[atlantaprog] Re: booking info

Since I've recently gone through gyrations on the exact topic Allen
speaks to, I have further curmudgeony opinions to express here:

Allen, I understand what you're saying, but I still don't think for a
second that MySpace is either a panacea or even a solution of any kind
to the real problem of.... BAD WRITING.
The true issue here is that bands generally don't have a
fart-in-the-wind chance of being able to accurately, objectively, and
summarily described themselves in a written context.  It's a 3-layer
crap-cake:
- Layer 1 of it is that if you're in a band, you're already "too inside"
the situation to really have sufficient clue to do said task; any given
band member brings their own influences to the table, and writes copy
for a bio or website by filtering it thru his/her own experience.  So
you get the "Beatles/Zappa/Stravinski/Creed" combos at that layer.  
- Layer 2 is that there's usually a misguided impression of the audience
for the copy -- a total misunderstanding of who's going to read it and
in what context.  It's written as either a crappy diary/blog or a puff
piece, with either too little factual or useful info or WAY too many
facts (e.g. "... our first drummer Todd spontaneously combusted one
night at the EARL.  So then we got Jimmy to play with us...").  Doesn't
provide a booker ANY kind of useful idea of the band's "qualifications"
or whatever.
- And finally, "Johnny kan't reed or rite gud enuff" to make the copy
read like anything other than a reject ee cummings poem or a failed 9th
grade creative writing assignment, so that's Layer 3.  You have to sift
through failed attempts at creative punctuation to even make a sentence,
much less get any info out of it.  

MySpace does the following to counteract this:
- It autoplays samples when you hit the page, so you can immediately get
an impression of the real meat of what a band is doing
- It limits things to one page, putting all the info available right up
front for you
- It pre-sets areas of pertinent info so you don't have to think about
presenting the stuff in a coherent way

BUT, they also do the following to completely undercut those positives:
- The sheer scope of page customizations possible are just stupid.  Not
exaggerating: 3/4 of the MySpace pages I see are COMPLETELY illegible
due to stupid background graphics, unbelievably poor color scheme
choices, wacky  style sheet renderings, etc.
- Any of the above mentioned 3-layer Fudge Fest can still be put into
action on a MySpace page, and many of the preset info areas you can just
leave blank.  So again, the lack of consistent format poisons the well
- There's no effective difference between personal and band pages.  Sure
the format is slightly different, but I can click around my Friends'
pages and not even notice which ones are supposed to be bands, and which
are supposed to be individuals.

So I totally see your point, but I still think MySpace is like a
shallow, poor copy of MP3.com.  I would much rather see bands get a damn
clue about how to sell themselves via actual WRITING, or work with
people who can tame their unfortunate "aritstic" tendencies in web
design, etc.

Anyway, another rant endeth...
-Andy


------------------------------

From: Allen Welty-Green <agmedia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [atlantaprog] Re: online promo
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 11:07:58 -0500

My sense is that, yes, most of MySpace is pure BS. But it has become an 
expected thing with most people who book bands these days. It's an easy 
way to hear what a band is about without having to filter through their 
own hype. Many bands whose websites I visit are so "arty" that I can't 
find any REAL information about them. Most band bios just go on and on 
about their personnel changes over the years and what other bands the 
members have been in and about how they've "built a strong local 
following" blah blah blah. What myspace does is give a booker a chance 
to see what a group sounds like, and get a feel for what sort of draw 
they might have and what type of audience they would appeal to based on 
friends comments, etc.
It's been very educational being a "booking guy" - I find it amazing 
how many bands email us whose email is so cliched or poorly written 
that i don't even take the time to look at their site. And when my 
interest IS piqued and I do go to their site - if I get a bunch of 
confusing graphics and cryptic interfaces, I click out of it and go to 
their myspace page (like I said, EVERYONE has one these days) and 
within a minute or two, I know if they're a band who would work well at 
Eyedrum. If they do seem like someone we'd like to have, I will go to 
their real site and explore it a bit.

Another thing that is VERY important in trying to get bookings for your 
band - give them someone to compare yourself to. Regardless of how 
distasteful it is to try and compare yourselves to other acts, it is 
often the best way to catch someone's attention - and make sure that 1. 
your comparisons aren't a bunch of acts as equally obscure as you are, 
and 2. that your comparisons actually give an idea of what your music 
sounds like. You don't know how many times I'll see something like "our 
influences are Johnny Cash, Stravinsky, the Beatles, and Zappa"... 
Huh??? One way you can mitigate the distastefulness of such comparisons 
is by using language such as "people who like Crimson and early Pink 
Floyd would probably like our music".

A

PS - an anecdote re. this listserv. One of the other guys on Eyedrum's 
music committee is also a full-time booking agent for several local 
clubs. He is a real mover and shaker in the local club scene and he's 
very open minded about what he likes - but he doesn't put up with BS. 
He was an early member of this list and occasionally he would put a 
promo announcement of some non-prog event that he thought might appeal 
to prog fans - but every time he did, he got flamed by some of you 
prog-snobs out there, so he just said to hell with it and quit the list 
serv. And now he has a pretty sour opinion of Atlanta prog fans - SO - 
lesson to be learned - WATCH YOUR ATTITUDE, you don't know who you 
might be alienating!




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