Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Falik on the Internet, Part III

I've used a lot of on-line services over the years, trying to spread the word about my music. Currently, the sites I work the most are ReverbNation, FaceBook, MySpace, and my own site, Falikshow.com. I also use twitter and other services that utilize twitter APIs, like http://twt.fm/ that allow you to share mp3s.

I like ReverbNation right now primarily because of the way it integrates feeds from other sites, particularly MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter. Other features that work for me are the profile layout, and the newly-implemented storefront.

The RN layout is modular allowing for the exclusion of content types. That's important to me because I don't perform a lot so I can exclude the "gigs" section. Most of the new music artist sites popping up include a YouTube video feed, and RN is no exception.

I also like its charting implementation. Ordinarily, for me popularity charts are counter-productive (pardon the pun). My music is not mainstream and I usually don't fare well even when I get lumped in with other world artists. And even RN doesn't separate "world" from "reggae". But the way stats are accumulated it does offer a picture of activity that is none-the-less informative. I get a much clearer picture of who is enjoying my music despite the genre classification; the labeling doesn't get too much in the way of analysis. MySpace stats, on the other hand, tell me absolutely nothing, and usually appear to lag, anyway.

Falik on the Internet, Part II

I moved to Sparks, NV at the beginning of 2006, roughly 4 years ago, which is about 3 years after I put out my first CD "Streaks and Strokes", and just after I released my 4th CD "Elvolution". "Falik's Revenge" and "Bring It" were released in 2008 and 2009, respectively, which puts my catalog at 6 CDs worth of content, or about 70+ songs. I mention all this because you can't really talk about promotion without talking about what it is you're promoting, and where; all this doesn't happen in a vacuum. Even though the medium is the internet your potential customers are not computers; there are actual people out there to which you must connect. So, in retrospect, Falik's career has now expanded into two distinct markets; southern California, and northern Nevada, each with its own idiosyncrasies.

In southern California the weather is better, it's bigger geographically, more metropolitan, and there are more people, and lots of money. It creates more opportunities to go and perform, get exposure, and just connect. New trends are discovered and developed more quickly, everything is ahead of the curve. The competition is also a little more fierce, making it more difficult to be identified as "different" and "new", which in turn puts pressure on you as an artist to hone your skills.

The Reno/Sparks scene seems to work a bit more like island living. It's not very cosmopolitan despite the many casinos and tourist spots. The closest "big" city is Sacramento, California 2 hours away. The isolation is manifested by its geographical location; it's difficult to get to even when it's not snowing, which it does a lot. On the whole regional tastes reflect its isolation; economically depressed, consumers align themselves to styles of music, dress, and products to create identities, rather than originate them. It just costs too much. Everything seems to be "behind the curve". All this makes it easy to be recognized as "different" and "new".

The comparison between southern California and Reno is important because both have advantages and disadvantages, challenges that must be overcome. The fact that they are almost opposites in terms of how promotional strategies need to be developed has not been lost on me. I'll be frequenting this theme through my blogs.


Falik on the Internet, Part I

This is a list of on-line resources I use (or have used) to promote Falik. This blog will be used to examine the usefulness of these sites to me, or at least explain how I use them. This list is not comprehensive or in any particular order.

  • MySpace.com
  • Facebook.com
  • falikshow.com, magiclanternrecords.com
  • Magnatune.com
  • uPlaya.com
  • MyMusicSite.com
  • Garageband.com (associated w/MySpace.com)
  • ReverbNation.com (http://falik.org)
  • Last.fm
  • YouTube.com
  • Tribe.net
  • twitter.com
  • cafepress.com
  • ccmixter.org
  • amiestreet.com (http://amiestreet.com/artist/falik/)
  • live365.com
  • amazon.com
  • iacmusic.com (http://iacmusic.com/artist.aspx?ID=13683)
  • youlicense.com (http://www.youlicense.com/Artist/Falik)
  • pumpaudio.com
  • napster.com
  • myxer.com
  • thumbplay.com
  • songcastmusic.com
  • songvault.fm (http://www.songvault.fm/artists/falik.htm)
  • iLike.com (http://www.ilike.com/user/ilikeFalik)
  • snocap.com
  • weedshare
  • lulu.com
  • iTunes.com
  • soundclick.com
  • cdbaby.com
  • artistserver.com (http://www.artistserver.com/falik)
  • artistopia.com (http://www.artistopia.com/falik/events)
  • bebo.com (http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=7557297159)
  • 7digital.com (http://indiestore.7digital.com/stores/indiedefault.aspx?shop=-64175&g=855cf9fb-b9e7-4736-abd6-5f79dfa49b18)
  • allmusic.com (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=FALIK&sql=11:jifixqyrldse~T0)