Posts Tagged: diy touring


16
Jul 10

5 Social Media Touring Tips

It’s time for tour! Just getting to this point takes a ton of work and doesn’t happen for every band on the planet. You’ve got some shows booked (hopefully) and maybe more on the way. You’ve got your merch ready to sling and of course your band is crazy-tight and ready to kill it. Now it’s time to gas up the van, head out and let the cards fall where they may. Right? Wrong. You’ve got more work to do.

It’s time for a little social media 101. You’ve got Likers, Followers, Friends and Fans that you want to follow every happening on the road. While they do, they’ll help spread the word about you through their networks. Why? Well, they like your music and want everyone to know about it. Or it’s because you’re a band on tour and everyone wants to do that, or at least be a voyeur to your shenanigans. So here are a few tips to help you keep them up to date and possibly get more people out to shows.

  1. Facebook
    If you don’t have a Page, make one. Maybe even swing by RootMusic and sign up for a free “band page” which ads some “band-centric” functions to Facebook Pages. Most importantly keep it updated and fresh. Talk to everyone who talks to you. Post photos and videos from tour on it constantly. Of course it helps if someone in the band has a iPhone, Blackberry or Android, but there’s a lot of down time on tour. Find yourself some internet and have at it with your laptop.

    Another simple idea is to make Events for every show and invite all your Likers to every show. Even if they don’t live that city, they may have friends that do and suggest your show to them. It’s all about the personal referral.

  2. Twitter
    If you don’t have a profile, get one. Then follow all of the people from your email list (you have one right?) and start tweeting and retweeting as much as you can. Try to stay consistently engaged. People want to know what you’re doing at all times. So much of touring is “hurry up and wait” so it’s a great time killer to just sit around, drink a beer and tweet away while waiting for sound check. Just make sure it’s some-what
  3. Tour Diary Blog
    I used to think this made sense but with Facebook and Twitter not so much anymore. Bands usually keep at it for a few days and then fall off. You can try if you like, but I’d stick more short-form communication that’s closer to real-time.
  4. Foursquare
    It’s new. It’s fresh. It’s all about checking at places and getting fake prizes. Yes, it does sound kind of lame but it can work for you. Create a profile that’s the name of your band. Next, when you’re at the venue or cool spot check-in at that location to see what other users are there, and then send them a friend request. The same goes for your shows. If the venue is set up as a “Place” and other Foursquare users have checked-in, they’ll show up in the application and you can send them a friend request. All the while be sure to check in at every place you stop. It doesn’t hurt to leave a “Tip” about your band or show at every venue you play. It’s just another way for people to find out about your band.
  5. Keep at it!
    One band that I see really on top of their social media is Freelance Whales. Personal tastes aside, they really do make an effort to update their fans on what’s happening, when/where they’re playing and creating good conversation. When they first started only a few people where paying attention, but they kept at it and it’s paid off. They’re able to really engage people on every stop on tour and get a lot of free publicity out of the deal.

I’m sure there are a ton of other ideas and if you have them, throw a comment on here. It’d be great to hear them. Don’t forget that a lot of this stuff you can do when you’re not on tour. You can even prime the pump pre-tour and hire someone like War Room PR to get things going. Remember, being in band is essentially a story you get to tell while it’s happening. Everyone loves a good story. Just keep pushing it out, keep it interesting and remember it’s all just one big conversation.


23
Jun 10

Better Than The Van + Scion = LA Good Times

Last week we jumped a plane and headed to the city of lost angels for the Scion Music(less) Conference. A little ditty put on by Scion to bring together all kind of minds from the music world to talk shop, present their ideas and listen to the RZA throw down about the music industry. It was a small affair and we were please as punch to be invited. We met a lot of great people and found out what happens in LA when the Lakers win a championship (see definition of urban chaos). We took some pics and you can check out all the happenings at Scion AV in a couple weeks!

photo6

Airborne refreshments.

photo

photo1

A little Bollywood in a Hollywood cab ride.

photo2

Wu Tang! The RZA talks Bill Murray and why he sees spaceships.

photo5

The Scion content creation machine.

photo3

BTTV on the big screen.

photo4

Hummers and hotels.

We met a lot of great people from cool companies like Nimbit (direct to fan merch and music), Sonoma Wireworks (turn your iphone or ipod into a four track), Tunecore (digital distro giant), Reverbnation (you know), mTraks (curated download store) and one of my favorites Sound Exchange (an awesome nonprofit that finds money owed bands and musicians from online radio and streaming sites. you fill out a few pieces of paperwork and they hunt down what’s owed you.)

Fall brings some great things. A relaunch of the site with tons of new features and the return of Better Than The Van Happy Hours. We’re going big and we can’t go home. That’s it. Be well. Go on tour.


21
Aug 09

ABC News Talks to BTTV!

abc News

“I have always tried to do whatever I can to help musicians out, since I feel like they give me a service I wouldn’t want to live without.”

Well said by BTTV’er  Kate Battle out of Chicago. She and a couple others  were interviewed for a story/interview that’s running today on the ABC news site.

You can get all the action right here.


17
Jul 09

Las Vegas, Now That’s City Livin’

Las Vegas CityLife gave us a nice review and dropped in some interview tidbits straight from Scott’s maw. Read on, it’s a pretty funny piece.

Does Cher still have a show in Vegas?

Oh yeah and another funny one about BTTV via  Paper Magazine!


16
Jul 09

MTVu, Cincinnati Beat and the BTTV Streat Team

Another whirlwind day around here. MTVu picked up on Better Than The Van via our interview from the Daily Texan. Likewise, the Cincinnati Beat had some kind words.

MTVu - 07-16-09

In other news, Mason Taylor is the first BTTV Street Teamer to send in his pics! A fresh BTTV t-shirt is going out to him today! Here’s a sampling of his work…you can also see it on the BTTV Flickr stream.

DSCN0531DSCN0533DSCN0536


24
Jun 09

We Have Liftoff

Hey…a big thanks out to Launch787 for covering BTTV and mentioning the pledge drive today! Oh happy day. If you live in Austin, stay inside today…103 degrees…crazy-time.


23
Jun 09

Eavesdropper!

Huge thanks to Tolly at Austin Eavesdropper for helping to spread the word about BTTV and our pledge drive! Also, stay tuned as we are crafting a bit of an online store where you can buy a bunch of BTTV stuff.


19
Jun 09

BTTV Interview and New Friends

We did a quick interview with Jon from “Tour:Smart”. He asked few and we answered. You can read up right here. Then Kelly from Union Records who found us through Kickstarter gave us and the pledge drive a nice shout out.

Thanks to all the people who’ve backed our project so far! Word spreads and it is good.

So many links in the post. Jeez.