Like almost every aspect of Facebook, there is no financial cost to adding a Facebook Group. So if you have a few minutes, why not create a group for your band?

Why do you need a Facebook Group?

Your personal manager, touring manager, or just the band member in charge of booking shows needs to know when members are available and to keep everyone in the loop. There are lots of tools out there for getting a band organized including BandCentral, Indie Band Manager, Manymoon and Google Docs. But there are two big drawbacks, most have a monthly cost, and even the free ones require everyone in the band to register and use the program.

Managing your band with Facebook Groups is far from perfect, but it’s likely everyone in your band uses Facebook daily. In fact, every person, band and venue your band interacts with probably uses Facebook.

Treat your band like a business.

The biggest peace of advice I hear from industry professionals and successful bands is “treat your band like a business.” What does that mean? Well, it means  get organized. You have a lot of people, money and time to manage. Creating a Facebook Group for your band allows everyone in the band to stay connected, and give their opinion on what is happening.

How to use Facebook Groups.

When you click on your group from the left-hand navigation, you will be able to see what is going on in your group just like your personal friend feed. Within the group there are two categories to help you get your band organized; Event and Doc. You should create a document for all of the bands contacts, financial situation and goals, and you should put all of the upcoming shows and street team events in here as well.

The one other advantage of Facebook Groups is that it allows the band to communicate in a way in which everyone is familiar. Take advantage of a tool that everyone uses for keeping up with friends, and turn it into a tool to make your band better.

More info on the changes to Facebook Groups.

As a musician resources geek, I’m always a little giddy when I find an incredibly useful site for musicians. My favorites are Hypebot, Music Think Tank and The Savvy Musician’s blog, among others. So I was really excited to stumble upon MusicMoz. This volunteer-supported website is a directory of thousands of music websites.

MusicMoz creates pages of links on specific music categories. MusicMoz’s format is similar to Wikipedia and the Open Directory Project in that the pages are managed by volunteer editors. Much of MusicMoz is for fans of music, with categories on specific bands, genres and lyrics. But the real meat is in its resources for aspiring musicians.

Unsigned Band Resources was the first category I was drawn to. This category, alone, has 195 links to websites. And the directory is always growing. I noticed detone8.com is not listed yet, so I know of at least one more site I hope will be added.

MusicMoz’s site structure divides topics into smaller, more specific categories, until you can find a manageable list. For instance, there is a list of agents and managers that cater to folk musicians.

Not knowing about this resource-heavy site sooner has me calling my music geek cred into question.

The only real drawback I see is the directory could use more volunteers. Some categories, like Clubs and Venues in the United States, have very few links and no editor. But because it is a volunteer maintained site, anyone can pitch in and help add links. MusicMoz is doing its part to educate on the music industry and simultaneously giving you the ability to help improve it.

I viewed this post on the awesome musician blog Hypebot.com, and I really liked it. Byrne talks about how the place music is written and performed can impact how the music sounds.  Back in the day I was in a band that practiced in a tiny garage, but we had the  loudest guitar and drums you could imagine. I had to scream right into the microphone to hear myself over them. It sounded great in practice, but was a terrible idea at venues with good sound systems.

I wonder how much our practice space impacted our music.

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We are not alone on the internet.

In fact, there are lots of other cool blogs for aspiring rock stars. This is a good thing, for musicians and for us. No one knows it all, and we are not the exception.

We spend almost every day researching about the music industry, and a big part of that comes from helpful blogs. Below is a list of some of our favorites.

Future of Music – This blog by the Vice President, David Kusek, of the prestigious Berklee College of Music is top notch all the way. Kusek really embraces the new ways to network and connect with fans that have emerged in this century. If you are a serious musician you need to read this blog.

The Savvy Musician – We just recently found this blog, and we love it. This blog is written by David Cutler, and it shares the same name as his recent book “The Savvy Musician.” The blog is great because it’s useful for any kind of musician who wants to make money and covers often over looked topics like non-profit verses for profit.
Check out this sweet video The Savvy Musician found on Youtube.

At: Guitar Center – This blog is sponsored by Guitar Center, but as far as we can tell it’s not a sales promotion. This blog is a collection of interesting tidbits from the biggest names in the music industry, and from time to time has some great insights.

Music Think Tank- If you love to obsess over the finer details of the music industry this blog is for you.  Music Think Tank finds studies and opinions on what the music industry is really like and puts them all in one place. The information is sometimes thrilling and sometime depressing, but it is always relevant.

There are countless other great blogs out there. Why don’t you tell us what your favorites are?

Franz Ferdinand gives some times about lyric writing to young fans at a writing event.

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The newly launched site, The Banded, is basically a way to upload and share music with fans. The site’s goal is for fans to vote on songs they like and help undiscovered bands (bands on major labels are not allowed)  make money and get exposure.  The site is clean and easy to use for fans, and even allows for Facebook Connect, so no one has to learn a new password.

For bands there are several ways to make money, or gets discounts, but the biggest potential is “The Band 2.” This is an award for the two most popular songs each month. According to the site , “Each month, artists behind the top 2 most highly voted songs get a percentage of our site revenue (for life!) and ownership in The Banded in the form of stock options.” So if the site makes money, you do too.

The site is still in beta mode, so there is little chance of making money from the start, and the site is not yet set up to sell merch.

Still, the first “band 2″ has started for December, so this might be a great time to get your band’s foot in the door.

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Nine Inch Nails is slowly putting up much of their old touring equipment for sale at eBay. Right now you can find guitars from Gibson, Fender, Dean Acoustic and a few others the band has played on tour.

According to an article at the Guardian, NIN plans on selling all of the equipment they’ve used for touring. Trent Reznor said that the band is saying goodbye to touring, and focusing on studio work. Reznor also said that the band will put up hundreds of items on eBay and that they will not take requests to autograph any items.

“Hundreds of items will be listed over the next several weeks such as guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, and pedal boards,” was said according to the band’s website.

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The Chicago Tribune opinion story about heath insurance for musicians – This article does not give any solutions to the problem, but it does give examples of why musicians need health care coverage.

MusicPro Insurance – This company offers all kinds of insurance for musicians. From equipment insurance, health insurance and even touring insurance.

A Futureofmusic.org health insurance study from 2002 – The study found 44% percent of musician’s asked had no health insurance. 48% of those insured had plans costing less than $100 a month, but there was no information on the quality of these lost cost insurance plans.

If you want to know more about health insurance for musicians futureofmusic.org is sponsoring a  FREE 30 minute phone consultations on heath insurance for musicians from HINT.

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DeLonge gives some insights from a musician who has seen record labels at their peak and now crashing around him. He talks about why some artists want to give their music away for free, and they will make money from other sources.

“Number one, really take pride in how you present the band in the public even when there is no music,” Tom DeLonge said.

How to add an Amazon Store to your web page- Makeuseof.com gives a step-by-step process to make money from Amazon.com. It works by linking from your website to items on Amazon.com. So, if you recommend another band’s music, or equipment you like, you can make some money if someone else want to buy that item too.

Google Music Search and how it will change the music industry – If you know about the Google Music project you might be wondering what it means to the industry. Mashable.com gives some ideas on who will benefit, MySpace.com, and who will not, Apple’s iTunes.

.music - Can’t get your band’s name as a .com? Then .music maybe a solution if they can get enough support. Sign the petition to get .music added to the web, and look for our interview of .music later this week.

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