After a couple of failed attempts on getting our band Georgia Wonder on Wikipedia, we finally succeeded and learned a bunch of stuff on the way. It's really not as hard as you think to get yourself on there, but there are a few things you need to know to make sure your content stays there once you've put it up.

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It turns out the main reason we kept getting a 'speedy deletion' (which is a kind of instant no-comeback deletion by a Wiki editor) is simply because we hadn't created an entry that explained why we were notable. It turns out that 'being notable' is the number one criteria that Wikipedia places on any entry - notableness.

A good way to understand what this is about is to read about what it's not. If you read the Wikipedia guidelines for speedy deletion, the simplest thing that can trip a band or artist up on is simply not telling Wikipedia what's so special about themselves. You can be deleted simply because:

7. An article about a real person, organization (band, club, company, etc.), or web content does not indicate why its subject is important or significant.

This means you can't just type up a small biog about your band and post it up. It will be taken down immediately for not stating, with references, why your band is notable or special. Do not fear - your band probably IS notable or special for something. In fact, anything that's happened to you that is remotely interesting and can be backed up with a web link could be considered notable. You just need to remember contests you've won, appearances you've had, mentions you've had in the press, on websites, pretty much anything you can think of which can be VERIFIED by a Wikipedia editor.

So, the first thing you should do is gather together a list of all the mentions there are of your band across the internet. Make an exhaustive list, and with each mention take down the date it went live, the name of the article, the name of the site, and anything else you can find. You're going to need this to build your story and create reference links. The mindset you need to get into is this - every single sentence you write about your band is going to have to be backed up with some evidence - and we're not just talking about a link back to your own site here - we're talking hard facts from a reputable source.

OK, some sources are more reputable than others, but the difference between quoting yourself from a BBC website article or the same thing from something you wrote on your own site is night and day. Try and collect a list of the most influential links you have, and create sentences based on those links - then you can refer back to them, meaning that each 'claim' or sentence you have written can be checked by a Wikipedia editor.

At the end of each Wiki page are a list of all the references that the main body of the page takes it's content from. Understanding that every single sentence has to be backed up in this referral list is the key to understanding how Wikipedia polices itself. If you can't back it up, don't bother writing it - it will end up being deleted at some point. If you haven't registered at Wikipedia then now is a good time to go do it! So when you've collected a list of stuff, you're ready to build your Wikipedia page.

To see how a Wiki page is constructed, have a look at ours and press the EDIT THIS PAGE tab at the top.

The first and easiest block of code you're going to want to copy and put into your own Wiki entry is the block of code which creates the Infobox (the box to the right of your Wiki entry).

Stick this at the top of your entry and change all the info over to your own band:

{{Infobox musical artist | Img = GWblackwhite.jpg | Img_capt = Stephanie Grant, vocalist with Georgia Wonder | Name = Georgia Wonder | Background = group_or_band | Genre = [[Folk-rock]]
[[Rock]] | Origin = [[Portsmouth]], [[Hampshire]], England | Years_active = 2002 - present | Label = Georgia Wonder Records | URL = [http://www.gwonder.com/gwonder/ http://www.gwonder.com] | Current_members = Stephanie Grant (vocals)
Julian Moore (music) }}

That's all fairly easy to follow. Unfortunately, creating references to each sentence is a bit of a chore and can make for some nasty looking mess - the references are actually written in the middle of the pages and it is the Wikipedia website that takes them and makes them appear nice and neat at the bottom of each Wiki entry.

Wikipedia uses the 'ref' tag to create a numbered referenced link, as you can see in the following code we used on one of our sentences:

Their song ‘Girl You Never Knew’, taken from their debut ‘Hello Stranger’ [[EP]] was named “Song Of The Day” by [[PopJustice]] on 6th August 2008 who said it was "one Grey's Anatomy soundtrack appearance away from being an international hit single."(ref name="PopJustice Song Of The Day"){{cite web |url = http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2824&Itemid=243 |title = Song Of The Day: ''Georgia Wonder: Girl You Never Knew'' |publisher = [[Pop Justice]] |date = 2008-08-06 |accessdate = 2008-12-20 }}(/ref)

(NOTE: All normal brackets ( ) in the code above should be < > and had to be replaced to show you this example - copy and paste the code from our own entry to keep things simple)

This ends up looking like this on the Wiki page:

Their song ‘Girl You Never Knew’, taken from their debut ‘Hello Stranger’ EP was named “Song Of The Day” by PopJustice on 6th August 2008 who said it was "one Grey's Anatomy soundtrack appearance away from being an international hit single."[2] With a pretty entry at the bottom of the page referencing the number 2: 2. ^ "Song Of The Day: Georgia Wonder: Girl You Never Knew". Pop Justice (2008-08-06). Retrieved on 2008-12-20.

So, at the end of each sentence you write, you need to add this code and fill in all the relevant details of the reference. The reference numbers are generated from the ref name of each entry - if you use the same name as a reference then the same number will be generated and you could find duplicate numbers on your page, so keep an eye out for that.

That's pretty much it for creating reference links, it's really not that difficult - it's actually more important to be prepared with all the relevant links, names and dates beforehand.

To make everything a bit more readable you're going to want to put your stuff into sections. This is very easy and simply requires the addition of some equals signs like this:

==History==

===Awards and achievements===

Words like ==History== enclosed in pairs of equals signs become headings, and words like ===Awards and achievements=== become subheadings. It's very easy to create these and is fairly intuitive.

The last thing to consider is what to do if your Wiki entry is tagged for quick deletion. Well, it actually has to be deleted by a real human being, and you can see who deleted or tagged it for deletion. If you are still constructing your page and want a bit more time to sort it out, JUST ASK the person for a bit more time, citing your reasons, and you will be moved to his sandbox - somewhere you can get your page looking right AWAY from the main site before he reconsiders it and moves it back over to the main Wikipedia site where you can be searchable.

This is exactly what happened to us. So, rather than being the impossible to fathom how the heck do we get on there it's only for the bigger bands problem that we thought Wikipedia would be, it turns out that the only thing stopping most bands and artists from getting themselves on Wikipedia is a small misunderstanding about what it is that actually keeps things from being deleted. Gather the links about yourself from the internet, write sentences that reflect each one, and you'll be up on Wikipedia in no time. That is, if you're notable.

I'm always on the lookout for tips and tricks which we can use to persuade people to interact with us. As a band just getting off the ground, it's all about Guerilla Marketing and doing the best with what you've got.

One of the main problems being a band and attracting fans is keeping their attention from the start - people have limited attention spans and on the internet you have a very short period of time, usually seconds, to turn someone from merely curious into actively involved with what you do.

This isn't about lying or being rude - we can leave that to the porn popups which do nothing but promote celibacy. This is about making sure that when people come across your website, mailing list or press release they are engaged to take action as much as possible. You only get one go at this stuff usually so every word counts. And as anyone who has read Lost In Showbiz can testify, you can often do yourself more harm than good.

So I picked up a copy of Yes! 50 Secrets From The Science Of Persuasion whilst killling time in Borders bookstore on Charing Cross Road and found it really interesting. Not all of the 50 things it details can really be applied to being in a band or having a website as some of it is more about dealing with business situations, but it is a great read and there are some things that can be applied to presenting yourself online.

I've picked out some of the more interesting points from the book, numbered so you know which points I am talking about should you buy it. I do recommend it, it's a great read.

1. Make yourself look busy and successful already by carefully choosing your words. When an already famous infomercial changed it's tagline from 'Operators are waiting, please call now' to 'If operators are busy, please call again' they saw a marked increase in calls.

The first sentence conjured up scenes of bored operators waiting for calls, the second promotes the idea of operators struggling with the load. The main thrust of this, and much of the book, is that people like things that they think other people like.

Anything you can do to show that other people like you, such as a list of recent people to sign up to your mailing list, can help persuade people that you're worth it. And as we can see from the infomercial example, it doesn't even have to be specific - even the thought of it can help.

2. With this in mind, try also being specific - people are more likely to do something if they think that other people who are similar to themselves also did something. For instance, telling a country music forum how much other people who like country music also liked an alien rock band. Eight out of ten country music fans said they liked the alien rock band. See?

3. Negative social proof. This is like the flip side of the previous points - people are less likely to do something if they think other people did something different. Notice I didn't say 'People are less likely to do something if they think other people also did it' as this in fact increases the chances of people doing more of the stuff people aren't doing. Confused?

An example. Instead of telling people not to illegally download your stuff, tell them that the majority of people buy your stuff. Instead of labouring the point of what you don't want people to do (which makes it too important) highlight the point of what you DO want people to do. People want to be like everyone else, and if you highlight the fact that everyone is illegally downloading (for instance) they'll think nothing of it.

4. Magnetic middle - people gravitate towards what everyone else is doing IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. If you tell your fans what the average fan does for you, the fans who do less will do more, but the fans who did more will do less - they will all gravitate towards the average. So make sure that you make sure that people who are already great fans are still rewarded and told that they are valuable.

5. Don't offer too many options. If you have a store or merch, break it down. A store with 6 obvious choices will sell more than a store with 20 choices. If people can't make their minds up, there is no sale.

6. Be very careful when giving out freebies. When you give out freebies, always remind people of the VALUE of the freebie. (Buy the CD, get a complimentary t shirt worth 12 pounds - NOT Buy the CD, get a free t shirt) Basically, don't use the word free EVER - always attribute value to your generosity.

7. Have various price points. Think about the way you look at a wine list. I bet you always pick a wine which isn't the cheapest, but is a few up from the bottom. This is where the thing you want people to buy should be positioned - the list itself gives items value.

9. Do nice things for your fans shortly before asking for their help. The law of reciprocity dictates they will be far more willing to help. This is a much better idea than pleading. If you do nice things for people, they will do nice things back - however, act first.

10. Personalization. Anything handwritten increases interaction by a huge amount. If you want people to act, make it personal. One post it note, handwritten and stuck to a form increases interaction by almost three quarters. If you want people to do something, make them feel special.

11. If you want to treat people, also make them feel special and that they have something that others do not.

13. If people do you favours, pay them back soon. If you do people favours, ask for a favour back soon. People have short memories. Keep it current.

14. Foot in the door. If you can get someone to help you in a little way, they will probably help you in a bigger way shortly after. Instead of asking fans to stick a huge banner on their own sites promoting your band, first ask them to place a small easy banner. Then later ask them to use the huge banner. They will be way more likely to help, because they already have in a small way.

15. Labelling. Assign someone a nice trait, and then ask them to act upon it. I know you've been very supportive of live music in the past, so please come to our gig next week. I know you wont abuse this technique, because after all you are a very honest person.

16. Ask questions. 'Please let us know if you can't attend the gig' is not as good as 'Will you please let us know if you can't attend the gig?' Also, 'Please vote for us in the battle of the bands' is not as good as 'Will you be voting for us in battle of the bands?' The main thrust here is that when you get an answer the chances of interaction further down the line are greatly increased.

17. Get people to write things down. People commit to things more if they have signed something, ticked a box or generally acted in some physical way.

20. When you're asking for something, show that even something small can be useful. 'Please donate money' is not as good as 'Please donate money, even a pound can help.' Something to consider if you're thinking about raising finance through the internet.

22. Get someone else to sing your praises. This is always a funny one for bands who have to write their own blurb the whole time. Try and quantify your brilliance by quoting other people. Being smug really doesn't work - however, you need to prove your worth so you need others to do it for you.

28 Turn a weakness into a strength. 'L'Oreal - 'cos you're worth it' is a good example - this product is expensive, but that's 'cos you care about the way you look. Write a list of your weaknesses and make them interesting - your weaknesses make you unique.

29. Along the same lines, mention your faults but back them up with a plus. An example is 'Small but perfectly formed' - take the negative aspect on the chin and back it up with a positive effect of this aspect. 'We're a tin pot band with a tin pot sound, but we sure as hell will bring the house down' (Whoops, just strolled into another point about rhyming)

30. Admit your mistakes. If you have to cancel the gig, be very open about it and admit human error. People will respond positively.

31. On the other hand, if it's an internet related error blame the technology.

32. People tend to gravitate towards words they can easily pronounce, and this includes band names. So don't call yourself Georgia Wonder then.

33. People also tend to prefer things that sound like their own name. There are a lot of dentists called Crentist for a reason. Even the first letter of a name can dictate someone's profession. I'm a musician, my name's Moore. Hmm.

34. Mirroring. If you mimic someone else, they are more engaged with you. Sounds crazy, but if a waiter simply reads back to a customer what they just ordered, their tips increase by 70%.

36. Uniqueness. I know there isn't so much scarcity on the internet these days, but people still like exclusives, and still like to know that something doesn't happen very often. After all, it's not often we get to work on something like this, is it?

37. Don't talk about savings, people can't get their heads around it. Talk about LOSSES. So instead of 'If you buy these things together you can save x amount' you should say 'If you DON'T buy these things together you will lose x'.

38. Because because because. The word because is very powerful. Just going up to a queue of people and asking if you can go first will get you nowhere. Going up and asking if you can go first 'because I need to' will increase your chances, even without a valid argument. Put in a valid argument however and it works every time. Again - 'L'oreal - because you're worth it'. Please keep reading my blog, because I need you to read it. Please keep reading my blog, because if you don't this small puppy will die. (Feel free to make your own up)

39. All the reasons - none of the reasons. When people are asked to give ten reasons why something is great, they end up not being so favourable about something as when they are asked to give one GOOD reason why something is great. So before you start asking your fans to come up with 'all the reasons we're so fantastic' stop yourself and ask them all to think of 'one cool reason why you think we're so fantastic'

41. Rhymes. There was a reason for the jingle. They are easily remembered. Beanz Meanz Heinz. See if incorporating a rhyme somewhere can help people remember something important.

42. Perceptual contrast. People remember detailed stuff more than less detailed stuff. If you want to promote one thing over another, detail it more.

43. Loyalty cards. This is a good one. In many coffee shops you get a loyalty card - every time you buy a coffee they stamp your card - get ten stamps gets you a free coffee. However, they give you two stamps to get you started. This is the same as having an empty card to start with with only eight stamps required. It is the feeling you get of already being on your way that makes this more efficient. Always try and explain to your potential fans how they are already engaged or along a certain road. I mean, you've come this far and you're already on the way to getting a complimentary CD in the mail.

44. Give product choices interesting names. Option 1,2,3 and 4 is nothing like as effective as 'Blue Elephant Package' or 'Stripey Megapack'. Make the names interesting and appealing.

45. Logos. Use your logos in all the right places. This goes without saying, but I've seen bands put their videos on YouTube without even having the name of the band or the graphic in the video. You need to jog people's memory about where else they saw you wherever possible.

50. Coffee makes people more receptive. Force everyone to drink coffee at your next gig just before you tell them where your merch table is (or not) Ok, that's a quick breeze through the book. It's well written and thought provoking, and although it's essentially a book of lists, it's the mindset that you come away with after reading it that is useful. Highly recommended.

The most unwanted music is over 25 minutes long, veers wildly between loud and quiet sections, between fast and slow tempos, and features timbres of extremely high and low pitch, with each dichotomy presented in abrupt transition. The most unwanted orchestra was determined to be large, and features the accordion and bagpipe (which tie at 13% as the most unwanted instrument), banjo, flute, tuba, harp, organ, synthesizer (the only instrument that appears in both the most wanted and most unwanted ensembles). An operatic soprano raps and sings atonal music, advertising jingles, political slogans, and "elevator" music, and a children's choir sings jingles and holiday songs. The most unwanted subjects for lyrics are cowboys and holidays, and the most unwanted listening circumstances are involuntary exposure to commercials and elevator music. Therefore, it can be shown that if there is no covariance--someone who dislikes bagpipes is as likely to hate elevator music as someone who despises the organ, for example--fewer than 200 individuals of the world's total population would enjoy this piece.

So in a way this is an early version of crowdsourcing and just goes to show that it's not the data itself that's important, but what you do with it. What is great about the piece is that it is DEFINITELY unique, wheras the song these guys wrote based on what is POPULAR was very dreary indeed.

KomarMelamid_The-Most-UnwantedSong.mp3

Is it genius, or is it crap? Who knows, but it made me laugh till my eyes bled. I wonder what an up-to-date version of the most hated music in the world would be like? Hmm I feel a side project coming on...

There's been a lot of talk about crowdsourcing over the last few months, particularly as it pertains to bands and artists. Although these conversations have been varied in scope, here are a few main themes that keep cropping up:

1. Using a global music contest/promotion site to validate an artist or band to increase awareness and sales The idea being that by using sites that allow anyone in the world to vote on their music likes and dislikes one can prove the potential of an artist and increase their value. Slice The Pie and OurStage fall into this category, as does to some extent Amie Street.

2. Using an existing fan base to help promote a band or artist using street teams across the Internet The idea of using your current fans to get new fans not just by traditional word of mouth, but by using all kinds of Internet and viral strategies, banners, playlists etc. ReverbNation has good tools to do this in the form of widgets, emails lists and street team management. Of course the original and most famous website to facilitate this is Myspace, although it tends to be more of a band to promoter tool nowadays. It could be argued that this is only real crowdsourcing if you do actually have enough fans.

3. Crowdsourcing investment The idea of getting fans and others to invest in your act, however small an amount, as a way of getting where you're going. This bucks the trend of traditionally relying on a record label to fund absolutely everything, and can help strengthen bonds with existing fans whilst also collecting new ones. Sellaband was the first site to tie in it's $50k goal in with bands, but unfortunately it also ties them into a lot more than just receiving the money to do what they like with. Other sites like Fundable exist where you can raise money for anything in return for anything, and Fundability which is a higher end investment model for when you want to go for something a bit more business like, with the potential to find some heavyweight angels.

4. Using a service to help promote a band or artist using street teams across the Internet The idea of paying premade networks to promote your music. There are services that will boost your YouTube plays, Myspace hits, friend adds and all sorts - for a fee. Majors and smaller labels alike realised the importance to get coverage across the Internet social sites as a means of promotion, and for breaking a new band just as in traditional media, a lot of people need to be made aware of a lots of acts very quickly.

When you have several accounts on social music sites, it becomes quickly apparent which bands and labels are outsourcing their crowdsourcing - suddenly a band you have never heard of is asking to 'befriend' you across all networks at the same time. This costs time and money.

Now these are all very valid and salient ideas about crowdsourcing, but on the whole the people who are talking about these things are people in bands with absolutely no public face whatsoever. Unheard of bands, hearing about all this stuff, wondering how they can make use of it. They are going to be at point one.

I have put these crowdsourcing ideas in this order as you can't really do one until you've done the previous one. If you started a new band tomorrow, and had just put a myspace page up and were looking ONLY to use the Internet as a means of making yourself known then this is pretty much it.

If you (1) put your music on some contest style sites you could get known to new audiences which would (2) help you generate a fan base which could (3) allow you to ask them to invest in you, the money which you could use to create MORE investment from 'real' investors meaning you could (4) start spending the money on growing your fanbase faster.

Of course it's not anything like as cut and dry as this, but you get the idea. Crowdsourcing is a term to describe something that we already do, already happens and is the nature of the social landscape.

This is all very interesting, but in actual fact has nothing to do with why I am writing this article. Although I think it is good to know about all this stuff, I think that the FEEDBACK one can get from the whole process is even more valuable. Let's start thinking about crowdsourcing as the biggest focus group in the world.

When you put your music on any site which allows people to vote for your music, either against other people's or in it's own right, you have access to opinion. On some sites this could be as much as a written appraisal of your track, on others it could simply be the fact that once the voting was done, you came 25th out of 1000 other tracks. This information is extremely valuable as it lets you break the crowds down into SMALLER crowds. And if you can do that, you can find the crowds that are going to be useful to you. No one can please all the people all the time, but we can use a crowd to find a community, and use a community to find our potential true fans.

With each site that you can use, you should at least be aware of its:

Geographical bias (crowds on a mostly american site are going to vote differently to a UK site)

Average age per site Average age per genre (if the site has genres)

This will at least help you get a handle on what the feedback actually MEANS from one of these sites.

Let's imagine you put the same song into a contest on a US site and a UK site which were more or less identical in terms of active users, age etc - at the very least you would come out of it with some data which showed you which country liked the song the most. If you put the same song in again, you would have a more accurate reading. What if you put the song on a French or German site? Could that teach you something about this one song?

Let's take another song and put it on a site which has a plethora of categories to put the song in. You enter the song into the 'Acoustic' category and after a month it gets into the top 50 Acoustic songs that month. You change the category to 'Folk', and it comes in the top 20. You try some more related categories but still it always seems to strike a nerve and get higher up in the Folk chart.

In these two examples we are using crowdsourcing to discover who actually likes what we do, who reacts to it the best, and in what genre, in what country. It has cost us nothing, and we can do it per song. Being able to use these crowds as a focus group on a song per song basis leaves you with a very clear picture of where your song is going to be well received. It can help you target your PR, come up with angles for stories. It can let you discover the cross over points of one genre to another, and help you find niches that you didn't even know you were a part of. It can show you where to spend your time, and where to spend it less. If you are looking for licencing on certain songs, it can show you which territories may be more receptive to certain songs.

So although people say you've got to be in it to win it, I beg to differ. You've got to be in it to learn how to win it, which is entirely different. Use the crowds to show you where you belong, and to discover smaller and more niche networks of potential fans. Fire your songs into the crowd, study where they land, and then alter your aim accordingly. Listen to the mob and target those calling your name. You may end up with a club instead of a crowd, but at least they're all yours.

Ok, now we've seen how not to write a press release (which is one of the best ways to start) we can look at how you should go about writing your own. I've written an outline of a press release which you can insert your own incredible and amazing story into. This example is kind of about the right length, and hits on the salient points in kind of the right places. However, you don't have to adhere to this example that rigidly. If you've got a good story then it should have it's own life. Just don't have a boring story and you're halfway there.

Forwarded Message From: coalitiongroup.co.uk Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:19:02 +0000 Subject: The Charlatans Downloads now at over 60,000 in one week The Charlatans Over 60,000 Downloads in one week The Charlatans’ new album, ‘You Cross My Path’, has been downloaded over 60,000 times since it was made available on Xfm’s website last Monday – a phenomenal number which would have seen the album enter the UK chart at number two if conventionally released [LIS - erm, except it wouldn't as then people would have had to pay for it, which might have put a good few off, surely?]. The album is currently available as a free download on www.xfm.co.uk. Says the band’s manager, Alan McGee: “I feel we are totally vindicated with the philosophy that if you go free and make a great record, you can exceed your dreams. No longer does music have to work in the traditional major label dominated way. Long live the Charlatans.” Says the band’s vocalist Tim Burgess: “When Alan McGee and I had this idea 18 months ago, we never imagined that it could be this successful. It’s a tribute to people’s belief in us and if we were in the shops, 20 years after the Charlatans started, we would be the number two most popular group in the country this week – going free was the best thing for us. Thanks to everyone that has downloaded the record, cheers.”