Need Band T-Shirts to Sell? Try Cafe Press!

Bands should always have some merch to sell at shows or on the band website. It's easier than you think. Those of you who have limited funds, or just don't know where to start, should really check out
Cafepress custom t-shirts!

I myself have used them to both create a store and design a number of items from mugs and mousepads to
Music t-shirts, they have a whole slew of great things you can create!

Don't just take my word for it, try it out yourself, it's free to make a simple store. If you would like more info
about t-shirts from Cafe Press, check out the Wikipedia entry. 

On the other hand, if you would like to support Music RVA and have the ability to create your own personal wearable, please visit our BLOG STORE and use our designs, or upload your own. Easy Peasy!

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Don't Lose Your Domain Name!

by Marc Gunn

That always shocks me. I was composing the shownotes for my Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, checking URLs. One of the bands in this week's show had a domain that was no longer functional. It expired two months ago and was about to be released to the public. Fortunately, I knew her and gave her a call.

She had no idea the domain was ending, but since her band broke up she didn't think it worthwhile to keep the domain running. As she said, "Well, I have the CDBaby page, and a lot of folks are using myspace URLs."

Tis true, tis true. But for everyone who lived through the heyday of MP3.com, you should know never to trust an external domain for your promotion. Myspace.com is a great site. But will it be around in five years? Who knows?

Personally, I put no faith in that. I promote TheBards.net, MarcGunn.com, BardsCrier.com or whatever website I'm promoting. Myspace, SoundClick, even CDBaby are temporary. They could poof disappear any day, God forbid.

Fortunately, you can get domains these days for just $8.99 through sites like GoDaddy.com. Or if you're in my friend's predicament, you can Backorder the site for just $18.99, which means, once the domain becomes free from its current owner, you can re-take control of its ownership if you lost it.

The important thing is don't let this happen to you. You never know when you will need that URL once again. So register your URL and keep it forever.



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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!

And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!

and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!

Free Screensavers Just for You!!

Get a free trial download of some of Digital Minds Software's Best Screensavers! Check out these links below!

Aqua 3D Screensaver

Future City 3D Screensaver

Living Dolphins 3D Screensaver

SeaStorm 3D Screensaver

The Pyramids of Egypt 3D Screensaver


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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!

And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!

and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!

New Features On MusicRVA Social Network

There have been great new features added to our network recently. Among them are the ability to now add cool apps to your profiles, such as games, and many others, around 200 in all. You can even have your own virtual home and furnish it. You can access this by the "Add an Application" link on your profile pages.

here is a short list of some of them:

1. Twitter Tracker -Track mentions of your favorite terms across Twitter.

2. The JukeBox -Now you can take your favorite music in one place.

3. BuddyPoke! -Express yourself! Hug, kiss, tickle, or punch your friends with your own personalized 3D avatar.

4. MyMiniLife -Welcome to MyMiniLife! Feel free to bling out your own home and show off your style using music, pictures, and videos. Impress your friends by leaving them sticky notes and gifts.

5. BuboMe -Pimp your photos by adding themes and bubbles, be the celebrity or superhero you always wanted to be, there are hundreds of themes to choose from.

6. uPlayMe -uPlayMe lets you show your friends what music you listen to! We pick up plays from all the coolest media players: iTunes, Windows Media Player, Youtube, Hulu, MetaCafe and much, much more!

7. thebizmo -The Bizmo is a 360 degree microstore enabling artists to sell music, t-shirts and tickets on social networks

Be sure to check around for all the new add ons.

MusicRVA.net

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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!

And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!

and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!

New Resource - The Tin Whisker

If you like forums, a new one can be found at The Tin Whisker, run by Daniel Deckelman aka The Rats, Rocket 69, Route 1 South) and you should check it out.

Our senior writer Cindy Johnson is "moonlighting" there. Here is an insert from one of her posts about the band BoneAnchor:

Boneanchor played to a full house at the Triple this weekend. It was a return engagement and the Triple was standing room only on both occasions. This three piece band has a loyal and consistent fan base. I have seen Boneanchor perform many times but have never felt comfortable trying to articulate their style and allure. I could never put my finger on the right words, but here goes. The band members, Morgan, Tom and Wrenn form such a blend of talent it’s hard to place them in any single type of genre. They perform originals and covers spanning several decades with such originality and flare it will make you never hear that cover the same way again.

To read more of this article and check out the forum, go to BoneAnchor


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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!

And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!

and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!

Cable loses the Battle against Direct TV AGAIN!

A few weeks ago I told you how Stephen and myself were glad to have installed a Direct TV Satellite.

Well if I did not convince you then, here is another reason. Last weekend we got all geared up to watch a show we were looking forward to, our neighbor across the street was looking forward to the same show. She has cable, and of course, we have directtv. Well we live in Virginia, and last weekend the winds were so strong that it was picking things up out of our yard and tossing them yards away, whew.

Don't you know, that about an hour before the show was to air, the electricity went out for about 20 minutes, we were all worried that it would be out for the night, but lucky that it was only out for 20 minutes. We got a phone call from the girl across the street, asking if our TV was working, and that hers only had static. "No, ours is just fine."

She was bummed, so we told her to come watch it with us, cause we had directv and everything was working fine, so she ran over.

You see, when the electricity goes out, sometimes for some odd reason, the cable gets screwed up too, at least in this area. When we went to answer the door to let her in, 2 cable trucks were slowly driving and stopping along our street, and this is a site that really isn't uncommon either. I swear we laugh everytime we see that happen, even tho it isn't very funny to the rest of the neighborhood.

Out of our whole block, we and 3 others are the only ones with a directtv satellite. I think Gina is convinced now, and may be switching.

HA HA, cable sucks, and DIRECT TV is King!!!

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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!

And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!

and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!