Detour can help you choose where to play

This is only in Beta testing at the moment - and I hadn't heard of it.

But, its great. And since it has the people behind SongKick behind it, and becuse of the way it works, I have a feeling it will succeed.

In a nutshell, fans can pledge to attend a gig by the band that uses Detour to route their tour. 

I know there have been other services that try to allow fans demand that a band play their town (GigWish and Eventful being just two) but they haven't ever really quite nailed the method like Detour seems to.

Maybe that's because it's in private Beta and there are just a few bands using it but I think it's more to do with the fact that it's not just wishful thinking - it's about a band saying they will tour and looking to fans to help them suggest places that they might not otherwise play.

I really hope it works!

Read the Songkick piece about it here.

And the FAQ's here.

YouTube - InVideo Programming is a killer feature for musicians

We mentioned this new YouTube feature a week or two ago, but it is SO important here's a little round-up of posts about it.

In short, you can now put an image linking to your channel page or an image and link featuring a video across ALL your videos - all with one click.

This means that when you have a new video uploaded, you can promote it across all your existing videos. Alternatively, you can create a custom image that links to your channel with a 'call to action' asking people to subscribe.

The ability to promote a new video automatically across a whole channel is a very big deal - get to it.

Here's Prescription's piece on it: http://www.prescriptionmusicpruk.com/the-prescription/2012/10/30/an-important-new-youtube-feature-for-musicians.html

Here's YouTube's own - http://youtubecreator.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/keep-your-audience-engaged-with-invideo.html

And, this from the ever brilliant Smart Passive Income site covers it as part of a longer post which is well worth a read -  http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/how-to-hand-out-flyers-online-old-school-and-new-school/

100 Great social media tips

Don't click on this link unless you have some tiume on your hands!

It's a list of 100 great socila media tips but each tip links to another article and pretty much all of them are really worthwhile. It just cost me well over an hour of productivity.

Bookmark it for sure.

Click here for the 100 tips.

Want to link from your YouTube video to your site...or iTunes?

This is a killer update from YouTube and something that every artist I work with has wanted to be able to do for sometime.

You can now create an annotation in a video on YouTube and link it so people can click through directly to your site or to your music on iTunes or a whole host of other places.

Well, you can....if you're a premium partner. 

And I know most DIY musicians aren't.

So having gotten you all excited, sorry to dash your hopes, but there are a whole load of DIY and Indie musicians who are already premium partners on YouTube and if that doesn't include you, it's yet another incentive to make YouTube a major priority.

Plus, of course, often the features that first appear on premium partner channels find their way to all of us.

Here's hoping.

Here's the link to YouTube to read all about it.

MySpace - Maybe?

MySpace has launched a little teaser video to let us know that the new owners have revamped the look and the functionality and that a relaunch is on the way.

We'd all dismissed this once almighty platform (with our advice being just to keep a basic presence there) but maybe we've been too hasty and perhaps it can rebuild itself as a definitive destination for music lovers, and therefore for artists.

We'll see.

 

But, there seems to be some excitmenent amongst the DIY musician fraternity as this post from Music Ally says:

When advertising firm Specific Media bought Myspace – complete with investment from Justin Timberlake – it’s fair to say the most common reaction was a shrug. Dying brand, no chance of a comeback.

Yet if you thought of Myspace less as a falling social network, and more as (potentially) the largest music discovery site in the world, there was a glimmer of hope. Well, a video teaser of the new Myspace has fuelled that hope.

As one heavily-retweeted Twitter user put it: “Instagram + Pinterest + Windows 8 + Justin Timberlake = SexyBack”. It’s very beautiful, heavy on images, and light on clutter. Music remains a key ingredient too, with mixes, trending artists and songs, a radio option and a whole section spotlighting ‘This week’s Top Fans’.

Besides the obvious Pinterest comparison, we’re seeing elements of Vevo and music discovery site TheSixtyOne, as well as iPad app Aweditorium. It’s a world away from previous incarnations of Myspace, and even – whisper it – makes Facebook’s artist pages look a little old-hat.

Check the video here

:

5 Key Points to Help Make a Low-Budget Video / VYCLONE Iphone APP

In todays social media world, the video seems to be the optimum format for getting your music across. As much as we like to listen to music, the art of discovery is often helped with a video.

With all the low budget tech out there, it is now within everybodies reach to create a video. I succesfully filmed a band at a live gig recently with just two iphones just to see how it would work, and it didn't turn out too bad! 

So if you fancy giving it a go, there are a few simple things you need get right before you embark on your first video production.

Peter Gavin has put together a list of 5 key points that will help you create your first video in a post that i found on evolver FM.

He says you need to consider these things..

1. It takes 2 (cameras) to make a thing go right

2. Lighting is the more important than your camera

3. Audio quality can make or break your video

4. You already own editing software

5. Resize your videos without losing quality

He goes into depth in the full article that you can read here. Which also has more leads/links to more info that will guide you through to making your first video.

VYCLONE Iphone APP

Another interesting way to create a video is to use a useful app that has just appeared on the Web.

Vyclone is a new free iPhone app which allows you to include and remix your own video footage with the ones of your friends recording the same event.

Vyclone synchronizes and edits everyone's clips to create one movie with all the angles cut together.

Sounds awesome, you just make sure you get a few friends to install the app at your gig and get them filming, all the pain of syncing is taken away so you can just use the best shots!

For more info go here

Go on give it a go... it's not as difficult to make a video as you think!

Links

http://evolver.fm/2012/08/17/5-ways-to-make-a-low-budget-video/

http://vyclone.com/

 

 

 

The Reason We Are All Addicted - The Scientific Power of Music

The way music can effect people is fascinating, it seems to be able to effect you physically and emotionally, but have you ever wondered how?

I came across the following video which gives you cool insight into how music really does effect you, and the reason we are all addicted to it.

Check it out, music really is a drug.....