This does not work, use the Internet

Brought on by my own personal frustration with the growing inability to find pertinent information about local music happenings I’m going to start posting what I think could be done by every band / venue around town to increase their own visibility and, consequently, help existing and potential fans get relevant information. I am open to additional insights and hope this ongoing series will actually benefit rather than just come across as bitching and moaning.

Let’s start off simple.

If your band has an album, use your Internet presence to post in-depth details about said release. Even if all you’ve got is a Myspace profile you can easily use the blog functionality to post the Title of the album, the tracklisting and a large picture of the cover. Ideally you’d post links of places to buy this album as well but that’s for another post. Bare minimum effort: post the details of your album before or right after its release.

Perfect Example: Did you know Lone Official recently put out a split 7″ with Altered Statesman? You wouldn’t by the looks of their Myspace page (no other Internet presence). No tracklisting, no album art, no sample in the audio player, no mention that it even exists at all. In contrast, Altered Statesman point out that it exists in their news page, point to a place to buy it and even supply some detailed info on the release.

Hopefully this thread of advice won’t come off as overly negative as the main driving force behind it is to have bands realize that even though they aren’t on the scale of Radiohead, they can use the Internet very easily to let people know about their latest cause – which will just turn more people on to them and enable them to continue forward with new projects.

Suggestions and complaints are welcome. Together we can whip this town into shape.

Lately I’ve found it frustratingly difficult to churn up news worthy information from local artists regarding recordings, upcoming albums, show date confirmations, etc. I mean, finding a tracklist or album art for a recently released disc shouldn’t be that hard, should it? That being said, the following artists have contacted us recently and I have to give them credit for doing the one thing a band should be doing – announcing their plans to anyone who will listen in an attempt to spread the word.

Tony Youngblood writes in to let us know that his album, Let’s Play Havoc, is ready to go and features Rich Gilbert from Frank Black and The Catholics on the recordings. He may even show up to their record release on April 3rd at fooBar. Preview the album on MySpace and look for a track on the next podcast.

Millionaire Magicians have posted a number of new recordings up on their Myspace page. The tracks were recorded by Andy Willhite at Safe and Sound Studios, mastered by J Ferguson at Battletapes. The band has plans to release a full-length album (18 tracks or so) based on these recording sessions; though there is no scheduled release date at this time. If “Snap Out Of It” is any indication of the goodness to expect, I look forward to it.

Telephant are making the rounds for promotion of their album Asleep in Green. The music is sweeping, languid, orchestral and would fit right in with some adult contemporary playlists on Lightning 100. That’s not a slag in the slightest, just an observation of where you’d likely hear them. Check the track “Botswana” for the stand-out upbeat number.