We need your feedback

Were getting ready to release more themes with some amazing features but we need your help. To improve what we offer and the styles of themes we are asking you to suggest and vote for ideas on our new ideas forum, please suggest some ideas on ways we can improve on themes and create new styles. Were really excited to hear your ideas and thoughts.

Link to Idea Forum

We are proud to launch the new Band Themer showcase today, Please go checkout some of the great customizations that customers have done with our themes.

We really like the “Found At Sea” Re-design of the Rugged theme, Check it out here.

If you have purchased a theme from Band Themer and would like it shown in the showcase please submit your design and we will review your submissions and if we think its good enough it will be featured. Go to our submissions page here.

Also check out the rest of his drum remix videos over on his website > http://philjdrums.com/

- Social Bandmaker Learn the secrets that the music industry doesn’t want you to know, Check out > http://www.socialbandmaker.com

- Bandize.com Looks like a sweet app for organizing your band, Check it out > http://www.bandize.com/ We might sign up ourselves

- TuneCore Ever wanted to get your music on iTunes? Well now you can, Use coupon code ” beheard30″ and save 30% when signing up, Check out > http://www.tunecore.com

If you have any suggestions let us know and we might just add them to next months interesting links!

We came across a sweet wordpress plugin called “Fotobook” that allows you to have the photos you have uploaded to Facebook to display on your BandThemer website. Easy to setup and install you’ll be using it in minutes, It also uses a javascript library called Lightbox, If you click on the images you will get a larger preview of the image without having to leave your BandThemer site.

Out of the box this plugin will only show your personal Facebook images. For most people that’s fine but BandThemer users will want to show images that Fan’s have taken from shows right? So fans would visit your Facebook fan page, upload an image and automagically the fans photo will show up on your BandThemer site. So if this is something you want to do, check out this hack.

Hope this tip helps you guys out, Let us know if you have any other ideas so we can share them with everyone else.

1. Debt.

The truth about a band is that to consistently make music it must also be a business. Yes, to get things started it takes money: recording, pressing CD’s, getting merchandise created can cost thousands of dollars. But sinking yourself in debt without a solid plan to get out will just leave you with a closet full of unheard cds and a broken bank. Usually people get along great until money is involved and suddenly everyone has a different opinion and fights happen. You can avoid this by having a solid business plan before going into debt. You need a plan to pay off debt before going into it. Whether that is a solid tour, online sales, or other opportunities, it is best to be smart with money if you want to have a career. Also, avoid getting into personal debt. If unpaid, debt becomes like a chain holding you back.

2. Management.

Having a manager is a key part of getting things done. Whether that person is in the band, a volunteer, or hired on, make sure it is someone you can trust and also someone who knows what they are doing. It’s a boring job but it is critical to being successful. There is nothing worse than leaving for a tour only to find out half the shows were never booked, or there are no contracts with promoters, etc.

3. Location.

Running a band out of the wrong location can be a huge challenge. If you are 5 hours away from the next big town and only 2 kids like your style of music in your town, you’ll only get 2 kids out to your show. But in a bigger area there is a higher likelihood of having a larger group of people who like your music style. Finding this target audience is very important. If you try to market heavy-metal music to baby-boomers (except those crazy moshing types you likely won’t make any sales. This means going to shows, talking to people, finding out who likes music that you are making and finding ways to connect with them.

4. Staying consistent.

Many bands will create new music and create a buzz – only to then fall into the background for a while. It’s hard work but it’s really helpful to always be “on”. Whether it’s daily blogs or new music or whatever, stay consistent.

5. Being good at what you do.

It’s easy to think that as a musician we are the best we can be and we have no need to practice or improve. But being good at what you do is very important. Practice songwriting, practice your instrument, practice your live show etc. Basically, laying the pride down and realizing that we have a lot of room for improvement. This type of mindset will open tons of doors. All in all get creative and get busy. Money isn’t the goal – but rather a necessity If you don’t make money you won’t be sustainable, and you won’t last. Aka – your message won’t go out