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FolkBiz Frequently Asked Questions |
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Copyright 1996-2002, Alan Rowoth and Kara Longo. All Rights Reserved The latest version of this file should always be found at this URL: http://www.alanrowoth.com/fbfaq.shtml
Early list archives were lost, but an archive of postings since 12/16/98 can be browsed and searched at http://www.escribe.com/music/folkbiz/
DISCLAIMER:
Not responsible for financial loss, wasted connect time, pointless
car trips, lovers' quarrels, meteorological events, or supernatural
manifestations inspired by the use of information herein contained.
Always confirm information independently before acting.
FAQ is an acronym for "Frequently Asked Questions." Its intent is to describe the folk_music mailing list, what is discussed there, to provide a jumping-off point for further investigation, and to answer questions that most new readers will have.
FolkBiz is a discussion list dealing with business and creative issues faced by folk musicians and singer songwriters. Some issues discussed will also be of interest to support professionals like agents, managers, publicists, photographers, graphic designers, CD manufacturers, DJ's, and venue operators.
Membership to this discussion list is open free of charge to all interested individuals or organizations. You do not have to be a professional to join this list
Searchable archives of recent list traffic are online at http://www.escribe.com/music/folkbiz/
To subscribe, send mail to listserv@lists.psu.edu with this request as the only line in the body of your message:
SUBSCRIBE FolkBiz Your Fullname
To unsubscribe, send:
UNSUBSCRIBE FolkBiz
To post a message to the group (after subscribing,) send it to:
For a summary of commands for setting options to your subscription via email, send a message to listserv@lists.psu.edu with this line:
HELP
All questions, requests for information, etc., should be sent to the moderator at fb@folkmusic.org.
List Moderator: Alan Rowoth
FolkBiz is a list of email addresses maintained with software called "listserv." Each address on the list recieves a copy of each message sent to the list. FolkBiz is passively moderated. This means that the moderator does not read and approve each message before posting to the list. List members are expected to know and follow the posting guidelines.
The default setting for a new subscription is single messages.
To change your subscription so that you'll recieve FolkBiz Digests approximately once a day, send a message to listserv@lists.psu.edu with this as the only line in the body:
SET FOLKBIZ DIGEST
To change the address for your subscription, unsubscribe from your old account, and resubscribe from your new account. When you unsubscribe, you'll recieve an automatically-generated message confirming that you are unsubscribed. When you resubscribe, you'll recieve a message welcoming you to FolkBiz.
We want to to stay around, but if you know you will lose access to your account, or if you no longer wish to be on the list, please do unsubscribe. Otherwise, a person has to do it for you, manually. If you no longer have access to an account where you have a FolkBiz subscription, please send a note to the FolkBiz moderator, Alan Rowoth, at fb@folkmusic.org and he'll unsubscribe for you.
For a full listing of subscription options and the syntax to enable them, send a message to listserv@lists.psu.edu with the message body "HELP SET"
Shortly thereafter you'll be mailed a detailed command summary.
"Lurking" is slang for reading without posting. There's nothing wrong with it. Especially when you're new to an email list, it's a good way to get the feel for the kinds of concrete information that readers are expecting to see. You're never required to post to an email list to be a welcome member of the group.
When you are comfortable with the list tone and conventions. It's a good idea to introduce yourself to the group. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and what you hope to get out of the list.
The original writer of the message that interested you is usually the best choice. If your response is of general interest to most readers, it's appropriate to reply to the list.
The best way to get a feel for that is to read for awhile and see what's going on. On-topic discussion includes:
Your message is especially welcome if it's on-topic and follows a few practises that make it easy for a large number of people to handle quickly. We're a group of hundreds of people, and few of us carefully read each message. Many of us also must pay for each email message we recieve, so it's a matter of courtesy to keep things manageable. These are good rules of thumb:
Use a brief, descriptive subject line, and include dates and locations wherever possible, such as "RMFF Song School, Colorado, August 19-23" Subject lines like "Hey, Check it out" or "FOLKBIZ DIGEST #455" don't let the recipient know what to expect. If your message asks for information, your subject line should end with a question mark.
Keep in mind that most people don't read email messages if they're more than a few screens in length. Do you really want to include all those lines? Break for paragraphs every 4 or 5 lines, even if it doesn't make sense rhetorically. Short paragraphs are easier to read on computer screens than long ones. And stay away from that caps lock key, people interpret all caps as shouting.
It can be confusing when people refer to their favorite performers solely by their first names. (Does "Chapin" refer to Tom or Harry or Mary? Who is this Iris that I've never heard of in my country? Who the heck is this Shawn guy?)
If replying to a message, you may want to "quote" a sentence or two from the original posting to reference your reply as well as the original poster's email address. As:
>From: Nigel_Tufnel@spinaltap.com
>Subject: Spontaneous Gardening Accident
>
>And then he just burst into flames and was gone.
followed by your reply. In no case should the quoted material exceed the length of your reply. Quote only the bare essentials to make your posting clear.
Please don't bother to reply to the list unless you have some actual content to add. If someone asks about LadySlipper records, don't post "They are great, I have their phone number around here someplace." Take a minute, look up the phone number and tell us, "They are great and can be reached at (555) 555-1234. I especially love that new Ani DiFranco album - Out of Range". Contact phone numbers and email addresses greatly enhance the value of the information posted to the list.
Some of you can have a quick temper when somebody pushes ones of your "hot buttons", try to play nice, okay? There is no list moderator intercepting messages that you may later wish that you hadn't sent.
If you don't find the info you require in our digest archives, try searching our sister WWW site, www.folkmusic.org. This encyclopedic reference contains a wealth of information about all aspects of folk music. Point your browser at: http://www.folkmusic.org
Yup. This is the tip of the iceberg. Some of the more popular folk-oriented lists include:
These are just a few of the music lists on the net. To find others, consult Myra K. Wong's List of Musical Mailing Lists
Looking for a place to hear great live music near you? Visit the online concert calendar at Musi-Cal.
For performers interested in developing a strategy for establishing a presence on the internet, one approach is outlined in a WWW page I created for a workshop at the 1995 Folk Alliance conference. Feel free to use it and please send me suggestions on how I can make it better. It's located at http://www.alanrowoth.com/Web201.shtml
I also have a variety of other FAQ's relating to sound, lighting and other issues online at the URL http://www.alanrowoth.com/tutorials.shtml
Welcome to FolkBiz. We're here to share information that will empower all of us to be more successful in the music "Biz." United we stand.