The more I hear, the more bowled over I am by the talent coming out of this part of the country, and I am interested in doing everything I can to help bring wider recognition to the musicians of this area.
I'm using my music player as a sort of jukebox, to showcase songs by local bands, signed or unsigned, large or small.
I'll also use it to feature songs from bands and artists who appear on my Liverpool Echo music page, on Fridays, and in my music blog on http://musicblog.merseyblogs.co.uk. These songs will be regularly changed to showcase as many bands and artists as possible.
USEFUL INFORMATION FOR BANDS AND ARTISTS.
We’re here to help you to promote the work you do. One way of doing this is by you publicising your gigs, albums and singles by posting Comments on the Comments pane, and as Blog Comments.
A great way of letting people in Merseyside and nearby know about your gig is by putting a free entry into the Echo’s listings guide, which comes out every day in the paper.
If you would like to have a Merseyside event on the Echo listings page, please email the details to
[email protected]
at least a week in advance.
Please include clear information on what the event is, where and when it will take place, how much entry is and how people can book. It’s also a good idea to include your contact details in case the listings team need to ask you anything, but make it very clear whether you want your number to be put in the paper or not (most people are very friendly, but think carefully if you don’t want them ringing at inopportune moments to ask for directions/guest list/whether you would like to marry them!).
You can also post this information to
Listings, The Liverpool Echo, PO Box 48, Liverpool, L69 3EB
Leave plenty of time for it to get there and be processed.
Listings is a free service and there is limited space, so the team who look after it work hard to rotate the events each day to try to make sure everyone gets a share of the limelight!
I have a pool of music reviewers drawn from the four corners of the globe, well, alright, mostly from the North West of England, but they are second to none and between us we cover most genres.
At the Echo we have a passion for music in all its forms, and we like to get out and see as much as possible live.
Some of this takes the form of the formal reviews which appear in the paper, accompanied by pictures of us trying to look very serious. They range from widely enthusiastic to highly critical and are accompanied by a rating out of 10.Sometimes we will arrange to attend gigs as guests of the bands, and sometimes we will come and go unannounced and stand anonymously at the back. We use these informal reviews as a way of gauging up-and-coming and down-and-going talent and deciding what we cover on the music page in the paper, what goes on my Online Page and even who is showcased on my MySpace music player.
I update my Online Music Page on the Echo's website every day or so. This is a great place to read up-to-the minute music news, reviews, interviews (and maybe other things ending with the sound ooooos).
I also use it to expand on features and ideas from my music page in the paper, and there’s lots of cross-pollination between the two formats.
There are exclusive photos, competitions, interviews and previews – things that I would love to include in print but haven’t got space for, or that are better suited to an online audience, or that will be out of date by the next Friday.
Most importantly, it’s also a chance for musicians and music lovers to comment on the Merseyside music scene and to share views with people from all around the world.
Log on, have a look, and leave a comment at
http://musicblog.merseyblogs.co.uk/
Leave a comment with your gig/release news for everyone to see, on
MySpace http://www.myspace.com/jades_music_page
If you would like us to listen to a particular track on MySpace then direct us to the right track. This is a much better way for us to get an idea of what you do than by sending in a demo. The MySpace players do the job that demos used to do in the old days, for getting a band or artist's music heard. Wouldn’t want to think of you unecessarily spending your money on CDs and stamps!
If you really need to drop me a line in the post, the address is:
Jade's Music Page
Liverpool Echo Music
PO Box 48,
Liverpool,
L69 3EB
And please, please, please do not phone in!
This saves our lovely colleagues from having to take messages which regularly get lost/confused/go unanswered.
Instead, embrace the technology to leave your MySpace comments or messages, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!