I recently traveled back home to visit my folks in Cincinnati, Ohio for an 80^th birthday celebration. It was great to see some familiar faces, see how things have changed while away and just catch up with old friends. Even more exciting during the trip was realizing what a small world we live in.

During the family events, we booked a really awesome local duo called Anna & Milovan to perform a few live tunes at our house. My parents had heard the father-daughter team a number of times around town. My mother especially had such high praises for Anna’s voice, and thought they would be a great fit for all ages at our family gathering. Although it was a fairly small event with around 20 people, Anna’s voice filled the room with excitement and liveliness. Milovan’s velvety guitar perfectly complemented her voice.

After an hour of solid performance, everyone in the room had an ear-to-ear grin on their face. I stepped up to talk with them a bit. While we were chatting, I asked if they had ever heard of Sonicbids. As it turns out, they had just joined the Sonicbids community a few weeks earlier to help expand their craft and book more gigs. As Midpoint music festival is an annual favorite in the area, the group heard about the Sonicbids network from friends at the fest.

Although they were relatively new to our site, they were excited to see the extensive opportunities available to bands across the globe. Like many artists, Anna told me she’s working toward being a fulltime performer while also managing another career. After talking to them about Sonicbids and giving them a one-on-one with some tips and tricks on the site, they were even more excited to put their account to work identifying the right gigs in their area and abroad.

What a small world it really is! We have an open door policy at Sonicbids for all our members, and even out of the office, it’s a pleasure meeting Sonicbids bands face to face and sharing their experiences. Check out Anna & Milovan’s EPK here: http://www.sonicbids.com/AnnaAndMilovan

I quit my band a few months ago. That’s a great conversation starter.

To be honest, my heart wasn’t really into it, I was writing songs myself that didn’t really fit our ‘sound’ (we played all-instrumental progressive rock), and it was just too much of a commitment that I didn’t feel was making me happy in the long run.

So what now? I’ve decided to take my creative independence to heart and start a solo project. I’ve been toying with the idea for some time now and have been recording material myself for an EP or two, as well as a full-length record. And, while I’m not technically playing live (since I don’t have a band, yet) or have any great publicity for myself yet, I’ve still got a Sonicbids EPK.  Why would it make any sense for me to have an EPK? A couple of reasons (and not just because I work here!)

A great press kit. A common misconception is that the Sonicbids press kit is a paid version of internet presence, something like a MySpace page. I’ve got a MySpace and a Facebook page for my music, but one must consider who exactly will be viewing each page. Sonicbids press kits are just that — promoters, publicists, judges and others are viewing this to determine if your band is right to work with them. I use my other sites to interact with my friends and small fanbase, provide them with demos of new tunes and updates from my life. Sonicbids’ clear, concise EPK format allows me to organize all of my information into a neat little package for these people to view, because I want to focus this type of viewer on my 4-5 best songs. (more…)