Making the Connection | Eamon Donovan
"If you haven’t got a web site and e-mail, you’re not at the races" - Maire Breatnach.
Re-release it on CD! The message was clear to Verge, management of Aslan, as e-mails kept coming in to their office requesting that “Feel No Shame” , the band’s 1988 debut album should be available on compact disc. Originally issued on vinyl and cassette, with a limited edition CD release, “Feel No Shame” was reissued by EMI in April of this year. As an experiment, Verge only publicised the release electronically - on the band’s web site, www.aslan.ie , and to the thousand or so people on the band’s e-mailing list. In the first week of re-release, the CD shot to number 14 in the Irish charts without one penny spent on press, radio, TV or posters. They’re hoping to replicate this with the band’s five August concerts at Dublin’s Vicar Street venue, and tickets are selling well.
It’s a story that Eamon Donovan loves telling. As proprietor of Modus, an Internet solutions business specialising in the Irish music industry, he has seen his business growing over the last three years to include artists such as: Aslan, Mick Hanly, Keith Donald, Maire Breatnach and La Rocca, as well as clients from other industry sectors such as Vicar Street, Aiken Promotions, Aran Records and Solitaire Studios.
E-mailing lists are the most obvious tools that artists can use to publicise their latest release, tour, or merchandise. But there is so much more to an artist having a web presence. A singer/songwriter’s web site should be seen like an online press kit with biography, discography, photos, tour dates, sound samples and contact information, all available to he masses at the click of a mouse. It’s also useful for an artist trying to source record companies, distributors, publishers or agents.
A common question asked by clients of Donovan is “should I register myself as a dot com or a dot ie?” It doesn’t really matter, unless the artist wants specifically to brand themselves as Irish. But with the increase in so called cyber-squatters and the fact that anyone can register a dot com address, it’s prudent to register the dot com as soon as possible, just check out boyzone.com and westlife.com if you’ve any doubts. Most of Donovan’s clients go with dot com domains, unless they’re already taken, and then dot ie is the next option as there’s a good bit of paperwork involved in securing a dot ie domain.
Maire Breatnach, uses her site www.mairebreatnach.com to showcase her discography to date to potential collaborators and distributors and says that “If you haven’t got a web site and email, you’re not at the races”. How much does it all cost? It’s like anything else, you get what you pay for. Setting up a web site can start for as little as £1,500 to £2,000 per year for registering, designing and maintaining a site, depending on the selected payment option. Cheaper than a poster campaign for an album release, and as Aslan will tell you, very good value indeed.
For further information about Modus, contact Eamon Donovan, Telephone 1890 202 107 Fax 01-8310398 Email eamon@modus.ie Web: www.modus.ie
