08.04
Hi and welcome to the new Gigdoggy blog. As I briefly explained in the old blog’s farewell post, we decided to move the blog for practical reasons – this is our pooch’s new style, and we hope you like it!
As well as relaunching the blog, today marks an important release for Fanteraction™ .
If you haven’t heard our ramblings about Fanteraction yet, here’s a quick rundown:
Fanteraction is a mobile direct-to-fan platform for musicians that allows them to easily create mobile websites for their gigs.
Fanteraction was developed to help artists promote themselves, interact with fans at gigs and sell their songs directly through their mobile profiles, in a time and age where tactile-browser phones are becoming a standard.
The new release contains:
- nicer design and improved interface
- new mobile profile design and customization
- the possibility to sell songs and albums through the mobile profiles
- and a new messaging system that integrates with Twitter
If you haven’t checked it out yet, now would be a good time! www.gigdoggy.com
And finally, to honor our ex-wordpress.com blog, we’ve decided to post a list of the articles which we were so very happy to share with you. Enjoy!
Woof, mruff and bark.
Articles
Touring & gig swapping:
- Touring
Sleeping in the van vs. booking a hotel vs. … couch surfing?
Touring by bicycle: follow the Ginger Ninja’s pleasant revolution
Booking gigs/promotion:
- Indie Artist X
The Indie Artist X Project is on the go!
Indie Artist X making headway
Indie Artist X’s website solution determined
- Street Teams:
FanCorps: How bands can manage their street teams online (1)
FanCorps: Interview with a co-owner of the street-team website
- Promotion:
Creative promotion strategies: playing a free gig in exchange for some home furniture
MyAds: new breakthrough for band advertising?
Promoting your music with barcodes and cellphones
How busking can be used as a promotional stunt for your shows
Why busking could be a good option to get your band some gigs, new fans … and CD sales
The Oasis ‘Dig Out Your Soul’ Songbook: and yet another band giving away music sheets
Tracking your band’s popularity across Youtube, blogs and social networks
Discrevolt: How bands can promote their digital sales with download cards
Fizzkicks: Another download-card solution for bands and fans
Mozes: promote your gigs through text-messages
Songza: Promoting your band for 99c: get ready for music adsense
Why bands should consider browsing through Craigslist for gigging opportunities
Why bands should consider Wikipedia
How bands can get creative with leaking their own music
How bands can get creative with their music videos
- Booking gigs
Indie On The Move: a great ressource for finding a booker’s contact information
The indie band survival guide: the complete manual for the DIY musician now available in paperback version
Why bands should consider playing house concerts
How not to get your band booked
Attention all bands: GigDoggy has found an opening act for you
Band revenue:
- Gig Revenue:
Unsigned artist contest: Get one of your songs featured in a movie soundtrack
Nimbit to become MySpace’s official online music-store and merchandise table
How bands can market their merchandise at live shows
What type of merchandise should bands sell at gigs?
How bands can improve CD sales at shows: build a portable listening kiosk
How one band is funding its tours and albums
- Online Revenue Streams:
Artist Share: when fan funding is not all about sharing royalties
Add a 3-second advertisement to your song – make money when fans stream or download it
Dashgo: Sell, promote and track your music’s performance on music stores and social networks
How bands can perceive ad royalties from social networks for their songs
Why bands should consider online music licensing (1)
Why bands should consider online music licensing (2)
Social Record-Labels: How bands can fund their next album
Band talk:
- Band Member/Fan Issues:
- Band business Issues:
- Band Stories:
- Comics
- Misc:
Coldplay and Grand Theft Music?
15 years have already passed: a warm mruff to Frank
Zappa vs. The Beatles: Frank, John and Yoko at the Filmore
It Might Get Loud: tribute to the electric guitar by White, Page and The Edge
Beatles’ Carnival of Light: the 14 minutes free-experimental track might finally see the day of light
Do It Again: documentary urging The Kinks to reunite
Nevermind’s baby re-enacts album photo seventeen years later
Nick Cave’s letter to MTV: a lesson in humility
How some bands justify explicit lyrics
Bands and their gigs from hell: tour stories, anecdotes and rants
Donak RV’s Struggling Muso comic strips
Bassist Wanted: a little selection of Porter Masson’s musician comics
Bassist Wanted: comic strip for the musically inclined
BassistWanted: Driving home from the guitar store
BassistWanted: Couldn’t hurt to try (a PRS 513 Rosewood..)
Sympathies to the band: Who are your real fans in the audience?
Tortured by music: another very sad chapter in the US’s fight against terror
9 year old blues prodigy forbidden to play in bars and clubs
Some 70s rock stars chillin’ at home with their parents
Chinese Democracy entirely streamable on Guns and and Roses’ MySpace page
What came first: The drug or the music?
Soundpainting and the art of conducting improvisation
Gigdoggy’s lazy-thursday picture selection!
How some bands let their guard down
Recording/Mixing & Tech:
- Recording/Mixing:
Busker Du: record buskers via a public payphone
More Cowbell to the rescue of all your mixes
Clueless blonde tries to sing into what she believes is a microphone
We lose ideas forever while jamming: portable digital recording-studios to the rescue!Where to find free sound effects/audio samples for your music productionsMixMatchMusic: a viral spin to online musical collaborations
Recording gadgets for bands and their iPods
Where musicians go for online collaboration: social networks for recording, remixing and mashing up tracks
Where musicians can learn some production tips
Why in time bands simply won’t have to know how to play in order to create good music
- Tech:
Daito Manabe: how to become a slave to the music
Yanko Designs and neat musical concepts
The world’s most expensive speaker cables
Artificial intelligence mastering music: robots now improvising coherently…
Audio Spotlight: super directional sound for your ears only
Songsterr: dynamic tabs that playback
Turn your mobile phone into a portable recorder with IndabaVox
The Farmer Foot Drum is a one-man-band’s delight
Automatic Style Specific Accompaniment and the rise of computer-generated musical arrangements
Groove encrusted asphalt to bring musical roads at the top of the charts
Beamz Laser Music System: gadget for the musically challenged
Alternatives to playing with human-beings in a band
How some bands like to hack: MAX MSP and Guitar Hero unite
Things that make guitarists go mruff (Moog guitar)
Industry talk:
- Industry Insights:
Every great band needs a great image
Who canceled the revolution?
No more pride in music discovery
Pay The Band: blog for displeased musicians
An indie band’s take on signing with a record label
Derek Sivers on essential work ethics for musicians
Derek Sivers on confidence and how it affects your music career
Brands and bands on the move to work hand in hand
Music Think Tank Open: anyone care to share notes on the music industry?
Breaking news: study shows music tastes and personalities are related (who would have known…)
Why musicians are sometimes disillusioned by the web 2.0 world they live in
Why indie bands should not sign with a major record label by Dick Dale
Why bands should not sign with a major record label By Steve Albini
Why the music industry won’t take risks with bands anymore by Frank Zappa
What bands have to say about the music industry
How should bands diversify their business model?
Why bands could consider sponsorships with brands
- Band stuff:
Tid bits of music news: RIAA lawsuits, Egyptian metal, Coldplay ripoff, and of course Robots
Owner of a lonely heart? Not if you listen to the music you love
Radiohead’s In Rainbows still on everyone’s lips
The Beatles, Rock Band and our musical legacies
Radio-documentary “The Ongoing History of New Music” available online for your listening pleasure
Coolio spendin most o’ his life livin in a gastro’s paradise
Apple reaching out to the indies again: Chairlift Music’s “Bruises”for the new iPod ad
The Rolling Stones’ Cocksucker Blues finally released on YouTube
Metallica ten years after: Bootlegs good, Napster bad!
Sampler heaven: buy the world’s largest music archive for $3 million
- Start-up talk:
The Sellaband success story: capitalizing on your online community
LP33: the new all-in-one social network for bands and fans
SoundsBox: 14 cents for a song is almost like downloading it for free
Sonicbids affiliate program: get paid to promote their services
YouLicense provides new licensing opportunities by partnering with TheCellFreak and SellaBand
Ourstage/Live Nation’s music marketplace: When bands, fans and venues meet online before the show
- Major label talk:
- Legal talk:
British performers are rebelling and asking Gordon Brown for justice
Municipal judge tried to cure hip-hop with classical music but failed
Music 2.0 & Social Networks:
- Networking:
MuckWork: Derek Sivers’ personal assistant project for bands
The Next Big Sound and the dawn of virtual record labels
Music Arsenal: new online band management system
Plugging into Plugola: a social network with an affiliate program for fans
LP33: the new all-in-one social network for bands and fans
SoundCloud: the best way to send and share your projects audio tracks
Band Match-Making: Where musicians meet to play
How many of your Myspace fans are going to show up at your real gig?
- Online Music Search Engines:
Just hear it: new music search engine looking simple and sober
TuneGlue’s Audiomap: create a bouncy, arborescent map of your favorite artists
Online music search engines: where fans can stream unlimited free legal music
HearWhere: live concert listings for your city, powered by myspace
- Online gig venues:
SyncLive: How bands can stream their live shows in real-time
Deep Rock Drive: Where bands can play online gigs
Fabchannel: full live concerts of your favorite indie artists
Black Cab Sessions: Where bands should play next time they’re in London
SongPull: Where musicians can go to finish their songs
- Entertainment:
Riseandshine.tv’s daily songwriter / audience music collaboration
b3ta.com’s popular album art image challenge
How to make music with ebay
JamLegend: Online massive multi-player Rock Band for free !
- Misc:
The Youtube symphony orchestra: the world’s first collaborative online orchestra
Musebin: one-liner album reviews that you can rate
New Brad Sucks CD out: Please steal it !
Band Quotes
- Gig Swapping/Sharing/Trading
- Street Teams:
A bad gig-sharing experience
The way bands gig swap and share shows (1)
The way bands gig swap and share shows (2)
The way bands gig swap and share shows (3)
The way bands gig swap and share gigs (4)
- Promotion:
Gig promotion strategies with “Ain’t Yo Mama” (part 1)
Gig revenue and schedule strategies with “Ain’t Yo Mama” (part 2)
The way bands promote shows (1)
The way bands promote shows (2)
- Booking Gigs:
What’s the biggest pain of booking a gig?
A venue-promoter’s booking advice for bands
An artist’s advice on why and how to book house concerts
Why bands should consider playing house concerts
Should bands pay to play at gigs?
Q&A with the The Los Dos Bros (part 1): booking gigs and gig swapping
Q&A with The Los Dos Bros (part 2): booking agents and club owners
How some bands get booked at festivals and other gigs
- Booking agents/venue promoters/club owners
Some dirt on club owners
How some bands deal with booking agents and venue promoters (1)
How some bands deal with club owners
- Band members/Fan issues
How to quit the band
How to fire someone from the band
Which musician do you find to be the most annoying in a band (1)
Which musician do you find to be the most annoying in a band (2)
What musicians say the hardest part about being in a band is
Why it’s hard for bands to get fans to come back to their shows


[...] the blog post announcing the release is very sparse on the product’s features, namely on the why and the design of the system, and I’ll try [...]