It’s June, which means it’s the most wonderful time of the year! The Vans Warped Tour will soon be making the rounds to various cities in North America playing over 40 dates starting this weekend in Seattle, and will even be crossing the pond to the UK later in the year. The Warped Tour has been a significant concert experience for many of the Bandsintown staffers. Several of us have been every year since it started in 1994, when boss-man Kevin Lyman created the tour to continue the spirit of skateboard contest/concert crossover shows. 

The tour now boasts a HUGE line up of over 100 artists covering an ever evolving range of genres, from EDM to pop punk to metal. Just a few of the bands Warped fans will hear this year include The Wonder Years, Architects (UK), Motion City Soundtrack, Sleeping With Sirens… even Black Veil Brides (bust out the makeup). What’s especially cool is Bandsintown is the “official app” powering all artist Warped Tour dates. Some of the Warped Tour bands were our earliest supporters before we grew into the robust Artist Platform we are today. Click here to see a full lineup and to RSVP.

A Warped experience is an all-day affair, full of sweat, amps and loud rock n’ roll (just how we like it). Fans get serious bang for their buck as multiple stages, skate ramps, and tents make up each stop on the festival. It’s safe to say no matter what you’re into, from meeting your favorite artists to discovering your new musical obsession, you can find it at Warped. Rock on, and remember to stay hydrated! 

Photo Credit: Stefan Aronsen - www.sf-inter.com

Bandsintown made a big splash at NARM and digitalmusic.org’s Music Biz 2013 event last week in LA. The annual conference gathered elite retailers, labels, artists, managers, app developers, and more for a wide-ranging program that covered everything from music branding to proper metadata standards. Our own Alexis Rodich was on hand to moderate the panel “How Mobile Is Changing the Future of Live Music and Its Promotion,” leading a deep discussion with mobile power players Creighton Burke of Live Nation, Ed Donnelly of Aderra, Kavi Halemane of The Collective, and Matt Urmy of Artist Growth that focused on how artists can take advantage of mobile devices to engage their fans and gather important information that can be used to increase future sales.

Key takeaways of the panel included:

• Push marketing is important, but don’t spam your fans: According to Halemane, “There’s only so much push marketing an artist is comfortable with,” and that goes double for fans. The goal of mobile engagement is to make those who love your band feel included and appreciated, but “they’ll walk away entirely if you disrespect them by sending five mass emails a day,” according to Donnelly. Burke added that fan comments have led Live Nation to refine its app so it focuses on the notification system, allowing users to find and buy tickets early. Concertgoers want to receive push notifications, but don’t overdo it - keep it classy!
• Stay engaged before, during and after:The panel highlighted the importance of mobile engagement before, during and after the event, noting that the objective of utilizing mobile technology is different depending at which stage of the live event it is being used.  All of the panelists agreed that during the event presents the best opportunity for data collection, but is also the most challenging as many artists want fans watching the show, not their phones, and connectivity at most venues tends to be weak. By utilizing mobile and social networks, you have the opportunity to drive interactions and give fans a reason to talk about you long after the lights go down.
• Don’t forget about texting: SMS text messaging is still a big part of the way young people communicate, and artists should take advantage of it. Halemane noted how he got a strong response when one of his bands gave away a guitar at each stop of its tour by placing a custom shortcode inside the venue that fans could text in for a shot at winning. Donnelly agreed, advocating bands run shortcode contests at venues for merch-pack giveaways, collect the contact info of entrants, and then send out a mass text giving those fans a chance to buy a recording of the show they just attended. While text messaging may not be the most technologically advanced method to reach fans, it is still a highly effective one.
• Partner with brands, but be sure to get the data: As Halemane succinctly put it, “The music industry is not swimming in the same sources of money it used to.” The music industry is much more austere nowadays and artists feel it most strongly when they go on tour. However, by teaming up with brands, artists can improve the live experience without spending more – they just need to ensure they partner with companies open to sharing the data they collect. “Email is still king,” said Halemane, as it offers the most direct link to fans for future promotions. Look for a collaborative partner that will share that info with you, and when you find one, don’t hesitate to sign up.

Next up on our conference calendar is a stop from CEO Julien Mitelberg at IMS in Ibiza May 22-24. Let us know if you’re attending – we’d love to meet you!

“We’d sell a LOT more tickets if people could just HEAR our music.” – Artists Everywhere

We wanted to let you know about an awesome platform Bandsintown has partnered with to expose more artists to music fans around the world. 

DeliRadio Concert Network(DCN) is a free, streaming radio service powered by Bandsintown that is dedicated to promoting live concerts by transforming the lineups of thousands of concert venues into streaming radio channels. This includes massive festivals like the Wakarusa Festival all the way down to your favorite neighborhood dives.

Click “PLAY” on radio stations made for venues and festivals you might recognize like Brooklyn Bowl Radio, High Sierra Music Fest Radio, Knitting Factory Radio, Roxy Radio, and many more. 

DCN is ad-free for bands and fans, streaming to computers, phones, tablets and soon, car dashboards and set-top boxes. Thousands of music venues around the world have had their lineups transformed into ad-free streaming radio accessible on both web and mobile devices, for free listening and sharing. Fan favorites MGMT, My Morning Jacket, The Lumineers, Steve Aoki and tens of thousands of other artists, venues, and festivals rely on the platform as an integral part of tour promotion. We like to think of DCN as a matchmaker between concert-goers and performing artists.

So how does it work? Click here to create a free DeliRadio profile and make sure you have a calendar date that’s entered in Bandsintown. Once you’re set up, all of your tour dates are imported automatically from Bandsintown!

Have fun and happy touring!