on YouTube. The first episode was filmed at Matchless on April 19^th. Matchless is rapidly becoming a hot spot for live music in Brooklyn . The mid-size room is a great fit for both singer/songwriters and bands. It’s also a welcome alternative for the performer who’s ready to ditch the dive bars with crappy sound, but not quite up to packing the rooms at Galapagos or North Six.

When I arrived at Matchless, the back room was already bustling with activity. Two video cameras were set up to capture live performances from Sami Akbari, Tom Hayes, Here Lies Pa, and Jeff Schram. Emily Rawlings, a local artist and photographer, was preparing to take pictures.

Leaning against the back wall, I watched Sami Akbari take the stage. Sami is diminutive, but don’t be fooled. She can belt out a note when she wants to, and her personality can only be described as feisty. Her humorous banter between songs had the audience cracking up, yet she made the transition to a song about heartbreak seem perfectly natural. Her smooth, jazz-inflected vocals were flawless.

Next up was my favorite Irish gentleman, Tom Hayes. Tom’s voice slid effortlessly through melismas rolled over finger-picked guitar. He drew the audience into his world, where ordinary, overlooked moments are transformed into achingly beautiful memories. The set concluded with an a cappella piece that was handed down to him, a ghostly Irish folk song that seemed to strip away the distance between continents and generations.

Tom was followed by Here Lies Pa. With several months of continuous gigging under their belts, Here Lies Pa has perfected their sound while maintaining a rousing organic quality. The band made skillful use of dynamics while Paul Basile’s seasoned voice easily shifted from a murmur to a growl. “ Beverly Road ” was particularly striking, with a driving bridge leading up to a surprisingly understated conclusion.

Finally, the night wrapped with a performance by Jeff Schram. Jeff is one of those rare folks in the local scene that fills several roles including promoter, web designer, pod-jay… well, the list goes on. It can be difficult to maintain your identity as a musician, when people perceive you in other roles, but Jeff has achieved a healthy balance. His set showcased new material from his upcoming release, “Season of the White Crow.” The new songs are far and away his best work, with relentless energy and irresistibly sing-able hooks.

Episode 1 is on the way. Meanwhile, check out Alloy TV on YouTube at www.youtube.com/alloyradio.

Other Links:
Alloy Radio www.alloyradio.com
Jeff Schram www.jeffjeffjeff.com
Sami Akbari www.samiakbari.com
Tom Hayes www.myspace.com/tommyhayes
Here Lies Pa www.myspace.com/hereliespa
Emily Rawlings www.myspace.com/emilyrawlings

Virb: Making Heads Turn

2007-10-04T15:38:00.001-04:00

One thing I can say about the new music networking site Virb.com, it sure looks pretty. It's too early on to tell if this site will be a hit, but I'm already a fan after setting up my profile today. The interface is extremely easy to use. Custom tools allow you to easily select your own color schemes without having to paste in clunky pimp codes. The different sub-sections of each profile are called "Modules". Here are some things I love:

Drag and drop the modules wherever you want
Name them whatever you want
Add new modules
Add your Flickr photos to a module by clicking on a simple link
Unlike MySpace, the player can be customized to whatever colors you desire
It is nearly impossible to make the Virb profile page look ugly (someone will probably challenge that and make me eat my words, but it is a really sleek design)

It looks good, it's fun to play with, it's easy to use. I'm a little bit in love.

They call it MonsterGiG... cuz it's hideous

2007-10-04T15:37:00.000-04:00

I get a lot of emails to check out social networking or resource sites for independent musicians. Probably because I've signed up for oh so many sites now. Even though it is kind of spammy, I always make it a point to go check out the sites and see if they have anything good to offer.

This morning I had an email from MonsterGiG, for musicians, by musicians. That sounded ok. I clicked on the link and was assaulted by some of the worst web design I've seen in years. "Gig It Up!" guys. Early 90s neon anyone? Everything about this site screams "Horrible!" from the florescent green letters on black, to the old-school table design, to the monster eye peeking through chain-link fence in the header. The main background is grey with florescent green scale outlines. Seriously?

The site is an all-out attack on my eyes. Maybe it does have some redeeming quality, but I will never know because I'm dying to just close my browser window and never look upon its shame again. Skip this one, folks. It is the literal monster in the machine this morning.

Home Recording: The Noise Battle

2007-10-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

I really love the iSound artist blog / newsletter.

This month a great article on recording at home and fighting the noise issues that arise. This is a constant problem for me, and keeps me from recording as much as I'd like to, so I'm very interested in learning more. The recording of my song "Inevitable" was done during an ice storm and you can literally hear the ice falling on my windows while I sing. Ok, it was actually kind of cool, but I don't want my neighbors cats meowing on there. Here's what iSound has to say:

"The first property of music studios I will discuss is the ability to isolate sound and prevent your recordings (or your neighbors) from being disrupted. Most artists who do not live in a free-standing house will appreciate the need for a properly isolated music studio, for noisy neighbors can disrupt your recordings and complaining neighbors can limit your music production sound levels. And even if you have the luxury of having a free standing house (or studio), external noises can still disrupt your recordings (nothing like having a great vocal take being disrupted by a loud car passing through your street) or fellow house members might not be all that pleased when you try out that great idea for a song in the middle of the night."

Read the full article here.

IndieContact Newsletter: The benefits of reading mass mailings

2007-10-04T15:35:00.000-04:00

We all know we do it... we get mass mailings from all sorts of places: sites we've signed up for, other artists we like, MySpace, etc. A lot of these are monthly mailings. We see them in our inboxes and press the delete button.

Lately, I've been opening and skimming through all my monthly newsletters and surprisingly, these things are actually brimming with useful information.

For instance, once upon a time I subscribed to the Indie Contact newsletter. Today I opened June's newsletter and found it's got tons of great information including sites and magazines that will review your music, radio stations that will play your music, and services that will help sell your music. Why haven't I been reading this avidly every month??

With so much going on every month, things lost in the shuffle. I'm going to make a renewed effort to open those mass mailings (of course, not the spam ones though). Go sign up for Indie Contact indiecontactnewsletter@rogers.com.

iSound: Keys to a great Artist Bio

2007-10-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

iSound has just posted an article on creating effective artist bios. It is a really useful and informative piece. Once I find the time, I am going to use their advice to overhaul my bio. Here's an excerpt from iSound:

"What is an artist biography and why is it so important?
The artist bio is one of the most important things for an artist to have in his/her catalog aside from his/her music. It is a brief but detailed and informative piece that outlines the artist's career to date. It should summarize everything the artist is about, has done, and hopes to accomplish.

The trick to this bio thing though is that it should only encompass about a page in length (about 500 words) because the people that you want to read it are short on time and attention span.

And it's importance cannot be stressed enough simply because of the fact that oftentimes, the artist's bio is the first (and sometimes last) impression that the A&R guys, the media connects (journalists/editors), booking agents, and management/publicity contacts -- all people you want to read the bio -- have of you."

Read the full article here http://www.isound.com/artist_blog/artist_biography. iSound also has a great Social Networking site for musicians which I will spend some more time writing about soon.

Facebook: Tying the knot with iLike & GarageBand

2007-10-04T15:30:00.001-04:00

One day I discovered this really cool site called iLike. iLike is a site where you can share music you like, find out when your favorite artists are touring, and get recommendations for new music. And as the name foretold, I like it... almost or maybe as much as Mog, but more on that later.

Much to my surprise I found a page with my music on iLike and people who LIKE ME! Sweet. This happened because iLike decided to hook up with GarageBand. I've been on GarageBand for a long time (oh horrors, you can hear me sound like a pop star on a recording from my youth called "Tumble Down"). It's great because they have a peer review system, charts, and song contests. A couple of my old tunes didn't do too bad either. Let me just take a minute to stroke my ego here. All of the songs I submitted in contests received at least 3 out of 4 stars. Boo yeah!

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I thought the whole GarageBand/iLike relationship was a brilliant idea at the time. So this morning I have an email from GarageBand announcing the mind-blowing interface of GarageBand, iLike, and FaceBook. I clicked the link in my email and FaceBook automatically put up a Jessi Robertson artist page based on my GarageBand info. Meanwhile, FaceBook pulled up my favorite bands and upcoming tours based on my iLike info. Pure awesomeness.

Even though I am a very new FaceBook user, I have to say I've enjoyed their site. Now three of my favorite social/music networking sites are getting all friendly and talking to each other. Long live the revolution!

HumbleVoice vs. Broadjam: It's a Music Rumble

2007-10-04T15:27:00.000-04:00

My head is swimming.

Broadjam
I joined Broadjam because I won a free membership through a contest. What does Broadjam do for an artist? So far as I can tell right now, for someone at my level it does absolutely nothing. Basically to me it appears to be almost the same thing as SonicBids. You can sell music downloads, which is sort of like SNOCAP's MyStore on MySpace. You can earn reviews by reviewing other songs which is sort of like Garageband. It's a great idea to have all these services offered on one site, but seriously, I'd rather just go to the better known sites which actually get me some results. I think Broadjam is a good tool for someone a little more advanced in their career, with time to invest.

Humble Voice (HV beta)
These are the words I see at the top of my browser window when I open the Humble Voice site, "Awww yeah. You found Humble Voice." I see that, and I immediately know, these are my peeps. Cuz that's totally the kind of thing I'd put for a site title.

I can't remember how I stumbled across this gem, but I love everything about Humble Voice. It's a networking site that connects artists, broken down into 5 simple categories: Music, Video, Photography, Art, Word. And you can belong to multiple categories! Genius!

This MySpace-like site has managed to avoid many of the MySpace pitfalls. It allows you to upload content, but doesn't have you plugging in tons of HTML and CSS. They have a simple, modern design that stays consistent throughout. No need to cringe in disgust. You won't be assaulted by glitter letters, falling objects, freaky cursors, blinking text, or any other crimes against the web on Humble Voice. The components on your pages can easily be dragged and dropped, hidden or displayed.

I really like that Humble Voice is a niche network for creative people to connect. It's not just a bunch of bands trying to mass market. There are no fake sites trying to sell you body enhancements. I can upload music and videos, my graphic art, and reviews I've written. There are so many cool features I haven't even figured out yet. Like somehow I've earned 30 points already. I don't yet know how I earned them or what they're for, but I'm all like, "Points, yeah!"

Google Analytics: it's the hotness

2007-10-04T15:25:00.000-04:00

Ok, for those of you who design your own sites, Google Analytics is free and you gotta use it. Sign up for an account. Add your website. They give you a little script to insert into the body of each page. Voila! We have amazing tracking.

My favorite thing is the Map Overlay. Click on "City" and you get little balloons tagging all the cities where people are checking out your site.

Check it, Hong Kong: 1 visit. Ok, that ends this segment of Jessi is a big nerd.

MyStore: Social Networking Leads to Sales

2007-10-04T15:22:00.000-04:00

MySpace started offering MyStore awhile ago. MyStore is a service through SNOCAP to digitally distribute music. Although it's not iTunes, the great thing about the SNOCAP store is that it can be embedded in blogs and social networking sites. Right now, SNOCAP gets about 39cents per download, and the artist gets 60cents. There's also an annual service fee.

If you have a MySpace account, your SNOCAP store is automatically loaded to your page when you publish it. I also really like that SNOCAP checks for licensing information (Performing Rights Affiliation with BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, etc) when you upload a song.

They have recently brought some new partners on board, which is going to be nothing but good for us indie musicians.

Imeem is a new music social networking site. Although it's ugly as sin, I think it shows a lot of promise. When you upload a song to SNOCAP you can license it to Imeem. Imeem users can then add your song to stream from their profiles and you will get paid for streams as well as downloads.

has partnered up with quite an impressive list of industry players including Nettwerk, Pump Audio, Subpop, and Warner Music Group. See their Press Releases for more info.

Although I have not yet made my first 20 bucks (you need to accrue 20 bucks before you get your first payment), I'm pretty close and I don't even have a real album yet. Financially, SNOCAP may not end up lining your pockets, but I think it's going to be a great resource for independent musicians to access industry leaders and new markets. So, why not?

Minus: No way to predict if this will make you any money.

Plus: SNOCAP is partnering with industry leaders and pioneering some cool digital opportunities.

TexTango: Digital distribution through text messages

2007-10-04T15:19:00.000-04:00

I am not going to sign up for TexTango. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea. And when I eventually, finally, hopefully complete an album, I will be coming back to it. But for now, the $19.99 price tag just isn't worth it to me.

For those of you with albums, you may want to check it out. Here's how it works.

You have music for sale online.
You sign up for a TexTango account.
You create keywords like "jessi" or "j-bomb".
You play a gig and say, "Hey guys, text "j-bomb" to 23333 to buy my ep, album, single, etc. Instant sales.
The songs download to a computer.
Amazing.

Minus: I don't have an album to sell right now. It may be hard to get people to embrace this new buying model. Sales show up on their cell phone bill.

Plus:Instant gratification. I don't know if it will catch on, but it is a brilliant idea. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. I gotta make an album already!

Mashable: Social Networking News

2007-10-04T15:17:00.001-04:00

There is a social networking site for everything. Although I plan to review the big music sites in detail, if you want the ultimate skinny on social networking, check out Mashable, the social networking news blog.

Mashable has it all- from JamJunky, a new site for songwriters looking for collaboration, to FatDoor, a site that lets you meet the neighbors, to Sudokular, for the sudoku crazed people out there.

Hundreds of ways to waste time, make friends, and relish your obscure hobbies. Oh, did I mention that I am a nerd? Totally.

Sonicbids: Why Pay for an EPK

2007-10-04T14:18:00.000-04:00

Sonicbids EPKs (Electronic Press Kits)
Why should you pay for an EPK? I've been a member of SonicBids since November 2006 and I think it's a good investment. Here's why...

EPK site
A unique URL (example: http://www.sonicbids.com/JessiRobertson) opens a website to display your EPK.
Minus: You probably already have a homepage, MySpace, and tons of other stuff to keep up with. Plus, it costs money and that's one thing musicians are always short on.
Plus: Professional packaging. These guys know what should be in an effective EPK. All you have to do is upload/enter the necessary information like your bio, some mp3s, a video (with SuperSonic membership)

Calendar
The EPK calendar can be embedded wherever you want (example: http://asherareyou.com/showstext.html) and the color can be completely customized using a simple tool.
Minus: Another calendar to update
Plus: Embed the calendar on all your sites and then only update the EPK calendar

Tracking
See how much traffic your EPK is getting. Download reports.
Minus: You will not get traffic simply from putting up a SonicBids site
Plus: They have buttons and an emailer form to help you promote

Free online music lessons from Berklee College of Music
Minus: I haven't checked this new feature yet. Who has the time?
Plus: Looks like they have some lessons on studio production, and I could really use some pointers

Offers & Discounts from partner sites
Minus: See above
Plus: I need to take advantage of this

Promoter offers
Pay a fee and instantly submit your EPK for everything from gigs to sountracks
Minus: Submitting is expensive. Prices can range from $5 to $40 and sometimes even more. I don't have any truly great recordings, so I know that I probably won't get accepted to a lot of these offers
Plus: I have gotten some cool things through Sonicbids. I got a runner's up prize for Eggshell Heart in the 2007 Singer/Songwriter Awards from We Are Listening. They gave me a ton of free subscriptions that more than paid for my entry. I think if you pick and choose carefully you can get some great opportunities from Sonicbids. You just need to decide what's worth the money. Also, one feature that I really like is the Status check. You can click a button to see if the promoter has reviewed your EPK yet and if they've responded.

OVERALL RATING: You Need This

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