For the past 8 weeks, myself and other songwriters have been diligently reading and posting about Ariel Hyatt‘s book Music Success in Nine Weeks as part of the S.A.C. Social Media Blogging Challenge. Chapter 8 this week focused on creating … Continue reading
Tag Archives: S.A.C.
No News isn’t Good News
Short and sweet this week … this week’s topic was the importance of The Newsletter! And the importance of taking time and having a strategy to reach out to people. And reach out we must. How many people do you know who actively go looking for new and stimulating art that will move and inspire them? I’ll tell you how I most often find the new-and-stimulating-art-that-is-to-move-and-inspire-me: I look on my facebook feed to see what other people say is going to move and inspire me. The dirty truth. But it’s true: information comes to us. So if you are information – well get out there. The People are waiting for you, hitting their “refresh” every 15 seconds.
I really liked the 1,000 True Fans article that we read this week. I like how it reaffirmed the importance of concentrating on making a living making your art opposed to concentrating on making a hit. It was also interesting googling and reading similar articles that believed in similar concepts and counter-articles that didn’t believe the 1,000 True Fans idea to be legit. It’s good to hear it from both sides.
Other highlights from the reading this week:
Don’t overload each newsletter with 25 call-to-actions. Give me one thing you’re asking me to do. I might do it then.
Do ask permission to put each person on your email list (even close friends and family) and make unsubscribing clear and easy.
Do write about interesting, personal stories – even if they’re not related to your music. Share pictures, videos, etc. “Interesting” is key here. Funny is key-er.
I do have to say, one point this week I’m not as comfortable with: I’ve never been sold on the idea of “personalizing” each email newsletter. I dislike getting emails that are meant to be newsletters or mass emails that begin with a ‘personalized’ greeting such as, “Good Morning, __Susan__ !” or “Greetings, __Susan__, did you know that … ?” (It’s all very reminiscent all the Readers Digest contest envelopes my mom opened. and entered. and never won). This is especially true when the subject line of a mass email contains my name: “Hey __Susan__ find out how you can get this and this and this for FREE!!” To me that looks like junkmail and I’ll probably treat it as such. I personally think its much more respectful to your audience to just own up to the fact that this is a mass email, meant to be that. That is what people are signing up for, isn’t it? Being personal within the newsletter by a) writing the letter yourself and b) sharing personal insights will make me feel like the letter has me, a fan, in mind. My brother David Newberry begins each newsletter with “Dear Poets” … I love this. It makes him stand out from the masses, and it makes me feel like i AM a poet! Clearly the research shows that other people feel differently about this. I’d love to know your thoughts…
My Newsletter:
I’ve been building a newletter with the bandzoogle site I’ve been working with. I chatted with some of their tech members this week, and had all my questions answered. I saw clearly that it’s all right there for me right now at bandzoogle. I’m going to go full-on with them, including using them as the hosts for my newsletter, and see what comes of it. I’d love to hear from you if you are a bandzoogle user and use the site for newsletters, etc. How are you finding it?
I decided that I’m not going to ask people to sign up for a newsletter until the site is ready with a new look that reflects the new album. I’m also waiting until I have the first mastered single off the EP that can be given away as incentive for the newsletter. This track won’t be available on any other social medium, and will be available to newsletter subscribers before the album is released. I will continue to update and send out news snippets through all of my other (growing list of) social media sites. But the newsletter will mark the beginning of the next step, and will be quality stuff! My sound editor has me on the edge of my seat this week praising the new studio tracks (which I haven’t even heard yet!) So stay seriously tuned – I’ll be letting you know when it’s all ready to be launched. soon.
So that’s it for this week!
Editor’s Update (March 2012) – I have created a website with a newsletter program! You can sign up to it right NOW! You will receive a free download from my upcoming EP. The newsletter will be a part of an April 2012 launch of the website, wherein a different *exclusive* song will be available for download (one that doesn’t show up anywhere else on the net). Please check it out here. I’m super proud of taking this step! Horray Week seven!
Next Monday: Creating a Continuum Program
Read your way through all of the blogs in the 9-week challenge:
WEEK ONE – One blog make one a blogger?
WEEK TWO – Presidential Pitches
WEEK THREE – Cheese or Font?
WEEK FOUR – Baby’s…got…Klout
WEEK FIVE – Video Killed the Radio Star
WEEK SIX – blogs from a diarist
blogs from a diarist.
This week Sue Newberry & The Law were in-studio recording the last 2 tracks for our upcoming EP. It is sounding great and we’re looking forward to a late-spring release.
I spent the week in recording prep, traveling again to Toronto, and also looking up Indie Music Blogs for this week’s challenge, which is about weblogging.
Blog. Noun, verb, social media phenomenon. Online journaling got its start in the late nineties (‘fess up: who had a LiveJournal? I totally did. It was pink on pink and full of wordy poems about loooovvveee). People who used to update their online journals or diaries in the late nineties were called “diarists”. I see how that may not have been considered very cool. Blogging has sped to overwhelming popularity just in this last decade. Wikipedia says that as of this time last year (2011) there were over 156 million public blogs in existence. As Ariel says at the beginning of the chapter for this week: Believe the hype.
Sifting through the sea of online music blogs is no easy feat, and will clearly be an ongoing project. I signed up for Google Reader to help sort through the daily content on all the blogs I’ve newly subscribed to. I was also happy to see some comments by fellow blog challengers on some of the sites I had sussed out (totally noticing your online presence, challengers!) and even a review or two of some concerts and albums from colleagues and friends. I also found a review of fellow blog challenger Kat Leonard‘s Feb 2012 review on Lipstik Indie Reviews. super!
This week I was also interviewed by fellow musician and Social Media Challenge Taker, Karyn Ellis for her ‘blogging’ blog post. Being on the other side of all the interviews and reviews I was reading this week was fun, and stress-relieving! The conversations I’ve had with Karyn this week have planted some seeds in my mind about future blogging endeavors: writing about indie music made by women in Canada… but let’s stay on track for now.
I’ve Compiled a long list of blogs to send to my publicist regarding the upcoming album release, and also a list for blogs I’ll contact and be present on myself. I narrowed my search, for now, to Canadian and Toronto indie music blogs, and indie music review sites. Some faves:
http://www.littleredumbrella.com
http://my-canadian-indie-music-blog.blogspot.com
http://roundletters.wordpress.com/
http://lipstikindie.wordpress.com
http://musicbetweenfriends.com/
http://www.turntherecordover.com
Check ’em out. They are all unique, have great designs and all, of course, have a lot to say.
Well, I’ll leave you with this 40 second clip I found of me being a diarist in the early 90’s – even before things went ‘online’. Wow, I sure had some wise, wise words.
Next week’s Post: Week 7: Your Newsletter
Read your way through the 9 week challege so far:
WEEK ONE – One blog make one a blogger?
WEEK TWO – Presidential Pitches
WEEK THREE – Cheese or Font?
WEEK FOUR – Baby’s…got…Klout
WEEK FIVE – Video Killed the Radio Star
Video Killed the Radio Star
It’s YouTube week!
Do you know that 8 years worth of video is uploaded to YouTube every day? I read it in Ariel Hyatt’s book this week. Well, I confess that hardly a day goes by where I don’t load up a music video, funny-or-die clip, and occasionally a heart-wrenching story about how two unlikely characters like a dog and an elephant turn out to be the best of friends. YouTube is the number 1 video-sharing site in the world, the number 2 search engine on the internet, and the daily cause of that dreaded rainbow spinning ball that precedes my mac shutting itself down.
I’ve polished up my own humble YouTube site this week, after learning the importance of previous unknowns to me such as tagging your videos, having proper titles, etc. Until now I haven’t shared my YouTube channel with most, and I’ve kept it off my other social media sites, as I’ve been waiting to having something there to show off that reflects our new album.
I have had videos in mind before this week — I’ve been mapping out ideas for creating a video trailer for my upcoming album for many months now. Though my ideas were grand, I found the task quite daunting to tackle – I had never done much in the way of videography . Well, this week’s challenge gave me an idea and opportunity to to make a mini-video to post on my site, in the form of a “video response”. We’ve been encouraged to leave video responses to things that caught our eye on the YouTube. It was the perfect opportunity for me to try my videographer’s hand. A crafty video response would let me create my own short video, implement some of the techniques I’ll be using in a longer video for my own song, and tip my hat to a fellow musician at the same time. Well, what caught my eye this week was Karyn Ellis’ homemade video for a super song of hers called Little Grey Sparrow. (Watch Karyn’s video here )
I’m pretty darn excited about this, folks. Here I am, joining the indie-hype-ranks of those who have delved into the world of Stop Motion Video. It was so fun. I’m gonna make so many more chalkboards magically draw all over themselves in the future…can’t wait. I’m so proud of the first 5 seconds of this video! I can do it! Thank you for the motivation, week five!
Isn’t it so great? It may be a tiny step short of that video I made earlier this month of me playing 1000 instruments with my car in the Los Angeles desert, but I’m still mighty proud. I’m expecting “Charlie Bit My Finger” stats by early next week.
If you’d like to subscribe to my youtube channel for future brilliant projects, you’ll find me here.
Video Response me,
Sue
Editor’s Update (one month later): 200+ hits on youtube! After a month. That’s practically VIRAL, right???
Next Monday’s Post: Week 6 – Blogging!
Read your way through the 9 week challege so far:
WEEK ONE – One blog make one a blogger?
WEEK TWO – Presidential Pitches
WEEK THREE – Cheese or Font?
WEEK FOUR – Baby’s…got…Klout
One blog make one a blogger?
I’ve always been a Journaler. Each time I move (far too often) I find myself refilling my shelves, chest drawers and storage boxes with 2 decades worth of lined notebooks, blank hardcovers, dollar-store logbooks, field guides and organizers-turned-journals and, oh yes, even a few sacred diaries guarded by lock and key (so that when my brothers made an unjust comment or ate the last bowl of Golden Grahams I could stare at them icily, produce my diary, unlock it in front of them, and write with furious purpose. Take that.) Pages marked with ink, pastel, paint, chalk, magazine clippings; dripping with poetry, hope, disquietude, confession. Boxes of dusty books that chronicle me.
My love for handmade, tangible contemplation has extended into my adult life. Sometimes when I’m really upset my partner will ask me “Do we need to go to the craft store?” I’ll snap, “Don’t patronize me! … and yes. please.” There’s something about a row of untouched Crayolas that eases that ache in my heart. So when the world of Online Journaling emerged, I tried it out (think: livejournal, circa 1999, pink font on pink background), but I quickly left it behind. It just couldn’t hold a candle to my land of chalk doodles and inked-out aspirations.
This week I have started a 9 week course that will challenge my relationship with technology. This week myself, along with a gang of members of The Songwriter’s Association of Canada have opened up Chapter One Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in 9 Weeks. Full Disclosure: when I learned the title of the book I scrunched up my face and thought twice about this “social media challenge” I had signed up for. Joining a supportive group to learn much-needed web based and mobile technological skills? Yes. Buying into the doomed idea that if I just do this one thing, then my life will be set? That ship has sailed (loaded with a cargo haul of self-help books and scam diets). Luckily, I got over myself rather quickly, and went ahead with the plan. To my delight, the book begins by explaining the title, “…I’m not saying that your entire music career will be made (whatever that means these days)…” The title apparently refers to the intention of the project: ramping up the business side of art. This will be accomplished by stepping out of our artist brains and plunging into the ever-changing world of music marketing, media interaction, and career organization. Each week there’s a new focus, new tasks, and one new blog to write about the process. Thus, my first blog post since 1999.
To aid me in this social safari, I have got myself a Blogging Buddy for the challenge. Not only is Karyn Ellis a talented songwriter who spins tales with her guitar that’ll break your heart, but I’m pretty sure she can also crack a whip faster than a 39-year-old Harrison Ford, should I begin to slip on my blogging efforts. Thanks Karyn!
WEEK ONE is all about setting goals. Oh, Captain, how I dread the goal. I am getting better at it, with practice and time. But arghghghh – I would rather do anything than write down a single life goal. To prove this statement to myself, this week saw me tackle ancient items of my to-do lists of house chores; whip up daring new dishes for dinner; make appointments; go to gym and yoga classes; stick every newspaper clipping I collected from my childhood local paper into a new photo album and catch up on any internet TV episodes I may have missed since 2010. Yep, anything but take a goal from my brain and put it on a piece of paper. At the end of the week I had the most organized bathroom closet in Kingston, but still no goals.
Look, I’m no stranger to goals. This past year I completed (finally, this time) Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Holy Goaly. My (beloved) chalkboard where I do much of my songwriting was transformed into a mad mind map of my musical aspirations.
Yep. Goals done. From now until forever. Why would I want to ever do them again? That was hard. Can’t I just keep them in the back of my mind and focus instead on my everyday failures? I’m so good at that. I’d succeed at that for sure.
But come the end of the week, I was out of excuses (and unsystematic tupperware cupboards), so I sat me down with old goals and new ideas, and started to write. The goal sheets from the book were helpful for me – identifying goals for career, money, and life – for the next 12 months, and for a lifetime. I kept my list short and succinct – with permission to add more as I go along. I’ll sum it up for you super-speedy style (read someone else’s goals? I’d rather go shopping for a new caddy to hold all my household cleaning products). These next few months will be about finishing the EP. I won’t tell you how long it’s been – suffice it to say every time the doorbell rings I expect to find FACTOR on the other side, demanding their money back. There is 2 songs left. TWO. And…they shall be done by April 15th. I mean done done. Mixed, mastered, printed in hard copy. Now it’s in the blogosphere and so it shall be done. As for my social media goals, revamping my website and figuring out how Twitter works top the list (apologies to my followers). These, and all the other goals fall under the larger heading of producing, sharing and inspiring art as a part of what artists do to be present, learn about and contribute to communities, societies, humanities. Small beans, I know.
So concludes my first blog post. Each week I’ll be sharing with you my working through my weekly tasks, career goals and life aspirations. I will, however, never share with you how long it took me to create a blog and write this post. You should probably just imagine me sitting down with fantastic concentration while pithy phrases overflow from my mind to my fingertips to the keyboard. Ya, do that.
Stay tuned for next Monday’s post: The Pitch!