Caution! Large amounts of Buzzwords to follow!

Listen, I know this isn’t a politicin’ site, but I just want to point out what Mr. Obama is up to. I think all of us should take note of how he is using social networking to get to the top of the popularity contest.

In a recent article at Wired.com (click here for the article), Sarah Lai Stirland writes:

” The use of technology like blogs, mass texting and online phone banks has been key to Sen. Barack Obama’s surprise sweep of recent primaries.

The Illinois senator’s campaign has been making use of a range of technologies — from ringtones to SMS — to inspire Obama-mania. And it’s working. Obama’s recent parade of victories in the primaries has given him a slight lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.”

Granted, I know that he has a huge army of free laborers (street team, anyone????) working for him, but this whole concept can be scaled back and applied to artists trying to get the ears and eyeballs of potential fans. Blogging and Text messaging are tools that have been around for a while, but only a few bands have tried them. Heck, Obama is even getting his fans to create YouTube clips that go viral!

Broadtexter(.com) is a great (and free for a while) texting widget that you can embed into your MySpace or website, and fans can sign up to be on your text list so that they get your text updates for shows.

Blogging, well, there is no mass blog program that I know of (yet), but there are sites where you can find many of the active music blogs out there, and the authors of these blogs are really easy to contact. Ask them if they want some free music, and in exchange for your album ask them to write a review for you. This is something we have been doing at the UnLabel for a while with great success.

The music business is no different than the political business…it is just a popularity contest, and the spoils usually go to the most creative, relentless, and resourceful candidate, even if they are not the most qualified (no dig intended).

Well, it finally happened. The Grape closed its doors on Feb. 2nd. As a performer, this is a huge loss for the Philly music community. I played back in the day at the old Grape Street, and also lately with a bunch of my new groups. The booking and bar staff always supported the artists, and it is a shame to see them go.

However, maybe this is a good thing…Maybe Philly can start fresh..Maybe we can get back to what the old Grape Street was all about: original music and a great scene.

Remember when Y100 was on the air as an alternative station? Remember when they went off the air, and everyone said that it was the end of rock in Philly? Well, guess what. The few staffers that remained in the area went underground and went to the web. After a year or so of being underground and super DIY, they have emerged and now are hooked up w/ WXPN, and are just as influential as ever.

Lets hope that the staff of The Grape can do the same and bring back the love to Philly. Anyone know of any available VFW’s or FireHalls?

-t.L

by the way, if you want to see a post on the closing, click here.

Happy Monday everybody…If you are concerned about selling your music, I suggest you check out this article from Wired: Cheat the Music Industry: Never Pay for Music….

Basically, this is a “how to” article on how to get your music for free, both legally and illegally.

There are consumers out there now that have never had to buy music, and thanks to web gems like BitTorrent it looks like they never will have to either.

So how do you get someone to pay for something that they can get for free?

What about water? People can get that for free, but they are still buying it…a lot of it…

With all of these music “taps” available, we have to figure out a better way to bottle our music and convince consumers that it is essential to value our product.

-t.L

If you haven’t heard, First Friday is one of the most exciting things happening on the Main Line. Content from this upcoming First Friday and future events will be offered right here, on the UnLabel website. We’ll have high-quality audio and video content for your listening and viewing pleasure. If you are in the area, be sure to come out and check out some great talent.