Final Notes

Wow, I can't believe it's the end of the semester! I have had a fabulous time creating and keeping this blog on technology and it’s ever-changing relationship with the music industry. My content over the course of the semester I think remained on topic and consistent; each post was pretty educational and informative mixed with my own thoughts, opinions and experiences… and of course sarcasm and humor on the days I was feeling extra cynical or witty.

However I can definitely see a transition in my actual posts over the semester. The beginning several posts I narrowed in on establishing the basis of my blog with copyright laws and facts and statistics. I think these were highly informative I just wish I had kept them shorter or more to the point. I don’t think my readers were drawn in enough to read the whole long thing and probably just skimmed anyway. I think I dislike my very first post the most, because I was summarizing the blog I hadn’t written yet! Yes, I outlined what I had planned on making my blog look like over the upcoming weeks, but I would have much rather not had that box drawn for me from the start. I ended up not even looking at that entry again until just now, and my blog was just an accumulation of going with the flow and new discoveries I couldn’t have possibly predicted.

As for a favorite post, I really have no idea! I love them all so much. “Musicians Begin to Harness the Internet… Finally” is a great entry all about this professional musician who made a huge profit using twitter and being in direct contact with her fans. That entry was fun to write, because it was so unique. I also really enjoy my “Final Thoughts” at the end of each entry because they were like a quick little treasure to leave my readers with, and I had a LOT of fun finding them! I love the quotes about our generation and the timeless power of music despite aging technology. I also enjoyed once we got into posting multimedia regularly because photography is another great passion of mine. My inner art-nerd was really excited to write about music and express myself visually as well =)

All I really hope that my readers and/or followers got from my internet presence was a casual and fun experience. I didn’t want it to be heavy but I did want to establish my own opinions about the sounds and technology surrounding all of us everyday. I hope it was a light-hearted but informative read; entertaining and eye-opening at the same time. As long as one person feels more informed or got a chuckle out of my posts, I am happy. It’s not meant to change the world, just offer some perspective and insight to musicians, music lovers and fans in this critical time for the music industry.

In exchange, I learned a lot about copyright laws I never knew; for such intense penalties, the rules are extremely vague! I also learned how to enhance my writing with the use of music/photos/videos. You have to alter your writing style when you are including multimedia, and I quickly got used to that. I don’t know exactly how to explain it… maybe you have to be more direct and to the point, and in many cases you have to let the visual/audio explain itself. For music, this was very useful and perfect. When I couldn’t find the right words to describe something that was important, I would just SHOW my readers and let them see it and understand for themselves; better than my description could do.

The future for the music industry is up in the air- our generation is the turning point for many things that define music as we know it. Record labels- gone. Musicians now have more than enough technology to produce diverse music on their own and eventually the idea of being owned and signing with a label for production and status will be phased out. CD’s will become the new vinyls (as they have already started to), and eventually all our music will be digital files. Ipods will continue to advance, becoming smaller and having more space. 

Musicians will continue to collaborate with fans, probably even more than we are seeing now. I would not be surprised if fans become more involved in the musical process and have an increased influence on bands’ decisions. Who knows- maybe apple products like the iPad and iPhone will replace some instruments? Who knows what kind of electronic sounds will be produced, possibly a genre we have never heard before will emerge. I am excited to live through these changes as this new technology allows us to experiment more creatively, and put our energy into innovative and revolutionary musical options.  

FINAL THOUGHT !

A great song by a brilliantly visionary artist, poet, and musician.

On Every Corner - Ani DiFranco:

"How will they define our generation

in the coming decades

who will tell the story

and what will they say?

Will they say the victims 

were thought of as criminals

while the guilty sat on high

deciding their fate

ticking off statistics in their spare time,

tell me,

which is the crime?

... 

There are too few who open both eyes

we sit back in our easy chairs

and we try to sympathize

whether from the point of a needle

or the edge of our beds

we too, like too many others,

could be dead.

Our actions will define us

before a single definition can be said

Yeah, so what if god is testing us,

what if that's true

what are you going to do

what is the answer 

to you?"

Just for the Record...

Who knew YouTube was so picky? 


In the past YouTube had been offering special options for musicians using their site- but ONLY if you were signed with a label. If you were lucky enough to be contracted with a legit record-company, YouTube would let you behind their "Partner" curtain and musicians were presented with a bunch of great options which made using YouTube appealing. It was a win-win: YouTube got more views and became more popular with this music on their site, and the musicians got to broadcast via a highly popular website with great accommodations for their music. 
But again... only if you're signed.
What about the millions of bands and musicians who are up and coming?????? Don't neglect them!
YouTube finally took care of this with their "Musicians Wanted" program, which is specifically engineered to cater to aspiring musicians looking for their boost. AND they will make some extra money for the ads that get placed on their pages. I really think it is about time that emerging artists stop getting the short end of the stick... we need to not forget that every major band and top-charting artist revolutionizing all genres of music were each at one point these unknown, talented kids.


You can learn more about it here!


And speaking of these musicians, boy are they smart! Why are more people hesitant to embrace their fans via new social media!? I wish more bands I was into were regulars on the world wide web. Too often I feel like a band's internet presence is simply their manager or some other person on the side just generically responding to messages or comments from fans... I would rather get nothing back than get the canned response that 2,000 other fans got.


I DIGRESS ---> 5 examples of musicians embracing social media!


I want to specifically touch on Ben Folds using Chat-roulette for a second, because he will be performing at Byrd Stadium ("Capitol One Field") on the University of Maryland campus this Friday! Everyone I have talked to about this has thought it was pretty funny that he brings up such a crazy and unpredictable website in front of an entire concert audience and plays for them... and I agree! Especially because Chat-roulette remains uncensored and is known for bringing up inappropriate images/people! Hopefully Ben will keep with this trend and we will get to experience this experiment live on Friday. 
Musicians are now using social media like this to make their live performances more exciting for their fans- and it works! I think it is interesting the way this all works and I am anxious to see who/what the next band will do with all the changes in social media/technology available to them. Hopefully it will be something creative and fun- this will inevitably engage the fans... and hey, isn't that what it's all about?


Final Thought: Ok Go just recently declared their independence from the record label EMI. Why, you ask? Because EMI was putting too many restrictions on the bands YouTube account; making their video un-embedable. What is the point of even putting a video up on the internet, especially YouTube, if you don't want it to be shared among internet users and communities? Most likely it would be shared within Ok Go fan clubs and support groups, etc. It was such a feeble attempt at copyright control in my opinion... and apparently Ok Go's opinion too. They saw a massive decline in their fan-base numbers at the time they were with EMI, and as of this March they are technically an unsigned/independent band! Righteous!


Check out the meeting they had with their new band manager the other day....

If that doesn't make you love them, I don't know what will.

Cell phones- Still sub-par

Sometimes photos can't capture it all. Especially in a live concert experience- often video is a better way to go back and show your friends exactly what you experienced at a show. And I guess depending your phone, your proximity to the musicians/stage, your experience with video editing and miscellaneous other variables, some videos just come out leaps and bounds ahead of others. 


For example- same artist but two different songs and two very different videos. 


Poor quality:



Videos at live shows get on my nerves most times because the audio picked up the loudest is whatever is closest to your microphone, and unless you are in the front row or very close you usually just end up shaky images to teenage girls singing at the top of their lungs and screaming at the band. So... I try to stick to pictures personally, unless something really special is going on.


High quality: 



Final Thought: 
Using new social media (in this case, YouTube) is a really easy, convenient and effective way for a musician to broadcast their message to a WORLDWIDE audience and receive an enormous amount of creative, instantaneous, and easily organizable responses. Bryce Avary asks for fans' help in his new music video, "You  Gotta Believe"...

Inspiration

I found 

so many

breath-taking 

live music photos

that I just  

had  

to share them 

with you!!!!!!!!

(sparkrobot photography)

(ilovethatphoto photography)

(John Lewis photography)

(bluemurderstudios photography)

In addition to all these fantastic cyberspace photos (there are some really awesome picture-takers out there in the world...) I came across one website that really made me stop and appreciate it in its entirety. 25 Inspiring Examples of Music Photography is a really great blog post with some of the most intriguing photos I've ever seen. I'll show you one, but if you like what you see definitely go take a gander at the link above because it's just fantastic.

 

 Final Thought:

 AMI BARWELL IS THE BEST OF THE BEST!

check her out HERE ! She will blow. your. mind.

Ipod- Man's best friend

 

The new ipod nano (5th generation) now has video RECORDING capabilities. 

Almost predictable, Apple. It's only a matter of time before every "i-product" is going to have all of the same abilities and the iphone, itouch, ipod, iwhatever will be one and the same (music, video-recording, camera, internet browsing, and other apps). 
First there's the ipod which only plays music. Then the itouch, which plays your music and lets you add apps and browse the internet. There's the ipod nano, which lets you record video and listen to music, and the iphone which lets you browse internet, take pictures, record video, but not listen to all your music. 

But this is extremely smart for Apple and I really think their marketing strategies are very smart- short and simple. 

Apple's website writes:

"Video a-go-go.

iPod nano now has a built-in video camera that lets you record fun as it happens. Then share it with friends on the Internet. It’s the video camera that’s small enough to take with you everywhere."

We are all journalists now. We are music junkies and tech-addicts. Myself included. It's just the way our generation is, and Apple is an enormous part of this. They have overwhelmingly dominated the music industry and they continue to do so with trendy new additions like the ipod that takes video as opposed to just plays it.
As for the music/recording industry, if they want to go big they will play along with Apple in any way they can. in 2009, The Dead released an app which included "... streaming audio from all the shows, video and photo blogs from rehearsals, backstage and concert footage, an interactive Photomosaic of The Dead 2009 tour logo made up of over 500 photographs of the band, news feed with live updates, set lists within seconds of a song being played from each concert, and an MP3 download consisting of two hours of live music from the tour." (I got this from a blog!)

It's outrageous. =)

My Visual Audio

So I am well aware that my old school Pentax K1000 film camera does not compare to the highly advanced digitals (Nikon D80)... but I still love our time together. Despite my lack of front row access and special priveleges, I went to a show at 930 Club and tried to capture a little bit of the live experience. 

The Guest list and Will Call box office at 930 Club. If you look closely, you can see a girl through the window. I love the eerie lighting, and the symmetry.

The merch(andise) table. The show was opened by a band called "Fun." and the headliner was Jack's Mannequin. 

I really love this picture because of all the color, and the lighting in the background as opposed to your typical main-subject-lighting. I think this fits the pattern for all the pictures I have from this night.

Fun.... they were so fun!

The lights are fantastic. 

This one really captures their passion for music in a single shot- they way they singing together, entirely caught up in the moment and the sound they are hearing- which is what music does for people.

Jack's Mannequin!

This picture really appeals to me, with the warm lighting and the rest dark except for the singer (Andrew McMahon) and his guitarist in the right hand corner. I love the barely visible fans on the balcony in the top left,

and although I wish I was on the other side of the stage so I could have gotten the front of his body and his face, I love the emotion I get from this picture. 

He is standing on his piano, not playing or singing. Letting everything speak for itself, as if to say

 

"Here I am."

But live music is not all there is. With Apple's music monopoly; iTunes, iTouch and the itty-bitty iPod, we can have live most of our lives with our headphones in, drowning out the world and turning up our favorite songs. I would say about 50% of the University of Maryland campus walks around with headphones. And I'm not criticizing, because I do it too. I took some pictures to show you what I mean.

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (CPSAC)
The lights are really cool, awesome depth in this picture
I really like her off to the left, empty hall except for the lines of the banisters, stairs, and lights.

Outside near Hornbake library
He is hidden and it makes the picture a little less obvious because he blends in!

Stamp Student Union, food courts
Again, notice the disassociation. If you are by yourself like most of these people are, listening to headphones is a nice way to keep yourself company and make anything a more enjoyable experience. I personally get work done better when I listen to music.

Stamp Student Union, Coffeebar patio

Bus stop outside of Stamp
Rule of thirds big time!

McKeldin library, second floor (quiet area)

McKeldin library

Outside of McKeldin
I love the girl in the middle/bottom third of the picture but to the left, and then the other brick wall in the background with more people hanging out. 



In these pictures I tried to capture the individuality of our campus by including background and not just zooming in entirely on the subject. I wanted to show the variety of students who choose to listen to music all over campus, not just in one building or a centralized location. And not just one group of people either. It is really interesting how one of the most diverse campuses can have this common tie. 
Is it that portable technologies which give us effortless access to music have made us more anti-social? Maybe.  

What do you think?

Final Thought: 

 
While I was taking the above pictures, I was walking around with my very own headphones in! So what does that make me?

Visual Audio

Initially the thought of capturing music visually seems like a pointless task. The audio qualities are what defines music, so how could we take a picture of something you can't see? 

Every day music surrounds us, and although you cannot get the entire musical experience through the sense of sight alone, there are visual aspects of music which are just as important. For example, when you go to a concert, the stage and the lighting play are planned out and play a tremendous role in the live experience...

M U S E

 

P A R A M O R E

Most bands have professional photographers to capture their spontaneous concert moments and live performances such as this.I like this picture because Hayley is off to the right side of the picture with the blue and purple lights and then the crowd in the bottom half and the rest of the concert hall in the upper half tie the picture together for me. There is no empty space in this picture to me and I think the photographer did a great job of harnessing Paramore's live fan interaction in one picture. I do wish maybe the rest of the band was in this photograph, but I know there are probably dozens more which do include them. This particular one really stood out to me, with the lights and Hayley on the far right. 

Often musicians will also have portraits taken for things such as albums, posters, or any other promotional advertising they may do. They are all very different and each depends on the musician, their music style and ultimately personal preference. Professional photographs are carefully planned and can have a lot to say about the band or artist. Music and musicians are more versatile and unique than I could ever capture in this one blog post, but just for a little taste...

W E E Z E R

(They are known for their simplistic album covers -mostly a solid color background and the four of them standing shoulder to shoulder, titled in accordance as "The Green Album", Blue, Red, and Pink. Their portraits keep the same trend.)

A N I   D I F R A N C O 

I N C U B U S

T E G A N   A N D   S A R A

(The lighting in this picture is what takes it from being an ordinary photography to something a little more interesting. They are the only object of focus because there is no background and nothing else to distract the viewer besides the shadows. The photographer made a point to light their faces, but in this case it is obvious that the shadows were 100% intentional. The choice to leave some areas of the girls in the dark shows -at least t0 me- that they try to be different in their appearance as well as in their music and sound and they aren't afraid to push what is considered "the norm"- in every aspect of what they produce.)

T HE   G O R I L L A Z

An entirely digitally-operated band. They have these animated characters in all their pictures and even music videos as if they have lives and creativity of their own and the music came from these four individuals pictured below. Stepping outside the box and still being outrageously successful.

I love the versatility!!! There is no right or wrong way, and especially with camera and photo-editing advancements in the past decade, there is pretty much no limit anymore to how a band can choose to represent themselves visually. 

So with the increasing options for photographers (cameras alone have become advanced beyond imagination...), graphic designers, photo-editors and whoever else is behind the production of such images, we are hardly ever presented with an image that is out of focus, over/under exposed, dull in color or just poor quality unless specifically intended to be that way. I do think professional photography and editing is very much to thank for the a band's fan base and the people who identify with them. It is hard to compete with these photographers because not only are they professionals with the top-notch, newest and most expensive equipment, but they are given access where most of do not have the opportunity to take pictures. I could never have been between the front row and the stage to take a picture such as this: 

Love this picture. Rule of thirds big time. I'm sure you could say there's too much light coming from the background, but I think it works because they are not silhouettes and you still get all the color and action of the moment. To me it is bright and lively and it gives me the concert experience all in one picture.

More to come.

Musicians Begin to Harness the Internet... Finally.

So yesterday I posted this on our class blog to share with you all the scary amount of power Twitter holds and just how easily it can consume our world.

Then today I was just floating around cyber-space and one link led to another until I found myself here.
Let me explain what I have found. This is the personal blog of Amanda Palmer (singer/pianist for Dresden Dolls). Apparently she is one of the musicians who have found themselves addicted to social networking and very involved and in touch with her fans as a result.
This entry is entirely about how she turned a lazy Friday night into a profitable and fun adventure all thanks to Twitter communication. Palmer writes: "i twitter whenever i’m online, i love the way it gives me a direct line of communication with my fans and friends." She has nearly 30,000 followers and one Friday night when she was just hanging around with a bottle of wine and her macbook (dangerous combination), she "posted a twat to my fellow Losers Of Friday Night On Their Computers (aka LOFNOTC) that read:


i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, motherfucker. "

The entry goes on to show how this started a chain of events which she has no intentions of... but were really awesome nonetheless. She writes how they hung out viaTwitter for about two hours and came up with a list of things that the government should do for people; no tax on tea or coffee, . On the spot it was turned into a t-shirt, and someone proposed the catchy phrase, "DON’T STAND UP FOR WHAT’S RIGHT, STAY IN FOR WHAT’S WRONG".

And just like that, for $25 a pop, Amanda Palmer made over $11,000. FROM TWITTER ALONE. And it's not even going to stop there because they are shipping everywhere in the world without any extra cost. $25, and you get this beautiful baby sent to your front door:

I think it's extremely creative. And I wouldn't mind at all telling the world I stay in at night and surf on my computer as I drink wine... we all do it... but now we can finally admit it in a cool and witty way.

I would like to meet Amanda Palmer, because she seems very easy-going and funny. She writes:

"we ended up grossing OVER $11,000 on the shirts.

my assistant beth had the shirts printed up ASAP and mailed them from her apartment.
total made on twitter in two hours = $11,000.
total made from my huge-ass ben-folds produced-major-label solo album this year = $0."

This is perfectly in line with the conclusion I've been drawing- the internet is the future of music. Musicians will begin to harness direct communication with their fans in order to know exactly what the fans want and to communicate on a much more personal, friendly level. These are the musicians who will be successful in the years to come... Amanda Palmer may be leading the pack! What do you think? Do you ever tweet with your favorite musicians or initiate/participate in any communication together? Ever searched for someone famous on facebook, or sent them a message on myspace?

Let's have a round of applause.


Final Thought:
I also recently heard about a program called "eJAMMING AUDiiO", and the capitalization alone made me hesitant. However turns out to be a pretty cool and somewhat simple idea- Skype.... but for musicians. Instead of the video software Skype has, this is only audio (but they are working on completing the visual aspect). Yet the audio is very high quality which makes it better than Skype for musicians. You can make music with people all across the world. So if you are in a band but your guitarist lives in a different state or something, you can call them up, throw on a pair of headphones and jam. The software also enables recording and editing so anything you play together you can have already uploaded and saved onto your computer. Rock on.

Pandora- Friend or Foe?

Digging through the New York Times I found this blog post which caught my interest because it is right in line with one of my earliest entries where I talked about Pandora radio as a leading the way for the future of music. As opposed to taking sides, in this short blurb Claire Cain Miller poses questions for her readers; is Pandora helping us or hurting us? 


"But one of the labels’ biggest concerns remains: If people can listen to whatever they want online, why would they buy music?"


Let's break it down.

PANDORA:

Pro- it exposes us to new artists we may not have known otherwise.

Con- it does not play music on demand and it will not spit out the song we want when we want it.
Pro (for fans)- it's free.
Con (for record labels/musicians)- it's free. 
Pro- it can be accessed anywhere there is internet (which is everywhere now)
Con- advertisements.

As you see, depending on how you are involved with music [consumer or producer], there are many factors to consider when deciding how to feel about this internet radio company.  
So, how do we feel about Pandora? 
You already know my thoughts, now I want to know yours.

(and I'm sure the record labels and Pandora do too).

Final thought: 

HILARIOUS. you should get a good laugh. I'll even put the lyrics underneath because they are extremely clever :)

Facebook Song!-hilarious
Uploaded by wdc4. - Click for more funny videos. 
 

"I wouldn't call myself a social butterfly
And there's not much that separates me from the other guy
But when I login I begin to live

There's an online world where I am king
Of a little website dedicated to me
With pictures of me and a list of my friends
And an unofficial record of the groups that I'm in.

Before the internet friendship was so tough
You actually had to be in peoples presence and stuff
Who wouldve thought that with a point and a click
I could know that Hope Floats is your favorite flick (harry connick jr.?)

Facebook (Facebook)
I'm Hooked on Facebook
I used to meet girls hangin out at the mall, now I just wait for them to write on my wall.
(Its more than a want, it's more than a need; I'd schrivel up and die without my minifeed)
Take a look. (Youre Hooked) on facebook.

Oh Link's status changed. it says he's playing the recorder...

How do you know this person?
Did you hook up with this person?
Do you need to request confirmation?
Or did you just think they looked cute... from their picture on facebook?

If the internet crashed all across the land
Or my facebook account was deleted by the man
I'd carry around a picture of my face
And a summary of me typed out on a page"

A band's popularity = their internet presence ?

I just had to ask Cathy some other questions while I was down at the 930 Club last week. I was really anxious for another opinion on the way internet has made musicians and fans much closer. It is unique for every band/artist, but I will say most have some sort of internet page (myspace, buzznet, facebook, twitter... you name it) for their fans to find and follow them on. So I asked her about it and it made me laugh because the conversation went something like this:

Me: What do you think about fans now being able to stay in touch with musicians via social networks?

Cathy: If you had asked me this two weeks ago, I would have called it stupid... twitter? it’s like Perez Hilton, but for one celebrity.

(she's so right!)

But we talked about how she "forced herself" to understand it, and now she tweets all the time. It was meant to communicate easily, and that's exactly what it does! So... success? Fans can now see exactly what their favorite stars or idols are doing daily.

I asked; would you say fans are changing their expectations of musicians in general (performances, albums, artwork, creativity/ originality, lyrically, aesthetically… anything really)?

For her she wouldn’t necessarily stop liking a band because of this, but does give that extra “wow-factor”.

I think for up and coming fans though, this is a necessity. Growing up with the internet at their fingertips, if something is not online it is almost as if it’s not real. If someone is not in a relationship on facebook, it’s not real. If a band doesn’t have a website up or some means of social media, they aren’t a serious band. That’s the way it’s become, and again we can see the importance of the record label being left behind, as much as they try and cling to their musical influence. But there is no question in my mind that young fans crave that interactive exchange with their favorite artists, and when these musicians engage they take this relationship to the next level and the gap between fan and band becomes a little smaller. 

I love the band Paramore. 

I very recently found out that they have an extremely loyal and dedicated online community- specifically livejournal. 

community

band's journal

The band journal is where members of the band (usually the singer, Hayley) post to keep their fans updated about what's going on while they're recording their album, while they're on tour, etc etc etc. Fans can then post comments on each entry and either ask questions or just respond.

The LJ community is where people from literally all.over.the.world. with livejournals come together in a group to talk about how much they love Paramore, post videos, and often icons or backgrounds they have made with photoshop. 

Their community is so important to Paramore that on their live album "The Final Riot!", they play a song they don't usually play because their livejournal community came together and requested it by talking about how much they all loved it! HOW AWESOME IS THAT

Anyway, I really respect Paramore for their dedication to fans and remembering that they are the most important thing despite how famous they have become, because I can imagine it is too easy to get carried away in the fame and luxury of being a rock star. In their blog and through their songs they still come off as grounded and appreciative people, which makes me love them and their music even more. 

And I think when a band achieves this and fans really feel important and recognized then they will want to support them. Now the internet has made it much easier to keep the fan-artist relationship strong. It is not uncommon for fans to post comments or questions and artists to respond or video-record themselves actually talking to their fans. Some bands have Youtube accounts where they periodically post videos where they just talk, and we love this. We love this because we can see them talking to us, and it is as if we are friends talking one on one. Imagine your idol posted a video blog which you could go to and watch and they updated it every couple days or so. It really makes a difference- like Cathy said; gives it that extra umph which can be the difference between a good band and a really good band you'd actually follow and buy tickets to see. Technology and social networks are really changing what we expect from the people we idolize on a personal level. 

Final Thought: a snippet from Paramore's blog, just to show you exactly how they've mastered their relationship with millions of fans and why they are so rad....

"Thank you again for the incredible support that you've shown me and the guys. We always say it but seriously... Paramore fans are the best fans. Wanna fight about it?

Oh and PS. To everyone who's picked up 'brand new eyes'. Holy cow. I'm hearing all kinda numbers and reports about having one of the top two records of the week. Regardless of whether it happens or not... this is madness! I LOVE IT! We're so proud of the new album and so stoked that so many people have already heard it. Keep telling all your friends! We wanna see you at the shows singing along!

Love,
Hayley"

930 Club: One venue fits all

The other day I had the pleasure of sitting down with my lovely friend Cathy, promotions manager for 930 Club in Washington, DC. If you've never been to a show there, DEFINITELY check out their website and make a point to. They have tons of great bands and musicians of all genres coming through regularly, and they offer a musical experience just a diverse as the city they're in. They've been a proud music venue of the DC area since 1981, and they continue to be recognized as one of the best in the country year after year... there's really no way around it- any show there is a must.

Cathy and I sat and we more talked than interviewed about the life of 930 Club over the years she has worked there. She let me know that their marketing strategies have pretty much remained the same; they still use volume, fliers, posters, all of the same newspapers, and recently they have come to add social media to the list- most specifically DC area blogs, facebook and twitter, which make it easiest to track progress and fans as "followers" or "members". The social networks 930 club is a part of give Cathy instant information. She told me that each of their advertising methods offers something unique and different; Their social media is the creative, free space full of personality- the official website is purely informative and easily accessible, and their volume(post-mail) and eblast(e-mail) is a monthly compilation of upcoming shows and events at the club each with their own in-depth passages, sent out to their fans all over the country.



I imagine 930's nationally growing fan base has to benefit immensely from their presence on facebook and twitter. And as successful as it has been for them, Cathy admits that it was "purely experimental!" Most often she would find out about recent news and trends from interns or students she was working with at the club, and decided to take a chance on these emerging networks. Then in no time at all, social media took off and became a HUGE market. 


When I asked her which resources she finds herself using the most and least, myspace was quickly offered as "the graveyard of the internet". Aside from artists creating their own pages for fans to easily access and sample their music from, myspace has become the ugly duckling of the social networking competition. Facebook and twitter take the prize once again, as the club finds itself more popular and more visited among both. 


I also asked Cathy if she has and iPhone and what she thinks of it. She held up her pale pink iPhone and looks at me to say, "I'm not really... iPhone happy."
She explained how it was a chore to cipher through all the apps because anyone with an iPhone can create one... its overwhelming and too much to choose from. She likes the simpler things iPhone has to offer besides the black hole of apps; the email and internet access especially. It is nice on the go but she gets an enormous amount of emails, and on the iPhone they can get lost or looked over as she has difficulty keeping up with the reduced inbox space on her phone. 


I was curious about the way she saw the future, so I asked where she saw the 930 Club and the music industry ten years down the road (keeping in mind the iPhone was only introduced three years ago). She expressed that technology has made some things easier and thus certain jobs get done faster. But since more gets done in less time, greater results are expected in less time. However she sees concert promoting as the safest part of the music business because fans are steady and loyal. Even despite the economic recession we've been going through recently, concert sales have not declined at all. How would you explain this?
I would guess people see it as something worth spending money on no matter what, because it is so timeless and such a fulfilling feeling to see the music you love performed right in front of you.  I would also say you can't get that feeling online- you can watch a video or listen to a song but the concert experience is entirely unique and special no matter how many times you've listened to an album. I think music just does something for human beings that nothing else can; for some people it fills that hole, and it turns feelings into something slightly more real. There's nothing else like it in the world. But you know, for the more realist readers out there, I would be glad to hear your opinions and thoughts, because I feel no explanation is entirely right or wrong and I think there could be more factors playing into this than an irreplaceable feeling.


ANYWAY... I digress.
By keeping their traditional newspapers, volume and eblast in use while expanding their reach to the newer generation who seek information on facebook and twitter, the 930 Club seems to be covering all their bases. Cathy and group of very social, fun-loving people keep the club up-to-date with their audience and the best way to reach them. Much of what Cathy and others at the club do is based on getting information to the most of their audience in the simplest way possible (because people don't like complex), and this demands an understanding of popular trends and regular habits. I'm curious to see the direction social networking will go in the future and how far venues like 930 Club will follow to stay in tune with their national audience. They go so far just to understand the people they speaking to (and it differs for every single show) . . . perhaps it is exactly twitter-strides like this that make Nightclub 930 one of the best and well known music venues to date.

Final Thought:  

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