MANCHESTER ENGLAND POETS WRITERS AND SINGERS ON THE INTERNET

I am delighted to welcome many Manchester and North West England poets, writers, comedians, artists, singers, and musicians to my corner of my Space. http://www.myspace.com/56954240 Many readers will recognise some famous names among them.

Some local bands recognised my tendency to write reviews of performances I see, and that I have a lot of links to venues and gigs in Manchester and elsewhere in Britain. As a writer myself, with some modest success, I know the need for performers and creative people in all quarters to get recognition and to be able to tune in to what their fans think about them. The Internet gives us amore immediate way to find out how well people know about is and what they thought of us than a media critique. With many people in the audience running blogs and online diaries, we get to see the feedback from the people who matter most – the ones who paid to watch our shows. It beats the Hell out of pinning a postcard in the window of the newsagents for a quid a week, or risking arrest for flyposting to promote your gigs.

Just as importantly, the Internet gives fans a direct information source on what gigs are planned, taking bookings, sold out, and in some cases, cancelled.

The Internet enables fans to get information, photos, and gossip that would once have only been possible through expensive fan clubs. It also allows people within the industry, performers, writers, agents, impresarios, concert organisers, venue managers, publishers, etc, to find precisely the kind of artistes who will fit their bill.

Finding a sudden increase in the number of bards and bands linking to my corner of My Space and contacting me about links to the arts scene on my main website, www.arthurchappell.clara.net/links.htm I started looking for information about bands I have seen and appreciated but who I have lost contact with. Some of them I found easily enough. A simple search engine query brought them back to me. Others, though well received and respected, have proved to be surprisingly elusive however. It is astonishing that many writers, and performance artists do not have a website or My Space page of their own, and do not get much mention by their fans.

I believe that any creatively talented performer should exploit the Internet to its maximum capacity. The simplest way to do that is to have at a bare minimum, an e-mail address and a My Space page. This data should go out to the fans and anyone you work with in the entertainment industry. Some people may say bad things about you online, but most will praise you if you have a genuine talent. Not being mentioned at all gives you no kudos or credibility at all. As Oscar Wilde wrote, “There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

Some performers have a Luddite like attitude to the Internet, hoping to make their names without using it directly. With others quick to make full mileage from it, the bands avoiding the net are likely to lose out more and more on the gig circuits.

If you are not a performer, but saw one perform, write in a blog or web site page what you thought of the show. Be honest. You might even give the performers a star rating.

The best thing about My Space is the ability to secure friends and fans quickly among the readership. Adding your support to a band that you have shared a stage with or met at some show helps to spread the word about them. If you click on the invite as a friend button and they take up the invitation, both of you are automatically linked to each other’s My Space pages. The readers of the page linking to yours will then see your profile and look at your page to see who you are and what you do. If they like what they see, they show interest by joining your network of friends too. Each link and friend you make tells the world, and more search engines where you are. The stronger your web presence, the more important your rank is in the showbiz world.

Major recording artists and A-list celebs have high media friendly profiles while talented local bands and poets struggle to make money and get recognition. The more we help each other via Internet links the better. I am all too happy to support my performance pals through links on my site – I hope they will do the same for each other and for me.

As well as My Space, performers should ideally have their own independent web sites. Here a wider range of information can be given to fans and people surfing through, as well as links to other bands and industry folk. A band can give out a full discography; a writer can give a total bibliography, like mine at www.arthurchappell.clara.net/publications.htm

Another joy of a website for performers, amateur and professional is that they can make use of sponsorship links like those at the top of this page. If the gigs are not coming too fast, as happens to the best of us, the web sites can generate some revenue to help keep us in beer money once in a while. If you are reading a blog, My Space or web page for a band, look in on such links – by doing so, you will be giving the a modest donation, just as you would by giving to a good busker – except it won’t cost you a penny, and they still get something. If you are a performer with a web page, do consider adding such sponsorship links to your site.

So, if you are a performer, use the Internet, My Space and a network of contacts, fellow performers, and even myself to tell the World who you are and what you are up to.