One could argue that finding moderate success for a musician in this age is relatively easier than in the past. While the basic tenants of promotion still hold true – creating good music and playing exciting shows – the low-cost options made available by online platforms give today’s artists huge marketing advantages over methods from decades ago.

Here are a list of great tools for promoting your music online. If you’re a musician, get to know them well and you can save your time and money on more important things… like your fourth delay pedal.

ArtistData
Upload a show to ArtistData and they’ll automatically send it out to huge number of sites and calendars.

Bandcamp
A powerful distribution and sharing site that gives you ultimate control.

Band Metrics
Measure your engagements and the spread of your music.

Facebook
Obviously. Also, since Facebook holds so much personal user info, site ads can be specifically targeted to specific demographics for maximum cost-effectiveness.

Fanbridge
A feature-rich mailing list system that works incredibly well.

MySpace
During the Musician & Promoter Workshop in San Francisco. an attendee commented that MySpace was dead and thus not worthy of attention. However, as someone who reviews music for an established publication, I can safely say that it is worth the small amount of effort it takes to set up a page. People still expect you to have one, so it’s important to have.

ReverbNation
Quite possibly the most robust social media platform for musicians. Tools include mailing lists, widgets and influence metrics across multiple online sites. Integration with Facebook makes the utilization of their services seamless.

The Sixty One
A slick site that allows listeners to randomly stumble onto new music, rate songs and recommend similar artists. As a songwriter, it’s an amazing way to share your material while seeing which of your tracks stimulate listeners the most.

Twitter
Obviously.

Sure beats the old MP3.com days, no?

Please be aware that this video, made by New York based comedy group Elephant Larry contains adult language that is often used to describe adult activities. And for the record, this is their second i-related video, check out the other one here: iPod Touch. Once again, be aware that there is some naughty, naughty language.

The Conversation Prism (Brian Solis and JESS3)

Age Distribution of Social Sites (Pingdom)

The World Map of Social Networks (Vincos.it)

Social Web Involvement (Global Web Index)

Social Media Demographics (Ethan Bloch)

The Web Trend (Information Architects, Inc.)

The Social Media Effect (Social Reflexion)

Sharing on Social Networks (AddToAny)

Twitter Territory (HubSpot)

And of course, any collection of tech pics wouldn’t be complete without the Nerd Venn Diagram (Matthew Mason)

Musician Aimee Man made a comment about rapper/actor Ice-T on Twitter. He retaliated via Twitter, which sparked a short war of words among their respective followers. What was said isn’t important but this Tweet from Ice-T sums up the whole thing pretty well:

Once again. She made a comment.. I replied… She apologized. Peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FLTG. Mooooovin!

At the end of the day, it seems it’s not a big deal for either individual but it does bring into question how something like this happens. A Tweet from Aimee Mann might explain:

Plus, I do not like to hurt people’s feelings. I forget that twitter is not just me and four other dorky friends, ragging on TV stars

She has 9,070 followers but when using Twitter it sometime feels like nobody is paying attention to what you’re writing. Much like the way driving a car can give a false sense of separation from the outside world, it’s easy to forget that Tweeting about real people can catch up to you. Unless you have over 9,000 followers, in which case you need to know that even harmless Tweets can get you in trouble.

On the Nerdist Podcast Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park admitted to initially holding off on Twitter, letting other artists test the waters before he jumped in. It was probably a smart move. Many celebrities have given up Tweeting after being quite prolific, like Trent Reznor. Others like Larry David only managed to write a couple dozen Tweets before giving up. On one hand of the spectrum, you’ll have artists Tweeting their every thought and action, and on the other, there are artists whose Tweets are updates from a publicist. Really successful Twitters fall somewhere in between the two.

Like many of you the past few days, I touched an iPad. In browsing the many apps, one struck me as particularly remarkable: the Marvel iPad App. While it may not be any more unique than any of the other many print publication apps out there, its implications in the comic industry make it potentially more revolutionary – the short length and highly illustrated nature of the weekly comic make it most ideal for the iPad medium.

Consider the traditional comic subscription model: the subscriber pays an arguably high periodic fee to receive a weekly short story crammed in the mail. With the iPad, an issue is received immediately to be viewed on a clear, bright display. Simply eliminating the need to print and distribute material could dramatically lower costs. And since the distribution format can be regulated by an app, the risk of piracy is reduced.

On the other end of the battlefield, Marvel revolutionary Stan Lee’s son, Jim Lee, offered an opposing opinion as head publisher of DC Comics on the industry trend towards digital distribution, as reported in geek culture blog Geeks of Doom:

“I think at the end of the day, I have not seen anything on the digital side that is more compelling to me than a printed comic,” said Lee in response to a fan question at the panel. “I’ll use Blackest Night as an example. You open that up and — I don’t want to spoil anything — but there’s a spread inside that’s just amazing. You cannot replicate it on a device with a smaller screen.”

Ultimately, he said it’s why DC hasn’t jumped head first onto the digital bandwagon the way other companies have, such as competitor Marvel Entertainment, which released their own iPhone/iPad application to coincide with Saturday’s debut of Apple’s iPad tablet device.

“There’s no real business model for it, in that, it’s not a big part of anyone’s business right now, regardless of if you’re on the iPad tomorrow or not,” Lee said, adding that even when digital does start to carve out a portion of the industry it won’t cannibalize the printed comics because of all the differences it will end up having.

These differences include advantages like having an entire comic collection in your pocket, Instant access to purchase comics and being about to seek out new comics and new tools that will allow creators to tell stories.

“We have to come up with some really compelling content that plays to the advantage of digital distribution. Once we have something like that, that’s when you’ll really see things start to shift,” Lee said.

While Russia deals with the aftermath of its second terrorist attack in two days, I thought I might focus on some positive things about the country. My wife is from Russia, and I’ve spent a little time there. The thing I really love about the above video is it illustrates two characteristics that many Russians embody; ingenuity and a complete disregard for superfluous boundaries.

Complacency is a universal problem among humans, but I’ve noticed that most of the Russians I’ve met would fix a broken washing machine without considering calling a repairman. While in Russia, I saw an internet cafe’s grand opening and not so grand closing in a three week period. The reason? Russians won’t spend cash on something they can do at home for less money. Phrases often heard around my house include: “don’t waste that”, “save it”, “why waste your money”, “I’ll fix it” and my favorite, “let’s save money and drink in tonight.” As the picture below illustrates, Russians will solve a problem with what’s in front of them, not a trip to Target.

If you’re starting your own business or are in charge of marketing efforts for an established organization, you’re probably more than aware of the importance and cost-effectiveness of “social media marketing.” I place quotes around that phrase because marketing in social media really isn’t marketing in the traditional sense. It’s about building relationships, creating value and being a contributing member of the industry you’re in.

Blah, blah, blah. If you read tech blogs or follow any of the “SM specialists” who Tweet about this stuff 24/7, you’ve heard these statements ad nauseam.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. And until companies start to embrace these values, it will continue to be repeated if only to be hammered into heads. For the new company, there are certain checklist points that I feel are not only expected but required:

1.) Establish an active presence on Twitter and Facebook

Create a Twitter profile and a Facebook Page for your organization. If possible, try and keep the profile names as simple and consistent to your brand as possible. For example, for RedCandle Research, we have the following:

Main: www.redcandleresearch.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/redcandleresearch
Twitter: www.twitter.com/redcandlelight (@redcandle – taken; @redcandleresearch – too long)

For my band, Festizio, we had to accommodate for unavailable usernames as well:

Main: www.festizio.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/festizio
Twitter: www.twitter.com/festizioband (@festizio – taken)
MySpace: www.myspace.com/festizioband
YouTube: www.youtube.com/festizioband

Once you’ve got that covered, you can explore the more industry specific platforms that may appeal to your sharing your message (YouTube for videos, Flickr for photos, ReverbNation for music, etc.). But get Twitter and Facebook covered first. It’s where everyone is and, thus, it’s where you need to be.

2.) Realize that different platforms are different mediums and have different audiences

Online communities are not all the same, and each require a different voice and posting style than another. Twitter is more friendly for periodic posts of short ideas throughout the day, and the platform makes it easier for these posts to be shared via Retweets or organized by hashtags. Facebook enables embedded multimedia posting, making it easier for the reader to see what you’re sharing (video, image, etc.) without having to visit an external link. But for both platforms, it’s important to resist over sharing, as you would risk annoying the customers that follow you.

3.) Start a blog and share your ideas in depth

When thoughts must jump from 140 character posts into more detailed analysis, it’s time to write a blog post. This is your opportunity to show that you have insightful ideas to contribute. It’s your opportunity to prove your expertise to those within your industry. Where a company website might be cold with product info, a blog allows you to humanize your business. You show that there is a thinking human with (hopefully) a warm beating heart in your chest.

4.) Connect with others in your industry

When your presence is set and you’re ready to explore, look for other voices in your industry. Using free tools like Technorati or TweepSearch, you can find blogs and Twitter users by readership levels. For a more detailed analysis on who’s talking and what they’re saying, you could also work with an online analytics reporting firm like us. Wink, wink.

5.) Be interesting or, at the very least, be useful

No one likes to be bored to death.

…

(Image via Toothpaste For Dinner)

Twestival is a shining example of tapping into a vibrant community for the purposes of making a difference. Occurring last night in multiple cities around the world, the collective event donates 100% of the money they make to a notable cause. This year, Twestival supports Concern, a humanitarian organization that helps those living in extreme poverty.

San Francisco Twestival featured great music from Stroke 9 and Sioux City Kid. Notable Twitterati, that you may or may not care about, were out in full force. Overall, it was a great event held for a fantastic cause.

Great job, Krystyl!

Great job, Twestival Team!