Ping... what's the point?

So anyone not living under a rock has most likely seen information on Apple's newest venture, "Ping" in the past few weeks.  Ping is Apple's answer to social media phenoms like Facebook and Twitter utilizing a new network from which we can share our musical tastes, see what our favorite artists are listening to, and see eachother's new <ahem> profiles.  I dont believe they are wrong in wanting to jump onto the social bandwagon, just flawed in their approach.  Other music services have integrated into these other platforms successfully... just look at iLike and Spotify among others.  they have utilized the tools (read: API) that are out there and integrated into the places we already reside rather than requiring us to create yet another new profile to participate.  Why must Steve Jobs always recreate the wheel?  Granted, his quest to "build the better mousetrap" usually yields righteous results- but I fear that this one may fall flat.

So how does this affect artists?  Well, if you are a Major Label talent with a huge following already it has been an easy transaction.  At launch, most of my favorite mainstream artists had pages...  Apple did a good job of making sure the the stud horses of the stable were included at launch but what about the others?  Will they get lost in the herd?  Initially, Tunecore was the only 3rd party mentioned loading content and now it has opened up to a few more aggregators such as the Orchard and CD Baby.  According to Digital Music News, Apple plans to open up to other labels and aggregators but at this point it is slow going.  As far as I can tell at this point, independent groups have no option for inclusion other than the use of a 3rd party.

In the end, will Ping be a game-changer?  Probably not.  Truth is, Apple should have accessed some of the already prevalent technologies in the marketplace to strengthen their launch.  I don't know if John Q Public is going to be willing to join yet ANOTHER social network.

Music City Interactive (http://www/musiccityinteractive.com)

I want to tell you about Music City Interactive.  MCI is a site that was dreamed up over some great greek food with my friend Tony Groticelli.  Tony and I were commenting on the fact that there were multiple factions of tech-minded folks in Nashville.. but they were quite scattered.  I mean... we have Barcamp , Podcamp, Geek Breakfast, Digital Nashville, and probably a dozen other gather places for like-minded geeks but there was not one place you could go to find information on all of these... let alone learn about other interesting happenings around music city. We decided that we would try to do something about it.  We would establish a blog aggregator.  A "Mashable" for Nashville's music and technology set.  Hence the brand spanking new blog: Music City Interactive.  This is very young and at this point.. we are still REALLY working out the kinks, but the idea is- we will have multiple bloggers who write on various issues surrounding technology and music contribute via their RSS feeds.  Here in one place- you will be able to find and learn about (hopefully) every facet of the music, social media, technology and where they all intersect.

CHECK IT OUT! More on this later.

How big is your social media footprint... how much is too much?

Greetings friends.  As I sit here writing this, I am juggling.  Not juggling chainsaws, knives, or anything else tangible--- but juggling my many faces in the "blogosphere" , "social networks", "inter-webs"... whathaveyou.    I am doing this because I feel that it is important for not only my social life, but for MY brand.  My brand is an identity based on my outide-looking-in image which is an amalgamation of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, my blog, Delicious, Linked In and I am sure a few I have forgotten.  Of course we all know this is important... CNN and Fox both tell us so... but how do these resources become such a part of who we are? and How do they help us in the "real world?" In my case, I mention my own brand.  The truth is, everything today is about brand whether it's your own, your company's, or an alter-ego brand such as my friend's "fat kid at camp" moniker.  It is all about that image and everything that surrounds it.  This means in order to be truly engaged, you have to Twitter, be on Facebook, Myspace, blogs, etc.  Here is where it gets really fun/tricky though.  In order to truly be a part of the global conversation you have to be on these various networks, but your message must be original (not contrived).  Classic Marketing 1.0 techniques will not gain you traction in this world.  Marketing in social media is all about creating a conversation with your consumer.  It is about the human side of marketing.

While this works for our personal, corporate and alter-ego brands--- one of the venues this type of social marketing really applies itself is in the marketing of bands. The catalyst for this post happens to be the great post  I read this morning on "Hit Singularity" .  This is a great overview of free, easy social networking that can really make a difference.

10 Fast and Free Strategies To Market Your Band (Without Resorting To Spamming People On Myspace)

Social media diagram

This is probably one of the most complete descriptions I have seen thus-far in the social-media-as-promotion movement.  Short of writing a book on it like Barack 2.0, this is short, sweet and to the point.  The fact remains that in order to succeed in the virtual world, you must have a strong footprint.  Following the points mentioned in the blog above will help you to create that footprint.