While interviewing (via google talk) Sin City Sinners manager Jason Green a few weeks ago, I was blown away by the large role social media plays in the band’s success. I found it so interesting, I wanted to expand on my earlier post. If you live in Las Vegas or even visit for an extended period of time, you are at least somewhat familiar with the Sin City Sinners. In 2009, they were picked as runner-up in Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Best of Las Vegas local rock band category, just behind The Killers. They participate in every charity event that their schedule permits (they’ve even auctioned off dates with themselves to feed the homeless). The Sinners have also appeared on every local morning radio and television show possible and have presented the weather forecast during nightlife program 702 Scene. It is true that the band is advertised in weekly and monthly paper publications such as Las Vegas Weekly and Vegas Rocks! Magazine. The Sinners’ faces could even be seen a few months this year on a billboard while driving along the I-95 expressway.
However, according to Jason Green, each of the four band members — vocalist and guitarist Todd Kerns, guitarist Brent Muscat (of Faster Pussycat fame), drummer Rob Cournoyer and bassist Mike Ellis — felt that though they sampled many advertising vehicles in traditional media, “they weren’t personal enough. You see, the Sinners just started out jamming at Dive Bar one day. The next week they were asked to come back so they just told all of their buddies on MySpace to come out and support. They did and the band realized how powerful social media stuff really is.”
With a new album on its way, I spoke to frontman Todd Kerns about how his band is using social media to promote album sales and themselves. You can check out the interview on YouTube by clicking the link below.
Now, the Sinners play four solid gigs a week, and each band member posts their own bulletins and personally invites people they’re networked with to come out and rock. They like to do so, but they must also do so to keep attendance up. This is probably going to be a model others will follow. As bands and live entertainment continually get cut from casino and bar budgets in Las Vegas due to a depressed economy, entertainers must learn to make themselves more valuable than ever before. Talent doesn’t cut it anymore. Talent doesn’t necessarily draw people. Or bar sales. A belief that a venue in which a band is contracted with should bear the costs and weight of all advertising and promotion is flawed. Once the contract is up without history of good attendance, the band just becomes dead weight and will bear the costs of not working.
When asked for an example of how a local band can stay afloat, Green offered, “Some nights, when we know it’s going to be slow, we buy hundreds of dollars in drink tickets to give to the people we bug all of the time. It’s kind of a thanks for not dropping us as friends on Facebook even though we may over-promote ourselves,” said Green.
As interactive media design students, we are only on the cusp of what is to come. We have seen and comprehended that social media isn’t just used for social communication. It is used for professional collaboration, in citizen review of services, branding and marketing, up-to-date news, and education. Of course, the list goes on. There are even industries out there which rely heavily if not entirely on social media. Take the Las Vegas band scene, for instance. One such band, Sin City Sinners, owes a large part of their success to social media. Sin City Sinners’ manager, Jason Green, granted an interview to Rebecca’s World to speak about the importance of social media in local music and in his budding company.
Jason Green and K-Fed
JASON :I googled “social media” to figure out what it was. I was a media major drop-out in college and it turns out I didn’t need to graduate. I know all about this stuff.
REBECCA: Don’t worry. I just figured it out, too. I don’t even know why I’m trying to finish school.
JASON:Does that mean this interview is over?
REBECCA: Absolutely not! Let’s get to it. As a manager for a local band, how important is the use of social media for promotion?
JASON:The band I manage, Sin City Sinners, was basically built through Myspace and it is still our number one method of promotion. It is a great way to target an audience. Many fans come to shows because they read a Myspace bulletin or blog. Youtube and Twitter have also been very useful for promotion.Youtube is good if you have a good product, because everyone can actually see your band. If the band is just all hype people will figure it out and not bother going to the shows.
REBECCA: When did you begin using social media for the purpose of promotion?
JASON: Two years ago and I would say that was getting onboard late. But, as soon as we started, we just took off.
REBECCA: Which tools do you use to network the band? Is word of mouth as important as it used
to be?
JASON:We find Myspace and Reverbnation.com to be the most useful, in addition to press releases. For a local band, word of mouth is still huge, but many people spread that word of mouth through social media.
REBECCA: Do you use social media to land the band gigs? Do you communicate this way with professionals in charge of venues?
JASON:In the beginning many gigs were booked and communicated though Myspace. Nowadays the band is playing four solid gigs a week, so we are not looking. But there are still gigs to be found for bands on Myspace.
REBECCA: Myspace is supposed to be music-oriented. Is social media something you use in your personal life
JASON:I keep a personal account to try and talk with friends, but I spend more time on my band and other business accounts that I don’t check it very often.
REBECCA: When you’re not busy dealing with band stuff, you also run a business with a partner. What is the name of your company and what do you do?
JASON: I am the co-owner of the classic film company Paradise Visuals. We release and distribute movies from the 1980’s to DVD for the first time.
REBECCA: Do you also use social media when dealing with your company?
JASON:I use all the same methods of social media that I also use with my band.
REBECCA: As a business-owner, would you pay someone savvy in search engine optimization to ensure your business tops google’s searches?
JASON:In the past I have done it, but it seems not to be necessary anymore. As most Myspace and Twitter posts already rank high in google searches, so do reviews.
REBECCA: This question pertains to the band: Do you live-stream images and video to any websites via your phone?
JASON:I put up photos on Myspace of the band with my iphone. At one particular show Britney Spears’ ex husband K-Fed got on stage and I was able to have the photos on myspace within minutes. Another time we had members of No Doubt on stage and I got photos up asap. It’s a great way to show people what they are missing. Some of those images were even used by the L.A. Times later on.
REBECCA: You know that makes you a citizen journalist, right?
JASON:Please. I don’t want to google any more terms today.
