In This IssueIn Depth Review of the Following Resources: Indie
Conact Bible
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Current Issue #38 Currently 780+ Members
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Special IssueOK so getting to the point is not my strength. Consequently this weeks article is very long. I have temporarily suspended some of the normal activites. The battle of the bands still rages on (GO VOTE). However, I feel you'll enjoy this issue's article. It's an article I wish someone would've written for me. In the next issue an article on Publicists, and a new book review, and your comments and questions.-All comments welcome - Dave Contact Us
Indie Resource ReviewThe Indie Bible - Musician's Atlas - Billboard's Guide to Touring and Promotion - Galaris Music DirectoryBy David Jackson This article is available for download (PDF format) HERE.
You will need adobe acrobat to read it. As a musician I see these resources listed all over the place and
I always wondered about the differences between them. I sat down
with my documents and tried to compare "apples to apples." That was
immediately thrown out the window as I ordered the "electronic"
version of the Galaris Music Directory thinking I could print it
out. I'll explain more about this as we go forward. However as the
Galaris Music Directory is an "E-book" on my computer it will
receive many a "N/A" in some of the testing.
The 20/20 TestSo many times you pick up a music magazine only to have to sift through 30 pages of advertisements just to find the table of contents. I wanted to see how these guides measured up. I turned to page 20 of each guide, and turned 20 pages and counted the number of advertisements. I called this the 20/20 test.20/20 Test
First off I want to state these were NOT full page ads. Almost
all of these were small ads, and they didn't interrupt the flow of
reading. In reality as a consumer you WANT to see some
advertisements (as they help pay for the production of the guide,
and hopefully keep the selling price low). The Galaris Music
Directory has 6 running ads that sit at the bottom of the page.
Table of ContentsWhen you look at a database there are the two really important things: the detail and accuracy of the data, and the ease of getting the data out. When I looked at the table of contents of each guide they all had done a good job of breaking things down so you can find what you need quickly. I counted the different "items" in the table of contents. Here are the results:
With the introductions over, let me dig into these guides and give you my first impressions.
This was the first guide I looked at that had a listing of clubs. As I play in a local blues band in Ohio I thought I would check out the club section in my state. The biggest city I live near is Cleveland. Turning to the table of contents I saw where clubs were listed. Finding that page I found that the clubs listed by state, and the use of color on the pages (along with detail on the top of each page) made it easy to navigate to Ohio, as well as to Cleveland. I was greeted with a full page of listings. Not only did it have listings for Cleveland, it had some listings for nearby cities such as Akron, and Lorain. Fat Fish Blue Half the battle of booking is chasing the booking agent at the club. Looking at this page in amazement I thought "My God, they've done all the foot work." As I have played this club, I can verify the data is accurate. As I glanced through the rest of the Atlas I could see where the level of detail didn't shrink. When I looked at "College Radio" section I again found them listed by state, and city. While finding stations interested in my genre wasn't easy as in the Indie Bible, with a little help from a highlighter I was able to mark the stations that might be interested in playing my CD. Not only did the College Radio station list the station, but also booking venues near the college. This was very cool. With the number of listings along with the detail and accuracy of the listings, the Musician's Atlas is an obvious tool that no band should without. When I spoke with a representative from the musician's Atlas they also explained that very soon (a couple of weeks) the Musician's Atlas will be launching a web based version where you can do cool stuff like mailing labels, e-mail blasts, etc. It will also be able to be updated (which obviously a printed document can't). One other side note, the Music Resource Group (creators of the atlas) also host the Independant Music Awards. For more information go to http://www.musiciansatlas.com/e_form.asp Book (Paperback) Lists at: $29.95
Coming in at $12.95 this guide was the easiest on the wallet. However, as the old saying goes. you sometimes get what you pay for. Don't get me wrong, it is still worth the money (with a boasted 4800 contacts), but the listing is not as extensive as the Musician's Atlas or Indie Contact Bible. For example going back to my "Fat Fish Blue" example from above, Billboard's guide provided me the address, phone, fax, e-mail, and website (along with a description of the type of music), bit it did NOT provide me with a contact name, booking info, P.A. and engineer info, and when to call (that the Musician's Atlas did). While it's unfair to base an opinion on one example, as I paged through the guide I never saw the level of club detail provided the Musician's Atlas or Indie Bible. One thing that Billboard did do that the Musician's Atlas did not was break the cities down. For example Akron (a city 40 minutes south of Cleveland) was listed under "Cleveland" in the Musician's Atlas where Billboard's guide had provided Akron its own listing (with both of its listings, one of which needs updating as Ron's Crossroads is now the Ron's Voodoo Lounge). The other thing that Billboard's guide does is when you look up a city you are provided with clubs, radio stations, local press, and record stores in that area. This is partly due to the size of the listings. As the other guides have more extensive listings, these listings are provided with their own section. The Guide comes out twice a year, and in addition to the listings, each guide has tips. For example this edition has vocal tips from John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, Leann Rimes, Art Alexaris of Everclear. The one thing I thought odd about this concept is it has a main article, and then scattered throughout the guide it has sidebars with more tips. Had I not been paging through I would've missed the vocal tips from Phil Collins on page 15. If you go to billboard's web site, you can purchase the Guide on disk for $59. Call 800-407-6874. While small in size, for the musician on a tight budget,
Billboard's Musician's Guide to Touring and Promotion is a good
value. I'll have more on this in the summary at the end of this
article
Galaris is one of my favorite sites for musicians. For years they have provided a place for musicians to sell their CD along with great resources and articles (they've even been nice enough to publish an article of mine - although after this review that will probably be my last). They recently have created a partnership with CD baby. I ordered the directory, received my download instructions quickly - along with an unlocking code - and was soon looking at my E-book. The purchase process was flawless. I was slightly miffed that my computer's firewall detected the Music Directory going out to the Internet (as you will see the GMD is closely tied to the Internet). I had to grant it temporary permission, and continued. While I could be naove, their web site states there are 1200 pages of contacts. As I saw the word PAGES, I assumed I would be able to print out the directory after downloading it. I would soon be disappointed. Understand that if this E-book is not password protected, one person could buy it and give it to everybody. However when you purchase the downloadable version, think twice before loading it. The machine you load it on is the machine you MUST use to view it. I tried to load it at work so I could view it during my lunch. Since I had loaded it at home, I was denied. You pay for ONE liscense. This E-book is not a PDF (like many e-books), but an interface that allows easily to view html files on your computer (think of it as a web site stored locally on your machine). However, have you ever printed anything from the Internet? It was almost a screen capture type of look to it, and it printed an extra page (two pages to accommodate the one page of information on my screen). Not only that, but they have two pages of clubs in Ohio (you use an arrow button at the bottom of the page to view page two on your computer screen). I turned to page two and printed it out. You guessed it two more pages out of my printer with the second page being 99% blank except for their advertisements which were partially cut off. "Is this what they mean by 1200 pages?" I thought to myself. When I e-mailed and asked questions about this (to see if I could get a printed version), I never received a response. I found this surprising as the folks over there are pretty nice, and responsive. The information in the guide was scarce. Going back to the "Fat Fish Blue" example, the Music Directory DID NOT PROVIDE AN ADDRESS! While I know Ohio is not is as big as Texas, but HELLO? Give me a clue where the club is! Instead I got the name of the club, a phone number, a link to the club's web site, and a link to send the club e-mail. Another listing for the Hi Fi club in Cleveland did not even provide the genre. I was provided a contact name, phone number and link to their web site. "You've got to be kidding me," I thought to myself. When I went to look at the radio section, again I was greeted with very little details. Clicking on the link for Ohio radio stations I was amazed that the GENRE was not listed very often. Almost all listings contained a phone number and a link to their site. I thought to myself, I can find THIS kind of listing at Google - AND IT'S FREE.
However, one thing that the Galaris Music Directory did that NO OTHER guide being reviewed did was LIST THE MUSICIAN'S CYBER COOLER. I felt like Steve Martin in "The Jerk " "I'm in the phone book!" (If you've never seen that movie I HIGHLY urge you to rent it tonight). It also uses the key difference of being on a computer by having active links to all the resources. This makes it like a giant search engine result with links to all things musical. It also has a link at the bottom of the directory to allow you to add resources. The site states updates are very easy (and only 8.95). Currently if you order before June 4th you will receive the next update FREE. I know of the guides listed in this article The Galaris Music Directory is the "baby" as it has only been around for a few years, I was amazed and how poor it was when their site is so awesome. Where the other guides had done at least SOME homework, it looked like someone had bought a database, copied and pasted it, and sold it. Sneak PreviewsIf you're not sure what resource to purchase here are some tips. Billboard's Guide to Touring and Promotion along with the Musician's Atlas are available at Border's (so grab one and pull up a chair). I've even seen a copy of last years Musician's Atlas at the public library. If you're not sure about the Indie Contact Bible, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for their newsletter. It provides glimpses into the Indie Bible along with cooler articles. You can see sample articles (and sign up while you're there) at http://www.indiecontactbible.com/newsletter/index.shtml. You might even win one of many prizes given away each month just for signing up. Final Thoughts and SummaryI've tried to be honest, and let you in on my thought patterns as I
reviewed these great resources. Some I liked more than others. For those
guides I thought needed improvement, I've tried to keep my criticism
constructive (as that is the way I appreciate criticism I
receive).
As for Billboard's guide, it is good (and easy on the wallet). One might say for a band just starting out, it will give you some ideas of places to call (you're looking at a difference of almost 20 bucks). However, I would say pay the extra 20 bucks and get that extra information so you can be better informed (along with a much larger list of resources). The Galaris Music Directory is a cool idea (with the
book being on your computer making it easy to link to a resource's
web site), the lack of detail I found disappointing. Without the
details on a resource you are forced to click on the resource's link
(made easy by design) only to hunt for the information you need. As
you might suspect not every resource may fit your genre (and thus,
wastes your time). In the future with more details a user could
better navigate the system. While it boasts of hundreds of music
related articles written by industry experts, an online store to
sell your music, free musicians email accounts, free classified ads,
other recommended resources, most of these are available on their
site for free. With more detail, and better printing flexibility (so
you wouldn't have to be tied to the computer), the Galaris Music
Directory could be developed into an even more powerful, useful
tool http://www.indiebible.com/jammin ConclusionCongratulations! You've just read our longest issue ever. Next issue: Thoughts from a publicist, book review "Musician's handbook.". Contact Us Dave Jackson Get Your Band Out of the Basement (And Keep them Out of the
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