Band web presence
www.band.com
Bands need a web presence to help in many aspects. Bar owners need to find you to listen to sound clips when someone recommends your band. A regular music seeking individual sees your bands name on a promotional poster in the bar or on the bar's calendar or mailing list. And last, sometimes the most important is someone looking for a certain type of band who hasn't narrowed their focus to a particular portal or agency. They know the 'what' they're looking for (classic rock band) but don't know the 'who' (your band name) or where to find it (below).
Types of web presences
OK, MySpace is THE all time classic. MySpace caters to those highly involved in the music scene. People that become Friends of the venues can then find your bands MySpace page in the venues's 'Friends' list. Easy to setup & free. Many sites are customized in too dark a manner to be viewed easily. This is especially true for low vision individuals, who can't read the; resist the dominance of blackish themes!
Facebook is a newer site and has a much more broader reaching appeal than MySpace. Lots have family and friends on it. Setup is somewhat easy and also free. Configure the main band page as a business page. Associate it with a 'band name' personal page for administration (not a real person - allows easier personnel changes). People then become a Fan of the business page.
Twitter became a hot item as soon as it was in beta testing. Also known as a form of micro-bogging; named so because it has a post limit of 140 characters. Punctuation, grammar and even spaces are sacrificed in the name of getting the message out. Twitter has a huge advantage in it's ability to instantly reach the mobile users, even remind them the night of the gig! Mobile messages are limited thought to those fans with the newest phones (requires twitter app or web access). Great for getting last minute gigs to those who infrequently use their home PC's. Example sent 'tweet' as viewed on the Twitter web:8-11pm Singles Dance Party ages 30+ with DJ Jimmy. Couples too
6-8p Michael Nitro Band: an incredible nonstop highQuality,
highEnergy show.
LinkedIn Is gaining quite a bit of usage by bands looking for more sophisticated audiences. Some feel LinkedIn also has a more secure setup than FaceBook. The advantage to LinkedIn is the proximity to people that have final approval authority in booking private and business parties. LinkedIn has a higher male population, if it matters (slight to some advantage for a hard/metal rock band) than FaceBook.
Blogs have taken the old school feel out of the web page creation process. This makes it MUCH easier for the average to slightly below average skilled computer users to create a fair to good looking web site in less than 20 minutes. Wordpress.com and blogspot.com are good free starting points.
Band-Club Portals
These are the places you should enter the "what" (type of music) and "who" (band members) at all portals. A few of the sites below are 'events listing' only. Enter your gig dates at a select portals that you feel represent your target 'play out' area best (and seem to be covering your type of music). Lastly are a few general portals for placing links pointing to your band's web site (for 'SEO' aka 'Search Engine Optimization' value).