Getting Started with SHMEKNATION by admin, 05/28/10 00:28:34

Whether you are a musician or a music lover you made the right choice by joining SHMEKNATION.  Now it is time to take advantage of what we have to offer.

ARTISTS:

SHMEKNATION is all about developing an online fan base.  Once we create an online following SHMEKNATION can then promote your music offline to millions of listener resulting in millions of new fans.

Your first step to success is to create your Profile on SHMEKNATION.  I am sure you have heard of the term “Brand Identity”, well your Profile is your chance to create your “Band Identity”.  Our program lets you create the look and feel YOU want for YOUR Profile.  Once you have customized the look, you then need to fill in the elements of your Profile:

• About – tell us about your music, your history, your mission, whatever you want.  This is the chance for the fans to do know what you are all about.
• Profile data – fill in relevant information about your band, location, website, genre, etc.
• Post songs – unlimited.
• Post videos – unlimited.
• Create your storefront.  You can sell any and all items you want to in your store.  You keep 100% of the proceeds.
• Create a radio station – you can create a radio station of music.  You control the content.  It can be all your music or a variety of songs you choose.
•  Create a video channel – same as the radio station but with videos.  You create a music channel.  It can be all your music videos or a variety of songs you choose.
• Update the calendar.  Add events, promotions, and any date specific item that you want your fans to be aware of.
• Photos – you can create a photo gallery for fans to peruse.
• Post blogs to keep your fans up to date and in constant communication.
• Tools – take advantage of the tools available to you.  Such as promotional codes that can provide your fans discounts, free downloads or whatever promotional concept you can come up with to get their attention.

Congratulations, you have created a complete Profile that distinguishes you from the other artists on the site.  Now you must work to drive traffic to your Profile.

Many SHMEKNATION opportunities are determined by fan voting.  Fans determine who is broadcast on Shmek-U, who performs on the ShmekFest concert tour, and who is popular enough to receive radio airplay.  These are huge opportunities that will expose your music to millions of fans you could not otherwise reach.  You need to do all you can do get votes – EVERYDAY.  Today’s world is a social networking world so take advantage of it.  Use your Facebook, MySpace Music, YouTube, Twitter, and other resources to drive family, friends, and fans to your SHMEKNATION profile to cast their vote for you.  You will benefit from it in more than one way.  Not only will the votes gain you unprecedented exposure to millions of new fans (through the SHMEKNATION opportunities discussed above), but you will also share in our advertising revenues.  Since you are doing all you can to drive people to SHMEKNATION and we are doing all we can, then in essence we are partners.  That is why we created ShmekShare.  Through ShmekShare we share 50% of the website advertising revenues with you, the artists.  Your piece of the pie depends on the traffic count to your Profile on a monthly basis.  By traffic count we mean number of users visiting your profile, votes received, number of song plays, and number of video plays.  Add those together and you get your monthly traffic count.  Take your monthly traffic count and divide it by the total monthly traffic count for all artists and that gets you the percentage you receive of the 50% advertising pool.  Results are calculated on a monthly basis and you are paid when your share has accumulated at least $20.  So, as you can see, it is important to get your fans to the site but more importantly to get them coming back on a daily basis.  The more traffic we have the more advertising revenue we create, the more money you make on a monthly basis.  With a rabid and loyal fan base an artist can make a successful living through their music.

FANS:

Congratulations on joining SHMEKNATION.  The next step is to create your user Profile.  You can completely customize your user Profile to give it the look and feel that best represents you.  Once you have established the theme of your Profile, you can then update it with as much or as little personal information that you like.  You can create blogs, your own radio station, and start discovering new music.  Most importantly, you can now begin voting for your favorite artists on SHMEKNATION.

SHMEKNATION gives the power to the people.  Your vote determines who rises to the top of the charts, your vote determines who is broadcast on the Shmek-U music network, your vote determines who performs on the ShmekFest Tour, but best of all, your vote LAUNCHES CAREERS.

Your opinion matters and is greatly appreciated.  As an active member of SHMEKNATION you are eligible to win great monthly prizes such as, iPads, flat screen televisions, Grammy tickets, and other great items.  The more active you are on the site the better chance you have of winning our prizes.  By active we mean how often you visit the site, how many profiles you view, how many songs you listen to, how many videos you view, and how many times you vote for artists.  So be as active as you can.  Not only can you win great prizes but you will discover great music.  And who knows, your discovery today may be the break through artist of tomorrow proving that at SHMEKNATION, YOUR OPINION MATTERS.