Good question. I encourage all musicians to start and grow a blog, and naturally, because I do, I get asked many questions around blogging. Andrew Dubber gets asked it a lot too. He’s put up his thoughts at his blog. I wanted to put my spin on it too.

Like Andrew, I believe your music is another form of communication - just like print and television. You write, sing or perform a song because there’s some meaning behind it for you or someone else.

A blog is another form of communication - one that gives you a platform for interaction with your fans. We’re now living in an age of transparency and attention. Social networks are taking over people’s lives and allowing them to reveal a lot about their identity, personality and even background information. We’re having to be even more transparent to get people’s attention. Things like what we do, where we hang out, how we socialize, what kind of stuff we’re into all help build trust and relationship with others.

Blogging also allows your fans to keep up with what you’re up to and hang out with you. If they don’t find you and stick with you, they’ll go to the next best musician who’s got similar music to you. You’ve probably then lost that person as a true fan.

Your blog is also a good method of communication for “after the sale” stuff.  I see a lot of musicians focus on selling their CD and downloads that they totally forget to keep their customer interested in what else they have to share. If someone has already purchased into your music, it’s a sign that they like it and they probably “buy into” you as an artist. For that reason, they’re going to be more easy to sell to again. A blog allows you to continue to build a relationship so that sale naturally follows when they’re ready.

I also get asked questions about whether this could be the news page… or what happens if there’s no comments from people… or what to write about… and more.

I would recommend a blog rather than a standard news page. Most of the time, news is just news - there’s nothing exciting about it. It’s usually a page where you post something that’s just for “telling the world” such as ‘Our new site is up’ or ‘We’ve got a new band member’ or ‘Our CD is coming along’ or whatever. A blog, however, reads like a journal. A place where you can grow a community that’s interested in stuff you do not just now, but over time.

I also get asked about comments and the lack of them on people’s blogs. The most frequent goes like this… “What happens if I set up a blog and don’t get any comments… won’t my site look bear and it’s show a lack of community?”

Initially, that’ll happen. Even if you have a big e-mail list like I do, migrating them onto a blog takes time. And although I have a large list, you’d think that many people will comment. The fact is, marketing statistics show that only a very small percent, between 1-3% of your readers will in fact comment. Most will just come, read and then leave. For example, my Google Analytics account shows that out of 11,000 people who were mailed about this blog post, 1300 people clicked and came to it, and only a few commented. It’s a numbers game.

The next point is about what to write on your blog - and I think this is where many musicians stumble. They don’t know what to write and end up writing something poor or writing nothing at all. A good blog is made up of good content that has a good frequency and that gets people to think or take action. Before you dive into a blog, set up a calendar for posting - it’s a great way to avoid getting “blogger’s block”. 

Back to the point… if you don’t have comments, don’t worry. You still have readers, and they may not want to comment. You should still use something like Google Analytics to track the blog so you can see what’s happening. 

To sum it all up, you’re role as an independent musician is to focus on building a relationship with your fans so that they’ll listen, buy and buzz about your music. A blog will let you do that if you’re open about yourself and forget about the ‘celebrity’ status or culture. As a result of building a relationship, that will come (if you want it).

Starting a blog is simple. Go to Wordpress and set up a blog. You don’t have to write - consider posting from your mobile using Utterz, creating a video using blip.tv or just having a mini-blog with Twitter. 

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