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8.09.2005
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Volume Three
Issue Eight
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Welcome to our August Arts Marketer of the Month. This issue features the NYC-based band "The Lascivious Biddies" which has taken on the task of marketing themselves with the same passion and charisma as they put into their music. Read on to find out how they have been using Internet-based marketing to great success...
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Featured Arts Marketers: The Lascivious Biddies
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The Lascivious Biddies (Clockwise from bottom: Saskia Lane, Amanda Monaco, Lee Ann Westover and Deidre Rodman)
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The self described "cocktail pop" group, The Lascivious Biddies - in addition to being stellar musicians - is a self-run marketing machine. The four person operation, shares as equally as possible all the work (both musical and administrative) of running a successful band.
Bass player, Saskia Lane is the Biddies' public relations point person and pianist, Deidre Rodman books most of the group's performances. "Web Biddy" and lead vocalist, Lee Ann Westover takes care of running the website and spearheading internet promotions and with help from guitarist, Amanda Monaco looks after composing and sending out all the Biddies' e-mail campaigns.
In the Q & A that follows, Lee Ann and Amanda discuss their energy and enthusiasm for their fans and, among many other things, how e-mail is helping to sell out their shows...
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Q & A: Lee Ann Westover and Amanda Monaco of The Lascivious Biddies
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Amanda Monaco and Leeann Westover
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To start, can you give us some background on the Biddies?
Amanda Monaco (guitar): The Biddies were formed in 2001. We play what we call "cocktail pop" - a mix of cabaret, jazz and pop with four-part harmonies. Our repertoire consists of both original compositions and what we like to call "standards-to-be" - songs from our teen years (the 1980s) that we arrange in our own way.
We started out playing local venues in New York City and branched out to touring as far as Texas and back. We have showcased at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin twice (in 2003 and 2005), both times promoting new albums. Back home in New York City, we play venues such as Joe's Pub and Makor, and we perform in all five boroughs as part of Carnegie Hall's Neighborhood Concert Series.
As a self-managed music group you have taken marketing into your own hands - and in a really big way. Tell us how you've promoted the Biddies.
AM: We promote ourselves via any outlet we can find...and in conjunction with every gig we play! This helps us reach out to new audiences. We've appeared in newsprint and on radio, and of course, there's e-mail...
Lee Ann Westover (lead vocals): It's an amazing feeling to go to a town we have never been to and find ourselves playing to a full house...so we are always extremely mindful of collecting e-mail addresses at our shows to ensure that nights like that don't become one-time occurrences. Once we have folks on our e-mail list, no matter where they live, we send them e-mail updates.
How do you manage your e-mail campaigns, considering your fan base is not geographically centralized?
AM: Our e-mail newsletters have been such a great tool - we use them to tell our readers about what is happening with us, and people respond well. We often target our campaigns by state, e-mailing to each location individually.
LAW: The most useful thing about using PatronMail is knowing what our demographic is. We can see how old our crowd is, how they found out about us and where they live!
Our goal for our e-mail list is really three-fold. We want people to know where we are playing; we want to be sure they don't forget about us when we are not playing in their town for awhile; and we want folks to be able to see how we are growing and developing as a band as we tour around the country.
To help with this, we have categories set up for all the places we visit, so we can send out pointed e-mails to smaller groups. Now and then, we send out a blast to everyone to make sure they see the bigger picture.
Do you see e-mail as a "good way to stay in touch" or is it actually helping to build your fan base? If so, how?
AM: Because so many of our fans are online, and enjoy corresponding with us that way, e-mail has definitely been a great way to build our fan base.
LAW: Yes - While e-mail is indispensable in keeping in touch, it is equally a great tool for attracting fans. Here's an example:
The Lascivious Biddies have created a podcast (a new-fangled type of radio show distributed on the internet) that we call the BiddyCast. We record fly-on-the-wall conversations from the van and live performances and then use our e-mail list to let people know we are podcasting. At the same time, people who find us through podcasting want to see a live show so they sign up to our list.
The same goes for national press. When we are featured in a major publication like The Washington Post or Time Out New York, people sign up for our list via the website, and then we are able to reach them when we come to their area.
We love our fans, and our e-mail list gives us a way to let them in to our experience, and keep them involved like a circle of friends.
Any big success stories to share? Are there any campaigns that you found had a particularly good impact?
LAW: There have been a couple noteworthy ones recently...
Not long ago, we were featured on CBS Evening News, and it was wonderful to be able to notify our fans and direct them to a site where they could watch the clip. We had very little advance notice to warn them about it, so being able to send an e-mail was a real blessing.
In New York City, we play regularly at Joe's Pub, which is primarily a buy-at-the-door venue. Through consistent e-mail blasts that included a link to Ticketmaster, we ended up selling most of our tickets in advance. Along the way, we could track the "click-thrus" on the "buy-tickets" link and watch the numbers add up. It was really nice knowing ahead of time that the turnout would be great!
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Visit The Lascivious Biddies's Web Site
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Register now for Full-day E-marketing Seminars:
Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC & New York
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Smart Web-Based Marketing for the Arts: Full-day seminar with Eugene Carr, president of Patron Technology
By popular demand, we're repeating the very successful seminar we offered in March here in New York, in 4 cities this summer.
This seminar will prepare you to make the most of your e-marketing for next season. It will offer you results of a national study of online arts consumers, as well as specific techniques you can immediately implement to improve your results.
"I was so very impressed with Gene's wonderful presentation at the Chorfest Conference. There was a sense of integrity and authenticity in the presentation he gave - I have not always had that confidence with other "technology" presentations."
-- Donna Otto, Coastal Sound Music Academy
"Gene was right - the seminar was the best thing I did at the Chorus America conference. As a matter of fact, I think it was worth the entire price of my registration."
-- Jordan Sramek, The Rose Ensemble
Dates & Locations
Chicago: Thursday, August 18
Los Angeles: Monday, August 22 (SOLD OUT)
Washington, DC: Thursday, August 25
New York City: Friday, August 26
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Click here for complete description and registration
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If
you have interesting and creative initiatives that you would like to
have featured or know of an arts marketer that you would like to
recommend for one of our upcoming editions, please contact
info@patrontechnology.com.
Please watch for the next edition of our Arts Marketer of the Month, coming September 13, 2005.
Note:
The CAN-SPAM act mandates that all commercial e-mail contains a
physical mailing address, and ours is: 850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 801,
New York, NY 10019
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