Jump to content
aberdeen-music

okay, what would be the best promotional "tool" for aberdeen-music...?

Guest pop-notmyface

By Guest pop-notmyface
in Comments & Suggestions

 Share

Recommended Posts

RicoAUBL Mentor

RicoAUBL

Posted
Posted

ahem! well said spoonie

AUBL Poll:ution night belongs to me and jimmy

you stay away from our genius ideas!

*shakes fist*

Aberdeen-Music rose out of the ashes cos some dodgy music promotion site put its message board on here... and neil wasted far to much of his time and money building the site up to the savage beast that it has now become... gawd bless him.

in my opinion

if you want more people to use this site

we need to ban cloud..

peace out.

:gringo:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
soundian Grand Master

soundian

Posted
Posted
the gc guide is def one of the better (and cheapest!) ways to do it! also leaving flyers beside all of the computers in colleges/unis!

the gc guide is superb' date=' it really is. and the distribution is even more impressive. long may it continue to grow and prosper![/quote']

Hopefully the next distribution will include a 1000 round Inverurie, Ellon, Stonehaven, Westhill etc, I feel the last 700 or so we're a bit wasted in the city centre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
soundian Grand Master

soundian

Posted
Posted
wtf' date=' there are like 15 gig goers in ellon

lol

im more than happy to distribute some in ellon if y alike though[/quote']

The point is to get more people going to gigs. I'm sure the 15 "gig-goers" in Ellon have figured out how to find the information they need. The printed version is for the lazy/stupid or those who don't have internet access.

You never know, there might be 20 gig-goers in Ellon by the end of next month. Who knows where it could end. Maybe even 50.

I'll take you up on that offer if the distro deal falls through for temporal reasons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Alan Cynic Grand Master

Alan Cynic

Posted
Posted
ha! i win again! weeeeee!

see how i added the promotional element as well? oh yea' date=' i'm the king. :)

someone had to get in before alan cynic with the terrible puns for once.[/quote']

Damn you Officer!!!! :D

Anyway, having had time to think about it, the best promotional tool would definitely be a 'File-share'!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neil

Neil

Posted
Posted

Okay, there is lots of stuff I can comment on here so I'll try and reply to everything in one big go...

*deep breath*

Best bet would be decent posters put up in prominent places in all the venues - encouraging people to come and check it out. Convincing promoters to also mention a-m.com wouldn't hurt, as would getting them to offer discounts to people who were made aware of the gig through this website.

A great suggestion but this has been suggested time and time again and every time I reply with the same answer - I need time and money to do this and quite frankly, I have neither. If other people want to do it then fine but no-one has yet done so to my knowledge. That *might* change though...read on...

Ultimately though, a good website will promote itself.

I disagree. As Rico will testify, this web site came from the ashes of the old AUBL and Fudge forums on Bravenet. I initially created this web site to bring two online communities together in one place online - therefore, it's initial popularity came thanks to the good work that AUBL and Fudge did promoting their gigs, producing fanzines etc. Good work they both still do to this day.

If I created aberdeen-music.com from scratch, tomorrow not a single person would access the web site because simply no-one would know about it - regardless of how "good" it is. Don't get me wrong - a lot of people know about aberdeen-music and the word has certainly spread. But not everyone knows about it - and a lot of people I would like to know about it and utilise it, don't know about it. That is something that we need to work on...

okay, i'll spill the beans here: myspace.com

I make no secret of the fact that I loath myspace and similar online "popularity" contests. Don't get me wrong - it can be used as a great viral networking tool but I don't know if I want to cheapen the image of this web site by creating a profile on there (I dont see how it would make the web site less independent though if I did).

However, it is a fair suggestion and I may, for experiments sake, bite the bullet, swallow my pride and create a profile for the web site. I'll investigate this one further as at least it wouldnt take much effort and costs nothing (unlike the posters and flyers) - thanks for the suggestion.

Whatever happened to the old clich - "who are you on the boards?"

Look at the Eskimo Blonde thread in the Feedback forum - who is gonna join this forum and leave feedback if they see that? too much stuff here is shot down in flames by people - I know this sounds controversial, but I would back a stated policy of "if you have nothing good to say, don't say it" on here, until such a point comes that the site is mature enough to handle negative feedback/discussion.

This is a very good point and something I am going to be addressing it probably quite dramatic fashion when the new version of the web site goes live soon. Would I be correct in thinking that the web site, generally speaking, has become less friendly? I think things like snidey comments and just general bitchyness between members has increased substantially over the last year with less and less constructive criticism being posted. My great fear is people are now becoming quite reluctant to post on here because of this kind of thing. That worries me because it is what people post that effectively drives the web site if the community abandon it and/or the content of the forums becomes so bad then the web sites popularity will decline maybe terminally so.

The new version of the web site will contain very public and very straightforward rules and guidelines that must be followed. People posting replies like your band is shit wont only be more likely to become banned but such posts will be outright deleted. Quite frankly, if peoples posts and threads are deemed unconstructive in any way then the moderators will be much more likely to act. Threads like the one you mention will be more likely to simply just disappear when the new rules take effect and that is going to take some getting used to I think. But I think it is the way forward if we want to further improve the web site.

E-mail the promoter? Go to a special website to generate a random code to get money off?

To expand the idea a bit more, you could have a special bit on this website. You could go to it, input your e-mail address into it and get a special password (randomly generated each time, and linked to an e-mail address, perhaps even the e-mail address used to register for this site - giving the promoter valuable data to work with), and you simply take the password to the gig and get some cash off. Even if it's just 50p, the temptation of "saving money" might encourage people to go to the gig when they previously weren't going to go. This would mean the website would get the benefit of people signing up to receive the discounts on gigs, and if the promoters are good enough, they wouldn't miss the money lost on offering the discounts anyway.

This would be a logistical nightmare and is pretty much a non-starter. What if someone posts their code publicly or dishes it out to their mates? Will everyone have to have a separate code to prevent this? Will we then have to issue gig promoters print-outs of all these codes to check people against? Think how long it would take to get into a gig. I dont mind the old get in for 3 with a flyer type idea but that then takes me back to having to get flyers designed, printed, distributed and paid for. But online special codes? No thanks.

Hmm, why doesn't aberdeen-music.com hold gigs under the name? There's no reason why they couldn't become respected, if the idea was to simply put on bands that use the website. The door charge could be kept low too if it was just local bands, and it could raise some money for the site?

Im against this idea Im afraid. For a number of reasons. Firstly, it would turn aberdeen-music into a promoter and I dont like that idea it makes the web site less independent and unbiased for a start. Secondly, I think Aberdeen has plenty of promoters it doesnt need another one. Thirdly, this requires more time, effort and money from the staff and myself to do. Things we dont have in abundant supply unfortunately.

The exception to this is one-off fund raising events of course. Some of you may remember the Bandwidth festival that raised many hundreds of pounds for the web site and was a great success. But the reason that it was so successful is that pretty much every venue, promoter and band with an interest in the web site did their bit. I did very little Im ashamed to admit but it is something Ill forever be grateful to all those people for and one of the main reasons I continue to spend my own time and money on the web site to this day.

the gc guide is def one of the better (and cheapest!) ways to do it! also leaving flyers beside all of the computers in colleges/unis!

the gc guide is superb, it really is. and the distribution is even more impressive. long may it continue to grow and prosper!

This suggestion brings me neatly back to the point about spreading the word about the web site out there to the people that need to know and to the people we would like using the web site. I make no secret of the fact that aberdeen-music does not advertise period. We have had the odd ad in The Lemon Trees brochure (which we didnt pay for) and a couple of ads in the Fudge fanzine but that is pretty much it. Any other advertising is via indirect and free methods (appearing on Peoples Court, getting linked to from another popular web site etc.).

I have no advertising budget. In fact, I dont have a budget I have a VISA card and that is what pays for all this mess. :)

I think what I am going to have to accept is that I really need to do something about this if Im to take the web site to the next level as it was coined. I can see this taking the shape of taking an extra staff member on to become aberdeen-musics dedicated marketing guy or gal. From there, I would try and gather some funds together and finally get some flyers and posters done, get a street team put together and then maybe even put an ad in the GC Guide. But my priority just now is to get the web site in order and that will be complete once the new site goes live.

This is a really valuable thread people so keep the suggestions and comments coming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cloud Grand Master

Cloud

Posted
Posted

Thanks for taking the time to give feedback Neil, it's nice to know that the comments are taken seriously :)

I'll reply to them in depth later on, I'm full of ideas at the minute but lacking an outlet for them, so I might as well throw them at here and see if something 'sticks'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cloud Grand Master

Cloud

Posted
Posted

Gah, I'm confusing myself with the reply I wrote, so I'll rewrite it and see if I can make sense out of it.

This is a very good point and something I am going to be addressing it probably quite dramatic fashion when the new version of the web site goes live soon. Would I be correct in thinking that the web site' date=' generally speaking, has become less friendly?[/quote']

I would believe so. Although you get events that bring people together (paintballing, CD swapping, etc), there seems to be a lot more people on here who exist to snipe at people's posts and who have no desire to "be a part of things". An easier way of explaining it, perhaps, would be that I still see the same old faces around who were posting on here two years ago. Some of them still post on here, others have drifted away (as to be expected), but the thing is that the "new" people aren't posting on here too.

I think things like snidey comments and just general bitchyness between members has increased substantially over the last year with less and less constructive criticism being posted. My great fear is people are now becoming quite reluctant to post on here because of this kind of thing. That worries me because it is what people post that effectively drives the web site if the community abandon it and/or the content of the forums becomes so bad then the web sites popularity will decline maybe terminally so.

I'm starting to personally question why I bother to post on here - I can take the constructive arguments fine, but I find a lot of things get shot down in flames for no apparent reason. I don't think the website is in any decline at the minute, but it desperately needs to attract different people who might not be into the latest swedish hardcore band or into the latest obscure psychobilly act from latvia. A lot of the more mass-media friendly bands are completely unrepresented on here, despite gaining significant attention from the general public. The website is for the entire music scene, so it would be nice to see different sides of it represented.

A good example - I always find it interesting to read "Wax"'s posts, because they're usually about things that I know absolutely nothing about and wouldn't mind knowing more about. Yet the type of music they post about is completely underrepresented on here, despite it being popular with the general public.

The new version of the web site will contain very public and very straightforward rules and guidelines that must be followed. People posting replies like your band is shit wont only be more likely to become banned but such posts will be outright deleted. Quite frankly, if peoples posts and threads are deemed unconstructive in any way then the moderators will be much more likely to act. Threads like the one you mention will be more likely to simply just disappear when the new rules take effect and that is going to take some getting used to I think. But I think it is the way forward if we want to further improve the web site.

I completely agree with this, as forums that are fairly ran, but strongly moderated tend to be successful (as far as I've seen). I suspect it'll hurt the popularity of the website in the short term when people realise that they can't get away with random attacks or snipes at people and start drifting away, but it should attract more sensible, mature posters in time.

I think what I am going to have to accept is that I really need to do something about this if Im to take the web site to the next level as it was coined. I can see this taking the shape of taking an extra staff member on to become aberdeen-musics dedicated marketing guy or gal. From there, I would try and gather some funds together and finally get some flyers and posters done, get a street team put together and then maybe even put an ad in the GC Guide. But my priority just now is to get the web site in order and that will be complete once the new site goes live.

I agree with waiting until you get the new web site going first, as any marketing person will no doubt have to suffer nasty, pointless swipes otherwise. With a dedicated person, I'm sure they could manage to do all sorts of things that wouldn't cost anything if they know what they're doing.

Out of interest, is the website as busy as ever in terms of the amount of posts made per day/hits/etc?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neil

Neil

Posted
Posted
I think that can be arranged - without this site it would have been practically impossible to get the people together to put it together' date=' maybe a picture of Neil in his suit from the People's Court ;)

[/quote']

Don't you dare! :)

If you guys can let me know what you need from me for this ad then I'll get it put together and sent to you post haste.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ray Community Regular

Ray

Posted
Posted

can i just add that the recent eskimo blonde threads got me thinking, so i did a very, very sad thing, i manually counted the number of registered users in the member list (not one by one mind)... if my maths is right there are 4086 (naturally some of these accounts are going to be duplicates and people signing up just to use the album) - i can only wonder how many people have left aberdeen-music because of the lack of effective policing and net-iquette (if you'll pardon the use of that orrible orrible word).

cunts calling people cunts... doesnt offer much staying power.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chris

Chris

Posted
Posted
so i did a very' date=' very sad thing, i manually counted the number of registered users in the member list (not one by one mind)... if my maths is right there are 4086 [/quote']

you know there's a statistics section on the forums front page that lists the total number of registered users? There's 3,873

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest pop-notmyface

Guest pop-notmyface

Posted
Posted
haha so there is' date=' and i just did me sums and realised i got it worng first time.

so we know what size of community it COULD be, that was my point[/quote']

haha, you amuse me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 5 weeks later...
The Ghost Of Fudge Grand Master

The Ghost Of Fudge

Posted
Posted
Aye' date=' but as soon as any of the other areas of music speak up they are either ignored or shot down in flames.[/quote']

well, it's bad form to shoot people down in flames, obviously... but you* can hardly complain if you get ignored, can you? it just means noone was interested enough to make a post, and that's hardly their fault...

*(i don't mean 'you' in person)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...