You've seen their gigs. You've played their CDs. Now you can read their tweets.
Indie bands might sit proudly outside the mainstream, but that doesn't mean they can't use mainstream technologies to reach out to their devoted followers. And Twitter - the "micro-blogging" revolution that allows users to send short messages of no more than 140 characters - is an ideal way of connecting because it is free and sends messages straight to the right people.
So ideal that indie bands in Indonesia are signing on for a Twitter account in droves.
"Twitter is part of the new technologies that we can take advantage of," says Hasief Ardiasyah, who handles the online promotions for indie band The Adams.
Or in the words of BITE, a local indie band that has recently taken to tweeting, "Twitter has now become a hit and most bands have already created an account, so to stay alive we need one as well."
Twitter, in brief, is a free social networking website created in 2006. It allows users to send real-time short information - messages known as "tweets" - to anyone signed up to receive them. As an application, Twitter has similarities to instant messaging (IM) and texting.
The technology has taken off, with tweets flying around the world as more and more people, including plenty of showbiz and sporting stars, get connected.
The number of people using Twitter each day is unknown because the company does not release data on the number of active accounts. However, according to web analysts Compete.com, by February this year Twitter already become the third most used social network. In March, Nielsen ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in February 2009 in the category of Member Communities, with a monthly growth of 1382 percent; in the same period, Facebook had grown by 228 percent.
And Indonesia has seen similar activity, with Google Trends noting a significant rise in web searches using the keyword "twitter". It's little surprise that plenty of people and groups are signing up to use the technology as a promotional tool to let the world know what they are up to, one tweet at a time.
The Adams, one local indie band with a Twitter account, often tweets from the venue before performing, or they might post a picture on Twitter during shows. For example, June 22, at 11:16 a.m., The Adams sent out a promotional message saying "Ario and Kiting will play live with Monday Math Class on internet radio www.stonedcollege.com at 7-9 pm". And a couple of minutes before going on air they tweeted: "Ario and Kiting will be on air shortly on www.stonedcollege.com. Go listen!"
It's that easy - any of their followers reading their tweets can know what's going on and feel closer to the band.
"Basically, the utility of Twitter resembles short message services *SMS*, so it is more personal," says Ricky Siahaan, the guitarist for Seringai.
Seringai, which joined Twitter only recently, offers tweets ranging from what the band is up to at that minute - "*Seringai* Is getting ready for tonights practice. Arranging and rearranging songs is a mind boggling cycle" - to letting followers that the band is now preparing a new song, probably for the next album.
Part of the beauty of Twitter is the simplicity of following and communicating with other users. When the bands tweet about a song they are working on or an upcoming appearance, the tweet automatically appears on the public timeline where everyone can read it.
"Twitter is more simple and accessible because we do not need to sign in from the website or have a Blackberry or iPhone to access it," says Raygava from Raygava et al. "I used to access it from my mobile phone as long as it was Java enabled and had installed applications such as Tiny Twitter."
Which means the bands and their fans can - and do - communicate anytime, anywhere.
"The fans can receive the update or information about the band faster because, let's face it," says Ricky Siahaan from Seringai, "now almost all mobile phones are Java enabled and there are many Blackberry or iPhone users."
This means that even during shows, bands can take requests from fans wherever they might be by reading the tweets.
But one of the things about modern technology is that, unlike traditional media, it is interactive. This means that it becomes about more than just promoting events or reporting what the band is up to - it also means hearing back from fans.
Indie band Sore is one of those using Twitter to try to be more interactive with their followers, often by responding to others' update status. They sometimes even send out topics for their followers to discuss: "Need your opinion, do you think you will buy a limited-6-song EP (mini album) with a special book as a bonus, for 70,000 IDR?" When one of the followers replied, "@SOREband it's good, but don't u think it's a little bit expensive how about 50.000? I think it's reasonable, I guess", the band replied: "@Kathie_ciHuyy the price will be ranging between 50,000 to 70,000. We'll see."
With this kind of interaction, the replies will appear on the public timeline or in the fan's profile, which might spark interest among other users connected to the fans. These users might then start to follow the conversation and, later on, the band.
Yet even as Twitter is growing, it has not replaced the main show - Facebook or Myspace - in connecting to fans and promoting bands.
"Twitter might be more useful for maintaining communication with fans or the network, but that can only happen if the band already has a community," says Raygava. "Facebook is more effective if what you're trying to do is promote the band, especially if the band is still a new band that is trying to reach more new listeners."
With all of Twitter's pros and cons, the bands believe that Twitter will be the next best thing.
"More people are now signing up to Twitter, as seen from the increasing number of followers," says Ricky Siahaan. "So we are positive in couple of months it will be big."
And "big" means more potential followers to attract.
After all, what sets Twitter apart is that any followers on Twitter really are interested in knowing what's going on. And any band that has been making music for a while will have probably accumulated a not insignificant group of fans who are interested in what they do on a daily basis. So indie bands and followers: tweet and be tweeted.
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