The internet has definitely changed everything. The way companies sell their products, the way people communicate, and the way musicians promote music and how they sell music online. Everything is faster and easier with social media. With a few clicks of a button you can send a press kit to a booking agent. Tell everyone your status on the new CD you’re working on or of upcoming shows. Musicians can market their music and get fans from across the world just as easy if not more efficient than going to an open mic, handing out flyers and trying to get people to come to your shows or buy your CDs. Yup, it seems that with social media it’s easier to get your name out there.
The Social Media Explosion
I agree with the IDEA of social media. It is a great way to connect and share news and information. There are so many solutions that answer the question “How to promote my music”? I posted the fact that I have a show coming up in 2 weeks and all my friends can see it and share it on their profile. I can tweet about my show. I can shoot a video and post it on YouTube. I can upload the flyer to Instagram and share it there as well. I can use LinkedIn, FourSquare, my blog, my email newsletter, post pics on my Flickr, upload new songs to SoundCloud, add new photos to my MySpace account (does anyone even use MySpace anymore). The list is endless!
At first it was just MySpace that was the spark in promoting music online and major online music promotion outlet. The perfect internet outlet to get the word out, but not everyone liked MySpace or got sick and tired of that really annoying profile with all the animation and annoying crap on it that caused it to load for 5 frickin’ minutes. So then Facebook comes along and you join that. But now you have MySpace and Facebook to post to. Then Twitter comes along because that’s the “new” thing that everyone is doing. It takes you another month to understand how Twitter works. It took me 3 months to realize that “RT” meant Retweet and not Real Talk. lol. Then Instagram, Google Plus, LinkedIn, YouTube, MetaCafe, Vimeo… my God!!
Don’t Forget… It’s All About Being A Great Artist
The irony about social media and the internet is that it’s supposed to save you time, but in the end it takes up more time than ever to just get the word out about what you’re doing. So I’ve noticed this transformation of the present day artist. Some artists are so tech savvy and social media experts that they forgot to focus on being an actual ARTIST! If you’re an artist, business owner, musician, etc… take a look at your week. If you’ve spent more time on Facebook, twitter, YouTube, etc… than on your actual craft then you’re falling into a trap!
Mind your time because that is one of your most valuable resources. Look at how much time you spend on social media and don’t let it take away from your craft. I’ve fallen into that trap and I’m digging my way out. I’m consolidating. Do I need to be on 10 different social sites? I don’t have a team to work on these accounts. It’s just me so I’m going to only focus on a few sites that I really find productive.
This concept has totally changed how I see band promotion and artist promotion. This past week I’ve focused more time on some songs that I haven’t been able to finish and also performing those songs in front of actual people. I must say that I prefer the person to person aspect of music better than social media. I’m not going to stop tweeting or Facebooking because a lot of people follow my news feed on those sites, but I won’t be a slave to the social media frenzy. I want to be a great artist and focus on my craft instead of a decent artist that has an amazing online presence. buy youtube social shares
