RGG April 2015 - p.6
NICK
J TOWNSEND
@weak13
@nickjtownsend
Some musicians appear quite dull or uninforma
tive on the net; a band's Twitter thread often
begins with an introductory tweet reading
something like "welcome to our official Twitter
page; standby for constant updates" followed
by a post four months later asking a question
that would terrify the most thorough of re
searchers which is "what is everyone having for
dinner?" then a twelve month gap leading up
to a tweet intended for their seven loyal follow
ers (one of which possibly a food blogger) stat
ing "Our band is no more thanks everyone for
supporting the music" leaving almost no musi
cal footprint of their legacy or make anyone
wiser as to what their band actually did during
its career; or even answer what they had for
dinner
I walked past a band poster recently I've no
ticed it almost every month for about four
years and the musician that pasted it to a wall
has had a mini billboard making an impression
on passer by's Flyposting as far as I'm aware
has been illegal since the renaissance but I
imagine that since the rise of the surveillance
camera that fewer people do this type of stunt
Arguments are that "It's criminal unprofes
sional and everything is done on the internet
these days anyway"; hasn't seemed to have
changed the way circus or funfair promoters do
business or scare away people who lose cats but
for some reason rebellious musicians have be
come very conservative If you are suspected of
flyposting then the Police could start putting up
WANTED posters I've never understood who
puts up the anonymous "Bill posters will be
prosecuted" poster; seems counter productive
Besides Bill Posters is innocent
Technology is the musicians friend unless
you're one of those weirdoes who get a thrill
watching the battery of a guitar tuner expire
When humans first learned how to control fire
it was a turning point in human evolution But
when the wheel was invented there were
probably a few ancient Mesopotamians who
just tied it to a tree and made a swing I get the
impression that a lot of musicians haven't really
embraced technology as much as they should
do It’s pretty obvious a large chunk of the pop
ulation are glued to the internet so it makes
sense doing online promotion for your band but
even though we have this facility many still
don't bother with it Some don't know what
they're doing with it; if I nailed a "How to do
music promotion" instruction manual to their
manager's forehead they'd probably think it
was a photo of the band Coldplay
Nick J Townsend is the frontman and
guitarist for British band Weak13
An experienced Underground
musician and music promoter
Supporter of original music
