There's no denying it, the internet has radically reshaped the dance music industry over recent years. For better and worse. With fewer of us getting to enjoy the weekly ritual of leafing through rack after rack vinyl, or spending an age trying to decipher the mini review in graffiti lettering on those records at the back of the store, it's easy to reminisce and wish things were how they used to be. With the rise of digital technology has come a void in the networking opportunities open to unknown and up and coming artists and DJ's too.
But hang on there a minute. Without the rise of technology so many great things would never have been born either, internet radio, online digital record stores where you can just buy the track you're digging and not that useless 'bonus beats', Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Blogs (like this one), Serato, Traktor, Facebook, the list goes on and on.
It's just that at the bar before their headline set isn't always the best time to try and stuff your demo into that DJ's hand, or stalking that label owner around town in the hope of getting signed is going to get you a restraining order sooner than a deal. Yes, the digital age has reshaped the way we need to publicise ourselves too, whether you've got a track to get signed, an album to sell or a gig to promote.
To anyone wanting to get noticed, DJ and artists alike, the union of Soundcloud, RootMusic, Facebook, MixCloud, Twitter and the rest has become part of parcel of the promotion game, getting you seen, heard and connected on a global scale is a must.
In the first of my guides to getting set up for global domination and establishing your online brand I give you my tips on Soundcloud.
Soundcloud
http://soundcloud.com
1. Getting started
This wonderful piece of German technology will be the bed rock of all that you do from here on. Depending on your budget you can choose from a number of packages (ranging from 2.5 Euro's month to 42). Kick off with the free account, it gives you 2 hours of space to use, 100 downloads and you can upload and delete tracks as often as you like.
Using a profile picture sounds obvious, but simplicity will work best, remember your little image is most often going to be seen pretty small, if your it's a mess or you're minute in it, it'll never get noticed - stand out from the word go and design it to be seen small!
Make your profile info short and sweet, and cut the third person speak ( "At an early age Mr. X was exposed to house music and inspired to share his style with the world, blah, blah, blah..." - it just sounds odd to me!). Speak as yourself, to the people that'll come check you out. Make sure any links you add work and direct people to a place they can find out a bit more about you - Facebook is a good option but if you have your own website even better.
2. Uploading your tunes
Upload your tracks/mix. Check the levels before you do so, I've lost count of the number of times I've clicked off a track after 20 seconds with my ear ringing to clipping basslines. A piece of sleeve artwork is a must - click throughs from my Deep House fans page for links with an image perform a great deal better than ones without. A little description goes a long way too. Give visitors as much concise info as you can; style of music, bpm, type of track (promo, mix, podcast...), it all helps show you've got your shit together.
3. Join some groups
In the early days you're not going to have a whole load of followers. Best thing to do is join some groups and add your tracks to them. Sharing your music like this is vital to building your audience. But remember, it's a two way street. Listen to other people's tunes, leave comments (if you've nothing constructive or positive to say - don't bother, no-one likes a cocking prick leaving abuse).
Be sure to respond to comments on your tracks, direct communication with your followers is a great way to encourage them to post the link onwards and come back for more.
4. Follow your favourites
Another great way to get noticed is to search using the search option within each page on Soundcloud for the kind of labels and artists you like listening to and follow them. Over time people will check out who else is following them and if you've got the previous three steps right they'll listen to your tunes and hopefully follow you too... and so the net widens.
5. Tracks and Sets
In time you might want to divide your tracks into sets within Soundcloud. You can create these, depending on the type of account you have (the free account allows you three sets), and add tracks to them. The real benefit of this comes further down the line as we move to RootMusic and onto posting links on Facebook. That said if you've got a EP worth of tracks putting them all in one set makes great sense.
6. Avoid spam
Not a day goes by without some random sending me a direct message on Soundcloud, they usually go along the lines of "Hey mate, please check out my new track and leave feedback. Cheers Mr. X" - Don't do it - I've never checked one out yet, and you can bet there's plenty of others not doing it either - annoying the world can never come to any good!
7. Adding a favourite
One of the many ways Soundcloud and Facebook have combined well is the Favourites function. Using your Extentions within the Settings menu you can automatically post new tunes and favourites to other social networks - Twitter, Myspace and Facebook. It's a useful tool for attracting people to Soundcloud and your profile in particular, not to mention a reason to add you on other networks. I have a few mates that don't do Facebook and follow UM on Twitter just to get a regular hit of new tunes I'm liking on Soundcloud.
8. Keep it regular
No point having one track sitting there for 9 months, keep the profile refreshed with new music on a regular basis and get your name out there on other users 'Tracks from people you follow' listing. I limit the number of people I follow so have often stopped following people if they've been quiet for way too long.
9. Dropboxes
If you're a DJ and you want to attract promo's you could do worse than add a Dropbox Widget to your Facebook profile or blog. You can find the html code here: http://soundcloud.com/tracks/following
10. Widgets and Apps
Which brings us nicely to the last tip. No social network is complete these days without a range of Widgets and Apps and Soundcloud have it covered. From Dropboxes to embedded players and beyond, the technical adept amongst you can extend your Soundcloud experience to all sorts of areas, production, editing, sales, iPhones and the like - check it all out using the menu at the bottom of every page.
So that's us up and running, next time I'll take you through setting up your Facebook page.
Richie
