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This question comes up way more often than I expect, and I frequently reference this blog for information on what music platforms to focus on and to make sure artist information is up to date. Not on Grooveshark yet? You should be! I've posted the infographic from the post below, and highly recommend visiting the actual link for analysis and updates. 

I know the post is "old" in internet years now (it's actually from February of 2010) but it's still helpful. Especially when I'm on my YouTube soapbox about getting content up in any form. Lyric videos, funny mashups, acoustic versions of songs, guest recorded versions of songs, simple diary-style updates... you name it- YouTube content is king. 

I hope you enjoy the infographic below as much as we do!

Round 1: 2010 Music Website Heatmap

Round 2: Why aren't you on YouTube? 

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It is easy to agonize over what to do with the "New Twitter" background, which significantly reduces your creative space, and pretty much makes anything you've designed in the past obsolete. We had a little fun with it with our @bigd8a account (Update, after the "New" Twitter was out for a while, we did switch this out to the more professional background that you see now :)), but finding great ways to make it work for clients, especially when they're rightfully attached to their current design, is tough. Enjoy some notes we took while working through this, including some pros and cons, what to do, and some of our favorite new designs: 

Pros

• The far left side of the margin is always visible, which is different from the old layout which could be completely hidden if your browser width was smaller than average. 
• The right side with all the extra new information is opaque (at 75%), and can look pretty cool with the right background image

Cons

• "The only thing that stays the same is everything changes" - Tracy Lawrence (When in Nashville...)
• We do not expect this to be the last time we update a Twitter background, and with all the changes that are new and upcoming on other networks, we're have a feeling we're going to be pretty busy this spring. 

If you're in need of a Twitter makeover or tutorial, send us a note through the Contact Us form above, or email info@bigdatamarketing.com. If you'd like to do it yourself, Mashable posted a great tutorial here. 

You can find more info on the New Twitter here: http://twitter.com/newtwitter. Right now, any user can switch back and forth between layouts, but we are assured that at some undefined date, all of Twitter will switch over. Also, there are a ton of great web apps through which users are accessing and using twitter, but as recently as September 2010, 78% of people were still going through Twitter.com. In other words, don't get caught with an old background if you think everyone sees your updates through Tweetdeck. 

A few of our Top "New Twitter" Designs in no particular order:

• A cool focus on typography for @espiekermann
• Keep it simple like @adactio and white it out 
• We like @artnetdotcom's clean background with a subtle title on the top right
• @rcrdlbl has a design that works with both old and new layouts, so if your screen is restricted you really don't feel like you're missing anything
• @tripadvisor's pretty background image makes us want to get on an airplane pronto, while @virginamerica's makes us feel like we're already on one

That's all for now. If we see any more cool stuff, we'll be sure to update! We'd also love to see your designs and favorites in the comments.

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For the curious, historians, search professionals, and more, Google puts together their Zeitgeist review for 2010 here. We'd love to see this for years past if anyone wants to chime in.  

All of this searching is fascinating, but if you're concerned about your privacy in search, you can now "Disconnect" with a former Googler's new browser tool that disables third party data tracking here: http://budurl.com/84al

On to 2011!

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I’m so impressed with technology in general- it’s nothing new, but it’s still overwhelming at times. I’m watching a streaming keynote speech from Steve Jobs introducing Apple’s new products for the year, and talking with friends all over the country through Twitter.

To the conversation at hand, Jobs has moved on to Apple TV and left one big question here in the music industry hanging. Apple introduced Ping (a social network for music, which we may want to re-coin, a ‘social commerce network’ for music) but still hasn’t really answered the question of what the company has done with Lala.com, a streaming music company it purchased at the end of 2009 for around $17 million (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/12/07/apples-purchase-price-for-lala-80-million/). We may also see an answer to another question soon- what is Ping.fm, a social profile aggregator, going to do about the name?

There were articles written later this year saying Apple killed Lala, and that streaming subscription services weren’t a viable business model (http://www.beatweek.com/news/5330-apple-buys-lala-kills-it-off-teaches-geek-tech-pundits-a-lesson/) but it seems like the streaming model still has a chance, especially with new startups like rdio.com and the still-here-and-awesome Pandora.com.

In any case, it is continuously amazing what these folks, and everyone else in the tech space comes up with, whether it catches on or not. Looking forward to the future…

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BigData moved to Austin for a few days last month to absorb everything possible about new interactive technology and, of course, great Mexican food!

Of the panels, Jack and I had our favorites, and some of the highlights included Gmail’s “Behind the Scenes,” “Scaling Beyond LAMP,” “Get Stoked: Web Typography,” and Gary Vaynerchuck’s keynote. Ok, we’re nerds, but if you’re reading this, you probably already knew that.

Some nuggets of wisdom:

• Gmail made it pretty clear with this statement “We have this amazing technology called ‘work really really hard.’
• You can’t help a Helvetica headline, even if you put it on the front of a My Morning Jacket poster (don’t worry- it was just an example- My Morning Jacket used a great font on their poster!)
• There are some ridiculously amazing things coming up in the technology world for musicians like Bandzine, Bandzoogle, and the like. Now you can manage your business, your tour routing, your online presence, your dog’s feeding schedule, all in one place… a full review of these platforms is forthcoming.
• No live music, read ‘none’ is happening during interactive. I mistakenly thought there would be at least a few bands hanging around. Something to look forward to!
• There’s nothing like a good beat-box routine to end a session (Thanks, @garyvee)

Thanks to our new friend Ryan for lodging and to the many sponsors who provided us with free food and beverages! We had a blast hanging out with folks from Ticketmaster, Rockhouse Partners, Treehugger.com, Studio Now and Claritas Partners, among many others, but we’re sad we didn’t get to stay for the ‘real’ SXSW and see the music… Next year!

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We love what the folks over at Bandcamp are doing with their new ‘un-label,’ BCWax, not only because it is a great case study on bundled pricing for musicians, but also because the actual product is fantastic.

We should know- Jack is now the proud owner of the 400th something of 500 vinyl copies of Sophie Madeleine’s new album, “Love, Life, Ukulele.” The limited edition package includes an LP with a gorgeously designed album cover and an immediate digital download of all ten tracks. And, after watching her sing, you’ll wish you had it too.

But the real deal is this: BCWax did a couple of really cool things here:

• They differentiated this product from all other digital items by creating scarcity with the high quality (both in music and design) limited edition vinyl and a print of the album art.
• They bundled the higher value items, and then sold just the digital album for only $5 and individual downloads (in your choice of 8 file formats) for $.75, so there are multiple options for more casual fans and audiophiles. (If you want to pay more, you can choose your own price above the minimum)
• And most awesomely, they give just about everything away for free. The commercial-free video content is available on the blog and on YouTube, and all the information you’d get from the liner notes on the record, along with a stream-able version of every single track from the record, in its entirety, are available on the same page where they’re selling the product.

Bandcamp explains it all to the world in their blog here: Music as Artifact: Introducing BCWax, but it’s pretty clear how much this makes it possible to quickly find your super-fans, give everyone something special and make a higher margin on a musical format that has quickly become a commodity on iTunes. If you’d like a vinyl copy for your own collection, you’d better get it quick- they’re down to the last 74 copies.

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No offense to our friends over at UMG Nashville, but we’re going to have to agree with this guy:

“Years late, Universal cuts CD prices to combat poor sales.”

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Earlier this summer Jack and I headed up to the great metropolis of Manhattan to do some freelance work for Billboard.

We spent a couple of days there to cover panels at Billboard’s Media & Advertising conference for use on Billboard.com, listen to some great music at Dizzy’s and visit friends.

Little did we know, our newfound panel-covering skills were about to hit the big time. (Let’s just say it’s a good thing Billboard has great editors!) You can check them out at AdWeek here.

And don’t mind the haters in the comment section- they have clearly never tried to take diction at a panel session about the music industry.

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