All future blog posts will be at WesDavenport.com. I’m so pumped about the new features and flexibility my self-host site offers.

But what kind of host would I be without offering refreshments? There are already new posts waiting for you to help your music career.

Continue reading at WesDavenport.com

Twitter is not so much about your follower count, retweets, or mentions. Those are just numbers. Here’s the real deal: Twitter prepares us for the future by teaching us valuable, real-world skills.

Here are five practical business skills Twitter teaches us on a daily basis.

1. Networking

Twitter is simply a tool we use to nurture our social and professional networks. That includes industry figures, friends, clients, and fans.

On Twitter, we aren’t afraid to simply click “Follow” and start a discussion with another person. We realize a quick “Hello, I enjoy your work” can lead to great conversations, and in person, it’s no different.

Effective networking involves keeping track of what your colleagues are doing. We keep our networks fresh by staying engaged with people, which brings us to the next skill.

2. Engagement

Suddenly, social networking isn’t just about connecting. Now, it’s about engaging. Real engagement just means we talk with our fans rather than at them. Now we’re treating followers like real people!

Artists can speak directly to fans instead of issuing a blanket press release written by someone outside of the band. Musicians can use this skill to resolve problems, show appreciation for kindness, and display interest in others’ personal lives.

3. Communicating Succinctly

Believe it or not, communicating succinctly is an incredibly valuable skill. After all, college journalism classes devote much time and energy to the art of the headline.

Twitter’s 140 character limit forces users to communicate efficiently. Concise communication helps people understand what you want. It lets them know exactly what you’re asking them to do.

4. Seeking Out Best Practices

There are thousands of articles that advise on the best Twitter practices. I’m certain you’ve read your fair share and applied them. You can take this concept and seek out the best practices in other areas of your business.

5. Adaption To Change

Forces outside of our control can change the whole playing field in an instant. Look no further than your own Twitter feed. New trends and opinions are constantly flowing in and out of the landscape.

It’s not just important to take notice of these changes. The deeper skill is recognizing which changes apply to you and adapting your business plan accordingly.

Change Is Killer

It seems unlikely now, but the forces of change can bury Twitter alongside MySpace and Google Buzz. Depending on your perspective, that’s the wonderful thing about change. It doesn’t discriminate, and it can happen in an instant. So going forward, take the larger lessons of Twitter and apply them to your music career.

Though you may love Ikea furniture and Coke products, your band probably doesn’t have the connections or clout to forge a partnership with those companies. So what do you do?

You go local.

I wrote this short guest series about how independent artists can team up with local businesses for How To Run A Band .

Continue to How To Run A Band for my interview with Tyrus Morgan, my interview with Jonathon Dewveall, and my takeaways you can use to apply to your own career.

And while you’re there, be sure to download Seth’s fantastic new eBook, Get More Fans To Your Shows!

Suddenly, upon walking through the rabid crowd, I heard lush piano renditions of seasonal music. It was shocking how much the music stood out from Muzak throwaway takes of “Winter Wonderland.”

It was seriously a relief to my ears, so I had to investigate.

A few guys cordoned off an area in the middle of the mall to play these warm songs.  There were CD’s on a table next to a sign that read, “Holiday Classics Performed by Local Musicians.” A tip jar stuffed with cash was on display, so I wasn’t the only one who appreciated their performance.

Here are five lessons learned from this little Black Friday experience.

5 Music Business Lessons from Black Friday

1) Rise above the noise.

With so much generic, sterilized music pumping throughout the mall, the skillful sounds of the pianists were completely refreshing. It grabbed every shopper’s attention as they approached the area.

2) Offer a free experience to get new fans involved.

The performance was the start of a sales funnel to gain new fans. By playing the songs for free, potential fans got a taste of what to expect from the artists’ CD. Even casual passer-bys had an option to contribute with the tip jar.

(Bonus lesson: offer a package for different levels of fans.)

3) Work with other musicians to make a bigger splash.

At least three musicians were running the show. They would rotate playing piano and handling merchandise transactions. Plus, they can utilize each of their social networks to reach a larger audience. Everyone wins in this situation.

4) Target high traffic areas at the right time.

The pianists played in an area where hundreds of people passed by every hour. These potential customers are in a money-spending mindset. Furthermore, the holiday CD matched the seasonal spirit.

Looks like a good turnout for a performance to me.

Combine all of these factors for a recipe for success. Being at the right place at the right time is a huge, often crucial advantage.

5) Perform at unconventional venues.

Perhaps a mall isn’t the most unconventional of venues, but I certainly didn’t expect to see a professional mini-concert on Black Friday. Get to know more about your target audience, and set out to play at places they frequent.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. If there’s anything I can do to spread some holiday cheer for you, leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Read my guest post at Michael Brandvold’s blog!

Nashville electro-rock band Vinyl Thief (client) took their free download plan a bit further by releasing a digital package. Our goal was to pack more value into the download for fans, giving them a bit more to chew on than the new single, “White Light.”

Here are three items we bundled with the MP3, followed by three more ideas we’re considering for the next release.

1. Photo of Lyricbook

We included a photo of lead vocalist Grayson Proctor’s lyricbook. It shows the lyrics to the song in his own handwriting. We think this is a bit more personal than a text file with lyrics, though I’m sure you can create a nifty graphic with your own song’s words.

2. High Resolution Artwork

This one is more common, but it’s still frequently overlooked. Even though “White Light” is a free single, we feel the song deserves its own art. The artwork links it more closely to the packaging of a full release, so fans feel like they are getting more than an MP3 dumped off of a hard drive. Plus, it’s handy when bloggers feature your song.

3. Desktop Wallpaper / Background

We then took the artwork and created a nice, high resolution desktop background.

4. Personal Photo Album

I think we can take the photo concept one step further by including personal photos. Perhaps an album of the recording process or a compilation of candid, tour, and press photos.

Vinyl Thief performing at Nashville's 12th and Porter. Photo by Vintage Scarlett Photography.

5. Printable or Mobile Coupon

With a printable or mobile-ready merch coupon, you can get your fans to your shows and meet them in person at the merch booth. It’ll encourage them to come out and redeem the discount in person.

For a mobile coupon, a simple message or graphic that can be easily loaded onto a phone is good enough in my book. Let me know in the comments if you have found or researched more sophisticated methods of creating mobile coupons.

6. Readme.txt

I see this on most software downloads. It usually includes instructions and a link back to their website.

For musicians, this would be a great place to thank fans for listening, ask them to share the track, and list links to your website and social networks. You can include a story about the background of the track as well.

Turn a Snack into a Meal

Let’s face it: single MP3′s are more like snacks when compared to a full release.

With these add-ons, you’ll leave fans feeling a bit more full and satisfied when you launch your next digital music download. Naturally, all of these items can be easily applied to an album release as well.

If you have any questions about digital music bundles, I want to hear them! Leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

If you’re curious about Vinyl Thief’s download package for “White Light,” give it a download for free at vinylthief.com/whitelight.

Update: The discount has expired, but look for the new, improved course soon.

Bob Baker is currently offering his exceptional course on publicity at a discounted rate about to drop a BOMB with the release of his new publicity course. “The Music Publicity Insider’s Guide” is 1 hour and 50 minutes of insight-packed audio, and nine PDF worksheets to take your press releases to the next level (or perhaps to the next two or three levels).

I listened to the whole course, and I’m extremely impressed with what Bob is bringing to the table. Honestly, I thought I was pretty good at creating a press release, but “The Music Publicity Insider’s Guide” offers fresh, immediately impactful information. I ended up with plenty of new, exciting ideas for publicity.

Though I have experience in news writing, the course lays a solid foundation for beginners, too.

I don’t want to sound like an advertisement, but I’m pretty jazzed about this thing. Bob asked me to send him a suggested price, but the $14.95 he’s offering today is price upon release will be way, way below what I recommended.

I love sharing resources to help your career, and this one’s a doozy. So check it out now!

“The average 25 to 34 year old texts 20+ times every day and 18 to 34 year olds text a whopping 55 times daily, according to a Pew Study.”  -Hypebot

With those numbers, text messaging should be a no-brainer, right?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say text messaging is NOT right for everyone.

Read on to find out if a text messaging campaign is right for you.
The Upsides of Texting
Let’s start with main strengths of text messaging: urgency and directness.

Text messages are sent straight to you, and they enjoy a high open rate. Social norms cause us to respond to a text quicker than, say, an email or a Facebook post.

Furthermore, we’ve trained ourselves to delete email messages without a thought. And computer algorithms determine if a message even deserves to pop into a fan’s feed.

How often are you landing in Facebook's Top Stories?

Because our phone numbers are such personal mediums, texts easily bypass these psychological and technological filters that hinder other forms of communication.

Additionally, although smartphone usage is growing, adoption rates among adults currently sits at 35%. That means there’s a large chunk of the population that doesn’t have a data plan yet (emphasis on yet).

These upsides can be helpful if your fans trust you enough to give out their phone numbers. This also moves us into the hazards of text message marketing.

5 Reasons to be Wary of Text Message Marketing

1. You Walk a Fine Line

You absolutely cannot screw up when sending texts out. Offend or annoy a person on their phone just a few times (or even once), and your relationship with them takes a real beating.

Deciding Question: Do you know where “the line” is?

2. Online Outlets Offer Experiences

With email and social network messages, you have the advantage of sharing images, audio, and video. The end result is a more immersive and worthwhile experience for fans.

You can send links with a text, but if a user likes browsing the web on their mobile device, they’ll already be keyed into your presence through email, social networks, and your website. And fans can already choose to receive SMS updates from Facebook and Twitter.

To put it bluntly: there’s an app for that.

Another Pew Study asked smartphone users to describe their phones. Here’s how they described their experiences:

Deciding Question: Can you provide an experience through texts that matches or properly supplements your media-rich campaigns?

3. Difficulty Capturing Phone Numbers

In my experience, there is a sense of caution and reluctance when gathering phone numbers for marketing. That kind of attitude is completely understandable. No one wants to be spammed on a device that’s in their pocket all day.

Let’s tackle the statistics in relation to fans’ hesitance.

18-34 year olds text 55 times daily, but who are they texting? How many texts go to brands and bands? The study just doesn’t say. It’s safe to assume the vast majority of those texts occur among friends and acquaintances.

Deciding Question: Does your band fit comfortably into a contact list full of familiar faces?

4. You May Be Expected to Respond by Text

A glaring omission from the statistics is the ratio of texts sent to texts received. I don’t see any data that suggests users are crazy about one-way communication in their texts.

When we text someone, we often expect a text back. Most of that 18 year old’s daily texts are looking for a response or reaction. That’s because we know the people we text; phone contacts aren’t faceless entities.

Just think: if you send out info on a show, people may ask about who else is playing, age restrictions at the venue, or directions to the location.

Deciding Questions: Do you have time to respond back with a text? Can you provide great customer service via text on the fly?

5. Cost Effectiveness Concerns

The platform I have experience with is BoomText. When doing promotions for a mid-sized venue, BoomText worked well, and their customer service was snappy to boot.

I chatted with a BoomText rep who said bands are currently using the service. The representative recommended the $69/month package for artists, which comes with 1,000 texts per month. The company also offers a free trial.

While I’m sure BoomText could help an artist get a package that fits their specific needs, most independent artists don’t have a ton of cash. Priorities certainly need to be set before committing to a monthly payment for texts.

Deciding Question: Do you have room in your budget for text message marketing?

The Biggest Question

What it comes down to is this: What can you give fans to strengthen and improve your relationship over text messages?

Don’t get me wrong; there are certain situations where texting fans seems appropriate.

Since the big strengths are immediacy and directness, a breaking event benefits from a text campaign. This works well if an artist and their fanbase loves spontaneity and secret shows.

If you’re at a loss when trying to answer the above questions, think twice about text message marketing.

If you do opt-in for an SMS campaign, here’s my advice: only send a message if the recipient would be glad to hear it if you politely approached them on the street.

Am I completely off the mark on this one? Let me know! Please share your thoughts and experiences about text message marketing in the comments.

One of my favorite acts, experimental indie rock band Sugar Glyder, is getting extra mileage out of their stickers. Though it’s great that fans are walking around reppin’ Sugar Gylder, the band took the concept further. They are asking their fans to post pictures of these stickers in the wild.

Here are some photos via their Facebook page:

This is a fun way to interact with your fans and see your merch somewhere other than a cardboard box. Want to take your merch to the next level? Read on for more ideas to get extra mileage out of your merch.

Partner with fashion outlets

You don’t necessarily need a connection with Vogue. There are plenty of Etsy designers and fashion bloggers that could be into your music. See if any of your merch works well with their items. If not, you could collaborate with your local fashionista to design your next item.

By sharing well-designed clothing with fashion influencers, your music can reach a new audience.

Rep Other Artists’ Merch

Remember how Kurt Cobain wore that Daniel Johnston shirt to the VMA’s? Trade shirts with a band that shares your scene to increase exposure for everyone.

Create Staples of Life

Think of things people use every day and how your brand fits into those things.

Let’s say you’re an acoustic artist who plays coffeehouses. Sell a coffee cup. For bonus points, set up a coffee+cup bundle with the venue.

If you’re a bar-busting band, sell koozies to keep those beers cold. Partner with the bar to include beer+koozie drink specials. Or team up with a brewery to give them away at a brewer’s festival.

Fans can use these items more frequently than a t-shirt. As a result, you’ll be on their minds more often.

Embed Music into Merch

What if a QR code was printed on your stickers that led directly to a music video? What if a download link to an unreleased song came printed on your posters? By integrating music directly into your merch, you will:

• increase the value of your products
• remind fans why they bought the item in the first place
• gain new fans through discovery

Keep these things in mind next time you create new merchandise. With a little extra thought, those t-shirts, stickers, and posters will work overtime for you.

Related: Bieber Dolls and Bob Marley Bibs: Maximizing Artist Merch Value

• Images make your blog more visually appealing and easier to read.
• They help you stand out in Facebook’s “Top News” feed.
• Since they’re worth a thousand words, pictures will save you from Twitter’s 160 character limit.
• I believe Tumblr is currently more popular than WordPress in part because of the platform’s widespread use of interesting photos.

That doesn’t mean your fans want to see a neverending photo-essay about your cat. Here are 20 photo ideas to quickly brighten your blog.

1. Backstage

Give fans a peek backstage.

Photo courtesy of Vince Kmeron.

2. Fans and Audience

Show off your fans and post a photo they can tag themselves in.

Photo courtesy of Dan Dickinson.

3. Music Venues

Music venues can be cool places with distinct features. Even if the place is ultra-crappy, take a street level shot of the club to help people easily find it.

Nashville's Ryman Auditorium houses statues of country music legends Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff. Photo courtesy of cliff1066.

4. Show Dates

The Sons of Summer spiced up a simple tour date with a fun photo.

Photo via the Sons of Summer.

5. Press Photos

Show off those professional quality photos.

Photo via VINYL THIEF.

6. Press Scans or Screenshots

Post a featured photo, a scan of a magazine article, or a screenshot of a site’s article about you. Direct traffic to the press outlet’s site.

Photo via The Good Natured.

7. Other Artists

Give the other acts on the bill some love. If you attend a show as a fan, take a good photo of the artist you’re supporting.

8. Studio and Recording Sessions

Even if your studio isn’t as whimsical as Imogen Heap’s place, take some pictures of yourself in the lab.

Imogen Heap's Studio.

9. Album Art

Tease your new release with its artwork.

Artwork for VINYL THIEF's Control EP.

10. Handwritten Journal Entry or Lyricbook

Taking a picture of your journal or lyricbook. feels intimate. Just make sure your handwriting is legible.

Photo of a lyricbook via The Good Natured.

11. Typography

Design a typography-focused image using lyrics or your band name. View designer Mico Toledo‘s excellent example below.

Brillaint use of typography for these Rolling Stones lyrics. Art by Mico Toledo.

Pause the Music

Not all of your images have to be music-related. You’re a real person that enjoys things outside of your musical endeavors. Use the following ideas to plug your audience into other aspects of your personality.

12. Favorite Local Haunts

Show off your hometown pride with photos of your favorite local hangouts.

13. Friends’ Photography

Perhaps you have a very talented photographer friend or you like the person who designed your album art. Expose his or her work to your audience. View my friend Bryson Leach‘s fantastic work below.

Owl City live by Bryson Leach.

14. Foodie Shots

Sometimes, a food looks as good (or better) than it tastes. Be sure to tag or link to the restaurant. Doesn’t my photo below make you want to tear into a Voodoo Doughnut?

Visit Voodoo Doughnut to grab one of these.

15. Landscapes

While touring, you’re bound to see some scenic landscapes.

Scene from Tennessee's Smokey Mountains

16. PostSecrets

All American Rejects made a whole music video using PostSecrets.

This PostSecret is featured in the video for All American Rejects' "Dirty Little Secret".

17. Landmarks

Strike a pose in front of the Eiffel Tower or ham it up in front of the world’s largest peanut.

World's Largest Peanut via Roadside America.

18. Comics

Here’s The Oatmeal’s take on Spotify.

"Spotify comes to the United States" by The Oatmeal.

19. Patterns and Colors

Everyday life is filled with photo-worthy patterns and vibrant colors.

Photo courtesy of isado

20. Crowdsource a Theme

If your images really take off with your audience, let them participate. Let them pick a subject for you to capture. Or you can set the theme and post your favorite submissions.

With the improvement of cell phone cameras and the wealth of images available online, there’s no reason to let your blog and social networks go through an image drought.

What kind of images do you like sharing the most?