Tag Archive for twitter

Ariel Hyatt is the go-to-gal for any artist looking to conquer the ever-elusive digital world. Her New York-based PR firm helps connect artists with blogs, podcasts, Internet radio and social networking sites, although it wasn’t always this way. Ariel Publicity began as a traditional PR firm pitching bands to newspapers (gasp!), magazines, TV and radio, but the firm went completely digital in 2006 with the realization that these mediums were slowly becoming obsolete. Today Ariel’s company is just as much about teaching artists how to market themselves online as it is about doing it for them. She can be found all over the Internet— her bi-weekly YouTube series Sound Advice has over 20,000 subscribers, she’s a contributing blogger to New Music Ideas and Music Think Tank, and her book Music Success In Nine Weeks can be found on right here on Amazon. She also hosts various workshops for artists and music industry professionals and has spoken on countless panels at highly-respected music festivals such as SXSW, the BMI Music Panel Series and NARAS.

OurStage caught up with Ariel to talk about efficient ways to market a band, and the importance of Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Check out the Q&A below!
Continue reading ‘Q&A with Ariel Hyatt’

So you’re looking for a way to further your career as an independent artist? Not sure which label is right for you, or if a label is even a possibility? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This blog will hold all the necessary tools that you’ll need to build that beautiful ship and set a course to sail on. Your music career, full steam ahead.

Here you will find weekly updates full of tips ranging from how/where to showcase your music, to different marketing tools to push your group past the local threshold and into the industry. And now that we’ve hit the digital age with full force, making an imprint on the online community is a must to survive. Start off with researching different networking sites such as your defaults: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter. Other sites you can check out and upload your music to are OurStage, Buzznet, Purevolume (just to name a few). Working on these different sites will help you showcase your music to different parts of the nation and world, expanding your digital fanbase to create the “buzz” needed to tour and gain that much deserved exposure. Next week’s post will go more into depth about different ways to utilize these Web sites without “burdening” your fans while keeping yourself proactive and fresh in the game.

With this sole purpose, this blog is here to spark some creativity; these are but building blocks, it’s up to you to build your city.

Welcome to Generation D.I.Y.

In recent months, Twitter has been exploding with popularity. In part, this explosion is due to a an increasing number of celebrities using Twitter to connect with their fans. Celebrities aside, there are many other features that are drawing people to twitter in droves; on the music side of things, Blip.fm, is a great example.

The concept is pretty simple: you want to share songs and comment about them to the world. Of course you’ve been able to do this for years, but it has never been so simple. Type in an artist or song name and Blip will pull up a list of songs you can instantly listen to, preview and post. You then have 150 characters to explain the significance of the song. The updates can be placed on your Twitter account to share with friends and the world.

When you combine this powerful service with users and even celebrities sharing their musical tastes, you open up an entire conversation for the masses. This social media allows users and companies (including @OurStage) alike, to interact and share their musical tastes almost instantly. So if you’re tweeting, give blipping (can it be made into a verb yet?) a try to share your favorite music with the world.

You might be wondering what Jimmy Fallon is up to on a Friday night or what P Diddy thinks about when he wakes up in the morning, but you may not know that you can find the answer with just one click of the mouse.  The next big social networking tool online is Twitter, and many people, including celebrities, are taking notice. If you’re not familiar with twitter, read more about how it works.

A lot of celebrities and musicians are using this utility to reach fans and demographics in a way that they have not been able to in the past. Check in with a few big names that are using twitter: Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, and Jimmy Fallon, and watch this video of Sean “P Diddy” Combs discussing Twitter on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Needless to say, everyone is using Twitter. We even use it to help keep OurStage users and followers updated. Take a look at our Twitter page and the list of people we follow. Many of them are OurStage artists, so join Twitter and follow them yourself!

Rainn Wilson loves Mieka Pauley

Some people in the music industry accredit success directly to the number of fans an artist has. However, in the case of indie artists, there are other ways to gain momentum. One option is the support of a mainstream artist or celebrity. Some of them do it in different ways, but celebrities always have a way of boosting an indie artist’s popularity.

Rainn Wilson (Dwight on The Office) isn’t shy about his musical opinions. In fact, he’s taken notice of a couple OurStage artists and is becoming actively involved in their careers. Plushgun isn’t a stranger on the OurStage roster, but Rainn Wilson’s appearance in their video for “Just Impolite” puts an interesting “main stream” spin on the group. Rainn Wilson has also expressed interest in bluesy singer/songwriter Mieka Pauley. Wilson has chosen to follow Pauley on Twitter (an honor that he has only given 60 other people). Whether it’s online, in videos, or just in his spare time, Rainn Wilson keeps his attention turned to independent artists in the music industry.

Food Network star, Rachel Ray, is not known for her taste in music. She is becoming something of a tradition at the SXSW musical festival in Texas. For the second year running, Rachel hosted an indie music feature party in Austin at the 2009 event. On the bill at Ray’s party this year was The Hold Steady, The New York Dolls, Bob Schneider, The Cringe (Ray’s husband’s band), and The Airborne Toxic Event. Last year’s event showcased Scissors for Lefty, another band showing prominence on OurStage. Ray has an ear for impressive indie rock and isn’t shy about being a musical advocate. Needless to say, there are plenty of independent artists out there that are catching the ears of not only the general public, but mainstream celebrities like Rachel Ray as well.

To follow suit with this concept, Edward Norton, acclaimed actor of Fight Club and American History X, does his own indie endorsement. Long time friend and indie singer/songwriter, Peter Salett, has received a lot of artistic support from the actor. In fact, Salett held a vast majority of the slots on Norton’s Celebrity Playlist on iTunes. Norton describes Salett as being “one of the most instinctive, lyrical singers and natural songwriters” in a long time. Recently, the songwriter has gained industry momentum as a composer for film (a career path that began to take shape when Salett composed the full score for Norton’s film “Down in the Valley“). He recently wrote the score for Role Models starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. Branch out from OurStage to other indie artists and check out his website or pick up his latest release, In the Ocean of the Stars.

Whether it’s online endorsement, a high profile gig, or just the help of an old friend turned actor, indie artists can benefit from the clout of mainstream celeb’s and personalities. Be sure to check out all of these artists, because they’ve definitely caught the attention of some important listeners.