MusTech.Net!

Here is an article/post for all of the WordPress users that utilize the open-source software found at WordPress.org.  These particular plugins are directly related to music and particularly useful for musicians, whether players, composers, or educators.

The following is a list of current, useful, and hand-picked plugins that I’ve worked with at some point that allow for musicians to begin using their WordPress sites better, more efficiently, and more importantly- what they are looking for in a music specific WordPress Site (see my article about WordPress as a Music CMS):

Performers:

GigPress- A great plugin that allows musicians to let folks know about their upcoming concert schedules, playing venues, and even ticketing information.   I use this on my site, MusTech.netin the sidebar.  Gigpress is an easy way for bands to list and manage tour dates on their WordPress-powered website.

Gig Calender- This plugin is geared toward bands and musicians to manage and display a calendar of their gigs within WordPress. It’s meant to be as easy as possible for both the musician and the fan. It even manages venue data complete with mapping and ticket links.

Events Calendar- Events-Calendar is a diverse replacement for the original calendar included with WordPress adding many useful functions to keep track of your events. The plugin has an easy to use admin section that displays a big readable calendar and lets you add and delete events. The plugin is widget ready so you can easily add a small calendar to the main sidebar with the ability to roll over the highlighted event day to see a brief description of the event or click the day to get a full description of the event without ever leaving your current page. If you are not using a widget ready theme, you can still have the calendar on your sidebar. 

Organizing Music:

Discography- Musicians need a way to easily organize information about their music. This plugin exists to do just that. It lets you publish a list of albums and auto-generates a WordPress page for each song, so that fans can comment, save links to your songs and share them with friends.

Podcasting:

PodPress- PodPress adds tons of features designed to make WordPress the ideal platform for hosting a podcast.  This is what almost all users use to integrate Podcasting into WordPress sites.  A very useful alternative to PodPress is:

Podcasting-  Created for the Google Summer of Code 2007, Podcasting brings complete podcasting support to WordPress. Taking advantage of the latest and greatest in WordPress 2.5, WordPress podcasting has never been so easy.

Media Players:

Inline Mp3 Player- Inline mp3 player replacing any link directly to a mp3 file, such as ‘http://yoursite.com/musicfile.mp3′ into a special link. Clicking it will turn the link into a small media player with a html slider interface. It works simple, click the link the music starts playing.

Embedded Video- The plugin is made for easily embedding videos into a blog post. The videos can be integrated from external portals (like YouTube, Google Video and many many others) or they can be uploaded to the web server or a remote server and integrated as well. Additionally a corresponding link to the video on the particular video portal page or a download link to the local file can be generated automatically, if demanded.

Music Notation:

ScoreRenderer- A WordPress plugin that renders inline sheet music fragments inside posts and comments into images. It supports ABC, GUIDO, Lilypond and Mup music notations.

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As many of you know that follow me and my WordPress exploits, I can honestly say that I have not found any website/blogging platform that is easier to use and yet offers, nearly, endless flexibility for creation and implementation.  I have recently finished the framework and template for a wonderful non-profit music honorary known as Phi Beta Mu, the Nu Chapter (PBM-Nu).  Phi Beta Mu is the International Bandmasters’ Honary and I’m proud to be an inducted member of the organization.

Anyone who has “mad computer skills” can relate to my plight… I’m constantly asked to perform magic with regard to anything electronic, whether computers, telephones, televisions, websites, building wiring, and just about everything and everything related.   So and thus… I found my leading the “team” to create a website for PBM-Nu.

In my quest for everyone to develop these “mad technological skills”,  I may be often found pontificating to my college students the benefits of learning how to become faster typers.   Let me type you a picture…

I’m in class telling my students the obvious: We are in a computer dominated world…You are the generation that is expected to utilize these technologies from before graduation throughout the end of your careers…The importance of gaining speed in your typing/keyboarding skills cannot be underestimated…Mr. Internet is your friend…Really the proxy DOES work…etc.

ENTER the SCENARIO:      (more…)

I’ve been noticing a number of Auto Blogs, Content Thieves, and SPLOGS stealing my content, word for word, even going as far as stealing my Post Slugs Verbatim!   I am going to begin actively changing a number of ways in which I syndicate this site over the next month to attempt to deal with these outcasts.

I’ve recently installed the “Anti Leech” plugin from Owen Winkler and will be considering a number of other changes to my content, including a specific policy with regard to content usage from MusTech.Net.  It is very hard to stop these sites from “snagging” your content especially if you use a full RSS feed like I do (Yes, I’m even considering turning that back to a partial).  One of the big issues with this kind of vile operation is that legitimate people looking for your content will find it on another’s site and end up getting the benefits from your hard work.

Although it’s relativivley easy for me to find out who is virtually copying my blog information verbatim (I have linkbacks, headers and footers in the RSS feed), it is hard to stop them as many of the sites do not respond to any form of contact whatsoever.   It’s very hard to find the actualy IP addresses of those stealing the content because they are using RSS Scraping bot agents that utilize different IP addresses than those of their sites (Even using Feedburner’s tools and my server’s Access Logs presents a challenge with regard to finding them out!).

I would recommend reading Lorelle’s GREAT article on “What Do You Do WHEN Someone Steals Your Content”as a starter for anyone experiencing this type of illicit activity.  I will also keep you posted as to what steps I’m implementing over the next month or so to thwart these undesirables.

I’m writing this post to the new ME bloggers, but it’s relevant to any new blogger starting out.  In the beginning blogging can be a little confusing, exciting, depressing, and overwhelming.   Here are a 10 tips to help you get the word out about your blog among other bloggers and friends:

1. Comment on other sites!  This is the fastest way for you to become noticed by others in your “circle”. 
2. If somebody comments on your site, moderate it quickly (if so required) and comment back to the commentator as soon as you can (Why not after you moderate it?). 
3. Add as many sites/people with related topics or topics you think your readership (future readership?) will be interested to your BLOGROLL.
4. Write a post linking to another bloggers post (make sure you include the link to the other blogger’s post in the body of your post).  This will create a trackback on the other blogger’s post linking back to your site and notify the other blogger about your post.
5. Write content that is interesting, informative, innovative, and newsworthy on your site.
6. Set aside two days a week, one day a week, two days a month, WHATEVER, to blog on your site, read other sites, and comment on other sites.  Be consistent.
7. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other bloggers!
8. Make sure you have an “about you” page on your site that gives your readers the chance to know you a little better
9. Realize that you can’t know everything about everything and always treat other bloggers and commenters with respect.
10. E-mail your current friends and colleagues about your new site.  Tell everyone about it anyway you can!

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