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Blogs and Podcasts - What are they?
By admin | May 9, 2008
The world of the internet is kind of strange for a musician - and thats why today I thought I would descibe two terms that appear on the internet, and hopefully clarify their meaning for musicians who might be hoping to get started with Marketing their Music on the Internet.
Firstly, the Term Blog
What is it?
A blog is simply a type of website. This website, kevintuck.com is a Blog.
The word Blog is short for Web-log. At some point the ”We” got dropped and it became a “Blog”. At first it was intended to be an online diary - a collection of thoughts and opinions that can be read by anyone, or specific users if the blogger is so inclined.
The Blog can contain any sort of content. It can be news related, specifically genre related, or it can be a mixuture of topics.
The application for musicians is obvious - they can post their Band news to the Band Blog, upcoming tours, album releases and more via the blog.
The Blog is also associated with something called an RSS FEED. An RSS feed allows you to read the content not just via the blog website, but via special reader software such as the “google reader”. Therefore if you have several blogs that you enjoy reading you can subscribe to the feed from each of the pages, and have the latest content just “appear” on your computers reader the next time you are on the internet… neat huh?
Blogs can be done completely for free, using services such as Blogger and Wordpress.com. The better choice is to have your own domain name and hosting account, and host your own blog using blogging software such as Wordpress.
Now the term Podcast - what is it?
The simplest definition of a podcast is an audio or video presentation that is broadcast over the internet.
The “pod” comes from the Apple i-pod… but you don’t need an i-pod to create, view or utilize podcasts.
What happens is that the user will search for topics of interest, either on the internet via a search engine such as google, or within a specific podcast directory.
The most common application for searching podcasts is i-tunes, which is used with the Apple i-pod. Inside i-tunes you’ll see a little button called “podcasts” - and inside here you can search for topics which are interesting to you.
Podcasts are generally delivered FREE. There are some “premium content” podcasts which are starting to appear, but the users generally expect the “podcast” button inside itunes will not cost them any money to listen to.
Podcasts can be an excellent source of entertainment - if they are funny or engaging they will quickly gain a good subscriber base, much like a television show. They can also be educational - there are many self development, marketing and training type podcasts which are very popular.
If you are thinking of doing a blog or podcast to help promote yourself.. ask yourself these questions…
WHO are the potential readers or listeners of my Blog or Podcast?
WHAT are they going to get from listening or reading?
WHY would anyone subscribe to my blog or podcast?
If you think about these things first, you’ll have a better chance of creating a successfull blog or podcast, which can help you with Marketing your music more effectively.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Topics: Friday Musician Marketing |