Featured Presskit: Vinyl Thief (Nashville, TN)

We’re psyched to announce that our featured Presskits are now supported by Audio Cotton. Need tees? Audio Cotton will make it happen and has some really affordable options, including one off prints. 

Check them out at http://audiocotton.com, and be on the lookout for their new website launching soon.

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Vinyl Thief is not the kind of group you would expect to hear while walking the streets of Nashville, TN. Proving that “Nashville music doesn’t have to come from the back of a cowboy’s pickup truck or from somewhere inside Jack White’s garage,” their Electro-Rock sound certainly lives up to the juxtaposition they pride themselves on. We caught up with Vinyl Thief Publicist Wes Davenport for an interview about how he incorporates Presskit.to/VinylThief into his role, the band’s recent accomplishments with Hypebot and Kickstarter, and what the group has in store for the fall.

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Presskit.to: How have you used Presskit.to to showcase Vinyl Thief’s career thus far?

Wes Davenport: Every email I send out has a hyperlink to Vinyl Thief’s press kit in my signature. If it’s a press pitch, it’s always in the body as well. Having that link there is such an essential thing. Journalists and bloggers are very time-constrained people. They live life on deadline. 

So to have a service that puts all the info they need in one place (and in a mobile friendly layout!) makes their lives much easier. Since it’s all in one place, one can get a much better view of Vinyl Thief’s brand as a whole. Music streams, bio, photos, videos, genre, press quotes, contact info: the whole deal works together to make a strong impression.

PK: The group’s biography is creatively written and draws the reader in. Do you have any suggestions to musicians on how writing a creative bio can build curiousity around your music?
 
WD: It starts with telling a story.
 
Vinyl Thief is proudly a Nashville band, but they aren’t country or garage rock. “Wonderful Nashville music is created in the back of pickup trucks and in Jack White’s garage. But there are other places that great Nashville music is being made, like around kitchen tables or behind a set of turntables.”
 
That’s a narrative that Vinyl Thief fits into. Danceable yet sophisticated electro-rock is their contribution to the bigger story. And if you’re a fan of that kind of music, they’re the heroes of that story to you.
So think of how your music tells a story or fits into a bigger narrative. Make it your own. And write several drafts of it, because even Steinbeck, Shakespeare, and Faulkner never nailed it on the first try.

PK: You guys were featured as a case study on Hypebot because you focus more on the long term by building a base that can grow, rather than depending on one aspect of your work to blow up short term. Have you seen dividends from this practice yet?

WD: We see small dividends every day, and those tend to add up. It’s rewarding to see Vinyl Thief’s concert attendance and online engagement climb upwards. The truth is, these guys are in it for the long haul, so it makes sense to commit to a strategy that reflects that. Steady growth has given us time to prepare, so if and when one aspect blows up, the rest of the system will be ready to handle that.

PK: What’s up next for Vinyl Thief?

WD: Later this fall, Vinyl Thief is scheduled to release their debut full length album. Fortunately, the album is already paid for through a successful Kickstarter campaign, so we don’t have debt hanging over our heads. That frees the band up to concentrate on creating their best songs to date, and it frees the whole team up to execute our release strategy.
I can’t reveal the specifics yet, but it’s going to be insanely fun to tell the next part of Vinyl Thief’s story.

PK: Thanks, Wes!!

7 Simple Social Media Content Ideas

Written by Jem Bahaijoub

We just can’t stop talking about social media - what to do, what not to do, and how to do it. With an overwhelming amount of choice comes an overwhelming amount of information. The biggest challenge for musicians is not about signing up for the latest trend, but how to keep that platform going with interesting and refreshing content. Here are some simple ideas for social media content that apply across most networks:

1. Be A Resource
Your social media sites shouldn’t be just about you. The musicians who use social media effectively are the ones who turn it into a resource for others. As a musician, you are part of many communities - your fan community, your fellow musician community, and your industry community. If you share information that you discover on a daily basis, then you have an instant flow of interesting content. For example, have you read an interesting book or article? What other artists and shows can you recommend to your fans? What tips have you picked up about your industry?  
 
 
 
Remember social media is not just about self-promotion. Of course you want to tell your fans about upcoming shows and new music. However, if you only talk about yourself then social media would become a platform where everyone is shouting but no one is listening.
 
You will strengthen your community by sharing information about others. Two artists that do this well are Blues/Americana/Rock artist Ted Garber on Twitter and singer-songwriter René Moffatt on Facebook. Check out some of their posts for inspiration.

2. Ask For Help
Asking questions or asking for help on your social media sites is another great way to create conversation. On a personal level, sharing your vulnerabilities makes you more relatable as a person. For example, the violinist Christen Lien recently tweeted about her back problems, asking her fans for tips on how to relieve the pain. She engaged in a number of conversations with various fans about the issue that can be viewed HERE.
 
 
 
On a professional level, you can involve your fans in your creative process by asking for their feedback on various career choices, such as your latest single, album cover or photo shoot. Folk-rock musician Brian Franke did just this with his last album. He asked for feedback on his album cover and chose the cover that received the most votes.
 
3. Join The Debate
There’s always a debate raging in the music industry, one recent notable topic of fury being the article written by NPR intern Emily White, who admitted to only buying 15 albums in her catalogue of 11,000 songs. This admission provoked strong reactions across the industry with many industry figures posting articles in response. But you don’t need to be an industry “expert” to express your feelings on this subject. Evan Bliss, a regional pop-rock singer-songwriter, wrote a blog post detailing his thoughts on the debate, which he then posted to Facebook and Twitter. He felt strongly about the topic and wanted to share his thoughts. This was insightful and topical social media content. 
 
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Another great example was a recent debate that occurred in Washington, DC regarding the City Paper. The paper admitted in a music roundup that they were not interested in covering the singer-songwriter genre, even though the city has a vibrant singer-songwriter scene. This provoked outrage in the local music community with many artists posting, commenting and sharing their thoughts in protest. 
So what are your opinions on the latest trending topics? What is going on in the worlds of music, politics, or ecology? Share your thoughts with your fans. Give them an insight into how you think as an individual.  There is nothing like a bit of passion!
 
4. Make It Visual
If you are not a natural wordsmith, then say it with pictures and video. The rise of visual social media is staggering. Instagram now has more than 50 million users, and each day on Facebook 300 million photos are uploaded.  YouTube has now become the second largest search engine in the world.
 
 
What’s great about these sites and apps is that you can sync them very easily with your other social media platforms - you can repost (or “repin”) pictures and videos to Facebook and Twitter, creating a natural flow of additional content.
So why are visuals so important? It’s simple - they allow your fans to see the world through your eyes.  
For visual inspiration check out this list of 13 must-follow musicians on Instagram.
 
5. Create Your Own Q&A Sessions
Another great way to create content and a two-way conversation with your fans is by conducting a mini Q&A session online. Ask your fans to post questions about you on your FB page and then answer them in turn over the course of a week (or two) by reposting the questions with your answer attached. Alternatively conduct a rapid-fire 15 min Q&A on Twitter. Your fans are curious about you, so you’ll be making their day. 
Voila! Instant content.
 
6. Offer Exclusives
You don’t have to post the same content on each of your social media platforms. In fact it’s better that there is a variation between your sites. One way you can differentiate one site from another is by posting exclusive content. 
The Brit-pop band Blur did this recently by premiering their Olympic concert track on Twitter. But you don’t have to be a massive band like Blur to play this game. Even if you only have 100 followers on Twitter, you are demonstrating to your fans that you value them. You are also providing content that will inspire them to retweet, which will lead to new followers. 
 
7. Chit-Chat Of Course! 
Let’s not forget the all important chit-chat status updates. I love them. What are you doing right now? What is occurring in your day to day life?  You’ll be surprised at how many people want to hear about this. Why? Because it’s normal! 
Alternatively ask your fans about themselves. How can you help them? What are they listening to right now? Show an interest in their lives and they will reciprocate. 
Overall your social media content should provide an insight into your life - the person behind the music. Ensure it’s consistent, make it conversational and have fun!
 
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Jem Bahaijoub is the founder of imaginePR, a music marketing company based in Washington DC. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook

Designing an Effective Band/Artist Logo

Interview by Mike Harmon

Austin Bousley of  Venture Guitars provides some insight on designing an effective logo for artists and the process from a designer’s point of view. Austin is a graphic designer currently working in Boston, MA, most well known for his work with Hot Rod Circuits and The Tower & The Fool of Run for Cover Records.

Presskit.to: How do you get started designing a logo? Does the idea come from the band and their music, or do you reference other bands’ logos?

Austin Bousley: It differs with all bands. The deal is when working with bands (rather than a corporation) is that they are creative; they’ll always have a lot of input and some have a pretty good idea of what they want. I respect that; I’ve played in bands for more than half my life and understand the need to have creative control over the artwork that represents your music. What I usually do is talk to them for a while, grab a few beers and shoot the shit about what they want. After that, I usually just gather their ideas, keep them in mind, put on their record, and sketch for a while. Then I hit the computer. I usually riff on what they want to do but try and make it my own. I generally try and stay away from looking at other bands’ logos while designing - I feel the more I look at other bands’ logos the harder it is for me to create something different.

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