Mattew Good is a Canadian recording artist who has seen and evolved with the trends and phases of emerging technologies. He is currently making the most of his resources at www.matthewgood.org in order to communicate not only his music but also his thoughts and experiences via the world wide web. The blogging platform he is using is WordPress. It’s very user friendly on both ends of the user spectrum: artist and audience. Navigating the site is a breeze and very aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It’s a simple approach that gives the viewer the most while putting in the least amount of effort. The main page is full of the most recent postings and the side bar is a quick guide to finding out just about anything you need or would like to know about the artist. Everything from author information, online store, causes he supports, archive posts, shows, and music are all at simply a click away. Another interesting aspect of how this WordPress platform is genius is that it allows you to connect your audience to all the social networks used. Matthew Good lists his Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Delicious, and Flickr accounts along with the RSS feed to his actual website. If this is good enough for Matthew Good it’s good enough for indie artists trying to make it in the industry.

This site is the perfect example of what EPKhosting.com provides. After all, EPK is built on WordPress and all of the services provided by EPKhosting.com reflect that. EPKhosting.com offers WordPress for the exact same reasons celebrities like Matthew Good and record labels are using it: it communicates with social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) and keeps you connected and up to speed with fans and what’s going on in the world around you. One should take note that if big players are using these most available and easy to use resources the smoke signals would indicate you should get yourself up to speed and do the same. There are endless online resources and books such as WordPress for Dummies. To get a better idea of what a fully functioning WordPress site is like just surf EPKhosting.com and contact them for website solutions and how they connect you to audiences in the same up to speed fashion as artists like Matthew Good.

Related Posts

COMMON TRICKS OF THE TRADE:

1.  Never give or take an interview when you are not prepared.  This goes for both artists and interviewers alike.   This is where a lot of things can go wrong.  You may find yourself scrambling for answers or questions.  The key for the artist is to pre-interview as much as possible: what this means is you must look at your work and self and work out your own feelings and thoughts on your current project, person, or body of work.  For Interviewers you want to be as prepared as possible going into an interview.  DO YOUR HOMEWORK.  An artist is more likely to give a good interview if they feel they are speaking with someone who is genuinely interested in their work—therein learn and be as well read as you can about their work.

2.  How to manage if you are stuck giving an interview on the spot. In the event that Murphy’s Law wins over both artists and interviewers should have staple answers and questions they can live by.  Interviewers are usually safe with the 5 W’s: Who is the artist, What is the project about, Where it was created/where the artist is from, When it was released, will be released etc., Why the artist made it, and let’s not forget How, how they feel about particular things, how they put it together etc.  If you keep on these staple questions you can get through even the most abrupt and unforeseeable interviews.  Always remember that there’s more to life than a SINGLE story—if you want to be able to interview someone again you may want to be respectful and kind as these are human beings you are working with not impermeable bits of stone.

For the Artist: think like the beast so to speak.  Know the 5 W’s and how to answer them along with being able to answer the how’s of your particular project/body of work.  Another very important thing to remember is that not all people are nice people, sad but true.  If you come across and interviewer who steps out of bounds and presses for something you don’t want to disclose don’t feel the need to answer, simply ask for the next question or say no comment.  No one can ever hold you to something you didn’t say—remember that.

3.  Remember your manners; they will get you farther than you might think.   I have eluded to this a bit, but I feel the need to reiterate it in depth.  Manners, the treating of others as you’d like to be treated, is an integral part of an interview on both ends.  If you the artist would like to be respected you should in turn treat the interviewer with respect and vice versa.  It would seem that enemy lines are drawn today (and rightly so with all the garbage in mass media) between interviewer and artist.  In reality this should be a symbiotic relationship that is mutually beneficial as it helps both careers not only coexist but also if carried out correctly thrive and flourish. Part of everyone’s job in this case is to use common courtesy, be polite, and most importantly professional.  If you are not it will translate into the interview.  Whether it be the interviewer getting slack from the artist who simply goes through the motions or if you are consistently rude simply abandons the interview.  On the other hand you can have interviewer writing about you in a poor fashion along with your interview or simply editing footage in a way that is unflattering or perhaps hijacking the interview and making you look a lot worse than you really are.  Either way what we all want to do is avoid this for it is the exception and not the rule, the rule is play nice and everyone gets what they want and need from the situation.  This is as honest as anyone will ever be with you: for ever action there is a reaction—be prepared for the consequences of bad behaviour.

These are the rules on both sides that will keep both out of trouble and get the most out of each other.  They are the core and bible of what to do and not to do.  In the event that one should need more than the core here is a cheat sheet of extras for you if the occasion should ever arise. More is always better than less and it will always leave you with just enough should you ever find yourself in need.

FOR THE ARTIST:

· Be yourself—no one likes a fake.
· Be confident and you are sure to do well, believing in yourself is the key.
· Remember that there is no such thing as OFF THE RECORD, if they say it don’t believe it and so long as the interviewer or their crew is still in the room anything you can and will say is sure to make it to whatever medium they are working with so be ware.
· Try to be as concise and to the point as possible.
· If you don’t feel you are coming across as you would like to be portrayed don’t hesitate to steer the interview in another direction; the questions are simply a starting point.
·  Given the relatively inexpensive costs involved get yourself a digital recorder and record a copy for yourself.  Interviewers are not obligated in any way to tell you they are recording and neither are you.  This will help you learn from your own mistakes as well as rectifying any misprints etc that can arise from shady journalism.
·  Think before you speak because once it’s out there nothing can ever be taken back.
·  Don’t take shit from anybody whether it be someone working for a blog or Barbara Walters, don’t let anyone manipulate, abuse, or exploit you for the sake of a sound bite/gossip.
·  If  the facts a journalist is handing you are wrong or misconstrued about you or your work in anyway correct them during the interview (politely) and cite what is the correct information.  Do so before you answer a question that contains incorrect information and so forth.
·  If you see that words are being put in your mouth or same question is being asked a variety of ways to get a different answer don’t  hesitate to correct the interviewer or to simply say it’s time to move on to the next question.
· Remember, you are the boss—these things last as long or as short as you want them to.

FOR INTERVIEWERS:

·  ALWAYS have a back up.  You should always have footage or audio recordings of your interviews.  Nowhere is it written that you must but it is suggested that you do advise the artist you are recording the interview.
·  Be prepared for the interview and KNOW YOUR STUFF.  Artists are usually more  open when they feel their work is being paid attention to, so pay attention.
·  Have questions and follow up questions ready.  Sometimes your initial question gets a short response, in which case you must have a follow up question using a bit of their answer in order to get the artist to elaborate, or simply do not be afraid to ask them to elaborate.
·  Be careful when treading on the personal aspects of an artists life.  You are a journalist and that means that as a human being some aspects of your life you don’t or may not want to see in print, artists are people to so respect them.  Use safe questions and if an artist opens up and gives a sign that certain territory is okay to tread go with it, but, if they explicitly say they don’t want to talk about something don’t push.
·  THIS IS NOT WAR, so don’t treat it that way.  Adversarial tactics will not lead to follow up interviews, and if you are looking for a career you should want to create relations with artists to that you might interview them again some day.
·  Make sure you get all your points in and ask all your questions which brings us back to be prepared. Not only should you know about your artist’s work you should try to read or watch or listen to any existing interviews so that you get an idea of their “flow”.  This will help you prepare.  If none exists get a feel for them right off the bat and rework your game plan so you cover all your bases.

Related Posts