Nobody likes a spammer

Mar 12

RyanCommunity, Touring , No Comments

After another cafe chat with a good friend, I found a new topic to rant about.

Spamming, and the many forms it has today.

With the popularity of Facebook these days, you’re bound to have people join your fan page or your group or whatever they’re even calling it at this exact moment who may have stumbled upon you for many reasons. Maybe you toured and they happened to be at the bar, maybe a friend of a friend of a cousin joined and they noticed, or maybe they heard you on a mixed tape (does anyone even make those anymore?), or your song was played on the radio. Either way, if you have more than 30 people on your page, chances are they are not all from the same city. So, this is where my gripe about spamming comes in.

I’m not talking about the usual “cheap cialis” or “my great African uncle seems to think you deserve millions of dollars” sort of stuff that one has to deal with when you keep your Hotmail account. I’m talking more about the constant events or updates that a Facebook user can get from the pages they are signed-up to. Somewhere in amongst all of these updates is where you come in.

The fact of the matter is that you need to realize that your message is just one in a pile, and whatever you can do to make sure those kind folks who signed-up to receive your words continue to read them is very important. That being said, sending them constant updates about your upcoming shows far away from where they are, or live broadcasts or contests that they can not enter because they live somewhere out of the appropriate region is not a step in the right direction.

Luckily, the days of meticulously choosing all these people from a pile of beer soaked loose leaf and then typing them all into your email account, addresses included, are over. Through the beauty of Facebook and other fine services, you can send out your messages to the people who will be happy to hear about your intimate, free record store performance in two hours just down the street from them instead of those who are still waiting for you to come back to their city after your festival date four years ago.

So, with a little more time you can be sure to keep from having your fans ignore your messages or leave your group because nothing is ever of interest to them. Plus, by inviting only those who can come to your shows, you can avoid a long wall of people apologizing because they live on the other side of the country, and the count under “who’s not attending” will not seem so large.

In summary, take the time before you hit send or invite to see if there is an option in amongst those buttons to “customize” or “select network” and everyone will end up a little happier.

It’s a win-win, right?

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Play nice

Mar 05

RyanCommunity, Image, Touring , , , No Comments

First off, when I say “play nice” I don’t necessarily mean onstage. Although I do feel there is some consideration that should be taken for the audience, the venue staff, sound tech, etc… while you’re on stage, I’ll leave that for another post.

With this rant I’m talking more in terms of the kind of thing your mother would have taught you. The kind of nice that should be practiced by anyone, but in terms of being an artist, it is the kind of nice that could one day mean the difference between getting that great gig or having an extra $10-20 for gas because a poor student spent her last bit of cash to buy your album at the show last night.

I don’t think being nice is an art form, but I do think it is yet another thing that requires time. I can think of plenty of artists I have met, and most of whom I consider friends, that went above and beyond what they needed to do. Artists who make a point to respond to every email they receive or every MySpace comment or friend request. Artists who tend to remember the names of the people they meet in different towns or who choose to sell a CD for $8.73 because that is all the person had at the time and they really enjoyed the show.

Aside from the idea of karma, which some of you may or may not subscribe to, in a purely selfish sense these are the people who choose to come to your shows or choose to contact you in some way about your music and what they think of it. Regardless of how many hours you just spent in the van or the fact that you just spent $87 on gas to play to two people, including the bartender and the door person, your attitude towards them could make a big difference to how many people are there the next time or whether or not you even get your foot back in that door.

Sure, there are artists who have certainly made a living and built a reputation of being a recluse, a complete asshole, or simply shy, but most of those folks are counting the years of their career in the double digits before people choose to ignore their personality and just listen to the music. Since it seems likely that you are not in the aged veteran camp, try to think twice before you simply pack up and jump back in the van to head to Rimouski at 3am.

Tell that one person in the corner who stuck around for the whole show that you appreciate him/her being there.

Hell, at the very least it might lead to somewhere to sleep for the night instead of switching drivers during every pit stop in rural Quebec.

keep smiling,

Ryan

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