So I may have screwed some stuff up on the website... Nothing big, it's just that until I fix it, everyone can download my album for free. Have at it.
Showing posts with label website. Show all posts
Showing posts with label website. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Business Side of Things
Music has always been fun to me. Isn't that how it should be? It's never been a money-making venture, a means of finding approval, etc. I've kept playing because I enjoy playing. Being both a perfectionist and an innovator is what has driven my enjoyment and has definitely helped to further my "career."
This all being said, I haven't really taken much mind to the business side of things. My reasoning for wanting exposure is primarily to help expose people to what the guitar really is and because I enjoy playing for new people. Not that this is changing, by any means, but recently I have given more thought to how I am accomplishing my goals.
My friend, Ken Mueller, runs a blog on social media in business and I have learned quite a bit from him. Basically, the big push I've made to be more present in social media has been prompted by how much of an impact social media can have. Playing guitar professionally is much like a business, so much can be learned from Ken. I've had a facebook and a twitter for a while, but have recently added not only this blog, but my own website as well. Yes, there is a lot of upkeep, but it's a challenge that I am enjoying quite a bit.
Beyond the business side online, there is also the business side in person. Everything from how you carry yourself on stage to how you interact and network with other musicians is vitally important to being successful. Lately I've been trying to talk to people more after shows as a little bit of self-promotion and it's worked out great. It's helped me to sell some CDs and even get some engineering job contacts. I've also been carrying myself a little bit better, dressing nicer, etc. Again, this is all stuff that's been really enjoyable and a good challenge - this is still fun for me.
One group that I haven't gotten to cater to as well are all of the people who hear/see me, who are interested, but not ready to commit to being a fan or buying a CD. You can't talk everyone into it, and I understand that. However, there's a good chance that these are opportunities that I'm missing big time. Be it a potential fan who wants to remember my name, other musicians who want to get in contact with me, a DJ at a wedding, or someone wanting me to play somewhere, I've recently realized how important reaching out to them is.
This realization, along with a commercial online, has led me to finally order up some business cards. I designed them late last night and placed the order. It's been quite some time since I tried anything with business cards, but since I've finally got a website to throw up on them, I feel it's time to do it professionally. I would almost liken a business card to a physical piece of social media and think similarly of their potential importance. So here's a screenshot of the design. Let me know what you think:
This all being said, I haven't really taken much mind to the business side of things. My reasoning for wanting exposure is primarily to help expose people to what the guitar really is and because I enjoy playing for new people. Not that this is changing, by any means, but recently I have given more thought to how I am accomplishing my goals.
My friend, Ken Mueller, runs a blog on social media in business and I have learned quite a bit from him. Basically, the big push I've made to be more present in social media has been prompted by how much of an impact social media can have. Playing guitar professionally is much like a business, so much can be learned from Ken. I've had a facebook and a twitter for a while, but have recently added not only this blog, but my own website as well. Yes, there is a lot of upkeep, but it's a challenge that I am enjoying quite a bit.
Beyond the business side online, there is also the business side in person. Everything from how you carry yourself on stage to how you interact and network with other musicians is vitally important to being successful. Lately I've been trying to talk to people more after shows as a little bit of self-promotion and it's worked out great. It's helped me to sell some CDs and even get some engineering job contacts. I've also been carrying myself a little bit better, dressing nicer, etc. Again, this is all stuff that's been really enjoyable and a good challenge - this is still fun for me.
One group that I haven't gotten to cater to as well are all of the people who hear/see me, who are interested, but not ready to commit to being a fan or buying a CD. You can't talk everyone into it, and I understand that. However, there's a good chance that these are opportunities that I'm missing big time. Be it a potential fan who wants to remember my name, other musicians who want to get in contact with me, a DJ at a wedding, or someone wanting me to play somewhere, I've recently realized how important reaching out to them is.
This realization, along with a commercial online, has led me to finally order up some business cards. I designed them late last night and placed the order. It's been quite some time since I tried anything with business cards, but since I've finally got a website to throw up on them, I feel it's time to do it professionally. I would almost liken a business card to a physical piece of social media and think similarly of their potential importance. So here's a screenshot of the design. Let me know what you think:
Again, despite this making it feel like I'm trying to make this a career, I'm not. I like playing for new faces, playing new venues, and watching my abilities progress. Since I'll soon be leaving the safe-haven of Messiah College and all of the people who already know me, I feel that it makes it that much more important to connect with the general public and the real world. This is a means of getting there - one that I thoroughly enjoyed designing and will later enjoy handing out to everyone. My goal was to have these by the MMC next weekend, but it looks like they'll take a bit longer... Still, this is pretty exciting.
-Alex
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Alex Brubaker Guitar Dot Com
It's here. alexbrubakerguitar.com is finally a reality after like 2 years of talking about it. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks. Leave some comments in the guestbook, on here, facebook, an email, etc. Just no myspace - that's pretty much dead.
-Alex
ps. Sorry this whole thing is one big link. It just felt appropriate so that no one would wonder where the link was.
ps. Sorry this whole thing is one big link. It just felt appropriate so that no one would wonder where the link was.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Website Update
Looking back at the past few years, it's hard to imagine that I'm about to graduate from college. It's also hard to imagine that I've been doing solo gigs for 3 1/2 years. Though they're mostly unrelated, I would attribute most of my musical accomplishments to the opportunities I've had here at school. Without forcing myself to play coffeehouses in front of 1000 people, I probably wouldn't have ever shaken my stage fright. Additionally, in the past few years, social networking has really taken off, and the climate on college campuses has really encouraged that. However, with that alongside the ability to network easily on campus, it's been easy to go without an official website for the past few years. Being able to identify with both the starving college student and the starving musician mentalities, I haven't really found the "need" for a website.
This has all changed. With playing my first wedding a few weeks back, I felt that I should be stepping up my professionalism a bit. To play more events like that, a real website will work a lot better than, say, a facebook or myspace page. Not that I want to get into playing weddings all the time, but it's nice to have a variety of clients.
Last night, for my birthday, I tried to launch alexbrubakerguitar.com. I've been working on it for about a month and was ready to get it out there. Unfortunately, it takes a few days for the domain to register. So in a few days, it'll be here.
Wait for it...
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