As we discussed in the last post, my conversation with Larry the other day about his interview with Magdalen Graal and her online promotion leading to 10,000 downloads in a single month motivated me to work on finding things to help us all build a bigger online presence so more of us could see that kind of success. In the last post, we discussed using social media to do this but you can’t just stop with social media. In this post, I’m going to share why you need a band website to give you online and real world credibility as a musician. I’m also going to tell you about some special things we at MusicBizCenter.com have arranged for our readers to help you along. As always, if you have something to say, a promotion idea that works or a question, please be sure to leave a comment here because we want to know what you think.

Ok, we all know we need to have an online presence. We have joined every social media site and social network from Facebook to YouTube. Our Twitter account is humming along with 20,000 followers and our MySpace account is proudly screaming to the world that we are musicians. What next? You need a band website. Why? Several reasons actually.

One of the biggest reasons you need a band website is credibility. You wouldn’t buy a gold watch from the guy standing on the corner or a VCR out of the back of a pick up truck. Why? Because without a storefront of some kind, these characters don’t have any credibility. They may be perfectly honest individuals trying to sell you a perfectly legal product but without that credibility, your street smarts kick in and you say “Hey, something’s not right with this picture.” Your instinct tells you if it doesn’t look like a business, there is something you can’t trust in the deal. Guess what? Music fans around the world are people just like you and I. They have seen scams and cons. They know that the hot girl in the picture on a MySpace profile probably isn’t the girl they are talking to and she might even be a man. They have earned their street smarts too. If you don’t provide credibility to your band, then you have condemned it to failure.

Even with all the fakes and cons on the Internet, people still have a few things they trust. One of those things is the real website. If you have a band website that says thisismyband.com , that .com at the end of your name give you some credibility on the web. When linked to your online profiles in the social media and social networking sites, it gives them a little more credibility too. Free websites are great but they are like a social media site profile. Everyone can get one and they aren’t really believable. As a band, you are trying to create a business, trying to sell your music. Investing a few dollars to create a real website give your band the edge that can make your band appear more like a business and give you the credibility your fans are looking for. From your website, you can make new connections in the music world, sell CD’s and merchandise and find new fans. I’m saying it again folks… YOU NEED A BAND WEBSITE!

So what do we need on our band websites? Well, obviously, we need music. After all, that’s why we have fans. Downloads or streaming, the music needs to be available for your fans and prospective fans to enjoy. Video is also great. Did someone capture your last performance on their digital camcorder? Upload it to your site and share it with your fans and those who might be thinking about checking out your next show could turn into attendees really fast.

Pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words… It’s also worth a lot of traffic. Your websites will flourish if you keep plenty of eye candy on hand for your visitors. People love to see the pictures of the bands they listen too. It provides a sense of connection. The band is no longer some disembodied voice pumping through the speakers but it has a face. That face also adds to your credibility.

Contact information is also important. When your site is up and running, you will find you start seeing your name appear in places you never dreamed of. That’s because the Internet is a global tool. It is everywhere. You may find CD requests and offers of gigs start rolling in from all sorts of places. That’s why you need your contact information on the page. If they don’t know how to find you, they can’t buy your merchandise or invite you to be the main band at their local fair. If you build it, they will come. If you don’t put your contact information in there, you will never know they were there.

Okay, are you psyched up now? You know you want to be a success in the music world. You know you need a band website. But wait, how do I get that website? I’m a musician, not a tech geek.

Well, here at MusicBizCenter.com, we understood a lot of you might feel that way so we worked out a deal with some tech geeks we know. Over at OpenDoorOnTheNet.com , they have a web hosting server. We talked with them and said, “Hey guys, we got a bunch of great readers who are trying to be a success in the music world and need some online promotion. Can you help us out?” So they mulled it over and came back with a few ideas. First, they have some new web hosting specials, specifically for our readers, called MusicBizCenter Special #1 and MusicBizCenter Special #2, where you can get your band website hosted today for as low as $5 a month. Then, they said “Hey, do you think they might need some help building their sites?” and we were quick to say yes because we’re not tech geeks either. So they let us know that they have a team on hand to help you design and build your websites at a very low cost as well. Just email their support team and tell them you heard about it here and they will be in contact to help you create the band website you want and need.

You’re on your way. I can see there will be many of you for Larry to interview about your 10,000 download months soon. Let’s make sure he’s so busy he has to raise the number to 20,000.

P.S. Hey Guys, You know we love bringing you useful information about the subjects you want to know about but we’re not mind readers. If you could take the time to leave us a comment, it would be greatly appreciated. Peace, Mike

I was talking to one of our writers the other morning when he told me about an interview he had just completed with a young lady from the U.K. who had an astounding success with online promotion of her music. With 10,000 downloads in a single month using nothing but online promotion tools, it’s easy to see why I was impressed so I got thinking maybe more of us could see that kind of success if we knew how to build an online presence that grabbed attention. Well, I did the research and here are a few suggestions to help you turn your bands online persona into an online empire. Feel free to embellish them or add to them however you see fit. If you have an idea that works for you, please be sure to leave a comment here and share it with the rest of us.

We all know you have to crawl before you can walk and you have to take baby steps before you can run a marathon so let’s start the discussion with the basic building blocks of online presence… social networking.

Social networking sites are one of the keys to creating an online presence. These sites are like the cliques of the Internet community. Build a reputation here and it will follow you around the digital globe. Social networking sites are popular sources of current information, trends and entertainment for millions of people. Some of the social networking sites see huge amounts of visitor traffic daily.

One social networking site, Facebook, actually reaches 31% of the global Internet users on a daily basis, according to current Alexa rankings. That means for every three people that log onto the Internet today, one of them is going to find their way to Facebook. Each one of those users will look at an average of 16 pages while they are on the site. That’s a lot of chances for someone to find your bands profile on just one of the major social networking sites. It’s difficult to imagine a larger audience than this. Given the fact that Facebook allows people to share the things they like to their entire social network via wall posts, if just one of the many visitors to the site liked your new song, you could instantly be noticed by several hundred people.

So how do you make your social networking profiles appealing? First, be a regular. We all have that acquaintance we haven’t talked to in 10 years. When you meet up with them, it’s awkward. You don’t know what to say. You just don’t feel comfortable. You might have even forgotten their name. A social network is a lot like that. If your network doesn’t hear from you for weeks on end, they forget who you are. Don’t let that happen. Update your status regularly and keep your bands name out there in front of them.

Second, share your ups and downs. If you got a new recording deal, let your friends on your social network be the first to know about it. If your releasing your new CD, offer a free advance download to your social networking friends in exchange for joining your mailing list. Those little perks draw a crowd. In the same light, if you blew up your amp during a thrashing guitar solo, send out a message about it. It makes you seem human and personable, plus you might just find supportive fans who want to help you get replacement equipment.

Pictures are important too. There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. In social networking, it’s worth a thousand viewers. Profiles with pictures just get more traffic. More traffic means more people who have the opportunity of becoming your fans. Post lots of shared pictures to your social networking profiles and be sure to caption them so people know what they are looking at.

Finally, be a friend. Toby Keith sang a song with the line, “I wanna talk about me.” Sometimes people get tired of always hearing your side of the story. Instead of being the self centered recording artist, try interacting with your fans. Many of the social networking sites make this easy with apps, such as birthday calendars, so you can send a message to your fans that you are interested in them as well.

Building your online presence through the social networking sites doesn’t have to be difficult and it can be a lot of fun. Watch for the next post where I will be discussing how to create the perfect band website and why you need one.

P.S. Hey Guys, You know we love bringing you useful information about the subjects you want to know about but we’re not mind readers. If you could take the time to leave us a comment when you see a post you like or if you have something you would like us to write about, we can make MusicBizCenter.com a better experience for everyone. Please help us to help you by leaving comments.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Magdalen Graal a few questions about her music and her road to success as an indie recording artist. For those of you who don’t know who she is, Magdalen Graal is a lovely young lady from the U.K. who works with the indie recording label N.E. Productions. Together with band members, Vega, Zetar, Virgo and Drako, she creates some of the most amazing music you have ever heard. What’s truly remarkable is this young lady just had a month where fans downloaded 10,000 copies of her latest song so I wanted to ask her to share a little about her music and her secret to promotion. So let’s jump right in and see what she had to say.

Larry : Your MySpace page classifies your music as a combination of Gothic / Rock / Electronica. All of those areas of music have a pretty thorough coverage by indie artists right now. How long did it take you to actually start getting noticed?

Magdalen Graal : Well, one thing is for sure: it’s not that easy!It has been a long journey, it’s not quite two years that we’re on the net. But it’s only in the last three months that things have changed, thanks also go to a brand new promotion system developed by my label (N.E.production).

Larry : 10,000 downloads in a month… Congratulations! That’s a huge accomplishment. Aside from the fact that your music is just awesome, what kind of promotions did you use to get that many downloads?

Magdalen Graal : Web promotion. We’ve based everything on the web. When we started this production, two years ago, we knew that the era of the physical CDs was ended. The music industry was in a huge crisis and surely wouldn’t have had time to listen to our album. The Industry doesn’t give many opportunities to new artists, especially in times like these. So we decided that the web was everything we needed, the only thing that could allow us to reach the heart of people.It’s one of the most powerful machines we have, if we know how to use it!

Larry - Do you write all your own songs or do you work with a co-writer? Any advice for those who are struggling to write a popular song?

Magdalen Graal - I do write all the lyrics, where I put all myself and all my experiences, and I prefer to sing what I’ve written, because I know how to feel it while I’m singing it. Concerning the music, it’s my producer(and guitarist,Vega) who creates the magic behind the words!  The only advice I can give is that a popular song must have a great harmonic, melodic and rhythmic composition, a good recording, and above all it must be sung and played with a deep intention.

Larry - On looking through your blog posts on MySpace, I noticed you seem to like a little controversy. You have even had videos removed by YouTube and a former MySpace account terminated by the management. Do you think that their actions and the associated controversy has helped you gain more fans and popularity?

Magdalen Graal - Of course! In some ways even those “bad accidents” have contributed to our gaining more popularity (even if it has been really hard to lose a MySpace account with 82.000 fans!).

Larry - I was checking out the music on your page and I was blown away by the range and power of your singing voice. I found I’ll Fly Away and Behind You to be wonderful examples of your vocal skills. Have you had formal training or were you just naturally gifted?

Magdalen Graal - Thanks so much!! Well I’ve always had a natural disposition towards music and its world, but soon I understood the importance of a formal training.

Larry - In your case, it’s obviously talent that has built a name for you. We think indie artists tend to focus more on their music instead of creating a mass market appeal while a lot of commercial music today is more marketing than actual talent in our opinion. What do you think? Has mainstream music become to commercial? Was that a factor in your decision to record as an independent artist?

Magdalen Graal - I think that there are too many people who go into the music world just because of the money!  To tell you the truth I don’t care too much about what others do. The team at N.E. Production has given me this opportunity, I took it and I have to say that I’m absolutely happy with that! =)

Larry - Finally, is there any advice or a personal message you would like to share with our readers?

Magdalen Graal - Well there are surely a thousand advices I’d give to all the artists and readers, but what I can say, is to “feel” their focus.To always keep it in mind and never let it go, even when something doesn’t work, when people say “Go to hell!” or when everything seems too far.  This is the most important thing when you’re starting from the bottom, but you’re sure you have all the papers in to reach the top!

To sum things up, Magdalen Graal is an amazing example of successful indie music and her advice to “feel” the focus is important. If a musician loses that focus, it’s easy to let the music career of your dreams slip away from you. Like she said, when you’re starting from the bottom, keeping that focus and belief in yourself is the most important component of your success.

I know all of you will want to check out Magdalen Graal’s sound so go to her site at MagdalenGraal.com, download the new song and show your support.   Please be sure to leave a comment here as well.