Austin Music Foundation

Background on AMF: Non-profit helping Austin Music kick ass x years and running

Austin Music Foundation (AMF) strengthens and connects the local music community with innovative programs that empower musicians and fuel Austin's creative economy.

AMF provides programs to help local artists navigate opportunities in the music industry and services to unite the local music community through:

EDUCATION specifically tailored to today's music business climate;

OUTREACH efforts to determine artists' concerns combined with public awareness initiatives to inform the wider audience about music-related issues;

and UNIFICATION of local artists and music businesses to foster a sustainable music community.

Fuel the music!

Follow us in twitter: @austinmusic

www.twitter.com/austinmusic

Instructor: Mark Collier

Austin Addict: 20 years and counting

Life long geek

Music Lover

5 years at Yahoo! Music as Sr. Director of Business Dev.

Buzzword compliant: Social Media Twitterverse navigating web 2.0 deal making blah blah.

Follow me on twitter: @sparkycollier

1000 True Fans

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

1000 True Fans

To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly. Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans.

Twitter: WTF

A simple (yet versatile) communications tool to answer the question: what are you doing?

Very short messages: 140 characters max

Optimized for mobile phones (update by txt)

Fastest growing community on the web: 30+M

Democratic: Any voice can be heard. Speak!

Jargon Learning curve: WTF = What the F...

The most direct way to connect with your fans

Goals (suggested)

Find your biggest fans and give them more

Empower your fans: superfans will spread the word on your behalf. This is key.

Listen and understand your fans, who are they? What do they want? What do they value?

Learn by experimenting and measuring

Be a better artist, grow your fanbase, and increase show traffic & sales

Key Concepts

Public (like any web page) so anyone can read.

Not strictily 1:1 communication OR 1:many (broadcast) talking & listening skills required

Following = subscribing to person's updatesYour followers get your updates

Tweets of people you follow show up in your feed

Asymetric relationshipsI follow Shaq, but he doesn't follow me that's OK.

When someone follows you, you don't have to follow back and vice versa.

Choosing a username

Your username will be your identiy on twitter

Shorter is better

Memorable

Identifiable with yourself or band

I'm the real Sparkycollier

Replying, Retweeting, Direct Message

@ sign to address someone on twitter@austinmusic: thanks for organizing a great twitter event with @sparkycollier

If you're going to reply to someone, try to include some context as your followers may not have seen the other tweet

No one wants to hear just one side of a conversation

Retweet: to pass along an interesting tweet to your followers, repost it with RT in front or via (@sparkycollier) at the end.RT @atxrocker @austinmusic: thanks for organizing a great twitter event with @sparkycollier

Don't abuse this, as it's really annoying

Direct Message with D in front:D sparkycollier thanks for the twitter tips

Can only D someone that is following you (prevent SPAM)

#HashTags

To track topics that many people are talking about, people create a hash tag which is a common phrase behind the # sign#AMFTwitter

If everyone in this class posts tweets with the hash tag #AMFTwitter it will be easy to find all tweets relevant to this class anytime, even if you're not following the poster, by searching for #AMFtwitter: search.twitter.com

Don't abuse it just creates noise without context

Jargon Guide

Tweet: A twitter message

Ftw: for the win: Rudy's BBQ ribs ftw!

RT: Retweeting (see retweet slide)

(via @sparkycollier) another way to retweet

# hash tag to tag a post so others can find

OH: overheard convey something you heard

DMFail - when you try to direct message someone and accidentally send to all followers

Twitter via Mobile Phone

Register your phone # with twitter and update your status by texting to 40404

Remember to keep updates brief (140 characters)

If you have an iPhone or Blackberry, use a twitter application such as Tweetie for Iphone or Twitterberry for Blackberry (there are many)

Post photos to give followers more accessConcert Photos: yours or one you're attending

Backstage: Show them what's up, live!

Creative Process: In the studio, writing a song, band practice, auditions for new drummer...

Empower your fans and LISTENPick a hash tag and have your fans post photos or thoughts live from the show: #blackwhiteyears or #bwstubbs (for show at stubbs)

Ask for song requests during the gig, have manager monitor twitter

How to kick ass and suck less according to @sparkycollier

Do'sBe Original

Be Yourself

Be Authentic

Help others talk about other bands you love!

Share your passion! If you're a Stratocaster nut, shout it out

If you like vinyl, post a pic of your newest find

Ask questions: what song should we play?

Don'tsPromote yourself or products all the time

Be selling more than 10% of the time

Post too much... or too little!

Broadcast but never listen

Have a lot of one sided conversations without context: @sparkycollier yes that sounds good

#hashtageverything

Be a douchebag

Advanced Tools: Software

Eventually you'll outgrow the web interface

Recommended software: Seesmic Desktophttp://desktop.seesmic.com/

Others like: Tweetdeckhttp://tweetdeck.com/

Key Features: Create Groups (Bands, Managers, Nerds).

Monitor key terms like your band name

Advanced Tools: Tracking

You will often share URLs with your fans, like a link to your youtube video, itunes store, an upcoming show at Freddies (bad example).

URLs are too long for twitter, so shorten them

Popular on twitter: bit.ly easy to use, metrics

More powerful: awe.sm tracks unique clicks across every channel facebook, twitter, email

Other Resources

Mashable.com : Social Media Guide

http://mashable.com/2009/04/22/twitter-search-services/

http://wefollow.com/tag/austin

http://wefollow.com/tag/music

@Austinist www.twitter.com/austinist

@statesman www.twitter.com/statesman

Statesmen twitter guide:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/standing/twitterdirectory.html

www.hypebot.com And twitter.com/hypebot