Musician Internet Presence Analysis Part 2: Delta Spirit

deltaspiritbydeltaspirit.blogspot.com

Delta Spirit's blog-website is simple and sparse.   It contains mostly pictures and videos of recent shows/interviews and updates about where they currently are on tour or what they are up to.

I'd say that the blog is too simple; it could be more effective.  They're facebook, in fact, seems to be much more of the center for their internet presence.  But we will get to that later.  For now, let's take a closer look at their blog:

Images/Representation & Audience Demographic

Delta Spirit seems to be playing a bit on nostalgia.  In addition to their folk-rock music, which sounds like it could have come out of the 1960s,  they have images that also look like they've come out of another time.  Some examples:

This is on the cover of their EP as well

Some of the band members while on tour.  Poloroid itself is a nostalgic concept.

They even have a video of them recording in mono out on what looks like a farm:

(I can't get the video on here, so here's a link to it & a screen shot)

http://vimeo.com/12198208

Their demographic is a little hard to determine based on their website.  While both Delta Spirit and Best Coast have somewhat of a nostalgic aesthetic, Best Coast's seems a bit more playful, a bit more ironic.

The clean layouts and muted colors makes Delta Spirit's nostalgia seem more sentimental.  In this way, they seem to have a bit of an older demographic, perhaps in their late 20s, and early-mid 30s.

Call-To-Action

A positive thing about their call-to-action is that it's at the top right corner of every page--this is where it will be most effective.

The downside is that the only things offered are links to other social networking sites:

They'd perhaps have a more effective marketing strategy if they included sign-ups to their mailing list, links to purchase their music.

What Sold & Where

• Album for sale on their facebook

• Merch Store link on their Myspace
• But nothing linked to from their blog

Relative Value/Image

They seem to have a pretty loyal fanbase, based on their facebook interactions.  They have somewhat of a local vibe, but they do tour both nationally and internationally.   They do magazine interviews, television shows and the like, so their value seems to be relatively mid-range.

Ability to Recommend

The only links are those to their facebook, myspace and twitter.

Average Monthly Unique Visits

• Around 500-600 views per month with a peak of 1400 in August:

In August they did an NPR performance, they played on Conan O'Brien and they released a new video.  All of these surely contributed to the peak in views.  However, they didn't manage to keep the momentum going, as you can see from the graph above.

Inbound Links

• According to my Yahoo search, both their myspace and their last.fm accounts link back to their blog
• Various blogs link back to it as well, including  
• www.sandiegoish.com (local San Diego blog)
•  www.playbsides.com
• abclocal.go.com

• In google, the #1 inbound link was a torrent site called filestube.  This implies that Delta Spirit might have a lot of people illegally sharing their products, which would lead to fewer album sales
• Other sites that linked back were facebook, rockband.com, musicnews.net

Social Media Spaces

• Facebook likes: 13,115
• They update regularly, posting photos and facts.  Lots of listener interaction

Because of this, facebook seems to be their main hub for communication with fans

They have a BandPage App on facebook, which has a media player.  In addition, they have another player that links to purchase the album.

• No official Youtube Channel

• Myspace: 22893 Fans.  Good links to buy merch and albums, links back to their website.  However, the new myspace layout makes their page look cluttered & some images are cut off
• Twitter: 4,039 followers with fairly casual updates.  Sometimes about upcoming gigs, other times about trivial things

Commerce & Music For Sale

• Physical CDs available on amazon and at their merch store
• 2 albums and one EP
• T-shirts for sale with a simple design, no speciality merch
• Mp3 downloads available from both Itunes and Amazon.com
• related artists include Dr. Dog, Arcade Fire, Deertick--all of which are indie bands with an 18-25, mostly white and middle class demographic (based on my experience and observations of these artists)

Overall
They've managed to gain a fairly loyal and steady following.  However, when I compare their internet marketing strategy to Best Coasts,' I see that they could improve in some areas.  They could have better connections between their sites, have more speciality merch, and improve their Myspace.  They should definitely have a link to purchase their music on their blog and have more Calls to Action.  All of these combined could potentially lead to a more successful marketing strategy.