RSSYou are your own reality show
Mar 18
Online, Touring 8mm, documentary, michou, my dog ego, royal albert, tour blogs, video, youtube 1 Comment
Twelve years ago The Truman Show appeared on cinema screens everywhere, and people were both entertained and scared at the thought of living in a world designed to entertain others.
Today, the world as we know it seems to be filled with millions of small versions of such a place. From blogs such as this one to the biggies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, everyone is staking their claim to a little piece of the reality world.
The beauty to all of this is that, as a musician, you now have more than just a stage, a telephone pole or bulletin board, and a website to promote what you do. Even better, did I mention that the majority of all these things are free?
Of course, the catch with that is the simple fact that just like a MySpace account, every musician has one. So, you have to take steps to make what you do stand out. Just like simply playing the guitar or stepping in front of the mic is not going to wow people, simply posting a few tracks and a bio is not going to net you the whole virtual world as fans.
The biggest suggestion I can give on how to do this is to get a video camera. Hell, with the way the world is right now, you may already have one in that handy little device that you should be able to run 85% of your artistic endeavour from: your cell phone. The bigger problem should be coming up with fun ways to use it.
The point is that you need to increase the ways in which you get yourself and your music out to people, and providing as much entertaining content as possible is a great way to do that. If your serious about your music then you are probably spending some major cash on recording it. Luckily, turning a camera on yourself while you do such things doesn’t cost nearly as much as pressing the red button connected to the microphones.
To illustrate this:
- 8mm – Stunning was shot entirely with the lead singer’s cell phone, and I would not have come across the band while doing a search for “cell phone music videos” if they had not created this video. 20,000 other people seem to have found them before me.
- My Dog Ego – Mail Slot was shot and edited by myself and the band to promote the upcoming full-length album. It documents the making of the album, but more importantly we tried to make it funny and rather tongue-in-cheek. Given that I never saw 100s of people at any MDE show, I’m willing to bet a few folks found them online for a million reasons other than knowing exactly who they were.
Put simply, none of your craziness or the ups and downs of loving and hating the thing you do all at the same time can be seen by the rest of the world if you don’t capture it. YouTube serves millions, if not billions, of videos a day to people at work, home, or anywhere else they choose to be, and you need to be a part of that. Does the world benefit from seeing just how bad the accommodations are at the Royal Albert in Winnipeg or how members of Michou could have been lumberjacks or movers instead of musicians? Maybe not, but at least if they’re spending time online and missing your show down the road, they’ll be watching you, right?
=-p
