social media – Metaverse Musician

Hackers steal Facebook Pages – creator loses administrator rights

Come Watson — there is trouble afoot!

I have just learned the hard lesson that hackers can steal your Facebook pages right out from under you.

I manage a number of Facebook Business Pages (formerly termed ‘fan pages’). As of about a week and a half ago, three of these pages somehow got hacked. Somewhere in this this timeframe, the hackers have been able to assert themselves as administrators of these pages. Even worse, on two out of these three pages, the hackers have been able to delete me from the list of administrators of those pages. Read that again, and give it a moment to sink in…

Got it? Now here’s the kicker — so far Facebook seems unwilling to try to rectify the situation.

With the recent page redesign, it took several days before I realized that I had been hacked. I thought I was just caught in some transitional SNAFU. No such luck.

After realizing I’d been hacked, it took several days of concerted effort to try to contact a human within Facebook. After making contact, their reply seems to be a decided unwillingness to assist in the problem.

Now for the sordid tale…

About a week and a half back, the following seemingly innocuous drivel was posted to three of my pages:

I thought it was kinda insipid. However, not wishing to sadden a foreign fan, who perhaps had some emotional investment, I just left it be. Incidentally, google translates this as Albanian for Give the fans a little like ksaj site because it is a good site sh. Whatever the heck that is supposed to mean.

Later that day, a Usual Suspects ‘Group’ (as opposed to Usual Suspects Business Page, which we have been discussing up to this point) sprung into existence. Curiously, anything posted on the new Group also appeared on our Page, and anything posted on our Page appeared on this new Group. Weird. This factored directly into my assumption that FB was just hosed again, as they were in the midst of re-designing the facilities in the Business Pages.

A couple days later, I went to create a FB Event for a gig the Usual Suspects had coming up, on the Usual Suspects Page. I found that I was unable to do so. Further, I discerned that the reason I could not create an event was due to the fact that I was no longer an administrator for this page. Still thinking it to be a temporary SNAFU related to the Page facility redesign, I shrugged it off.

Eventually, on the 24th of February, the above spam reappeared. A friend of mine pointed out that it appeared nearly simultaneously on three pages I created, and (until I was cast off) administered:

http://www.facebook.com/usualDashSuspectsDotNet – The Usual Suspects
http://www.facebook.com/NovaDashKDotNet – Nova-K
http://www.facebook.com/LeeThomasBand – The Lee Thomas Band

These posts must be annoying at least some of our fans. So I decided to delete them from these pages. It was at this point that I discovered, to my horror, that I had lost administrative privileges to both Usual Suspects and Nova-K.

Interestingly, I still had privileges to Lee Thomas Band (I theorize below as to why this may have escaped the fate of the other pages). This led me to viewing the page as administrator, and viewing the administrators for this page. I noted then that administrative privileges had been granted to 5 people I had never heard of:

Ervin Gjurra
Argent Metallaj
Da Rk THunder
Taulant Kocillari
Don Kevii Unic

I revoked the administrative privileges of these five. I then started trying to report these people. Unfortunately, FB has no means of reporting that they have hacked my account. The nearest I could find was:

Report User > Fake Profile > Impersonating > Joe Bear

as it seemed the closest match.

I spent some time perusing the profiles of these hackers. Interestingly, ‘Taulant’ lists ‘Argent’ as one of his/her over a dozen siblings – may this denote a hacker family?

How did this happen?

I wish I knew. Here is what I think I can deduce. I don’t know how, but it seems clear that one of these five hackers was able somehow to hack my personal profile. Upon doing so, they granted themselves, and their friends, administrative privileges to three of my Business Pages. Why only three, when there are several more they could have hacked? I have no idea. After getting in, they deleted my personal profile’s administrator status for two of these three Biz Pages.

In the case of the third page, I retained my administrator privileges. Did they try to cast me off here too? I don’t know. However, at the time of the attack, I had an active FB Ad running for this page. Perhaps administrators cannot be cast out while running Ads for the page in question?

When I marhall the mental energy, I’ll generate a new post outlining the (rather unhelpful) communication I have so far had with humans at Facebook about this issue. Word of warning- so far, it ain’t pretty.

Facebook basics the right way: Create an Artist Page for your Band

With over a half-billion users, you know that your band needs a serious presence on Facebook in order to capture listeners, fans, and buyers for your music. But did you know the number one mistake that bands commit in first setting up their Facebook site? This two minute tutorial explains the problem, and how to solve it.

Already the 800 pound gorilla of social media, Facebook is nipping at the heels of Google in an attempt at internet dominance. With over half a billion users, if Facebook was a country, it would be the world’s third most populous.

With stats like these, you know that your band needs a serious presence on Facebook in order to capture listeners, fans, and buyers for your music. But did you know the number one mistake that bands commit in first setting up their Facebook site?

They set up a personal profile for their band, rather than an artist page.

Just this one simple mistake can hamstring your publicity efforts for years. Personal profiles come with severe limitations that can be sidestepped with an Artist Page:

max of 5000 friends
single administrator
inability to tie to other social media sites
no universal like button to share elsewhere on the web
no stats or analytics
violates the Facebook terms of service

All these problems are solved with Facebook Pages. But how does one go about creating a Facebook Page? Rest easy – the answer is a simple one. In fact, it is the subject of my next two-minute tutorial (cue the trumpets…)

you need to log into Facebook as yourself. You will be the initial administrator of the page you are about to create.
Find the ‘Create new Facebook Page’ Page on Facebook. At press time, this was at http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php If it moves by the time you read this article, you can probably find it by typing ‘Create new Facebook Page’ in Facebook’s search bar.
In the right half of the ‘Create Page’ page, there is a header entitled ‘Official Page’. This is where we’ll enter our data
assuming you are a band, select the radio button entitled ‘artist, band, or public figure’
from the resulting dropdown, choose the subcategory that best matches your project
below that is a text box for entering the name of your page (I suggest using your band name)
you need to check the box affirming that you are the official representative of your band
lastly, click the button labeled ‘Create Official Page’

Zoom! You did it!

You should be immediately whisked to the initial administration view of your page. Here you are free to follow the suggested prompts for uploading a logo, inviting friends, adding fans, posting updates, promoting your page… all the stuff that makes your page compelling. However, the most important thing is that your page now exists. You can start using it to spread news of your awesomeness across the web.

This page will be the core of your band’s promotional activities. See our other articles for linking this to your other sites, integrating with other platforms such as ReverbNation and MySpace, effective selling using Facebook ads, and others.

increase your visibility by getting a custom username URL for your facebook page: two minute tutorial

One frustrating aspect of facebook, however, is its mechanism for assigning a URL to any persons profile or any public brand’s page. This two minute tutorial explains how you can accomplish exactly this URL simplification. This can be done for both personal profiles, and for fan pages.

With over 350 Million users, facebook is becoming increasingly important as a tool for reaching potential fans.

One frustrating aspect of facebook, however, is its mechanism for assigning a URL to any person’s profile or any public brand’s page. Let us look at Metaverse Musician’s facebook page, for instance. At the instant in time that I am composing this blog, this page is only accessible at the URL http://www.facebook.com/pages/Metaverse-Musician-isjeb/253144691788 . Wouldn’t it be preferable if the URL was simpler? I think http://www.facebook.com/Metaverse-Musician would be just about ideal, don’t you?

This two minute tutorial explains how you can accomplish exactly this URL simplification. This can be done for both personal profiles, and for fan pages.

Personal Profile:

Go to your personal profile
From your Profile, type http://www.facebook.com/username into your browser’s URL bar, and hit enter.
In order to do this, you must have verified your account through your mobile number. If you have not yet done so, facebook will guide you though this at this point.
Facebook will present you with a number of choices for your custom username URL. If you like one that it has preselected, choose it.
If you would rather have a different choice for your custom username URL, click ‘More’ and enter your choice.
Click ‘Check Availablility’. If the username is available, and meets facebook guidelines, facebook will ask you to confirm your choice. Double check your spelling — once confirmed, you’re stuck with this as a custom username URL forever!
Click ‘Confirm’. Facebook tells you that “You can now direct your friends to facebook.com/<whatever-your-choice-was>”.

Fan Pages:

You must first have at least 25 fans. This is an arbitrary limit set by facebook.

Go to your personal profile
From your Profile, type http://www.facebook.com/username into your browser’s URL bar, and hit enter. This should take you to the page for setting your default profile username.
Click ‘Set a username for your Pages’.
A dropdown box will appear – choose the page for which you wish to set a custom username URL.
Facebook will present you with a number of choices for your custom username URL. If you like one that it has preselected, choose it.
If you would rather have a different choice for your custom username URL, click ‘More’ and enter your choice.
Click ‘Check Availablility’. If the username is available, and meets facebook guidelines, facebook will ask you to confirm your choice. Double check your spelling — once confirmed, you’re stuck with this as a custom username URL forever!
Click ‘Confirm’. Facebook tells you that “You can now direct your fans to facebook.com/<whatever-your-choice-was>”.

Now you can publicize your custom username URL outside of the facebook sandbox — on the internet at large — confident your friends and fans will be able to link to your profile and pages from outside the facebook walled garden.

Note: this guide is written mostly from memory. If you encounter any issues or discrepancies while executing this process, please leave me a comment so I can fix the procedure.

secret to convert facebook friends to fans with a Fan Badge on your profile linking to your page

It is hard to underestimate the impact that social networking has had upon the music industry. With over 350 Million active users, and a six month growth of 70% in the first half of 2009, facebook is destined to be the dominant social media site for some time.

Most bands and musicians are probably aware of the value of facebook pages as opposed to profiles. Accordingly, most musicians maintain pages in addition to their personal profiles. But facebook does not automatically make others aware that a personal profile may also be related to a fan page. But how does one create an awareness of a page’s existence?

The process I describe herein will allow the artist to permanently and prominently display a link to a given page from their profile. Further, this link will appear in the profile’s sidebar, so it can be seen whether the Wall tab or the Info tab is currently being displayed. Better yet, the link will also contain the page’s ‘profile’ picture, leading to recognition for your page’s graphical brand.

By making it easier for people to find your page, you should collect new legions of fans.

It is hard to underestimate the impact that social networking has had upon the music industry. The entire market is being reinvented with the demise of traditional record companies, and the ascendancy of direct band-to-fan marketing. While a successful marketing campaign would use multiple outlets, it seems clear that the most important social media site at this time is facebook. With over 350 Million active users, and a six month growth of 70% in the first half of 2009, facebook is destined to be the dominant social media site for some time.

Personal Profile vs. Band Page

Individuals register a personal profile with facebook. Publicly-known brands, companies, figures, and most germanely musicians, can also register a Page. A Page is similar to a profile, but comes with some additional benefits. Among these benefits are the ability to advertise the page, and a relatively unrestricted number of fans (as opposed to the hard limit of the number of friends any given profile accommodates). Other benefits of the Page include:

info tab tailored to your business type
additional widgets such as a music player
review section
ability to share page administration tasks
analytics on page interactions

Making others aware

Most bands and musicians are probably aware of the value of pages as opposed to profiles. Accordingly, most musicians maintain pages in addition to their personal profiles. But facebook does not automatically make others aware that a personal profile may also be related to a fan page. How does one create an awareness of a page’s existence? A person can become a fan of a given page. In doing so, facebook will by default display this linkage upon the Pages section of the Info tab of the profile. However, there is no way to force facebook to display an artist’s own page in preference to the other pages which are displayed therein. What is displayed there is a small random selection from all the pages of which one is a fan. As such, there is no guarantee that the artist’s own page will be selected for display at all.

The process I describe herein will allow the artist to permanently and prominently display a link to a given page from your profile. Further, this link will appear in the profile’s sidebar, so it can be seen whether the Wall tab or the Info tab is currently being displayed. Better yet, the link will also contain the page’s ‘profile’ picture, leading to recognition for your page’s graphical brand. You can see an example of this on the left sidebar of my personal facebook profile.

Two elements

There are two elements to pull together to obtain this benefit. The first is that we need the ability to place arbitrary content on our profile’s sidebar. The second is to create the desired linkage to place in the sidebar. The former we will accomplish with an application called Custom Profile Box. The latter we will accomplish with a native facebook tool called a Fan Badge. The following is a step-by-step tutorial on these objectives.

Custom Profile Box

Our first objective is to add the application ‘Custom Profile Box’. This application will create an element that we can fill with arbitrary content. We will later fill this element with our page link Fan Badge, and then move it to our profile sidebar.

From your personal profile, on the lower left select ‘Applications’, then select ‘Browse More Applications’.
In the ‘Search Applications’ field, enter “Custom Profile Box”.
Click on the desired ‘Custom Profile Box’ application in the search results.
From the application’s Fan page, click ‘Go To Application’.
Click the ‘Allow’ button.
Go back to your profile wall.
Below your status entry box, click ‘Options’, then click ‘Settings’.
Click the link ‘applications settings page’.
On the list of apps, a drop down ‘Show’ menu select ‘Authorized’ to show all the apps authorized to access your profile data.
Click on ‘Edit Settings’ link next to ‘Custom Profile Box’.
In the pop-up window, make sure the ‘Profile’ tab is highlighted. *
Next to the “Box” item is the word ‘Add’. Click on this to add a box to your profile for this app.
Decide and modify the Privacy — I suggest setting this to “Everyone”.

You are done setting up the app.

* There have been reported cases where there is no ‘Profile’ tab on the popup at this point. Further reports indicate that this may be alleviated by editing the Box, and adding some content, then returning to this step of the process. More as it develops.

This problem, and its solution, are now more fully understood. The issue is that the Custom Profile Box application will not have a ‘Profile’ tab on the Edit Application Settings popup until such time that some data (any dummy data is sufficient) has been added. The solution is to place some data in the Custom Profile Box as per steps 1-5 of ‘Place the Fan Badge in the Custom Profile Box’ below. After that, return to this process. Note that any data is sufficient — it does not yet need to be the code for the Fan Badge, and it does not need to be entered in ‘Source’ mode (though it will need to be later, as described below).

This also applies to the sister application ‘HTML Profile Box’.

Generate a Fan Badge

We have so far installed the ‘Custom Profile Box’ into our profile. Next we need to generate a Fan Badge for our page. Later we will place this Fan Badge in our Custom Profile Box and move the Custom Profile Box to our profile sidebar. Oddly, to make a Page Badge, you need to travel through your (personal) Profile’s Profile Badge link. The code for the Fan Badge will be copied and pasted into the Custom Profile Box’s editor. Accordingly, it may be easiest if you open another browser tab for this next bit.

Go to your personal page’s Info tab.
Near bottom left is a link entitled ‘Create Profile Badge’. Click it to go to the Profile Badge page.
On the Profile Badge screen there is a column where you can choose what type of badge you want. Choose ‘Fan Badges’. This will take you to the Fan Badges Widget screen.
On the Fan Badges Widget screen, find the dropdown entitled ‘Select a Page’. From that dropdown, select the page for which you wish to create a badge. Note that you must first be a fan of that page.
From the 2nd field on the Fan Badges Widget screen, copy the HTML code for your Fan Badge.

Place the Fan Badge in the Custom Profile Box

At this point, we have installed the Custom Profile Box application, and created a Fan Badge for our destination page. The code for the Fan Badge is in out buffer. We next need to paste this into the Custom Profile Box. Later, we will move the Custome Profile Box to our profile’s sidebar. Go back to your earlier browser tab.

Click on the ‘Applications’ status bar menu and select the app from the pop up window.
An editor will load, and takes 30 secs or so on busy connection.
On the editors toolbar, click the button named ‘Source’. This allows you to enter raw FBML code.
In the editor window paste the (FBML) code for the Fan Badge, which should be in your buffer from the earlier objective.
To save your creation to the app box, click on the ‘Update’ button. If all is well your box should appear in the boxes section of your profile.
Click on your profile, and select the boxes tab. See your app box and your creation in it.
You can drag your box to any desired location on the page by left clicking the box and dragging around.

Move it to the profile sidebar

OK, we have added the Custom Profile Box application, generated a Fan Badge for our destination page, and placed the fan badge in the Custom Profile Box. The last step is to move our Custom Profile Box from our profile’s Boxes tab to the sidebar.

Go to your profile
Select the Boxes tab
Locate the Custom Profile Box on the Boxes tab
There is a pencil at the upper right corner of the Custom Profile Box. Click it.
Select ‘Move to Wall tab’.
Go to your wall. You should see the Custom Profile Box, with your Fan Badge linking to your artist page, in the sidebar. You can change the location of this sidebar element by left-clicking and dragging it where you want it. There is however, the restriction that it cannot appear higher in the sidebar than the standard facebook sidebar elements.

Collect more fans!

That’s it. Now all visitors to your personal profile will be met with a graphically branded link to your artist page. By making it easier for people to find your page, you should collect new legions of fans.

Got a facebook topic you would like to see covered? Let me know in the comments section!

new Google music offering — indie musicians face new challenges and opportunities

Google has just announced a major enhancement to its handling of music searches. This change brings new conveniences for average Google users, and new opportunities for musicians. Herein, we’ll let an official Google video speak to the consumer side of things, then discuss what changes are under the hood, and what they mean for music marketing.

So here’s the video, aimed at your average consumer:

Basically, users searching on keywords involving artists, album titles, song titles, or lyrics are presented with a simple means of listening to those tunes for which they are searching. Also presented at the top of the search results is a wealth of similar content that can be played and/or viewed. It is the playing of the material where things get interesting for musicians.

They playing of the songs is actually handled by Google’s partners — currently iLike and Lala. Clicking on the play icon at the top of the search results opens a popup song player, with the song of interest playing, and other songs by the same artist loaded. There is a link at the upper right of the song player to the retail outlet, where one can easily purchase the song in question.

Note that, while others have reported that the partner used to play any tune is random, my limited testing showed a decided bias to Lala. Out of perhaps twenty searches for an artist name, all but one came up on Lala. The last — Mahogany Rush — came up on an iLike player, but had no link to a retail purchase.

It should be mentioned that below the default links in the top search result are links to the artist on other sites — including iLike, Rhapsody, iMeem, Pandora, and possibly others. Note that MySpace bought iLike earlier this year. From my limited testing, however, it seems clear that Lala is a favored retailer.

As an online music retailer, Lala has a rather unusual business model. Users can stream every song on the service once for free. After that, customers can buy the right to stream it for $0.10 or buy the MP3 for $0.89. Users can also upload their own music library to Lala and then stream those songs freely over the Internet.

It is also interesting to note that Lala has recently partnered with Facebook, with an officially connected Lala Facebook application.

Google has also partnered with the major music labels: EMI, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music. I assume this was required in order to smooth over the legal ramifications of being able to preview content in search results.

We all know what a giant Google has become. From it’s humble beginnings, it has risen in a few short years to dominate the Internet. Like iconic brands such as Xerox, the company name has become both a household noun and verb. Even given the central role of search in our daily lives, it has been reported that approximately 6% of all Google searches are music related. This points out how important Google is to all commercial musicians. Now with this major user-facing enhancement, the use of Google by consumers to identify and acquire new music seems certain to multiply.

So what does this mean to indie musicians? It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. From a personal perspective, I am in the middle of evaluating partner organizations to act as interfaces to online music retailers. As of today, I know that I need to re-evaluate my options, with a particular notice to which such organizations partner with Lala.

In a similar vein, I need to learn more about the relationship between Google and MySpace — as MySpace has just announced an ‘artist dashboard’. This is an analytics tool which over time may aspire to much the same functionality as ReverbNation.

In this wild musical world defined by the demise of the traditional recording labels, independent musicians live in a sea of change. One thing is certain — while this constant change requires continual attention, it also brings a steady stream of opportunities for independent musicians to bring their music to new legions of fans.

WordPress avatar — creating one for the blog admin

WordPress allows one to associate an avatar with a user profile. This is a small picture that will be displayed on each post or comment you make to the blog, giving casual visitors a ready means of identifying all your posts. However, it is not readily apparent how the site admin is to set this avatar. There are no settings anywhere in the Site Admin control panels for setting this. Accordingly, the admin is stuck with the default ‘phantom person’ for an avatar.
This Two Minute Tutorial explains step-by-step how to set up a custom avatar for the admin.

However, it is not readily apparent how the site admin is to set this avatar. There are no settings anywhere in the Site Admin control panels for setting this. Accordingly, the admin is stuck with the default ‘phantom person’ for an avatar.

The key to rectifying this is to realize that WordPress does not use a local copy of your avatar. Instead, it uses an avatar that you upload to gravatar.com, and associate with your email address. According to the good folks at gravatar, their name derives from Globally Recognized avatar. By using this service, your avatar will automatically follow you to comments you make on random sites of others. This eliminates the need to upload an avatar to each site upon which you would like your avatar displayed.

Once you realize this, the implementation is pretty simple.

Go to the gravatar.com website
Watch the two minute video to get an overview
Log in with your WordPress.com credentials*
Click on ‘Add one by clicking here’. This will open a screen asking for the source of the picture to be uploaded
Choose from Hard Drive; Internet URL; Webcam; Previously uploaded — as appropriate
Assuming Hard Drive, a new window will open allowing you to browse your file system for the desired picture
Locate the desired picture, then click ‘Next’. This will upload your picture
Crop your picture as desired, then click next
Choose your rating – G, PG, R, or X
That’s it!

Allow some time for the changes to propagate throughout the internet. Clear your browser’s cache while waiting. Refresh your pages, and you should see your smiling face on your comments. WordPress knows your email address, so it goes off to gravatar to grab your picture!

*If you have a WordPress.com account, you also have a gravatar account. You are using akismet to fight blog comment spam, right? Akismet required you to create a WordPress.com account in order to obtain your API key.

becoming a Fan of your favorite band on ReverbNation

In addition to hosting Bands, ReverbNation also has Fan profiles. By becoming a Fan of a given Band on ReverbNation creates a new link between your profile and the band’s. This Two Minute Tutorial demonstrates how to create the link between you and your favorite band.

OK, so you’ve joined ReverbNation as a fan. As it so happens, you want to become a Fan of a particular band that is a member of ReverbNation as well. This will allow you to have expedited access to that band’s RN profile, and build a closer relationship with that band. Here’s how to go about doing so.

First, open a browser and navigate to ReverbNation.

Then enter your ReverbNation profile name and pasword, and click the ‘login’ button:

This should take you directly to your profile page. This is where you enter what others would see when they look you up by name. We’ll cover some of that in a future installment. It’ll look something like the following – though the fan profile used for this example is ltb-rn-example – not you.

ReverbNation Fan Profile

Now we need to find the band of which you are interested in becoming a fan. Enter the band name in the ‘search’ box, and click the ‘GO’ button:

You should be taken to a list of likely matches for your search:

Hmm… there’s a likely match. I wonder if it is the band I’m interested in? The photo looks like it could be them. Hey – there’s one of their songs. I’ll click on the ‘play’ button and see if it sounds like them. (Go ahead – click on it). A new window opens with the ReverbNation song player, playing the sample song:

Cool! It certainly sounds like them! And now you have something to listen to while you complete your registration.

Click on the band name, and you will be whisked to their profile page:

ReverbNation band profile

Hey look – up near the top – they have another song available! Click the play arrow next to it, and this second song will cue itself up in the song player. Now when the first song ends, this second one will start.

OK – now to do the deed. Below the band’s photo is a set of buttons:

Click ‘become a fan’. This creates the link between you and your band in the ReverbNation servers:

Awww – we love you too!

Note that in this example, both the ‘become a fan’ and ‘join the street team’ buttons have been clicked. This also gives you a quick way of checking if you are a fan or street team member of a given band. Note that you may be a Fan without being on the mail list, or on the mail list without being a Fan. Likewise, Street Team and Fan are separate relations.

Well, that completes that. However, maybe you need something to do while the songs are still playing. How about leaving a comment on the band’s profile? Click the ‘comments’ tab, then click the ‘add comment’ button:

This will open a new window for you to enter a comment. Fill out the form, enter the captcha, and click OK:

You’ll get a confirmation:

Your comment will be put in a queue for review by The Moderator (the band’s RN page maintainer). Upon approval, it’ll be posted on the band’s profile for the entire world to see!

Well, that’s about it! I hope this brings you and your band to a new level of intimacy. I am most certain that they are grateful for your support. And both your act of registering as a fan and your playing of their tunes contribute to their rankings! You are helping your band achieve international fame and fortune! Doesn’t that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

singing up on ReverbNation as a fan

ReverbNation is a wonderful site for discovering new music, and helping to promote bands in which you are interested. This is a Two Minute Tutorial explaining how to sign up to the service as a fan.

First, make your way to the ReverbNation website (you can click on the image below to navigate there):

Click the ‘signup’ on the upper right:

This will navigate to a new page where you will specify what type of signup you wish to do:

Assuming you select ‘fan’, you are met with a form into which you can enter your data:

Note that the form provides a shortcut if you are a member of Facebook or MySpace. Essentially, this will use your profile info on these sites to fill out this form. This is merely a minor convenience. In order to keep this general, we will ignore these shortcuts. The long form process works whether or not you are a member of one of these social networking sites.

It appears that much of this information is optional. However, it would be encouraged that you fill in as much information as you are comfortable in yielding. In this manner, it is unlikely you will receive a concert announcement for a Nome gig when you live in Sarasota. Also, ReverbNation implies that the Birthdate is required – likely in order to ensure the signee is at least 13 years of age. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that singup works just fine without this information.

After filling in the form, click the ‘sign up’ button. You will be directed to a confirmation screen:

Within moments, a confirmation email should arrive at the inbox corresponding to the email address you entered in the signup form. It should resemble the following:

From: reverbnation@reverbnation.com
[mailto:reverbnation@reverbnation.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 3:38 PM
To: ltb-rn-example@LeeThomasBand.com
Subject: Welcome to ReverbNation.com

ltb-rn-example,

Welcome to ReverbNation.com!

Here is your log-in info:
    LOGIN: ltb-rn-example@leethomasband.com
    PASSWORD: ******

Please click on the following link to confirm your registration:
http://www.reverbnation.com/<inscrutable key>

If you didn't sign up, please click the following link to deactivate this account
 http://www.reverbnation.com/<inscrutable key>

Sincerely,
Your Friends at http://www.reverbnation.com

________________________________________________
You can view our privacy policy at http://www.reverbnation.com/c./cms/PrivacyPolicy.  Physical inquiries can be sent to: 501 Washington St. Suite J, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.

Click on the confirmation link to complete the process. This will send you back to ReverbNation. You will be prompted with the optional step of entering a profile photo:

ReverbNation profile photo prompt

All done! Enjoy your ReverbNation membership!

using a ReverbNation Fan Collector widget to sign up for a band mailing list

One of the features ReverbNation provides is an integrated mailing list, with widgets that allow interested parties to opt themselves in. This Two Minute Tutorial explains how easy it is for a fan to sign up for a band;s email list, using the Fan Collector widget.

OK! You’ve run across a Fan Collector widget for a band you really like. You would like to join their mailing list, such that you can stay informed as to their doings. Here’s how easy it is to sign yourself up.

First, an example of a webpage, with the widget embedded within. The widget is the item outlined in red:

To sign up for the mailing list, simply enter your email address…

…and click the ‘submit’ button. After a few moments, you should receive a confirmation:

If, rather than simply receive the postings from the band, you would also like to help to promote the band, then you probably would want to join the Street Team while signing up for the mail list. This can be accomplished by clicking the ‘join the Street Team’ checkbox after entering your email address and before clicking ‘submit’:

Again, this should lead to a confirmation after a few moments:

Whether signing up for the mail list, or both the Street Team and the mail list, your enrollment is not active util you acknowledge an opt-in email. Within moments, you should receive such an opt-in in the inbox corresponding to the email address you entered on the form. Here’s what to expect in that email:

From: Lee Thomas Band [mailto:joe@LeeThomasBand.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 1:23 PM
To: ltb-ml-example@LeeThomasBand.com
Subject: Verify your email to join the Lee Thomas Band mailing list

ltb-ml-example@LeeThomasBand.com,

Thanks for joining the mailing list!  To complete the signup process, click on the link below
http://www.reverbnation.com/<inscrutable key>&action_code=opt_in

If you didn't request to join the mailing list, please click the link below and we won't bother you again.
http://www.reverbnation.com/<inscrutable key>

Thanks again for joining the mailing list!

Lee Thomas Band
Longmont, CO

Privacy Policy: http://www.reverbnation.com/c./cms/PrivacyPolicy
More Information: http://www.reverbnation.com/fanreach.
Physical inquiries can be sent to: 501 Washington St. Suite J, Durham, NC, 27701, USA
Unsubscribe: http://www.reverbnation.com/<inscrutable key>
Report Abuse/Spam: http://www.reverbnation.com/<inscrutable key>

Click on the link in order to complete the signup process. If you are already logged into ReverbNation, that’s all there is to the process. Yay! You’re done!

If you are not logged into ReverbNation, your browser will be opened, and it will navigate to an information entry screen:

It appears that all this information is optional. However, it would be encouraged that you fill in as much information as you are comfortable in yielding. In this manner, the band is unlikely to spam you with a concert announcement for a Nome gig when you live in Sarasota. Also, ReverbNation implies that the Birthdate is required – likely in order to ensure the signee is at least 13 years of age. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that singup works just fine without this information.

Note that this is another opportunity to sign up for the Street Team.

That is all there is to it! The next time your favorite band sends a notice to their mail list, you will receive a copy!