Artist Name: A 750ml Affair
Album Title: A 750ml Affair
Release Date: 2007
Genre: Rock
Location: Spokane, WA
Label: Kettle Black Records
Band Members: Gregory A. Rogers
Website: www.A750mlAffair.com

The very moment Gregory A. Rogers mentions in passing how his “wife is at home awaiting the sunrise,” right after lavishing sweet nothings all over Miss Sexy Target of his extramarital affair, the Afghan Whig’s lecherous and spooky Greg Dulli comes immediately to mind. Simply put, Rogers is a smooth talking devil, in the sleazy Dulli mode, throughout this oftentimes troubling CD. And while his words may be appalling, he is nevertheless simultaneously quite compelling.

Just as this project’s name lays out a wide land expanse, the music Rogers creates covers a lot of stylistic ground. Although much of the initial material on this 12-track release suggests ‘90s alternative rock, the song “Sail Away” is a 180 degree direction change, which goes the way of jazzy soft rock with a sweet trumpet solo smack dab in the middle of it. Yet despite this song’s sometimes breezy sound, Rogers nevertheless expresses romantic regret with a lyric that insinuates he’s probably better off alone. Similar jazz touches show up once again during “The Everything”, as shuffling drums and George Benson-ish guitar lines color the overall sonic.

Be forewarned: Rogers is a consistently dark fellow, no matter what instrumentation he applies to songs. “Goodbye to the Vampire” may kick off with folk-y guitar, but Rogers then sings: “You know that I just want to die/Have another cigarette and say goodbye.” This is followed up with “A Perfect End”, which finds Rogers suggesting: “Let the ocean bury me.” The Grim Reaper must have hung around expectantly during each and every recording session.

Obviously, Rogers is not a happy man. The inside of the CD jewel box features the following John Calvin quote: “The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.” Therefore, this release details one man’s hell and tortuous conscience.

Track Listing:

Warring Chirp
Fine
King and His Horses
A 750ml Affair
Out of Time
Sail Away
The Everything
The Daily Ten
Last Laugh
American Dream
Goodbye to the Vampire
A Perfect End

To check out more about a 750ml affair, please visit www.A750mlAffair.com.

Artist Name: Siggy
Album Title: Absinthe Effect
Release Date: 2008
Genre: Rock
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Label: Shot Time Productions
Band Members: Galen Buckwalter vocals, Ryan Howes guitars, Deborah Buckwalter bass, Paul Netherton drums
Website: www.SiggyTheBand.com

Siggy’s sound hearkens back to classic David Bowie ‘70s glam rock, especially the way vocalist Galen Buckwalter sings in a wavy, emotional manner and evidenced by how a Mick Ronson-inspired guitar lick introduces “WWGNRD?”. Yet Buckwalter is by no means your typical glitter rocker. Please note that this front man is also known as Dr. Galen Buckwalter, and is a former professor at University of Southern California. Furthermore, guitarist Ryan Howes has studied clinical psychology, which gives this four-piece a brainy edge – for whatever that’s worth — over much of the Los Angeles rock scene.

The Absinthe Effect is an apt CD title because this music is aurally hallucinogenic. Such wooziness is especially tangible during “Slap”, which adds The Velvet Underground inspired strings to its swirling mix. Buckwalter is a smart guy who writes intelligent lyrics, but there are times when his affected vocal tone annoyingly interferes with clear enunciation of the lyrics. This forces the listener to focus much harder than need be. In the end, one is left wishing this project contained more tracks like “Sign”, which finds the group playing a tamped down jangle rock tune accompanied with organ, as Buckwalter does a near perfect Ian Hunter imitation. Emotionally, The Absinthe Effect comes off a little like an angrier Radiohead. Whereas Thom Yorke and band turn anger inward on themselves — which is a layman’s definition of depression — Siggy spew vitriol in much more extroverted manner.

With all the IQ and talent represented in this band, Siggy has great potential to provide a truly sobering effect on the listening public one day.

Track Listing

1 Coalmine
2 Remember
3 Slap
4 Mediterranean
5 Turnaround
6 WWGNRD?
7 Shoulder
8 Sign
9 Die
10 History of Love

To find out more, check out Siggy’s website at www.SiggyTheBand.com or listen to its music at www.myspace.com/siggytherockband.

Artist: Frank Tribes
Album: Gallery
Genre: Rock
Location: Chicago, IL
Label: S.E.N. Records
Band Members: Frank Tribe (vocals, guitars, organ, and autoharp)
Website: www.FrankTribes.com

Derivative is nearly always a pejorative term. When used to describe a musical artist, it suggests a lazy performer who is unwilling or unable to sail uncharted waters. And while Frank Tribes’ music is undeniably derivative, this factor only heightens the enjoyment in listening to Gallery, his third full-length release. In other words, derivativeness is a compliment in this instance.

Tribes’ style hearkens back to a time when melody was king. In today’s culture, of course, rhythm is on the throne and beats-per-minute is the law of the land. But Tribes’ guitar playing produces consistently memorable melodic hooks, just as natural as rain. Although Tribes may claim much hipper artistic influences, many of these tracks suggest none other than Tom Scholz, guitarist for the oh-so-mainstream Boston. This reference point comes to mind because Tribes guitar creates long melodic lines, instead of short, show-off-y notes so often associated with harder rock recordings. Gallery is an album that rocks you, albeit gently.

This release is at its gentlest on “Watch You Sleep”, a track where Tribes expertly replicates the hushed weekend mood of The Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning.” Over a restrained drum beat and jangling guitar, Tribes captures a nighttime moment where he catches himself admiring his loved one slumbering. Appropriately, Tribes is at his loudest on a song titled “Low to High”, where the singer/songwriter shows a grittier side over a chunky electric guitar riff.

Galleries are specialized rooms where visual artists display their best work. Similarly, Gallery is an audio collection Frank Tribes can be proud of. You’ll likely find yourself humming along to these songs, as though you’ve known them your whole life. And so, whenever music points back to what is most admirable about rock & roll, that’s a time to champion derivativeness.

Album Tracks:

1 On My Way
2 Surprised
3 Blade Through the Skin
4 Watch You Sleep
5 Won’t You Make It Right
6 Blue Mountain
7 Vampyres
8 Hands
9 Gallery
10 Low to High
11 One for You
13 Cross the Line

To find out more, check out Frank Tribes website at www.FrankTribes.com or listen to his music at http://www.myspace.com/franktribes.

Then I thought, hey, I’ve seen bands half that size split up because there were just “too many cooks in the kitchen” - they just couldn’t get along when it came to dealing with constant creative and business decisions.

So how does Stealing Jane do it? What’s it really like for these 8 guys, and does being a part of a bigger band really make it any easier on the indie front? Pat Iannelli, the band’s manager and saxaphonist, took some time to answer a few of my questions about what it’s like to be a part of a band like Stealing Jane, and what it was like to shoot their first music video (which you can watch below) for Outside.

AX: An 8-man band – you don’t see a lot of those. I imagine there are a few benefits to that (like being able to split up promotional and other band costs, having more diverse musical influences to pull together something unique, etc.). What would you say is the best part of working with such a large group?

AX: At the same time, this is still an 8-man band! Do you ever find that there’s a bit of a testosterone overload leading to tension or arguments? How do you deal with that?

SJ: To be clear YES! We are the 8 most highly-opinionated and diverse group you will probably ever encounter. We rarely ever agree on the first draft of anything, whether it is promotion ideas, song writing ideas or even what we are going to eat for dinner, which is really good in a lot of ways, but very frustrating in others. Having 8 people is like a giant fish net, it allows us to catch a lot more knowledge that is out there, and at the same time wee see things from 8 different perspectives. We never take anything we hear and do it verbatim; we try to be as analytical and critical as possible. The process may take a lot longer, but we are able to come up with ideas that are much better suited to our situation.

A lot of the times though I don’t think it’s pride that gets things heated; it’s dedication to one’s ideas. I can’t tell you how many times I myself have been “shot down” and walked away pissed off because I was so married to an idea and it wasn’t used (Editor’s Note: awwwww). Most of the time though when I look back on the rejected ideas I realize that they were not right for our situation at the time and am happy I had the guys to bounce ideas off of and they have often said the same thing.

AX: You recently released your first music video. It looks like you guys had fun shooting it. What were some of the challenges of creating your first video, and what went over even better than expected?

SJ: The outside video was a BLAST to shoot! We all had a great time doing it. As far as challenges go, because Matt (The Director) was so on top of things, easy to work with, open to suggestion, and overall a great person to be around, the only big challenge was driving all the way to Connecticut at 3am after finishing at a gig at 1am and shooting on zero hours of sleep.

The whole video came out better then we could have ever imagined and it’s to not because we didn’t have confidence in Matt but because we didn’t think we could look so . . . not us. And by that I mean we have often feet like ever time we see our photo shoot pictures or watch videos of us we look like 8 individuals, our personalities and taste often stand alone (Non musically speaking) I feel. In this video I felt like we were one band. “We were just 1 band; our numbers account for nothing” (sorry I just watched the 300 again). (Editor’s Note: Awesome movie - now I love these guys even more.)

AX: Given the popularity of sites like YouTube these days, do you think it’s important for indie bands to use videos for promotion? Or maybe a better question is “do you think it’s necessary?”

SJ: I am a firm believer that quality content on multiple platforms is essential. The technology is so cheap and tangible that to not take advantage of sites like YouTube is careless and detrimental to the growth of one’s career. You don’t know how long these sites are going to be the hot thing but, you do have enough time to strike while they are.

AX: Your publicist tells me that Stealing Jane has opted to “forego the label route and do everything completely on your own.” What exactly does that mean for you guys? What are some of the bigger business and marketing aspects of your music that the band is handling independently? What are some of the best aspects (as in what are you glad to have some added control over), and what are some of the biggest challenges of the DIY route?

SJ: By being independent we have to build our own team, which has its pros and cons, because a lot is trial and error, but we are building a team with the same vision as Stealing Jane. On a major label there can be so much turnover that one day the people in your corner could be gone and now new reps come in and may not feel the same way as there predecessors, leaving you in label limbo. A perfect example is what happened with Hanson on Island Def Jam and now that they’re independent they are making the music that they want to make. Now, only having to answer and explain things to themselves. This is probably the most important thing to us, which is keeping our own creative control.

The challenges of the DIY route are without a doubt lack of financial advance for tours and recording. With the route we are taking we must create a budget and find investors who are willing to back our endeavors.

When it comes to DIY we have had some amazing role models from Dispatch to O.A.R. in conjunction with Everfine Records. These were some of the earlier bands who took the road less traveled and proved that business is secondary in the phrase “music business”. We can only dream to reach their level of success, but no matter where we end up we will know that we got there because of the support of family, friends and fans of our music.

To learn more about Stealing Jane or check out their energetic tracks (they’ve been keeping me hopping the last few weeks at least), visit them online at StealingJane.com or on Myspace.

As an indie band, should you bring on a band manager to handle your business affairs, or does it make more sense to handle things like promotion, bookings, and recording by yourselves? I talked to Colorado-based Fiancé about their decision to self-manage their band’s business, and whether or not it’s really important to have skills beyond making music to be a successful independent band.

The guys make a pretty strong point regarding their choice to handle business independently (for now) - they realize that no one outside of the band is likely going to have the same drive and passion for the band. In other words, no one will work harder to get your music “out there” than you! Do you agree?

In Fiancé’s case, the guys have a recording specialist in the group - convenient surely. So I wanted to know two things:

1. Do other band mates bring any kind of business skill to the table for them?
2. Does the band feel it’s really necessary to have these kinds of skills (whether it be recording, Web design, a marketing background, etc.) for an indie artist or band to successfully handle their own business affairs.

Here’s what they had to say:

“Let us start by saying we think that it is vital for independent artists and bands to have a grasp of the current music industry and the challenges it presents. If you want your music to be heard and if you want to get your name out there, you have to show it to people… you have to make people listen to a certain degree. For the most part, nobody is going to just find you… the idea of being “discovered” is long gone. In today’s industry, being “discovered” is more about proving your viability as an artist and showing the industry hard facts along with your complete artist portfolio (i.e. press, touring, cd sales, etc).

In order to build up that portfolio, a band has to have some ability to be able to record a CD, promote their music, book their own tours, market themselves online, etc. With that said, I don’t think that the business skills (or any other skills) of each member matters nearly as much as your ambition. Sure it will help your band if you have a recording or sound engineer, or a Web designer, or a guy with an MBA in music business, etc. However, in my experience, while most bands have maybe one or two guys that might be able to bring something to table for the good of the band, the bands that separate themselves from the pack have unparalleled drive and ambition. These qualities help them to overcome any lack of training or skills on the business side simply because they are driven to figure those things out along the way because they want to see their band succeed.

The most important thing is the band members’ willingness to learn about the industry and work together to reach their goals. In the case of Fiancé, our drummer is in school for recording engineering. So we are able to use his knowledge, and in some cases, his resources through the school to record albums that we are proud of. Making an exceptional recording is very important to our band, and we are lucky enough to be able to take a lot of time on that process to ensure that it is up to our standards (namely because we don’t have to pay for studio time).

However, aside from that, none of us bring much in the way of professional skills that we can benefit from (we don’t have a photographer or a guy with a Master’s in business). Furthermore, recording is only one aspect of what makes a band successful. Sure we can record an album for a fraction of the typical cost, but then what? What does having a CD do for us if we don’t do anything with it? That is where our drive becomes so important.”

Fiancé practices what they preach. They take the time to figure things out along the way, in true DIY fashion:

“None of us had ever been in a band that did significant touring, let alone booked a tour. However, it was a goal since our inception to get outside of Colorado to play shows. Even though we initially had no idea how to make that goal happen, after only being a band for roughly 2 years, we have already gone on a handful of regional tours. How? We set goals for ourselves, and figured it out. We figured out how much it would cost us, how much we could make along the way, what the best ways to book the shows were, what the best way to save money on the road was, and we did it. It took a lot of hard work and planning, but our drive to succeed helped us make the goal a reality…despite a lack of real knowledge as to how to tour. We certainly didn’t have a manager or a booking agent showing us the ropes…and none of us had ever booked more than a single show in our hometown.

Another example is that we didn’t have a website until recently. We didn’t have the money to hire somebody to build one for us…but we really wanted to have something other than just a Myspace page and we wanted some place to sell merchandise online. None of us were Web designers. None of us had friends that we felt we could ask a favor from. So our guitar player, Michael, spent some free time figuring out how to build websites…eventually, he built our website.

The point is, if you have the ambition and the drive to make your band successful, you can really do anything you set your mind to and you will figure out ways to reach your goals…even if some of the pieces require skills outside of your set of knowledge. You will be amazed the stuff you can figure out when you have a good reason to do so. So, whether your band’s members have other skills or not, taking control and ownership in the success of your band is the most important thing…because it will lead to a greater understanding of what it takes to be successful, and eventually to the skills necessary to make your goals of success a reality.”

The guys do acknowledge that band manager’s can play an important role, if and when you find the right one, but in general they say indie acts can successfully stick to self-management:

“Having a manager is a funny thing. Truthfully, when most bands are first starting, you don’t really need a manager. A manager should really take control of areas of your career that you as a band or artist have built up but simply don’t have time to deal with any longer.

The honest truth is that at the indie level, there is little to no incentive for a manager to work hard for a band. There are usually only two reasons for a manager to work with a band: money, or because they believe in the band enough to work to see them succeed. If you can find the latter variety…a guy who believes in your band so much that he will spend as much time as you would or more trying to make you a success, then a manager might not be a bad idea. But the fact is if you find that guy you are more lucky than anything else. Most professional managers (like any other profession) are doing it for money…they might love their job, and love your band’s music…but they have to put food on the table like you and me. And unless your band is going to do that in a relatively short time period, finding a manager who is the caliber of person who can help elevate your band’s career will be a tough task. Sure you can go find any guy off the street to manage your band…but do you really want to hand over the control of your dreams and music career to some guy who is just doing it for a hobby…or because he thinks it might be fun?”

It all sounds good in theory. You care most about your music and band, so you should be the best person for the job when it comes to the bookings, touring, finances, marketing, etc. (or the best person to find the independent help like a studio, publicist, etc.). Right? But is it realistic for most bands. Can most independent musicians really handle all of the business angles?

I don’t think so. I work in PR for independent and creative professionals, and coach freelancers and others looking to start small businesses. So I understand all of the problems folks in your shoes face (and the fact that the vast majority do fail within the first few years).

At the same time, I think Fiancé really hit the nail on the head. It’s all about the passion.If you want to beat the odds, you have to want it. You have to work for it. And you can’t take no for an answer. So I have to applaud them for recognizing the potential that you have as artists (and essentially entrepreneurs), but without making it sound “easy.”

“In our opinion, most artists do have the capacity to successfully manage their careers (at least when they are starting out). However, the catch is that most artists and bands will not put in the work necessary to actually be successful at it. There are a lot of artists that just want people to do the work for them…but you can’t sit around and wait for someone else to get your career off the ground. The simple fact is that the artists that want ‘it’ bad enough will do the work necessary to successfully manage their careers. In some cases that may mean they have to manage it themselves until they find the right person to step in and take over duties. But the artists that take ownership over their careers are the ones that not only have the most success managing themselves, but also have the most success in the music industry period.”

To learn more about Fiancé or their latest release Please, ambitious, please you can visit them at their website or on Myspace.

Fan-sponsored music sounds like a great concept, doesn’t it? Thanks to sites like SellaBand and SliceThePie, fans have the opportunity to invest in a band or solo artist, financing the artist’s album (for a cut of the profits - they can even buy and sell their “shares” in a sort of stock market environment). The artist doesn’t have to give up rights to their work or deal with a label calling the shots. Sound like heaven?

I’m not knocking fan-sponsored music. I think it’s a fascinating evolution in the music industry, and imagine the concept’s going to continue to grow rather than disappear in the foreseeable future. But is a fan-sponsored album right for you?

Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of fan-sponsored music, so you can decide if it’s a worthwhile avenue for your band to pursue:

The Upsides of Fan-Sponsored Music

• Fans who invest in an artist have even more incentive to try to help them succeed by spreading the word.
• There’s an obviously stronger tie in the band-fan relationship when the fans are financially invested in you. Investors generally get special access to the band over the general public, giving you more opportunities to interact with them.
• You’ll potentially drum up more financing than you could otherwise afford.
• You don’t have to worry about trying to get labels to take notice.
• You don’t have to give up rights that label artists do.
• You don’t have to deal with label execs telling you what to do, how to change your style, etc. - You have more creative freedom.

The Downsides of Fan-Sponsored Music

• You’ll be competing with plenty of other artists for the financing available from fans taking part in the phenomenon (it’s still relatively new, meaning investors are somewhat limited - you’ll need to very actively get your existing fans involved).
• Because of that, it helps to already have a very active fan-base. If this is your first CD, and you don’t have a lot of followers yet, you may find it more difficult to gain fan sponsors.
• While true of any independent artist, you won’t have the insider guidance of a label - if you want that, a fan-sponsored album probably isn’t a good fit for you.
• If your album flops, it’s not just the band taking the brunt of the cost - you’ve disappointed investors rather than just fans, which means poor decisions on your part could make securing future financing extremely difficult. In other words, you’ll need to have some business sense before getting involved in the fan-sponsored scene.

I’d love to hear from fan-sponsored artists about their experiences, as well as artists considering this route (why do you want to give it a go? do you have any concerns? etc.). Feel free to share your comments.

Social Media Tools for Musicians

Before I get into why you shouldn’t worry about trying to use every social media tool you can get your hands on, let’s start by giving you some examples of social media tools for musicians:

• General Social Networks - You would be hard-pressed to say any general social network is better for independent musicians than Myspace. Still, others do exist, and may be worth checking out - anything from Facebook to even LinkedIn (for those looking to connect with industry professionals, or for those working behind-the-scenes in indie music).
• Music Networks - In addition to general social networks, music networks exist specializing entirely in building the band-fan relationship. Examples would be Purevolume or Unsigned.com.
• Microblogging - I’m not a big fan of relying on microblogging services like Twitter when it really counts (their reliability is atrocious, and it’s quite noise-filled), but microblogging platforms can work for the touring musician. You can keep fans up-to-date on what city you’re in, what you’re doing on the road, etc.
• Blogs - Keeping a band blog can be a great way to keep in touch with fans in a semi-controlled environment. You can have conversations with fans in the blog comments, post more to your entries than with microblogging (like a more detailed tour journal, photo and video posts, etc.). If you do launch a blog, I suggest using Wordpress. You can have them host it for free (you’ll have less control) or you can host it yourself (I recommend hosting with HostGator).
• YouTube - Social Video Sites like YouTube are great for indie artists. You can create your own music videos and make them available for fans. YouTube gives you a shot at viral marketing on the cheap (a music video doesn’t have to cost you much, if anything - you can even just have a friend record a live performance for you instead of a staged music video).

Why Being “Social” Doesn’t Mean Being “Everywhere”

You can’t expect to do everything, while doing everything well. The reality is that you only have a set number of hours in a day. You only have so much time in there that you can spend promoting your music (especially if you’re also in school, working, etc.).

The key to using social media effectively is to do what’s best for you. A popular Myspace page may require a big time investment to keep on top of comments (keep in mind, it’s only “social” networking if you’re actually interacting with your fans, rather than just letting them leave you comments).  Many blogs don’t have the time to invest in a blog. Others may not be great with videos, or they don’t have someone who can help them record one (and no budget to hire a professional).

By all means, use as many of these social media tools for musicians as you can, as long as they’re helping you reach specific goals that you’ve set for yourself and your music. Like with any other time of marketing, social media marketing takes planning. Think about what you can do, but also think about what you can’t. For instance, don’t launch a blog if you’re going to neglect it - you’re only going to disappoint your fans, which is counter-productive. Make sense?

Recently on my book marketing blog, I talked about why author publicity is more important than book publicity. The same is true in music promotion - the image of the band or artist far outweighs the publicity of any specific album, song, or product, and it relies on the always-important band-fan relationship.

Why Build “Relationships” with Fans?

The reason I tell authors to focus on author publicity first is that author publicity / PR affects all sales (current and future), while book PR simply promotes a single title. As a musician, publicity built up around yourself or the band works similarly. The more fans feel a connection with you, the more likely it is that they’ll not only buy your current album or track downloads, but futures ones (not to mention merch, show tickets, or anything else you’re promoting to them).

But what do I mean by “relationships?” I’m talking about the PR side of things here (my specialty) - not marketing. We’re not talking about taking out ads, posting flyers, or sending newsletters. We’re talking about direct interaction between the artist and their fans.

The idea is to connect with fans on a personal level - to make them feel like (or realize) that you care as much about them as they do about you and your music. A lot of independent artists do an outstanding job at this. Do you?

How to Build and Maintain the Band-Fan Relationship

You know connecting with fans is important, but how the hell do you do it? Fortunately for indie artists, the Web makes that infinitely easier than it used to be. Here are some traditional and online relationship-building tactics you can use to keep fans loving you and coming back for more:

• After shows, talk to your fans. Don’t hide - get out there and interact, whether you’re out selling merch and CDs or just hanging out.
• Get personal - if they ask you to autograph something, do it, and personalize it if they want you to. If they want to take a photo with you, do it. It might not matter a lot to you, but it does matter a lot to some fans. It’s something they can hold onto, and it reminds them that you took time out of your day for them (and it’s more than just a fleeting connection they’ll forget about in an hour - it’s something to show off - can you say “word of mouth marketing??”).
• Start blogging. If you don’t have a band blog, why not? If you genuinely don’t have the time or inclination to manage one, then don’t - running a half-assed blog will do more to damage the band-fan relationship than build it. If you do have an artist blog, make sure fans can leave comments (it’s OK to moderate them to stop spam, but probably not a good idea to make them sign up for something to comment - it’s obnoxious and bad practice - the idea is to make yourself accessible). It’s vital that you not only let people leave comments, but that you respond to them.
• Use Myspace. Most indie bands are on Myspace these days. Chances are that your fans are leaving you plenty of comments. Don’t let that be a one-way conversation. Comment them back! - And for god’s sake, don’t only comment on a fan’s personal page to promote yourself with an ad or something. If you’re not building a real relationship with them too, that’s nothing more than spam, and it makes you look desperate.
• Twitter. I’m not a huge fan of microblogging. As a matter of fact, I speak out against using Twitter quite actively on my PR blog.  Those feelings are targeting the service in a professional capacity. But if you’re on tour, maybe won’t be able to update your regular blog as often, etc., then try using a microblogging service like this to keep in touch with fans, even if just to let them know what town you’re playing in that night.
• Respond to emails. Not everyone can respond to everything, and you don’t have to. But if someone says something significant, asks good questions, etc. have the decency to respond to them. After all, they took time out of their day for you, and emails let you know what fans are thinking about you and your music on a more private level.

What other things do you or your band do to keep a two-way conversation going with fans?

Unfortunately there’s no simple yes-no answer here. While on the surface, they do the same thing, there’s more to it. Which you use (or both) really comes down to the artist’s commitment. Here’s why:

Blogs are about much more than simply posting about your recording updates or about your latest show. Blogs are about engaging your audience and building relationships.

Blogs generally need to be updated often to maintain readership - you should be posting more than once a week or once per month - schedules that may be perfectly fine for newsletters (which are one-sided communication where you talk to your fans instead of talking with them).

So if you want to blog successfully, someone in your band should be your dedicated blogger (this helps to keep a consistent voice that builds and maintains those relationships). It should be updated regularly. Most importantly, you should be allowing comments, and actually allotting enough time to respond to them. Blog comments aren’t a bulletin board for people to tack up messages for you to ignore - they’re a part of a discussion. If you’re not prepared to invest time into maintaining those discussions and relationships, blogging isn’t right for you.

In that case, a newsletter makes more sense. You won’t build the community atmosphere, but you’ll still get your news out to your fans that choose to receive it.

That’s they key in choosing between the two - time. But is it ever appropriate to use both? Sure.

A blog can be a more personal communication tool - such as sharing your reactions after shows or documenting your experiences while on tour. If you have a lot of simple news that you want to get out there, where you may not want comments, you can also use a newsletter - such as for announcing show dates, launch dates, etc. where you may not want a ton of comments to respond to simply saying “Can’t wait to see your show this Saturday!” or something along those lines.

Before you commit yourself to something that fans are going to come expect, always think about how much time and energy you’re willing and able to devote to it.

Full Disclosure: The company running Unsigned.com is a past client of mine.

One of the best things? Unlike sites like Myspace where the major label artists encroach on your territory, Unsigned.com is exclusively for unsigned and indie label artists.

Some other features of the site include musician-specific classifieds, a page builder to help you create your Unsigned.com profile, and a music player and playlist editor that are highly customizable - fans can compile playlists of their favorite unsigned artists on the site.