Dave Keir

acoustic fingerstyle guitar & songs

Podcasts – and YouTube?


These are areas of self-promotion that send a shiver up my spine – and not in a pleasant way. But I guess I should get (back) down to it. Independent musicians mostly need any tool they can lay their hands on.

I have one experience of podcasting, though. I had signed up to an OMD (Online Musical Distributer) which, as part of their service, distributed (“syndicated” was the term they used) any podcast you would make. All I had to do was record my podcast in my ‘umble studio and upload to their server. They would take care of the rest. To be fair to them, they were as good as their word and I found I had a few subscribers around the world to my podcast.

But before this, as I said, I had to record it. As per the OMDs written guidelines I mixed up a couple of songs with some chat welcoming them to my podcast and inviting them to visit my website. A sort of mix between a DJ and advertiser.

Now that sounds pretty straightforward. I even wrote down what I was going to say (I’m not going to repeat it here – use your imagination!). The songs were ripped straight from my CD. Nothing could be easier. In reality, the whole deal took me about two hours to complete. The main difficulty was that I kept collapsing in fits of giggles at the utter tosh I was reading out to the microphone. At times I couldn’t stop and I was all but rolling on the carpet with the ludicrousness of it all.

I eventually made it through the end, gave it a quick listen, had another laugh, converted it to MP3 and uploaded to the OMD’s server. And the OMD sent it out to all and sundry. I got about a couple of dozen subscribers according to the reports. I really should have updated it with another “episode”, but I couldn’t bring myself to stand in front of the mic and utter such gibberish again. So I let it lapse.

The OMD later imploded and with it the podcast, although mysteriously it still appears in Google search results.

Like I say, I should consider trying it again. That and YouTube – although I shudder to think what trials await me there…

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2 responses to “Podcasts – and YouTube?”

  1. Nathan Kentucky avatar
    Nathan Kentucky

    Hey Dave, sorry I’ve been AWOL for a while, I’ve been trying to put together a tour ( actually a UK tour, know anywhere good that needs a bluegrass band the last two weeks of June? ) and it’s been taking up a huge chunk of time. However, I had to stop back by and see what’s going on in your neck of the woods. Sounds like you’re keeping busy…now I’m off to run, but one quick thing with podcasts that I’ve done a couple of times, if you find a podcast that you like, and you listen to, then get in touch with the person that makes that and send them some songs, along with a brief message you’ve recorded with your name, website, promo, etc. they love it! It’s less work for them, good music for free, and that’s just that much more time that the creators don’t have to fill but still get credit for, and you get an interested audience to listen to your stuff. I’ve done that a couple of times, and it’s worked like a charm everytime. Right, cheers,

    Nathan

    – Be sure to check out Berlin’s only true Kentucky Bluegrass picker @ http://www.nathankentucky.com ! –

  2. Dave avatar
    Dave

    Welcome back, Nathan!

    That\’s a great heads up on Podcasts; your suggestions hadn\’t crossed my mind ““ thems great ideas. I\’ll definitely take your advice when I do my next.

    I\’m going to send you by separate email a bunch of contacts in Scotland who you can send your promo material to. Most are likely to be booked through June, though. My experience is that to arrange tours in the UK you should be planning about a year in advance. At least for paid gigs. If you can get some paying work in June, you can use the rest of the time to do spots, talk to organisers and set up something for late this year / early next. Bluegrass? Absolutely! Goes down a storm here! We need more of it. I\’m sure you\’d be a big success.

    I\’ve been spreading gravel outside the house today and I was swimming this morning. So I\’ve got to create a balance now and open a bottle of wine, have a cigarette or two and walk the walk with some of these chord voicings I\’ve been harping on about. Minor 11s tonight I think.

    How\’s the weather in Berlin? First day of real spring warmth in the north-east of Scotland today.

    Dave

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