We are excited to announce the launch of our new portal site which provides real-time access to your profile information and tour itineraries.  The site has been designed for accessibility on desktop and mobile device.  The portal is available to all subscription levels - Premium, Single-User and Enterprise.  Try it out at my.eventric.com.

New Features:

Here are some of the things that you can do at my.eventric.com:

Access tour itineraries from your desktop or mobile device.  We've done a lot of testing to ensure the site looks great on any device.  Smart phones like the iPhone, Android and Blackberry will see a native-like appearance.  Users with older phones will see a great design that is scaled properly for small screens.  If you are accessing from your desk, it looks great on a regular browser too.

• Create shortcuts directly to your tour dates for instant access while on the road.  We know that when you're on the road you don't want to type in long URLs and re-enter your login information over and over again.  We've made sure that you can bookmark any page of the site and return with just one click.  You have the option to save your username and password on your device so you won't need to re-type it.

• Manage your subscription, billing information and "child" accounts.  If your organization is paying for multiple team members, you can now view and manage those relationships on the portal site.

• Manage public profile information.  As we move towards more integration you will be able to control how your information appears to other Master Tour users.

More on the Way:

The portal is already packed with features that have been requested by our customers.  But we're nowhere near finished.  Over time we'll be adding more and more features to the portal.  For Tour Managers, this means you will be able to distribute more real-time information to your users.  For crew and band members, this means you'll be able to stay up-to-the-minute with important tour information.

Your Suggestions:

Can you think of something that belongs on the portal site?  Is there a missing feature that would save you tons of time?  Let us know!  Click the "Send Feedback" button within Master Tour, submit a ticket through our online support site or just give us a call.

Master Tour 1741 is available for all users.  Restart Master Tour and you'll be prompted to download the update.  This update includes stability and aesthetic improvements to the guest list, document attachment and printing modules.

New in Build 1741:

Guest List

• The cursor moves to the appropriate cell when working with a sorted guest list and using tab to move between cells
• A column sort was added so that by default the guest list doesn't automatically sort as you edit

Attachments

• The file window refreshes automatically everytime it becomes visible so you don't need to manually click "Refresh"
• The Refresh and Delete buttons are more visible with labels

Printing

• Fonts were adjusted on accounting reports for visual consistency on both Mac and Windows
• All tour book templates have been made consistent so the options are the same and pages are in the same order for all.
• All tour books have the option of including a US and/or European map page.
• The generated PDF templates have tooltips
• "NULL" no longer shows up on generated reports
• Changed labeing of Dailies to Init Page

Thank you as always for your valuable comments and suggestions.  Please feel free to click the "Send Feedback" button at the bottom-right corner of the application to send a message directly to the development team.

Master Tour build 1727 is available, just restart Master Tour and you'll be prompted to download the latest version.  If you're not already using Master Tour you can sign up today for a free 30 day trial.  This is a maintenance update that fixes a few minor issues including:

• Venue Contacts and Companies can now be re-ordered however you like by simply dragging and dropping.  (Thanks Brian S for the suggestion.)
• Tour Books and Day Sheets have better preview images so you can more easily see what you're going to get for each report.  (Thanks Access Pass!)
• Improved reliability to the Export-To-PDF feature, including a fix for special characters that would sometimes cause the Export to fail.

We've been focused like a laser on several web-based features that will be rolled out over the next few months.  They are still top secret for now but rest assured, we're excited and we think you will be too!

Don't stop hitting that "Send Feedback" button anytime you need help or think of a feature that you'd like.  We're listening!

Tour:Smart's Martin Atkins discusses 11 things bands of all sizes can do to make a difference NOW in building your business of touring.

01. Use the five pointed star inward-facing CRUSH technique!

I understand that you want and NEED to perform more than once every 9 to 12 weeks - so start to travel in a 50 mile radius. Find out of the way places to build your audience instead of playing the same club over and over and over to fewer and fewer punters. Use the five pointed star inward facing crush technique!

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02. Don't overplay your local market.

Make your show an EVENT! The simple rule of thumb is playing every 9 to 12 weeks OR whenever you have a new t-shirt design. Don't ask your friends if playing every two weeks is too much. They are your friends – it's their job to lie to you and they will!

Here are just a few ways to make your show more than just another show: free tickets, low cost drinks, out of town band, all cover night tribute, golden lottery ticket winner gets a song written about them, guest member of another band, perform an album in its entirety, play naked.

Washington DC-based band Hotspur won the "Artists on the Verge" contest at the New Music Seminar last month in NYC.  

Hotspur was selected by industry professionals from OurStage.com, MySpace, Facebook, Tommy Boy Records, and a panel of judges including Little Steven, Bill Werde of Billboard, Kelly Cutrone and more to win $50,000 worth of prizes.

The prizes includes a 12-months subscription to Eventric's Master Tour and a 2 hours of free tour consulting with Eventric co-founder Paul Bradley.

We saw Hotspur play an inspired set at Santo's Party House in NYC and can say definitely that these guys are on the verge of big things.