In part two of my interview with Aloud, Jen and Henry talk about the recording studio, videos and online promotion, and balancing the business end of their music with creative stuff.

Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain have been writing, singing, and playing guitar together since they were young. Today they are the core of Boston-based Aloud. The songs on their sophomore album Fan the Fury are an engaging collection of observations, each expressed with urgency and true emotion.

“Building the brand” is such a corporate sounding phrase, isn’t it? Unfortunately, reading this post is a lot like saving all your gear receipts and keeping track of your mileage – it’s a necessary evil if you’re taking your music career seriously. I know it’s unpleasant….I’ll try to keep it short:

Your band is a brand, whether you have made a conscious decision to make it one or not. Your fans are your customers, and based on things like your music, artwork, website, and appearance, they have a perception of you. This perception is your brand.

Remember when I said ReverbNation was like the web-genius best friend you never had hooking you up with free help? Well part of having a profile on RN means you’re just three clicks away from having free customizable widgets for everything from music players, to tour calendars, to mailing list registration widgets. They are a great way for you to put your band’s stamp around the web, the further they spread the more people you will be exposed to. In this second installment of the series covering all things ReverbNation, Brian Speronello shows you how to promote your band effectively using widgets and exclusive content for your devoted fanbase.

If you’re not yet on Twitter, you must have heard about it by now. The Twitter phenomenon is in full swing. The faster it’s popularity grows, the more effective it can be for promoting your band online. Online music promotion is all about spreading the word as far as possible. By using Twitter, you can grow your band’s following and network with others around the world at the same time. Here’s how to get the most out from your presence on Twitter.

Here’s an informative talk from a panel of web music industry insiders: Terry McBride of The Nettwerk Music Group, Paul Brown of Pandora and Slicethepie and Peter Leathem, from PPL. Topics include finding new income streams for musicians, artists, and bands. How to maximize your revenue from various online services, and chasing your income where income is due. Interesting stuff.

I bet a bunch of you are asking “what the hell is a ReverbNation?” ReverbNation is a social networking site for people interested in music. Now you’re probably saying “Isn’t MySpace based on music too and like, 1000 times the size of ReverbNation?” True, MySpace is heavily involved in music, however it doesn’t even come close to providing the kinds of services and opportunities for bands that RN does. MySpace does the basics, you can host a blog, post videos and pictures, put music on your page, and interact with people by adding them to your friends and messaging them. That’s about it. ReverbNation does all of that, does most of it better than MySpace, and then does a ton more on top of that. This is the first article in a two part series covering how to get the most out of your presence on ReverbNation.

Social media has taken hold. Web 2.0, the second revolution of the internet, whatever you want to call it, the web is now social and that means you must tap yourself in or get out of the way. This development impacts all industries and that clearly includes the music world. It’s time to get serious about using social media for your online music promotion efforts. Finding success as a band or a songwriter is all about promotion, promotion, promotion. Spread your music to as many ears as possible. Increase your head count at live shows as much as possible. Expand your audience and fan base as far as you can. The question is, given the new state of the music industry, and the changing scene on the internet, how do we do all of these things? If you haven’t already, you have to stop sleeping on social media and dive in.