THE UPSIDEDOWN

dear humans and mutants and bloggers,

is there anyone smarter than kyra reed? the answer is simple, she has what you need. The future is here. In the new world of the music industry, blogs and web 2.0 there is no one with more knowledge and ability than kyra reed. She is a true visionary in all that is happening with music and business and how it can work for you. Kyra has the ability to enlighten you, no matter how badly you want to hang onto the old model of record companies and cd sales, she will show you the new way is already here. Anything you want for your band or business can be obtained if you apply Kyra’s knowledge.

It’s simple, she will show you the light and like a moth you only have to apply her concepts. Kyra is kindhearted and perfect for all personality types; if you are a stress monger she will talk you down from the ledge. If you are a slacker/procrastinator; she will light the fire under your ass that will soon have your calendar full and your mind overflowing with big dreams. Kyra is the element that you need to catapult yourself toward everything you ever wanted for your band or business.

sincerely,
jsun christopher atoms - portland, oregon planet earth

Jsun,

I’m blushing. Thank you so much for the kinds words. And keep up the amazing work on your blog. Lookin’ good and soundin’ great.

Kyra

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SATURNA

Kyra Reed has been instrumental in helping us get to where we are and where
we are heading. In the beginning stages of the blog-o-sphere, Kyra realized
how important it was to create and be involved in a community where like
minded individuals could share ideas, interests, and information. When web
2.0 evolved, she immediately saw the value in web communities like Myspace
where bands and musicians could interface with each other and their fans.
She immediately took me aside and started working with Saturna as her guinea pig to see what could happen if we truly immersed ourselves and delved into these worlds.

A year ago when we started this endeavor, we had a Myspace page and our own webpage, but virtually no web presence. We had a paltry 100 or so fans and honestly didn’t pay attention to Myspace. After our conversation with Kyra we changed all that. We immediately started researching myspace groups and fans to make sure we were reaching the people who would be most interested and then spent the next year emailing as many people as possible,
culminating in 13,000+ fans and an active presence where tons of people are
emailing us and commenting on our page on a daily basis.

We also started a blog around a year ago and used it as a place to post
everything that was happening with Saturna in an informational newsy sort of
way. Again we did research to find out which other blogs would be
interested in our style of music and then I started off sending of personal
emails to each of the bloggers that I thought had similar interest and
taste. Immediately bloggers started to respond to us and we made friends
with tons of people from all over the world. Since we were truly putting
ourselves out there and cultivating relationships with people on a personal
level, we have had tons of bloggers writing about us. I’ve heard from tons
of bloggers that from their perspective it is amazingly refreshing to
connect with the bands themselves rather than their managers, publishers or
labels. This is a concept that hasn’t really been embraced by the labels,
but is so important. In the last year I have written to approximately 600
different bloggers from all over the world and keep in contact with many of
them on a weekly and even daily basis. I have truly made friends and fans
all over the world. This is proven by the fact that Saturna has received
over 150 write ups by different bloggers in over 15 different countries in
the last year. This is a truly amazing fete and is providing such great
exposure that even though Saturna just released their debut album in the
last few months, we’ve already been invited to play this year’s Bumbershoot,
MusicfestNW and played unofficial SXSW parties earlier this year.

I have been in a few bands before and have tried all the traditional ways of
getting exposure, but blogging and participating in web communities has by
far been the most effective way reach the people that you can’t meet in the
clubs, plus now when we go out on tour we have a ton of people that we
“know” but have never met face to face. At SXSW it was so fun to get to
know all these bloggers and fans. Thanks, Kyra, for trying out some of
these brilliant ideas on Saturna. We owe you a lot

Ryan

Thank you Ryan. Saturna is a great band with a tremendous ability to work the system. I wish you the best of luck and hope that I will continue to bring you new ideas that keep your venture on the cutting edge.

Kyra

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Saskia Vogel

First I was afraid; I was petrified. Knowing nothing about blogging or the Internet (really), Kyra gave me great tips on how to increase my web presence, get a site built quick, cheap and pretty, and how to represent myself like I want to be represented. Now I, not the Dutch human resources director, am the Saskia who comes up on Google.

Thank you Kyra! So helpful!

Saskia,

You have done such a great job with your blog, and now you are on to number two! Congrats and keep up the great writing.

Kyra