Heads Up!

You may or may not be aware of this already, and you might agree with the policy change or not – opinion seems divided. But, whichever side of the fence you’re on, this is a critical opportunity for all facebook users, which will apply particularly to bands and artists.

This Saturday at 12.01 Eastern Daylight Time (That’s 5.01 PM for Brits), you will be able to register for a user name on facebook for your existing account – for the first time ever – and they will be dished out on a first come first served basis!

Some people hate the idea as too much like MySpace, but whether you like it or not, you want to be ready to get there and get your band name. I’m not quite sure how much SEO benefit there might be to it, but I know it’ll look better and be easier to remember and therefore direct people to.

You will have the option of all alphanumeric characters and a full stop (period for the US readers!) but that’s about it. So mine will read, if I get it, www.facebook.com/ianclifford. You could also just use your band name followed by’.com’ if that’s your usual web address.

There is obviously going to be a major rush to get names and facebook will have a disputes process, but the best advice is get there and get your name bagged.

Everything you need to know is covered here at facebook – http://www.facebook.com/username/

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Just a quick post to point you to this competition if you are a UK unsigned band.

I don’t know anything about the people behind this but I do know some of the people involved on the panel, and thought you should get a heads up. In essence, it’s a credible ‘Battle of the Bands’ / talent show for real acts rather than your usual TV only fodder (No more please, Mr Cowell!).

You need to be unsigned, free to travel to the US and able to sell 50 tickets for your round of the knockout gigs.

You also need to sign an agreement that states that you won’t appoint any other management until after the series of knockout gigs. I haven’t seen this agreement, and would always advise that you be careful what you sign and be sure that it doesn’t commit you to anything that you don’t understand. I have asked the organisers to send it to me, and if they do, I’ll update this post with my comments.

If you win you get a paid trip (inc. flights and hotel) to New York, you get to play a gig there and do a photoshoot. You also get to be on a CD of bands that performed in the competition which will get promoted and released.

I like this sort of thing on two levels – obviously all levels of exposure and networking chances depending on how far you get (who knows who might see and hear you), but also just doing it is great experience to learn from how you do and from seeing what the winners do better than you.

If you think this is something that you should try out for, go and check all the details here – New York Gig Competition

Leave us a comment to let us know if you’ve entered. Best of luck if you do.

UPDATE: I spoke to the guys running the competition and looked at the agreements. They’ve dropped the requirement to have an agreement with them about not taking on management during the competition, which I think is a great thing.

Also, the competition will be filmed and broadcast on Propeller TV – Sky 195, so you need to grant them some rights for them to film you play and be allowed to broadcast. That agreement should be limited to just that TV show, but it’s all OK.

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