I’ve been a big fan of Behringer products for years.  They produce quite the extensive line of DJ, sound and other music-related products, and I’ve always had great experiences.  That being said, they were pretty much out of sight, out of mind for years. I stopped DJin’g and just didn’t have a need to keep up with what they were doing.  I’ve been paying attention to them again lately though, mainly due to their Twitter stream.

I took a look around their social presence and really like what I saw.  So much so that I decided to write an entire blog post about it – not bad, eh?

I’ll start with the website:

The clean style really showcases both the products they want to feature (rotating in the center), as well as a larger portion of their product line and their social outposts, all without being crowded or poorly-designed.

Great, but their Twitter stream is really what caught my eye.  Let’s take a look!

I LOVE the fact that they’re on top of responses.  A lot of people/companies who are just jumping into social media seem to forget the “social” aspect and just use their accounts to push our news about their company.  Behringer does post updates about their products, but they also feature weird musical instruments, ask questions and have conversations with people that respond to them. It’s a really great combination of interesting information and interaction, and I regularly go check the account just to see what I’ve missed from them. Really.

I hopped over to Facebook next and really, the only negative thing I have to say here is that I wish they had a better avatar. It is consistent with their other profiles (like Twitter above), but just a bit too long for the space.  Still – if I’m just pointing out the avatar and not the actual content, I consider that a huge win.  Make no mistake, the content is really good! Take a look for yourself.

Behringer does cross-post content from Twitter to Facebook (or vice versa, more likely), and I like that they do this.  They don’t try and shove people back and forth between the platforms, yet they make sure that if you’re on Twitter, you’ll see the much the same information as you’d see on Facebook.  They also reply to comments on Facebook which is unique! You’d be surprised how many companies post something then just leave it.  Questions go unanswered, kudos go unthanked and opportunities to, you know, be social, go unrecognized.

As if that wasn’t enough, they’re also on YouTube and Flickr – both give you a good “behind the scenes” view of what’s up at Behringer, including shows they’re at and videos they’re making (even just for fun).  The videos are fun to watch and the photos are a combination of company photos and fan submissions – I really enjoyed looking through both sites and seeing some of the faces and personalities.

So – some takeaways:

• Interaction is good. Don’t be afraid to use @ replies, DM’s or comments to respond to questions, thank people for their support or offer help.  Sometimes all people want is to be heard.
• Consistency is good. Use the tools you’ve selected to their full potential! Cross-post content and encourage people to connect with you where they feel most comfortable doing so – not where you want them to do so.  You don’t have to copy everything (and in fact, you probably shouldn’t), but posting key pieces of content on multiple sites isn’t always a bad thing!
• Design matters. It may seem completely obvious, but web design matters! I was encouraged to poke around Behringer’s site simply because it was easy to use.  Don’t be afraid to change things up or invest some serious time and resources to make your website more effective.  Websites are still important!

What other companies do you like in the social space? Share your favorites in the comments!

The Pajamahouse Studios crew has been busy since I last reviewed their debut DJ app for the iPhone, Sonorasaurus. They’ve updated the app a few times (number?) and have also come out with an iPad version of their iPhone app, dubbed Sonorasaurus Rex.

I had a chance to play around with the new app (version 2.0) today and really liked what i found. They’ve made some significant improvements since the first app on the iPhone was released, both in the actual DJing interface, as well as the back end interface for loading and managing your tracks.

On With The Review

The first point is quite obvious. The iPad has a larger screen, so there is more real estate to work with, making mixing and toggling the controls much easier. They’ve added a few new features since I last saw the program, including a BPM display and calculator, waveforms for each track, and a cueing options (with the ability to set multiple cue points within a track).

The BPM display and calculator is quite nice (especially for beginning DJs), as it gives you a good idea of what can mix together easily, tempo-wise. If the track you upload doesn’t have BPM info encoded in the track already, you can also use their BPM calculator to set the BPM yourself.

The cue option is also one I like, as it allows you to jump between points in a song with the touch of a button. I typically use this program when I’m on a plane or a subway, and the ability to practice a mix over and over with just a few touches has made practicing a lot easier.

Slight confession: When I learned to DJ, I learned on two turntables and a mixer. No computer, and no waveforms to guide me.

The waveforms in Sonorosaurus Rex are super useful! I adjusted the settings so that they displayed outward instead of inward, and they made it very easy to see where the tracks were going, as well as point out potential errors before they became noticeable to anyone that may be listening.

The iPad version also dedicates more space to the effects, and the buttons for the highs/mids/lows are also a lot easier to toggle. This is mainly due to the larger format of the iPad, but none the less it makes using the program a lot easier.

The only thing that truly bothered me about this version was the dot that pulses on the beat. For minimalist music its pretty accurate, but for more percussion-heavy tracks it ends up pulsing on more than just the beat, which tends to get visually confusing at times. Perhaps an option to have it pulse just on the beat in the next version would save some of the troubles (visually)?

Here’s a good overview of the 1.2 version (no 2.0 video yet)

Overall?

It’s a great program and the improvements I’ve seen since the first iPhone version have made me like it even more. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come out with next, and am hoping to hear that there is some sort of preview feature coming along, so that you can mix in your headphones before letting your audience hear what you’re up to. I know that feature is one that may be limited by the design and capabilities of the product, rather than anything code-wise, but it would still be nice to see.

I was invited by Mack Collier to co-host #blogchat (on Twitter) last Monday night (the 8th) and was blown away by the quality of participants and discussions taking place during the chat.

Before I get into my thoughts, let’s take a step back. For those that don’t know what #blogchat is, it’s a weekly chat happening on Twitter (check out tweetchat.com for more information on how).  Essentially, you pull up a Twitter search for #blogchat at the appropriate time, and start Tweeting with the people already participating. The key is to use the hashtag (#blogchat) in every tweet so that the conversations can be seen by all. If you’re wondering how to find the “appropriate time” a simple Twitter search will tell you if you search for the hashtag.

The topic of the week was how musicians could use blogging and social media to help them achieve their goals – whether they be ticket sales, music sales, or just connecting with their fans.

The full chat transcript can be found here, and Mack’s review post can be found here. Happy clicking!

About an hour and a half into the chat, Curt Smith (co-founder of Tears for Fears) jumped into the fray and spent the next 30ish minutes answering questions.  Part of the value (as a fan) of following artists on Twitter is the perception of personal connection you feel with the artist, their work, and their lives. Take the following exchange as an example:

Some of the other valuable music-related nuggets Tweeted during the chat:

• Blogging and using other SM tools is a great way to build a passionate community
• Communications should be authentic – no PR/marketing people tweeting “as” the artist
• Don’t be afraid to have a personality
• Many artists don’t see themselves as brands – that mind shift is necessary
• Twitter can be a great “first step” tool to drive fans to other places (like a Facebook Fan Page or a website)
• Offering up special incentives/announcements via SM is a great way to make your community in SM feel special (Ed note: as well as start to get an idea of the effectiveness of these tools!)
• Artists and companies need to start viewing fans as long-term assets, not just short-term pockets stuffed with cash. The key? Building a relationship with them.
• If you’re going to use SM, always consider what the fans want to read/might find interesting. The focus isn’t you as a person, per se – it’s about your brand and your work. Don’t be afraid to let personality shine through, but avoid excessive inane chatter.
• Location-based software could be a no-no if you get big enough to worry about “crazy people”. Safety first!
• Most agree a blog should be the “home base” in your digital efforts
• Don’t forget the fan to fan connections – they’re key!
• Before you can ever start to think about selling anything – you need to build a community who wants to buy.

What advice would you add? Leave it in the comments!

This post was pushed to the back burner this month in the midst of the craziness that is my life.  Over the course of the month it became “that thing” that all writers (or bloggers, in this case) think about. That Post That Must Be Written, to be specific.

First off, I do want to send a huge public thanks to a friend and a very talented web developer, Caroline Keim.  I wouldn’t have been able to go to this event had she not invited me, as I’m really just not cool enough to be invited on my own (really, I’m not).

On to the main event…. the event!

This event was put on by Billboard Live, and the concert (Alicia Keys & Friends) was livestreamed on their site and later archived.  The event was mainly “& Friends”, as I believe that Miss Keys played three songs (at most) the entire night.

Alicia opened up the evening with a moving performance of Empire State of Mind – Part II. In a venue as rich in history as The Apollo and in her very own neighborhood, this song really took on extra meaning. Plus, I have a big sentimental side, so there’s that.

Thanks to NYPOST.COM, I figured out who the other artists (“and friends”) were. Billboard – in the future a list of the “& friends” would be handy!

Raheem DeVaughn, Hope, Elle Varner, Marsha Ambrosious, Jermaine Paul and Melanie Fiona all performed a few songs each, with Alicia popping on and off the stage throughout the performances to either perform duets with the acts, or perform her own songs as transitions between the guests.

Two acts really stood out – Melanie Fiona and Elle Varner.

Elle Varner was up first, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when she stepped on stage.  It took about 30 seconds for me to figure out that while Elle may be young, and perhaps new to performing on a stage like The Apollo’s, she is mega-talented.  She’s on Twitter and was tweeting about the event before and after, and I went to her YouTube page to see what she had up there when I read through her stream.  Take a look at what I found below:

I wish she used YouTube more, but she does use MySpace, and keeps a bit info there.

Melody Fiona, the other standout of the night, on top of having a KILLER dress (seriously, I want to own that dress), also brought plenty of sass with a healthy serving of “Holy cow, that girl has PIPES” to the stage.

She was just nominated for a Grammy, and also performed on Jimmy Kimmel live shortly after her show at The Apollo.

At the risk of overwhelming this post with videos, I’ll leave my favorite song off of the video list – Ay Yo.  Click the link to go listen to her performance on Carson Daly’s Last Call.

In true Alicia fashion, she closed out the night with All Right – still one of my favorite songs so no complaints from me!

Now for the social marketing comments…

From a social media perspective, I think this event could have been better executed. There was a MySpace contest for fans to win tickets, but I didn’t see a lot across other social media sites (including Facebook, where she debuted her new album a short month before the event).  Also, Billboard’s site doesn’t provide a lot of interaction, and it’s hard to find the event, let alone watch the recording. I’ve done the digging for you here, but even knowing where to go it took me a few minutes to find it.

I also wish it was easier to find out about the “& friends” part of the show, if you couldn’t tell by my comments above.  I was sitting next to Xilla from Global Grind and between him, myself and Caroline, we were hard pressed to find the correct names of the performers using our ears (and our iPhones).  I spent a chunk of the next day double-checking my work, and figured out that we still had some of the names wrong!

Photos and video weren’t allowed at the event. Since Billboard was live-streaming the event I can see the logic in this, but at the same time, I’d rather show you all the video I shot and photos I took rather than have to point you to YouTube and Billboard’s websites as the sole source of information.  I can play devil’s advocate both ways on this, but with things like events – I’m a firm believer in the fact that fans should be able to record the experiences for themselves through photo and video, as long as they appropriately credit the source.

Overall, I’m happy to see Billboard do something like this, but think that little thought was put into the entire picture by all of the involved groups. The event was great, and fulfilled a long-standing want of mine to see Alicia Keys perform, but I still believe that it fell flat in terms of overall impact.  If companies in the music business are suffering so much, why don’t they put their full efforts into making events like this a true success? How can they appropriately gauge the effects of social media marketing if they’re only doing part of the work?

So. Go check out Alicia Keys’ new album, go check out the guest performers, and go check out the Billboard Live recording of the night.  It was a fun night full of great acts, and I really hope to see more events happening like this in the future. A great start, but there is more to do!

I recently had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Social Fresh Cruise, an invite-only social media 4-day floating conference/cruise from Miami to Cozumel.

The cruise was part conference, part pure fun. I was one of eight speakers for the conference portion of the cruise, and spoke about “The Recording Industry is Screwed… Now What Do We Do?”

Why yes, I do like to stir the pot. Thanks for asking.

The 45-minute “speech” was more of an open discussion, prefaced by a bit of background about the industry.

The background centered around the alternatives that exist, allowing musician to carve their own paths and often times, decide IF they even want a record deal with a major label.

The discussion portion of the talk was the most valuable, and many people contributed their thoughts, opinions and experiences about the music and recording industires.

The discussion ranged from how research completed in the 80′s about how people would contribute and use the Internet is still relevant, from how one of the attendees favorite bands used Kickstarter to finance their projects.  Many of the attendees had their own experiences to share about connecting with artists on Twitter, and as we were on the cruise with Rick Springfield’s fan club, we ALL could see a real-life example about how connecting directly with an audience really works.

To talk a bit more about one of the best comments of the discussion, I’m going to jump back and discuss a bit about my personal tastes:

I REALLY like a great debate, and really enjoy people intelligently disagreeing with my opinions. As mentioned, the highlight of the talk came from one such comment by Lucretia Pruitt, who made the excellent point that the recording industry is experiencing what a lot of other industries go through when a seismic shift in their business model occurs. Hint: This shift for the recording industry begins with an “I” and rhymes with schminternet.

In general, innovation comes from the bottom up. The start-up, the smaller companies and the ones that have “less to lose” take the “risk” and innovate. They try out new things, see what works and adopt that into their strategy. The bigger more entrenched companies usually wait to see if what the smaller guys do works. If so, they copy it and make it part of their business. Less risk with potentially the same rewards.

Now, I’m not saying that this is an absolute, but it’s certainly a trend.

The difference with the music industry, is that the “big guys” have fought against this change for the better part of a decade, instead of embracing it and trying to innovate from the beginning.  From a PR perspective, that decision has caused a huge problem for the public image of the music industry.  In many people’s minds, it is now “us vs. the music industry”, especially “us vs. the RIAA”.

I’m thrilled to see some of the “big guys” waking up and beginning to realize that the “stick my head in the sand” approach is NOT a smart move, but they must do this while remembering that consumer perception is still a huge concern.

I have much more to say on this topic, and am starting with a conversation today at 3:30PM EST/ 12:30PM PST where I’ll be participating in an un-panel on SnazL with Mary McKnight (EMI, Sacrilicious Marketing) and Mike Fabio (Warner Bros. records).

Join the un-panel and upload a video, share photos or chat to participate.

Sonorasaurus is an iPhone app I’ve been beta testing for a few weeks month or so.

From the website:

Sonorasaurus is an app being developed for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) that allows for advanced deejay functionality with MP3s. After all sometimes a simple playlist just won’t get the job done. In the near future we will begin to expand more on what the app does and how it looks, but for now we offer a quick snapshot.

Aside from the whole tech side of apps and iPhones, we will endeavor to expose people to good music and the occasional free download.

I haven’t DJ’d in a few years (about 5, actually), so the app has provided a welcome distraction on my subway rides – figuring out what I still know (and realizing what I don’t!).

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I’ve worked with one of the developers on a record label before, which is how I was selected for the beta test.

You can find out more about the app and the creators here, and I’ve included the tutorial video from their blog below.

I tweeted about the app a bit, and a few people came back with questions which I’ll make sure to answer in my review.

Sonorasaurus Pros

• Intuitive controls – things do what you expect them to do, and they’re in the place you expect to look for them
• Accurate response – This was the aspect I worried about most.  Would the controls respond the way I thought they should? Great answer; they did!  The jog, pitch control and crossfader all responded beautifully and exactly as I expected.
• Easy Song Loading – It was really easy to pull songs off my computer and put them on my iPhone through their handy FTP site, and it supported both .wav and .MP3 file extensions
• Fun Effects – I don’t use effects much, but I toyed around with them some and thought they were really well-done.
• Pre-Loaded Songs – I liked the fact that Sonorasaurus came with pre-loaded songs. They were quite easy to mix and gave me something to mess around with while I learned the controls.

Cons

• Button Size – While the controls responded perfectly, I found that the + and – signs on some of the controls were slightly too small, causing me to hit the wrong buttons and miss the ones I meant to press.  I have pretty small hands so I do anticipate this being a slight problem for those users with larger hands.
• Headphone Cueing – This option isn’t available on the beta test version of the app, causing all mixing to be the equivalent of “leave the crossfader in the middle and hope for the best”.  It’s fine for practicing (as I do), but I don’t see this translating well for DJ’s in clubs unless they have their set and associated timings and pitch details down pat.

Both “Cons” were aspects people on Twitter asked about.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a great application (so say TUAW, as well!) and I’m looking forward to seeing the final product (it’s still under review by Apple).  I enjoy using the application to mess around with different mix timings and combination’s, and anticipate that many DJ’s will feel the same.

The developers have let me know that headphone cueing (and other features yet to be named) will be coming in a Pro version of the application.  Once this Pro version is introduced I see this app becoming even more valuable to DJ’s, and perhaps a great “on the go” tool to record mixes or even use in clubs/at house parties.

See anything you have questions about? Post ‘em in the comments and I’ll see if I can get them answered.