Hey all,

Thought it’d be cool to share that the Sonicbids SXSW Tweetup was a HUGE success and we had a ton of fun!  Thanks to all that came down to our office and spent their evening with us. An extra special thanks to Scott McNearney and Brent Grulke from SXSW for flying in to meet folks and give their insights.

I personally got to meet some awesome members like Adam Payne, Neara Russell, Lauren Flaherty… I even met another Tess from the group Miss Tess! Below are a couple photos for you to check out, but I’d recommend you check out our Facebook event at http://tinyurl.com/SonicbidsTweetup to see a whole bunch of them. (By the way, feel free to tag up those photos if you’re in them or you know who are!)

Finally, it wouldn’t have been a Tweetup without Twitter, so you can check out the hashtag that we used #sonicsxsw. You can click on that to see the tweets and photos that folks who attended posted during and after.

Thanks again for all who attended. We had a blast!

Tess

PS: Panos just posted a blog that you might find interesting also about the Tweetup, “7 Tips To Get You Noticed by SXSW” Check it out!

In case you haven’t already heard about this, on Wednesday 10/28/2009 from 5:30pm through 8:30pm(-ish), we’ll be hosting our very own Tweetup here at the Sonicbids office in Boston.

As you may know, we have an open door policy for our members to drop by anytime, but this night will be extra special, since we’re bringing in a couple of friends from South By Southwest: Brent Grulke (SXSW’s Creative Director who oversees their team that reviews and selects the bands) and Scott McNearney (SXSW’s Sponsorship Manager).

This Tweetup will be a very casual get together, where you’ll get the chance to not only socialize with your fellow local peers and the Sonicbids bunch over food and drinks, but to also meet the folks from SXSW in person and pick their brain on what they look for in their showcasing bands.

So come down and join us next Wednesday; we’d love to see you!

RSVP here: http://tinyurl.com/SonicbidsTweetup

Tess and The Sonicbids Team

PS: If you can’t make it, have a listen to this phone interview we did with Brad First from SXSW’s selection committee.

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UPDATE on 10/28/09:
The Tweetup is today! The hashtag to follow and tweet to is #sonicsxsw

Also, be sure to say “hi” to our Sonicbids Twitterers:

Me (Tess) for support: http://www.twitter.com/sonicbidstess
Lou (product): http://www.twitter.com/sonicbidslou
Benjy (fresh gigs & application deadlines): http://www.twitter.com/sonicbidsbenjy

“Radio is dead.” This is a sentiment I hear constantly. And while I don’t necessarily agree with that statement (as long as radio remains a free medium of entertainment, it will never truly die), I certainly understand why people feel that way. With the rise of commercial radio formats, syndicated playlists, and voice-tracking, radio has certainly lost some of the significance and power that it used to wield, the internet and satellite having claimed that ground in recent years.

Radio has had a profound impact on my life, both as a listener and as an employee of the industry, and I have very fond memories of what radio used to be. So it was quite disheartening to hear about John “Mr. Magic” Rivas’ untimely passing 2 weeks ago (due to technical difficulties, I had to hold off on posting this until now). For those who are unaware, Mr. Magic was one of the first to bring raw, independent hip hop to the commercial airwaves back in 1983 with his groundbreaking Rap Attack show on WBLS in New York City. With a young Marley Marl on the 1’s and 2’s, Magic exposed his audience to music that may not have been heard otherwise on a weekly basis, never kowtowing to the execs that would rather have him play the commercial hits of the time. (more…)

Hello to all our dear Sonicbids friends!

Every year, October kicks-off our busy travel season during which we get the chance to hit up tons of great events and meet lots of good friends from all corners of the earth. We’re very happy to be officially kicking off our “events season” this year with an event as awesome as the CMJ Music & Film Marathon 2009 in New York City! See that picture to the left of yours truly? That’s from the Beauty Bar two CMJ’s ago. Getting pretty.

If you’re planning to attend CMJ 2009 as well, be sure to stop by the Sonicbids booth at the Tradeshow (we’re booth #7) and say “Hi”! I’ll be there along with Tess and Aliki and we’d love to chat with you in person. In addition to our sunny disposition and helpful tips and advice, we’ll also have some cool treats for people who visit, including a Marshall halfstack (MG100HFX head and MG412A cabinet), a year supply of D’Addario XL Strings (20 sets), a Planet Waves Instrument Cable Kit and the entire First Official Beatles Strap Collection by Planet Waves.

You should also check out the “Specific Business Concepts Applied For The Modern Day Music Artist” panel that our founder, Panos Panay, will be moderating on Tuesday, October 20^th at 12:30pm, in Room 905/907 at NYU’s Kimmel Center (located at 60 Washington Square S.). The panel will cover topics that will help the modern-day empowered musician like you manage the business aspects of your career.

If you’re also showcasing at CMJ, we’d love to catch your set; post your showcase info here (date/time/location)! We’ll see you at the CMJ Artist Lounge too, where we’ll be giving away even more gifts by D’Addario and our good friends at Jakprints.

Last but not least, don’t forget to follow Tess on Twitter (@SonicbidsTess), as she will be keeping you posted with the latest event news and fun stuff!

See you in New York!
Mike

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UPDATE FROM TESS:

Hello from NYC!  Thanks for all the responses and comments, everyone. We’ve been having a great time meeting you and checking out the showcases. We still have some t-shirts and Sonicbids undies to giveaway so come by to our booth (we’re #7).  We’ll post another full blog post when we get back, but I just wanted to make a quick update to say thanks!  — Tess

Hi all, Darlene here. Last week, I stopped into the Boston Music Conference to check out some panels. I make it sound like it was so breezy (stopping in, that is), but I may have gone to the wrong place at first. And by “may have,” I mean, I most certainly did. Anyway, once there, I did get to listen in on some great sessions, including one featuring one of our own – Kimberly, our VP of Marketing.

Don Gorder, the Chair of the Music Business/Management Department of Berklee, kicked things off on Friday with a keynote speech. He talked about how the internet has empowered today’s DIY artist with lots of tools for building a music career. And, like what we believe here at Sonicbids, he reinforced that we’ll continue to see the emergence of the artistic middle class – people who can make a living and can have a life in music. His parting words – make great music, build intimate relationships with your fans and continue the creativity and passion.

Next up was the panel on marketing, which included Barry O’Connell of Licensing and Entertainment Relations for VerveLife, Elizabeth Healy, Executive Director for The Recording Academy NY Chapter, John Stringer, Partner for Indie HitMakers, Angel Martinez of G-Unit Records and moderator Tim Estiloz.

Here are some of key takeaways.

• Artists need to treat their music careers like a small business.
• Focus on the small wins. Develop a marketing plan and start ticking away at it.
• If you don’t know where to start, seek people out who can help you develop or execute on your plan.
• There are tons and tons of tools available to musicians to help them market themselves – things like YouTube, Facebook, Simpleology, Zazzle, MySpace, Twitter (and Sonicbids!). You don’t need to use all of them. Just try a few and see what works for you.
• Teaming with brands has become a great way to get your name out there.
• When it comes to partnering with brands, understand the demographic that a specific brand reaches and decide if it’s right for you. Find brands that match your image and goals.
• Make good relationship, build your Electronic Press Kit, build your personal brand.
• If your band doesn’t show up on Google – you’re not that hot. Get the word out.
• You are responsible for your own career.

And the overall message – it’s never been a better time to be an independent musician.

Hey All,

Check out the Virgin Air Radio Show Here!

If you’re not familiar, the link above is the most recent Virgin America In-Flight Airplay ‘New Music Discovered’ session, courtesy of the Sky Radio Network!  I think it’s pretty cool to listen to some Sonicbids artists tunes and interviews that is currently airing on Virgin America Air Radio.  Much better than the typical elevator-type music you tend to hear on airplanes; that’s never going to make a 5 hour red eye from LA to NYC go fast.

If you like what you hear and you want to check out more, artists interviewed in the session are….

Mike from Carlon: http://www.sonicbids.com/carlon
Justin Levinson: http://www.sonicbids.com/justinlevinson
Dennis from Sentinel: http://www.sonicbids.com/sentinelmusic
Jennifer from Una: http://www.sonicbids.com/Una

Enjoy!
Tess