An Indie Musician's Guide to World Domination

One of the strengths of digital media is the inherent flexibility of the content. The advent of comment-driven, user-ranked media websites like Digg and Slashdot illustrate a growing trend away from static, print-style “article” news and towards a more interactive and dynamic medium.

One great (and free) tool I’ve had a chance to play with that really illustrates the difference is

By Demand Media

Demand Media‘s new “live blogging” platform CoverItLive. I discovered CoverItLive through, of all things, the official website of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Ulmer, a frequent blogger and contributor for the Leafs, uses CoverItLive to host live “blogs” during certain games, and after participating in a couple of these events I decided to roll up my sleeves and get under the hood.

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It seems like every week we hear about the next big thing: a new social network, or online service, or application that will change the way we interact with our audiences. A lot of us make the same mistake and immediately click through to our new favorite tool. We enter our credentials, pick a snappy profile pic and username, cut and paste the same biographical info we use on other services, upload some media, announce our new presence on all the OTHER networks… and then sit back and wait for friends and followers to find us.

In the world of social media, more isn’t always better. It’s hard to figure out just where to spend our time and energy, especially when our efforts rarely produce any instantly quantifiable results. When I first started trying to build my band’s online presence and I sized up all the options, I subscribed to what I now think of as the “Dog Licking Itself” approach: if it’s free, and easy, and produces no noticeable negative consequences, well…. why not? Read more