'Scuse Me, I Have to Vent...

[Jim Price]

I just completed the laborious monthly process of putting together my article for the November issue of Pennsylvania Musician, and I have a big gripe.

I'll not name any names here (and I don't think any Rockpage bands I wrote about for November are guilty of this anyway). But memo to everybody - MAINTAIN AND UPDATE YOUR WEBSITES!

This is supposed to be the information age, and supposedly information is easy to obtain on the Internet. But it's a nightmare trying to get information about bands when they don't update or maintain their websites! One group I'm writing about in November had their website disabled due to lack of payment. On another group's website, I ran into the ever-popular obnoxious white "Remote Linking Forbidden" messages on half the pages I tried to access. Still other groups sink all their marbles into their Myspace site and don't have a regular website; they're up the creek when Myspace experiences technical problems (which they often do).

For most bands, websites are the first line of promotion, where people find out more about the group after seeing or hearing about them for the first time. But a poorly-maintained website or a site that isn't updated isn't too useful, and actually can make a negative impression on a prospective visitor. So if you're guilty of not maintaining your site, get busy and take care of it! Update your website, your Myspace site, and your Rockpage site! (Here's a suggestion - if your band page is ten names away from dropping off the Rockpage band list, it's probably time to update it!)

I think in the future, I might adopt a new policy - performers who don't update their websites get relegated to the bottom of the article, or don't get written up period! That will save me some sleep time (which I didn't get last night, trying to hunt down info for this month's article).

Thanks for indulging my rant...

[Primates]

a few months back i was trying to get enough material together from bands I've worked with over the last 2 years to put together a nice Database site to pair up with PF.com and for the most part it was a nightmare. I couldn't locate bios, songs, Album names, Past albums ect. Allot of bands do rely on myspace quite a bit but i try and keep the site updated and running because one of these days im gonna wake up and myspace aint gonna be there. lol

But myspace is a very useful tool (when its fully functional i might add) but you cant just rely on that. A website even a sub-domain even helps out greatly when obtaining new listeners.

[Heartless_Mockery_Records]

I totally agree with both of you.

Since myspace started booming, just about everyone has abandoned their regular sites in favor of Myspace. I recall several years ago a site called Mp3.com (circa 1999-2000) the old one where anyone could upload their music and sell cds, and it had like a chart which showed your ranking daily in your genre. (not the current mp3.com which is a little different)

One day, "poof" they went corporate and it was gone and everyones music with it.

[bfoust]

It'd be nice if some local venues would pay their bills and get new websites too.. not naming names... Cough Citylimits4deesandothers Cough.

Both of these places had a website but it seemed to have vanished, cmon now. It takes all of 10 minutes to get one online.

[ASB10]

As long as MySpace is a viable option, and reliable option as well, there is hardly a need for bands to have a website.

MySpace allows to show postings, messages (blogs or news pages), music uploads, pictures, message boards, and any other miscellaneous bio information

It really takes some thought as you are deciding whether or not to design a website or merely use the MySpace site as your primary online forum...

I know of many bands that have websites that are outdated, but their MySpace is always up to date....

It's a crapshoot

[BURK]

In my opinion MySpace has taken the place of the "Discussion Forums" that we used to put in our websites so that the fans could communicate with each other and the members of the band. I think that every band should have a MySpace page, it's free and it's popular. However, MySpace is also very unprofessional. Would you really want a major label or booking agent to see a picture of some chick attempting to pour Jager down your throat while you're on stage? Or that your band proudly supports Titty Tops (Inside Joke) and bad porn sites? Well probally, but anyways... A band's "Official Website" is their business card, it is how people see your band and your product from a business perspective (ie. they will decide whether to hire or sponsor you, or in Jim's case review you). We are currently having a website done professionally for a nice chunk of coin. And it IS worth it!!! I am absolutely going effen insane waiting for that site to get up (It actually hasn't been that long) but it feels like it. I can't stand it on home PSU football weekends in State College when people that we have never seen before, and probally never will again, come up to me after buying a CD and T-Shirt and ask what our website address is. My response, "Actually, have you ever heard of MySpace.com?" That is the wrong answer!!! In all honesty that could be Butch Vig's wife or sister holding your CD, your product. Really think about it, it could... And she doesn't know WTF MySpace is. Nobody cares that we are waiting for our "Official" website to be up, and thats the bottom line. Well I guess I just did a little MySpace venting on Rockpage. So what are you waiting for??? Check out Lowjack's new studio pics on our MySpace page!!!

www.myspace.com/lowjackmusic

Did I mention that we are going to have a real website soon?

-BURK

[bassist_25]

Okay, okay...I know that we're being very guilty about this right now. I don't even check our website anymore because it hasn't been updated in so long. We've had "Coming Soon" written on our bios pages for like the three and a half years the site has been up. But fear not, I am going to be talking to Donnie from PXP very soon, and V 2.0 will be launched within the coming weeks.

Myspace is definitely a great tool. I think its best feature is the psuedo-mailinglist feature of the Event Invites and the bulletin boards. It really makes promotion easy. Still, a fully functioning website will always be superior. Every Myspace site is, when you get down to it, very cookie-cutter and plain, no matter how many bandwidth-eating graphics you stick on it. A website also allows you to sale merch. With all of the bots hijacking passwords and stuff, there's no way in hell I'd trust Myspace to handle the security of selling merch.

[bassist_25]

P.s. I agree with everything that Burk just said.

[BURK]

PS:

Since I have deemed it 100% unnecessary for me to have my very own "Official Website" I have added a Motley Crue video to my personal page on MySpace ... HaHa Check it out

www.myspace.com/burk1

[Jim Price]

I do want to clarify that I have nothing against Myspace sites; hell, I have one myself (www.myspace.com/professorjimprice, shameless plug). But I have seen bands with actual websites start up Myspace sites, and (a) neglect their official website and fail to update it, and even (b) fail to provide a link to their Myspace site! For somebody like me who is gatherng information about band members, upcoming shows, etc., it gets aggravating. In a few instances (before I realized how widespread Myspace had become), I started assuming that some bands had gone inactive or broken up because they weren't updating their official websites and doing all their updates on Myspace. At the magazine, we've had instances where we published wrong information in articles because the source websites where we got the info were outdated. If you're going to run a Myspace site and do most of your updates on it, at least have a link to it on your main website so folks like me know to jump there for info.

And as LOWJACK_BURK said, a band's website is their business card, and anybody going to the website to seek information about the band should be able to easily access it, and not have to jump around searching for it. I'll take the time to search out info (as I did quite a bit last night), but consider that others - such as busy club owners, music industry people, newspaper and magazine writers - might not have the time or patience to do so. And if they can't locate what they are looking for on your site, it might result in a blown or lost opportunity for you.

[Hawk]

It'd be nice if some local venues would pay their bills and get new websites too.. not naming names... Cough Citylimits4deesandothers Cough.

Both of these places had a website but it seemed to have vanished, cmon now. It takes all of 10 minutes to get one online.

Hey Bill, How you doing ? Maybe you can help us out (Red Eye) with a web Site ? PM me.

Bill

[SuffrInLys]

good chance this started because of us.. not sure.. but it was in our perception that no one really goes to actual band websites anymore. i know if me or any of my friends want to look up bands we never go to real sites. we always go to myspace. everything is laid out basically the same so it is extremely easy to navigate. and it has everything you need. multiple songs/ show listings/ even videos. plus communication is very easy.

we were getting a few hits here and there on secondoffense.com and anywhere between 20 and 100 on our myspace account each day. chances were that the band and the web designer were the only ones looking at it. myspace was booming. so we didn't see the point in paying someone to keep the site maintained and then pay more money to have the site itself. it wasn't worth it economically.

Jim if we are the reason.. I am personally very sorry... i am going to find out from wally what the password is for our rockpage account and get it updated. the website part though is just better suited to our needs at this time to go through myspace.

One way or the other I'm sorry and if this wasn't about us I know the people who it did happen to be about would be too. I think everyone in our area realizes how hard you work for each and every one of us. it does not go unappriciated

myke

[bassist4life2004]

I just got our website back up and running. I had some downtime and shit (basically because i didnt really have a clue what the band was going to do) but everything is functional now, and its paid for up to 3 months lol.

[Lisa]

I too find it frustrating when I try to promote an event at the Alley Popper and a band doesn't have a website or it isn't updated. We get a lot of hits on our website www.alleypopper.com and our myspace site www.myspace.com/alleypopper and often link from those sites to the bands that are coming. As I get ready to plan 2007, one thing that I will be looking at is websites. If you don't have one that is maintained, chances are you won't get booked. I especially like myspace because I can see your friends...I can tell if you have a true fan base or just accept the babe pictures of women you would never know just to build up your list. I can hear your music. Often I see pictures of performances.

As far as venues go, I spend a lot of time updating and promoting online. I try not to allow our sites to be more than two weeks out of date. I also hate it that some venues make their myspace friends only...what the heck is up with that???? Let your information open. Promote these bands. We are all struggling to find our spot in the business world. People aren't going to the bars as much as they used to...we need to change that as a group. Let's open up and bring them out!

[BDR]

As it's been stated, myspace has become a great “tool” for promotion and getting the word out, but, there will come the day when it's gone and no band or other business for that matter should rely on it as their “official” and only site. It’s a free service, which means it won’t be around forever.

Having said that, bands should use the myspace service while it’s available, but bands must remember they really need to continue to promote that one location that serves as the place to go first — the official Web site — then send people in other directions from there. No matter what, your official site will always be there. You pay for it. You buy server space so it’s there.

Another great point that was brought up is the look of the site. myspace has a lot of great features (we use it for weekly photos and sending out mass show alerts, as well as for building fan base) but it’s always been my opinion that any site that has ads at the top or along the side screams “unprofessional.” The point was made previously that, when club owners, potential fans or “record companies” go to check you out, they’ll judge you by the “look” of your site and there’s only so much you can do to pretty up a free site like myspace. There are tools that make them look pretty good, bu there’s a limit to it.

The most important things that should always be updated on your official site, of course, are the schedule and the contact info. We also have a news window on our home page that is updated regularly. Between the news window and the guestbook, we send people to our myspace site. As Future Bobby said, we’re primed for a full site upgrade, and we’ve taken advantage of the myspace phenomenon as many others have, but we’ll not be abandoning our official site any time soon. Our stage banner, T-shirts, stickers and even our email addresses promote our “home” which is www.BadDazeRocks.com.

I’ve always looked at the Web site as a necessary expense, like a light bill.

There's no place like home ...

r:>)

[BURK]

I do like the bulletins in MySpace though...

[Lisa]

I do like the bulletins in MySpace though...

I agree...I'm running a promotion with them....any friend of The Alley Popper who reposts the bulletin about our Halloween party earns a chance to win a nice prize....tell ya what the prize is...its a bartending kit...its really nice. But they have to be present at the party...they have to be a friend on myspace so I know they post the bulletin...and they get one chance for each day they post it up until 9pm that night. We'll see how well it goes. If it goes well, I'll use it again for the next event.

I've gotten a much better response from myspace than I have from any ads in the papers so its worth me spending the money on a prize.