{"id":3785,"date":"2013-04-19T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=3785"},"modified":"2013-04-18T15:14:55","modified_gmt":"2013-04-18T20:14:55","slug":"top-7-things-bands-do-wrong-with-their-internet-presences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/funny\/top-7-things-bands-do-wrong-with-their-internet-presences.html","title":{"rendered":"Top 7 things bands do wrong with their internet presences"},"content":{"rendered":"

You already know that photos on or around train tracks is a bad idea<\/a>. But this time around I’m going to concentrate on the dumb things bands do with their internet presence.<\/p>\n

“Internet presence” defined: Any presence a band has on the internet, such as a dot-com web site, a blog (e.g. WordPress<\/a>, Tumblr<\/a>), a Facebook page, a ReverbNation page, a Twitter profile, etc.; it is any presence or “destination” a band has on the internet where they can post updates and stuff.<\/p>\n

There isn’t any sort of rule book per s\u00e9 concerning internet presences and you can post anything you want. But there are certain things bands do on said presences that are just plain stupid.<\/p>\n

Here are 7 of them.<\/p>\n

1. “Currently in the studio”<\/h3>\n

Possibly the most-often and most-worthless update a band can post. Okay, so the band is in the studio. So what<\/em>? Were there any sound clips provided? No, of course not. Were there any studio photos that would at least give the audience something to see? No, of course not.<\/p>\n

A band that says they’re “currently in the studio recording” has the exact same meaning as “I just ate a turkey sandwich”, which is to say it’s totally meaningless and nobody cares.<\/p>\n

2. “Vote for us in [insert dopey battle-of-bands nobody cares about here] by clicking [insert worthless link nobody wants to click here]”<\/h3>\n

The band hasn’t provided any new music nor photos nor anything else anyone would actually care about, but instead spams their fans with some stupid battle-of-the-bands thing.<\/p>\n

Why any band does this I have no idea. Actually, yes, I do have an idea why. It’s under the foolish belief that by being associated with other acts, the band will in turn gain more popularity.<\/p>\n

Nope.<\/p>\n

All a band does by participating in some dopey internet battle-band thing is send traffic right over to other bands that will promptly kick their asses straight into oblivion. Not a good idea.<\/p>\n

3. Not listing directions to the gig. At all.<\/h3>\n

“See us play at Bob’s Country Bunker<\/a> tonight @ 8pm!”<\/p>\n

Okay, genius, where<\/em> is Bob’s Country Bunker? Did you even bother to say where it is? No, of course not. You just magically expect people to know the location of the gig you’re playing. Well, I’m sorry, but you don’t have that kind of magic power and never did.<\/p>\n

Always, repeat, always link to the web site of the where the gig is, because that site is almost certain to list directions explaining how to get there. And if it doesn’t, list the directions briefly in the status update you post. <\/p>\n

You could also write something like, “For those of you with GPS in your cell phone, here’s the exact address of where we’re playing: [list address here]”<\/p>\n

If you’re really pressed for space, list the gig’s business phone number so people can call for directions.<\/p>\n

4. Not giving fans enough notice<\/h3>\n

“Hey, we’re playing at Bob’s Country Bunker in 3 hours – see you there!”<\/p>\n

…and that is the only<\/em> notice given.<\/p>\n

Stupid.<\/p>\n

I understand spur-of-the-moment gigs sometimes happen and very little notice can be given for those. But if you had the gig planned in advance, you should at bare minimum give your fans at least 3 days notice. <\/p>\n

5. Not posting any updates for months at a time<\/h3>\n

If you’re in a band and the band has an internet presence, use it<\/em> no matter what it is. It doesn’t have to be every day, but it does have to be at least twice a week.<\/p>\n

“But we didn’t do anything this week…”<\/p>\n

So?<\/em> Post a band photo, post a link to one of your favorite songs on YouTube, post something<\/em>.. anything<\/em>. At least put on the appearance<\/em> the band is together.<\/p>\n

6. Posting anything about politics or religion<\/h3>\n

Nobody wants to hear a band’s opinion about government or religion. Ever. Don’t do it. The band is about music. Just music. Only music. That’s it. If you want to blab about politics and religion, use your own internet presence outside of the band to do it.<\/p>\n

7. “Support local music”<\/h3>\n

Bands like saying this a lot, but it’s ultimately a meaningless statement.<\/p>\n

“Support Local Music”, which is usually written like a nine-year-old would in all-caps style with many exclamation points as “SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, is exactly the same as “Currently in the studio”, meaning it’s exactly the same as “I just ate a turkey sandwich.” Same. Freakin’. Thing. It’s just a worthless statement.<\/p>\n

Now I know, I know… a whole bunch of you have spouted out the “support local music” line on your band’s internet presences. <\/p>\n

But think about this for a moment. <\/p>\n

WHY would you promote some loosely-based community that ultimately nobody cares about? And WHY would you want to effectively draw attention away from YOUR band?<\/p>\n

Here’s the better alternative: <\/p>\n

You are better off creating an “army” of followers, because that promotes community, with your band as the leaders of said community. Many bands big and small corral their fans around them<\/em> to create push and drive by creating their own community instead of the loosely-based “local music community” that doesn’t have any push or drive whatsoever.<\/p>\n

“Local music” has no focal point other than region that fans can truly identify with. But “army” does, because the focal point is you, as in your band.<\/p>\n

Make your band the focal point for your fans. As dopey as “Join the [insert your band name here] army today” sounds, it is a million times better than “support local music” and can serve to help rather than hinder your band’s popularity…<\/p>\n

…but I could be wrong!<\/strong><\/em> And if I am, please feel free to correct me with your personal experience using the ‘support local music’ line. Did it work for you, or was it a total dud?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You already know that photos on or around train tracks is a bad idea. But this time around I’m going to concentrate on the dumb things bands do with their internet presence. “Internet presence” defined: Any presence a band has on the internet, such as a dot-com web site, a blog (e.g. WordPress, Tumblr), a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}