What you have to understand, however, is if you want to make a decent living recording and performing your music, you have to understand how to capture the attention of your audience. You have to figure out how to create an emotional connection with them. This is the secret to building a fanbase and becoming successful.

The secret is INTERACTION.

Your first and foremost interaction is through the music itself. And the more someone listens, the more they become attached.

The problem is that the music is not enough to fuel the tank on the road to success. People are bombarded with new music everyday, and it’s the artists who take advantage of all methods of interacting with their audience who will make the biggest impression on them.

Your next weapon is your blog. You connect with the audience using words and pictures, bringing them into your world.

Did I say pictures? People love pictures. It’s how we remember our lives. They see pictures of you in the studio, you back stage. Pictures of you drunk. Pictures of you eating a cheeseburger. When people look at your pictures, they connect with you - you are alive and living your rock star life.

But VIDEO is the biggest gun in the battle. It takes both of our most important sense and grabs our full attention. Video is the outlet that really makes people feel apart of your life.

With the way the industry is changing, there needs to be other methods of monetizing your art. You’ve got to give away music, and your blog has to be free to read and subscribe.

Video, however, can be something you can charge extra for. You rope them into your art with your music and your blog, with your pictures. And once they’re in, they want to be REALLY IN! They’ll spend the extra thirty bucks to join the fan club and see the behind the scenes footage of you in the studio laying down the tracks, of you bickering with the producer, of the girls you brought to the after party.

And you’ve got to keep the video cranking. If you’re in the studio, document every part with video. Get as much tour video as you can get. And yes, get some video of your band hitting up the Taco Bell at three in the morning. Mix it up.

There’s a line you can cross where it no longer becomes about the music, so be careful. Keep it as much about the art as you can, with the occasional goofy bit or personal side.

Give a taste away - that’s where the viral and social perks of video will help you get the attention you need.

But for the hardcore fans, the ones who will make or break you - save the documentary style stuff for them, and offer it in an affordable fan club package. Look at what Metallica is doing with MissionMettalica.com; Staind is offering a similar style product for their new Illusion of Progress album.

And sell it along with the music. Hell, I just paid twenty seven bones for the new Staind CD, a t-shirt, access to their video fan club, and three exclusive tracks. Not a bad deal.

And I can’t wait for not only the album, but for the VIDEO. I can’t wait to see Arron and the gang screwing around in the studio.

So if you’re trying to figure out how the hell you’re going to make a buck in this industry, just remember that being a musician isn’t all just about the CD or the digital tracks or the gigs. It’s all about the EXPERIENCE and the INTERACTION. And as far as media is concerned, nothing showcases the experience like the interaction via video.

Whether you play guitar, smash drums, or scream through a microphone, there’s one instrument that every musician needs to embrace: the video camera.

Here’s my first foray into doing some video myself. I shot this a while back with no script and no editing, and it’s kind of funny. Reminds me of an extended UPS commercial (gotta love my silly drawings!)

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Boru Vodka, DigitalCafeTour, and ReverbNation have teamed up to bring you the “Defend the Bar Band” contest!

Bands who register at BoruBarBand.com have a chance of winning $10,000 in professional gear of your choosing. Top of the line equipment—brand names like Fender, Sabian, and Ampeg.

Plus a professionally produced, shot, and edited video!

All you have to do is sign up and submit a song. Starting September 15th, 15 songs will be chosen and the winner will be picked by the votes cast by we the people.

And just to motivate us to get over there and vote, $5,000 will be awarded randomly just for participating in the voting!

If you’re a band, get your but over to BoruBarBand.com and register, or if you’re just a music fan looking to snag 5k and vote, sign up for an email reminder for when the voting begins!

Problogger discusses finding bloggers on the top social media sites. It’s important to network with bloggers who regularly use these sites because they play an integral role in getting your site picked up and blogged about. They also are heavily engaged in these communities and are constantly looking for content to submit to these networks or add to their own blog’s content.

Darren does it again with a great post on Twitter for beginners. It took me awhile to “get” Twitter, and these 5 things will help you figure out how to connect to the raving masses that are using the micro-blogging service and how to make sure your tweets provide the right amount of value.

Rand from SEOMoz (the defacto-source for no-bullshit SEO tools and information discusses some innovative design elements you just need to check out to make your site more friendly.

Looking for designers? In case you don’t have the time to learn the language that is web design, Freelance Switch shows you where designers tend to hang out.

Mack from the Viral Garden has a neat analysis of the SubPop blog. One important paragraph stood out, which every goddamn musician should burn into their memory, because it sums up the mantra of blogging for artists in a nutshell.

The content does a decent job of letting us learn more about the artists, and has a few ‘interview’ type posts. I like these, but I think the readers would respond better to more ‘behind the scenes’ info. Instead of posting about the new MudHoney release, why not give us pictures and info on what it’s like to be backstage at a MudHoney performance? Tell us what happens during a soundcheck, and what a ‘Day in the Life’ of a rockstar is REALLY like! This is the type of content that’s unique, and would get readers excited and talking about the blog. Additionally, this type of content gives us a deeper connection with these artists, and makes it more likely that we will become fans of their work (which results in us buying more of their stuff).

Thank you for summing this up Mack!

Smashing Magazine’s Small Study of Big Blogs and it’s sequel Further findings should point you in the right direction about choosing the look and layout of your blog. While you still have to stand out in your design, it’s also good to see what the big boys are doing to see what layout options, fonts, and sizes are working.

Hypebot clues us into iLike’s new features, including it’s targeted advertising platform, and news that Tunecore has it’s own Billboard chart! Both of these services should be in every DIY musicians toolboxes, and their capabilities continue to develop.

photo credit: FOTO FOOD

This weeks Blogoholica brought to you by DJ Scribble!

Octane - Fear Zero from Ken Mason on Vimeo.

Read about Ed’s thoughts on creating this Eddie Van Halen “Eruption” style solo

Well, I addressed some issues I was having while updating Wordpress and a new theme at the same time. I spent quite a bit of time putting the new theme to work (Wp-Remix is a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be, thank god I have experience reading and hacking Wordpress!), but Monday morning at 7:00 am (yes I was up all night putting on the finishing touches), the new design went live.

AT 7:05, my site went down. 403. Forbidden.

Seems my hosting company, who will remain anonymous until (if you know what you’re doing you can figure it out) sent one of my hosting accounts to collections after a failed attempt 3 months ago to draw funds out of my account.

That was my fault, and I’ll take responsibility for it. However, instead of contacting me before I was sent to collections, they just did without notifying me. Then, the collection company sent me A LETTER to an old address that I never got, informing me that my site would be shut down should I fail to comply.

Hell, even if I did get the letter, ten bucks says it would have gone straight in the trash, because it wouldn’t have said anything about being from a hosting company!

So I was shut down. Paid my bill immediately only to find out that it would take up to 4 days for the sites to get back up! OMG what do I do?

I ate it. I could have gotten pissed, but these things happen. Luckily I didn’t loose any rankings or traffic after the site got back online.

Lesson learned? Don’t settle for cheap crappy hosting providers. Go local, or go with some acclaimed hosting provider. I’m looking into partnering with some well known names in my circles and will let you know when that day comes. Hopefully, if I ever get shut down again, I’ll get a phone call from someone, or maybe an EMAIL warning me before things get out of hand!

Anywho, Evolvor is back and better than ever. So let’s celebrate the weekend with a little Aerosmith. Have a safe one.

FYI: Nine Inch Nails

For now enjoy the video for “We’re In This Together”.