Hi all. We made a few changes this week that you might want to check out: 1. We just added a new page feature type called "HTML Code". You can use this feature to embed code from other sites, such as YouTube, MySpace, etc. For example, if you want to put a YouTube video on your webpage: - Go youtube.com, find or upload the video that you want, and copy the "Embed" text (it's in a box to the right of the video). - Add an "HTML Code" feature to one of your Bandzoogle pages and paste the code in there. - The video should now appear on your page. The procedure should be very similar for HTML code from other sites. You can even use this feature to add a Bandzooogle "Refer a friend" banner to your site. 2. We added "categories" to the site style chooser so you can more easily sort through the styles to find the ones appropriate for your site. We had a fun time trying to think up category names, so let us know if there are any other categories that you'd prefer to see. 3. Earlier this week we released a new "Mailing List HTML Code" feature which allows you to add a mailing list subscription form to your other sites. We just updated that feature a bit to make the form look a little nicer. You can find that feature under "Mailing list and members" in your controlpanel.

Check out how this band (Hyena Snarls) is promoting their show ... posting a CDRs beside their show flyer. (found on Boing Boing via onosendai)

A couple little Bandzoogle changes to check out this week. First, you can now add a "join our mailing list" form to your MySpace profile (or any other website, for that matter). Just click on "mailing list and members" down at the bottom-left of your control panel, then click "Mailing list HTML code". Enjoy! Secondly, you may have noticed in the past that your font sizes can change quite a bit when you choose a different site style. We've gone through and standardized them all, so when you pick font size 16, that's what you get, all the time. However, because of this change you may notice that your font sizes suddenly change the next time your site is rebuilt. You can re-set the font sizes from the "change fonts" screen.

As promised here is the 2nd part of my interview with Dave Cool. There are many bands who have gone the indie route. What do you think the secret to their success is? There are lots of reasons why artists make their careers a success, and every artist's path is unique, but it’s mostly a lot of hard work, getting educated on how to run a business, and staying organized is also really important. And I would suggest that a book like Peter Spellman's "Indie Power" is a great place to start. Do you think the term "It takes money to make money" applies to music? It applies to every business out there, including music, without a doubt. There are lots of guerrilla-marketing tactics you can use that don't cost any money, but at the end of the day, it will require some kind of investment to get your music out there. I know a lot of artists will be asking "Well, where do you get the money?!", and the truth is, every situation is different, but money can usually be found. Whether it's by getting your friends/family/fans to invest in you, or taking out loans, or pre-selling albums etc., there are many creative ways to raise the money you need to launch a new album. What do you think major labels would have to do in order to put themselves in a more positive light? Well, for starters, stop suing music fans! Secondly, stop ripping off music fans with price-fixing schemes (which they were caught doing in the late 90's). Thirdly, stop payola with radio stations which we all know has always existed, and which they are finally paying heavy fines for these days. People hear about all of these things and realize that the major labels are like most corporations, and are just looking after their bottom-line, even if it's at the expense of music fans and the artists who are driving the industry. What are your plans now that the movie is finished and the DVD is launched? I honestly believe we're experiencing a revolution in the music industry right now, and this film was lucky enough to be made at a time to capture a small part of that, so I hope to get it seen by as many people as possible! So right now it's being booked at almost every music conference out there, and I'll be launching a very aggressive guerrilla-marketing promotion in the near future that will give people incentives to arrange screenings in their hometowns where they will be able to re-sell the DVD themselves and make some cash. A message from Dave Cool: For all of the members reading this, you can visit the following link to get a 20% discount ($16 instead of $20) on the price of the "What is INDIE?" 2-disc package just for using such an awesome service like Bandzoogle: http://www.whatisindiemovie.com/discountstore.cfm. If anyone has any questions, they can always reach me through the film's website at whatisindiemovie.com (hosted by Bandzoogle of course!)

A long-requested feature has just been added: you can now choose different fonts for headers, subheaders and buttons. This is great if you want to choose a funky font for your header text, but a more legible one for the small button text. Enjoy!

I hope all of our US members are having a great 4th of July (just don't spend all of it working on your website)! I'd like to wish a special July 4th greeting to Colin, an amazing programmer who we just hired from Massachusets. We looked long and hard to find just right right fit for Bandzoogle and we couldn't be happier having Colin on board. Colin will need his day off today to rest up for a big job ahead of him--he'll be working full-time on building Bandzoogle 3.0! Yes, we're re-designing the system from the ground-up using an incredible new web development system called Ruby on Rails. The new version is going to allow you way more control over your website and will be even easier to use than the current system. Bandzoogle is great the way it is, but we won't be happy until we're lightyears beyond our competition. It will take a little while before we launch the new face of Bandzoogle, but we'll give you some little tasters along the way so you can get as excited as we are. Now get off your computer and go get a sunburn!