Two weeks ago I was invited to participate in a PR stunt called the “Schwaggin’ Wagon” at the O’Reilly Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. I was more than happy to accept, the conference has been on my radar for three years now and the opportunity to attend was more exciting than free tickets to Coachella.

The Schwaggin’ Wagon was an idea conceived by Social Media Consultants, like myself, with the intention of collecting all the schwag from the conference that no one wants and donating it to charity. Sponsors like Heavy Bag Media and Mashable jumped on immediately and the van was decked out and ready to roll 6 days later.

The Schwaggin’ Wagon departed Los Angeles on Tuesday and before we even hit San Francisco, Jon Gordon from NPR’s Future Tense was interviewing Idea Meister and wagon driver Mike Liskin.

We stopped off in Turlock for some of Anna’s award-winning Pomegranate Martinis and some wireless Internet access. The laptops were fired up, Twitter was tweeting and the blog posts were rolling. Our Facebook friends had doubled and the Twitter and Britekite accounts were blowing up since pulling out of Los Angeles just four hours earlier.

We finally arrived in San Francisco, too late for any parties, but just in time for a good night’s rest. Thanks to the amazing work of Get It Done Queen, Marjorie Kase, the next day was packed with media interviews and the buzz about the wagon was all over the expo floor, all before we had even set out the first collection can! It became apparent quickly that the Schwaggin Wagon was going to be well received at the Expo.

Bands on a Budget is a one-stop shop for all your merchandising needs. Founded by musicians, they understand the challenges in gathering all your merch needs in one place.

They offer the following services:

* T-Shirts & Apparel
* CD Replication & Packaging
* Sticker Printing
* Posters, Postcards, & Other Print
* Graphics & Website Design
* The States Of Independents Tours
* Special Promotions
* Trailer Dog: Trailer Security Systems

For CD & DVD Replication Little Radio still has the BEST prices anywhere. And we love to support Little Radio.

Cruxy is a new service that provides tools for the musician and filmmaker to market, distribute and monetize their assets. It was sent to me by a friend in the tech world, where there is apparently a buzz about Cruxy. However, from a music world perspective, they are lacking a credible music community. It is worth keeping an eye on their progress. If they have a solid platform that delivers what it promises, it may catch on.

Here is a description of the company from their ABOUT page:

“Cruxy provides powerful marketing, monetization and performance tools for digital creators, whether filmmakers, musicians or artists of any kind. Cruxy’s tools give artists the power to share their work on Cruxy or across the web using the Cruxy Social Player. Cruxy also gives creators the ability to sell their work as digital downloads. The artist chooses the retail price and the file format. Cruxy registers the work with search engines, generates thumbnails and previews and handles all aspects of the financial transaction. Cruxy also provides a robust set of analytical tools so that creators can track and improve their progress.”

They also help you sell your wares in virtual worlds like Second Life. Included in their services are a real time analysis of your sales and Internet buzz. Valuable information for any band self-managing. And…you can monetize any asset that can be made into a digital file; drum beats, video clips, ringtones, and photos. The Long Tail model for bands is emerging.

Reactee is a t-shirt company that custom prints text codes and messages on shirts.

The options are limitless…

Before heading out on your next tour, consider mapping out how to market yourself on the road. It will increase attendance at your shows, increase fan loyalty and help sell stuff! It does require a small investment: a wireless broadband card for your laptop. (Most cell phone companies are now giving them away for free with a $70 per month rate.) This will enable you to be online anywhere you can get a cell phone signal. Now those countless hours in the van can be put to good marketing use; making Myspace friends, writing in your blog, contacting people that are on your lists in the towns you are headed to, and thanking the fans that signed up on your lists at the last show.

Here are a few more ideas:

1. Gather Instant Message handles from your fans and categorize them by city. A day or two before you arrive send out an IM to all your fans in the area and invite them to the show. If you get some good responses, guest list them!

2. Contests should be held in each city. Make an announcement on all of your profiles (Pure Volume, Buzznet, Myspace, your blog, etc.) Give your fans an email address to contact you and tell them to put their city in the subject line.

Contest options are endless:
-The best story of what you have done listening to one of your songs.
-Best mash-up of one of your songs.
-Tribute to the band.

Anything that will stimulate their participation in your band. Then post the winner and their submission on your blog/Myspace, etc. the day before you arrive and the winner gets a guest list spot plus 3 and a band package. (cd, t-shirt and signed poster from the gig.) The band presents the pack to the winner at the end of the show and buys them a drink. Your fans will never forget their experience with you.

If you are unsigned and not on the brink of getting a label deal, my answer is NO. What you need is a consultant. No, this is not a shameless plug for my services, but a genuine examination of the state of the music business. Here is my reasoning:

In the past the most important thing for a band to do was make music and play gigs. Not so anymore. Now your job also includes managing your Online presence. But where do you begin and how do you do it effectively? A New Media consultant can guide and advise you - without taking 20% of everything you make. They can also help you understand digital distribution, eTeam marketing, how to design your profiles and blogs, how to attract fans to your sites and increase comments. They can teach you how to do it yourself. Yes, it’s a lot more work. But it is also YOUR career and for the first time - it is in YOUR HANDS.

Record labels are suffering and the last thing they are going to do is invest in a band that hasn’t invested in themselves. It will be a very rare case that a band, on talent alone, is signed to a major deal. If you can’t sell records or merchandise and collect lots of genuine fans on your own, then you won’t be able to do it with their help either. It is also a good point of leverage for you to have all of this - under your ownership. Once you’ve sold records, built your profiles up and your fans are rabid for new material - then hire a manager to help you with the details. Until then, hire someone to teach and advise you that isn’t attached to the project. Learn to do it yourself and you will own more of yourself in the end.