I was very lucky to meet the lovely Mary Adkins, founder of SeeJoeRock, at a monthly music industry networking event that I co-host with two industry colleagues in Washington DC (called the Metro Music Source). I was really keen to find out more about how Mary was helping musicians in the Greater DC area and beyond, and what SeeJoeRock was all about. I quickly signed up as an ‘Industry Pro’ and asked Mary to answer some questions for me regarding the SeeJoeRock philosophy and history.

1. What gave you the inspiration to create www.seejoerock.com?

I’ve owned a Graphic design company for the past 10 years and in that time, have worked with several musicians and bands as well as knew many artists on a personal level, that had basically been doing just about everything they could to promote themselves – by themselves. They were using sites like MySpace and Facebook as their main sources of online presence, but with the over-abundance of musicians as well as everyday people on the sites, viewers noticing them or even finding them for that matter, was far fetched unless they already knew or heard about them or their music.

Most artists also only had a small circle of “people they knew” in the industry, and had the mentality that they needed to live in NY or CA for the “right people”, or any industry pro for that matter, to ‘discover’ them. I wanted to create a way to bridge that gap. With the design and development tools and skills I already had, I decided to develop a website that put these unsigned, DIY, emerging type musicians, bands, solo artists etc in the spotlight – and create a way to directly connect them with music industry pros in any corner of that field that could help them take their music and music career to the next level. (Pros like Agents, Labels, and Promoters to Screen-printers, Photographers, Radio personalities, Booking Agents, T-shirt designers etc). In Jan 2008, www.seejoerock.com was born. The site took about a year to build and it launched in April 2009.

2. How is SeeJoeRock different from other social networking sites?

Its focus audience is for a specific niche group – Musicians who are dedicated to making a career with their music and are serious about taking that next step in making that happen, and industry professionals whose target client base are these indie type of musicians they offer their services to. It’s been often referred as the “LinkedIn” for Musicians.

To keep things user friendly, SJR offers the same familiar structure as most social networking sites as far as a profile goes – you can upload your bio, list your talents & skills and years of experience, to uploading photos, mp3s, videos, status updates and an area to post your events. Much like the other sites, you can add other users to your network, comment on their profiles or send them private messages. You can also add their events to your own “I’m attending” calendar.

But this isn’t your little sister’s social networking playground. The users are other emerging musicians and industry professionals who are all there for the same reason – to connect, network, give-advice, assist and help each other gain exposure. (There’s also an area for Super Fans to just help spread the word!). SJR also offers a place to post Classifieds or “Wanted Postings” – Say if a band is looking for a drummer, they can post an ‘Ad’ up free and any user on the site can respond, which will link back to their profile to allow that connection to begin.

SJR also promotes these musicians (as well as the pros) by featuring a new one every couple of weeks and puts them in the spotlight! These featured users get put right on our homepage. Their videos get posted front and center on the homepage as well as in our header graphics, quick links to their profiles, blasted on all of our other social networking sites, added to our blogs, newsletters, and online press releases. Each week the musician, as well as the pro, gets to plug themselves live on a fast growing internet radio partner (JJDJRadio.com) during our weekly Wednesday night ‘SJR segment’ which also promotes the site as well as the featured users and other events.

We’re also adding several new tools and cool features that will be hitting the site very soon! And more contests are in the works! And to be a part of all of this.. is free.

3. Who are the top 5 artist on SeeJoeRock.com who you believe are going to be hot in 2010?

That’s a tough question. There are many many artists on SJR who are incredibly talented and are very driven to succeed.

A few however that I can name that are well on their way are:

1.  Taylor Berrett one of SJR’s first members, we just found out in Nov, was signed with Motown/Universal!!

2. Zack Borer just informed us that his music was selected as a pre-load for the new “Google Nexus One” phone.

3. The Neon Rush was just signed by SJR Pro / Record Label, RYO Records and just launched their new album this past week with them.

4. Power Pirate a hot new and young D.C. area band (as young as 15) hit the ground running! Shortly after winning the SJR Music Video Contest held with SJR Pro, Blue Light Digital Sound, they won a spot in the NAMM SchoolJam Battle of the Bands and will be flying to California to perform.
(You can read here for full info: http://www.power-pirate.com/vote.html)

4. What advice do you have for emerging artists who are trying to establish themselves in an increasingly saturated online world?

- Join SeeJoeRock.com! *wink *wink.
- If you’re serious about becoming successful, treat yourself, your music, your band.. as a business. If you don’t know how, find someone that can help you do this.
- You need to create your brand, be marketable, and market yourself.
- Promote yourself, music and shows non-stop.
- Keep in touch with your fans, give them an incentive – free show or downloads.
- Keep your online profiles updated and fresh.
- You can accomplish a lot on your own, but wearing too many hats can wear anyone out.. know when it’s time to find help and allow them to do what they do best so you can focus on what you do best.
- and last but definitely not least, believe in yourself.. if you don’t invest that in yourself, how can you expect others to invest in you?