Tuesday, September 9th, 2014

News You Can Use Week of 9/8

In our weekly series, BandsOnABudget.com goes through the dregs to bring you the best in DIY focused news, tips, and advice on the topics of touring, marketing, promoting, social media, PR, & more.

1. Sell Your Merch on Twitter

The latest addition that the Twitter team has introduced to their social media platform is the Buy button. With a simple click, you can purchase your favorite band tee straight from the band’s Twitter page. This also means that you can sell your merch too! So if you have a decent Twitter following, you should expect some more cash in your band checking account. Check out this video for some more info!

2. Facebook is Becoming the New Youtube

After just releasing new stats from this summer, Facebook states that growth in video views has increased 50% from May through July of this year. They average over 1 billion views a day. Although Youtube averaged about 4 billion back in 2012, they are on the decline. Will uploading your band’s videos on Facebook make a big difference or should you stick to Youtube? Truthfully, you could just upload your videos on both platforms. 

3. Air Travel with Instruments

So you’ve got a few shows lined up overseas, which is great, but now your guitar needs to make it through an 8 hour plane ride over the ocean. Luckily, tons of musicians have incorrectly traveled with their instruments, enough to result in CD Baby’s newest guide, "Tips for Flying with your Guitar.” Give it a read and make sure that your gear makes it to your next show.

4. Don’t Take Band Photos Before Reading This

The importance of band photos should never be taken lightly. Fans, press, bloggers, and anyone else who might be important will definitely judge you from the image that your photos create for your band. Cropping, website backgrounds, and header images are just a few things that this article draws attention to when attempting to build a solid image through the use of band photos. 

5. Being a Musician While Keeping Your Day Job

It can be difficult to juggle this double-life that you live: 9-5 office worker by day, sweaty rock n’ roll musician by night. Luckily, you’re not alone because tons of people are trying to follow their musical dreams and pay the bills at the same time. These 5 tips can help you balance your time without jeopardizing your day job or your music career.

Check back every week for our weekly web roundup. Have any hot tips or web content you think is worthy? Send it our way to michelle@bandsonabudget.com or link us in on Facebook.