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Tens of thousands of music fans were left enraged after seetickets, the only website on which fans were able to enter the draw for the free Rage Against the Machine concert, apparently crashed. The error left many fans staring at a loading screen or frantically refreshing the page for the three hours it took for all the tickets to be allocated. 

The free gig in London’s Finsbury Park was announced by the US anti-establishment rap-rock band earlier in the year as a thank you to British fans who helped the band’s expletive-ridden 1992 single, Killing in the Name to reach this year’s Christmas number one slot.  

The band achieved the feat after a social media-driven campaign - urging music fans to shun the latest X-Factor offering -caught the imagination of a large part of the British public. As the campaign’s website proclaims: “You spread the word, you swayed the outcome, you made music history”.

Over the weekend, tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands, went to seetickets.com to pre-register for the draw. Fans were then told to log on to the website at 9:00am on the 17^th February to enter the draw for tickets.  

However it appeared that, despite knowing how many people were likely to visit the site, seetickets could simply not handle the numbers. Many have now taken to social media – the very platform which brought the gig into existence – to vent their frustration and lambast seetickets for its poor foresight and lack of preparation. 

From a PR perspective, this was a golden opportunity for seetickets to achieve some money-can’t-buy brand awareness. The only thing most music fans are aware of now, however, is the site’s ineptitude. Do a Twitter search for seetickets and you will struggle to see a positive comment, with many stating they will never use the site again. 

Seetickets? Just seeing the homepage would have been nice.

There’s been much debate around the value of the contemporary art market over recent months, however despite the unstable economic climate, the demand for art remains at a high.

Launched last year, following the publication of the Taste Buds report, which revealed the market for original art is thriving in the North West with the potential to more than double the number of art sales in the region, Buy Art Fair debuted with impact.

Now entering its second year, the consumer art buying event is commanding increased attention with the launch of The Manchester Contemporary, an exclusive showcase of the UK’s most cutting edge contemporary artists chosen by an independent panel of curators.

To be unveiled later this evening with an exclusive performance by John Strutton’s band, Arthur Brick, at The Urbis, Manchester, there is much anticipation surrounding the new contemporary art platform and the interest this will attract.

Certainly the event has been successful in securing some of the most current and exciting galleries of this time.  There will be thirteen in total, including DOMOBAAL, NETTIE HORN, Limoncello, Works/Projects and Man&Eve, and from closer to home Castlefield Gallery and International 3.  A specially commissioned work by internationally acclaimed artist, Nathaniel Mellors, and curated by Ceri Hand, will be at the heart of the new exhibition and is expected to be a big draw amongst avid art enthusiasts.

But who will be buying at this weekend’s events?  With over 500 guests confirmed for tonight’s invitation only preview, including John Squire, Ben Kelly, Kevin Cummins, Mani (Stone Roses) and former-bassist for Joy Division, Peter Hook, the interest in Buy Art Fair and The Manchester Contemporary is unquestionable.

You’d be wrong, however, to think that the events are only for the big spenders.  Last year’s success was, undoubtedly, down to the event organiser’s desire to break down the boundaries to art and provide something for everyone, in other words, not just those with a spare few thousands under the bed.

This year’s event will see prints available from just £50 and everything in between and up to £35,000 - good news for me.

If you’re in the market for a new piece of art or indeed are just looking for an alternative way to spend your weekend, then Buy Art Fair and The Manchester Contemporary are a must-visit.   And if you need any further persuading let the Guardian’s preview convince you…

You could be led to believe that musicians see the internet as an evil source of file sharing which is causing long-term damage to artist and audience alike.

For some - and even those who have been at the very top of the tree - it also provides a new way of linking directly to the audience without the record company as the gatekeeper.

One artist Daryl Hall, one half of Hall and Oates who are the biggest selling male duo of all time, has grasped the potential to move beyond live performance to communicate directly with the audience.

In what he called ‘one of those light bulb moments’ be decided to launch ‘Live from Daryl’s House’. The concept was simple - he would play music with friends trying new songs, more familiar Hall and Oates tracks with twist and unique performances of his fellow musicians’ songs. He has likened it to Later with Jools Holland.

The formula has worked and there have now been 23 episodes which have featured an eclectic mix of established artists including Smokey Robinson, members of The Doors, K.T. Tunstall, Todd Rundgren as well as recent newcomers including Plain White T’s, Parachute and Canadian techno-rockers Chromeo.

It has given his fans new access to Hall being able to see how he works in what he has described as an “opportunity for me to exhibit what it is I do directly to the public without any pre-judgment.”

As Hall said in a recent interview  when asked the question about how the web has changed his relationship with his fans he said: “The internet has taken away the influence of the gatekeepers, It’s offered a more populist, more direct way of communicating with people and I feel more attuned to the way I think and the way I perceive things.”

For other artists the web has enabled them not only to maintain their careers but also build on a solid fan base. One that has really grasped social media in all its forms is the former front man of the 1980s band The Alarm, Mike Peters.

Since the mid-1990s, without a major record deal, he was an early adopter of the medium by using the web and fans forums to maintain and build interest in his solo work. As the channels has grown so he has used them even using iTunes to send regular video reports of his climb up Everest to raise money for his Love Hope and Strength cancer charity.  

What Peters has done is to use social media to give his fans a real feeling of community which has also moved off line. On past tours, those attending gigs have been able to use email to shape that concerts set list; at each concert Peters takes time to meet the fans during an interval even giving impromptu acoustic performances in the middle of the audience; and every January he holds ‘The Gathering’, next year’s will be the 18^th, in his native North Wales where 2000 fans gather for a weekend of acoustic and electric concerts by him concerts as well as other Peters/Alarm related events.

What these two examples show that whatever level artists have reached that social media is a way to talk directly to their audience and build a solid community which can maintain a career outside the mainstream record labels.

With a hefty £60m marketing budget being dangled by Disney like a diamond encrusted carrot, it’s clear why Boris Johnson has taken the unprecedented decision to turn on London’s West End Christmas lights earlier than ever.

Traditionalists, I’m sure, will be up in arms about the early switch on - up to nine days earlier than previous years - but if this means London’s economy gets a much needed boost by playing host to the world premiere of A Christmas Carol, surely Johnson can be excused.

Opinion however, appears to be torn with certain commentators suggesting it’s a rather sad state of affairs when a “venerable city becomes a marketing tool.”

The problem is, the West End lights are famous and have always featured their own distinct theme. This year though, they will follow the theme of A Christmas Carol, boasting Disney’s Scrooge related decorations from Leicester Square to Oxford Street, Regent Street and the city.

From a PR perspective this is an incredible coup; a total dream to dress a city head to toe in branding but this is Disney after all, who apparently gave London little choice as to when they switched the lights on saying: “It has to be the 3^rd November as that is when the cast are going to be in London.”

With Jim Carrey and Colin Firth in town, at least this year, London won’t be stumping up public appearance fees for the likes of Kelly Brook.

Strictly Come Dancing versus X Factor. Brucie versus Simon. Celebrity versus wannabe. All part of the fight for the largest viewing audience on Saturday night.

This weekend sees the return of what has become the traditional autumn battle for the crown of most watched TV programme of the weekend.

X Factor, currently showing the auditions, is already an established part of Saturday viewing more than a month into its latest series. Last weekend more than 12 million viewers tuned in. It seems not only to be pleasing viewers but must make the ITV bosses happy acting as a spur to advertising revenues in these difficult market times.

The BBC’s announcement last week that it was to pit its Saturday flagship caused a flurry in the media with claims that the BBC was being ‘aggressive’ taking on ITV head-to-head. Over the last couple of seasons, when the shows have been complementary, each has reached around 10 million viewers.

It is unlikely that the viewers will be split down the middle as Britain’s households will probably choose to record one while watching the other. Potentially it could be X Factor relegated to the recorder as it has already been announced that its results will now appear on Sunday rather than on Saturday night, with the BBC dropping its Sunday night results show.

The danger for ITV is that with X Factor recorded, viewers are tempted to skip the ad breaks. This must be a concern for advertisers and for ITV.  

There is only one group that will decide this and it is the British public. Next  week I am sure we will have more debate as this has a lot further to run - well until Christmas.

Let battle commence.

A famous global PR company used to give clients three pieces of advice on press conferences…”don’t do them, don’t do them and don’t do them”.  They are hard to get right, open to risk and in the digital age what is the point of a press conference? Well, it is the same as it always was - to fuel the buzz.  I don’t think anyone today does it better than Apple.In fact Apple, which has a conference scheduled for tomorrow, 9 September, has achieved what most companies can only dream of, a flood of coverage before they have announced a thing.  They can do this because they have great products and a charismatic head honcho in Steve Jobs.  They also succeed in creating drama and intrigue.  So what is the buzz about this time?  There is so much speculation that it hurts but here is a quick summary of the hum on the wires:

• Will Steve Jobs host?  He is recovering from a liver transplant but back at work. Will tech’s greatest showman be hosting the show?
• Is the much talked about tablet ready to roll? The keyboard free netbook, the love child of the iphone and the macbook is hotly tipped.
• The Beatles are going on iTunes.  Spotify has seized all the headlines lately and Apple must be keen to get its download service back in the spotlight.
• Time for a new Touch?  The iPod touch is set for a facelift but it has the capacity to be big news.  If as is rumored there is a microphone on board plus an app for VOIP phone calls the big phone operators might finally start to flinch in the face of web based calls.

Whatever is waiting in the wings one thing is certain; the press conference is a core part of the Apple PR strategy and it will be rewarded with a media deluge.

How do you convert a piece of social media-driven awareness raising to a real-life, bodies on the ground, event? The answer is this: with a certain amount of difficulty.  

But given that was the challenge Manchester-based web company, Cahoona, teamed up with events agency, Ear to the Ground, to put Cutting Room Square - a redeveloped part of city district, Ancoats - on the map.

As they described at last night’s Social Media Cafe Manchester meeting at the BBC, (#smc_mcr) with no budget for big names or attractions to stimulate interest in the place, the plan hatched was to create a user-generated event - The Cutting Room Experiment - in which the public became the curators, participants and audience for it.

Using social media channels including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and others, the public was encouraged to take ownership of the ideas while promoting them to their online social connections. Using the campaign website as a destination, the activity generated more than 100 ideas and attracted 10,000 unique visitors in 10 weeks. The Facebook group amassed more than 500 members - not bad for a highly niche area of interest.

And the ideas themselves culminated in a live event, involving activites such as the “world’s smallest festival” (comprising three girls, a busker and a tent), a clothes swapping event and Space Hopper race.

Cutting Room Experiment: Space Hopper Race from Ben Holden on Vimeo.

The team hit its various targets for online engagement and turnout on the day - as well as generating £100k in media coverage. But, as David Norris of Ear to the Ground said: “It’s hard to turn a devoted online audience into vibrant offline one”.

Though some questioned the validity of using global social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote a highly localised event, the results suggest that global can be local too, especially as people in the same geographical area are often already talking to each other across the same social media platforms.

And how can you argue with a Space Hopper race - as long as the Health and Safety Executive isn’t watching.